- 4 months ago
In this episode, Sid Evans talks with legendary interior designer Charlotte Moss about her journey from Wall Street to the world of design. Inspired by her grandmother’s warmth and hospitality, she built a career that has earned her nearly every major design award, the authorship of eleven books, and now her first Southern Living Idea House. Charlotte reflects on the connection between design and entertaining, the lessons she carried over from her time on Wall Street, and even the paint color she can’t live without.
Category
🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00Charlotte Moss, welcome to Biscuits and Jam.
00:03Well, thank you so much, Sid. Glad to be here.
00:05Where am I reaching you right now?
00:08You are reaching me in the Idea House, in Keswick, in the library.
00:13In Charlottesville, Virginia.
00:15In Charlottesville, Virginia, right.
00:17I'm hoping that most people are going to see this story online, or they're going to see it in the magazine,
00:23or they're going to see it when it shows up in their mailbox.
00:26But some people are just going to be listening to this.
00:30So I'm just wondering if you can kind of describe the room that you're sitting in right now.
00:36Well, I designed this room to be the cozy Sunday hangout for football games.
00:42It's the library, but yet it's, you know, the walls, I mean, the cabinets,
00:48and all the trim in the room is like a deep chocolate.
00:51So it's a very cozy, warm color scheme.
00:55And it faces the back of the house, which faces the lake,
00:58which so much of this house does.
01:01But I really wanted this to be the room where you squirrel up in a chair with your dog,
01:05read a book, or, you know, watch your favorite football team.
01:10Yeah, you wanted people to feel comfortable in there and just hang out on a Saturday.
01:16Yeah, all over the house.
01:17But this room, you know, dogs can make themselves comfortable in chairs as well.
01:23And I know you love your dogs.
01:25I do love my dogs.
01:27Yeah.
01:27So, Charlotte, talk to me about your connection to Charlottesville.
01:32I mean, it's not an accident that we partnered on this project together.
01:39Tell me a little bit about your ties to Charlottesville.
01:43My ties to Virginia start with my birth many moons ago.
01:49But I was born and raised in Richmond, and I now have family in Charlottesville.
01:55And so when my husband and I were talking about having a house in Virginia,
02:00this was actually at the beginning of COVID,
02:02I said, well, it's obviously Charlottesville because that's where family is.
02:06And that's where I want to be.
02:08You know, having lived in New York for such a long time,
02:12seeing family was always an orchestration.
02:15You know, a flight, a schedule, something that, you know,
02:19had to be masterminded, you know, to get the family together.
02:23And which, of course, we still do.
02:25But I wanted the ability to just jump in the car
02:28and just go have a cup of coffee with my niece
02:31and not for being with family to be such a big deal.
02:34Really important for me now.
02:36And so Charlottesville was a logical place.
02:39And we found a house,
02:41which just happened to be a seven-minute walk
02:44from my husband's driving range, which is perfect.
02:47Oh, that's convenient.
02:47Yeah.
02:48Yeah.
02:49And I love the house because it sits in like a circle.
02:53And we're totally surrounded by Hedge.
02:57And it just feels very private and very,
02:59very much like in the country.
03:01But even though I know there are other houses out there somewhere,
03:04I feel very, very private.
03:06So you're from, but you're from Richmond originally,
03:09which is what, about an hour up the road or something?
03:13Yeah, 60 miles.
03:14It's an hour.
03:15Easy trip.
03:16What are some things you love about Charlottesville as a town?
03:19I know you've, you know, you've spent a lot of time there.
03:22What are the things that have kept you coming back?
03:25Well, you know, I was on the board of Monticello for nine years.
03:28I'm now an Emerita trustee.
03:31So the place is important to me.
03:33One, I love history.
03:36So being close to it is great.
03:39I wish we'd bought the house while I was on the board.
03:42So it would have been easier to commute to all those board meetings
03:46rather than coming from New York.
03:47But I love Charlottesville because, well,
03:53for all those reasons of being close to family,
03:56being able to be outside first thing in the morning to take a walk with the
03:59dogs or, you know, you know, a Sunday morning just to be amidst green,
04:05which, you know, is in short supply on East 71st Street in New York.
