Welcome to fellow friends in home and hosting a series where
I sit down with fellow creators and tastemakers from around the
world to talk about how we live, style, and share our spaces.
Today I'm joined by someone who's aesthetic and story popped
up very recently and who's taken the Internet by storm, Alexander
Widener. Alexander's journey blends
intuition, intention, and a deep love of design history.
After years working in New York's interiors and textiles
industry, he followed a long held dream, leaving the city
behind to open a beautifully curated shop and guest cottage
in coastal Maine. His style is rooted in classic
design, layered, personal and quietly refined, with a strong
belief in slow decorating, collecting with purpose, and
allowing a home to evolve over time.
Whether he's tending to his garden, styling vintage linens,
or carving out a new creative chapter, Alexander brings a
sense of depth and romance to the everyday that I find so
refreshing. Be sure while you're listening
to check out Alexander's TikTok and Instagram.
You'll find him at Alexander Underscore Widener.
Now let's get into today's episode.
Hello, Alexander. Welcome to fellow friends at
home and hosting. It's so exciting to have you
here today. Thank you so much for having me,
I'm really excited to chat. I've been watching your journey
over on TikTok and it's been amazing just to watch your whole
story come to life. Thank you.
It's been such kind of like a surprise for me.
I wasn't really endeavouring to become a Tik Toker.
The last few years a few friends have been saying like, oh, you
should really make videos that people would be interested.
And I think I was always too insecure to, like, watch a video
of myself or even hear my voice back.
So that kind of held me back. And then this year, I quit my
job to move to Maine to open an interior shop, which I've always
wanted to do. And I quit my job on a Friday.
And then that Monday, my horoscope said, today's the day
to put yourself in the public eye.
If there's something you want to share with the world, share it
today. And I thought maybe I'll make a
video. So I made a video, and it kind
of, like, went wild. And now here we are.
I feel like that happens for a lot of us.
It's like the universe just starts cooling and you sort of
hear it, but you kind of put it off, especially focusing in like
a design environment. But then I think what happens is
that if you don't take the jump, the universe will do it for you.
Yeah, it's in it. Yeah, it was so wild.
But it's like the moment I bet on myself, the world started to
open up for me, and so it's been just like the craziest
experience. I think that's the thing.
It's like as soon as you just go, Yep, you know what, I'm
going to do it and I'm going to figure it out, It just starts
working and there's a sense of fearlessness that comes with it.
But anything new is going to be uncomfortable.
And then once you do it a couple of times, you get used to it.
It's like anything in life, you know?
So, totally Speaking of horoscopes, what's your star
sign? I'm a Sagittarius with a doll.
Wow. I don't really know what any of
it means. I read my horoscope but I don't
really know. I just listen to what it says.
Yeah, well, now that's good. That's good.
I am a triple Earth, so I'm a Virgo, which a Virgo sounds.
OK, my husband is a Virgo. Oh.
There we go. You are Virgos are the worst.
Obviously. But I'm sadly in love with them.
But honestly the perfect balance.
But the Virgo stuff drives me nuts.
It makes a lot of sense because Sagittarius is they're kind of
notorious of being the person that picks their own journey.
Like, for instance, like he's never be, I'm going to go on a
holiday. Do you want to come?
And the person's like, oh, no, I don't really want to go.
You're like, OK. And like you still go.
And I mean, like you're on your own journey and you're happy for
people to join you. But if they're not going to join
you, that's not going to stop you from doing what you want to
do. And I think that really works
with the Virgo. Look at me being the horoscope
expert right now. But I think that really works
with the Virgo because Earth signs, which is I'm a Capricorn
moon and a Taurus, right? So there's no water signs in
there. And we're very like level
headed, very practical. We'd like things to be like
comfortable. We like routine.
So I think with the Sagittarius, that works kind of well to be
honest. It's the perfect balance, yeah,
And that's why it drives me nuts, because that's exactly
what I need. Exactly, so I always love to
start episode with a scent that we might be burning because as
fellow friends at home and hosting, I think scent is really
powerful in creating and setting the mood.
So do you have something burning at the moment?
I do I'm burning a candle that we carry in in our shop.
I have a shop here in Maine called Widener Company and we
carry this brand called C Atherly and it's this whole line
from the UK inspired by geraniums and I'm a geranium
fanatic and they smell so beautiful.
They're plate and fresh so I'm burning their number one candle.
It's absolutely divine. Amazing.
I love. Like I feel like floral candles
and floral notes don't get as much love as they used.
To yeah, these ones are like a little Herbie and I don't know,
they're quite surprising. So I definitely recommend.
What are you burning? I'm burning a little bit of a
bougie candle today. I've got the Laueve candle in
Cypress Bells. It was one of the first
purchases I did when I started doing content full time.
I was like, you know what? We've been doing this for a
while now. We've been doing really well.
It's time to treat ourselves and go out and get something.
So of course it was going to be home focused and I just really
wanted to pick up one of the luxury fragrances.
I'd love the vessel they're in like handmade in Spain and the
scents are just so beautiful. Like I love scents that what
they say they are on the jar. Do you know what I mean?
Like if it's going to be geranium, I want to smell
geranium. If it's going to be Cyprus, I
want it to be Cyprus, you know, like I love sense that really
speak and evoke to the scent that they're trying to, you
know, bake. Yeah, and you can reuse the jar.
You'll have, that's the thing. But this is actually me burning
it for the first time today. I was like, you know what?
Oh, I feel we're going to light this candle.
So tell me more about your journey.
Like where did your love for home and design really start?
Yeah, ever since I was a kid, obviously gay in like a small
rural town in Pennsylvania. So, you know, I think building
out like a home fantasy was like my escape from the world, like
my bedroom growing up was always like my safe place where I could
be myself. And I like vividly remember like
decorating it and rearranging it and picking up the sheets and
everything. And so I think it really for me,
home is all about like the comfort of self.
And I think that's what really has drawn me into it.
But I've also always been a collector and I've always been
interested in objects. You know, my first collections
were like Beanie Babies. And maybe your listeners, well,
I don't know if you have this in Australia and Old Navy track
suits, I don't know if you know what that means.
And like, that's what I was collecting when I was little.
And of course now it's, you know, like porcelain and baskets
and quilts and, you know, American antiques.
But yeah, I've always just kind of been drawn to it.
And I would go yard sailing and to estate sales with my mom
growing up. And, and over the years, I've
just refined what I like. And, and then of course, I spent
my career working in in the interiors world.
And so, yeah, it's always been present in my life.
So did you move to New York like in like 18/19/20 or?
Yeah, I moved to New York when I was 18 to go to college.
I went to FIT and I actually studied fashion and my first
jobs were working in the fashion industry.
