Yikes! We’re a bit behind in our publishing schedule, but the warm weather and longer days are a useful reminder to share our spring food and tablescape edition with you ASAP.

Enjoy, and stay tuned for our summer edition coming very soon.

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Our Apricot-themed spring dinner was our chance to test drive our new food and tablescapes concept, and also our first attempt at a bigger creative project with a baby in the house. With so many new things happening, one of our top requirements was to make the event as easy for ourselves as possible.

That meant:

• Keeping it small - dinner for 2, no guests necessary

• Nothing unnecessarily complicated or intimidating to cook or prepare

• As much preparation the day before as possible

Of course, no plan survives impact with reality, and things did go wrong. But that’s ok.

I honestly consider these challenges to be all part of the fun, and I love figuring out creative solutions, with occasional help from Google and AI. But by minimizing the number of variables in this first iteration, we kept the size of any potential problems in check, got Round 1 under our belts and significantly increased our enjoyment of the process.

Here were our other considerations for the Spring Apricot shoot:

• Apricot is a spring color, but the actual apricot fruit it’s named after is ripest in the summer, with peak season in July and August. Since there was no way we were going to use fresh apricots if they weren’t absolutely perfect - that would be sad - we relied on preserved forms of apricot (dried fruit, jam and tea) instead.

• Apricot is not the only food that is apricot in color. As you’ll see in the menu, we were able to use roasted carrots, Israeli couscous (also called ptitim or pearl couscous) and chicken to provide various apricot shades.

• In order to lift apricot’s very warm color palette and provide balance, we leaned heavily on different shades of green as a supporting element, with our recipes incorporating asparagus (a very spring-y vegetable!), pistachios and za’atar.

• Spring is Passover season, so we wanted at least one of our dishes to be Kosher for Passover, which our gluten-free almond flour cake most certainly is.

Here is our final menu:

Starter: Roasted Carrot & Ginger Soup with Za’atar Oil

Main: Harissa Roasted Chicken Thighs with Apricot Glaze

Side: Israeli Couscous with Asparagus

Dessert: Almond & Apricot Cake with Crushed Pistachios

Drinks: Apricot Tea / Mead / Water

Once the menu was finalized, it was my job to get it cooked and looking good for the camera. All the different courses had to be ready at approximately the same time, so that Anna-Lena could photograph the finished tablescape and we could eat before the food got cold.

As I mentioned, things never go quite according to plan, and the real skill is in rolling with the punches and improvising. Here are my notes on how that went:

• Our plan was to do the shoot on a Sunday, which would allow me to bake the cake, marinate the chicken and make the roasted carrot soup at a leisurely pace on Saturday. However, we realized that it would actually be kind of nice to get everything done on Saturday, as that would give us all of Sunday to rest and recover before going back to work on Monday. The new schedule did make Sunday less stressful, but it also meant that I had to prepare all the planned day-ahead elements in the late Saturday morning / early Saturday afternoon, and then start cooking in earnest after we’d put the baby to sleep around 7:30pm, making for a very late shoot.

• I did not start a timer when I put the cake in the oven, partly because my mind was elsewhere (new parents can sympathize), but also because I like to “let the food tell me” (via visual cues, smell, etc) what needs to be done. I like to think about how previous generations successfully cooked without all the gadgets we have today, and I also find it liberating to rely on my own senses.
  However:
  I learned that almond-flour cakes are tricky to gauge visually - the top can brown quickly and appear finished while the inside of the cake is still raw. What saved me was another old-school technique, the skewer test i.e. inserting a toothpick in the middle and seeing if there is wet batter on it (which means it needs more time) or only a few crumbs (which means it’s done). Worked like a charm.

• The recipe called for heating za’atar oil in a small pot on the stove, but time and pots were in short supply, so I ended up mixing the olive oil and za’atar in a bowl and doing 10s bursts in the microwave. It worked perfectly.
  (Note: I think we overlook microwaves as a serious and acceptable tool for cooking, likely because we associate them with frozen microwave dinners and reheating leftovers. But microwaves are fantastic tools for making fancy things in small quantities, including toasted nuts, fried capers and even caramel sauce - check out this video from America’s Test Kitchen to learn more.)

• I was initially planning on roasting the chicken legs in a ceramic roasting dish, but then realized that this would limit airflow and prevent the chicken from getting crispy. The solution was to put the chicken on a wire rack on top of a baking sheet, which really helped the skin crisp up deliciously, while the baking sheet caught the meat juices and glaze, which I then added into the Israeli couscous for additional flavor.