04:10Yeah, right.
04:11And I really, I love the fact that it's more casual, but yet at the same, it's a very smart town.
04:22You know, with UVA based here, there are just so many great things to do and take advantage of,
04:27whether it's film series, concerts, lectures, all of that.
04:33Um, so I, I just feel just more engaged, um, than New York is big and you can be engaged,
04:41but I, I, it's just different.
04:43It's cozier.
04:44I don't know.
04:45Well, and being in a university town and just having all those students around and all the professors
04:50and, you know, just the programming that's happening, you know, the lectures you can go to,
04:54performances you can go to.
04:56That's, um, that's gotta be a treat.
04:58Yeah. And, you know, it's sort of, um, harnesses all this youthful energy and ways of thinking.
05:06And, you know, when you get older, you want to be connected to younger people because
05:10they think differently and you learn from them and they learn from you.
05:14So there's a great exchange, uh, there, I think, um, in this kind of community.
05:19Well, Charlotte, I want to come back to the idea house and a little bit,
05:22a little bit about Charlottesville, um, in a minute, but, um,
05:27tell me a little bit about the house that you grew up in.
05:31It was very casual, you know, it was very casual.
05:34I mean, there were five kids, so there were seven people and a dog living in this house.
05:38So, and it was also tighter quarters, uh, than what I'm accustomed to now, um, which
05:45was great growing up, you know, although, you know, you have to imagine that five kids
05:49got into their scraps on a regular basis.
05:51Um, but, you know, we were a close family and we also had a lot of family in Richmond.
05:57So Sundays were spent at my grandmother's, you know, having a buffet after church and
06:02then everybody watched football.
06:04It was a very simple house, you know, and my mother was not a decorator, you know, you
06:09know what they always say, Sid, it's like every other generation.
06:12Like my grandmother was a great nester and I love the way she did things.
06:15My mother could have cared less.
06:17She would rather been water skiing or, you know, jumping off a boat or fishing or doing
06:22something like that.
06:24And, um, so I think because I didn't have it, that's why maybe I decided to be a decorator.
06:29Who the heck knows?
06:30But when I was growing up, I had no clue that people could make a living moving furniture
06:36around and doing those kinds of things.
06:38Of course, that was my idea of decorating back then, moving the furniture, you know, doing
06:43flowers, doing simple things.
06:45But I had no idea that people actually could make a living helping other people make a
06:50house a home.
06:51And that was really a revelation to me much later in life.
06:55Did you discover it, um, early on at all through books or through someone in your family
07:03who maybe sparked an interest or did you really kind of find it on your own?
07:07You know, I will say this.
07:08Okay.
07:09So my mother did nurture my desire to flea markets, backyard sales, all those sorts of
07:17things, you know?
07:18Um, and she was, she was, uh, a great seamstress.
07:23I mean, she could sew, she could cook.
07:25She did all those kinds of things.
07:27And, you know, so I grew up thinking I had to be like my mom.
07:30Um, so I took home ec in junior high school and, um, I had a wicked teacher, wicked.
07:38And, um, I think she flunked me for biscuits because they had tunnels in them or something.
07:44And, um, but then when it came to sewing, I could put a zipper in a skirt like nobody's
07:49business.
07:50So, you know, I did learn to do the things that my mother knew.
07:54I thought she knew how to do them naturally, but I was sort of tortured in the process learning,
07:58but, you know, she was a crafter.
08:01And, um, you know, what I also loved is my mother had this instinct for being outside.
08:10And, you know, we'd go to the beach and we'd collect shells and she'd make something with
08:14them.
08:15So I learned how to basically make things out of nothing.
08:18And when you learn how to make something out of nothing, then decorating is fabulous because
08:24somebody gives you money to do it, you know, it becomes a totally different, totally different
08:28thing.
08:29So I think I learned from my mother in one way because she was more of the crafter, hands-on
08:34person.
08:35And then my grandmother just sort of seemed to be able to whip it up and, you know, make
08:40it happen like waving a magic wand.
