In this episode of the Uploft Interior Design Podcast, I share a hilarious story about my husband’s unexpected birthday gift—a four-foot refrigerator for my bedroom, which left me both amused and bewildered as an interior designer. I also dive into a listener’s question from Samantha in South Carolina, discussing her plans for a fireplace makeover and the pros and cons of using ginstone versus thin brick. We touch on TV placement, the trendy nature of shiplap, and the importance of selecting timeless materials for her space. If you have questions for me, make sure to submit them here.
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[Music]
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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. Guys, if you are watching on YouTube, you are thinking to yourself, Betsy,
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what the heck is wrong with you? What are you wearing? I will tell you, tonight I’m recording late. Normally I record during the day when I have lots of energy, when I’m in the interior design mindset rather than,
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you know, in the mommy mindset of getting everybody dinner, putting everybody to bed. But when I do transition from work to home, the minute that I have my last Zoom and I log off and I roll into my house, I get in a onesie and I wear my onesie for the duration of the day. Whether that’s
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5:00, whether that’s 8:30. Today it happened to be around 6. I get in one of my seven onesies and that’s my uniform for tonight. I knew I would have to record tonight because we’ve had the holidays and all these different things which have prevented me from recording
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until now. And I put it off because my baby did not nap and that’s when I was going to record all the episodes for the month. I had plans and so those plans were dashed. Instead, you know, we watched Miss Rachel while I tried to get some emailing done and then we did play with Play-Doh, but that
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meant that podcasting had to happen after hours. So, this is Betsy after hours. This is sleepover Betsy in her onesie just keeping it real. Speaking of keeping it real, something happened over the past few weeks that I have to share with you because I need to know. You
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know, there’s this podcast where they ask, “Am I the bleep hole? Am I the asshole?” And I’m wondering if I am. So, my husband for my birthday says he’s got this large present. I’m thinking, “A large present?” And he’s like, “Yes, Jack and I are going to carry it up. my son who’s like 6’4 and a
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big guy. They’re going to carry up this present and they’re taking it out of the car. I have to make sure to not go in my bedroom because I’m going to see it. So, they’re hyping it up, right? Hyping up this amazingly large present. After dinner, after cake, I blow out the
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candles. There’s nothing I’ve asked for that’s large. There’s really nothing I’ve asked for. That’s fine. Yep. I think I asked for what did I I got myself a couple of things and said, “This is what I want. Let me just buy it on Amazon. You can wrap it for me.” I go upstairs. My husband, my son, my
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daughter, they are so excited. They are giddy. They can’t wait for me to open the bedroom door. And I can’t imagine what it will be. I open the bedroom door and there’s a big blanket. my blanket, my electric blanket that I use on my bed to stay cozy. And underneath is a box that’s
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probably almost four feet tall. I’m like, “Oh my gosh, what could this be?” I peel back my electric blanket. Yes, they went to a lot of trouble wrapping this massive gift. And it’s a refrigerator. Not a mini fridge, not a maxi fridge, a medium fridge. And I’m like, huh, well, this is something.
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I mean, we have a fridge downstairs that works just fine. We have another fridge in the basement that’s kind of our like extra fridge when we host holidays or whatever that we almost never use. Why would I need a fridge? My husband is
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like, “You’re going to put it in this corner right by your long dresser, right next to your nightstand. So when you’re cuddled in bed under your electric blanket, you’re going to just reach over and pour yourself a glass of wine, get yourself an ice water because this little fridge has a freezer.
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It’s taller than my dresser.” I I was just at a loss for words. I started cracking up. I started laughing hysterically. He’s like, “You can put water bottles in there. You can put snacks. And then you just reach over and get it whenever you want.” I was like, “Jack, I’m an interior designer.
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I don’t want a stainless steel 4 foot high fridge in my bedroom right next to my nightstand.” My kids minds were blown. They’re like, “You don’t want a fridge in your bedroom. I want a fridge in my bedroom. Give it to me. No, I want the fridge in my bedroom. Give it to me.
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And this fridge, come to find out, costs $300. Not only do I need another fridge, like I need a hole in my head. I could do a lot with that $300 and just give me the cash Ola. Give me a nice gift certificate to a decent massage place and call it a day. Instead, I have a 4ft fridge. And I knew
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what was going to happen. Guys, can you predict? So, I laugh because I almost can’t believe it. I almost think they’re like punking me. Turns out they’re not punking me. My kids fight over the fridge. I’m like, “No, we are getting our money back so I can take this $300 and buy myself a few massages.”
