Welcome to fellow friends in Home and hosting a series within
the main podcast Home and Hosting with Louis Burke.
In this series, I sit down with designers and creators from
around the world to talk about how we live, style and share the
spaces we call home. But we're not just talking paint
colours or furniture picks. These conversations are about
how we actually make a space feel like home.
The rituals, the layouts and the small, intentional choices that
shape how we live day to day. Today I'm joined by two amazing
people who really embody the idea of making every moment an
experience. Alex and Mike are designed
forward OG content creators based in Philadelphia, known for
turning their City Row home into a lived in, layered and deeply
personal space, blending modern style with warmth, texture, and
intention. Whether they're styling a
beautiful tablescape, rethinking their backyard layout, or
sharing hot takes on pillow chops and top sheets, their
content always brings a perfect mix of inspiration and
personality. In this episode, we share about
everything from scent rituals to seasonal entertaining, and how
their fashion sense mirrors their interiors and the journey
of owning their first home, including the wild story of
buying the land behind the house to create the backyard of their
dreams. So be sure to check out Alex and
Mike's Instagram at Alex and Mike whilst listening to today's
episode. And if you'd rather watch this
conversation, it's up on YouTube now.
Without further ado, let's welcome our guests.
OK. Hi, Alex and Mike, welcome to
fellow friends at home and hosting.
It's so exciting to have you on. Oh.
We are so excited to be here. Thank you so much for having us.
Can't. Wait to chat.
I love to kick start the episodes with ascent focus
because I feel like, you know, as homebodies we know how to set
the mood. So what are you guys burning at
the moment? We we recently discovered this
fragrance brand that I don't know if you've heard of and I'm
sure other people have. It's called Glasshouse
Fragrances. Yes.
Yeah. OK well, they're an Australian
brand. Is it Australian?
OK, cool. Oh, great.
And so we got a selection of them and they're all amazing In
our bathroom right now is One Night in Rio, and I feel like
that's a really nice scent for a bathroom.
But I love the whole line. I love, I love the packaging.
The glass jars are really. Just very minimal and I just
feel like it looks good in any kind of.
It helps I had no idea the Australian.
Brand, yeah. And the scents are very, like,
impactful. Like, I think Kyoto in Bloom is
probably one of their most popular scents.
But yeah, no, Glasshouse is pretty iconic.
I love that it's Australian. I love that I like a little
North Australian. That's funny.
Yeah.
And I also saw that you guys got the homie towels and robes the
other day. Yeah.
Home is Australian as well. Yeah, we didn't know that.
We learned. Yeah, we're working on a
campaign with them right now and their stuff is amazing.
The robe I never want to take. Off I know everything is so well
made. The designs are incredible.
It's just so beautiful. It adds to the experience of
using all of their products. They're such an iconic brand.
They kind of started off with cushions and then they've
developed into sheets and pyjamas and loungewear.
It's been incredible to see them grow so quickly because they
started in 2020, so they're still quite a young brand.
Oh yeah, OK, yeah. But it's amazing the stuff that
they've been able to do. And I likewise, I have one of
their robes on the way. It's very exciting.
They're rolling it out. They're kind of doing some stuff
for the guys, so it's cool to see, like the textural robe.
I bet it's the same one our vis. I think it's the terracotta, the
colour. I'm getting like the chocolate 1
I think. I love that one too.
We have. The chocolate towels, Yeah.
Yeah, it's so nice. The texture Got a Christmas
candle burning at the moment because it's winter here in
Australia. So I'm Burning the Merrymaker by
Paul Smith, The Paul Smith Candles.
We've never had a pulp before. Yeah, so he sort of launched
these candles where we were like two or three years ago.
They have different sizes. There's one like this size and
then there's one like quite large.
And they come with like matching like all contrasting coloured
bits. So they're quite cute as little
vessels. They're very similar to the Paul
Smith brand and the fact that like, you know, how he's
packaging has kind of got the multiple yeah colours in the
lines and things like that. So.
It's just crazy to think that we're in the middle of summer
and you're in the middle of winter.
It's kind of like a little crazy play on the mind.
Yeah, I know. It's even the same, like when it
comes to making content, you know, you've always got to think
about what else is going on around the place because
obviously, like, you know, it's coming up to fall in September.
So it's like Halloween. But then like for us, it's
spring. So like I've got to run out
early and I'm going to go and get some like branches to like
put up by my door to hang bats on before all the leaves come
through. And then Christmas time,
Australia has this thing where it's like sometimes people won't
use like traditional evergreens, but I'm just like, they're at
Evergreen, meaning they're greens year round so I can.
Do a reason for that. I think they're just saying
because it feels like a traditional European or
Eurocentric tree that they want to go for more of like a palm
tropical energy. But like I've kind of said
before, it's like as soon as you step away, like halfway through
Australia, that's not connected to like so close to the equator,
it's quite cool climate. So we experience like fall like
in terms of like the leaves go brown and things like that.
And they fall if you're in like Melbourne or you're in Tasmania
and some parts of NSW, but it's more like in that Queensland
area where they might do something a little bit more, you
know, Palmy. But they're not very bushy
generally. Like, they're not great to
decorate, you know? Very true.
People in California when they're doing Christmas and it
feels like very tropical and they're decorating their palm
trees. Yeah, exactly.
Yeah, the exact same vibe. Honestly, it's like it's but are
you guys real Christmas tree types or are you faux Christmas
tree? So we would love.
To be real Christmas tree types, but we decorate so early for
content purposes. I think our tree last year went
up Halloween night. Yeah, Halloween night after all
the trick or treaters were done so we can start shooting our
content if we were to have a real.
Tree it would not. Last months, you know.
Yeah, we have the fake tree, the artificial, but it is it does
feel nostalgic because I grew up you too with a real tree and we
would do the chopping and all of that.
And it does feel very Christmas like ROM com movie.
But artificial is easy. Maybe this year we'll do like a
fake tree and then also, I don't know, incorporate like a real
tree somewhere else. In our house, a baby.
Little baby tree, Yeah. No, I'm totally like that as
well. I've got 2 artificial tree.
I've got two of the Balsam Hill trees.
Yeah. They're the best trees.
They are the best trees, right? They are like I tell everyone
every year, I'm just like, come on, just bite the bullet.
You're going to have it for the rest of your life.
Like it's totally worthwhile. Because The thing is about
decorating real trees versus faux trees is you can't decorate
real trees very well generally with the ornaments like they
they don't sit on the tree properly.
It's hard. There's a lot of you're, you're,
you're fluffing the branches and it never works out right.
And then they're, they're drying out and falling.
So it's it's better to have those.
Because I've known you guys for so long now, I feel like it's
been over 10 years. We go all the way back to early
Instagram days, but let everyone know like a bit of your back.
Story like so we started in social media back in 2015.
So it has been a decade, which is wild and it really ages you
when you think about the timeline.
But we, we've been married for almost 2 years.
We've been together for over a decade, met in college, but then
when we moved to Philly, moved to the city and moved in
together and started our careers, we had this desire for
some sort of creative outlet. And that's where our love for
social media and our shared love for interior design and
lifestyle content and all of that kind of was born.
And it's funny because when we first started kind of in the
social media world, we always wanted to have a YouTube channel
for some reason, but we just felt like it was so daunting.
There's so much equipment, lighting and cameras and
editing. Yes.
And we kind of thought, you know, why don't we dive into the
whole like blogging world. I loved photography and he loved
writing. So we just thought that blogging
would be like the perfect amalgamation or.
All of that and 2015 was like. The year it was.
Big blog, it was kind of like peak of it, right?
It started before you know, like 2009, 2010, like the Tumblr
days, the Myspace, but I feel like in 2014, 2015, like
everyone was subscribing to blogs, everyone was reading.
Obviously TikTok wasn't around Instagram was there, but it was
just a different like you get it like if the people that are new
to social media and like the influencer world, I'm like it
was just a different time back then.
I kind of missed it in parts of it because it was so it felt
like such a community and it felt so like creative forward,
you know, it was just different. So that's why we started our
blog and we did it for a long time and.
We just kind of did it more as like a passion project.
We kind of wanted something to take our minds off of our
careers a bit and do something together.
And we just figured that, you know, if we were able to go out,
shoot some photos of each other and kind of just talk about all
of our interests, that we would have fun doing it.
And then, you know, our parents followed us, our friends to our.
Moms on Facebook and that was like the extent of what we
thought social media would be for us.
We never thought it would be a job.
I'm sure I don't know if you how that was for you and your
creation of social media or like your foray into it, but it was
definitely just a side thing that then came something so much
bigger than we expected. Hmm.
Well, definitely, I feel like, like you guys were saying with
the blogging, it was sort of, I think it was a, it was stemming
off the traditional media side of things.
So people were still writing articles.
Like if you remember back in the day, I feel like a lot of the
1st PR events were very much heavily focused on that media
showings because they started opening it up to bloggers and
then it kind of progressed from there and turning, you know, and
everything was a lot more, you know, you would read an article
versus looking and consuming visual content.
So the way that it's made able to grow and then the idea like
if us sitting here now and the idea that, you know, video
content would be like one of the main things that people are
consuming now. Like it's unbelievable because
like. It is.
I remember in 2016 we had been pretty consistent with our blog
and I don't know if you remember the platform blog Lovin, if that
was if that made its way to Australia, I don't know.
But do you remember the Yeah, we it was it was an app.
It's I guess I'm assuming that I don't even know if they're
around there. I think they've gone.
Yeah. I don't think they're thinking
defunct now, but it was an app where you could follow bloggers
and you would subscribe to them like you would like a YouTube or
Instagram. And it was just where someone
could read those like long form content, like articles.
