#64 The Kitchen That Changed the Game | Athena Calderone (EyeSwoon) - Unpacking Iconic Homes

In this episode of Unpacking Iconic Homes, we explore the home and design philosophy of Athena Calderone, founder of EyeSwoon and one of the most influential voices behind the rise of organic luxury interiors.

If you've ever admired a kitchen filled with richly veined marble, open shelving, vintage bar stools, artisan ceramics, oversized clay pots full of gigantic branches, and a luxuriously lived-in feel, there's a good chance Athena Calderone had something to do with it.

We unpack the kitchen that helped redefine modern interiors and explore how her approach to beauty, texture and restraint influenced an entire generation of homeowners.

What we cover:

•  How Athena Calderone helped popularise the organic luxury aesthetic 
•  Why her Brooklyn kitchen became one of the most copied spaces on Instagram 
•  The rise of travertine, limewash and natural materials 
•  Layering vintage and contemporary pieces without creating clutter 
•  Athena's bold, contrasting colour combinations
•  The art of styling shelves, surfaces and open spaces 
•  Organic minimalism versus cold minimalism 
•  How to recreate the EyeSwoon look on a realistic budget 

Design details & products mentioned

•  Limewash walls and textured finishes 
•  Travertine and boldly veined marble 
•  Vintage wooden stools and antique furniture 
•  Artisan ceramics and stoneware 
•  Steel-and-glass window walls 
•  Apparatus horsehair light fixtures 
•  Annie Sloan Chalk Paint 

Key takeaways

•  Stay true to the original character of your home
•  Mix antique pieces with new
•  Texture, texture, texture
•  Imperfection creates warmth and authenticity 
•  Organic luxury is more about atmosphere than expensive products 

This episode is a practical guide to one of the most influential interior styles of the last decade - and how to borrow the principles without needing a Brooklyn townhouse or a marble budget.

Follow the podcast on Instagram @ripitup_podcast_official, or follow us - Jenny is @workerscottage and Kate is @victorianrathmines

Transcript

# Athena Calderone - Eyeswoon

**Jennifer:** [00:00:00] Welcome to Rip It Up. Every now and then, we see a certain house that stops us in our scroll and makes us want to completely redesign our own homes. In this series, we're picking six iconic homes, some that recently went viral and some that have stood the test of time. We'll be discussing design elements, color palettes, items we love, things we would change, and breaking down how to recreate the look on a more realistic budget.

This is unpacking iconic homes


## Episode

**Jennifer:** Welcome back to the podcast. Hi,

**Kate:** Hi Jen

**Jennifer:** Uh, third up in our limited series, we're gonna do six, this is number three, is, um ... No, this is number four,

**Kate:** Yeah

**Jennifer:** is, uh, Athena Calderone. Calderone or Calderone? Calderone. Um, AKA Eyeswoon, who is, um, one of the most influential, I would say, um, people. And I'm struggling with the [00:01:00] word to define her here because she's so many things.

She's, she's an interior designer, she's a stylist, she is a cook, she is an entertainer. Uh, she's a designer, you know, outside of interiors. Like, she's, she's a woman who wears many

**Kate:** Yeah.

**Jennifer:** and if you don't

**Kate:** Yeah,

**Jennifer:** her, have seen her

**Kate:** you absolutely will. Even if you're like, "Who's that? I don't know that name," her navy kitchen, and as soon as you see it, you'll be like, "Oh, yeah, of course you know it." Like, everyone knows it. I think it was one of the most viral kitchens maybe decade, I'd say.

It's probably influenced thousands of kitchens

**Jennifer:** I think it, it, yeah, she, she really pioneered that, like, dark kitchen with the really richly veined or stone or whatever you have yourself on your countertop. you've seen that really, like, dramatically patterned, countertop paired with a dark kitchen, that was Athena. If you've seen the [00:02:00] hinged lamps, that come out over people's open shelving on their kitchen countertop, that was Athena. and many, many more things. So we'll dive into it, but, um, that is a bit of

**Kate:** gonna be fawning here now. Talk about fawning last week with Rose Inyaki, like, you know how

**Jennifer:** I mean, we're picking people we like. We're picking houses we like, so this does make

**Kate:** yeah, I would say she's one of the biggest influences on kind of my interiors. I think my, my last kitchen, now it wasn't navy, but else I probably copied from her kitchen.