08:44You know, she would set the table beautifully.
08:46You know, she had this wonderful sun porch with beautiful, you know, wicker furniture
08:50and plants everywhere.
08:53And she, she just sort of seemed to do it like it was second nature.
08:57But I do think my mother had to work at it a little bit more.
09:00And so somewhere between those two, I figured I had to find a equilibrium between the two,
09:06between the torture and the ease.
09:09There's a kind of direct connection between design and hospitality and understanding how
09:18to make people feel welcome in a home.
09:22Do you think, is that something that kind of your grandmother taught you?
09:27Yes.
09:27And I think what I learned there, Sid, really, and, you know, you're making me think about
09:33things I haven't thought about in a long time.
09:34So thank you.
09:36Is that my grandmother's house was always had this sense of welcome, but you weren't aware
09:43of it.
09:44You just were welcome and you were welcome to go climb a tree.
09:47You were welcome to sit on the sun porch.
09:48You were welcome to go out in the backyard and pick irises, which I loved.
09:52And so you were just welcome.
09:55And that was just her way of being, you know, when we, she had a little house on the river
10:00and the whole family would go down there and we would go crabbing and then we'd have a
10:04big crab roast, the whole family.
10:06And, you know, it was always, you saw somebody at the beach in the morning and you said, just
10:10come over.
10:11There was just this naturalness about hospitality, which I really love.
10:17Um, and I think being in Virginia, there's a greater understanding of that too.
10:23You know, New York is, um, it's a busy place and, you know, you have to schedule things in
10:29advance and your girl calls my girl and they all look at the calendar and try to find the
10:34date, you know, and three weeks later you might be able to have lunch.
10:38But, you know, like a friend of mine just emailed me on Saturday when I was in East Hampton and
10:44she said, can you come for lunch tomorrow?
10:45And she is a very high powered person.
10:49And I just thought this is fabulous.
10:51When somebody can do that, that's the best.
10:53You can drop everything and run over.
10:55Yeah.
10:55You drop everything and you go over.
10:57Absolutely.
10:58You know, so much of your career, particularly through your books has been, um, around gardens
11:07and, and flowers and the outdoors.
11:10And that's something that's, that's run through, um, so much of what you do and, and, um, you've
11:19published some wonderful books, um, on those subjects and you seem drawn to homes that really
11:25incorporate, you know, this great kind of combination of, of indoors and out.
11:32Um, is that something that, you know, do you kind of look back and think that, um, well,
11:41I guess it's really, you know, you had to be in a place like Virginia to kind of develop
11:47that, right.
11:47I mean, to grow up around the outdoors and to have access to it all the time.
11:52You know, we were always, you know, going on trail rides through the woods and, you know,
11:57we put things in, I remember finding lady slipper orchids, you know, along a creek bed and digging
12:03them up and putting them in Dixie cups to bring home to my mother, because I thought
12:07they were, you know, little miracles growing beside a creek bed.
12:13And so I, I always was drawn to the outside, whether it was, you know, collecting tadpoles
12:17or whatever it was.
12:19And, um, I think that it really starts with just a love of beautiful things and a love
12:26of beauty.
12:27And what I learned from my mom and my grandmother, um, in that regard was just trying to make
12:34everything as good as you could make it as pretty as you could make it, um, for you.
12:41And then if you did it to please yourself, then it would please everyone else.
12:45But you, you, you did it to please yourself first and foremost, because then after that,
12:52it just sort of is a natural, you know, everyone else's happiness is this natural extension of
12:57that.
12:58If you start to try to make it beautiful just for other people, then I think you miss a
13:03part of yourself in that process.
13:06Um, so I think when you give it all your all, then it manifests in, you know, whatever, whether
13:13it's a flower arrangement or just, you know, the fragrance that hits you when you walk in
13:19a front door and just smells like home, you know, whatever it is.
13:22So I think that beauty is really the underlying thing here.
13:29Although I never thought about it consciously, never thought about, oh, I'm going to go create
13:33beauty today, you know, you, you, you just did stuff, you know, and that's what we called
13:38it.
