EPISODE 20: INJECTING BEAUTY INTO OUR HOME AND LIFE WITH JULIE COUCH
Live Date: Monday, August 24, 2020
Show Description: Heather is joined today by Julie Couch, a renowned Nashville-based interior designer. Julie is a committed wife, mother of two, a member of the Southern Living Designer Network, and one of Traditional Home’s 10 Rising Stars. She is also a television veteran who charmed audiences on DIY Network series “Nashville Flipped.” Julie is passionate about creating curated and collected homes that are livable, affordable, and reflect each person’s style. On today’s episode, Heather and Julie discuss letting go of perfection, encouraging our daughters and sons to release pressure as they get older, how to freshen your home while you are stuck in it, navigating loss, and so many more great tips from such a sought-after, accomplished designer.
Biggest Takeaways:
We are spending so much time in our homes right now – playing, working, and living. Many people did not take a vacation this year. In order to bring beauty, peace, and a bit of a staycation vibe into our homes when it is where we are working, going to school, eating every meal, and living our day-to-day life, Julie says to:
Edit the clutter. Julie wants us to get rid of all the clutter around the house: school work that is no longer, old pictures, anything that causes anxiety because of mess.
Brighten and simplify. Julie says this can be done by ordering white linens and towels, or picking up grocery store flowers and putting them on the kitchen counter.
Paint a dark room. Now is the time to lighten up your walls to physically feel brighter and lighter. Julie even suggests trying out some new wallpaper or a new gallery wall.
Quotables:
“I think the hardest thing for me is to put work on a back burner because I love the creative part so much. And so of course, anytime I’m asked to do a project, I want to do it. And it sounds so exciting, and I want to meet a couple, and I think they’re so nice, and I want to help them. Sometimes, I think I had trouble giving myself enough time and space to take care of certain things. And then I obviously had this huge amount of guilt.” – Julie Couch 6:18
“I’ve always related it to like when I’m kicking butt and taking names at work, I’m failing miserably as a mother. When I’m an awesome mom, something else is being sacrificed like work, right? Or my marriage or, you know, whatever it is. We just can’t be everything to everybody simultaneously.” – Heather Adams 7:45
“The outside pressures to be perfect and have it all together, I think are great, and then I put that much more pressure on myself.” – Heather Adams 9:38
“I have an older sister, Molly, and she has told me a few times: you’re only a perfectionist with yourself. You don’t do that to other people. You don’t expect perfection for people that work with you, and you don’t expect it from relationships, but why is it for you? You expect it. And, she always tells me, you set up a standard that nobody can meet. ” – Julie Couch 10:14
“But don’t you think, too, Julie that when you are transparent and vulnerable and honest, that people step forward and meet you where you are? And you have a deeper, more meaningful connection. I mean, I feel like that’s why we’re friends is because we were honest with each other from the very beginning about the season of life we were in, and what our life really looked like, and what our marriage is really looked like and all of that, as opposed to having it all together and putting on this show, and then people like aspiring to live your life.” – Heather Adams 13:11
“I want her, first of all, to feel like what is uniquely her. What is uniquely you? What is your talent? When you feel alive doing? And, let’s cater to that.” – Julie Couch 23:36
“For me, physical clutter equals mental clutter.” – Heather Adams 29:22
“Grief is not linear.” – Julie Couch 43:26
“Give yourself grace to feel, even when people are ready for you to be over it.” – Julie Couch 44:10
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