And I think there's a lot of similarities between fashion and
home, and a lot of fashion people make the jump into the
home industry in New York. I've sort of noticed that it's
interchangeable. Sometimes things that come
through in home end up in fashion, you know, like, I
think. Yeah, like with the recent
resurgence of all these dark like Browns Burgundy's that's
all really came through in interiors first I feel like and
then moved into fashion. But it's hard to really know
depending on where you. Are yeah, everything is so
linked. Yeah, it's kind of cool.
And I feel like, you know, I I did like some trend work before
and it's like, you know, it's all about what's happening in
the outside world. That's what's influencing all of
these things. So it makes sense that the
industries are so connected. Yeah.
And I also think that that's connected to social media in a
way, because I always say that with social media, particularly
when you're working in content, you are analysing culture almost
like how you would as a trend forecaster, you're seeing like,
what's working? What are people engaging with?
What are they liking? Like how are we navigating this?
Where do we go from here? What you know?
And like the trend cycle in content itself, in terms of how
we film or what we produce, it changes just kind of the same.
So it's interesting. Is this like unspoken world that
speaks so closely? So I find people who go into
content how to have that design background because you have the
eye to pick up what's happening in the pace.
Never thought of it that way before, but I think you're onto
it. Yeah, yeah.
So obviously moving to New York from Pennsylvania at 18 as well,
I can imagine you would have started off in a rental and you
were speaking about that, creating that safe space.
I think that's so important, especially when you move away
from your family. Yeah, totally.
And for me, it was like, I was just so excited to have a space.
You know, my first apartment in New York, I was just like
renting a room in this apartment in Brooklyn.
Actually, it was decorated kind of cute.
And I posted some pictures on Instagram and there was a big
design blog in the US at the time called Design Sponge.
And Design Sponge was everything.
And they reached out and they were like, can we do a feature
on your apartment? And I had to write back and say,
oh, I'm so sorry. It's just like one room in this
guy's apartment in Brooklyn. But it was like, just like a
pure expression of who I was at the time.
And yeah, it was kind of fun. Yeah, it's like there's
excitability towards home, which I totally resonated with.
But to be honest, I don't feel like a lot of other people who
are in like my age group really connected.
Like they were like, why are you buying a cutlery set?
Like, why do you care so much about glassware?
Like I feel like throughout the early 20s, people didn't really
appreciate home as much as I did.
And I don't know whether it was because it was that first
opportunity to create a space or whether it was because I wanted
to have that security. Did you feel like that or?
Yeah, Yeah. I think, I think you're touching
on something so big. You know, I think our homes are
so personal and the objects that we surround ourselves reflect
who we are as people. And they give us things like
comfort and joy and excitement and memories and nostalgia.
I think, you know, especially as people who maybe don't fit into
like a normal idea of what you should be, you know, our home is
our place to create that safe world for ourselves.
And that's how it is. Yeah, I just feel like as I've
gotten older, like now that I'm in my early 30s, a lot of people
that I knew from back then are like, how is your homestead put
together? And it's like, well, babe, I've
been collecting since 20. You've only just started, like,
making your home come to life. It takes so much time.
So, you know, for all those times that they were going out
clubbing and spending all the money there, I was spending
money on like furniture, you know, it all kind of came
around. Me too.
Yeah, yeah. And like I try, I try to give
people advice about making this space for like home, you know,
And I even do that now because a lot of my girlfriends are
thinking about starting a family and they're like, oh, you know,
I'll, I'll buy the sofa like once I have like a kid and
things like, and I'm like, no, babe, buy the sofa now.
Get it now because you'll care about.
Ten months to be delivered, yeah.
Literally and it's like you want to buy the thing that you love.
You don't want to have the fear of what if they ruin it?
Whatever they do that you know like it's you want to have the
thing that you really. Want.
Oh yeah, yeah. And in my house, nothing is
precious. Like, I think people need to get
over that. If something is too fancy for
you to use then you shouldn't have it.
You know, I really feel like I use my precious stuff every day
and if something happens to it then that's life.
That's part of it. So get the white sofa.
Exactly. Get the white sofa 100.
Well, when I was growing up, my parents had like Tuscan urns,
they had samurai swords, they had like bouclet wool carpet.
They had like a marble stone coffee table.
And I was running around like it was just, it didn't matter, you
know, and they've still got all those things and even my niece
and nephew now running around my grandparents place.
It's fine. It's just it depends.
It all depends. Look, I can understand in
certain circumstances senses, but like, hey, my parents are
still about their stuff. So I think, you know, there's a
living example there, right? So moved to New York, we studied
fashion, then we worked into home and design space and that
really started in the textile industry.
Yeah. So I worked for a few textile
brands doing a range of things from like, you know, managing
photo shoots to working on product development.
And in my last role I was I was heading up the marketing and PR
for to the trade textile company.
And this was so it was such a cool space to be in.
I didn't grow up somewhere where I lived in a house that was
decorated by a designer. I didn't even know that interior
designers existed until basically I moved to New York
and discovered this like whole other world.
And then, you know, through my work, I was able to be exposed
to some of the best designers working in the industry and, and
be inside the most insane projects.
And so, you know, it's really helped kind of inform my taste.
And, you know, I just feel so lucky to have had that
experience. It's kind of crazy.
Yeah. Like when you started off in the
space and you went into these amazing homes that were being
designed, what were some of the first things that you noticed
that you were like, wow, I didn't know.
We like, you know, was it the window treatments or was it the
furniture or was it the layout? Like what was like your first
like OK I need to do this. I think it was just everything.
I think, you know, when you walk into a space that's been
intentionally be decorated, there's a feeling that you feel.
And I don't know if it's something that's tangible.
I think it's just, you know, a deep emotional thing, at least
for me. And, and I'll say, like the big
turning point for me was visiting this museum in
Massachusetts called Beauport. And it was decorated by Henry
Davis Sleeper in the early 20th century.
And he was one of America's first, like, celebrity
decorators. And in the house is exactly how
he left it, with his collections and all of his artefacts.
It's the most inspiring place that I've ever been.
And I remember walking in there and feeling this deep emotional
connection. I suddenly felt like I was
looking at myself reflected back.
And, you know, it totally changed my perspective on the
world. And yeah, and that was, you
know, maybe 10 years ago. Yeah, yeah.
Well speaking. So moving to New York and then
you're now based in Coastal Main.
Yeah, we moved out of New York for the first time in, I want to
say like 2017. And we bought a little house in
Rhode Island, which is a tiny little state like an hour away
from Boston. And we lived there for a few
years. We bought this fabulous house
that used to be a house museum. We bought it from a Historical
Society. And that was kind of like my
first project where I could really do what I wanted, the
first space that I owned. And so we we decorated that and,
you know, worked on some restoration projects and it was
wonderful. And then we went back to New
York and we were kind of living in between both places, which
everyone talks about as being so glamorous and fabulous.