13:38You just did stuff.
13:39Now we decorate, you know, creating beauty.
13:42It's different, but the inside and the outside has always been important.
13:45Whether I was on a trail ride collecting those lady, you know, those lady slipper orchids
13:50or, um, you know, fussing around in my grandmother's backyard where she had this, my grandfather had
13:57beagles and, um, he had this big pen with all the beagles, but on the field to the beagles, it was
14:04just all wild violets.
14:05And I just love being there and seeing that field of purple, you know?
14:10And, and I think when you get to a point where you start to, you're aware of those things in
14:17your environment, when you're aware of them, then you record them.
14:21And then it's, how do I, how can I do that?
14:24I mean, even though I'm not mother nature, there's a way to, there's a way to do it.
14:28And I think that's why gardens have been important to me.
14:30And by writing a book about gardens, because I think even as an interior designer inside
14:36outside to me, it's all pretty much the same.
14:41And, you know, the principles are pretty much the same, but the view to the outside, like
14:46I'm sitting here in the idea house, looking out the library and all I see is trees.
14:51And so, you know, what you see outside of a room also affects how you feel in a room.
14:57And I guess it affects your decisions too, about what you're, what you want that room
15:00to look like.
15:01Yes.
15:02And some, and particularly as it relates to this house, um, really made me think about
15:07the place that it's in, not just the plot, but also, you know, in Keswick, in Charlottesville,
15:15in Virginia, um, yeah, I mean, you, you look outside and you think, wow, that's, that's
15:23a lot of green and you think, well, maybe I don't want an all green room.
15:27I want to do something, you know, that is going to, um, be easier on the eyes.
15:33So when I look out the window, I just see this big explosion of green, but my room is a little
15:38bit quieter, which is what we thought about in the, in the, um, primary suite here.
15:44Um, you see, you have views out of two windows and the scheme is very calm because I wanted
15:53the outside to really speak to the inside.
15:56We were photographing the house and I don't know if this is going to actually make it into
16:00the magazine.
16:02Um, but we had one shot where we were looking out the bedroom window and there was a deer
16:06standing there.
16:07No one would ever believe us.
16:11They would think that we, we put it there.
16:13Well, that same day there was a Fox first and then there were two deer later and you would
16:19never, you would never think that you could catch a deer in motion in a photo that surely
16:25someone would have thought you Photoshop that, but I can, I can, I swear on a stack of Bible
16:30said it was real.
16:33It was real.
16:34I love that.
16:35And I just, uh, yeah, that'd be a pretty nice place to wake up, look out the window
16:39and, you know, have a visitor.
16:41Charlotte, before we get into the house, I want to ask you something else just about your
16:46career.
16:46You had a very unconventional path.
16:50You had this business career, um, for a number of years.
16:56And I'm wondering what are some things that you took from that experience that have served
17:02you as a designer?
17:02I mean, you're in a tough business.
17:04I mean, it's all about beauty, but it's also really, really challenging.
17:08Um, what are some things you learned from your, from your wall street days?
17:12Well, it's a many layered, um, response.
17:17Um, let me just say the first one I think is financial.
17:23Um, I think, you know, one of the things that, um, I was tortured with while I was on wall
17:29street is one of my bosses, my great mentor would send me home with these prospectuses of
17:36financial offerings on a Friday.
17:39Like he thought I never had a date or anything.
17:42I was just going to spend my weekend reading prospectuses, but I learned, I learned how to
17:49sift through it and write a one page summary of those offerings, which one was very important.
17:56One from a marketing standpoint, to be able to take a big document and drill it down to
18:01its salient points is, um, that was really important.
18:05Um, but I also learned how to read a financial statement.
18:09And so when it comes to finance, I mean, I was sort of stunned, you know, I mean, here
18:14I was at a wall street, I knew nothing about, you know, bullion fringe versus campaign fringe
18:20versus any of that.
18:22It was all seat in my pants learning it all.
18:25But what I did, um, uh, what I did learn was the difference between gross and net.
18:32And that's a big one.
