We have a timely new episode on spring green, a color most of us are seeing all around us as the days get longer and warmer.

If you’ve ever wondered which spaces and patterns work best with spring green, and want to moderate spring green’s almost neon intensity, stay tuned - you’re about to find out!

Once again, Anna-Lena has created a Pinterest board to accompany this episode, which you can find here.

Enjoy the episode, and let us know what you think - we’d love to hear from you.

- David & Anna-Lena

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What you’ll learn in this episode:

Spring green feels rejuvenating

Unsurprisingly, we associate spring green with the feelings of spring, where the days get longer and we see new buds on trees and fresh shoots exploding out of the ground. This feels both uplifting and soothing to us, evoking emotions of hope, growth and natural renewal.

Tonal variations help diffuse spring green’s high intensity

Too much spring green can feel extremely intense and overwhelm our senses. Avoid this by combining lighter and darker green tones from the same green family of colors, or by using a color gradient, like what Le Creuset famously uses on their cookware.

Use spring green in active, energetic spaces

Spring green is ideal for kitchens, mudrooms, hallways and living rooms - all spaces that benefit from its energetic vibe.

Spring green is good for accent pieces and appliances

This is a color that works well in textiles, so consider using spring green in your curtains, upholstery and accent pieces. Painted cabinets and appliances also work well in a spring green color.

Embrace organic, flowing patterns

Avoid rigid geometric patterns and use nature-inspired designs like florals, leaves, varied stripes, or gradient-style motifs. The goal is to echo nature and avoid visual harshness.

Learn to use spring green all year round

We naturally associate spring green with spring, but by being thoughtful about the tones you combine it with, you can successfully incorporate it into designs for all seasons. Adapt your palette, but let spring green be the anchor.

If you want to skip ahead:

01:28 What spring green is and how it makes us feel

03:28 Using spring green in interior design

04:55 Which rooms to use spring green in

08:02 Patterns and textiles that work well in spring green

09:24 Seasonal considerations when using this color

It has been a busy couple of months - some big personal news to report in a second - but we will continue to be releasing articles and podcast episodes in the coming months, starting today with spring green - a color that many of you are hopefully now seeing out your windows as we reach the end of winter.

But first, some quick news to share:

• Anna-Lena is pregnant! Which means some big life changes coming our way. But we’ve really enjoyed our Design Talk project and are planning on continuing work on it at whatever rate we can.

• We’re happy to report that Anna-Lena’s holiday cards were a hit! Lots of happy customers, and several of the stores she worked with have requested more for different seasons. So stay tuned for some spring-themed cards, which she is planning on releasing in the coming weeks.

• Make sure you’re subscribed, so you don’t miss our next podcast episode, where we dive into spring green in more detail.

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Let’s get talking about spring green. German readers can find the original blog post here.

The Pantone Color of the Year in 2017 was “Greenery”. Here’s how they introduced it:

Greenery is a symbol of our newly sprouting hope, our longing for life in a challenging social and political environment. Greenery symbolizes our growing desire for rejuvenation, new life, reconnection with nature, and a closer sense of togetherness.

I decided to make spring green my color of the season while out on one of my walks, when I started to see small bursts of lush, fresh green color in the buds and tiny, delicate leaves slowly emerging on bushes and trees.

Fresh life, bringing hope - something we need more than ever, after a difficult year of marked by a pandemic and lockdowns.1

Of course, the quote above refers more to things like healthy eating, natural health and lifestyle trends, and vacations in nature, as well as the growing green movement to fight climate change. As for the difficult political environment, I don’t think it needs further explanation.2

Here are some emotions associated with green:

• Natural

• Harmonious

• Balanced

• Rejuvenating

• Grounding

• Calming

• Uplifting

But also:

• Poisonous

• Greedy

• Envious

A yellowish green not only symbolizes envy, but also represents hope - a hope for a fresh awakening and better times after a barren winter. Everything sprouts and thrives - a new beginning.

This is why many eco-labels and NGOs use this color: not just because of its obvious association with newness, but also because it naturally reinforces their connection to the environment. When we talk about ecology and sustainability in general, we often use the term “green thinking.”