But newsflash, it's really freaking hard unless you can
like hire someone to care for the house when you're not there,
which obviously we could not do. And so it was kind of a
nightmare. And so we knew that we didn't
want to be in New York anymore and that having two houses was
too much. And we've been coming in and
visiting Maine for, you know, four or five years and staying
at this property that we now own.
And we would come up every summer and I would, I would
leave and tell my husband that the woman who who was running it
and her name was Francoise, that Francoise was living the dream.
And I want want to do that. I want to have a little shop and
a little guest cottage and live in this charming town in coastal
Maine. And my husband's like, OK, keep
dreaming. And last year, when we were on
our way up, I said to him, I was like, I think when we get there,
Francois is going to sell us the property.
And we get here, and my husband's like, you're so crazy.
And then we arrive and she's like, I'm moving back to France,
I'm selling the property. And you know, the rest is
history. It's kind of, it's been a wild
journey. Look, it's either the universe
or you have some fifth sense psychic ability.
Yeah, I don't know. I think it's, I sound like a
cuckoo, like woo woo Gwyneth Paltrow person.
But yeah, I think it's the universe and there were all of
these crazy signs. Yeah, like I feel like it's
everybody's dream, especially when people land, like a lot of
my friends who are in rentals or houses that they absolutely
love, they always dream of the idea that that the landlord is
going to turn around and be like, hey, do you want to buy
the property? Everyone's like, you know, so
like there's a lot of people who will listen to that and
completely resonate and hoping that one day they can purchase
the home that, you know, they currently live in or even that
holiday destination that, you know, you speak about and having
this thing. So it's I think it's great.
Keep manifesting everyone, it worked for me.
Yeah. And what I love so much about
your style, which is what I wanted to speak to you about
today, is that it's so based in, like, that classic American
style, you know, which is so refreshing because I feel like
at the moment, there's almost this resistance to wanting to
fully go all in on a style. There's this thing where people
caught kind of really always want to mishmash styles or are
too afraid to commit to something and say, you know
what? I love this in fear of that.
It's too restrictive. Whereas I was speaking to my
friend about this on the phone the other day.
And let me know if you agree or not, but I think if there's a
style that's been around for a long time and you get involved
in it, there's so much to learn about that style and there's so
many variations within that aesthetic.
It's like, for instance, Martha Stewart, which I know you
resonate with because originally like your TikTok handle had
Martha Stewart. She has so many books and so
many magazines and so many different hosting styles.
Like if you think that you're going to create this really
unique idea with a tablescape, I'm sorry, but Martha's done it.
Like I think she, like, I think she's such a great example of
like following that traditional American style and doing it in a
way that's in so many different ways that it's never old, you
know, you'd never get tired of it.
So I think that's why I wanted to catch up with you because I
love that it's almost like you've committed to this style
and this aesthetic and you're showcasing that there's so much
variety found within there, you know?
Yeah, I mean, I'll say like, I'm just really inspired by the past
and I'm not someone who's so interested in, in like the trend
cycle or I sell some new things in my shop, but I really don't
buy anything new. Everything in my home is antique
or vintage or from a thrift store or an estate sale.
And you know, the guiding thing for me is do I love it?
Doesn't make me happy, you know, doesn't make me feel something
when I look at it. And, and if I can answer the
question positively, then then the thing comes home.
And, you know, I, I'm not someone who will sit down and
sketch out a design plan. I, I really love watching it
evolve organically over time. And you know, I am trying to
just be really intentional about what I buy.
I, I don't really share this on my social media, but like, I am
like very eco conscious and you know, I'm really, I only use
natural materials. Like there's no polyester fabric
in my wardrobe or in my house. I, you know, even like
upholstery and furniture all has to be like wool and cotton and
horse hair. And, you know, I'm very
particular about this sorts of things and you find them in old
furniture and, and that that furniture is made so much
better. And, you know, I, I think when
you talk about this like a classic American look, it's like
it's just stuff from all over the world mixed together.
And, but I feel like if something was made before 1920,
then it will never go out of style.
I think like it wasn't until like the 30s that we started to
see rapid trend cycles happening.
And I think anything before then is just like classic and
timeless. No, of course anyone can
decorate their house however makes them happy.
But for me, you know, I love traditional interiors.
That's how I like to live. Yeah, you bring up such a good
point in that like so many of my friends have bought their first
property and they're looking to renovate.
And nine times out of 10, my friend, like my girlfriend,
she'll be like, I want to do something that's like classic.
And then the boyfriends always like, no, I wanted to be new.
And I was only saying this yesterday is that this idea of
new, IT is going to date in 10 years.
And that's the thing where is if you go down that more
traditional classic route, it's not going to date because we all
just value those things that have just stood the test of
time. Like I'm going to tell you to go
with the subway tile because people are going to be still
drawn to the subway tile in 10 to 15 years.
And that $25,000 that you put in there, you're only going to have
to spend maybe two to five in like 15 years time versus having
to do it all over again because you wanted to do that really new
option, you know? Yeah.
And I think it's also like sustainability, like, you know,
you should, you should be putting things in your home that
you're we're gonna enjoy for a really long time and that, you
know, possibly could be the last version of that thing that you
buy. Yeah.
And I know that's not like exciting for everyone to, to not
have like a fancy shiny new thing every every couple weeks.
But you know, there's something kind of nice about about that,
at least for like. I agree.
I think there's something really
nice and having those traditional classic things that
standard because like that's what we like, you know, I think
we think we're going to live forever.
So these things get to live on forever, and isn't it nice to
have those things, you know? Yeah, totally.
And we're just stewards of objects in our houses, like
we're, we're not permanent, but everything that we make is kind
of permanent. So I encourage people to just be
really thoughtful about how they live.
I think it it enriches my life so much.
Yeah. And see, so when we speak about
this style, like a lot of Australians throw around the
word Hamptons like I mentioned a little earlier in our
conversation prior to recording, but not many understand what
makes that New England or Maine coastal design aesthetic.
So how would you describe the differences between say, the
Hamptons verse like classic Maine?
Yeah, I think there's something just really paired back about
people in Maine. There's nothing flashy.
You know, it's really a lot of the houses here are, you know,
obviously very old. My house was built in 1785 and,
and the houses in the Hamptons, there are lots of old houses in
Long Island as well. But I think, you know, people,
people in the Hamptons are trying to impress you when you
come in, whereas people in Maine, they just want to welcome
you and enjoy their quiet lives. So I think there's kind of a
difference in terms of that. And I think, you know, when you
look at design, it's about how people live in their houses, and
I think that influences a lot. Yeah, 100%.
