EP 11 TRANSCRIPT

…just in case you wanna read

Cara: 00:00 You’re listening to the Make Space Podcast, episode number 11

INTRO: 00:23 Welcome to make space a home design show made to inspire you to create spaces you truly feel at home in Cara Newhart sits down with amazingly brilliant guests for conversations that dive deeper than pin worthy rooms to tease out the essentials of creating spaces that feed your soul and inspire your creativity from home design strategies to decor, advice to interior design, tips and tricks. These conversations help you dream up a beautifully lived in home. Cara is the designer and chief creative enthusiasts behinds Never Skip Brunch. Her work has been featured in print publications like people style watch and Denver style magazine as an influencer. Cara has collaborated with brands like Amazon, h&m, Twitter and Thrillist. Here’s your host, Cara Newhart.

Cara: 01:21 Hello again, it’s Cara and today I’m talking to one of my really great friends, Kristen, who is so much fun and seriously just an amazingly creative human. You might know her from her appearance on the today show or from working on shows like Bravo’s Top Chef, HSN, and her show on NBC is blueprint network. She’s also collaborated with brands like Michael’s, Cricket and the Home Depot. So Kristen started out as an event designer and has recently translated those skills into interior design and is using them to create gorgeous spaces in her home. Like me, she’s a maker at heart and she’s using her creativity to do good and impact the lives of people going through real life struggles. You guys are gonna love her unique perspective, all her amazing tips and her giant paper flowers. So let’s dive in and talk to Kristen.

Kristen: 02:21 Hello!

Cara: 02:23 Hi, how are you?

Kristen: 02:25 Oh, I’m good. Just sitting in Florida waiting for the storms to destroy us all.

Cara: 02:30 Hopefully they’ll blow — on — right through, but I guess then you did all the prep for nothing. So

Kristen: 02:35 We did all of the prep and my office is in my garage and so now promptly everything is in the garage and I cannot find a dang thing. So sorry, I do not have my microphone with me.

Cara: 02:49 Totally. Okay. You sound good and you’re here and you’re not blown away. So that’s all we can hope for.

Kristen: 02:55 No, just trapped in indoors with the kids. It’s a different kind of storm. So it’s been, it’s been weird. I’m sure.

Cara: 03:03 I’m sure. So let’s dive into some more fun stuff to hopefully brighten up your day a little bit, being stuck inside. But um, you’re creative in so many different ways, like just scrolling through your feed. It’s like wow, she can literally do everything. Um, could you share a little bit about your creative journey and kind of like where you’re at now?

Kristen: 03:26 Oh yeah. So I have been an event planner since I was, man. My first wedding I ever went on was when I was 19 and the only reason I got into weddings was because I didn’t know what I wanted to do for like a job to pay my car insurance in high school. So I started working at a catering company because on the weekends you could go and go to different events and meet new people, see different things. And I love that cause you know, I’m a talker and I met a wedding planner at one of the events and just fell in love with how big and opulent and gorgeous like weddings can be. And so I started interning when I was 19 back when internships were unpaid, you know, those glorious days. And after a year, a full year of events and interning, I was like, this is what I want to do.

Kristen: 04:19 So I started helping like assisting at weddings and I worked my way up and then I felt really strong to be able to design my own weddings. And at that point, the owners of this wedding company were on their way out and they offered it to me. So I purchased it from them with a partner who knows more about the numbers cause I love all the pretty staff and as a business owner now I’m catching up on all the numbers. But, uh, went to, did weddings exclusively and then opened my horizons into corporate events because I was asked to do so. And here we are. Gosh, I’m, you know, I — I feel like I’m in my twenties, but I’m definitely right in the mid 30 range. So it’s been a long time. Brides are bunch of hassle. I love them, but they’re so emotional that I switched to only corporate and, but I was missing that element of working with my hands.

Kristen: 05:19 That was my favorite part of the wedding because I would just try to imagine place cards set up differently or how, how about we make a dark, creepy wedding but make it in a beautiful way. Just kind of what kind of details could I make. So I’ve always made with my hands and wedding planning and design help me be able to pay for that habit. But eventually it just became too much. And so I thought it would be great to just be a stay at home mom and homeschool my children. So six months into that I was like, uh, no. And um, at this point I had completely walked away weddings and my husband was the one who said, why don’t you just keep making things? Cause I already was taking photos and just do one of those Instagram things. Yeah. And so I did, I came up with A Girl and Her Glitter, which I’m the girl.