18:34Um, when you're writing contracts and you're working on a fee basis.
18:38So I understood that, wow, a lot, a lot of people didn't understand how to evaluate margins
18:44on a project or, or how to spend their time and how to value their time and be paid for
18:50their time.
18:50Um, and, um, it's a 24 hour day, Sid.
18:54So, you know, you got to figure out if you're going to pay the rent and your staff, you got
18:59to, all that time is, is billable in, in some shape or form.
19:03So I learned so much about how to, um, just sort of analyze the bottom line or to look
19:14at a potential project and say to yourself, this is either going to be too time consuming.
19:20The contract's got to be too complicated.
19:24You know, no client's ever going to sign a contract like that.
19:27Um, or how to just look at, let's say a certain size house and meet the client and look at one
19:38and look at the other and figure out how do we get the two to meet and how do we make,
19:45how do you make it all work?
19:46Yeah.
19:47How do you make it all work?
19:48And, um, I think by being around a bunch of stockbrokers all the time who are very bottom
19:54line oriented, who were always on the phone, pitching things to clients, you know, I heard
19:59all that, you know, I heard all that.
20:01And I heard that converse, those conversations.
20:04And the most important thing that came out of that, Sid, quite frankly, was I knew what I
20:08knew I didn't want to do that my whole life.
20:11You know, I was offered, um, you know, a number of great opportunities.
20:15I never wanted to be a stockbroker.
20:17Um, I couldn't wait to get out.
20:20And then luckily, luckily for me, my firm was, uh, merged with another, with a larger firm.
20:27And that was my exit strategy.
20:29That was collect my bonus, which is what I did.
20:33And it went to the bank and I had already planned a vacation to England and I went on
20:42my vacation.
20:43And at the end of a week, I went, Hmm, I need to have another week.
20:47So I called him up and said, I'm going to stay another week.
20:49And I spent about three quarters of my bonus on antiques and, uh, bought a container and
20:58started my business.
20:59And as soon as I came back, I said, adios, it was so liberating, so liberating.
21:06And then I started my business.
21:08Let's see.
21:09I, um, I think I left the firm in May and I opened my doors of my decorating, um, business
21:16and my shop, which was by appointment, um, in October and got married the same month.
21:23It was a very active month, but it was great.
21:27I'll say, you know, I learned so much from that, that, you know, if you look back and
21:33say, Oh, I wish I'd had, you know, eight more years decorating.
21:37You know what?
21:38It happened.
21:39I'm happy with it.
21:41I learned from it.
21:42I met great people.
21:43And I think it was really the foundation of what I know about business, you know, all
21:48together.
21:49So I want to do something called the jam session.
21:51Are you game for this?
21:53Okay.
21:54I hope I can think fast enough, Sid.
21:56That's all I can say.
21:57Orchids or roses?
21:59Roses.
22:00Hydrangeas or zinnias?
22:01Zinnias.
22:02Virginia fall or Virginia spring?
22:05Oh, fall.
22:06Uh, red, white, or rosé?
22:08Red.
22:09I never travel without blank.
22:11A journal and a camera.
22:12The paint color I can't live without is blank.
22:16Oh, Daniil.
22:17When I'm hosting, I always serve blank.
22:19You know, I'm wondering if I should answer that differently, Sid, of something that's on
22:23a paint chart.
22:24Yes.
22:25Okay.
22:25Because we used a color in the master bath here called quietude.
22:32And it really is as close to my go-to color in every house I've done.
22:38The first thing I notice in someone else's home is blank.
22:42Housekeeping.
22:43My favorite dog breed is blank.
22:46Oh, Cavalier King Charles Spaniel.
22:48I have two.
22:49One of whom is a star in the house this year.
22:53Oh, my gosh.
22:54The prettiest garden I've ever seen was blank.
22:58Oh, that's almost impossible.
23:00I've seen hundreds of gardens.
23:02Oh, God.
23:03Is the clock ticking on me here?
23:04How about recently?
23:06Oh, recently?
23:08The Oak Spring garden, Mrs. Mellon's garden.
23:12Not because it's grand, but because it's so personal and it's so natural.