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Is my husband ever going to pick up this ginormous fridge with my son and carry it back downstairs and drive it to Best Buy? Probably not. Am I going to have a 4ft fridge in my bedroom for months to come? Most likely. Then it will be well
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past the return date and then it will go in one of my kids’ rooms or it will join the other fridge in the basement not plugged in just sitting there sadly waiting for me to donate it eventually. Like what the hell? And you know those things that I asked for that I bought from Amazon and had
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Mailbag Introduction
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them wrap. One was like a little pocket knife for your keychain that has all sorts of tiny tools. So when I’m out and about I have a little screwdriver. I have a little um pair of scissors, etc. I can’t even remember what the other thing was. I think it’s the moisturizer.
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I still have not received those. They came in the mail. They swooped them up. They’re like, “We’re going to wrap them for you, mommy, and we’ll give them to you for your birthday.” I got a big old fridge. I have not yet seen the presents I ordered for myself. Yeah, there’s a little bitterness and
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resentment. Has anything like this happened to you? I know. Do you know what I even said to my husband when the fridge thing was happening? Like in between fits of laughter, I said, “I’m gonna talk about this on my podcast.
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People are not going to believe that you gave an interior designer a 4ft high fridge for her bedroom. People aren’t going to believe it.” And he’s like, “Yeah, they’re going to be jealous.” And I’m like, “No, no,
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they’re not.” All right. So, there we go, guys. That’s just a little anecdote. if you want to write in and tell me how crazy you think that is, or if you want to bond with me over horrible presents your husband has
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given you. I think he just wants me to move it to his side of the bed and he can just stuff it full of diet Pepsis and uh peanut M&M’s. I don’t know. I don’t know. All right, without further ado, we have
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questions in the mailbag, so I’ve got to get to them. And guys, if you want to ask me a question, it could not be easier. Could not be easier. Go to uploft.com/mpodcast. Once again, that’s uploft.com/mpodcast.
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There’s a form you can fill out. It gets right to me. You insert some pictures with your questions so that I can answer really precisely and you will be featured on an upcoming episode. Our mailbag is light. You guys must not be
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doing a lot of work for the holidays. You guys must have perfect homes that are guest ready. But in case you don’t, I am here for you. Reach out. An expert is at your fingertips. And I will tell
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Listener Samantha’s Craftsman River House Update
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you, I was just working with a client today who’s in upstate New York, and I was warning them. We were working together virtually. I said, now’s the time to buy. I have been noticing for the past couple of years that in January, these companies are jacking up the prices. Used to be back in the days
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of Yore, January and July were the two best months for home sales. Whether you’re trying to buy furniture or accessories, it was when things were changing over for the different seasons. Not no more. Last year, I noticed that Pottery Barn’s prices went up 20% in January. Things I had sourced for a
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client in December, they had their reveal call coming up in January. I pull up the list to make sure everything on the list is still available and in stock. Those prices were dramatically different. I would not wait. I would not
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take chances. And I told my client as much today. I said, “When I send you this list, buy before January 1st, especially with all the crazy tariff stuff that is happening, you want to strike while this iron is still hot.”