Kristen: 06:13 And glitter is just your abilities. So the story behind that is that we’re all created in such unique, wonderful ways. But I don’t, I don’t shine you and you don’t outshine me. And we don’t out shine the person listening. We all were created with specific gifts and unique capabilities and we should find what that is and we should share it with the world. So that’s what a girl and a glitter is. And two years, a year and a half. And in my journey, a company called Michaels asked me to do some content for them. And then cricket found me, which I love cricket. And then, um, blueprint, which is NBC streaming network, asked me to do a show cohost, a show about throwing parties and how to make the decor. And then from there they asked me to do top chef, which I did the restaurant wars. I designed all the restaurants and you know, and because it’s an NBC umbrella, I got all the way recently to the today show throwing Jenna Bush’s shower, which is crazy.

Kristen: 07:20 So it’s a wild two and a half years now. Um, when people ask me what exactly do I do? Uh, honestly I just do, I am a content creator and contributor, but I just do, I just love anything I can do with my hands. And I like thinking outside the box and then making people kind of, you know, tilt their head at it but then smile and go. That’s kind of cool. Yeah, it was honestly restaurant wars that made me start thinking about home decor and home layout and home design. I was like, it is legit. The same thing. Like if you can do space layout and design, then you can just translate that into your home. And it sounds ridiculous, but that had never occurred to me. You should see my house. It is the most bland thing in the world.

Cara: 08:06 Haha, thats’s not true

Kristen: 08:06 And now I’m like, oh, I can make this, I can make this my own. So we’ve been slowly but surely just kind of trying to be creative and do that. But that’s my creative journey all and 10 whole minutes. Sorry.

Cara: 08:19 No, that was so good. And I really love how like things just like I did this “because someone asked me to” and you were just like open to all the opportunities and now it’s like you’ve been able to do so much, just being like flexible and just like ready to be there and ready to help. And that’s, so your personality too is just to like serve people and it’s really gotten you so many cool, cool doors opened. I feel like.

Kristen: 08:44 Absolutely. I agree with that. Just being open. So it’s like someone’s listening and they’re just afraid or don’t know how to get started. It’s just do just do it. Just, and you know, could tell you right now I’m busy. I have three kids, I have this, I have that. I have a lot going on. And honestly, my family is always like, you’re so busy. It’s because I love to do, um, I need to cut back on my loving to do. But you know, someone who might think that they want to start crafting or they want to start designing, like just do it just to do it.

Cara: 09:17 One of — one of the most interesting things kind of about your journey and I think what it really relates to in terms of this show where we’re talking about like how an everyday woman can really design a home they love and like tackle those big projects is like, I feel like event design has taught you so much about like home design in like a weird, not a weird way — but just like a different different way than you would think it would. Um, but watching you like design spaces and um, in your own house like make-over rooms and stuff, you have like a really unique approach that I guess I feel like is just from designing all these like gorgeous events cause you have like, like me a flare for just like outlandish, gorgeous things. Like I don’t, I don’t care if it’s that practical. Like I want it to be pretty and I’ll, I’ll make it myself if I have to. But can you talk a little bit about that? Like how event you’re events have translated into like your actual home and learning how to create that?

Kristen: 10:15 Absolutely. I think it is a very unique approach like you said and the reason why it made sense all of a sudden is because when your event planning, and if you’re not an event planner and you’re listening but you’ve thrown a party, you understand that some colors do work together and some don’t it all the same basic principles apply and it sounds silly, but when you are planning an event you have to think about gathering areas versus what will work in your space or not like am I going to be able to fit this many people in this space? Am I gonna be able to see this many people at this table? And there is measuring, there is design, you know, design isn’t just, I feel like a lot of people are like, oh you can make a pretty event, you can make a pretty bedroom.