Like doors, open shelves, wall lights, you know, like all that stuff was kind of, it was new when she did it. Like, we've

**Jennifer:** We knew when she did it, and it was so influential 'cause like listening to us, listener, and going, "Curved doors, marble, you know, checkered tiles," whatever, 'cause you will have seen it a million times. But she really pi- like that was her design and like apologies if she's been miscredited, but she is widely credited [00:03:00] with that.

You know, she came up with that

**Kate:** in 2018 maybe, was

**Jennifer:** Mm-hmm.

**Kate:** even?

**Jennifer:** to say.

**Kate:** So like I did my last kitchen in 2019, was like, this was like peak that kitchen, her kitchen. like, I think it was out already or she had done it a year or two before that. So it must, like it was early, like not a lot of people were doing kitchens like this.

I will say navy kitchens or kind of dark gray, blue kitchens was bit of a moment. But I think the combination of everything else, everything was kind of less sharp and kind of perfect when she

**Jennifer:** Yeah, there was a lot of... She came in in the era of gray and greige, didn't she? And she brought a lot of contrast and interest

**Kate:** And a lot of interest. Exactly, a lot That's what I love about her stuff. There's so many interesting things, and I read a thing that said, like, she made the kitchen less utilitarian and more like a living room, like a of things on the shelves. And, like, you can say thank you for getting [00:04:00] rid of wall cabinets, which you hate with so much.

And so, like, you can probably thank because her open shelves made everyone want open shelves, and put lamps on shelves, and, like, cookbooks on display or whatever, or, like, photo frames on a shelf. In a kitchen, like, people weren't doing that. So I think very early to all that kind of, I don't know, like, organic aesthetic maybe.

Is it kinda lived in? It's,

**Jennifer:** I think what's helpful is to describe her background. So if, listener, if you're looking for her, her, her brand is Eyeswoon. You'll find it on Instagram or you'll find it anywhere. She has an amazing blog as well. She has books. Um, you're looking for her, that's what you're looking for. And the co- oh yeah, go on,

**Kate:** If you're on YouTube, like, I love you're seeing the books I'm holding up. Cook Beautiful. It's, her cookbook is one of my favorite cookbooks. It's done season, which is

**Jennifer:** And that's saying a lot 'cause you're a cookbook lover and, uh, you're great cooks in your house. So you've been through a lot of [00:05:00] cookbooks.

**Kate:** this

**Jennifer:** Yeah

**Kate:** is, which is her kind of original

**Jennifer:** Live Beautiful

**Kate:** Beautiful, she does live beautiful, in fairness, and her kitchen's on the front of that.

But, like, that's such a lovely book to give someone as a I think. Such a through

**Jennifer:** I think that those, that does a lot or goes quite a long way, I think, to describing her. Even if you are familiar with her or you're someone who hasn't come across her yet, um, directly or indirectly via herself, she, she ha- they, she... It's a lifestyle. Like, it really is a lifestyle brand that she has, you know, ger- germinated and like populated. And a lot comes through for me in her very strong design background. V- she seems to be somebody who hosts a lot. if you saw, if you've come across her Instagram posts herself, her husband, their son, their dog, they seem to love entertaining, love having people over. They seem really kind of personable and [00:06:00] enjoy company and life and like parties and

**Kate:** like a

**Jennifer:** yeah

**Kate:** he's a really famous DJ, and, like, they go to six weeks or eight weeks every year and rent a villa over there. So, like, they're not shy of an old party. Like, he would've been kind of Hacienda times and stuff. So, like, there's loads of pictures from when they're in their 20s, he's DJing, she's in the DJ box.

Like, so I'd say they love an old party, and I think following through to their later life as well, you know?

**Jennifer:** It definitely seems to come through. Like, they seem to love hosting. They seem to love entertaining. And so that's why to me is that, like, what she is is so far beyond just interiors and why her that she has put together are so ... There's a lot of playfulness and fun and inviting-ness and welcome-ness and everything in there.

