As we near Christmas and the end of the year at the Uploft Interior Design Podcast, I find myself reflecting on the inspiring projects I’ve worked on with my clients throughout 2025. In this episode, I share stories about reconnecting with past clients, including a woman who has transformed her life and home, and a couple creating a functional farmhouse in upstate New York that balances modern needs with the charm of an older home. If you have questions for me, make sure to submit them here.
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Design inspiration, real life makeovers, and the latest in pop culture. This is the Uploft Interior Design Podcast with Betsy Helmouth. >> It is almost Christmas. It’s almost the end of the year. I’m feeling nostalgic. I’m looking back. Certainly there have
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been highs and lows both on a personal level also on a global scale. But just examining the work that I do, the lives I’ve touched, the people I’ve gotten to work with, it has been such a fun and inspiring year. I thought I’d take today to do a little bit of something
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different. And I wanted to highlight a few clients that I’ve worked with this year. Just share some stories and I don’t know, who knows what I’ll say, but I wanted to just point out a couple of projects that I’m working on that are really inspiring me and that will
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hopefully inspire you, too. And if you want to tell me about a project that you’re working on, if you want to share something that’s been lighting you up this holiday season, head over to uploft.com/mpodcast. Once again, that’s uplocked.com/mpodcast. There you’re going to find lots of
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different things. You can join the premium membership and get bonus episodes. You can check out our academy, the Uploft Interior Design Academy, if you’ve ever thought about becoming an interior designer yourself and decided that 2026 is the year to make it happen.
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And of course, if you’re looking for that last minute gift, you can buy our online class bundle with autographed book. So, there’s lots of different things to look and see, but the thing that I’m pointing out right now is the form that you can fill out to submit a
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question or to submit a thought or idea or book or TV watching recommendation. And I will be talking about it on an upcoming episode because I love digging into the mailbag, seeing what you’re working on, hearing what you’re watching and reading, and sharing it with the
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listeners and checking it out myself. I have been designing for 20 plus years. I have had literally thousands of
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Client Reconnection
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clients. I used to take six clients a week in my heyday and it’s been endlessly inspiring. A few come to mind right now. So, I was working with a client, oh gosh, years ago. I mean, this was I had just had kids and it was back in Brooklyn and she was so sweet. She was married,
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she had a daughter, they were living in Bay Ridge, um, such a nice family. It was a referral from somebody in my mommy group. And I went over, helped them. Great. Fast forward 12 years later, I get an email from this woman to my firm and she wants to work with me again, but
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she’s remarried. Totally different person. She lives upstate now and she wants to know if I can help her virtually. It’s so exciting to reconnect with clients that you’ve worked with in the past because you can see how they grow, how their lives have changed. You
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could see what they’re up to now. So, at first she was thinking, well, let’s just create a floor plan for this space because it’s a very unusual space. And the fact that the mud room, if you will, the room right off the garage is kind of a thoroughare and that it’s got a slider
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to the deck. It’s got an opening to the kitchen, but also it’s got a huge vated ceiling with an amazing stone surround fireplace, but we need places to put our book bags. We need places to put our shoes. And there’s no real solid walls. So, do I use this as a family room? Do I
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use this as a mud room? And if so, how do I lay it out? So, great. We can drop that in a floor plan software virtually. No problem. We also were doing her living room as well as her dining room. But we wanted to really tackle this flex space because it seemed to have so much
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opportunity with those big vated ceilings and with this gorgeous fireplace, but at the same time, it really needed to serve some functions or else people are just going to throw their backpacks on the coffee table. They’re just going to kick their shoes
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off right by the sectional, and nobody wants that. What we ultimately decided to do after laying out the living room and making it really inviting and cozy is that we decided that who’s going to sit in this room when you have that beautiful room to sit in and what we
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really need is a place for all these backpacks. So, we turned this fireplace room into a very tidy mudroom that’s got some lockers with doors. So when we close the coats away, when we close the sporting equipment away, we can also have it be sort of a cozy space to have
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a cocktail, have a snack as I’m going out to join the party on the patio or as I’m talking to somebody in the kitchen. So they can just swivel their chair from the fireplace over to the kitchen. And I think we solved the challenge in a really interesting way because at first
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blush I was like, we need to make this some kind of space with a TV, some kind of cozy family room den. And it became clear that there was just too much to store to make that happen in a beautiful yet functional way. Okay, next client. I am working on a farmhouse in upstate New
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Farmhouse Project
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York and oftentimes this would be virtual, but this client is just a little over an hour and some away. And so they’ll pay a travel fee and I’ll head out there. Now, these are very successful people in the city. He’s a restaurant tour. She’s in media and they
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have an apartment in the city. They have a daughter who’s, I don’t know, maybe preschool age and then a little baby and they’re buying this as their second home. And not only is it a really cool old farmhouse on kind of a lot of land. So later they’re hoping to add some
