Betsy and Amy
I had the pleasure of sitting down and interviewing one of my very favorite designers, Betsy Speert in my home. And do you know how we got together? She found my blog because I had written about her and how much I liked her as a designer and on google it came right up. She contacted me, and here we sit~so once again, blogging has been great! I had to get a pic, so I set up a goofy photo shoot for us (we shared a chuckle over this). What a fun afternoon I had with Betsy. She is very down to earth and a lot like me, telling it like it is and still excited about design. Meeting Betsy was something I had never imagined would happen. For years I have noticed her rooms in magazines, and since she was a hometown decorator it made me feel more connected to her as a fan. Pretty is how Betsy decorates~and I love pretty rooms.
A blue and white bedroom by Betsy Speert, Traditional Home
What a whirlwind of a time it was, me getting to ask her all kinds of things and
watching how she works, as she dissected my own home decor, at my request.
We went on the antique hunt too and I trailed along beside her finding out what stunk and what was ok....
but first lets get to the interview.
Betsy is also an author of design books.
Whats your favorite color? I don't have one.
Favorite color group then? A cabbage rose. Red, pink and green.
How can you like both red and pink as favorites? Those colors are both in a cabbage rose....
What is your go to color for a neutral? I don't have a go to neutral. It all depends upon the space.
What about a favorite white? Benjamin Moore White. Not Decorator White. just White.
Do you rearrange your rooms after you finish decorating? No, I never touch them. There was one room I wish I had done differently, and that is my bedroom. I thought I would like a blue and white bedroom, but I wish now I had done it in a linen cabbage and rose print.
Betsy's Blue and White Bedroom
I just love this room! Betsy uses a lot of dressmaker details when doing her rooms. This is the prettiest blue color, and I love the bed drapes and crisp white monogrammed pillows. Look at that chair fabric~she picks great fabrics and her rooms are layered with details. Even with all this beauty, she decided she would have preferred a pink, red and green cabbage rose print. That makes total sense, sometimes you have a change of heart about a room you have decorated for yourself, I know most of you design bloggers can relate to that.
Anyway....
Betsy graduated with a degree in Theatre Arts from Georgia State in Atlanta. After moving back to Boston she went back to get an interior design degree from The Chamberlain School. She was one of those people who was always rearranging everyone's furniture, and even though design just came naturally to her
she says there is a big advantage in going to school to get formal training. Learning how to draft, the use of positive and negative space...so many decorators do not know how to use scale correctly.
I was curious to know what her big break was. She landed a job at the Bloomingdales Design House after her school internship and worked very diligently for one of the big designers on staff. Boston Magazine was hosting a design challenge for their magazine featuring three new and upcoming designers. At the time Bloomies was THE place where one would go to have a designer decorate their house. Boston Magazine called Bloomingdales to see who they recommended. Betsy got the nod, and the challenge, which was to design a bare box and turn it into a room by doing floor plan elevations and a perspective painting and pick out all of the furniture and fabrics. It was a lot of hard work, but it got her name out there.
Her next break was when she did a presentation hosted by Domain and she met Judy George, CEO. Domain was a fabulous upscale furniture company that Judy founded in 1985. I remember it well, and loved that store! It was pretty expensive, but I did buy a chair there that I still have.
Domain store, Newbury Street, Boston
Domain wanted to do a story with House Beautiful which was a retail house project. "We had to go out and find a house and move all the Domain stuff in and use it and do all the decorating. The owners could then purchase the stuff at net price. Being the little terrier that I am, I contacted all the real estate agents to find a great house. I did a tremendous amount of work for those projects."
Betsy got to meet photographers and all the behind the scenes people in the magazine industry. She asked one of the photographers to go do some scouting shots for her cabin she had decorated. When she got the pics she called Estelle Bond Garelnick and asked her to view the pics. Estelle is regional editor for Traditional Home and scout for all of the Meredith Publications that publishes the special editions magazines that we love to read. Betsy did all the footwork and Estelle loved it! The next thing she knew she was in the magazine!
From that cabin she got clients, including the co-founder of Nike as well as Aerosmith's Steven Tyler and some of the other guys in the band too.
I asked for advice on how to get my own projects published in magazines. " The first thing is you need to have something worth photographing. Do not waste the editors time~I would only call when it was completely done." Betsy said in the beginning of her career she was obsessed with wanting to be published. She was just driven, and she made sure her projects were done top to bottom.
Betsy Speert, Traditional Home
She adds, "If you want to be in a magazine and keep your client happy, design for camera shots. Every room I design, I think of the camera, always." She says that's why her rooms look good from all angles.
Betsy Speert ,Traditional Home
I asked her if she had given her style a label. She said, "No, people say I have a good eye, so I just go with what my eye likes and rooms that you don't have to be overly concerned with ruining something...I am not comfortable in a room that is too pared down. I like to do a room that is right down to the accessories, and that is time consuming. It takes a lot of trial and error. I do tablescapes at home with the accessories before I bring them to my client. Tablescapes are very important in the design of a finished room".
After we finished the interview we grabbed our laptops and shared images and how-tos on blogging.
I fed her a big homemade meatball and a salad and before we went antiquing, I asked her what would she do to my living room if she could do anything. She said, Really? I told her I was a big girl and to have at it! I will share what Besty Speert did with my living room next time!
In the meantime, Betsy has a website that shows an incredible redesign on a West Palm Beach cottage.
Betsy's Bungalow Before
Bungalow After
You will see the transformation and decoration inside and out!