• The mead (honey wine/beer) that we chose, mostly for its color, was far too sweet for our liking and didn’t fit the menu at all. Great in the pictures, but we do not recommend it to actually accompany the meal.

We finally got everything on the table late in the evening, and once Anna-Lena was done taking the pictures, we dug in.

The food was delicious, and it was incredibly satisfying to see everything come together so well. We both had an absolute blast, and we agreed that this is something that we want to keep doing every season.

All the recipes are listed below - hope you enjoy, and let us know if you try out any of them!

- David & Anna-Lena

ROASTED CARROT & GINGER SOUP WITH ZA’ATAR OIL

Serves 2

Ingredients

For the soup

• 500g carrots, peeled and cut into chunks

• 1 medium onion, roughly chopped

• 3 garlic cloves, unpeeled

• 1 thumb-sized piece of fresh ginger, peeled and roughly sliced

• 2 tbsp olive oil

• Salt and black pepper

• 700ml vegetable stock

• ½ tsp ground cumin

• ½ tsp ground coriander

• Squeeze of lemon juice to finish

For the za’atar oil

• 3 tbsp good olive oil

• 1½ tsp za’atar

Method

1. Preheat your oven to 200°C. Toss the carrots, onion, and unpeeled garlic in olive oil, season well, and roast for 30–35 minutes until soft and catching color at the edges. The caramelization is important, as it deepens both the flavor and the color.

2. Squeeze the garlic out of its skins. Transfer everything to a saucepan with the ginger, cumin, coriander, and stock. Simmer for 10 minutes.

3. Blend until completely smooth. Add a squeeze of lemon, taste, and adjust seasoning. If it feels too thick, loosen with a little water or stock; you want it to pool beautifully in the bowl, not sit like a mound.

4. For the za’atar oil, warm the olive oil gently in a small pan, add the za’atar, stir, and remove from heat.
   Alternatively, you can mix the olive oil and za’atar in a bowl and heat in the microwave in 10s bursts.
   You just want to bloom the spices into the oil, not fry them.

To serve Ladle into wide shallow bowls. Swirl the za’atar oil on top with a spoon and drag it in a slow spiral from the center outward. A few extra za’atar flakes scattered on top finish it nicely.

Make-ahead note The soup keeps in the refrigerator for 3 days and freezes well. Make the za’atar oil fresh on the day of serving.

HARISSA ROASTED CHICKEN THIGHS WITH APRICOT GLAZE

Serves 2

Ingredients

For the chicken

• 4 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs

• 2 tbsp harissa

• 2 tbsp olive oil

• 3 garlic cloves, minced

• 1 tsp ground cumin

• 1 tsp smoked paprika

• Salt and black pepper

For the apricot glaze

• 4 tbsp apricot jam

• 1 tbsp honey

• 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar

• Pinch of chili flakes

Method

1. Mix the harissa, olive oil, garlic, cumin, paprika, and seasoning into a paste. Score the chicken thighs a few times with a knife and rub the marinade all over, getting under the skin. Leave to marinate for at least 1 hour, ideally overnight in the refrigerator.

2. Preheat oven to 200°C. Place chicken skin-side up on a foil-lined baking sheet fitted with a wire rack and roast for 25 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, warm the apricot jam, honey, vinegar, and chili flakes in a small saucepan until loose and combined.

4. After 25 minutes, spoon the glaze generously over the chicken and return to the oven for a further 15–20 minutes until the skin is deeply lacquered and caramelized. Keep an eye on it, as the sugars can catch. You want deep amber, not burnt.

5. Rest for 5 minutes before serving.

Make-ahead note Marinate the night before. This genuinely improves the depth of flavor and removes stress on the day of. The glaze can also be made ahead and reheated.

Additional note We were planning on making this again, but our apricot jam had gone moldy. So I substituted grape jelly, which tasted fantastic. I don’t think other fruit jams e.g. strawberry, raspberry would work as well.

