Last week, after reviewing my personal favorites from the Merch Mart’s DreamHome exhibit, Elle Decor Editor-in-Chief and Top Design judge Margaret Russell took some time out of her busy schedule to give me a ring from her hotel room during her brief stay in Chicago. She returns tomorrow to introduce keynote speaker Jeffrey Bilhuber.

TOC: So how do you think a show like Top Design is influencing people’s general interest in interior design?
Margaret Russell: [A show like] Top Design sort of demystifies these things. You know, not very many people can sew a dress. And with Top Chef you’re dependent on the judges to tell you what the pork belly tastes like, but with Top Design it’s right out there what these guys have done, and everybody, to some degree, thinks they’re a decorator. Everybody has an opinion. The people who come up to me in the airport are really funny saying things like, “How could you send Big Daddy home?” Literally, someone came up to me at a dinner party last week and said, “I really think you were wrong about that Carissa.” I find myself still defending my decisions. What people also don’t realize is that there are hours of questioning [behind the scenes]… I’m always a pragmatist. I’m always looking at it from the big picture, from the client’s perspective. Kelly and Jonathan are looking at it as designers. Kelly’s big on big ideas. And India takes a more measured view of things. There’s a disclaimer at the end of all of these shows that the producers [can have final say], but they have never said anything like, “Keep Big Daddy on for good drama.” I’m happy to say that it’s really legitimate business.

How would you say your role at Top Design is affecting role of Elle Decor?
Margaret Russell: It’s made me more conscious of promoting design students and people starting out and not just [looking at] the best of the best and things that across my desk or that I hear about at dinner parties. We’re getting more involved in working with design schools. I’m trying to put together some sort of philanthropic thing to have a scholarship or some sort of award.

Let’s touch on a few trends for fall. Are you seeing much of a correlation between fashion and home decor trends?
Margaret Russell: I think it’s cross-pollination…Like we’re seeing a ton of metallics for home furnishings, and it was definitely a theme on the runways as well. Definitely at [DreamHome] there’s this glamour thing. There’s something really beautiful about glittery surfaces and crystal. Like Erik Kolacz used these beautiful crystal sconces from the ‘30s or ‘40s…And Anne Coyle’s room…I just wanted to get in that bed.

[Otherwise] lots of wood, organic and natural [materials] for things you really use, like a salad bowl made out of beautiful hand-hewn wood…There’s still an interest in exotic ethnic textiles. I’m not over suzanies, and I think that paisley [is] just timeless.  For people who are not pattern-crazy, [you can] have a really sort of neutral place but have a fabulous suzani folded over the back of your sofa; it’s like a bracelet or earrings. It’s sort of the jewelry for a room. Those things have history and tradition to them, so I always think it’s hysterical when someone says [they’re] out. It’s up to you decide whether [something] is in or out, not a magazine. I also think that especially because of what’s going on in the financial market there’s a search for understated elegance.

So are you working on any books right now?
Margaret Russell: Next year is our 20th anniversary at Elle Decor. We’re starting to work on The Best of Elle Decor now. [It’s slated to come out] next October.

And lastly, any design blogs you’d recommend checking out?
Margaret Russell: Mrs. Blandings, The Peak of Chic and Style Court.