And it was just so like that wouldn't be around.
I mean, well, I guess you know what it is now It's sub stack.
That's what it's. Trying.
I was about to say it's kind of like a sub stack sub.
Stack existed back then, but it was really like that.
Like the thought of now being so video forward and short form
content and podcast. It's just, it's changed.
It's fun, but it just has changed so much over the years.
I feel like the modern day social media really has such a
play on relationships. I just feel like, you know, back
in the day there weren't really a lot of relationships fostered
in the social media world. I feel like because everything
was just kind of, you know, through words on a blog.
But now I feel like we have met some of our best friends through
Instagram and TikTok and going to these events that we have.
Or the community that you build, like I feel like it's so it's
there. There's been such an emphasis on
like who is on the other side, reading the content and watching
the videos. So it has changed a lot.
What year did you start in this social media world?
Well, I'm not sure. I think if I think back to my
early days, my sister was originally a Blogger and she
started talking more about beauty.
And that's where I sort of got exposed because she started
getting invited to a lot of the events.
And it was very early days, especially in Australia being a
lot smaller population as well. She was living in Sydney, right?
And the event scene sort of started happening there for her.
So I was kind of watching what she was doing from afar.
It was sort of interesting to see what was going on on that
side of things and that that's why I kind of knew about
bloggers and people like her. Many people, yeah.
It wasn't maybe until I moved from my hometown, the Hunter
Valley, which is in NSW, to Melbourne, that I was like, OK,
I started studying design. So I was like, I need to
capitalise on networking and how can I do that?
I can do that through a free resource like Instagram.
So if I start posting the work and the things that I'm
interested in, that should start to get the ball rolling on
meeting people and things like that.
Yeah, yeah. It goes back a while though,
like that's early 20s and now I'm in my 30s, so it's been a
long time. But in terms of going full time
with content, it's probably been about three years now.
Yeah, yeah. So it took a little while for it
to really build my mentor, I feel.
Like that's what we say to, you know, when people reach out to
us or people we meet at events that might be newer to the
social media space. And you know, especially now
with the virality of social media right back then, if it
feels like I don't remember people going viral like they do
now, right? Like you can post something on
TikTok and the next day could have a million followers.
If, if this algorithm treats you well.
And we always say, you know, it took us a long time to do full
time content and like make this a career.
But I guess for us, I appreciate that it wasn't an overnight
thing because. We're able to learn so much over
the years. And how to treat it as a job.
Exactly. And gain a lot of experience and
yeah, like you said, really treat it as a career, a career
really. And I just feel like nowadays
there's not much appreciation in the social media world.
I think people, they are entitled to it or they deserve
it, you know? I think also it's like when it's
slower, you have more time to sit and think about what you
want to be as a brand. Whereas I feel like when you you
go up too quickly, especially with people that I've noticed
who got quite quickly, they get a bit lost because they get
stuck in that one thing that made them big and then they
don't know where to go from there.
And that's when you can really fall over because social media
is so much about reinvention. And if you don't have your main
pillars that you stand by the things that you go off, you can
struggle really hard to keep the momentum and keep the
consistency because you kind of run out of ideas.
People get over what you were doing before.
So I think doing the slow pace is a lot better because you
build up a really good foundation about what am I
trying to say, who is my audience, Who am I speaking to?
You have a voice that is like a foundational voice that people,
no matter who comes to you knows, OK, this is this is who
they are. No matter what around their
content changes. I know who they are at like the
core. You build value, you know.
Yeah. And like I think also you can
then turn it into, you can take that information you've learned
and put it on lots of platforms exactly.
Instagram or a podcast or a blog, you know, so it all works
out. Yeah, I want to try the candle
that you just mentioned in your June favourites.
What was that the Sola? The Soolong, Your candle.
Sassafras. Yeah.
Choice of ants. Candle.
Yeah, it's very smoky, leathery. It's like, I always love to play
into the seasons, right? For sure I.
Was going to ask, do you guys like to do that as well?
Yes, definitely the the season and the and just the weather
too. I feel like it's so dependent on
how we set the mood when it fits a chilly, cool evening.
I want something that feels like a nice hug, you know, a warm
sweater or something like that. Yeah, but I feel like, you know,
with fall, we're always burning candles that are very fall
forward, and then we kind of move into the whole winter
scents and then, you know, same with spring and summer.
Yeah, I feel like scent is the best way to be able to do that
really. Like you can do things like I
always also like to ask people like, what's something that you
like to do to film more in the moment when it comes to the
home? So like for me, it's like, I
think flowers play a really important part in that and the
fact that they only last a week. Like a lot of people can focus
on fake flowers, but I think having real flowers is that nod
to go, well, I'm actually living in this moment right now.
Especially when you get seasonal flowers too, it really speaks
to, this is like the one time in that week that I'm having where
I get to really like have that. You to be present too.
I think that's something we always say, you know, our vase
on our island is empty right now.
And I keep thinking like, I want a beautiful bouquet there
because that's that makes you feel present when you're in the
kitchen, you're cooking, you're having coffee.
But yeah, fresh florals is something that is very powerful.
Yeah, we always say we love to create more of an experience
when we have family or friends over in our home.
And the two things we always love to do is have fresh florals
or some sort of like STEM and then also have a candle burning
always. Candle or incense?
But yeah, we, we always candle, but we've also been leaning into
incense too, a lot because I feel like we found like lately
there's so many really cool bespoke brands that are making
beautiful incense holders that look different and unique.
The 1:00 we we just put in the third floor.
It's the sphere with these little holes on the top and it
just the way that the incense comes out, it's, it's really
beautiful. So it's another way to be more
present in the moment, in the scent.
There's a. A candle company based out of
New York. I don't know if you ever heard
of them. Apollo.
They are one of our favourites just because the scents are
incredible and I feel like very well designed.
But they all are made in Rydell glasses, so once you're finished
burning through the candle, you can use that glass as like an
evening cocktail glass, which is beautiful.
So it's kind of repurposing, it's making you, I feel like
it's always, it's a memory, then it's creating a memory.
It's I love that. So are you guys originally from
Philadelphia? We're not.
So we grew up in two different areas.
I grew up in South Jersey, in New Jersey, and I went to school
near his hometown, about four hours from my hometown down in
New Jersey, and then he grew up in central PA.
Yeah, I grew up in a really small rural town, like farmland,
OK, Very opposite from who I am today, which is so funny.
Opposite who I've always been, I should say.
I moved away when I was 18, went to college, which wasn't that
far away. It was only like 45 minutes
away. But it still felt like I'm
leaving home, right? I'm leaving where I grew up, and
that's where we met. But my whole family still lives
in my hometown. He's the only person that left
of all the cousins uncles. Everyone yeah, I appreciate
where I'm from now a lot more than when I did growing up
there, which I think is very true for most people.
You know, you feel like you you reject where you came from so
much because if it's opposite of who you are and what you think.
But now as I'm older, I'm in my 30s, I feel I'm excited when I
go back home because it feels like, oh, I have these memories.
It's it's so different than the city and it's luckily where
close to where we met. So that's also has.
And Philadelphia was the closest city to our college, so that's
where we decided to kind of reside.
Yeah. Yeah, amazing.
So like with that as well. So did you guys rent in Philly
1st and then you recently bought?
Yes. So we so we moved to Philly in
2015 and we rented a tiny apartment.
It was less than 400 square feet.
I don't know how we lived there with a one bedroom with a dog.
It was insane. It was brand new, so that was
like the one perk about it, that it was beautifully designed, but
it was very. Very small, yeah, so, so small.
We had our dog there and we lived there for a couple years
and then we moved to one other neighbourhood and rented until
we bought the house right now, which we bought at the end of
2019. So we I lived here for almost 6
years which is crazy. And we purchased this home right
before COVID. So before COVID, we were just so
lucky with, you know, all the interest rates and all that
because after COVID had everything just skyrocketed.
Yeah. So everything, yeah, we bought
it such an interesting time though, because because of COVID
and the lockdowns, it it forced us I think more so than had we
not had that weird time, time in history where we just focused on
our space. And you know, as many negative
things that came from COVID, I think 1 positive thing for, you
know, an individual is it force us to like protect our space and
our peace and let's create our home to be like our safety from
everything else, which was kind of a beautiful thing.
And I think that we now taken to now every aspect is like what
you do in your four walls that you have matter so much to how
you live your life and and the design of of your home.
So that was fun. We were home for two years.
It felt like just like, OK, what project can we do?
What design can we do? Which is really?
Fun and it's funny because you know, before COVID, we kind of I
mean we did focus on home design, but we had a big
emphasis also on skin care and fashion and all these other
topics. But I feel like once we were
here and we were stuck in the house for a couple of years,
that really transitioned our focus on to home design much
more than we were prior to that. I'm so I feel like, you know,
just doing all the different projects we did in our house, we
kind of went through each room and put a new, I don't know,
like a fresh face to each room. And that really allowed us, I
feel like, to grow our design audience, if you will.
But that totally makes sense. And I think also a lot of people
would resonate with that. I feel like the home arena
really started to kick off, particularly around young
people, yeah. In like the early twenty 20s,
like 20/20/23 because previously to that with my experience of
being like a photographic stylist, like we were doing a
lot of backpack shoots and ecom shoots.
And it was always with the idea that we were selling to usually
a woman who's 45 plus because their kids are like in high
school, they got more disposable income.
So everything kind of like was geared towards them.
Right when I started in on TikTok in 2020, making beds,
which no one was doing. I swear I was the early person
making a bed on TikTok back in the day.