Kristen: 11:03 There’s a lot of thought and you know, I saw on your stories recently, there’s math, I hate math. Like the only downfall to this. But um, there is, there is anyway, it does tie in because you do have to think about colors and scale and proportion and it all just kind of blends. But I do agree it is a unique angle because in my event world, I love being opulent and being crazy because it’s with other people’s money. So now it’s taking my money, um, and making my house, my home. And um, of course still doing event designing, just pushing the boundaries. Like right now, I’ll tell you right now, my, um, white elephant is my entry space. So instead of looking at it as my home, I’m looking at it as almost as if it was an event and what would I want to see there?

Kristen: 11:57 What’s kind of cookie, what will get the attention, but what will last forever. So, and I’m going to start that journey soon. But just looking at your space and then almost taking yourself out of it, I think because when I designed, I designed for other people. So take yourself out of it and create the person you want to be like. That sounds so weird. But like I love dark, moody spaces. So I’m removing myself from it who loves grays and whites and neutrals and saying like, how would I design for this other girl, let’s call her, you know, something fine like Shaniqua — so Shaniqua loves dark teal and texture and all that. So that’s how I have started to turn my event planning mind into my home design because for some reason I think maybe cause my husband so he’s awesome but he is bland, he is from Iowa, he likes, you know, not crazy things. So yeah, I’m of course working together with him and you know said Shaniqua, it’s turning out great. But yeah, I think going from event design to home design is a unique way to look at it. But if you’re having trouble designing for yourself, cause I hear that a lot. And don’t design for yourself, designed for the person you want to be.

Cara: 13:22 I really liked that thought cause a lot of like DIY design starts with like, well what do you need out of the space? And like what do I like? But if you don’t even know where to start, like think of like yeah, take yourself out and think of what you want it to be and then you can put yourself back in when it comes to the details. But it’ll help you get you started. Exactly. So is there anything about like, cause when you’re designing events you’re looking at like a lot of temporary stuff. Like what can we bring in and like caught up and is there any of that that’s been like a weird transition because you’re home, it’s like we could just permanently affixed this and it’s done.

Kristen: 13:58 No, it’s funny as I was just thinking about this because I don’t know if I want a decorate for fall. Not every other year we go out of town for Christmas and this year is our year to stay and we like go crazy and do a hayride and hot chocolate. So it just takes a lot of time. So pertaining to your question, the house is like say a ballroom, a plain ballroom, um, there’s going to be some cool features, but things that come in and out, like what can you bring in? What can you bring out that is I think seasonal decor because we all need to decorate and we all love those seasons in life to celebrate. So making my house, the stationary ballroom and then bringing in the elements of change is how I kind of look at that. But stationary items should be, like you said, like they should be more opulent and more you and you know, you’re, you’re afraid to spend money on certain things, but just like an event, you have to spend money on the venue and um, those, those costs won’t change. So you might as well honestly go all out. If you want that lighting fixture, we’ll just think about it. You’re gonna have that for so long and you don’t want to settle on something that you kind of, Eh, about. This is your home, this is where you live. It should be something that you get excited about. And when people come in your house, that’s what they look at. Um, but yeah, treating my house is seasonal and that’s what I would quote unquote bring vendors in to bring in and out.

Cara: 15:29 Yeah. I really liked that just personally because I like, I really like things to be new and change and I like, like for example, growing up in high school I would like rearrange the furniture of my room like every other month just cause I needed it to feel different and fresh and new. And so finding out how to do that in my house in a way that doesn’t feel wasteful and also feels like I can invest in some pieces. Right. Has been like a learning process. But I do like that that it’s like not only seasonal but just like seasons of life. Like you know with your kids being small or not having kids or whatever that looks like.

Kristen: 16:03 Right. The fact that I can’t have an area rug right now because my three year old trips over the half an inch rise on it is just so thankful season of life because it’s gorgeous. I get it on like crazy good deal. Which by the way, not everything has to be opulent. Do your research, get the deals like come on so you can’t switch ’em out. Cause you know you have young kids, they’re going to spill everything on it and Scotchgard is not saved the world. So, oh man.

Cara: 16:33 So funny — No, but that is, that is really true. And I feel like a lot of stuff you, you can get that’s gorgeous and gonna give you like the up-leveled vibe, but it doesn’t have to be super expensive, especially if you know, like it’s going to have to be a temporary piece, whether that’s like pets or you’re going to move overseas or you have children that are going to ruin it. Oh yeah. Yeah. Oh that’s so funny. Okay. So you’re also really well known for paper flowers and part of me is like, are you tired of making paper flowers yet?