ISRAELI COUSCOUS WITH ASPARAGUS

Serves 2

Ingredients

• 200g Israeli couscous (also called ptitim or pearl couscous)

• 1 bunch asparagus, woody ends snapped off, cut into 1-inch pieces

• 2 tbsp olive oil

• 2 garlic cloves, finely sliced

• 500ml vegetable stock

• Zest of 1 lemon

• Small handful of fresh flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped

• Salt and black pepper

• Optional: a few toasted pine nuts for texture

Method

1. Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the couscous and toast for 2–3 minutes, stirring regularly, until it turns a light golden color. This step adds nuttiness and stops the couscous from going mushy.

2. Pour in the stock, bring to a simmer, cover, and cook for 8–10 minutes until the liquid is absorbed and the couscous is tender. Remove from heat and let it sit covered for 2 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, heat the remaining olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and asparagus and sauté for 3–4 minutes until the asparagus is just tender but still has a little bite and color. Season well.

4. Fold the asparagus and garlic through the couscous along with the lemon zest and parsley. Taste and adjust seasoning.

Make-ahead note The couscous can be cooked ahead and reheated gently with a splash of water or stock to loosen. Cook the asparagus fresh on the day, as it loses its color quickly if it sits too long.

ALMOND & APRICOT CAKE WITH CRUSHED PISTACHIOS

Serves 6–8

Ingredients

For the cake

• 200g ground almonds

• 150g dried apricots, roughly chopped (plus a few extra halved, to press on top before baking)

• 150g superfine sugar

• 3 large eggs

• 120ml light olive oil or neutral oil

• Zest of 1 orange

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• 1 tsp baking powder

• Pinch of salt

To finish

• 2 tbsp honey, warmed

• 40g pistachios, roughly crushed

Method

1. Preheat oven to 170°C. Grease and line a 20cm round cake pan.

2. Whisk the eggs and sugar together until pale and slightly thickened, about 2 minutes.

3. Add the oil, orange zest, and vanilla and whisk to combine.

4. Fold in the ground almonds, baking powder, and salt until just combined. Fold in the chopped dried apricots.

5. Pour into the prepared pan. Press the reserved apricot halves gently into the top in a loose pattern — these will caramelise beautifully as the cake bakes.

6. Bake for 35–40 minutes until golden and a skewer comes out clean. If it’s browning too fast, cover loosely with foil after 25 minutes.

7. Leave to cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack.

8. Once cool, brush the top with warmed honey, then scatter the crushed pistachios generously over the top.

Make-ahead note Like many almond flour cakes (I have a great chocolate one that I will share at some point), this cake is better the next day, as the almond and apricot flavors deepen overnight. Bake it ahead, wrap well, and add the honey glaze and pistachios on the morning of serving.

As we previously mentioned, we have a new concept where we are creating tablescapes and a menu showcasing our seasonal color. We had an absolute blast cooking and photographing the Apricot tablescape, which will be featured in our next article. Subscribe to make sure you don’t miss it!

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“Et je resterai demain / Notre amour sera beau / Au fond de ton jardin / Au 3 rue de l’abricot / Rue de l’abricot / Rue de l’abricot” — “Rue de l’abricot” by France Gall

Everything has its season, yet nowadays we tend to rush through things rather than wait until a season has truly arrived. People decorate for Halloween in July, and shortly after New Year’s the Christmas trees are already out the door — even though the Christmas season officially hasn’t ended yet.

It’s the same with spring flowers. I can never bring myself to buy daffodils or tulips in winter. To me, they simply belong to spring, which this year very dutifully kept us waiting. After a beautiful winter with snow and ice - which is as it should be - spring has finally arrived. The crocuses, winter aconites, and snowdrops are in full bloom, the birds are singing their hearts out, and we’re tilting our weary faces toward the sky to soak up the warming sun.

That’s exactly the moment when I bring the first tulips and daffodils indoors. In the flower bed, I find the mix of dark red tulips and apricot-colored daffodils particularly charming. Finding that specific combination as cut flowers, however, is a challenge. But at my favorite florist, there are sometimes white daffodils and apricot-colored French tulips. As I buy them, I decide that apricot will be this year’s spring color.

Apricot is a light, delicate mix of orange and pink — more yellow-toned than salmon or coral, but less powdery than peach. This soft hue is often associated with new beginnings, joie de vivre, and optimism — making it the perfect spring color.

But apricot isn’t just a spring trend. Alongside Pantone’s “Peach Fuzz,” Coloro’s “Apricot Crush” was the trend color of 2024. It’s not new, though — apricot manages to be on trend every few decades, without ever pushing itself too aggressively into the spotlight. That was last the case in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, but also earlier, such as in the Roaring Twenties. It was first defined as a color in 1851.