But it was a great platform just to do something where, well, it
was stop motion and I didn't have to think and it wasn't
perfect. Because I think and you guys I'm
sure will resonate, is that when you want to do really beautiful
things and when you're passionate about putting
something online, if it's done in such an aesthetic way, some
people don't understand it because it's not everyday enough
for them, so they don't. Sometimes for them.
Yeah, exactly. So TikTok was a really good
platform to just like post random things and not have to
think about it too much and not worry that people on Instagram
would see it. But the way that it's extended
in terms of like us talking about homie earlier, that came
out of the pandemic, you know, it started in like 2020-2021.
So and that's totally been geared towards young people who
are building at their home in their space.
And also the idea that people couldn't travel as much.
So people started bringing people over more, so more dinner
parties, the people were setting tables more and things like
that. So it's been interesting to see
how that's developed, but also the fact that you guys both
aren't originally from Philly. Did you ever feel like there was
a need to kind of create a home base because you guys weren't
close to home? Or do you feel like it really
kind of came about through lockdown?
No, that's interesting. Yeah, I thought, I never thought
about that, but that is very true because we were coming
together at such a precarious time in life and moving to
Philly and I, you know, you're probably right.
It felt like we needed to create some home base, some safety net
for ourselves and together. I think that this definitely is
the first, aside from the, you know, the two other homes we
rented before, this is the first space where it feels like it's a
true representation of the both of us, that we came into it
together. So yeah, I guess that is true.
And it does feel like, I think it's interesting, like when
you're growing up, you call home as where you came from for a
really long time, your parents place.
And then all of a sudden something changes.
And one day you realise you're not calling it that anymore.
You're not thinking of it that way.
And I feel like probably until we moved here, my mind probably
would have thought about the that being home until now.
And this is home, Yeah. I always love to ask people like
what, like what do you feel like brings out that feeling of home?
And I think maybe you guys hadn't considered because you
had each other. And sometimes when you have each
other, that's your. Well, that's what we come back
to because we're here together and we're doing.
Yeah, Yeah. You know.
That's, that's an interesting, that's a, that's a beautiful,
fun way to think about it, for sure.
Yeah, it was obviously so exciting with you guys
purchasing your first home and it's a row home.
Yes, it is. Yes, it is.
Yeah. So for people who aren't
familiar with a row home, how would you describe?
A box, No, with with limited windows and horrible natural
lighting that you have to work around.
We're a mix of city and suburbs, our neighbourhood.
So we're we're still in the city, but we have some suburban
homes around us with these big yards.
But then our whole block is very much city block.
And so ours is a three Storey home with a basement.
We're connected to house on the other side of us and it's almost
every house like this is the same layout.
So it forces you to either stick with that box or get creative
because you're going to go crazy if you don't think of something
else because it's going to look like everyone else.
And that's exactly where our city row home series kind of
developed because we noticed that going in all of the other
row homes for the city, our friends row homes.
Or. Touring houses, everything just
looked the same. They all had the same flooring,
the same kitchen layout, the same grey builders grade walls.
And so we thought, you know, why don't we do a series where we
can kind of talk to our audience, You know, people may
be experiencing the same type of home that we are.
And. Because this is a very typical
home for people in Philadelphia. I mean, the majority of people
if you're not living in an apartment building downtown or
you're living in the suburbs, you're living in a home like
this. They're almost all of them look
like this and and the same. Yeah, I think from memory, like
when I looked like when I've seen your guys place, it's very
similar to that of like a terrace house, but it doesn't
have like a veranda on it. It's like flat on the front and
then it has like steps up. Yeah, and, but and next to one
another is what? It's a whole line of all of.
It if you're on the end, you can luckily get some like side
light, but if you're in the middle, you've got like the
front facing windows and the back facing windows and that's
it. On the one side of our house we
don't have a home connected to us, so we're luckily we have a
couple of windows on that side which allows the natural light
to come in, yes. But it's not that much lighting.
We we're always like, when how can we get more lighting, right?
What, what wall can we knock down to like, but there, you
know, there's, there's nothing. But you do have to get creative
and how you style it so that it feels bright enough without it.
You know, when when you have dreary days like today and the
lights gone, you're like, Oh my gosh, it feels like it's 9:00 PM
at 11 AM. Yeah, yeah.
It's essentially like the time of the year and like where the
house is positioned and everything.
So obviously you guys saved up to buy this house, which is a
huge investment when you think about it.
So when you got in there and you're like, cool, we're buying
a row home. Like it's a classic home in
Philly. Like we want to make our own,
but you've obviously put all this money into your deposit and
things like that. Like, what were the first things
that you feel like made the biggest impact into making that
space feel more like you like? I mean, the number one thing we
always talk about is paint. I think paint can completely
transform a space and lighting. When we moved into our home,
probably within the first two months, we had painted almost
every single room in the house and we changed every single
light fixture in the entire house.
And that I mean, it looked like almost like it was a brand new
home walking into it. Yeah, and it can be, especially
if you're just buying a house, right?
You, you spent all of this money.
That can be a really affordable way.
Obviously, yes, there's lighting that can get expensive, of
course. And as you go on in the years,
you can always upgrade. But in the beginning, you can
find really affordable ways to change your space.
Lighting and paint is probably the two biggest things that we
did, the most important things we did right when we moved in.
Always here, yeah. And I recall that you guys were
talking about how you originally did like the first floor like
initially because that's where you spent the most time and then
you've gone on to do the other levels as you've gone on.
Yeah, just kind of like for us it can.
And for most people it can feel especially then when you have a
multiple floor house, it can feel overwhelming because you
want to just do everything right away.
But for us, we just said let's take one floor at a time, one
room at a time. And our first floor is
completely open. It's the you walk into the
living room, dining room, kitchen, it's all open.
So we thought this is where we're going to spend the most
time having friends over ourselves.
So let's just get this whole floor exactly what we want and
then move up. And I, I feel like that was it
made things a lot more attainable and not as
overwhelming, I think for sure for, for us.
And diving even a little deeper, I feel like before we really put
a lot of money into spaces like our kitchen or our bathroom, we
decided to do like little mini facelifts, just painting the
cabinets, you know, adding a new sink into the bathroom and the
kitchen and then maybe changing some of the hardware Before we
actually wanted to change countertops, change cabinets,
things like that, right? Absolutely.
And so once we got the shell sort of happening then with the.
Furniture. Did a lot of furniture that you
were having in your rental come with you into this house or did
you feel like you kind of went with a fresh slate?
I'm like, you know what, let's completely change it out.
We brought a lot of that furniture with us.
Kind of our ethos when designing a space is always, we want to
really live in the space and figure out exactly how we're
going to live and how we're going to function throughout the
space. So we took some time, a couple
of months just to realise like, you know, what we would do in
each room and then slowly but surely we started incorporating
certain. So we've changed.
I feel like we definitely have changed all, almost all of the
furniture now at this point, but we definitely took our time
because it, I know for a fact that if we would have just
started ordering things, we would have got them into the
home and they it would just, we wouldn't have known how they
really worked in the space, especially moving into a shaped
home like this. We brought a sectional, right?
And I think in theory, we thought, Oh my gosh, a sectional
is going to be amazing in this living room.
It was a horrible idea, didn't fit.
So we needed time to bring things over and, like, test it
out until we found what was really right.
Yeah. Yeah, it's that slow progression
of figuring out how you want to live, what's the flow of the
home, how's it going to make the most sense?
What, what are your wants and dreams of what's going to work
as well? You know, and then you kind of,
you know, meet in the middle, which is which I think is great
advice for people because I thought people move into this
space right away, right. I've always dreamed of a Big L
shaped sectional so far. And I want it now.
And then it's like, oops, OK, like now I need to get it
returned. And like, you know, especially
if you're buying something where there's lead times, you're like,
Oh my God. So that's why I always tell
people to measure twice, measure twice, you know, like.
And it's all about instant gratification for people.
I feel like we know when people move into a space, they just
want to have it done right away. They want to move in, not worry
about much, you know. So I think that it kind of is a
little hard thing for people to learn.
When you move into a space, you really should have patience and
learn your space first. Yeah, yeah, I think it stems
from fashion, right? Because I feel like it's very,
it's, it's a lot easier to build out an entire wardrobe quite
quickly. And if you want to reinvent your
style, which a lot of people do quite often with their fashion,
you can do it in an instant. You can shop at a couple of
stores online, get it delivered to you in 2 days and you're a
whole new person. So I think people want to do
that approach with their homes that slowly realise that, oh,
that's not going to work because things are so much more
expensive or the lead times or it's not going to fit in the
space. So it's funny how there's that
sort of disconnect there, you know?
Yeah. And it's funny that you just
brought that up because before we started chatting today, we
just had this conversation about how we feel like fashion and
interior design for us go hand in hand.
And like the ethos that we have when buying clothes or or or
wardrobe is the same with our design.
It's finding classic timeless pieces that last a long time
that make them impact that we think about before we make the
purchase and bring into our home.
Yeah. Having having like a beautiful
base and then really having fun around it.
So you know the base of your outfit, having beautiful classic
pieces and then having fun with the accessories.
It goes hand in hand with your home.
You want your centre of the room to.
Just. Feel the foundation of the room
to feel very beautiful, classic and timeless.
But then have fun with all the accessories, the lamps, the
pillows, you know? Right.
So do you think that your personal style and your fashion
style suits your homestyle? Like how would you describe your
personal style and then your homestyle?
I think they're the same. I think that our I think that
our wardrobe and our home go hand in hand most.