But green doesn’t just stand for ecology—it also represents the economy! That might be surprising to some, although our society increasingly understands that ecologically beneficial decisions also turn out to be economically wiser in the long run.

Back to spring:

Are you familiar with the time-lapse videos - often used in nature documentaries, but also frequently shared on social media - where a tiny seed pushes its way out of its shell or bulb? And then works through a labyrinth of soil, before bursting out into the open air with all its might toward the sun, as if it’s shouting:

“HERE I AM! I may still have bits of soil on my head, but one day I’ll grow into a beautiful flower, so please don’t step on me…”

Believe me, there’s not much that’s more uplifting than that. So if you ever have a rainy spring day - perhaps literally - watch one of those videos or take a look around in nature. I guarantee it will boost your mood.

And on that note, I wish you a hopeful spring, full of fresh green color!

By the way: if Edvard Grieg’s “Peer Gynt Suite No. 1” kept popping into your head while reading this, I’m not surprised - it happened to me too.

If not, I apologize in advance for the earworm3 you will have after listening to it. 😄

We have some fun news to share with you: has created Stade- and Buxtehude-themed holiday cards, which are available in local shops, or to buy from us directly.

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Here are the designs:

And here’s a promotional reel we created on our Instagram channel (follow us if you haven’t already!):

designtalk.show

A post shared by @designtalk.show

Feel free to contact us directly if you’re interested in buying cards. Note that we’ll probably only ship larger orders outside Germany, but if you have a special case, let us know and we will try to work something out.

Hope you are all otherwise well and enjoying a lovely start to the holiday season.

Regards,

David & Anna-Lena

We’re very excited to share our latest podcast episode with you, where we discuss how sports fans can design interior spaces that showcase their fandom in a stylish and sophisticated way.

This is an unorthodox topic that we haven’t seen anyone else talking about, and Anna-Lena dove deep and created a Pinterest board (which you can see here) to come up with suggestions and inspire you.

We’re very interested to hear what you think, so please let us know!

Enjoy the episode, and please subscribe if you’d like to support Design Talk and get all of our episodes and articles as soon as we make them.

- David & Anna-Lena

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What you’ll learn in this episode:

Don’t hide your fandom

Your space should be a reflection of you, and what matters to you. So if sports matter to you and you have a favorite team, that’s something you should put on display!

Kids have a free pass

We believe that kids (who are often big sports fans!) have a free pass to express their fandom in whatever way they want. Floor-to-ceiling bright colors, wall stickers, bobble-head dolls - it’s all good.

Think beyond man caves

We understand that man caves (or woman caves, if a woman happens to be the big sports fan in a house) have their appeal. But not everyone has the space for one in their home. More importantly, and we think it’s a bit sad if all sports fandom, and sports enjoyment in general, is quarantined to one section of the house.

In fact, we think it’s possible to successfully integrate fandom in all rooms of the house! Moreover, as a general principle, we think it’s desirable that your home’s main spaces reflect the interests and hobbies of all the people who live there.

Go big during big games

In the same way that Christmas decorations are allowed to take over the house in December before you pack them up and put them back in storage, we think you should feel free to max out your fandom during big games, pulling out all your most colorful and over-the-top fan gear, with the understanding that this is a temporary state of affairs and they will be put away afterwards.

Beware bright colors!

Sports teams wear bright colors in order to visually differentiate themselves from the opposing team on the field of play, and to help them pick out their teammates in their peripheral vision. These bright colors will likely be overwhelming in the confines of your home, and your team’s colors may not match the color scheme of your space.

But that’s ok - you can use black and white pictures and other subtle touches to fully integrate your fandom in a more refined way.

Use picture frames and collectibles cases to elevate souvenirs

Many sports souvenirs (e.g. collectibles, ticket stubs from big games, posters, jerseys, etc.) can quickly look cheap and ratty, or can easily gather dust. But if you frame them, or display them in a collectibles case, they’ll be protected from wear and tear or getting dusty, and you’ll be signaling a higher level of intent in what you’re trying to achieve with your design.