23:18My favorite room in the 2025 idea house is blank.
23:22Well, I have to say libraries are always my go-to.
23:26But the living room that gave me great pause because it's chartreuse
23:30and made me basically freak on the color.
23:37Now it just feels so sunny and warm and inviting.
23:42I love it.
23:42But, yeah, I think I'd probably sit at the back window looking out on the lake
23:48in one of those big bergeres and having a drink or reading my book there.
23:53I love that.
23:54That's great.
23:55All right.
23:56So let's talk about this house a little bit.
23:58And I'm not going to ask you about every room.
24:00You've already done that.
24:01We've, you know, interviewed you plenty.
24:04But there are a couple rooms that I want to ask you about specifically.
24:09And one is the entry, which is very dramatic.
24:15And obviously it's the first thing you see when you walk in.
24:20It's your first experience of the house.
24:24Tell me about that space and what you wanted people to feel when they walk in the door.
24:29You know, it is a very dramatic stripe.
24:33And I wanted that entry to feel almost like a tent because of the way it's also wallpapered.
24:44The ceiling is genius.
24:45I wanted that to be the, you know, the welcome moment.
24:50And I didn't want it interrupted with any furniture.
24:54I knew that was going to be a gathering place when people came into the house.
24:57I love the marble floor that's antique.
25:02And I just wanted that sort of we're here moment.
25:05But most importantly, because of the sighting of this house, you are just trees everywhere.
25:13And so I wanted you to come in, just land there feeling like it's almost like a campaign tent,
25:21something a little ceremonious.
25:22But then you're immediately drawn into the living room, which the color scheme there totally reflects what's out the window beyond.
25:32It's greens and browns.
25:34And there's a lot of green and brown in this house because I felt like, again, I wanted it to,
25:40I wanted to marry it to its environment and its location.
25:45And then we just hung two very large details of gardens, two large photographs of garden details from my archive of thousands of garden photos.
26:02But I wanted it to just be, I wanted a little drama because I wanted the rest of the house.
26:11And you can do that in small spaces.
26:13You can do it in the entry because you're passing through it.
26:16You can do it in a powder room because you're not there long.
26:19You're just, it's a visit.
26:21And, but other rooms where you sit in have to have a different vibe.
26:26You know, whether you're sitting in the dining room or sitting in the library.
26:30Well, the other thing that struck me about that entry, and you've alluded to it, but you, you know,
26:34you walk in and you look straight through the living room and out the back of the house.
26:41So there's an immediate sense of place and connection to the outdoors.
26:50And it sort of draws you into the house.
26:54You know, it's funny, Sid.
26:56Now that you say that, when we bought our house in East Hampton, which was a very long time ago,
27:01I remember walking in and you could immediately see through the living room out to the garden.
27:11Although there was no garden at the time, I knew we were going to make one as soon as I saw that.
27:17And I thought, you know, this is the antidote to city living,
27:21is to walk in and immediately be drawn outside through the house and to see green.
27:27And so the same thing here, it just sort of, that living room draws you in to sit close to the window
27:36and inspect the landscape from that location.
27:41It has a, the house has a great flow.
27:45And that's what I love about it.
27:46Speaking to the flow, another thing that, that I love about it
27:51is the, the hallways kind of invite you to linger a bit.
27:57I'm not used to seeing, seeing a hallway that's got quite as much care put into it or thought put into it or detail.
28:09You could almost just hang out there for a little while.
28:11There's even, you know, in some places there's a little bench to sit.
28:15Yeah.
28:15I just, I loved that space and it made it also feel like a home that's been around for a while,
28:22not one that was spilt in 2025.
28:24Well, thank you, Sid.
28:25That was one of the goals here to take a new house and make it feel lived in.
28:30But, you know, I think, you know, it's your real estate, you know?
28:34I mean, a home is probably the single most important investment you'll make in your life.
28:41Okay.
28:42And a big investment.
28:45And because I love decorating and sometimes I don't know when to quit, quite honestly,
28:52that those hallways give me another place to, you know, play with the space.