Of the time, most sometimes we have, sometimes we try to have a
little fun with fashion, but for yeah, I feel like the foundation
of it is is the same. Yeah, I like the colour tones
that we do a lot in the home. We use a lot in our style and I
just feel like the way we approach it too, like I said
with, you know, taking more time when I'm thinking about things,
I think that's kind of the same with how we design our house.
A perfect example of this, a couple about a year ago, I would
say year to year and a half when everyone kind of started
transitioning into like the deep Burgundy's and Maroons.
I feel like it was really big in fashion with bags and you know,
the clothing and the shoes and we felt so inspired by it that
we completely colour drenched our guest bedroom with a
beautiful deep burgundy. We take inspiration from that
and then we, you know, but then we also bought a maroon bag,
right? So it's like we're kind of doing
them at the same time if we're feeling inspired by it.
But I think that though, the biggest thing is like deciding
if those things that were inspired by are trendy, that
it's, that's going to go away in a couple of months or a year, or
if it's something that might actually last.
And finding that balance between that.
Because like you said, with fashion, fast fashion or design,
right? Like, trends come and go so
quickly and feel so overwhelming and people feel like they need
to jump on board with everything.
And the trends can obviously within the home, they could be
fun. It's fun to, you know, play with
different trends that come out. I think there comes a point
where you don't want your entire home to feel like it's a trend
because then you're just going to have to put all of the work
and what else? The money.
It doesn't feel like it's you and.
Your spot and. You're going to have to put a
lot of more work and money into replacing everything that you
thought you know a year ago was really beautiful.
Right, right. It's like, it's interesting too,
because I don't think a lot of people outside content anyway,
think about how their wardrobes and their homes can correlate or
not. Because for instance, like the
one I became more familiar with, it was once when I had a home
tour and I thought, what am I going to wear?
And then I, it clicked for me being like, well, who is the
person and what do they wear when they're walking around this
home? I don't think a lot of people
think about it. I think a lot of people could
treat their wardrobe and their home very differently and don't
ever stop and think, how do I look walking around this home
with what I'm wearing right now? Like does it actually correlate?
Am I two different people? Like, and then I think that's a
really good way to identify whether or not you're adopting
friends or you're adopting your own personal style.
Because if you can't see something from your wardrobe
being reflected in your home, maybe it's the fact that you are
spending too much time focusing on what's happening outside in
trends versus. And I can't really, I don't
actually think there is a person where their design of their home
and their wardrobe are completely opposite.
I almost feel like it couldn't. I mean, I'm sure it exists, but
I almost don't know how it could exist, right?
Like when we were watching that home tour yesterday, the
designer Vanessa Alexander, we watched her home tour of her
home in Malibu and she looks like her home.
Everything she was wearing. I said, well, that's her home.
Of course. Like that is they match
perfectly. Or someone that's really funky
and eclectic and their house is full of those vibes and those
colours. Like I don't know how it could
not go together. Just transcends one another,
right? Yeah.
And you know, whenever we watch the Architectural Digest home
tours, we look at the home, We're like, wow, the home is
really beautiful and chic. And then we look at what the.
Person is wearing and we're like, they're beautiful.
And chic, you know. Right.
You don't know if there's a good stylist in that one, though.
You don't know what they call in someone up.
Like, I've got friends who pull up stylist and they've got
things happening and you're like, yeah, that came together
almost too well. Too right?
Very cool. Yeah, well, Speaking of as well,
when it comes to like colour drenching and like painting that
whole House Beautiful burgundy colour, it's like it leads me to
the other question, which is because you guys have a row home
and you have set up that intention to make it feel
different. You guys made the decision and
you bit the bullet on painting the house black on the outside.
Yeah. And it was a bold move, you
know, like it's and especially like, was it like how did the
neighbours react? Was it a great thing or it?
Was great outside. They were like what are you
doing? What are we doing?
Because when we bought the house, it was.
This it was like a very like pale blue, blue, grey.
Yeah, and it had a red door, so it was like.
Like just crazy colours and we knew that we did not want to
keep either of those. And we've always been, I don't
know what it is, but for years before buying this house, we've
always been attracted to black homes.
I don't know, there's something so impactful about a black
homes, you know, the one in San, you know, the house, the very
famous one in San Diego or San Francisco.
And it's, I love that look. It feels so classic.
And we've always there's that Japanese wood burning technique
that's like Shishubi bond or something, I forget what it's
called, but I feel like a lot of homes were they were using that
technique of burning the wood on the outside of their home and it
gives us really beautiful black colour.
And so I feel like that was kind of the transition of us being
like, wow, how could we? This is this is really
beautiful. And then we started looking at
what homes in the city would look like if they were painted
black. And then it just, you know, we
bought the house and we were like.
Let's well, let's just do it. Let's just do it, yeah?
Yeah, that is something that we did not do ourselves.
We could not handle painting. We yes, that's where we're like,
OK, who we could do a a lot of DIY projects, but we can't paint
our house, right, Right. Yeah.
Have you?
Do you feel like it made an impression on your neighbours
and the fact that it might have inspired them to go out and do
projects themselves at their home?
I would hope so. I think so.
I mean, we still to this day. Everyone loves it.
We could say that it's a. Comment that we get we can watch
it on our little Ring camera when someone walks by and says
oh look, this is the black house, right?
Yeah, oh, look what they did. I remember when it was this
colour. So I feel like it did make a big
impact on our block with our neighbours, but just, yeah,
hopefully inspiring people to you could, you could do things
outside of your home too on the exterior and care more about
that. Yeah, well, previously I had
always lived in apartments and now I currently live in a house
and it's been so interesting going from apartment to house.
In terms of your neighbours, you might have known, like when
you're in an apartment, you might know the neighbour that's
next door to you would have crossed.
But then a lot of the time they move out and someone else moves
in so slowly you just stop talking to anyone and you just
live in this zone, which is wild because you live with so many
people in a building. That like you.
Don't pay any attention. Whereas to move to a house where
you know, I met my neighbours and I and like my neighbours
have felt like it was interesting.
The neighbours directly across from me, we're interested, like
1 was really interested to get to know us and then the other
one sort of wasn't. But then it was around Christmas
time. So I actually gave them a
Christmas gift and then they came over and started chatting.
But I noticed like when I'm out in the garden, like I have those
urns out the front which has some vine and some like figs and
things like that. I noticed that the next week my
like neighbours will be gardening or the day that I
started decorating for Halloween, the people who were
directly across the road from me of the strip started decorating
for Halloween. It's interesting.
It's you might not even intend to like realise that you're
actually the one who are making the decision of right.
We're decorating now like Halloween starts now.
It's so funny. That is true.
It is very true. I don't.
Know about, I don't know if I've ever noticed with us painting
the house black, but I definitely have noticed with
things like how we kind of decorate the outside of our
house. We had flower boxes installed
and every season we have a company who comes and places new
like beautiful florals in those flower boxes.
And we've noticed over the past year or two that all of our
neighbours have started putting flower boxes or they're
decorating really beautifully with different florals out
outside on their steps. So I think maybe that was
subconsciously kind of playing in their mind a bit.
Which I'm happy because I want curb appeal for everyone, right?
Yeah, so like if you were to describe your homestyle with
like 3 words, what would they be?
I feel like this is this is one of those.
Questions that everyone tries to answer and you're like, well, it
changes. Because I don't think we have
one. I don't think we have one
designated style because we like so many different types of
things. You know, we love vintage, we
love pieces that feel very organic.
We love traditional contemporary pieces.
But I think the one. Thing that we always say is our
home feels very organic modern in a sense.
Yeah, I'd say organic modern. And then it's it's less about
the design style, but more so about like the tones and
textures and everything we design.
It's very, you know, it's finding, it's finding warm
pieces, it's finding different textures.
We love layering different textures and different colours.
I'm not feeling so precious about everything when everything
feels so traditional and so classic.
It feels so like hardened and I feel like.
Style and your design should be more relaxed in how we kind of
think about it and and feel like you can use yeah, yeah I think
sometimes when people really try to put a put a pinpoint on what
their exact design style is within their home.
Sometimes they get trapped because then you feel like you
can't really experiment outside of that style.
So then you may, you know, if you think that your style is all
very traditional or contemporary and you see a piece that may
feel very organic or earthy or whatever mid century, you might
not want to incorporate it into your home because even though
you really feel attracted to it, you know what I mean?
Yeah, we always say, you know, when we, we're, we're capable
maybe of describing our style, but we know it when we see it.
So when we're when we're shopping for something, if
something gives us a feeling, a like a guttural feeling, we
know, OK, we want that and we'll find a way to make that work in
our space. So feels very eclectic and like
I just wanted to represent us in our personality.
It's always funny. Whenever we're out shopping, we
joke to each other. We always have a physical
response to something that we really find either like a
dramatic it is what? We're saying we're being
dramatic. We actually do like when we're
walking through a store or, you know, say Crate and Barrel, for
instance, if we're walking through and there's something
that we love so much, something like happens to our body and I'm
like, it's like an overwhelming experience.
Do you know what I mean? I'm sure you probably feel the
same. I feel like everyone in the.
Space it, guys. Like we're on the same page.
Absolutely so. Something that hates designer
doesn't care about design. They're like, these people are
wack and they're crazy. But perhaps I'm like, no, no,
like literally the perfect example is Anthony, our mutual
friend, Anthony Mediato. He sent us Facebook Marketplace
listing of this Mexican pine armoire this morning on Facebook
Workplace. And it's just like, it's so
beautiful. I, Mike was on the 3rd floor.
I was in the kitchen and I screamed.
I was like, we need to buy this, we need to buy this.
