Seamus Payne Photography

Lisa Gilmore is both the founder and the heartbeat behind Lisa Gilmore Design.

From the beginning, Lisa coined her style “liveable glamour.” But glamour isn’t always velvet and chandeliers. Glamour is different for each person. While one person might love all the sparkle, another person’s version of glamour may be denim and cotton. Liveable glamour is beautiful, functional, and available to everyone, even those with kids or pets. A home styled with the liveable glamour approach is one that ignites stories, a place where its owners can be content and feel their best.

As the visionary of Lisa Gilmore Design, Lisa is spreading that mission: to fill more homes with liveable glamour.

Above all, Lisa is an artist; she finds inspiration everywhere, whether she’s biking around town, traveling to cool, new spots, or browsing fashion boutiques. 

And, through her own business journey, Lisa has become passionate about helping other creative business owners realize that it is normal to make mistakes and learn along the way. Her story, featured on many podcasts including SUCCESS Stories, has helped numerous other entrepreneurs build better businesses. 

Seamus Payne Photography

Q & A with Lisa

What importance do textiles play in your designs? - SO much importance! It’s truly where we pull most of our inspiration from. It can be an antique rug, an amazing embroidered or hand-painted fabric, or something that has been pulled from the archives and reimagined - it drives the tone of the design.

Where do you take risks in your work? - if you were one of my subcontractors you would answer “everywhere” with a little fear in your eyes. I rarely take “no” as an answer. I’m often turning my brain upside down with all the possible “yes’s” and how to make them into reality. So honestly, I look at every project as a risk and how I can provide a wow factor to the client.

When should a home-design enthusiast enlist the help of a design pro? When you feel overwhelmed! Or honestly, if you just want it done right with less stress for yourself - do it because you can and you want to. It’s a fun process and should be enjoyed and honored because it’s an investment that will last for many years.

Why make custom goods instead of purchasing "off-the-rack" from retailers? I don’t want what my neighbor has, do you? Because you deserve for your home to be a reflection of you, for YOU.

How much of being a great designer is innate and how much is learned? This is a tough question - my education has helped my career so much. I have confidence and knowledge that you just don’t know off the street. Then the other side of the coin is my personal passion and love for design and it truly runs rapid in my veins! Personally, I think the right recipe is a healthy balance of both - a really great designer can’t be only on paper and follow the rules. A great designer has to also follow their gut, push boundaries, listen to their client and provide a design that makes your heart flutter.

A big thanks to the entire Lisa Gilmore Design team for letting us share just a few of our favorite spaces.  Visit them online at www.lisagilmoredesign.com

TEXTILE TRENDS & NEWS

Inspired by our Designer Feature this month, we wanted to shine a spotlight on a few of our favorite textile sources for vibrant, colorful prints.  Most of these fabrics are a little out of the price range for us to include in our collections, but we can still salivate over them!  (and they can be ordered for custom projects of course)

Osborne & Little has been a long-time favorite of ours for fabric and wallpaper.  They also carry designs by Nina Campbell and Mathew Williamson, two fabulous designers that take a no-holds-barred approach to bright and colorful prints.

Schumacher is of course a juggernaut in the world of home textiles.  But did you know they’ve collaborated with Johnson Hartig of Libertine?  I must admit, the first time I saw some of Hartig’s clothing designs, I wasn’t sure if I loved them or hated them.  Sometimes I think that can be a marker of good design!  However, once I saw the feature in Frederic Magazine of Hartig’s unapologetically audacious interior design, I totally fell in love with his originality.

INDUSTRY KNOW-HOW

To the average homeowner, pillow stuffing is pillow stuffing, end of story.  But oh no, not so fast.  Designers are quite familiar with the nuances of different pillow fill inserts, and how complicated something so seemingly simple can be!  This is why we have standardized our pillow inserts so that you never have to think about it again.  We’ve tested different stuffing materials and sizes of inserts to come up with the perfectly plump, but not too overstuffed pillow.  However, we’re all about sharing what we’ve learned so here are some key takeaways from our research.

Fill Material

Pillow inserts are typically filled with a combination of down and feathers.  That ratio is depicted as 10/90 for example, which means 10% down & 90% feathers.  Other common ratios are 5/95 and 25/75.  We think 10/90 is the gold standard as long as it is from a quality supplier.  We don’t notice a significant difference when upgrading to the 25/75.  We do notice that 5/95 inserts (that come with most retail pillows) tend to be lumpier and have more feathers that poke through.

For those that prefer a synthetic alternative, there are other fill material options.  We often refer to this under the blank term of “polyfill” but they are not all created equal.  Most polyfill is absolute garbage and over time gets either so flat or so lumpy that it can’t even be fluffed anymore.  Or some synthetic fill pillow inserts hold their shape so specifically that you can’t achieve that karate-chop “V” look on your pillows and the pillow just feels uncomfortable.

We do offer a synthetic insert that is both long-lasting and “choppable” and oh so fluffy - just like the real thing.  

Insert Size

After you’ve figured out your fill material you’re not quite done yet.  Now you need to figure out the size.  But hey, you just bought a 20x20 square pillow, what in the world could there possibly be to figure out?  You just buy a 20x20 pillow insert, right?  Oh if only it were that easy.  Oh wait, that’s right, we do make it that easy by having you select an insert that “Fits 20x20.”  That’s how we’ve taken the guesswork out of it.  But anyway, here is what you need to know.

Your pillow insert actually needs to be LARGER than your pillow cover.  It makes sense.  Your pillow cover is just a flat shape and you want your finished pillow to be nice and full so that insert needs to really fill it out.  Now, some of this gets subjective and we can tell you from experience that the fullness of inserts will vary by manufacturer so that can be a factor. 

We have pretty clear guidelines that we follow to keep it as simple and consistent as possible.  If your pillow is 16” or less, do up by 1” on the insert.  For example, a 16x16 pillow cover gets a 17x17 insert.  If your pillow is 18-22” go up by 2” on the insert.  For example, a 20x20 pillow cover gets a 22x22 insert.  And if your pillow is 24” and over, go up by 3”.

If you have lumbar pillows it can be trickier because the inserts usually have to be custom made.  But the same sizing rule applies by side.  So for example, a 12x24 lumbar pillow cover gets a 13x26 insert.  A 12x16 lumbar pillow cover gets a 13x17 insert.  And so on.  But hey, why even think about it?  Just order our pillows and standardized inserts and go have a cocktail.  I’ll join you for a gimlet when I’m finished with your order ;)

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