Display vintage sports gear

Sports gear from back in the day was often made with higher-quality materials, and can bring an element of historical continuity and nostalgia to your design. Plus, natural materials like leather tend to look better as they age.

Take creative inspiration from sports stores

Sports equipment stores often sell gear from more than one team, so they’ve learned to do a good job of putting together a variety of colors and logos in creative ways.

If you want to skip ahead:

00:00 Introduction

02:01 Common design mistakes we see sports fans make

05:42 Good practices we recommend to showcase your fandom

08:45 How to incorporate sports gear into your designs

13:09 How to integrate your fandom in shared living spaces

15:34 How to take creative inspirations from sports stores

First, a quick update:

After our recent article and podcast episode about the color gray, we told you that our next topic would be about another summer color, Ocean Blue. But since summer is now truly over and the fall/autumn season is in full swing, we decided to reschedule the Ocean Blue episode for Summer 2025 and are now working hard on our “Sophisticated Sports Design” podcast episode - look for it to arrive in your inbox very soon.

Now, on to ugly-chic.

Ugly-Chic

We got on to this topic thanks to a fellow Substacker, Virginia Chamlee, who wrote an article making the case that interior design shouldn’t be too pretty. Throwing in something ugly - on purpose - can really liven things up.

What's Left

It's Time for Ugly-Chic

It was interior designer Jim Walrod who so eloquently described the sensibility that most resonates with me these days: “I like things that bother me…

Read more

a year ago · 21 likes · 2 comments · Virginia Chamlee

Virginia’s article has some excellent example photos, but our resident designer a.k.a. Anna-Lena, dug up two more for your viewing pleasure.

Something tells us this first one might be AI-generated - we’re not 100% sure, and if yes, it’s very well done. However it was created, it hits the ugly-chic nail on the head:

Our second example is a bit more subtle, but we think the horse-head lamp makes it firmly ugly-chic:

What do you think of Ugly-Chic? Do you feel that the concept gives you the freedom and permission to not to make your interior designs too prim and proper?

Let us know in the comments!

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46 Gray Living Room Ideas

Before we put the topic of gray to rest (at least for now), we wanted to send off gray in style and share this article with you, which shows 46 different gray living rooms.

We recommend ignoring the text and just scrolling through the pictures to see if any of them appeal to your personal taste. Bonus points if you are able to identify any concepts we discussed in our podcast episode!

That’s all for now - stay tuned for our next podcast episode, coming soon.

Regards,

David and Anna-Lena

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P.S. if you haven’t already, would you be against subscribing to our YouTube channel? As this helps the algorithm notice us. Thank you!

Today, we’re releasing our first full-length podcast episode!

We actually recorded this episode last year, and it was our first time in front of the camera. So it was fun to revisit the footage and see how far we’ve both come since then.

Of all the topics we’ll cover in Design Talk, the color gray is a good place to start: most of you already have it in your house, but you probably didn’t know how versatile and budget-friendly it was.

If you want to scroll through the visuals used in this episode, Anna-Lena has put together a Pinterest board, which you can find here.

Enjoy the episode, and let us know what you think!

- David and Anna-Lena

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What you’ll learn in this episode:

Gray is more than just a neutral

Gray is versatile and can create a wide range of moods in your home. Its subtlety helps it set the stage for other bold colors and patterns.

Gray, like all colors, has an emotional impact on us

All colors trigger subconscious emotional responses in us. Humans associate gray with balance, elegance, and timelessness.

Why it’s important to balance warm and cool gray tones

Not all grays are created equal! You can dramatically change the feel of a space depending on the different warm and cool gray tones you choose.

Warm grays add coziness, while cool grays bring a sense of calm and sophistication.

It’s crucial to balance these tones to avoid making a room feel cold and uninviting.

Gray is a budget-friendly design choice

If you’re hesitant about using bold colors, gray offers an elegant backdrop to try out exciting pillows, throws, and other accessories.

You can invest in large pieces of gray furniture, like sofas or beds, to provide a flexible foundation for any room, allowing you to experiment with accents and seasonal changes without breaking the bank.