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Okay. Uh, now that you’ve got some urgency to send me an email, let’s listen to somebody who’s written in all the way from South Carolina from Conway, South Carolina to be exact. It’s Samantha. And Samantha writes, “Hi,
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Betsy. A couple of months I wrote, oh, excuse me. A couple of months ago, I wrote you regarding my Craftsman Riverhouse. I was asking about doing built-ins on the only wall in my living room because I didn’t want a TV above my
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fireplace. At that time, you suggested changing the floor plan if I could find a way to live with the TV above the fireplace, and you recommended I not do the built-ins. Well, that was so helpful. We have decided that we are not
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doing the built-ins, but now I have more questions. We move the furniture in the place, the attached pictures do not depict that, and put the TV on a stand in front of the fireplace for a few weeks. We decided that we liked that
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setup much better. I discovered that the reason I don’t like a TV above a fireplace is because it was always so high in the newer houses we owned. Since that discovery, we figured that we could do a lower rectal linear electric
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fireplace to replace the one that is currently in place, and that would allow us to lower the TV. So, now we’re going to spend our money on redoing the fireplace wall, which we were going to do anyway. This brings up more
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questions. We have spoken to a contractor about using ginstone, which is a faux brick from floor to ceiling and leaving a few inches in between that will be the fireplace surround and the windows. I also wanted to change out a small amount of shiplap that will be o
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left over for drywall. What I don’t like about the shiplap is that I want to paint it and I would be doing it myself. I’m not sure about getting into all the crevices without a sprayer. The contractor said that the shiplap was installed over drywall and all of it
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would have to come down to the studs. He also said he didn’t think we would be happy with the ginstone and should consider thin brick. I believe he said half in thick. I have not seen ginstone in person. So now I’m concerned. Here are my questions. How high should a TV
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be hung? What do I do about the shiplap? You may be able to see from the pictures that the shiplap is as deep as the window trim, leaving no depth. It also interferes with the crown molding. And I hate that corner trim piece that separates the shiplap from the drywall
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in the corner. Please ignore our ugly blinds. They will hopefully be gone soon. Isn’t there a color of brick that you would recommend to be a good neutral that’s also timeless? Other things to note, we’re going to be painting. And
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while we haven’t selected our color scheme, we would like to incorporate navy blue and gold. We will also be redoing all of the flooring, most likely to an engineered hardwood similar to the sample I have attached. Thanks again for
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Designing the Fireplace Wall
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any input. It’s greatly appreciated. We are moving slow, but your advice has already saved me thousands of dollars. Samantha, guys, yeah, why wouldn’t you write in save thousands of dollars like Samantha?
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Write in and let me know what you need help with. Okay, let’s dig in. Let’s look at these pictures. So guys, I highly recommend that you follow along on YouTube because all these pictures are featured on YouTube. You can read
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along with the letter. You can see me in my onesie. You can see me at 9:30 at night on a Monday just rocking it out. Uh, but pictures really do tell a thousand words and so they will help to describe this room even better than I can. All right. So, we have lots going on here. And I’m not fully sure
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that I’m understanding the vision for the ginstone or even for the brick and how far it will go. What my understanding is is that you’ve got this fireplace centered on this long wall and the long wall currently is full
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shiplap. It’s like an accent wall of shiplap. It’s painted the same color as the other walls. I got to blow my nose. Sorry, guys. Keeping it real real today. Okay. So, what I’m understanding
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is that you’re going to replace the fireplace that’s now kind of a standard height with a lower linear fireplace. And then up to the edges of the windows somewhat, you’re going to put the brick. Now, the brick won’t be a full wall. It’ll just be behind the fireplace in between the
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windows that are flanking the fireplace, which is still quite a significant expanse. I’m just guessing here, but it’s like 8 ft probably between the two windows. And I’m understanding that that’s where this gemstone was going to go. I do like the idea of doing the thin
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brick. The question is what color scheme? And really, I’d want you to design the entire room, making sure that the entire room is how you like it before choosing the brick. Now, the brick is going to come in, you know, say 10 colors. And you’re going to choose from that. And
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you don’t really want to be choosing it these architectural finishes based on the furniture usually. Usually you want to base them on the house, the architecture, because furniture changes out much more often than this fireplace
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around ever will. But in this case, if everything else is set, then that might be something to consider. Um, let’s see here. You know, the thing that’s kind of tripping me up is that you’re going to be making a lot of changes to this space. You’re going to be changing the wood tone floor,
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which I really agree with. Right now you have like a gray wash floor and it looks very dated. Unfortunately, and I’ve said it for years, I’ve believed it for years. I was advising clients and saying, “Don’t do the graywashed floor because it is trendy. It’s not timeless.
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It really I can pinpoint the exact years when it was in vogue.” And that’s not what you want. Same with today that client I was working with in Malta, New York. They were really drawn to super bleached light wood, like very very light wood, almost kind of a white wash,
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just akin to a white wash. And I said, first of all, it’s going to be very hard to find similar wood tones in this family. Second of all, this is a trendy moment. Light woods are having a moment and a few of them, especially the warmer, more midtone leaning woods are
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going to be somewhat timeless. But those super bleached, super whitewashed, super light, for lack of a better word, wood tones that just have the faintest shade of like a very light tan. Those are going to be on their way. Those are
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going to go the way of the whitewashed gray. But not knowing what color you’re going to paint this room, it’s hard for me to help you select the brick. I do like the TV where it is. It’s now on a wall that’s perpendicular to the fireplace wall, but I think when you do do the linear
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fireplace, you can lower it. Now you have made this room somewhat narrower by floating the couch so that you could have a walkway behind it which in many ways I feel is working. But you know if you’re going to mount a TV higher than eye level. So you asked what height
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should a TV be at when you’re seated on a sofa or wherever you’re primarily watching the TV if that’s a recliner or whatever. You should draw a straight laser line from your eye to the wall where the TV is. And that should be the center point of the TV at eye level.