I also think there's like an element because you're on
coastal Maine, but I'm sure Maine goes further inland and it
has that rural farmland aesthetic too.
But I think sometimes in Australia, a lot of people want
to create a Hamptons aesthetic, but they're literally nowhere
near the ocean. So it's this coastal reference
versus farm reference. And I think that there's
something in that style where I think people could go further
into that, a traditional main classic American look with the
white weather board that speaks to something that's more inland
versus something that feels so coastal, if that makes sense.
Yeah, I think, you know, my advice always is when you're
decorating your house to kind of like lean into, into what your
house actually looks like and instead of trying to like,
change it or disguise it. I was on a project with a
stylist once and she's someone that I really respect and
admire. And she gave me this piece of
advice that has really stuck with me me.
And she said when when I'm doing flowers at a shoot, I always go
into the garden and pick some things from the garden to put in
the vase because it gives you a sense of place.
And this is actually what's happening when you open the
door. And this is where the house is
in the world. And I think having that sense of
place in your home is really important.
Absolutely. And it also speaks to something
I speak about often too, which is like living in the moment.
And so speaking to place. And like getting flowers, you
know, they only last like a week, but you get to appreciate
them and you tend to them. Because I think tending to the
home is very much about what creates that sense of home.
It's not necessarily always about the stuff that we're
putting inside and whether it reflects us, but I think it's
about the way that we care about those things.
And I think reminders like flowers, plants, pets, really
remind us to be in that moment. And they're the things that
connect us to the space that we're in.
So that's such a good point. Yeah, totally.
Yeah. So how would you say that your
style has evolved since like since shifting from the city to
Country Life? Yeah, can I be honest?
Yeah. I haven't started decorating my
house. Yet Oh my God, that's but like,
take your time. I've been buying some things,
I've been, I've done a few small projects, but I want to see
every season in the house. I want to see how the light
shifts. I want to see how I live in the
rooms and what my life looks like.
And then I'll, I think I'll have a better idea of what I want the
rooms to do and how I want them to look.
I recently acquired this like incredible 18th century quilt
and it's like nothing I've ever seen before.
And for the first time, I was like, OK, I have the direction
for our bedroom. Like this quilt is, is what what
the bedroom needs to feel like. And so I have that.
So the bedroom might be my first, my first project.
But yeah, I think our apartment in New York was very colourful
and kind of bold. We had, like a bright yellow
bedroom. I don't really envision a bright
yellow bedroom here. I think I'll do something more
subdued and quiet. And so I think it's little
things like that. You know, the apartment in New
York, I wanted to bring like, a lot of green and like, I brought
a lot of plants into the space. I wanted a lot of natural
elements. Since we were in the city, I
wanted to have sort of that balance.
But then it was, you know, it was still a city apartment.
And here, you know, it's kind of like a country house.
So. Yeah, I think it'll feel totally
different even if some of the same pieces overlap.
Yeah, absolutely. But like you bring up such a
good point, which is what I always try and tell people,
which is developing a home and making a home takes time.
And I know you want it done now, you want everything now.
But the problem is, is that you will end up resorting to going
to one shop and buying everything from one shop,
waiting a long time. And then before you know it,
before 12 months has even gone by, that space isn't working the
way that it was going to work. The lighting didn't really that
it should have been. Oh, I don't think the sofa
actually really fits in this room, You know, it's, I think
also the idea that you speak about we're getting that quilt,
it's inspired you to then create a room around something that
felt special. It's just such a different
approach that I think people don't appreciate, but it makes
such an impact when it comes to making a space and making
something feel like home. And I mean, your house will tell
you what it wants to be. I mean, I've never lived
somewhere where I didn't, you know, one day wake up and
realise like, oh, yeah, it needs to be this.
Like, I always feel that. And it just takes some time to
find out. So people listen to your houses.
They'll tell you exactly what they want.
Yeah. Yeah, I think it does come with
the added benefit that your house is, you know, a period
home. It's beautiful.
You know, I think, I think people struggle when it's more
they're in a new build where they're like, well, the house is
telling me nothing, where do I go from here?
Which I think is. Yeah, maybe I didn't think about
that. No, but like, no, but like, I
think it's, that's why I bring it up now because I think some
people will probably be sitting in a new space being like, OK,
how do I do this? You know, like I 'cause I do
think it's a different approach. I think with new builds, they're
built just to put you in there as quickly as possible.
And then it's up to you to have to navigate and figure out how
you're going to make that space come to life.
So there. That's when you hire a
decorator. Absolutely.
I thought there's a different kind of pressure like to make
that space work, whereas you know, you can be in your space
now and it can feel beautiful with almost nothing in it
because of the architecture and the time that it's been in
there. The energy just feels different.
I think you touched on something that's really special.
If people do buy this period homes and there's older homes
because some people might not want to and I think they're
fantastic. It's the same as some people
don't love weather board homes. I think they're beautiful.
Other people want brick and I'm more like, and it depends on the
kind of brick because The thing is sometimes people like I say
this because people are looking to buy their first home around
my age group and people like, oh, you know, and I'm not going
to buy the weather board home. There's more maintenance and
things like that. I want to do the brick, but
they're not going for brick that's like beautiful with like
an Ivy on it. They're just going for like any
old brick that was like built in the 80s or the 90s versus a
weather board that was built in the 60s.
And it's like, I would pick that over the east brick any day.
You know, like timber windows, like windows are huge.
If you can get timber windows on a home, like my God, keep them
because so many houses, like when my dad, he was young
growing up, he talks about how all the houses were swapping to
aluminium windows. And if you live in an area
that's sort of built around that time and you drive through and
you go past those houses, you can see how much more beautiful
those homes look when they have their original windows versus
the square aluminium ones that were put in after the fact or
like. Yeah, we're so lucky here.
We have a lot of our original 18th century windows with, you
know, WAVY bubbly glass and yeah, they're so beautiful.
Absolutely. So you might not have furnished
the house, but you have the guest cottage that you've got,
which looks so beautiful. I love watching those videos on
your profile. And I think there's such a
beautiful reflection of your taste.
And I love your use of antiques and custom bed hangings and
frame botanicals. So like, what was your intention
in designing that space for guests?
And like, how do you want people to feel when they stay?
Yeah, well, we first of all, we inherited really good bones.
It's a sort of like a 19th century structure and it's
really beautiful. Each room has a fireplace and
these like, beautiful plaster bathrooms.
And, you know, I really wanted to keep it very simple and pared
back. I wanted anyone to be able to
come into the room and understand it and feel
comfortable and relaxed. And so, you know, there's not a
lot of colour. There's no like pattern or print
in the bathroom. I did a blue and white gingham
shower curtain and sink skirt. And that's kind of like the
only, you know, dose of colour in the room.