Some practical tips for using gray in your space

Pairing gray with unexpected elements like gold tones or bold colors creates visual interest and sophistication.

If you’re considering painting a room gray, test different shades on your walls to see how they interact with light throughout the day.

Unless you truly love it, we recommend avoiding the “gray-on-gray-on-gray” trend, which has only gone more out of fashion since we recorded this episode last year.

If you want to skip ahead:

00:00 Introduction

00:58 Exploring the versatility of gray

02:11 Gray as a summer color

05:05 Gray in interior design

06:51 Gray as a budget-friendly choice

07:28 Understanding warm and cold tones

08:59 Monochromatic design trends

17:09 The emotional impact of colors

22:17 Final thoughts on gray

Welcome to the first post of our newsletter!

Today, we’ll share an introduction to the color Gray, which, as you’ll learn, is one of the most multi-use and budget-friendly colors in a designer’s arsenal.

But first, we wanted to share our plans for our upcoming posts and podcast episodes:

• We have 2 posts on summer colors (Gray and Ocean Blue) that we will release ASAP - as long as there’s still a hint of summer in the air! These 2 posts are English translations of German blog posts that Anna-Lena has published on her website. You can read the original version of today’s post about the color Gray here, and the original Ocean Blue post here.

• Each post will be quickly followed by a podcast episode discussing the color in more detail, followed by 2 more podcast episodes that we’ll release in quick succession, on Sophisticated Sports Fandom and Incorporating International Design Influences. If you were part of our test audience, the episodes will be familiar to you, but we’ve now added intros and outros to make them more digestible for a wider audience.

• Once all 4 podcast episodes have been released, we will be looking to take stock of where we are and what our community is interested in. We have lots of ideas, but we will be looking forward hearing from you about what you’ve found interesting, and areas we can focus on going forward.

• If you haven’t already subscribed, please do so! That way, you can be sure you get all of the upcoming posts and podcast episodes.

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Enough housekeeping! Now sit back, relax, and enjoy Anna-Lena’s introduction to the very underrated and multidimensional color Gray, and learn why she associates it with summer.

When the color provider Pantone revealed their Color of the Year 2021, it led me to think of summer.

"PANTONE 13-0647 Illuminating, a bright and cheerful yellow, bursts with vibrancy and warms with the power of the sun.

PANTONE 17-5104 Ultimate Gray embodies the solid reliability of an enduring, secure foundation. Like pebbles on the beach that withstand the test of time, the subtly reassuring Ultimate Gray creates a sense of calm, steadiness, and resilience."

Yellow as a summer color is intuitive. But GRAY? How is gray a summer color?

Pantone’s description triggered an immediate association in my head. Reading about the warm yellow sun hitting a fine pebble beach brought me back to the summer of 2019, when David and I did a 10-day van trip in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island. This was the part of Canada I had most wanted to visit, and I was worried that maybe I had set my expectations too high. I shouldn’t have worried: it was absolutely stunning.

Since the region is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, we visited many different beaches, some full of sand, others that were rockier, including one that was strewn with beautiful gray stones glittering in the sun. As the memory resurfaced, I knew I wanted to make gray my next summer color.

But it's not just the pebble beach in Canada that makes me think of Pantone’s gray-yellow summer combination: the interplay of light and shadow also brings back memories that are unique to summer.

Imagine this scene: you're at your favorite beach club, lying in a deck chair under a palm tree, and squinting into the sun, which has just risen a bit higher in the sky. You look at the stone path nearby, and see the light and shadow on the stones playing off each other. The sunlight is yellow. The shadows are gray.

What other, more general, associations do we link to the color gray?

First of all, gray is perceived as one of the most neutral colors, which is why it combines so fantastically well with other colors.

Gray is also perceived as:

• wise

• balanced

• humorless

• impartial

• elegant

• stable

• adaptable

• boring

• reserved

One association I particularly liked, because it triggered both a positive and negative reaction in me, is timelessness.