And it was like this, I was like, I can see this in our
bedroom. So that's like kind of how I
think about too, is like, I just know it when I see it.
Yeah, right. Like I love that we're now like
a little bit more loose with our styles.
Like we're happy to incorporate different things in different
places and it doesn't have to be so rigid and you don't have to
have like my style is 2 things combined and things like that.
But like people who are sort of in the early phases of
developing and designing their home.
What would be your advice for people who want to combine
different styles When Because you know, if say, if someone
really loves mid century modern, well, if it's going to be mid
century modern inspired, you could go to West Elm, for
instance, you could buy everything from West Elm and
it's just going to work. Whereas you know, you want to
combine traditional elements with contemporary elements.
What do you think has been your best approach to make that work?
I mean, honestly, I just feel it sounds so simple, but I just
think shopping for pieces that you really like, you know, and
not having so many kind of barriers to your design style,
you know, and I. Think also, I think a way
because if you're afraid of, of mixing different things and try
and buying different things from different places.
And you know, if you're trying to stick to a budget to the our
love for vintage and decor, vintage decor in your Facebook
marketplace or first dibs or anything like that.
If you're, if you're willing to be patient and, and, and find
different things that speak to you, I think that you can all,
you can find a way to bring them together.
And then on a more specific levels, like creating mood
boards for yourself, like going on Pinterest and going on Canva
or something. And like, if you've got a couple
of things that you want, put them together and like actually
visualise the space before you purchase all of these different
things. You can actually get a feeling.
I mean, we make just, I'm sure like you do, we make mood boards
all the time of something where it's like, once I see it
together, Oh, you know what? Actually this doesn't work like
I thought it would, but at least I can visualise it together,
right? It's like, actually like putting
pen to paper and like getting to know what that comes, what's
that's going to come out like. Listen, at the end of the day,
you know your space and the design of the different things
that you like is just an expression of your personality.
So I think you're staying true to your personality and buying
things that you like. In the end, it's always going to
work. Out if it's authentic to you, I
think it's always going to read well.
It's it's when I think that people don't know what they like
or who they are and and things like that is where it doesn't
always translate the best. But I feel like if it's if it's
you, it's, I'm going to probably love it.
You just, you made me think of a tip that I do with my friend all
the time where if we're shopping online and we can't decide
whether we want to buy something or not, you take a photo of the
space and then you put it onto Instagram Stories and then you
screenshot the item and then you just do like you hover and like
cut the object out with the iPhone and you drop it into
Instagram. It's always on Instagram stories
because it's the quickest way to do it.
Do you know what I mean? You like OK, Does this look
that's. Great advice because that's,
you're visualising what it is and you're, you're not being
precious about this might not fit.
Let me just look at it and see if it works and if it does, it
does. If it doesn't, it doesn't and
life goes on, you know? So like, Speaking of this as
well, you guys undertook a huge project last year, I believe,
where you bought a plot of land behind you.
Yeah. And you extended your backyard.
But it's insane. It was one of the luckiest
things, the luckiest, the luckiest kind of opportunity
that we've ever stumbled upon. It was 22 summers ago actually,
that we did this. And we so when we first moved to
our house, all of the row homes here in Philly, we all have like
8 by 8 backyards, very tiny patio square concrete, literally
concrete squares. Like courtyards on those energy.
Exactly. And you know, we tried our best
for the first couple of years to really make that space work, you
know, decorating beautifully, putting beautiful florals,
getting a nice little setup with a dining table and chairs.
And then randomly, one of our neighbours, probably about three
years ago, right, she came over to us and she was like, you
know, there's this empty plot of land that extends about 6
houses. All behind us.
There used to be a house there years ago, had been torn down,
and it was just this like jungle of weeds and bushes.
And she floated this idea and she thought.
She was like, why don't we kind of see how this would even work?
You know, let's work with the city and see if we can all
purchase this together. And then we'll kind of divvy it
up. Everyone will buy their own
plots and we'll kind of go from there.
And it did take a long time it. Took almost a year and a half
until she came back and said finally the city she did all the
legwork which shout out to our neighbour and she said, OK, we
can do it with the city. And then we we started the
process. But then even luckier enough for
us, the neighbour on our left side didn't decide to purchase
their plot. So we actually bought 2 of them
and made it created an L shape for our backyard.
So it was the biggest, definitely the biggest project
we we undertook with our house. But it's.
Most fun, Most fun. There was a lot of, you know,
excavation and we. Had to work with a.
Bunch of different people to get the yard actually levelled out
and usable. But once we did, it was just so
fun doing the landscape of the yard and putting our own kind of
sense of style with the design. We we are really attracted to
like the European gardens and like the California way of
living because I feel like they kind of go hand in hand in a
sense. And so that was our design style
goal when we first started designing the yards.
We wanted to feel just very like whimsical, very Euro vibes.
Very green. Very.
Lush. Well, it's like a beautiful like
wall. Like a Stonewall, almost.
That was that was their, yeah, that was their brush.
It was its original river stone from a river that runs through
our neighbourhood. And it was like such a happy
accident to find that it was behind all of this like crazy
weeds. And now it's our favourite place
to be at our house. We spend every night outside
when it's when the weather permits and we have little fires
and hosts friends and family and it's so much fun.
And also the value that it added to.
I know I'm like, OK. It's amazing, Absolutely.
Especially because you had to renovate it as well and make it
new again. I'm sure.
It's definitely up the value. Yeah, I'm sure that neighbour is
like, maybe I should have bought that body.
I know. Like they're looking down from
their window like why did I not do this?
Oh my God, that's hilarious. So yeah, like doing the
backyard. I know it would have felt like a
completely different project, don't you think?
In terms of like into doing an interior design versus exterior
and doing a garden and a space to host and things like that.
It's different thing to tackle. It was fun bringing on an actual
landscaper because we, OK, we did.
Yeah, we brought in a landscaper.
Just because I to help us. Visualise what we what we
wanted. We were we too and we're like,
this is what we want, but I don't know how to execute shoot
it that way. And we found this amazing
landscaper that was just so helpful throughout the whole
project and he really helped bring our vision to life.
And then we were able to come in with the design element and the
decor and all that. But just like getting the
foundation of the stone work and the shrubber, like, you know, we
have like like the lightest of green thumbs.
So I was like, I need some help of someone telling me like this
will work here and this plant will work here and seasonally.
Yes, someone that's more of an expert and that was really.
Helpful and it's funny working with someone like an expert
because he had his own idea of kind of what he wanted to do
with the art and you know and we said Oh well you know we want a
little bit of stone over here and we want some greenery over
here He kind of came up with this whole design plan but we
knew in our mind exactly how we wanted the space so.
We had to kind of push back a little bit like, well, I know
you think that's going to work, but I'm telling you, if we do
this, it's going to translate better.
So we kind of had, you know, with the stone work, we kind of
had to bring him along with us. It's the two fro yeah,
especially when you work with someone who's local, they kind
of go around and they do the same gear, same thing most
places. Jeremy and said they said
they're going to go right, we're going to do this yeah, we're
going to do this, this, this, this and this and the people are
like yes, do it. Where is you guys like no, I
think you. Should be a little different,
yeah. Yeah.
Have you seen this? And then it like, but it's good
though, and the fact that it's a great learning curve for both of
you and the fact that you're both going through like this new
journey where they learn something new.
And I'm sure what that landscape is like now, it's like, oh, I'm
going to start doing that in my other project.
He loved it. He asked to come back many times
to take photos and he's like, this is the most fun I've had on
a project lately. So it was, it was fun for him
because it was and we and I can't recommend him enough to
everyone. So it was a good relationship,
but it was very interesting. It's funny going off along that
you know, with working with someone.
We had replaced our back door in our house.
I'm probably about like 2 years, a year or two into living here.
And you know, when we first moved in, it was just like a
basic builders grade metal door. And we always have been so
attracted to those steel doors with all the glass panels on it.
And we had a guy come over and he looked and he was he the
first thing he said when he walked in.
He's like, you know, you don't see doors like this too much in
this area. And I was like, well.
We love it. Well, we're here and we're going
to show you that it'll work. And it's like the most
complimented piece in our home. But it's so funny because I'm
sure that he in his mind, it doesn't belong.
It almost just thought like he was like, sure, you're going to
like this. And, you know, we're like.
We're, I know we're just going to work.
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, it's just crazy how we can
all come together like that. And I'm sure like, again, I
think it goes back to that sort of inspiring the neighbours.
You're inspiring people in your area to adopt new things and try
out new things. Because sometimes people are
very like, if an ain't broke, don't fix it.
So that it's like, oh, this is the style of the back door that
everyone's done for so long, which in some circumstances is
great because it keeps and retains this idea of like
traditional buildings get to stay from place and look the
same. But then there's also this thing
of also adopting new things and making them feel fresh and, you
know. Finding a balance between that.
Yeah, I think you guys make up a great point in that it's like
when you do own your first time, like you do sometimes want to
tackle all the projects yourself, especially if you're
more design leaning in terms of you're passionate about it as
well. So like in terms of the
professional trades that you've brought in, what would, yeah,
what would you recommend to people who have bought their
home? Like where do you think it's
good to get the professionals in and where do you think is good?
Like, oh, you know what? I think we could do this
ourselves. I'm sure it's going to be
different for everyone, but in your circumstance, where did you
guys go with that? Yeah.
I mean we, I mean, you know, I think with typical painting and
I mean for us, we, we really taught ourselves a lot of the
things along the way, you know, changing the light fixtures.
We taught ourselves that. And.
