The Install: Life & Design with Paloma and Caroline

Paloma has two new hires and a welcome reminder that a full calendar can also be a sign of abundance; Caroline has family travel on the horizon and very little tolerance left for television gore. On the design front, the ladies question why hiring a professional should come with a hundred fabric samples’ worth of homework—and make the case for floors that will outlast a trend. A seemingly innocent game of what they’d give up quickly becomes a negotiation over chintz, designer clothes, and whether vacations and beauty treatments are constitutionally protected. They close with advice on tricky vendors: extend grace, follow up, and know when being nice needs to become being firm.
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Paloma: www.palomacontreras.com
Instagram: @palomacontrerasdesign
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ShopMy: @palomacontreras
Caroline: www.carolinegidiere.com
Instagram: @carolinegidieredesign
TikTok: @carolinegidieredesignbts
ShopMy: @carolinegidiere
Music attribution
Music licensed through Soundstripe.
Code: SUDAKA5LHSDHNL85
Chapters
00:00 Impossible Choices
00:39 Birmingham Afterglow
03:18 High Point Plans
05:20 Growing the Team
08:24 Recognizing Abundance
13:18 Sleepless Nights
15:30 Family Travel
17:31 Television Troubles
22:17 Designer Homework
29:04 Timeless Floors
34:09 Giving Things Up
35:21 Chintz Negotiations
36:42 Books or Television
40:52 Vacations or Vanity
41:34 Fabrics or Fashion
42:46 Instagram or TikTok
44:36 Bread or Cheese
45:33 Wallpaper or Furniture
47:03 Tricky Vendor Relationships
53:55 Until Next Week

Together in Birmingham, Paloma and Caroline find Antiques at the Gardens tickets approaching black-market status and their social calendars threatening a perfectly respectable bedtime. Between Caroline's Harry Styles high and an accidental three-pair sunglasses purchase, they launch “Gracious or Graceless,” passing judgment on early arrivals, shoes-off parties, reclining airline seats, and the delicate business of telling someone there’s spinach in her teeth. The etiquette extends to design: borrowed ideas, unsolicited requests for sources, and knowing when inspiration has become imitation. The ladies finish with advice for a renter facing honey oak—and a welcome reminder that an unfinished house is no reason to put your life on hold.
Subscribe and follow
Subscribe to The Install Edit on Substack: https://theinstallpodcast.substack.com/
YouTube: @theinstalldesignpodcast
Instagram: @theinstallpodcast
TikTok: @theinstallpocast
Paloma: www.palomacontreras.com
Instagram: @palomacontrerasdesign
TikTok: @palomacontrerasdesign
ShopMy: @palomacontreras
Caroline: www.carolinegidiere.com
Instagram: @carolinegidieredesign
TikTok: @carolinegidieredesignbts
ShopMy: @carolinegidiere
Music attribution
Music licensed through Soundstripe.
Code: SUDAKA5LHSDHNL85
Chapters
Birmingham Together
Antiques After Hours
Weekly Highs
Harry’s House Party
Sunglasses in Triplicate
Sunscreen Discussion*
Gracious or Graceless
Arrival Etiquette
Shoes Off?
Spinach Diplomacy
Table Manners
Free Design Advice
Client Knockoffs
Reclining Rights
Inspiration Versus Imitation
Resource Requests
Party Posts
Regifting Rules
Sending It Back
Honey Oak Help
Permission to Wait
On the Road

Paloma reports from the Southern Living Idea House in Texas, where the rooms are ready for their close-up—and her hotel room could use a second opinion. Caroline returns from a dreamy Alexandria project visit to a sofa saga involving disappearing yardage, multiplying delays, and enough chintz to test anyone’s composure. Between a spirited debate over whether audiobooks count as reading and a fall-fashion review featuring questionable shoes, purple sweatpants, and opposing views on satin shorts, the ladies have notes. They finish with thoughtful gifts for the designer in your life—with one important distinction between a grand gesture and a measuring tape.
Subscribe and Follow
Subscribe to The Install Edit on Substack: https://theinstallpodcast.substack.com/
YouTube: @theinstalldesignpodcast
Instagram: @theinstallpodcast
TikTok: @theinstallpocast
Paloma: www.palomacontreras.com
Instagram: @palomacontrerasdesign
TikTok: @palomacontrerasdesign
ShopMy: @palomacontreras
Caroline: www.carolinegidiere.com
Instagram: @carolinegidieredesign
TikTok: @carolinegidieredesignbts
ShopMy: @carolinegidiere
Music Attribution
Music licensed through Soundstripe.
Code: SUDAKA5LHSDHNL85
Chapters
00:16 — Texas Reveal
02:16 — Hill Country
06:00 — Calamity Club
08:01 — Reading Rules
10:38 — Southern Storytelling
17:41 — Opening Night
20:28 — Hotel Hangups
24:04 — Thoughtful Design
27:13 — Lived Experience
29:59 — Shower Politics
31:24 — Alexandria Homecoming
33:14 — Sofa Saga
43:11 — Holding the Bag
47:22 — Fall Forecast
48:40 — Fluffy Business
51:27 — Evening Affairs
53:47 — Gothic Florals
55:01 — Playful Proportions
55:52 — Bomber Debate
57:46 — Burgundy Season
58:09 — Suede Versus Leather
1:00:36 — Questionable Shoes
1:03:35 — Purple Reign
1:05:33 — Finishing Touches
1:07:05 — Satin Showdown
1:09:17 — Designer Gifts
1:13:10 — Until Next Time