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guest quarters and things like that, but it has this really old barn in the back that used to be a speak easy that even has a bar in the barn from those Prohibition times. So, this house has a ton of character, but it also has a lot of challenges because houses built, say,
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before World War II weren’t dealing with televisions. They weren’t needing parallel walls. They weren’t trying to cram in seating for 10 when they have large parties and everybody’s watching the Super Bowl. How do we make this space that’s architecturally set up to
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live very differently function for a modern family who loves to have people over, who wants a jam-packed country house every weekend, who needs to maximize sleeping arrangements so that not only can they have their friends over, but they can also use it as an
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Airbnb. And that’s always a layer of challenge because with an Airbnb, first of all, it’s primarily your vacation home, right? Primarily, you want to enjoy it. So, you want to buy things that you’re going to love. And these people do have a certain taste
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level because they have some money from living in the city, but you don’t want the Airbnbers to destroy your $12,000 sectional. You don’t want them to leave ring marks on your $10,000 10 foot dining table. So, how do we find things that are affordable,
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that are durable, that you and your family and your friends are primarily going to love, but then also that you feel relaxed enough about that you can have strangers come and stay. It’s a lot to think about. And then also, you need to have places that you can lock and
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store things away. But daytoday, you want it to feel really comfortable. You want to have um accommodations in terms of suitcases and dressers for all the guests that are going to fill this house and they’re blowing up their bathrooms and kitchens. So, not only are we
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picking out all the furnishings, we did the first floor first and now we’re on to the second floor. The second floor alone has a list of 86 items that they need. From wallpaper to pendant lights to mirrors to beds, of course, there’s lots to accommodate. And every window is
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unique because it’s such an old home that we have bay windows. And each window is a different size. We have Clarastory windows. We have really big windows. Uh, and you can already as you work on older homes get a sense of what the challenges will be. I live in older
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homes and even if you have slightly more contemporary windows, it’s drafty. Even if you have a storm window, it’s really nice to have thicker, heavier thermal drapes. Um, there are challenges like the floors are not always plum. The rooms are sometimes a little bit wonky
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in terms of door swings aren’t always optimized for how we might want to place furniture today. So, we’re literally taking a couple doors off their hinges and having them swing the other way. It’s very affordable and easy to do. And it’s freeing entire walls for us to use
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for furniture placement. And in these very small rooms from so, so long ago, it can make a huge difference in terms of functionality. I also love that they’re kind of embracing the fact that this is an older space. So, they want a contemporary feel, but they want that modern
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farmhouse. They want it to be a really different experience than their ultra contemporary New York City apartment. And that’s always fun, too, because I want to ask, “What colors are featured in your New York City apartment? What’s the style that you went for? Can you
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show me some pictures of that interior?” So that when I’m making design choices for this other space, I’m making sure that it really feels other that when you get away, it feels like a true getaway. I think I’ve accomplished that for them.
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Designing for a New Build
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But I will be presenting their 86 item shopping list as well as the mood boards and floor plans for every single room on Friday. So make sure that you send me good vibes because I’m going to need them. Now, before I segue and tell you about a couple of other clients, I wanted to
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quickly tell you about an amazing lastminute gift opportunity. If you know an interior design lover who just can’t get enough, loves learning about interior design, is constantly watching HGTV, well, I bet you that they would love my online class bundle.
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That’s three online interior design classes. One features furniture, the other features accessorizing and styling, and the last is all about fune. And then they get an autographed copy of my book. And all that they will receive before the holiday if you order now. So
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go to uploft interioresign.com/shop. Once again, that’s uplifted.com/shop or you can just do uploft.com/shop. Frankly, there’s a couple ways to find it there, but that’s shorter. and you can find the book bundle and everything there. All right, without further ado,
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let me get on to the next client. The next client is a dear client of mine for many years. And she found me actually because one of my friends back from my single days, before I had even thought of interior design as a hobby, I had freshly moved to New York
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City. I was green as could be. My plans were to be an actress and an artist and didn’t have much in mind after that. Well, she recommended me to her co-orker because I guess she saw I was dabbling in interior design on Facebook and then her coworker hired me to work virtually
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in California. So, I designed this woman’s mid-century modern home in California. We did several different spaces for her. I worked on her patio outside. So that way when people walked up to our house, they could get kind of a preview of the colors that we were
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going for, the MCM vibes we were going for when they’d walk in the space. And then she was really also wanting to highlight her Asian heritage. So we wanted to be mindful of using colors that were lucky. For instance, red and her Asian heritage and some symbolism.