We did custom bed linens. They're all white with white
tone on tone embroidery. I actually made myself these bed
hangings for the bed actually inspired by the house museum
that I was speaking about earlier before I did these sort
of ruffled bed hangings, quarter tester kind of style.
And they're made from antique 19th century French linen
sheets. And so they have just like this
beautiful tactile quality and but they're pure white.
And so the rooms are really, you know, kind of like a sanctuary.
And I wanted people when they entered to just feel that like
tail moment. And yeah, I think we kind of did
it. And we've had a bunch of people
staying so far and everyone seems to have really enjoyed it.
And you know, the best thing about the guest cottage is our
garden. We have this really beautiful
garden. And one of the first projects we
did when we purchased this property was to put in a waddle
style fence. And so I worked with a local
waddler. And for those who don't know,
waddle is like is one of the earliest pieces of architecture.
This DOB and waddle was being done like in Roman times.
And it's basically sticks that are interwoven together.
And then, you know, the DOB would be like mud and that would
create the structure of the wall.
But we just use the waddle to make fencing and it's made from
locally harvested saplings. We've a lot of forest here in
Maine and it creates this the most beautiful organic kind of
structure to the garden. And so guests can sit in the
garden at our tables and kind of enjoy the beautiful weather.
So it's been in such a treat this summer.
Yeah, well, it's kind of like speaking back to like what I was
saying earlier, having such an appreciation for design and
history, you're creating a space for people to feel really
enveloped in a space. Like not only are you bringing
people into a home for them to discover something, but them to
discover something about you, but also to feel like they're in
the environment that they've travelled to.
Because, you know, people are escaping from the city or
whatever, and they're coming to you and they want to feel like
they're a part of that story. Like, say, had you gone down?
I'm going to do this really contemporary, beautiful build in
the middle of Maine. Like it wouldn't tell the same
story, you know, Like, I think that's what I love is that it's
about how can I approach this in a way that people feel like
they're getting the whole experience when coming to this
destination. And it isn't all about the
individual who owns the space. It's about creating that
environment and that experience that people want to feel, which
I think is so special. Yeah.
And I think, you know, anytime, you know, if you're a designer,
you know this, if you're decorating for yourself, but you
should always think the first thing you should think is how do
you want to feel when you walk in the room?
And that's kind of the was the guiding principle for this
project and for, you know, every other space I've decorated
because at the end of the day, it's not really about the stuff.
It's about how it how you feel at home.
Yeah. And so you also have, like you
mentioned, a beautiful store. And how do you feel like what's
it been like going through? Well, one, I would love to talk
more about the gardening because I think gardening and
landscaping is so different to approaching interiors.
And also I would love to talk about how you've navigated
doing, you know, a commercial space from residential.
You know, having a store is very different to how it like how it
works and how it flows versus like a guest cottage.
So which one would you like to go through 1st?
Well, they're kind of intertwined because we do have a
garden section at the shop. And, but I can talk about the
approach to designing the shop, which is a little bit different
than doing an interior because you kind of, you do have to plan
a lot of things You need to, you know, you can't run the shop 1st
and learn how you want to use the rooms.
You kind of have to go in with what you want to do.
And so I knew that I knew that I wanted to have, I've kind of two
rooms in the shop and I knew that I wanted colour in one and
then the other one to be more neutral.
And so we worked with paint from little green, which they were so
generous to send to us. And I did, you know, I painted
the floors white. I did one room with yellow
walls. I did the other room the same
white as the floor and the trim was all that same white too.
And then I just played with the different levels of Sheen to
give a little bit more dimension to the walls.
And the idea here is that like kind of any colour can go with
yellow and certainly any colour can go with white.
So it didn't really matter what kind of product I bring in over
time, everything will kind of be able to sit in the space.
And so that was really important.
And then the next thing was I selected drapery for both rooms
that matched so that I had this sort of like connecting element.
And I used a really beautiful old chintz fabric that has like
tonnes of colours in it. So, you know, you can really
pull a lot out of it and make the space feel cohesive, even
though it's filled with like a constant rotation of different
objects. Our shop has a mix of a lot of
antique things, some vintage things and, and new things.
So I never quite know what's going to be on the floor.
And so I wanted a space that could kind of like take it with
a grain of salt and everything would kind of work together.
And so far so good. And I'm really happy with how it
came out. And in terms of gardening, we we
sell some topiary and geraniums in the shop, along with the most
beautiful hand thrown pots from, from a Potter called Ben Wolff.
He actually makes all of the pots for Martha Stewart's
greenhouse and he makes pots for me, which is so mind blowing.
And, and so we have a little garden section and we're really
fortunate. The guest cottage garden was
planted a long time ago and it's mature and it's so beautiful.
But when you're starting a garden from scratch, I feel like
the learning curve is so high. And so I'm still a novice
gardener myself, even though, you know, I love my geraniums
and topiary and and I've some big trees and olive trees
outside, gardening is still something I'm working on.
It's new territory, yeah, but it's so important, like you
said, that mature garden, that's my parents always have instilled
this in me because my origin, like my parents had a nursery
growing up. But since moving away from the
property that they have for 45 years and moving into this new
property, one of the first things they did, they bought
mature trees, not huge mature trees, but good enough like
large trees. And they put them in because
they were like, you just cannot get the time back on these
trees. And that people don't folk like
around here anyway, Gardens have really lost their spark.
A lot of people don't have gardens because they don't want
to do the maintenance of them or they don't appreciate a garden
because they never give it enough time to come to life.
And I just do think there's something about having a
beautiful garden. It's like what Martha's do is
that obviously like, you know, if you want to be happy for a
year, get married. If you want to be happy for 10
years, get a dog. And if you want to be happy for
a lifetime, do a garden and. Yeah.
Yeah, thank God. I'm like, I like, I'm like
testing myself now, my trivia. But there's just something about
those mature trees that really just have such an impact that I
don't think people appreciate as much as they should when it
comes to home. Because people will lock down
trees when they're building or renovating and it's like, you're
never going to get that tree back.
You need to think more heavily about how you want to navigate
those spaces and stick up and stand up for the trees that are
there that a builder might be like, hey, you know what?
It's easier to chop it down. Like if you can work around it.
Like, my parents built decking around trees and like, well,
like the tree can just come out of the deck and you know.
Make it. I mean, it's all about like
integrating with the natural landscape and then also being
thoughtful about like, you know, that our garden, our guest
cottage garden has, you know, things that bloom at different
times. And so anytime you go out,
there's something happening. And I think that's something to
think about too, is to make sure that, you know, you're planting
with intention so that your garden always has a moment of
beauty. Now, of course, the winter is
really cold and snowy in Maine, and so our garden looks pretty
bad half the year. But when when plants can grow,
it's really beautiful. Yeah, but you guys are lucky
though, because in your winter, the northern Heber, so you've
got like Thanksgiving, you've got Christmas, you've got New
Year's, you've got Halloween, which is that you guys kind of
being. Yeah, like we, we have the end
of financial year in Australia. You know what I mean?