Kristen: 17:06 I just have been tired of making paper flowers for at least two years. It was a really good step. It was, it started at a wedding where bride when it’s something unique behind her cake and I fall in love with my clients because I was able to choose him at the end. And um, I wanted to give her something crazy awesome but she couldn’t afford much. So I just went and bought about $300 worth of poster board, spray paint, lattice adhesive glue, like all kinds of stuff. And I made this backdrop for behind this cake in the way of giant paper flowers because I’ve seen paper flowers and they were small. But honestly it was how much time are these little paper flowers that I would have to make hundreds of going to take. Whereas if I use instead of a sheet of paper and use a sheet of poster board for each pedal, I could blow these up and take up so much more real estate than the tiny ones.

Kristen: 18:08 That was the whole thing behind it. And then I had that one wedding and it just blew up and then it became different colors and different designs and people were calling. It was a really great transition from weddings cause it actually was my second to last wedding into whatever it was I was going to do next, which I had no idea. And honestly, home decor just started when I met you at haven. You were just getting into it. Really. It was my first ever home. Anything but, but paper flowers are good. I still make them, I don’t make them for like weddings and stuff anymore. It has to be on, like I just did them for a corporate client here and they pay more. So that’s why I did it. So,

Cara: 18:57 yeah. Well, for everyone listening, they’re going to have to go check out your Instagram because they’re literally gorgeous, like giant. And I don’t know, I’ve seen a lot of paper flowers that are kind of like simple, but these are like very involved and like look very realistic. Like every time I share you on Instagram, everyone’s like amazed. Like, oh my God, did she make those flowers?

Kristen: 19:14 I do. So this is how I’m turning paper flowers into good. Um, we’re going to go a little grim for a second, but last year, um, my cousin by marriage was the victim of a senseless, like random act of violence is what they call it. Um, somebody who was off their meds actually broke into his home and um, ended his life. It’s, it was terrible. And I saw their go fund me for my cousin. This cousin’s children was not reaching the goal of the trauma therapy that was needed. And we donated what we could, but one of the children was in the house was in the home when it happened. And Oh my God, I was like, how can I help? How can I do this? And everyone loves these paper flowers and they should, they’re gorgeous. They really are. And I do, I love making them.

Kristen: 20:03 But when I was making them every week, every night I got burned. And so now that I’ve said no to so much, I gotten my love back. So anyway, I decided to teach people how to make my paper flowers through, go fund me accounts. And I started with my cousin, so my cousin, we were able to meet his goal because I put out there, hey, if you want to learn how to make these four paper flowers, and I showed my best that I could, I will show you on Facebook live in a private group after you donate $25 to the go fund me. And it was so well received that it actually in the works right now to do the same thing. But I’m asking my Instagram and social media world to me, go fund me accounts that they’re really invested in. So this will be for sick children or parents with cancer.

Kristen: 20:54 Like it’ll be all of those terrible things, but bringing a new life to it. And I will choose one flower for each account for $25 minimum donation to those go fund me accounts. And then you get to see me live. So it’s a full hour where you can say, wait, slow down. What are you doing? Or how do you curl this? Or how do you do that? Um, so I’m interacting, you’re learning a skill and someone’s benefiting from it. So that’s where my love of paper flowers is going back to now because it would be really easy and I really could grow my social media following if I just did a youtube video on how to make it and everyone would share it and everyone would watch it. And I think that eventually we’ll do that. But right now I’m, I need to be the hands and feet of something greater than myself and benefiting someone else. So anyway, I’ll, I’ll be sure to send you that so that you can share it, um,

Cara: 21:47 When yeah — no, I’m glad you shared all about that because that was one of the biggest questions everyone was saying that I needed to ask you was how can they learn how to make them? But yeah, if there’s any there, I don’t think there’s a cooler way to be able to learn and really support something meaningful. So,

Kristen: 22:04 yeah, done workshops, some to the workshops in this in the past. And they were insanely fun because, you know, um, I, my friends call me Guac because I’m always extra like legit. When that thing came out, they were like, see? And I was like, yeah, every like, um, I have a full on brunch and I have tables set up and I supply all the stuff. It just takes so much time and energy that I don’t have right now. And this is just a much better, more intimate way of doing it. And, and then less people ask me to make them for them, but then in return I get all these photos of these flowers people are making from my online Facebook group. And it’s just, it’s so insane. Yeah, it’s really good. One girl has actually made a business out of it, which is really cool.