It's not this ... Like, it is all super high-end and very, very design, centered and, you know, im- [00:07:00] impeccably curated. But it doesn't, it ... You feel like you come in and flop on their couch and enjoy yourself or sit at their kitchen island and, and have fun. Like, it feels fun,

**Kate:** love, she was one of the first people to do like a clear kitchen island. So like she range cooker and a huge hood off on the side. And the hood's pretty minimal, it's kinda plastered in or something. But like the island is just this big square like altar of an island on legs, so it light.

It's not so blocky in

**Jennifer:** Oh, that sounds familiar. If anyone's familiar with Kate's previous kitchen,

**Kate:** everything. And then like big square and then huge, huge, huge like branches in a big vessel or vase or whatever in the middle of that island, which

**Jennifer:** Okay, we need to talk about the

**Kate:** of

**Jennifer:** 'cause, uh, good lord is that woman into branches, and I'm so here for it 'cause I can't keep anything alive. Like, I'm, I'm just not someone who can have plants in my house. I'm not saying I hate plants, but I mean, listener, if you're watching on YouTube, you will see I've got Lego flowers behind me.

That's what I'm into. Dried [00:08:00] flowers. you know, that works for me because I will kill anything else and, and have killed everything else. But branches, like the art of styling branches, she could write a book on that alone. There's branches everywhere, and it looks so

**Kate:** it, looks so good, and people weren't doing it before she did it. Like, I know it's kinda commonplace now to put these huge sculptural branches in a big stoneware vessel on your, on your island, but, like, people weren't really doing that. So she kind of pioneered that, I think. think, I just think that kitchen, I don't know, what is it, the shape of it as well as the material.

So, like, she's that veined marble, which wasn't, again, huge yet at that time. So real veined marble, weathered in kind of marble look. You know, the shelves were imperfect. They're styled obviously but, like, you know, they're, they're a bit stuffed all over them, more relaxed feel.

And then,

**Jennifer:** And useful stuff, like not, not purely decorative, like useful things that p- you are taking down and cooking with and reading from and, you know

**Kate:** Yeah, and I think, like, it kinda wraps around in an L with bifolding crittall doors out to [00:09:00] this gorgeous patio, which is like checkerboard marble or something like that, with beautiful brick kind of... It, it's gorgeous. Like, it's in and whatever. It's in Brooklyn, so it's one of those Brooklyn kinda brownstone houses.

But like, it's, yeah, it feels like it's not too perfect that you couldn't enjoy yourself there. Big... all of her, her stools, like the island stools, are, like, obviously some sort of, like, mid-century design. Like, they're all

**Jennifer:** Oh, they're so

**Kate:** Yeah

**Jennifer:** looking. really ... Like I, I just hate island stools. I don't know what it is. I- there's so few that I've seen that I really and would want to sit at. Whereas these ones, they're kind of, they've got a almost like a hammock slight effect to them. They're kind of, know, they're very relaxed. Yeah, half moon shape. They're really relaxed. They really look like you could just pull them out. They've got footrests, which is critical because I am height, but it [00:10:00] can, my feet never reach the bloody ground on these things. They're not too high. They look almost like, like almost like sun chairs but they're kitchen island stools. Sounds bizarre, but they're super comfortable looking. I would love

**Kate:** you can kinda see the comfy stools, island Now, you'd need more than two, being honest. Like, two island stools is just a push too far for me. You'd probably

**Jennifer:** No, you've lost me there 'cause I'm not having... What are we doing, sitting three in a row? Get out of here. I'd have them curved around the

**Kate:** Yeah, I know. Yeah, I know, but they

**Jennifer:** Who's sitting in the middle? Not me.

**Kate:** Yeah. But you see, like, I think, I don't know, it's just, it's just very lived in even though it's obviously very, very styled. But, like, those weathered materials, the vein marble, the kind of, you know, big earthenware vessels. She was so ahead of her time on so much of this. Even the, the, the herringbone floor, I think she was early at well.

**Jennifer:** And the checkerboard

**Kate:** this, how much I tried to copy for my last kitchen

**Jennifer:** Well, I have the same color. She has- I have railings on my kitchen and this looks, if [00:11:00] it's not the same, it's very similar color, that incredibly rich n- black

**Kate:** Yeah

**Jennifer:** the, the, the hinged lamps that come down over, you know

**Kate:** Mm

**Jennifer:** are, listening, they're triangle-shaped, um, lampshades with a kind of a cut out the back of them.

Is that what you call it?