It's just cold and yeah, Hooray. Like it's a new financial year
cycle. But I totally resonate with what
you're saying because it doesn't get so cold in Melbourne.
Like there are places that snow, but most places don't.
But in the area that I live in, it's a more older suburb with a
lot of terrace houses. And they have those traditional
gardens and seeing the flowers come to life, like in winter
now, like camellias. Like camellias are all out
because it's cold, you know, and it's just so beautiful to see
them. And then as we head into August,
all the bulbs will come out, all the daffodils will come to life.
And seeing all those gardens come to life, which I otherwise
wouldn't see in a region that's like half an hour away or if I
lived in an apartment. It's, you know, and at the front
of my house we have azaleas and the azaleas come to life, life
in spring, summer. And I've got some figs out the
front which have this, it's called backapa.
And it's like a little vining plant that has flowers.
But luckily it last year round. And it's so nice as us to come
home and be greeted by these big urns that have the lollipop fig
with the Ivy and the flowers. Like when we moved in, they had
succulents in there. For some reason there's an
obsession where people are obsessed with succulents and
they Chuck them. Everywhere.
I am not a succulent curly. Yeah, same.
And I was like, no, you know, we're getting rid of these and
we're doing like a ficus fig with this, like on a stick with
like a lollipop. We're going to do some English
Ivy and we're going to do the baca part, which was like a
happy mistake because I hadn't used it before.
But the neighbours were just like, wow, this looks amazing.
And I'm like, and I'm like, oh, no, I didn't really.
Like, I look after it and I water it.
That's the one thing I tell my partner every time I go away.
I'm like, you need to water the plants.
But then they won't water out the back.
They only water the front ones. So I come home and the earns are
incredible. The backyard suffering, but
yeah. These beans are good.
Yeah, what people can see when they will buy, but no, I love
that. And then so with the store, when
you opened one, was there pressure because it was a store
before? Like what did the locals think
of the store when you opened? Did you?
Were you nervous? Yeah.
So we've been open for three weeks now.
So it's all still new. I'm still kind of adjusting.
But yeah, there this was sort of like a really well known antique
store. If if you know, if you're an
antique collector in New England, you've definitely been
there before. And they specialised, you know,
early on they specialised in Americana.
And then, you know, they brought more European antiques over not,
not to make this a Martha Stewart episode, but like, she
used to come and shop really regularly and she featured the
store in her magazine. Yeah.
So I did, I do feel kind of in one way this kind of pressure,
but I also know that I'll never be able to recreate what they
had and my taste is different. And so I'm trying to just kind
of leave all of that aside and kind of throw perfection to the
wind and just kind of, you know, follow what I want to do.
And, you know, when when I decided to leave my design
marketing job and move to Maine, I thought that I was just doing
the shop and guess cottage and that's all I had planned for.
And then the Internet stuff happened and, you know, I, I
made the video on TikTok and, and that kind of spiralled out
of control. So I wasn't expecting any of
that. I thought I was just doing this.
And so I because of all of that, we've been extremely busy and I
felt a lot of pressure to like get open and, and do it right.
And, you know, so far the reaction has been really
positive. And you know, it's an amazing
problem to have to be so busy and running out of stuff, but
it's still a problem. So, you know, we're kind of
taking it day by day and, and it's just been the the most
exciting season of my life. Yeah, it sounds and like, have
you noticed, has it been interesting to see how people
navigate like what they buy, like what they're buying?
Did you have a good idea about what was going to move quickly?
Yeah. So my benchmark for having
something in the store is I asked myself, do I want to sell
it? And if the answer is no, I want
to keep it, then I buy it for the shop.
So everything that I have is stuff that I love and that I
believe in and that has a story or something special that draws
me into it. And so there there isn't really
any like filler stuff. And I will say, I thought that
like certain things would would sell and certain things would
not sell. But I'm kind of just seeing, you
know, no like clear leader. It's kind of a mix of different
things. One thing that I'm really
excited about. Yeah, it's kind of cool.
And one thing I'm excited about that have have been selling are
we're working with a local basket Weaver in our village and
we kind of developed this small collection of Shaker inspired
baskets. And for those who don't know,
the Shakers were this religious community in New England, but
they had amazing style and taste and their design principle was
all around functionality and simplicity.
And they kind of took these traditional forms and boiled
them down to, you know, only the essential elements.
And their work is really inspiring.
If you ever have the chance to go to a Shaker village, there
are still a lot preserved to cure in New England there So
freaking cool. And so but they were known for
their basket making. And so there's a big New England
tradition of making baskets. And so we're excited to kind of
be a part of that. And and we have some really
traditional Shaker style. And then I've also developed
like some beach baskets that are more like, you know, tote bags.
It's kind of fun. Oh my God, I love that.
I love the getting involved with the like the local community as
well. And again, like I said, it's
just this, it's just this appreciation for design and, you
know, design history and reaching out to people who are
like local makers that really just, it's just not as common
anymore. And it's not.
But The thing is, and I think the reason why the wave of
influx of people coming to you on social media is that we're
all yearning for it in a way. Like people love when you talk
about design history. So it's there, people want it.
People want to learn about these these things, but we just
haven't had the opportunity to look at it because I think we've
had such a strong focus on by the new, what's the trend here?
What's that happening? And I, and I really feel like, I
don't know if you feel the same, but especially when you go and
study design, you're asked the question like, oh, I like this.
And they go why? And you have to go, oh, OK.
And it's sort of one of the first times where you have to
sit down and figure out why you like something.
And I feel like, and I've like when I speak to people who
aren't in design and when I speak to social media, there's
this big lack of understanding as to why someone likes
something. Why do you love it, you know?
Yeah, yeah, totally. And I think it's like back to
what I was saying about being thoughtful about what you bring
into your home and being intentional.
And you know, the other thing I think is that these things that
I'm talking about this like decorative art history, these
design history, Tik Toks I'm making all of this stuff has
been purposefully kept from people to elevate it and to make
sure that the people at the top have something that no one else
has. True, I really believe that
everyone deserves to have something beautiful in their
life. You know, maybe you can't go out
and spend $5000 on bed sheets. Like, I don't blame you, but you
can learn about the history and what makes them special and, and
you can have a piece of that story that brings you joy.
And so that's kind of my goal in making this content is to A, get
people interested in antiques and, and becoming collectors,
and B, to let people have some beauty and joy in a world that
doesn't have a lot of it right now.
That's yeah, I really like that. That's really lovely.
I think. I think it's really good.