We did all those ourselves, but obviously that's not the same
for everyone. So you know, it's where you feel
confident and I, I think and pushing your boundaries, right.
Like a lot of people would say they can't paint a bedroom, but
they can if they have some patience and time.
So they can do that. But I think though, when it
comes to those bigger projects, right, like the back door, we
could try our hardest, but we know that like we also know our
limits. The same with the backyard,
right? We could have done some things,
but we wanted it to go to a certain level and look a certain
way. So we needed to bring in an
expert. So I think it's.
Like a, like our, we had, we redesigned our kitchen at one
point and, you know, doing a whole kitchen demo.
There are so many people out there who would be great at
doing that and knocking out the cabinets themselves and
installing new ones and installing the sink and all of
that. But I just think we knew our
limit was that we were not going to be able to do that.
So we had someone come in and do that.
And also a, a thing too is if you don't even know how to do a
project, but you think you could do it, you just need a little
bit more information, you know, even just having a contractor or
handyman come out and give you an idea of what it would look
like. And even if you don't use them,
right, that gives you some idea of, OK, well, what in, in what
he told me could I actually do myself?
And then what could I need someone else to do?
So kind of is, can it can be a little bit educational for you
to just getting someone out and, and teaching you a little bit
about it. I think that's the biggest thing
is like being patient and like seeing what you can do and teach
yourself and then who and when you need to bring someone in.
Absolutely. It's like me now, Like I used to
hang everything up on my walls, but now I get an air Tasker to
come over and do it because I'm just like, you know what, you're
going to do such a better job than me, and I'm not going to
have to worry that this thing's going to fall down.
Like the other day, I got a mirror put installed in my front
entrance. And I was just going to bring
that up. It's insane.
I love it so much. Yeah, it's, it is a beautiful
piece. But like when when I was looking
at online, I was looking like, oh, what's the install details
and they weren't a lot. Is that could be hung on the
wall. And I was like, OK, cool.
And then I got it. And then it was like, oh, there
are nine holes that have to go in this wall and the walls in my
place are all concrete with brick.
And I'm like, how the hell am I drilling into this like nine
holes? And I was like, you know what,
I'm not even going to go there. I'm getting an air tester to
come over. And the guy he came over, he
even had to make like the discs, like the holes in the discs
bigger and then he had to find longer screws and then he had to
do it. And I'm like, and I was thinking
to myself, if I had to take this project on, I could have gone
out because I have a hammer drill and I have like a bit that
I could put in, but it's nowhere near as strong as he is.
And then like him just knowing how to make, he could make the
like the holes bigger to drill the screws through and get it
done. He got the project done in half
an hour. It would have taken me half a
day. And it's like, and even still
afterwards I'd be like, don't like touch, don't touch that
mirror. Like knowing your strengths and
knowing, yeah, what's the time to bring?
Someone else in, you know it's OK to bring someone else in, you
know you do what you're good at, and then whatever you aren't,
you just bring someone else in to help you with.
Yeah, absolutely. It's such a like, I just think I
love chatting with you guys about these kind of things
because I think a lot of people are moving into the homes for
the first time and they're trying to navigate like, how do
I go about my style? How should I put the furniture
in the room? What should I pay for?
Like, do I feel guilty because I could have done that myself or
whatever. I think it's like it's
refreshing speaking to people who've been through that
experience and go, oh, you know what, it's right.
I am just going to like call up an air Tasker and get them to
come hang out the mirror. Or I am going to get a plumber
to come in and have a look at what this is going to be like
and get a quote on what that is, you know?
Yeah, exactly. So we kind of spoke a little bit
about content at the first part of our conversation, but like
obviously the like the podcast is all about home hosting and
content. So in terms of like with your
journey with social media, what do you feel like it's been like
navigating like, for instance, like TikTok versus Instagram and
podcasts, like audio long form content versus short form
content and things like that? TikTok is so different than
Instagram for us because we started on Instagram like most
people since TikTok wasn't around.
But Instagram is where we built our base and our community and
it still feels like our like our baby as opposed TikTok kind of
like what you said in the beginning where you back in 2020
would just post things and not be precious about it.
And, and it is what it is. I almost still feel the same way
about TikTok in that way. TikTok feels more of like a
playground where it's like it. We could post a video and yes,
it could be something that we've worked really hard on or it
could be something that we didn't.
And I kind of don't care either way about it because yes, you
have a community on TikTok, but you're ideally it's who's coming
up on the for you page or what's popping up.
So Instagram is where I feel like we care more about and
TikTok is fun and we experiment and, you know.
It is what it is, I agree. But social media, yeah.
But it is weird how different platforms have you just, like,
approach them differently. It's the same with the podcast,
yeah. They always have different
requirements. I find with TikTok, especially
now at the moment, it's very much drawn by.
I've kind of been explaining it to people.
It's kind of like the OG Twitter and the fact that it's a place
that people like to go and complain.
So it's very much a hot take app now.
So if you want to do something that's beautiful and refined or
nice or speak about positivity, it really doesn't track as well
as what it would be if you went in.
And like, for instance, I had a video the other day where I was
like, go and lift your roller blinds up, like stop living in
darkness. And that one got 500,000 views
in like half a day because it was just me being controversial.
It was controlled controversy. And the fact that it was like,
I'm going to do this. I know it's going to upset
people, particularly the people who love to complain.
They always have their roller blinds down.
Exactly. It's kind of before.
And unfortunately it's. Yeah.
And I find it very difficult. I guess a lifestyle content
creator that is quite like that, likes to be refined and polished
and things like that. And that there are times where
you have to have different strategies with growth.
And sometimes like, it wasn't even like I was like, oh, I need
to start doing these videos now. It was just a it was a
confirmation to me to go. If I did this kind of content,
it would get really high views. It's not what I want to do, but
I know that I'm capable of doing that right.
But it's I'm not going to do, you know what I mean?
It was like one of those, let me just because I was like, that
video is no longer on my profile because I loved TikTok is the
best place to test things. It's also the place that it
usually starts where if it starts on TikTok and if it's
good enough, it'll end up on Instagram.
You know when you'll see a trend, then it goes up the next
week. I think TikTok is a great spot
to really just go, like you said, mess around a little bit,
adopt into some kind of trend, see what people are doing, don't
care about it too much. And then just like watch what it
does because I think social media in general, a lot of
people don't consider it. But I do do think that it's a
job about culture. Like we watch what society
you're doing and whether people like it or not, what people are
enjoying and what they're liking and whether they disagree.
It's like the numbers are showing what people are
interested in. Like the numbers are showing
what's happening and what's showing up.
There's also a lot of silence. Like there's also like, I think
that's true. A lot of the focus is people
will comment if they don't like something, but if people do like
something, it's rare that people will comment on it because it
seems like a given, like, oh, I like that.
TikTok really is the place where people want to have hot takes.
They want to see hot takes. They also want to to complain.
They went to, you know, the trolls in the comments.
But it is this place where people love to, you know, jump
on things and and have an opinion on something always.
Yeah, yeah. So like, what would be your
advice? You guys have been around for
such a long time doing it and like, honestly, you've been so
consistent with it. So like, what do you reckon is
your advice, people who are aspiring to do that lifestyle
content? I think it comes back to what we
kind of talked about in the beginning is sticking true to
the voice that you have and your, your foundational pillars
and then branching off and experimenting and trying
different things in your content.
But always coming back to what, what is someone following you
for? So what is someone that is going
to follow you finding from you like our, you know, our motto
always has been since the beginning, make every moment an
experience. So we just find a way to
translate that into all of our content and then we can
experiment and try different things.
But at the end of the day, people that follow us, our
community, they know that that's kind of like at the base of
everything. And then you and.
You figure it out from there. Yeah, that's great.
Wow. I'd love to move us on to our
classic speed round because everybody loves to hear about
trends and loves to know what we love and what we don't love.
Speaking of like, you know, TikTok and Twitter and things
like that. Everybody loves to know where
people disagree with them. Yeah, he's obviously just quick
fire, but if you want to extend on them, feel free to because I
don't like, if anything they're quick fire.
But if anything, I love that there's like an addition to it.
You know what I mean? I feel like especially with us,
there's always something about it.
So the first couple that I have here is like to talk like do you
use a top sheet or a flat sheet or no top sheet or flat sheet?
This is a fight, this, I was going to say.
This is a debate. I knew it.
I knew in the first question it was going to be a whole
conversation. I just knew it.
I. Love a flat sheet.
He hates a flat sheet, so we don't use a flat sheet.
I the only reason I don't like a flat sheet is just because I get
so hot when I sleep so I just would rather do without it but.
I would like to have a flat sheet, yes.
Yeah, no, I was listening to one of your podcast episodes because
you guys have a podcast and you were talking about how in the
States it was a huge thing. Obviously comforters are a huge
thing. And for the Aussies listening,
comforters are basically like a doona and a duvet cover, but
it's all sewn up and you don't remove the cover and things like
that. But you guys are talking about
bag in a bed. There was a like a bed in a bed
in a bag. A bed in a bag.
Very big. Yeah.
So what is that? Like a comforter?
Like something essentially. It's that's every piece.
Of a bedding is. Literally you have your fitted
sheet, a top sheet, your two pillowcases, sometimes a bed
skirt and a comforter all in one.
And it's all. Matching and you buy them at a
department store very big when we very big in the novice back
you know here and wow yeah that's so funny.
I and you can get the entire bed in a bag for about $150.00.
Yeah, maybe. Yeah, wow.
Say like that's like, and say like, because I've written
bedding since like since I finished union doing design and
things like that. So in Australia it's been like,
we've always just sound like the sheet sets and the duvet or we
call them dunas. Dunas.