**Kate:** think I

**Jennifer:** so but they're everywhere

**Kate:** I watched a video of her, I think maybe, that one of these an original that was in the house from the 1950s, like an Italian design, and then the others are replicas. So she got the other match, and you can actually buy those on her atelier or h- her shop now.

so like,

**Jennifer:** Yeah. You can buy a lot of stuff, or if you can't buy it, she shares a lot of stuff. And like presumably there's obviously a business behind that, but like the woman does not gatekeep. Like she shares a lot

**Kate:** a

**Jennifer:** of her design inspiration and her style, and she has a lot of collaborations and stuff going on as well. [00:12:00] Um, but I mean, if you're looking for information about her house and her design and her style, you will find it there. Like it is, you know, she's really generous I think with

**Kate:** She's her information, and of her old blogs, like I thought her old blog was good. Like down to like every finish on the knobs was given, paint colors, like everything. She was just, she just gave it all away.

**Jennifer:** The reasoning behind it, how she arrived at those decisions, like her process, you know, which is really fascinating.

**Kate:** But I think this kitchen now being 10 years old maybe still looks fresh. Like, if you house and saw that kitchen, you'd be like, "Beautiful. Perfect."

**Jennifer:** Yeah, it is perfect. I'd die for it. But also perfectly imperfect 'cause you would live in it and have fun in it and use things in it and not worry about throwing your cardigan over the back of one of those kitchen island chairs, you know?

**Kate:** So to look kitchen, like,

**Jennifer:** Just

**Kate:** we kinda talk on this about kinda recreating this, and I kitchen's been recreated so many times. And she gives you all the information you need to recreate it, but, like, we have the colors, we [00:13:00] spoke about that, the veined marble, brass, tho- those kinda wall lights, open shelves, no kinda wall cabinets.

have kind of a tall bank of cab- cabinetry tucked over the other side, but you don't really see it from a lot of the, the angles of the photos. But,

**Jennifer:** And I'm fine with the tall bank of cabinetry away. I just don't like it in your face when you're

**Kate:** yeah

**Jennifer:** your range

**Kate:** Um, and I think, like, there's still a lot of storage here. You know, the door are all different and stuff, and the, the knobs are quite ornate I'd say here.

She those

**Jennifer:** Mm-hmm. are, yeah

**Kate:** and crittal, like crittal, crittal, crittal all over. And even if it's not crittal as in actual steel, the front windows of the house are all painted black as in the original slashes and stuff like that. So I think

**Jennifer:** There's something to

**Kate:** too

**Jennifer:** there, there ... It's, it's very high contrast. It's a really high contrast kitchen, and actually now that I think about a lot of her design, it is really high contrast. Like, there's a lot of blacks and really, like, rich ... She's not afraid of color at all. not to say that she's a maximalist or that there's lots of c- [00:14:00] of, of color, but she, she's not

Like, we've spoken a lot about on this season as well about that, like the neutrals and the pared back and the linens and the plaster and all that. and she does have that too, and that is just because, like, using natural materials is, you know, it's such a winner. It's never gonna go out of style. It's always, it always looks amazing and always looks premium because it is premium. Um, but she is someone who it's not all neutrals. It's not a palette of neutrals. Like, it is strong contrast. There is lots of shape in here. There's lots of patterns brought in through the checkerboard, through the furniture. Like, her patio furniture that we're looking at here if you're on YouTube is what looks to be, like, black wrought iron potentially, and it's curved and curled and the, you know, the, um, no doubt, like, painstakingly chosen and probably hunted down 'cause I know she looks a lot into, like, antiques and vintage pieces. And another thing that she does really well, I think, in all of her, her homes, like we're looking a lot at her Brooklyn townhouse here. [00:15:00] She has a new home in Tribeca. She has one in, um, the Hamptons, um, is that they're all very different but very true to the original style and character of the property itself, which always, it always gonna work.

Like, that's always a good tip. You know, marry your, your style with the, with the character of, of your actual property.