Cara: 22:51 That’s so exciting. Yeah. Yeah. So for someone that’s not looking to do them for like a party, have you seen people use them as like home decor pieces and how do you style them?

Kristen: 23:00 no, it’s funny is my mom asked me, she’s like, can you get this paper? Like she bought paper and she’s like, can you make this into a flower? And then put it in a shadow box. And I did and I put it in like her, she wanted it in her bathroom. So, um, I actually got to know Michaels because of my paper flower in oversize custom made shadow boxes that my stepdad and I made. And that also came out of the idea of being lazy and I didn’t want to dust, I didn’t wanna dust or, so I was like, I’m going to encase them. And that’s actually how I met goals for contest. They wanted to have people meet the Michael’s makers in California and my friend actually the photo for me because she thought it was incredible and I got this weird email saying, hey, you won the contest.

Kristen: 23:51 And I just deleted it because it didn’t say like I didn’t enter, no, I didn’t enter and it didn’t look legit. Like I had my mom eventually called from her office cause they were like, hey, we’re [inaudible], we’re going to fill your spot if you don’t respond. And thank God my mom called, she called me back. She’s like, you need to call. You won some Michaels contest. And it was all because of home decor with paper flowers. Yeah. And it is cute and there was a little baby in it cause it went over a nursery crib. But um, yeah, so, well let me keep my youngest, Lola helped me win that. But absolutely paper flowers can be for events and parties, but they can also be for home decor, especially like I’m getting into this dark mode and I’m redoing Madison and Lola, my tutor, my two girls set a share room. I’m redoing their paper flowers in their room because they’re all small and cute. But I’m going to do oversize ones, but I think I’m going to go with deeper, darker colors. But I’ve seen monochromatic in people’s homes, paper flowers that are white on white. And it’s really just a texture difference. And I think sometimes that’s the most stunning thing.

Cara: 24:55 No, it is. Yeah. So let’s dive a little more into design. Cause right now you have a lot of projects going on, but I think one of them — yeah, too many — Um, but then one of the main ones is you’re like getting ready space slash master bedroom, which is what you want with the home depot challenge, which if you’re listening to the podcast, it’s the same thing. I won just a different category. So we’re both redoing spaces sponsored by home depot

Kristen: 25:22 as you winning the Creme de la creme and I won like the peasants who eat outside.

Cara: 25:28 Oh No, I didn’t even enter in the other one. That’s just totally different, different things. But um, yeah, no, that’s been really exciting. And I just wanted to dive into like kind of your design process, like for a room, where do you start? What do you do?

Kristen: 25:45 So for my bedroom, um, I proposed at the haven conference for the hook, Home Depot Orange think tank. I wanted, I was trying to think of something to be honest, I entered that contest 48 hours before it closed. And so I had to think of something that I could, cause you have to send from Home Depot website what you want to use the products. So I thought there’s this area in our bedroom, which our bedroom was going to be last. We moved into our house a year and a half ago and my wanting to do everything, cause you know you always put yourself last, but I thought the quickest thing I can think of that would be interesting is something called an insta ready space. So the instant ready was a place because now I’m using social media and I’m talking a lot to myself on my phone for my stories.

Kristen: 26:36 But you know, sometimes you have to get ready and the, the essential kind of part of it is that you just a space to put on your hair and makeup. But I wanted it to go a little deeper and I wanted to be like, no matter if you’re just putting aquifer on your lips and lotion on your face, it doesn’t matter. It’s just a space for you yourself to enjoy and really like and want to be at in the mornings or in the evenings getting ready. And I thought, well this is in my room so I don’t want a vanity. And for all of you, the end of the loving people. Awesome. I’m so proud of you and I love that you love your vanity. For me it looks a little juvenile in my space. Like they’re overly girly. They, um, and that’s just not my aesthetic.