Yeah, but like, I call them a duvet because online people
understand what that is. Do you call the cover a Duna
cover? Yes, OK, People call them a Duna
cover or they call it a duvet cover.
It depends. But like not like regular
Aussies, if you know, you ever come to Australia or be in
Australia and they say Duna and a Duna cover, you know that that
they're talking about a duvet and a duvet.
I think because Duna was a brand in the 80s and 90s that people
said that everyone just adopted calling it that, which is, yeah,
sort of interesting because I've heard this before.
It's like in the States, like if there's ever like a popular item
of something, it gets referred to that.
Whereas in Australia it doesn't happen as often.
But for some reason it happened with that.
Yeah. Like Chapstick and like Kleenex
and like things like that. Like, whereas we would be like a
tissue, you know what I mean? Like it's, it's like it's weird
for one, like for one reason or another, you know, I've really
caught on. Yeah, but like, I'm a top sheet
lover. I never used to be, but then I
did that method where you put it down on the bed and you flip it
over. So it's like a cuff.
So then when you sleep on it, it doesn't move.
Yeah, it's. Whereas otherwise you kick it
under the bed. Right.
You're just like you're looking like we're not doing a top
shape. I'll try tonight and we'll see.
It's not going to work. I just don't know.
Freshly washed too. But also, it's like if you don't
use top sheets, I always recommend to people, if you
don't use top sheets, save them and use them as tablecloths.
Because a lot of people, yeah, we do it.
Outdoors when we have our outdoor dinner parties.
Yeah, they're the best. Like it's so good in the fact
that you don't have to buy another tablecloth and you know
you're buying a sheet set. Where do you like to buy in your
bed linen front? Like what's your favourite bed
linen brand we have? A couple, Yeah, there's a
couple. Cultivar goods is really great.
Oh. Yeah, that's an Australian
brand. Oh.
My gosh, look at this. It's all Australian.
I love this. Yeah.
Cultivar brands love Parachute Home.
They're really good. To be honest, Crate and Barrel
has really great linens here in the states.
They are so and another. Brand that people, especially if
they're looking for an affordable option.
Quince. I don't know if that's popular
with in Australia. I don't think we have Quince,
yeah. QUINCE, they have a lot of
different things. They they have some clothing and
stuff, but they have a really good sheets.
I think in our guest bedroom they're Quince.
And they're very affordable. And they're very affordable, so
it's a really good. Place good.
Yeah, I think it's always like here in Australia it's like
pillow talk or like which is more affordable.
Brands that are localised to Australia would be like Adairs
for anybody listening. That's like, you know, there's
also Maya, which is like one of our department stores that sells
like it's own linen branch and things like that.
But it's, I always love asking about bed linen because it's
always a really good conversation because everybody
has a bed and everybody has an opinion about it.
So which leads me onto like pillow chop or no chop.
Are you a cushion chopper or you like it relaxed?
We used to be, we used to be major choppers, the aggressive
chop, but the full karate chopper.
I thought like Bunny is, yeah. And they had to match.
We were very specific on both chops, looking the same with.
Our bed now we're not. Chopping now we're not.
Yes, Yeah. It's more of like a relaxed,
relaxed look, like the cushion behind me is looking very
relaxed. Yeah, but I want to lean back
into it. So that's.
Exactly. That's I have, I don't know if
you saw the video where I gave people a full cushion class,
where I gave them sass about it, where I was like, we want the
cushions to look like they're lived in and they're laying on
the item. Yeah.
Exactly don't think should look lived.
In you don't want it to look like that formal living room
that no one goes in and it's just for show.
Because when it looks too perfect, people don't want to
touch it, you know? Exactly.
Oh my God. OK, good.
I'm so glad we're on the same page about that one.
So then the next one that I have up on my list is unlike a brass
or silver when it comes to hardware.
Placard brass always. However, I really I feel like
the two of us have been getting into silver lately, yes.
Yes I am. I feel like the rise of silver
and Chrome is really coming back now.
It really. Is.
Yeah. Not really beautiful polished
silver. As I know it's actually
beautiful and I really, I love it in a bathroom.
I love silver in a bathroom. Yeah.
I mean, we don't have any silver in any of our bathrooms, but if
we were to, I don't know, redo a bathroom at some point, I would.
Consider it. Yeah.
Yes, but I love unlockered brass.
I was actually when we were talking about trends, we were
one of the trends we were gonna say that we are not into is high
polished brass. Yes.
Yes, there's a difference between the two.
Like, yeah. A huge difference.
The unlockered. Brass.
It just ages so well over time. Has a great patina.
And that's the lived in feel that we love.
Yeah, right. It's like that trick.
Have you seen that trick with people that put it in a bucket
of like they fill a bucket with vinegar and then they suspend
the brass above it and then it like ages it quicker?
Yeah, yeah. It's such a good trick.
OK, so then my next one that I've got here is OK.
So if you had to pick 1A scented candle of room spray or incense,
which one would you say you use? Mole.
A scented candle. Yeah, and then it would go
incense and then it would. I feel like we only.
Actually, we don't even use room spray.
Yeah, I feel like if we have room spray, it's probably a gift
that we got and then it's just, you know, we occasionally use
it, but I don't think we seek out rooms.
We're a little crazy with candles too.
We probably go through, I would say 1 candle per week.
Yeah, we go through candle. We always have a.
Kind of burning. We work like you too.
We work from home so much right? And if we're not going to an
appointment, we're in the house all day.
We're like from the moment I wake up I want to light a candle
and and I'll sometimes switch it out the day depending on the
mood but I want a candle lit always.
And a candle I feel like is has like kind of very much like
duality to it. You have the sensoral experience
from the candle that you get in the house, but and then you also
have like the beauty of the warm flame, you know, so you kind of
get like a dual purpose out of them.
Yeah, for sure. Yeah.
Do you have certain, like, sent notes that you're usually
burning? Like what?
What's the kind of candle that you lean to the most?
If I could burn something all year round, I don't know if
you'd agree with this, but I would burn.
I would burn something that's very like pine forward or
Cypress forward. I'm not proud of this, but I do
have this weird affinity to like very floral candles.
When he says he means like grandma, he.
Calls them grandma candles. I disagree.
I don't think they're always grandma.
I don't know what it is. Obviously there's a fine line
that goes to it. But when we're shopping for
candles, I'll smell 1 and I personally think it smells
amazing. And Mike will say this smells
like my 9 year old grandma's candle.
So we sometimes don't ever agree on candles.
So we have to find like happy balance.
But I do like a, I think for like for a guest bathroom, I
think a floral candle is really nice because it feels very fresh
when after a guest is in there. But that if I'm not doing a
floral, I just love a warm, like something leathery, smoky, musky
kind of candle. And I feel like our candle
choices go along with like the sense that we were on ourselves
too with fragrance. Yeah, for sure.
Yeah, I've said before in the past that I'm very much all
about the green sense. So I love things that are like
tomatoes or like, like herbaceous is like the word that
people actually use. But then then I think a lot of
people here love it's a fact. Like they say gourmand because
it's a fancy word basically for they like things that smell like
butter and baked goods and candy, you know?
So it's interesting, you know? Yeah, you're like, you're like,
no, I don't like that. Candle smells like food.
Food like I can't process it. Like I really can't handle it.
Like when someone gets like a baked sugar cookie.
For their well, you know what's funny when we when fall comes
around for some reason, I in the kitchen especially and I love
something that smells very vanilla, sugary, kind of almost
kind of I guess like a doughnut or like a pumpkin pie.
I'm all. About it I'm not.
All about it, I hate it. Maybe you need to do like a
gingerbread energy so then it's more spiced so that it feels
like it's like baked. By that this year.
I was going to say because also the fact that you like more
Cypress and then you like more floral, maybe you're good to go
with like a fig like a diptych figura or the bays.
Yeah. Do you know what I mean?
Like the the berries, Like I think Diptych does a really good
job of balancing green and florals together to make them
feel and also like I've been really in on the room sprays
from diptych recently. I actually find they have a
really good pay off in comparison to the candle
sometimes because sometimes the candles be like sensitive.
But I have like the bays room spray and I also have the
kitchen. I'm looking over to it.
Sorry, that's it's but it's the it's like a reset scent, which
like eliminates odours and it's got tomato leaf, mint and basil.
And it smells like a market, like it smells like fresh
produce. And I'm just like I'm all about.
That kind of. So I want to OK, I'm going to
get that. Yeah, it smells amazing.
Yeah. Yeah.
And then like, but also try out like try the Bays candle by
Diptique in that it's like berries, but it's green.
It might be a really good balance.
Like it's not as it's not as like it's not as green as
forward as maybe like a more Christmas see green foliage
Cypress kind of scent. But it does have like green
notes, figura and things like that.
They're like, they're really good.
Have you smelled the tomato vine candle from Flamingo State?
I have, I literally have it like right next to me, like it is one
of my favourites. And then the same with and like
the low wave. A beetroot candle is one of my
favourite. Any of those yet?
The low wave a ones. They're good, but they do happen
to tunnel like everyone I've seen or whenever I see them
online, and that's why I don't share them very often.
I share the vessel, but I don't share the and I bought the lid
and everybody, if anyone looks it up, they're going to see that
the lid and the vessel are sold separately and don't even talk
to me about it, but they tunnel. But like the beetroot smells
amazing. And I have the blue one, which
is Cypress bells. So you probably might like that
one. It's like very Christmassy to
me. But yeah, like candles again,
sheets, candles, We all have our preferences.