**Kate:** in this Brooklyn townhouse, even beyond the kitchen, she kind of pioneered a lot of stuff as well, like the paneling. Like, I know paneling is original in some parts to this house, but that very pared back, almost white walls everywhere, in the paneling. bedroom, very serene, very pared back, almost white, but a bit of kind of low paneling below the kind of data rail or kind

**Jennifer:** And still a bit of contrast. You know, there's a really rich, like ruby, uh, burgundy almost, like red velvet with black wrought iron legs bench at the end of their bed, kind of picked up with some [00:16:00] lovely art, like stone art in a, in a similar kind of red color. mustards in there. There's rich greens in there.

There's blues throughout, and again, lots and lots of contrast with the original black, um, fireplaces, tiles, wrought iron, the stairs. Like I just ... It's, it's, it's bold. Is that a good word for it? All of her styles are really bold

**Kate:** it's brave, and I think

**Jennifer:** 嗯。 Yeah

**Kate:** townhouse, obviously iconic, right? Like everyone kinda knows that kitchen. And then when you go to her next house in the Hamptons, she had one somewhere in the Hamptons on like Gansett or something, but that house is so beachy and linen and lime wash, and like still looks really fresh, which is not long after, I would say, Brooklyn brownstone one.

Um, so I think like that one is, uh ... That one is very, I don't know, suitable for where it is, but her personality comes through, you know, those collected [00:17:00] kind of arty pieces and design pieces and, but then some really cool, you know, um, features in it. You know, the features, like we were speaking about this before, like the, the weird roof or ceiling she has in one part of it is like made of rope or twine or something like that, which to beach- beachiness and weathered old woods.

You don't see it as weathered in her, in her Brooklyn house, but like still her personality is there, I think, in this kind of, uh, Hamptons house as well

**Jennifer:** Yeah. Again, very true to the surroundings, very true to the property. There's a lot ... At The Hamptons there, it's much more of a coastal blues and greens, and you're right, kind of almost driftwood

**Kate:** Hmm

**Jennifer:** wood furniture. It looks to me like a lot of green undertone coming through in the, in the more neutral paint colors, both in the living room and in the kitchen, which is so nice and relaxing and holiday vibes.

I

**Kate:** Yeah

**Jennifer:** it. But that r- that ceiling, I'm obsessed with that ceiling. I don't know [00:18:00] what it is. It literally just looks like layers and layers of ropes that are all held up with, you know, wooden beams that are not, not spaced too far apart. but what a ceiling. Like, it's just, it's all texture. It's all movement. Like, look, even looking at a static photo, I can almost feel it rippling with the breeze of the back door being open, and, um, color that it brings through. I mean, you know, that kind of like twine or rope color, it's theoretically, it's a neutral, but it's, it's a rich neutral. It's a caramely color. It's a, like it's

It brings so much into the house.

**Kate:** in both her houses, again, spotlights, no downlights.

**Jennifer:** spotlights

**Kate:** There's a theme here. All these iconic h- homes, pretty much none of them have downlights

**Jennifer:** She actually has phenomenal wall sconces, and it's worth a look, listener, through her Instagram or through her, um, her website, Ice Moon. Um, the woman has incredible taste in wall

**Kate:** Yeah

**Jennifer:** and everyone listening knows that I love a wall sconce. Like, I just [00:19:00] love diffused wall lighting, and she does an am- amazing

**Kate:** Yeah. she, um,

**Jennifer:** with

**Kate:** she sells a lot of the hardware and a lot of the lighting and stuff her,

**Jennifer:** Mm-hmm.

**Kate:** her, uh, atelier, as she calls it. about her atelier, actually, one of the latest kinda offerings, I suppose, in her atelier is that, um, mad kitchen, like very dark woods and kitchen, and she has one

It's part of this atelier thing. I think it was some sort of collaboration with Jake Arnold or something, but a terrazzo floor, and then there's a very dark wood kitchen, not in her house now with the, the, the shop or the showroom or whatever, and it's,

**Jennifer:** Mm-hmm.

**Kate:** it's all very dark. But her own kitchen now that she's moved from her Brooklyn house into her Tribeca, I don't is, is it like a two-level apartment or something?