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That’s pretty low. It’s why most TV stands are, you know, between 20 and 30 in high because you don’t want your TV to be too high. But I have a TV above my fireplace because it just makes sense in my room and my room is quite deep and I
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love that I can see the fireplace at the same time. And there’s some ways around having to look up. And one of the ways that’s so simple is angling the TV down. So my TV’s on like a mount and I just angled it down and that works perfectly. So that would be my recommendation if
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you find that the linear fireplace is still causing your TV to feel a little bit high. Right. Um, what else would I say here? Let’s go back to your questions. Let’s go back. Let’s go back. What do you do about the shiplap? Well, speaking of trendy, I hate to tell you, shiplap is very trendy. It’s
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essentially, you know, modern-day wood paneling and it’s going to go the way of the wood paneling, but because it’s painted the same color as the wall, it’s really not as obtrusive as, say, the wood paneling from the 70s and 80s that
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Choosing the Right Brick Color
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we’re all familiar with that had the very visible wood grain. It’s not really bothering me. I would most likely just replace it with sheetrock because there’s going to be very little of this sheep shiplap and your contractor’s already telling you he’s going to have to tear it down to
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the studs. So, I would just be inclined to do sheetrock on either side of this thin brick. Let me see what else you mentioned. There’s an issue with the corners and the crown molding. So I guess here where the shiplap wall is joining the
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crown molding from the other wall, the ship shiplap’s crown is not the same or is having some kind of issue joining, which is interesting because that not perceptible in these pictures, but if you can see it in person, that is definitely a problem. All the more
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reason to get rid of that shiplap and fix this issue. And you mentioned that the shiplap is somewhat deeper than the window itself. But I think when you remove the shiplap and take this down to the studs, you’ll have an opportunity to have that window frame pop again. So
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that way the window frame is the thing that protrudes into the space and not the wall treatment or the sheetrock in this case. Let’s see. So I guess your next question was about what color the brick should be. And again, I would find online really clear
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inspiration pictures of the direction that you want to take this because this is a big investment. This is something you won’t want to change for many years to come. I don’t think a natural brick color is really the aesthetic of the pieces or fits with the aesthetic of the pieces that you have
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going on. You have dark gray sofas. You have a neutral rug with a dark gray pattern. You have a nice big clock that’s such a cool statement piece between windows on a perpendicular wall
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that has like a gray frame. You have a picture in the background on the hallway wall that’s got a gray mat. So, putting some warm red tone brick in here, I think, is going to feel really out of place. And like I said, you’re going to
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want to see the options that are available. I like the idea of having it be different than the wall color so that it’s adding a new element like truly feeling like a different material rather than just looking like a different texture. But I want it to be congruous with what
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you’re doing. And I’m excited that you’re bringing in the warmth from the floors because this room featuring all this rot iron and gray furniture and dark wood coffee table and end tables is starting to get a little too cool for my liking. It’s kind of making me want to
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add either some color pops that feel warm or like a texture that feels warm. Right? So, gray brick may not be the way I’m thinking of going. We do need some artwork in here. Yes, we do. Yes, we do. We need some color. And it would be fun
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to add some drapes. These windows are pretty pretty much crying out for drapes. And I’d love that to tie
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The Importance of Drapes
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together with the other side of the room that seems to feature the dining area. of this room is an open concept room with the fireplace on one extreme end. The sofa facing the fireplace and the back of the sofa is facing a staircase
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that goes up the middle of the space and on the right hand side of that staircase, it’s very open and I can see a dining area. Having drapes that are the same in all the spaces that I can see would really tie this together. All right, Samantha. I’ve been wandering,
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but I will tell you, it has been 12 hours since my last cup of coffee, and I blame it on that. All right, you know that we have been in business for 20 years. I’ve been podcasting for 10, and I was thinking
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about how to celebrate this. You know, when we had our 15-year anniversary at my firm, I did a whole series on what I was grateful for, on our milestones. H been there, done that. It might be fun, especially as I’m taking a walk down memory lane, writing my diary, my
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memoir, reading my diaries, and writing my memoir, excuse me. It might be fun to tell you a couple client stories. So, I’m going to tell you a story. I had this one client and it was over 15 years ago cuz I wasn’t yet married. I had met my husband. We were engaged, but not yet
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betrothed. Okay. I was working with this client. He was moving from Spain or England, I can’t recall. He was an economics professor at NYU. And he lived abroad with a woman that he thought was going to be his fiance. And he was so in love with her. She was
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apparently so in love with him. they were often um apart because he traveled for work. And so she would write him these long, beautifully handwritten love letters that even had illustrations on beautiful stationery. And when he called me, because at that time I answered my own phones. So when
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he called me, he was like, “I’m moving in to NYU professor housing. I knew that my girlfriend was going to come move with me to New York. She was going to come live with me and so I was going to have her design everything and she just broke up with me. And I am devastated.