I think when people learn more about the things that they like
and why they like it, they're also able to adopt ways in which
they can access it. If something's too expensive,
they can find something that's similar, you know, to what it is
because they know the history behind it or they know the
surface like you know. Exactly.
It might, yeah. It could be like Burlwood for
example, like a Burlwood table can be can cost you thousands
and thousands of dollars, but. You might be.
Able to get a beautiful side table or a beautiful lamp but
because you know and understand Burlwood and you learnt about
it, you can adopt it whereas if you.
You know what to learn when you're out in the market.
Exactly you. You would be like, oh, well, I
can't get that table. And it's like, well, why did you
want that table? Oh, because someone, so X person
has this table, so I've got to have that one.
It's like, no, you need to look at why?
Because, like, the person who has that table is probably being
told by a designer to get that table.
So, like, you need to know why the table's special, not just
because the person has it. You know, it's doing that next
step that I think it's ultimately going to help people
develop their taste. Well, yeah, it's been amazing to
get to know you more and understand what's happening.
Likewise. Yeah, this is so special.
Move on to our speed round which I love because I've got a speed
round but it it never is, you know what I mean?
So be like feel free to extend upon any of these as we go
along. So what I've said here is my
first one which is a favourite room in the house and why?
Which I think I want to leave over because even if it isn't
furnished, there could be a reason why it's your favourite
1. Yeah, I would say our primary
bathroom it, I haven't redecorated it, but it has a
big, you know, 100 year old bathtub and a fireplace and
white painted wood floors and you know, the plaster is kind of
crumbling. I probably need to do something
about that. But it has this enormous shower
and I love it and I love taking. A bath and my God, it sounds
incredible. Like I cannot wait to see it.
It's like, it's like I want to see it now.
But anyway though, that's so good.
I'm glad. It's probably a little more like
Mrs Havisham than you I can imagine, but.
No, but I think I'm into it. I'm into it.
I mean, yeah, yeah, so #2 is slippers, socks or barefoot at
home? Cashmere socks all the way.
I love them. I go through so many pairs of
cashmere socks. As soon as they go on sale, I
buy them up. It's all I ask for for Christmas
and I. Love them.
That's a good one. OK, so your most used item in
your kitchen. Most used item in my kitchen.
Our friend here in Wiscasset, the village that we're in.
He is an artist and he makes, he mostly makes brooms by hand,
traditional brooms, but he's also a spoon Carver and he made
he's made me a few spoons and the most beautiful cutting board
for years there was this image of an 18th century cutting board
that I had burned into my mind and of course it was like, you
know, in a museum or something. And so I sent him a picture of
it and he recreated it for me. And that cutting board is like
my prized kitchen thing. I am so with it.
So I would say my cutting board from Village Handcraft here in
Maine. It sounds incredible, honestly.
I'm definitely because the reason why I brought it up is
because I love your tick tocks where you're making a meal, you
know, to mean like they're so good.
So I'm. Going to be keeping on the topic
board. Yeah.
He's not making them for anyone else though.
It's just for me. Just for me, Oh my God.
OK, so the next one I have here is because I think we're so good
over mantasizing this idea of home and putting things together
and doing beautiful things. What's 1 home task that you
dread doing? Cleaning.
I'm such a bad cleaner you would think put 2 homosexuals in a
house and it would be spotless. That is not my husband and I.
The moment that I have any kind of real income, I'm hiring a
house cleaner. I'm horrible at it.
I don't want to do it. I often just don't.
And you're. Going to have to get yourself a
robovac, like one of those robo cleaners.
It's going to be at this beautiful main home and then
just like a robovac sitting on the side.
Mine's great individually, mops and vacuums every day and I'm
like this is perfect. Yeah, yeah.
But I hate cleaning. I love decorating.
I hate cleaning. Yeah, I'm the same with like
different tasks, like me and my partner go between things, like
Carrie always stacks the dishwasher.
I always do like the washing and the drying, but I hate the
folding. I always make the bed.
Carrie always does the beans. Like it's always like you have
to like go. You know what?
And the reason, 9 times out of 10, the reason why the folding
and the dishwasher action happens is because Carrie's just
annoyed at the way that I do it, which is really surprising me
being the Virgo. You think?
You being the Virgo, I was going to say my husband will reload
the dishwasher after me. Yeah.
And that's. The thing properly.
Exactly. And even when you do do it
properly, it's still not proper. I'm like, OK, Ray, that's your
job now. Like that is your like.
I will say I love making the bed.
I love washing and ironing my sheets and I worked for like a
bedding brand for a few years. And so I'm very spoiled with my
linens and that's kind of one of my obsessions.
So my floor might be dusty, but my sheets are perfectly.
Pressed. Amazing.
That's also my real. Housewives.
Entrance line. My sheets are perfectly pressed.
I do it every week. Yeah, on Sundays.
Yeah. Yeah, sometimes.
I love that lately my life's been a little crazy and I have
gone two weeks. Don't tell anyone, but yeah.
It's kind of a 7 to 10 day mark is fine. 7 to 10 days is good.
Some people like they do it every three to five days.
I'm like, babe, that's way too much washing for me.
That's. Too much, yeah.
As long as it's as long as it's not like 3 months months, I
think we're all good. You know, we're all good, yeah.
Yeah, so wallpaper or paint? Well, it totally depends on the
room, but you know, most rooms can take wallpaper.
I agree, I think we need to bring back like wallpaper is
having a moment and I want to see more of it.
It's like people are getting more experimental with their
tiles as well, and I think it's because of the wallpaper
resurgence. Yeah, yeah, I like wallpaper.
I feel like I could answer this one for you where I've got
monogrammed linens. Love or leave?
Obviously love. Obviously love, like obviously
put the question on here like, you know what I mean?
Like no, it is really beautiful and it also depend, but mind
you, it does depend on where it's at though.
Do you know what I mean? Like where you are in the guest
cottage and in Maine, it's stunning.
I don't know if it works in every scenario.
Well, it depends on the monogram style.
It can look very like sorority girl, but it can also look
really beautiful. My tip?
If you want to monogram your pillowcases and you're afraid of
it looking to do like college dorm is do a tone on tone
embroidery. So if you have white sheets, get
a white thread for the monogram. And I feel like that always
makes it look a little a little more sophisticated.
Another thing is I love vintage linens.
So the way that cotton is processed today is so different
from the way the cotton used to be processed.
And so old sheets from like the 70s and 80s are really, really
nice. And so when I find them in good
shape, out of state sales, sometimes they're monogrammed
and I use those for my guest beds at home.
And it's kind of fun. And then you can, you know,
whatever the monogram is, you can kind of like make up what
the letters stand for. And so we've come up with some
funny and sometimes dirty phrases for, you know, our
second hand monogram sheets. So.