But it's all, it's all dark paneling, like all dark wood paneling. It's

**Jennifer:** And a lot of it is original. A lot of it is original to the property. It's these, you know, flo- not floor to ceiling, kind of three-quarter height or two-thirds

**Kate:** yeah[00:20:00] 

**Jennifer:** panels that look like drawers, kind of apothecary style drawers, and a lot of them are, are original, and whatever else she's brought in there, again, like really ties in with the, the character of the property. It's really dark, isn't it?

**Kate:** Very dark. It's like, I remember her saying that, I think, when she bought the house a couple of years ago, that she was really gonna lean into, like, the history of the kind of try... kept the original parquet floors and restored them and restored all that paneling kind of painstakingly.

And the kitchen, like, that's on the screen now at the moment if you're on YouTube, where is the kitchen? almost

**Jennifer:** Yeah, it

**Kate:** besides the tap, there's very little to give away that

**Jennifer:** Well, let's talk about that, 'cause controversially she's put a tap in her kitchen island. Put a sink in her kitchen island. Wouldn't be for you,

**Kate:** No, it wouldn't be for me at all. But uh, doesn't look like she'd be a cluttery kind of person now, is she?

**Jennifer:** No, but also for me, like, 'cause I'm someone, I do have a ... I don't have a kitchen island, I've got a peninsula, and I do have my [00:21:00] tap in it and I would do it again.

**Kate:** Mm.

**Jennifer:** But to me kind of I, I know, I did, like it's a huge island, right? So having a few pots and pans drying on the side of that, that's not gonna make a big difference. I like, I like that that kinda to me gives, again, that lived-in vibe. There's somebody here. We had dinner last night, you know, the pot's drying. There's two wine glasses there, like

**Kate:** would just be a plinth. is this kind of by design in that she was trying to, like, not change the layout of this house too much? And if you see the other run opposite the island, kind of behind these weird, I don't know, steel glass doors maybe, that

**Jennifer:** Yeah.

**Kate:** a kind of a mid-century feel to them.

**Jennifer:** Almost art deco-y? Almost.

**Kate:** back, like,

**Jennifer:** Mm-hmm.

**Kate:** is in there. Maybe she couldn't fit a sink in there. Maybe she a sink in there.

**Jennifer:** Yeah. Athena, if you're listening, we would love to know how do you feel about your sink and your kitchen island? I'm here for it. I just,

**Kate:** Yeah

**Jennifer:** like that lived in look. I think that's fine. It doesn't bother me at [00:22:00] all, but it's a, it's a controversial

**Kate:** Yeah, yeah, yeah. It is

**Jennifer:** Then the So this one, I mean, the, there's been a lot of talk on Instagram about this already because her last kitchen was so incredibly

**Kate:** Hmm.

**Jennifer:** Will this one be? And it's hard to see if it will because so specific to character of the house, to that Tribeca, um, house that they're living in now, or apartment, that it's ... I would see, I would think that would be difficult to replicate, but hard to say. Like you were saying earlier, there's almost a slight kind of '70s vibe to it, and I totally

**Kate:** Mm-hmm.

**Jennifer:** what you mean. you know, the, all that really dark rich wood paneling, and then that, it's a red limestone, like a brownish red, um, countertop

**Kate:** island, like, yeah, it's block, isn't it? Like, it looks like a real block. Like, even the sink is, like, carved out of it almost, you know? Besides the tap being there, there's very little to tell that that's a sink, and even the tap is burnished brass or something that almost with the color of it as well.

So it's all very, like, invisible. But it's,[00:23:00] 

**Jennifer:** So it looks like as much of an ornament on the, on the island as it does, uh, I

**Kate:** it wouldn't be for me. It like, it, like, it's very brave. I don't think that brave. But I also show, think that shows an kind of evolution of her style over the, the few houses she's done. She's gotten braver and braver each time.

**Jennifer:** Totally. Totally. and like, I, I'm th- I'm such a broken record on this, but it is, she, she really worked to maintain as much of the original features and style of that house as she possibly could. It's like the minimal intervention and really just it to life and honoring it, which is beautiful.