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She was really into dragons and things like that, but not overdoing it. Just a little bit of a taste of that. And also, she was very into funue. Well, actually, it was her mom who was more into fune. And she’s like, if my mom comes over here and she sees that things are out of
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place, well, I am going to be in trouble. So, we made sure to be mindful of all these different things as I was working with her. And I started to get some pangs. I was like, “This house is so beautiful.” And I love mid-century modern architecture. And I was so
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jealous that she was in the warm weather 365. And then lo and behold, she moves to New Jersey. So she moved to New Jersey and bought a house out here. And she was needing help doing it from soup to nuts. We literally designed this new build from the ground up, picking out tile,
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reusing the furniture from California, but in different ways in this new space, designing her kids’ rooms as they were growing up. and getting ready for college. It was so exciting. And then this year, she calls me right back. I mean, we’ve just finished her new build
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last year, and she is going to raise her parents’ house, completely level it to the ground, and build a totally new house there that she and her current family along with her parents will all live in. Not only did we get to create architectural drawings and evaluate sort
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of what the architect was pitching, he gave us three different options. And then we could push back and say, “Can the door swing this way? Can an outlet go here? Can we think about moving the living room to the front of the house rather than the back of the house?” It
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is so inspiring to get to truly work from the ground up. And it’s so fun to work with a client who you know so well, but of course there’s a new element and then we’re also working with her family, her parents. So we have to be extra mindful of funue considering they’re
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going to live there with her as well. but also accommodating needs of people who are aging and what that looks like. Never a dull moment. And you know, as I was saying, in light of everything that’s going on in the world, it truly does feel like you’re making a huge
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difference when you help people like this and can make their lives better with something as simple as a door swing or as powerful as a really comfortable sectional. All right, next client. Next client for today is going to be a pediatrician I
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Pediatrician’s Office Design
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worked with in Dobs Fairy. It was so exciting when we worked with him originally because we make everyone fill out a questionnaire in advance so we can get a sense of their identity. And with a company, we want to know about your brand, who you’re servicing. He’s a
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pediatrician, so of course it’s children. um how often they’re coming in, who you’re trying to impress, how old the kids are, do they need a toy area, what does the waiting area look like, what do you need in the treatment rooms, how close do the paper towels need to be to
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the sink, right? Where are we measuring the kids versus weighing the kids versus doing the eye test for their kids versus what’s actually happening in the exam rooms? Lots to think about. But then there’s an extra layer when their questionnaire is kind of vague. and he
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was just starting his company, just moving out on his own away from corporate healthcare. and he was completely open to what his brand color should be, what his brand font should be, how to embrace this localized place he was in Dob’s Ferry, how to bring in
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that kind of small town feel and the different things that are native to Dob’s Ferry, whether it’s the Hudson River or the beautiful landscape with all the trees and old homes. So, it was just an opportunity to not only design his space, but also help design his
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company and create that brand identity that he could then continue throughout his brochures, his business cards, his website. It was very inspiring. So, my designer Allison created a beautiful design with colors I would have never thought about like a seafoam green,
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which has just been such a special color to use there. Gray, navy. She created this really charming palette and leaned into kind of all the woodland creatures that are in Dob’s Fairy. There were deer and owls and raccoons and it was so cute and sweet. And then he considered moving
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spaces. We were weighing the pros and cons. We were looking at new spaces. We were brainstorming if you move to this different space because he needs to expand. What would it mean to put the waiting area here? What would it look like to have the exam rooms here? It was
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really interesting and of course I love brainstorming when somebody’s in the nent stage and just trying to decide their next moves. Ultimately he decided that he liked his current space well enough that he was willing to kind of stay in a space that was slightly too
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small for him as his practice was growing because he wanted to wait for that perfect next step. And I couldn’t agree more. building out a space, whether it’s a home or whether it’s a commercial space, is an expensive endeavor. And especially for him, you
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have to get all new business cards, all new brochures, gh the list goes on and on. So, I think it’s just such um important thing to not only bring in an expert like me who can help you see the opportunities or disadvantages to a new space, but then also can help you feel
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really confident about your idea to not move, to stay put, because sometimes there truly is no place like home. Guys, I’ve loved talking to you today. I’ve
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Closing Thoughts
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loved talking to you this year. 2025 has been real and I hope overall it’s been good for you, your family, your friends. I’ve loved being here with you each and every week. I am going to skip next week as I’m going to take a brief hiatus with my family to enjoy the holiday to gear
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up for the new year. But I will be back in 2026 with all new episodes, all new questions from the mailbag and lots of new goals and things to accomplish in the coming year. All right, everyone. Until next time, until 2026. Bye. A big thanks to our producer Jeremy
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Young and to Eton and the Embassy for our theme music. And shout out to our parent company, Uploft Interior Design, your trusted source for expert interior design. Visit uploft.com to explore our services and book a consultation with one of our talented designers. If you’re
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enjoying the Uplift interior design podcast, please support us by sharing the show with friends and leaving a five-star review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen. It’s the best way to help new listeners find us. Thanks for tuning in and we’ll see you next
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week with more pro tips and pop culture dish.
Links:
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