Kristen: 27:19 Me, myself, I love being overly girly, but in my bedroom I wanted a masculine feel and so I thought a desk would be best and it’s one of those deaths I picked that has all the electrical outputs already in it. That has increased. So smart. I like, so the presentation, I was like genius, like sort like in all my hair, right? So the top jor is perfect for the hairdryer, the irons and you know, of course we’ll heat protect that and then the bottom door is really deep. So all my standup products will go there. And then there’s an open shelving space that I can just put a basket then for all my makeup necessities. But under the main part of the top, it’s one of those desks that you can pull up on. It stands up with you and you know, when you’re trying to do your eyeliner, you’re gonna like try to get close so you can, you know, and, and, and when you’re blow drying your hair, sometimes you gotta just stand up, flip your head over and get the hair underneath.

Kristen: 28:14 But I can stand up my desk with me. And I thought that was really cool. But it’s so amazing, just like turn an office desk into like something totally functional. But I don’t know why someone else has it made in a vanity. I’d like serious just for us. I didn’t want to walk in my room because this wall, when you walk in the room, my room was long and narrow and it’s a wall at the back of the narrowness. And so what was going to bring your eye to that was going to be what was ever there. So I love my desk, but I don’t want my desk to be the focal point. So I went online and I was looking for a paint treatment or the texture kind of woods that people are doing board and Batten. And I was just like, I just wasn’t the easier.

Kristen: 28:54 So I went to the wallpaper and it was this legit peel and stick it think of vinyl, you know. Um, and I found this navy blue with the, and I’m talking like dark navy with these bursts and these gold bursts are just iridescent to the point where they capture any light and they are gorgeous. So good, like such a good pattern. So I thought when I walked in my room, how cool would it be if my, I was pulled down to these bursts and talk to my husband, made sure that the navy was okay because it’s a dark color and we’re painting the rest of our room in this dark color. But you need to understand, we love our sleep and I love moody colors. So the whole design came from wallpaper. So they’ll, a wallpaper sets the tone for the rest of the room becoming this dark color.

Kristen: 29:47 But those iridescent really bright brighten it up. So how do I lighten up the rest of the room? I found curtains that are heavy textured but have a sheen to them. But I’ll have to post his or they’re beautiful. So that brightens up and we have three windows in our rooms, so that six panels, and I was sure to go the 96 inch lang from ceiling to floor and I got the mixture wide so that it does eat up some of the real estate on the wall with that dark blue. And then the headboard is what’s next. So we’re going to use one by twos as a headboard. We’d been married for almost 11 years. We have never had a headboard. I love, it’s just can’t pick one. I don’t want to spend money on one. So this one will go floor to ceiling, one by 2, two inches in between.

Kristen: 30:38 So if you can imagine a piece of wood wall space, a piece of wood wall space and so on, the whole width of the bed. But because I sat our room as long and narrow, it’s just going to kind of, not the verticalness of the wood is going to help bring the eye up. But I want to take it a step further and we’re gonna cut that on a 45 degree angle at the ceiling height and then bring it all the way across to where the fan is on the ceiling so that your eye goes up and then continues up to the ceiling and it’s going to be really great. Um, and then of course the bedding will be, you know, an ivory light color that my kids will absolutely destroy when they bring in Kool-aid, when I tell them not to bring in Koolaid, but it’s going to be aesthetically really pretty.

Kristen: 31:24 And with the floors being dark, we got a lighter rug. So balancing out those dark masculine colors with a lighter tone. And then the iridescence kind of brings in a feminine kind of look and touch, but it still gets us our moody room that we really want.

Cara: 31:42 That was like a whole little mini masterclass and like using dark colors in a way that doesn’t feel too dark. I loved it. Um, because I don’t really, I have never used dark colors, but literally watching your room, like watching you paint the dark navy and then the wallpaper, I’m like, oh, I could probably really get into this.

Kristen: 31:59 Right. Especially if you are afraid of using a dark color and I get it. Like our room is going to be a cave, but that’s what we want. We want to go into a roof like hugging us. That’s not the rest of our home.

Cara: 32:11 But I think just doing a feature wall of a darker wood maybe suffice and need for the dark side to come in. Yeah, man, now you, I know I’ve got so much to think about. I’m like, yeah, but our next day is in the kitchen and we’re doing board and batten, but in a really cool way. Of course it’s different, but that’s going.