Oh. My God I'm obsessed anyway it's
like almost like ex mothers. Yeah.
Oh, my God, I love that. It's like, oh, that's Thelma
Louise. Like you like, you know, it's
like the name of like the guest cottage actually isn't the
cottage name. It's actually, well, you could
just say it's the guest cottage name and they'll be like, that's
why Linen is that name. Yeah.
Exactly. Yeah, I think also the font
choice is very important too. Like, stick with more of those
traditional serif fonts versus a sans serif font.
Yeah, I think so. What's your most played artist
When you're pottering at home? Do you listen to music?
Are you a podcast or music time? OK, so here's the deal.
I have really good taste. I'm very confident in that.
I'm kind of joking, but also I kind of do.
I have a horrible taste in music.
I have such bad taste in music and so I often listen to a
playlist on Spotify, but I also love Broadway show tunes and so
usually singing off tune to something from Broadway.
The shop and it's like all the door and you can just hear this
music, show tunes just pumping out.
Yeah, literally. Yeah.
It drives my husband wild. He is so annoyed with me but I
can't help it. So do you make the bed
immediately or do you leave it till later?
If you love making the bed, this is a good question.
That is a good question. I think I'm not someone who's
very good at routine, and so oftentimes I forget to make the
bed. Yeah.
Which I think is actually good. I think I.
Believe I'm listening. Would be like, no, I think it's
good because it's refreshing because I think some people do
feel the pressure around the routine and people do associate
the thing where it's like everything has to be perfect all
the time, but I don't think so. You know you can have.
A No, sometimes we make the bed. Yeah.
Sometimes we make it right before we get in there that
night. And that's totally fine and
totally OK. I also think people look at
content creators and they are like, Oh my God, they have these
perfect lives. Everything is in order.
No, we just, we just edit out the parts that, you know, are
ugly. And so, yeah, I don't make my
bed every day. Yeah.
Yeah, my bed is not made at the moment, but that's because my
dog is having a sleep in and I don't want to wake him up and
to. So if you last one would be if
you had a signature cocktail that you were going to serve at
either event or at home, what would it be?
Yeah, so I'm actually not a big drinker.
I think I'm like allergic to alcohol.
Sometimes they break out in hives.
Most times I just fall asleep immediately.
But I do love, I do love to like I call them cocktails.
My husband, he hates them. He thinks they're weird.
But I love to just take like a seltzer and pineapple juice and
lime and ginger and make a little cocktail.
So I would do something like that.
No, I love that. That's amazing.
Yeah, I like, I like sweet. So extra pineapple juice.
Yes, that's really gross. OK.
Well, and I'm crazy enough, I don't need any alcohols.
Yeah, the pineapple juice is enough.
Absolutely. Look, I think more and more
people are stepping away from alcohol as time goes on anyway.
Like since I started training a lot more now, like alcohol is
one of those big things where it interrupts with your sleep and
recovery. So I kind of went off alcohol.
I was a huge drinker to begin with anyway.
But I do it for like occasions and things like birthdays.
And if we're out for dinner, I might have a glass of wine, but
I'm not a huge drinker. Well, we've already established
this. We spent all our money on our
houses. There's nothing left.
To buy booze, yeah, yeah, I'm just going to buy and I'm a.
Princess, I need my sleep. If something up sleep it's not
for me. Well, I always like to finish
the podcast with a question from the previous guest and this
one's related around content creation.
OK. It's kind of really, kind of
really speaks to your journey in terms of like, what helps you
stay consistent when posting online?
Yeah, that's something that I'm trying to navigate.
I think, you know, that's all still very new for me and I'm
trying to figure out, you know, what type of content I want to
create, what type type of content creator I want to be,
what kind of messaging I want to share with the world.
Yeah. And so I'm trying to go slow and
one thing at a time. And you know, I, the shop is
closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. And so I've been using those
days to kind of film a couple videos or at least like get
ideas or, or edit videos. And so by having like a block of
them done early in the week, then I can kind of parse them
out over the course of the week and then fill in with like in
the moment things. And so that's kind of been
helping me stay consistent. Yeah, no, 100%.
That's a great answer. I like.
That's something that I feel like we all do.
We all have to do a certain element of batch and filming,
especially when collaborations appear as well.
You don't want to have a series where you're posting back to
back collaboration. There definitely has to be that
organic content found within and sprinkled throughout.
So always having a little batch just there is good.
And also I think like having a few different things that you do
in terms of like, you can call them series, but really they're
just kind of like pillars that you always go back to where it's
like you might be cooking in the kitchen.
That's something that you do all the time and then it could be a
design history video and then you'll be out in the garden and
it's like there your 3 or 4 videos.
You're like, right, I know what I've got now with that formula.
I'm going to stick with that. But yeah, yeah, it's you know,
and you also go through different phases, but it's so
refreshing to hear you speak about how you really want to
think about what brand you want to be online.
What do you want to say? What do you want to do?
Because I feel like a lot of people fall into it and kind of
arbit hap has it, you know, they don't really have much direction
and they get a bit lost. So it's good to start off early
and think about what I like, what is my mission statement, I
guess because it is a business or what I really always think of
it as a business. Yeah, truly, you know, yeah, I'm
trying to just be really thoughtful about it.
And, you know, like with partnerships, I've, I've done a
couple, I'll do a few more, I'm sure.
But I'm trying to be really intentional about what I say yes
to. And, you know, I'm trying to
shift my mindset from like chasing after things and chasing
after dollars and success and, and more, you know, being open
to what comes and, and, you know, you know, being able to,
to see if it feels right or not. Absolutely amazing.
Well, it's been so good to catch up with you today.
I thought people have learned so much about your story and what
an amazing and inspiring story. I feel like everyone's like, OK,
we all, we all need to get a psychic reading from Alexander
and. Yeah, downloadable scope of.
This literally where you'll be doing readings of people.
I don't know if you want me to, but I could try.
I can make some stuff up. You've got a great track record
so far. Yeah, so far so good.
Anyway, yeah, this has been so lovely.
Louis, thank you so much for having me.
And that was my chat with Alexander Wagner, and what a
story. I loved hearing how his journey
has unfolded with so much intention, creativity and heart.
From leaving New York to opening his dream shop and guest cottage
in coastal Maine, to the way he approaches design history,
vintage collecting, and slow living, there's just something
so grounding and inspiring in the way he brings it all
together. If you'd like to see more of
Alexander's world, be sure to check him out on TikTok and
Instagram. He's at Alexander Underscore
Widener. And as always, if you enjoyed
this episode, please do follow the podcast, leave a review and
a rating, and come and say hi on Instagram.
I'm at the Weberk. Thank you again for listening
and I'll see you next time on Fellow Friends in Home and
Hosting.