28:58You know, what do I want to see?
28:59What do I want to do?
29:00And, you know, what would work here?
29:03And I just think it was, it just happens naturally, Sid.
29:08You know, it just happens naturally.
29:11And you want that sense of invitation to be in all those public spaces and those hallways.
29:18And, you know, today, architecturally, a lot of houses don't, you know, people eliminate hallways a lot of times.
29:26Rooms pour into rooms.
29:28And those passageways, which I think give you a great sense of anticipation of what's at the end of that hallway.
29:37And I think that's one of the great things that you can create with interior design is that sense of anticipation.
29:45It's exciting.
29:46And it's back to that invitation again, Sid.
29:48Right, and it feels like that.
29:52So I want to ask you about one more space.
29:53And this is, you know, this is not a public space.
29:56It's a private one.
29:57And it's the primary bedroom.
29:59And it's a place that, to me, feels like you would not want to leave.
30:08And it sort of envelops you.
30:16And I'm curious what, I'm sure you get asked this all the time, but when, you know, someone
30:24you're working with is designing a bedroom, what are some of the things that you tell
30:28them that they should be thinking about when it comes to designing that space?
30:33You know, I tell them the same thing I tell them about every room, is that you just have
30:39to picture, you know, what do you want to do there?
30:42What time of the day are you going to be there?
30:44What are your expectations on a daily basis for how you would use this space?
30:50Some people, bedrooms are really important.
30:53They want to be able to do a number of things in their bedroom, not just sleep.
30:59But, you know, we put a secretary there for writing a letter or a check, whatever it is
31:04you have to do, and a chaise for reading.
31:06I think you should have options.
31:08I think everybody should have options.
31:11The same thing with the library here.
31:13I mean, you can read, you can write, you can watch television.
31:16Everybody has an activity that they can pursue.
31:19But, you know, usually the bedrooms, we start with the mood and the palette and then always
31:27the bed.
31:28The bed is always a big one because, you know, I love doing big romantic bedrooms.
31:33I love doing big four posters.
31:35They consume hundreds of yards of fabric if you're doing one that's completely upholstered.
31:43But I think beds are really important.
31:45And, you know, husband and wife have to be aligned on that issue if you're doing it for
31:49a married couple or just a couple.
31:51You know, they have to be aligned on what is really important.
31:55And sometimes you have to draw it out of them because somebody's reluctant, somebody's more
32:02forthcoming.
32:04Then there's a silence.
32:05And then, you know, that silence is really pregnant.
32:08You know, it's really telling you something and you have to dig a little bit deeper.
32:13So, but I think in the end, and I learned this from one client early, early on in my career,
32:20and he happened to have been my boss on Wall Street.
32:23And when I quit, he says, well, if you're not going to work for the firm, then you have
32:28to come decorate for us, which was really great.
32:31He was one of my, one of my first clients.
32:34But he said to me, you know, men like romantic bedrooms too.
32:42I said, is that so?
32:43I said, is that a hint?
32:45He said, yeah, but just remember that.
32:48Okay.
32:48And so he actually, I think was maybe more the romanticist in the family than the, than
32:54the wife.
32:54He was the romanticist.
32:56Look, it's yin and yang.
32:57That's what makes marriages work, right?
32:59Or any relationship.
33:00And I learned, I've always remembered that, always remembered that.
33:05And so I never hold back about color or anything when I'm presenting.
33:10Obviously a number of conversations have taken place prior to that presentation, but I always
33:18find that men for the most part will be just as receptive to a big romantic master bedroom
33:26than the wife.
33:30Now in this room, what's interesting about it in the idea house is that the ceiling is
33:37vaulted and it's beamed and there's no other room in the house like that.
33:42So in some ways you feel like they added on this fabulous suite just for themselves because
33:48the ceilings are really high and we, we, you know, we did them all white.
33:52So the room would be very, very light and used a beautiful fixture from, um, visual comfort
33:59on the ceiling.
34:01And, um, we kept it all sort of light and bright.
34:06And I wanted it to be a room where you could linger in the morning.