Cara: 32:36 Yeah, is that you’re dark tile?

Kristen: 32:39 So no, my kitchen does have a black backsplash, but we’re partnering again. The Home Depot asked us to be a part of something exciting coming up in their paint department and it has to deal with color matching. And we have this at the end of our kitchen. Most people have a flex space or a catchall space and it’s weird to like how do you tie it into the rest of your house but make it usable. And that’s what we’re tackling here.

Kristen: 33:06 So I’m going to color match the cabinets because this space is at the end of my kitchen. It’s more my eating containers and I’m going to tie it in with color matching this color, this baton board and Batten. But then I’m using a teal, a dark, but it’s a weird dark, bright teal. It’s a weird, you know, kind of both. Kind of both. But that’s where I’m getting my dark color in here as well. But I think that’s a good idea too, if you’re kind of, our friend did it, our friend did it, um, simply aligned home. She did the board and batten white color, but then she put black on top, you know, so now you want to choose is black everywhere. It looks so great — so does, uh, the Gal you just interviewed for [inaudible].

Jessie: 33:51 Jessie? yeah she wants to pay everything black and I love it too.

Cara: 33:54 But if you’re afraid of doing that, I think Simply Aligned Home did it so beautifully and for everyone’s like a a visual person. I am not, I can see it in my head but if you need a visual, go over to her Instagram and see how she did it. Cause I love mixing the light and the dark.

Cara: 34:12 Yes. Good contrast for sure. Okay, so now the important stuff. Where can everyone find you online?

Kristen: 34:20 So I am A Girl and Her Glitter. So @agirlandherglitter on Instagram, I think I’m a funny person on my stories and like showing in real form. Like you’ve seen me all cleaned up and you have seen me looking like a troll and I don’t care. It’s just how it is. It’s whatever it is. You know, not all of us can be Jessie, but also on Facebook @agirlandherglitter.

Kristen: 34:47 Everything that you can possibly imagine. Twitter if you to be warned. It’s just random thoughts. It’s not design, it’s not parties. It’s just random thoughts like my kids asking if I can go swimming and I had just blow dried my hair and I told them in three days I could. Those are the kinds of things that I put on Twitter. But anywhere on social media @agirlandherglitter.

Cara: 35:11 Yeah. Okay. And then I don’t know if we fully explained blueprint, like you have a show and people can subscribe, like how does that work? So yeah, cause I know people are going to ask.

Kristen: 35:20 Blueprint is NBC streaming network. It’s kind of like a Hulu or a Netflix. So it is a paid subscription. And in contrast to all of the other streaming networks, blueprint is where you watch and learn. That’s their, so you’re gonna Watch the content, you’re going to learn how to do something and then hopefully put it into practice.

Kristen: 35:42 They have everything from sewing and quilting to party throwing. And how to do photography. Twitch even has a class on there on how to dance and um, which I met him. He’s very, very kind and we both eat dessert first that we found out at dinner. It was very fun. Um, my show is, I have two, I have one that’s a class that really literally breaks down step-by-step on camera, how to make something and then we take it to the party where I show you the rest of the elements. So you know, going backwards, the show is called bring the party. So I show you how this is how you do a party and here’s some great ideas and then you can, then it breaks down into the class on how do I make that backdrop? Well here you go, step by step, minute by minute. And I cohost with one of my best friends.

Kristen: 36:32 His name is Joshua John Russell. He lives in Atlanta and he has a youtube called man about cake. So he does all the cakes. And this show was inspired by his show because all of his followers were like, where are you taking this awesome cake? And like, what do you do after you bake it? So yeah, it’s a really, really fun time. We’re like brother and sister. People ask if we’re either dating or brother and sister. We are neither. And we just really enjoy each other’s company. It’s a lot of fun.

Cara: 37:01 Yeah. Well good, glad we got the full scoop on that because I know everyone’s going to be like, what is that? Should I watch it? Like yeah you should. You really should. It’s great.

Kristen: 37:09 So it’s something I can actually watch with my mom cause she’ll do the sewing and then I’ll watch for how to cook or how to do photography. There’s even yoga and workout classes. It’s just anything you can watch and literally learn, but you have access to all of it is great.