I just love it. Some gorgeous lights in there. Mm-hmm. Do you know what else she has in, this is back in her old or her previous, uh, Brooklyn townhouse, and I, I think she influenced this a lot as well, was one completely color-drenched and really, really dark living room

**Kate:** Yeah.

**Jennifer:** and it was really small. So, you know, [00:24:00] conventional wisdom would say if you have a small room, paint it in light colors to make it feel bigger and bring in the brightness and blah, blah, blah, blah. she was, if not the first, at least one of the first to say, "Actually, it is dark anyway. It's, you know, I'm gonna lean into that. I'm gonna make it a really cozy cave." and she color-drenched it in this really, really dark, rich, kind of navy-ish color. Um, and had, you know, rich, dark furniture in there and leaned into the smallness of it. like a more of an indigo. I don't know if it's really. It's kind of hard to see on, on screen.

**Kate:** There seems to be a bit of weird texture in the walls as well in some You

**Jennifer:** Yeah.

**Kate:** like a

**Jennifer:** like a chalk paint, an Annie Sloan type paint

**Kate:** maybe

**Jennifer:** but I love it. It's

**Kate:** versions of this room now. Obviously it's styled for different magazines or whatever, but some, some versions show this kind of light sofa, which is a weird timber frame, and then some of them have this kind of a, is it like the Marchenko style kind of cushiony sofa?

You know, [00:25:00] the

**Jennifer:** हाँ।

**Kate:** color, dark red or maroon or something as well. So sure which the actual real one is. And then those lights. See the wall lights in this navy room.

**Jennifer:** Yes. So we're looking at three... They're, they're almost like the, the, um, horizontal lamps that you would see coming over art and shining down onto artwork,

**Kate:** No, I'm talking on the right-hand side.

**Jennifer:** Oh, the wall lamps. Oh,

**Kate:** See the weird

**Jennifer:** Yeah

**Kate:** dangling kind of ones?

**Jennifer:** Oh, yeah. Yeah

**Kate:** I'm not mistaken, 'cause I saw them at the Porter and Jones studio launch, they look like apparatus lights, and you can, like, change the color of every bit and all this,

**Jennifer:** Oh, cool

**Kate:** ha- horsehair and st- like weird kind of, um, But I just

**Jennifer:** They're very

**Kate:** Yeah, yeah. different for sure. Like you said earlier, like she's brave and kind of pops like this, you know?

**Jennifer:** Yeah, yeah, yeah

**Kate:** um... But I don't know. I just think she's a [00:26:00] really interesting person to follow because I think she and her style doesn't stay the same, and I think every house she does is getting braver.

And while her latest house is so brave that I don't think there's gonna be, like, a lot people will take from it, like, people aren't gonna replicate it like they did that navy kitchen maybe,

**Jennifer:** And

**Kate:** elements. Yeah

**Jennifer:** M- maybe the inspiration there though is just to really lean into your own style and, and be a bit braver in your own style, and be really honor the, the style and tradition and culture and heritage of your house and your neighborhood and your surroundings, and lean into that as opposed to just replicating

**Kate:** Yeah. Either way,

**Jennifer:** Hmm.

**Kate:** know her,

**Jennifer:** to do. Easy to say, hard to

**Kate:** and buy all her books. You won't If you're a foodie, definitely buy Cook Beautiful. I would highly recommend it

**Jennifer:** And Athena, if you're listening, please can we come over to your

**Kate:** Well, I'd prefer, can I maybe, you know, splitsies on the Ibiza villa for six weeks in the

**Jennifer:** Yes, we will come to Ibiza. We will come to Ibiza. We'll [00:27:00] have

**Kate:** I follow her for her Ibiza recommendations as well, 'cause you know I Ibiza most years, and, like, her food recommendations in Ibiza are top class. going to Ibiza, follow her and look at some of her posts on Ibiza

**Jennifer:** She's a great follow. She's a very, um, she's a woman of substance, I feel, you know? She's very, she's got a very generous spirit, that's what I would say

**Kate:** it all away, yeah.

**Jennifer:** follow. Yeah. All right. That is iSwoon, Athena Calderone. We're big fans, obviously, and we'll see

**Kate:** See you next week. Bye


## Outro

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