34:11You know, I think you should be able to close your bedroom door and hang out all day if you
34:17want, you know, no questions asked.
34:19Charlotte, I know this has been quite a journey for you and, um, it's, uh, it's an intense
34:26process.
34:27Um, it's a lot of time when you get to the end of a project like this and you've invested
34:35so much in it and so many ideas and, um, you want everything to be just right.
34:44What, what does it feel like for you to be at the end of this?
34:47Do you feel a little bit of sadness at all that it's over, or is it just a great sense
34:51of relief that you, that you got it done?
34:54Well, I think, um, it's a great relief to have done it on time, Sid.
34:59That's number one.
35:01But I will say that Alexander Nicholson, the builder delivered this house on exactly the
35:05day they said they would do it, which is a very rare thing.
35:08As you know, there's always somebody tiling a bathroom or touching up or doing something
35:14while you're trying to move in.
35:16And this house was ready for us.
35:18And, um, that was a real bonus.
35:21Yeah.
35:21It's a sense of relief, but you know, it's always, um, it's always that moment when you
35:27think, oh, should we do this?
35:29Should we do that?
35:30Should we change this?
35:30Should we change that?
35:31At some point you just have to say enough.
35:34It's got to be done.
35:35Yeah.
35:36It's got to be done.
35:37Now that we've photographed it, this is the second time we've photographed for you.
35:41And then, you know, this book that we're creating for the show house, um, it's been a journey
35:48and it's been a challenge and, you know, it's been trial by fire and it's been learning how
35:54to ask people for things in every conceivable gracious way you could possibly muster is to
36:01ask people to help, you know, sponsor you for various things.
36:04And everyone has been so generous and forthcoming.
36:08So on so many levels, it has been, um, not only the challenge, but, um, a pleasure.
36:16And I've never done a whole house like this besides a client, you know, and we've never
36:21done one in this short, shorter period of time considering we really started, um, I mean,
36:28we really started in earnest decorating in, um, December.
36:32We would never be able to do a client house like that.
36:35Unless of course they decided to turn their entire checkbook over to us and let us have
36:40that's every decorator's dream, Sid.
36:45Yeah.
36:45It is definitely not a normal timeline.
36:48No, definitely not a normal timeline, but it's, it's, it's good.
36:52Everybody, everybody learns from this.
36:54Everybody, including moi.
36:56Uh, well, Charlotte, I just have one more question for you.
37:00Um, you know, you've spent so many years in New York and now you're spending a lot more
37:06time back in Charlottesville and back in the South, kind of reconnecting with that part
37:13of your life.
37:14What, what does it mean to you to be Southern?
37:16You know, there are certain parts of that that are almost inexplicable.
37:21You know, um, there is an, an, I don't know, sometimes I say this amongst my Yankee friends
37:30and they think, or you're just full of it, but there is a Southern attitude.
37:34There is a Southern, Southern sensibility.
37:37There is a Southern sense of humor, self-deprecating humor.
37:41Um, there are just so many things that I can say are Southern, not to mention the fact that
37:47Southern food is just the best, you know, I mean, every year I do two, two dinners that
37:53are just all Southern food, um, up North.
37:57And, um, it means a lot to me.
38:01I feel anchored.
38:02I feel anchored to the landscape.
38:04I feel, um, um, anchored, um, emotionally, a lot of different ways, you know, it's where
38:13I grew up, you know, you can't not have that sense of owning it and belonging to it.
38:19Um, when you've lived there that long, you know, I lived in Virginia until I was what,
38:2620, 22, 23, got married, moved away.
38:30And now I'm back.
38:33Well, it's great to have you back in the neighborhood.
38:36Charlotte, I thank you so much for the time.
38:40Thank you for working with us on this project.
38:44Um, it really is a thing of beauty and thanks so much for being on biscuits and jam.
38:48Thank you, Sid.
38:49Um, your team is great.
38:51Um, I will say it, it worked like seamlessly and, um, like clockwork and that really made
39:00it a real pleasure.
39:01It was just a great team that Southern Living put together for this whole project.
39:06Top to bottom.
Be the first to comment