Ep. 303: Decorating Small Spaces with Sarah Lederman

It’s all about small spaces this week as we welcome Sarah Letterman. Sarah is an interior designer based out of New York City, known for her ability to mix patterns and melt modern and traditional elements into her projects. She cut her teeth in the industry training for years under Tom Scheerer and later launched her firm, Sarah Letterman Interiors. At the start of the pandemic, her work has been featured in House Beautiful, Architectural Digest, Domino Magazine, and more.

What You’ll Hear On This Episode:

• How working with Tom Scheerer and interning for Bunnie Williams helped Sarah grow as a designer and get more comfortable with her own style.
• Design advice Sarah did NOT take from her mom when decorating her apartment!
• Organization is a big part of small-space living.
• Using wallpaper in small spaces to hide imperfections.
• How do you find custom upholstery in Manhattan?
• How do you make a kid’s bathroom feel pulled together enough?
• Sarah’s favorite materials to help a space feel beautiful yet lived in, including performance velvet. Why shower curtains are underrated!
• How we can better maximize small spaces and weird angles.
• Tips for layering.
• There's a fine line between being accessorized and cluttered. Get used to knowing the difference!

Mentioned in This Episode:

• Sarah Lederman
• Sarah Lederman IG

Decorating Dilemma:

Thank you for writing in! First off, the bones of this room are beautiful to start with. Okay, first off, Sarah thinks you could put a craft table in front of the big window. It can have three chairs around it and could even be the pedestal table you have tucked in the corner right now. If you need extra storage, you could potentially put an ottoman in front of the sofa. One of the biggest things for us is that the rug feels a little bit undersized. Sometimes an undersized rug actually shrinks the space and then a larger area rug would make it feel bigger.

Next, Sarah also recommends adding some finishing touches like a cool big piece of art over the sofa. Maybe framing a piece of your kid’s art, which would be fun and a great talking piece.

Maybe some fun pillows on the sofa which can also add extra seating for kids when adults are over.

If you find another place for the piano, we do think you can get some sort of credenza with storage.

Finally, for drapery ideas, check out our Isadore Floral Drapery Patterns for some good inspiration.