Anyone familiar with the work of German author Michael Ende will understand why the combination of “time” and “gray” might provoke a negative reaction. In his famous book "Momo," the Men in Gray steal people's time, making life sterile and devoid of meaning.

But gray has many positive qualities.

Because it is timeless, gray is an excellent color for investing in quality pieces that you want to keep over the long term. As your tastes evolve and trends change, you can keep your gray items, mixing and matching them with other pieces in different colors and styles.

Despite its unassuming nature, gray can pull much more weight in a design than most people give it credit for. It can provide a cool or warm contrast. It can play a silent companion to a flashy color, or it can project an elegant self-confidence.

With that said, a gray-heavy design requires both skill and courage to execute. If it’s not done well, a monochromatic design can easily look boring; or conversely, overwhelming.

But monochromatic designs are certainly worth trying, especially in small rooms - in large rooms, too, if you have the budget! Some tips:

• Choose a balance of both cool and warm gray tones

• Be conscious in the tones you choose - don’t choose them haphazardly

• Don’t forget to consider how the room will be lit, as this will also affect the tones’ warmth

Gray suits an eclectic style just as well as a minimalist style. It’s an all-rounder in both decor and fashion.

So now, I'm going to take my gray summer dress out of the closet, pair it with some gold jewelry, and go out for ice cream. Later, I might go to the beach to collect stones or shells. I wish you a cheerful, warm summer with pleasant cool breezes.

What is Design Talk?

Design Talk is a newsletter and video podcast that makes interior design approachable and fun.

By combining the perspectives of a beginner (David) and an expert (Anna-Lena), we can meet you wherever you are on your design journey, and help you create beautiful spaces that feel like home.

If that’s all you need to know, then subscribe so you don’t miss anything! Otherwise, read on.

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Who we are

We’re a married couple with wildly different levels of design expertise: Anna-Lena studied design and has plenty of real-world experience, while David is still a beginner: he likes nice spaces, but has difficulty creating them himself.

In the years that we’ve been together, these different levels of expertise have lead to interesting conversations, where David learns something new about interior design and Anna-Lena is reminded of the difficulties that beginners face when trying to design spaces.

At some point, we realized that these conversations could be interesting for a wider audience, and the idea of Design Talk was born!

Our goal

We think interior design has an accessibility problem: most publications cater to experts or the very wealthy, and don’t feel relevant to everyone else.

We want to make interior design approachable and fun, so you can unleash your own creativity and create beautiful spaces that you want to live in.

Topics we cover

We talk about design’s core components - i.e. colors, materials and light - because they are critical to understanding design, and everything else builds on top of them.

But we also wanted to take the opportunity to explore unorthodox topics that other designers ignore. For example:

• Sophisticated sports fandom - are you a big sports fan, but worry that too much sports decor might be scaring away visitors? We’ll show you how you can support your favorite team, but in a classy way.

• Incorporating international design influences - just got back from an inspiring holiday in Greece / Central America / Southeast Asia and want to use some of the designs that inspired you into your day-to-day life? We’ll teach you how you can gracefully incorporate diverse influences that help the memory of your holiday live on, long after you’ve returned home.

We have a long list of additional topics, so make sure to subscribe if you don’t want to miss them!

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We also want to hear from you:

What design topics do you want to learn more about?

Leave a comment and let us know, and we’ll do our best to cover them.

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More about us

Anna-Lena is the founder of ALMEY Design, a boutique design studio focused on providing sustainable interior design for a variety of project sizes and budgets.

She has a wealth of diverse experience in the design field, including:

• a university degree in Graphic, Object and Spatial Design

• roles in packaging design, set design, and advertising, where as an Art Buyer, she sourced creative talent for major international ad campaigns in the automotive, retail and non-profit industries

• working as an independent talent manager for photographers, before returning to her design roots with the launch of ALMEY Design.

If you’re on Instagram, you can follow Anna-Lena’s profile to see what she’s up to.

David’s job at a maritime data company is far removed from the design world, but he always had an artistic and creative side that he can reveal through Design Talk.

If all of this sounds like it might be interesting for you, please subscribe! We’re looking forward to helping you on your design journey.

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