Cara: 37:26 That’s my kind of stuff to watch. I’m always like, what should I learn today? Oh for sure. For sure. Yeah. Well thanks so much for coming on. This was so good. I feel like so many little gems of like good tips on how to make your house pretty and now everyone knows where they can make paper flowers. So that’s good too.

Kristen: 37:44 Yeah. And if you could follow me on social media, I will. That’s where I will be posting. Like this is who we have chosen to benefit and then enter and it’ll have instructions. I’m trying to work on a video so it’s easier to understand. But also I’m looking for suggestions. Maybe somebody you know that needs help. Maybe it’s, you know, and what I do is I narrow it down and then I get with my people here and we just kind of pray over it and see where we’re led. But that doesn’t mean that I can’t help you out personally if you’re not chosen that. But trying to share the love.

Cara: 38:19 Yes. Yes.

#OBSESSED: 38:29 Hashtag obsess.

Cara: 38:34 So what am obsessed with this week is not specifically home-related, I guess you could say it’s sort of DIY related because you can wear these when you DIY projects and it’ll keep your hair out of your face, which is actually important for power tools. But they are these headbands that I got off Amazon. There’s 14 of them for $13, and they have like, they look like silk, like a silk head wrap, almost like a really small skinny band. And then like a, not on the top, but you don’t have to know how to tie the, not you just slide them on. They came with a ton of different patterns and they’re super cute, super cheap. I will link them in the show notes, but also what I’m going to do with these is I actually was like playing around with how to store them because I now have a ton of them.

Cara: 39:24 Um, and I kind of wrapped them around this base that I had to and they didn’t all fit obviously, but, um, I kind of liked the way it looked because it looked like this textured like fabric wrapped vase with a bunch of different patterns. So it had like a really eclectic vibe. So now I think I’m gonna do a DIY project for storing them. Um, so hopefully that’ll be hitting the blog soon because they look really cool if you um, put them all together as kind of like a home decor piece. So when you’re not wearing them, it also is decor and you know, I’m all about anything that can be dual purpose like that where something that can be functional and also beautiful. So yeah, I think there, there are two pretty not to display even though I paid like no money for them. So I’m obsessed with silk ad headbands that I don’t have to tie and super easy to wear. You just match them to your outfit and they work as home decor. So check the show notes for the link if you want to buy them. It’s literally zero risk. It’s like 13 bucks. And then stay tuned for that DIY project because I’ll show you how to style them in your space as a vase.

WAIT, WHAT?: 40:38 wait, what?

Cara: 40:43 Okay. So the wait, what for this week is specific to color and the front door color compared to the value of your house. So last year if you followed me for awhile, you know that I painted our front door like a golden yellow, which is pretty bright and I love it because I love yellow and front doors that are yellow or just really like cheery and welcoming. But I found a report from Zillow that says that homes with black or gray doors get $6,271 more than anticipated. So we are listing our house like this week. Pretty sure if everything goes to planned, but I’m wondering do I leave the door yellow because I love it and it’s cheerful or like do you think that black or gray doors are really that much popular? So this is funny because I literally didn’t know there was a correlation between door color and how much homes sold for.

Cara: 41:41 But I’m interested, what do you guys think I should do? Do you think it’s crazy? Do you think colored doors are just more fun and maybe someone would like it, like what do we do about this? And did you know that there was a correlation between Dork Eller and people selling their house? So that’s my way up for this week. Nothing too elaborate, but pretty interesting. I don’t really want to take the time to paint the door, so I’m hoping you guys say no, but let me know what you think. Use Hashtag make space podcast or um, talk to me on social in the comments or dms. I want to know what you guys think and I’ll talk to you next week.

OUTRO: 42:21 Love this episode? Leave a comment on the blog posts or use #makespacepodcast to share your thoughts. If this is your first time listening in, be sure to hit that subscribe button so you can stay updated with the newest episodes. If you’re a subscriber and you love the show, be sure to rate, review, or screenshot and share your favorite episode on Social.

p.s. This post may contain affiliate linking for your convenience. These links don’t cost extra for you to use + I always share my honest opinion.