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And now I don’t have any of the furniture that she was going to bring with her, nor do I have her eye for design. And I just need to feel comfortable. I can’t move to a new city and live in a shell of a space with no furniture and be this depressed.
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So I went to meet him and he was such a sweet guy, maybe late 20s, early 30s and really he was worse off than he explained. He was devastated. And as he took me on a tour of his space, it was very sparse. When we get to the bedroom,
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there’s a mattress on the floor and above the mattress, taped on the wall in kind of a headboard shape, were all the love letters that she had written to him. Every night he’s sleeping under these love letters, like rereading them before he turns off his nightstand lamp. I’m like, “Oh my gosh.”
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First things first, we’re taking those down. So, he was really coming from a um place of rock bottom. He was crying regularly. He decided to do an overhaul package, meaning that we would help him with everything from soup to nuts. We would install it for him. We would execute the
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vision, right? So, I recommended all these pieces. He was very excited. He had the budget for him. I returned with my team of handymen. were installing over a series of days and this man is like crying. This man needs to like go
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out and get air. Apparently, he found out that his girlfriend had found someone else. It was just really difficult. And on the last day, I did something that I really haven’t done with too many other clients, but I brought in a sage stick. So, I usually
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bring a little present after an overhaul. Not always, but most of the time when I can remember it because sometimes there’s just so much going on. But I brought him like a little basket and I brought him this smudging sage stick and he felt too intimidated or maybe I don’t know not connected enough
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to the experience to do it himself, but I could tell he was a very emotionally in tuned person. So I said, “Let’s do it together.” And we wound up smudging his place together, opening all the kitchen cabinets and letting that sage smoke fill the room, opening the windows all
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around, you know, in the closet, just leaving no nook or cranny unsmoked and smudged. And it was such an emotional experience for us both. I could tell that at first he thought it was really loopy. It left a smell and you know he’s in these NYU
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dorms for professors essentially and it smelled eerily like marijuana and marijuana was not legal at that time. So I was like oh my gosh is the whole hallway thinking that he’s like smoking up this new econ professor. Anyway, luckily he didn’t bring that up
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and we just, you know, had all the windows open. But it not only reset the space for him, but I could tell even for me, it reinforced how powerful I could viscerally feel and see the change in his behavior as we were moving through
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the space really setting intentions for a new experience in New York City for him. that he would find someone new, that he would be able to rediscover himself, and that he’d be open to all that New York has to offer, leaving that old, stagnant, need I say, toxic relationship and
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energy behind. So, there’s one story, one story from my thousands of clients. It’s not that one client sticks out more than others, but there are moments that don’t leave you, and that’s one of them. So, I always wonder, “Whatever happened to that guy? What a sweet guy.”
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All right, guys. I want to be asking, “Whatever happened to you? Send me an email. Let me see the pictures and I can be thinking about your project 15 years from now.” All you have to do is go to uploft.com/mpodcast.
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Closing Remarks and Call to Action
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All right, until next time. Bye. A big thanks to our producer Jeremy 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
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services and book a consultation with one of our talented designers. If you’re enjoying the Uplift and Tear Design podcast, please support us by sharing the show with friends and leaving a five-star review on Apple Podcasts or
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wherever you listen. It’s the best way to help new listeners find us. Thanks for tuning in and we’ll see you next week with more pro tips and pop culture dish.
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