For me, this shade is above all associated with a great deal of savoir-vivre. Perhaps that French connection is also why many people perceive the hue as warm, sweet, and carefree.

It doesn’t impose itself the way red or orange does, and it doesn’t evoke Mediterranean associations the way terracotta does. Apricot won’t transport you to India like pink, or to the South Pacific like coral. It’s a color that gently tells a warm story, and only becomes bold when you actively style it that way.

Like so many pastel tones, apricot integrates well into a wide variety of interior styles.

Combined with more neutral tones in a minimalist setting, apricot can provide the warm embrace that may be needed to keep a space from feeling too sterile.

Paired with other pastels like light blue or mint, apricot serves as the warm counterpart without becoming too feminine. Apricot is particularly beautiful, though, alongside other shades from the same color spectrum, punctuated by rich, darker tones such as forest green, ocean blue, or even anthracite.

A word of caution: be careful when you start combining apricot with glitz and glam. Paired with cream-colored natural stone and mirrored surfaces, you can quickly end up with an opulent 1980s interior that looks like it fell headfirst into a powder box.

If you find yourself standing before a bare wall in your hallway or child’s room, wondering which color to choose, I can only encourage you to give apricot a try. Especially on a large surface, it’s a color that knows how to make itself beautifully at home. Make sure to look left and right as well — might the doors benefit from a touch of color, perhaps in a lighter shade from the apricot spectrum? And if that’s not your particular challenge at the moment, I’d still urge you to see if you can find some apricot-colored daffodils somewhere, to get you fully into the spring spirit.

As for me, I’ll be slipping my husband a recipe for a tarte tatin aux abricots and hunting down the right décor for an apricot-friendly spring dinner.

As you’ve noticed, it’s been quiet here recently. The short version why is that when our daughter was born 10 months ago, she wonderfully upended our lives and forced us to reprioritize everything we were doing, including this Substack. Editing our video podcast was incredibly time-consuming, so we’ve put the podcast on hold for now, which is perfectly ok for where we are in our lives at the moment.

With that said, our urge to create remains, and we think we’ve come up with a new concept for our Substack that we:

1. Both are incredibly excited about

2. Think is something new and different that you probably haven’t seen before

3. Believe we can maintain along with our parenting duties

Our concept is:

Food and tablescapes inspired by seasonal colors, every 3 months

As many of you know, every 3 months Anna-Lena publishes a blog article introducing her color of the season, usually explaining how it is perceived emotionally, exploring its history and sharing considerations for using it in interior design.

On several occasions, she created tablescapes inspired by the season’s color and shared them on Instagram. For example, she created this tablescape to showcase her Summer 2024 color, Coral:

And this one, featuring Rust Red, in Fall 2025:

People loved these tablescapes, so it felt like this was something to pursue further. And given that David is such an enthusiastic home cook, food was the logical next step.

We also drew some inspiration from and her monthly themed “tasteful and tasty” parties…she’s done a Swedish Midsommar Party, a Nancy Meyers-themed party, a Backyard Rodeo, etc. Very creative stuff and we highly recommend checking her out on Substack and Instagram if you’re not following her already.

Here is the concept we landed on:

• Every 3 months, when Anna-Lena chooses her seasonal color, we will also come up with a tablescape and menu that go along with it.

• We’ll publish an English translation of Anna-Lena’s seasonal blog article first, to introduce the color, then follow up with an article showing the food and tablescape.

• The tablescapes and meal settings will be, at least at the start, relatively intimate and small-scale. This is partly because small is easier to do alongside our parenting duties, and partly so that we, and maybe a handful of guests, can sit down and enjoy the meal after we’ve finished shooting it.

• Repeat every 3 months!

We hope you like what we’ve cooked up (!) and can’t wait to share the first article with you! In fact, we’ve already done our shoot for the Spring 2026 color, Apricot. The food was delicious, the pictures came out fantastic, and importantly…we had an absolute blast throughout. By the time everything was packed up and the kitchen was clean, it was very late at night and we were totally wrecked, but it was worth it.

If you haven’t already, please subscribe and stay tuned as we share the details in the next couple weeks.

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Hope you are all otherwise well, and looking forward to sharing the next phase of our Substack journey with you.

Regards,

David & Anna-Lena

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!):

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

2 years 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!

Leave a comment

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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