That was actually like when you were speaking about a trend that
you're not liking at the moment with the polished bra.
It's like, what's an interior design trend that you're loving
in 2025? That I'm loving, I would say I
just love that people are the trend is people are becoming
more homebodies now, right, like everyone, I feel like people are
caring about their space so much more.
I feel like that is almost a trend, right?
Like everyone makes those videos of you know those TikTok sounds
where it's like I'm staying and I'm never leaving right.
I feel like that's such a trend to like Nest and which then in
turn makes you care more about your home, which I want everyone
1/2. So I love that people are caring
more about the space that they're in, you know?
I'll add 1 friend. Which one?
Yes. I love that people are really
leaning into really deep rich colours because I feel like
there was a time where people wanted to make their space just
feel very bright and airy and white and white.
And then, you know, we kind of went into the beige a little
bit. But I feel like now people are
really starting to incorporate really beautiful, rich colours,
which just makes your face feel very warm, inviting, you feel
enveloped in the colour. So it's just, it's just very
comfortable. People not being afraid of
colour, yeah. Yeah, like the walnut, the
Burgundies, the chocolates. Yeah.
Well, what's the trend you're not loving at the moment?
The ultra modern luxury new construction in homes, I mean,
for us, like we talked about, it's there's so much new
construction in our city and everything looks the same.
And it's so it's like that MC Mansion look where everything's
like super bright marble and super bright neon lights.
And it's not where there's no personality there.
I think you're also set up a failure in a way because you
don't know how to decorate it because they've kind of done in
a way that's very similar to like AI kind of explain like if
they're not made mansions and they're just kind of boxes.
It kind of reminds me of they're kind of apartments, but they're
also shopping centres because they're as big.
Like they're kind of like, and then you're like, well, how do
I, how do I style this because it's so big.
And it's like, how do shopping centres look?
You know what I mean? Like you have to.
Yeah, like malls. Sorry like I'm all my.
Yeah. Yeah, like I feel like it's that
thing where you kind of like, OK, I don't know how to go from
here. Like I have a lot of people who
live in new builds and like, how do I make my house feel more
homey? And it's like, because they live
in a new house and land package house and I'm like, well, the
real style you can do is contemporary and contemporary
only because you can't really incorporate that.
You can, you can do something that's like a mid century
inspired, but a lot of the time is like, no, you really need to
stick with like contemporary furniture that you would find in
an apartment, but you'll just happen to be on a ground level
and it extends exactly longer. You know what I mean?
Right. So I agree with you.
It's really tricky. I also don't love people buying
old houses. I feel like I've gotten out of
the phase of seeing old houses with the modern extension on the
back. I think I'm kind of tired of
seeing like that, Like, Oh, and we've done this like corrugated
iron look with this like big glass window on the back of this
old house. And it's almost like, I want to
see people like be like, no, we've actually built this and it
looks like it was from the time. And it's like the same bridge.
And like we like restore these really old doors and we've put
them in and we've double glazed like that would be so much
cooler, but. It's like when people though,
when I see and it like it hurts my heart when I see these old
historical homes and someone buys it and then just completely
modernises it and it's lost every bit of the history of the
space. Like, Oh my gosh, you could
have. You could have.
Such a disservice. I know, like you're covering up
all that beauty. Yeah, where I leave someone,
someone described it to me. I thought it was hilarious.
I was walking down the street and I was chatting with my
neighbour and they got all the good bump out and butt lift
where they push out and then they go up like, yeah, I was
like, I love that term and I'm going to keep that term forever.
They buy these townhomes and they knock off the back and then
bump it out of the back and then they do a second level.
And I was like, exactly. So what's your go to meal when
you have friends over? You're hosting a lot.
I love seeing when you have like last night on your stories, you
had a really beautiful dinner that you were having.
So what's your go to meal? I think it changes seasonally
when we have friends over. We love having dinner parties.
I just think it's such a a beautiful way to be with
friends, gather people and have a great experience.
I think right now our go to would be a really refreshing
summer salad. So something with beautiful
greens, strawberries and chicken.
I think that's kind of what we're going.
For chicken because of the summer, but like last night we
did homemade pizza. We have a pizza oven and.
Love that. We just made it so easy.
We thought originally when we were having friends over, let's
just order some pizzas. And I thought, no, we have a
pizza oven, let's get dough and let's actually just make it
ourselves. So yeah, summer pizza is the
best. I love it.
And also because you can customise it and it feels like
you're getting like you're in engage with the people who are
coming over. So it feels more like a moment.
And I love that. Yeah.
And then the last one that I've got here is the movie night Must
watch at home. What's the movie that you always
find yourself coming back to to watch?
Well, I we, we love scary movies.
That's our kind of favourite genre to watch.
I know it's very OK, very interesting.
We love we love to be scared for a movie night.
But if we're not watching that I love sci fi movies and I try to
make Mike watch them with me. So Dune it's like I've seen so
many times. It's.
I love this. This is such a take.
This is like, I didn't know expect to go around this corner,
but I'm so glad that we did. Ever.
No one expects what I love, so it's that.
What else do we always watch? I mean my the two that I always
try to get Alex to watch. I love the very first Jurassic
Park. I could watch it.
I've probably seen it 30 times. Have you gone?
Have you gone and seen the new one?
We did. We.
Went to an early screening of it here and they're fun but he's
there. I feel like it's your childhood.
And you love it. I love it.
It's that, and I know what you're gonna say the next one.
Screen. Yeah, the screen.
Oh. My God, I love that this I did
not expect this generally like my partner Carrie is obsessed
with like adventure movies or sci fi movies.
That's their preference. Whereas my preference is the
token ROM com like I am. Yeah, You know what I mean?
Like the other night, like I watched like you would have said
it on my stories where I watched the kissing boys in cars with
Drew Barrymore. And I regret putting that on
because it's just devastating. I'm just like, it's like
softcore devastation. I was like, I'm not.
I'm going to wait another 20 years before I watch that again
like you. Need a break from it?
Yeah. Yeah, but I always watch like
something's going to give or like, how does this go in 10
days? Like I would like to have
something. They are playing in the
background. It's funny, I like ROM coms but
they're not something that I like.
I've seen them though. I've seen all of the classics so
many times, but. It's our favourite think about
in our favourite ROM com that we love watching that also kind of
incorporates. Is it ours or is it yours?
I think ours, OK, one that kind of incorporates a bit of design
too, I think. No, I love it.
But that's not ours. That is your thing.
I know what you're going to say. Have you seen Home Again with
Reese Witherspoon? I.
Knew you were going to say this. No, I need to watch this.
It's a Nancy Meyers movie, so you'll like It's a beautiful
movie. I feel bad if you're not
watching it. But Mike does say this to people
a lot, that that's a movie that we love to watch and it is a
great movie. But you love them, OK.
OK, OK, well what? Well what would be your ROM com
pick then if you had to pick a ROM com to watch?
No, I feel like I. Don't like ROM?
Coms. Yeah.
Like which sounds like not doesn't sound.
Like, no, it's fine to not like ROM com.
I like ROM coms because I think the reason why I lean to them is
because it's it's like the character development and the
storylines are never that developed, right?
But it's more of the fact that everything else is developed.
So the home is really developed and like the outfits are really
developed and like where they go out for dinner is really like
everything is very consistent. Like their lifestyle is on
display. And you know, like, for
instance, like I love like the movie like practical magic,
which is. Just made that.
That was going to be my next thing.
I was going to say a movie. The house in that is incredible,
you know? We just talked about that movie
yesterday because I can't wait for the second one.
You know that they're. Coming out there so.
And I love that movie. So that's that's yeah.
That's it. That's probably and like the
movie like you've got mail like which is.
Yeah, like. So classic at like Christmas
time. Would she have like the
bookstore? We're gonna have to be like
it's. I know.
They're, they're very, they're great.
And like you just pay attention to the vibes and like also
because they're all based in the 90s where you're like, you just
can't get that back. Do you know what I mean?
Like in terms of them, not because everything we have
mobile phones now. So it's like, babe, you would
see them, you would text them, you know what I mean?
Like yeah, it's all possible now.
My God. Well, thank you both so much for
coming on the podcast today. It's been so much fun catching
up. It's so fun, Oh my God.
And with every episode, I always get the guest to ask the next
guest the following question. Our last guest asked the
question, what do you do when you're stuck in a creative rut?
How do you get? What are your ways to get out of
that? I think something we both can
agree on would be going out and walking in nature.
I think we're. Just to get, you know, a breath
of fresh air. But I think we're also very
inspired by nature. So I think that allows us to
kind of get the creative juices flowing again and really dive
into in our imagination. Yeah, get out of the same base
that you're in, where you're feeling.
Yeah, literally like remove yourself from the everyday, like
yeah, get outside, put the phone down and it kind of resets you a
little bit. 100% amazing. I love that.
Well, again, thank you so much for coming on, guys.
I really appreciate it. This was so much fun.
I'm so glad we got to catch up. This was I feel like the time
flew by. I I loved it.
And that's it for today's episode of fellow friends and
home and hosting. A big thank you to Alex and
Mike. I loved getting to sit down with
them and chat all things home design and content.
If you're not already following them, definitely head over to at
Alex and Mike on Instagram. Their home styling and
entertaining content is always such a joy to follow.
And if you've enjoyed today's episode, don't forget to follow,
subscribe and leave a rating or review.
It really helps others discover the show.
You can also keep up with me over on Instagram and TikTok at
Louis Work for more home and lifestyle content, styling tips,
and behind the scenes of what I'm up to.
Thank you again so much for listening and I'll see you in
the next home and hosting with Louis Burke.