Paloma and Caroline begin with September overload, tennis trauma, and the apparently unreasonable notion that opponents should hit the ball somewhere you can actually reach it. Then they welcome Annie Meyers-Shyer, whose path from Harper’s Bazaar and Chanel to the beloved This Oak House proves that a sharp eye is only the beginning—the details, collaboration, and occasional plywood mock-up make the room. Annie shares how she preserved the soul of her Gerard Colcord house, built an audience by pulling back the curtain on renovation, and learned to follow “the next right thing.” Plus: why balance is a fallacy, living rooms are underrated, and fake cutting boards should be shown the door.
Subscribe and Follow
Subscribe to The Install Edit on Substack: https://theinstallpodcast.substack.com/
YouTube: @theinstalldesignpodcast
Instagram: @theinstallpodcast
TikTok: @theinstallpocast
Paloma: www.palomacontreras.com
Instagram: @palomacontrerasdesign
TikTok: @palomacontrerasdesign
ShopMy: @palomacontreras
Caroline: www.carolinegidiere.com
Instagram: @carolinegidieredesign
TikTok: @carolinegidieredesignbts
ShopMy: @carolinegidiere
Chapters
00:17 — September Scramble
02:24 — Fitness High
03:41 — Tennis Trouble
07:50 — Television Tolerance
12:48 — Austen Adaptations
14:22 — Meet Annie
17:33 — Fashion Foundations
21:04 — Defining Taste
24:15 — Designer Collaboration
28:55 — Finding Home
31:05 — Colcord Character
32:34 — Preservation Pressure
33:53 — Hard Decisions
36:59 — Let It Breathe
38:50 — Sharing Sources
41:49 — Balance Fallacy
44:56 — Storytelling Homes
48:07 — Rapid Fire
52:20 — Phase Two
54:24 — Birmingham Bound

Music licensed through Soundstripe.
Code: SUDAKA5LHSDHNL85

Part Two strips the lacquer off designer showhouses: behind those glossy rooms are six-figure budgets, vendor favors, impossible timelines, and enough last-minute crises to qualify as cardio. Caroline and Paloma trade war stories involving rejection from the stone sponsor, rugs stuck in customs, draperies four feet too short, and 145 yards of fabric mysteriously disappearing into a valance. But there is a reason designers keep coming back: one memorable room can lead to clients, press, product collaborations, stronger teams—and some highly effective “trauma bonding.” They close with a rapid-fire guide to what to install, what to avoid, and why doing two traditional showhouses in one year might be just a little bit unhinged.
Music licensed through Soundstripe.
Code: 1O1ULMY5AYH4LV7G
Follow The Install
Subscribe to The Install Edit on Substack for more design talk, behind-the-scenes stories, product finds, and installments of Ask the Install.
The Install
YouTube: @theinstalldesignpodcast
Instagram: @theinstallpodcast
TikTok: @theinstallpocast
Paloma
Website: www.palomacontreras.com
Instagram: @palomacontrerasdesign
TikTok: @palomacontrerasdesign
ShopMy: @palomacontreras
Caroline
Website: www.carolinegidiere.com
Instagram: @carolinegidieredesign
TikTok: @carolinegidieredesignbts
ShopMy: @carolinegidiere
Chapters
00:16 — Part Two
01:23 — Budget Reality
03:07 — Sponsor Strategy
09:37 — Vendor Drama
12:04 — Loans & Sales
15:05 — Tight Timelines
17:34 — Plan Z
18:25 — Disaster Stories
26:40 — Drama City
27:47 — Stay Organized
30:23 — The Payoff
34:01 — Hidden Returns
36:52 — PR Strategy
38:58 — Bankroll It
40:09 — Saying No
43:20 — Rapid Fire
48:46 — Dream Showhouses