This week’s show was recorded in Chicago with guest host Karen Chee, judge and scorekeeper Bill Kurtis, Not My Job guest Allyson Felix and panelists Shantira Jackson, Hari Kondabolu, and Roy Blount, Jr. Click the audio link above to hear the whole show.

Who’s Bill This Time

The RNC’s Must Have Fashion Accessory; Expensively Ever After; Don’t Get it Twisted!

Panel Questions

Another Reason To Warm Up Your Vocal Chords

Bluff The Listener

Our panelists tell us three stories about a fitting tribute in the news, only one of which is true.

Not My Job: We quiz Olympic sprinter Allyson Felix on parking meters

USA track and field icon Allyson Felix plays our game called, “200 Meters? How about these meters!” Three questions about parking meters

Panel Questions

Guilty By Subconscious Association; Rodent Boys Invade Reality TV

Limericks

Bill Kurtis reads three news-related limericks: In the Dungarees Dungeon; Costume Changes on Your Big Day; TSA Sounds The Booty Alert

Lightning Fill In The Blank

All the news we couldn’t fit anywhere else

Predictions

Our panelists predict, after the world’s most expensive wedding, what will be the next event to cost 600 million dollars.

Got an uninspiring home office, a dingy living room or a cluttered entryway — but don’t have a huge budget to redecorate?

Cliff Tan, a London-based architect who runs dearmodern, a design account on TikTok with nearly 3 million followers, has some ideas on how to upgrade your living area — without spending a lot of money on new furniture, renovating or moving house. These ideas are inspired by the principles of feng shui, the ancient Chinese practice of designing spaces to promote harmony.

When decorating, you want to consider the flow of energy in your home and create “an environment that makes you feel good and supports whatever you’re doing,” Tan says. That might mean rearranging your existing furniture, being intentional about the purpose of each room and adding more light to your space.

Tan, author of the 2022 book Feng Shui Modern, shares simple, low-cost ways to transform your home environment.

1. Keep the entrance to your home unobstructed

“The front entrance is the most important part of the home,” says Tan. And it’s often people’s first impression of the house — not just for visitors but for yourself as well.

In feng shui, the doorway is a gateway for life energy, or chi. And you can do a lot to affect how energy flows through it, says Tan. One way is to make sure the doorway is as unobstructed as possible.

Examine your entryway. Is there a lot of clutter around it, like shoes, coats, bags or umbrellas? Or “a pile of recycling bags that you have to kick every time you open the door?” says Tan.

Find ways to keep the area clear. Put items back in the shoe rack or the coat closet where they belong. Or repurpose a table or bench from another part of your house to neatly store your recycling (in a cute bin if you can find one) and your keys.

Before decorating a space, “deal with the worst things first. That’s where the impact is greatest,” says Tan. It will free up your energy to make more balancing adjustments to a room.

Malaka Gharib/NPR

hide caption

toggle caption

Malaka Gharib/NPR

Advertisement

2. Handle the ugly things first

So you’re gazing around the house, an ongoing list of projects dancing in your head. Where should you start?

“With the ugliest things in your life,” says Tan. “Deal with the worst things first. That’s where the impact is greatest. There’s no point in creating a cute shelf in the kitchen when every time you walk in, you see this shoe rack and it makes you angry.”

If one bad element is ruining your harmonious feelings about your space, “fix that first,” says Tan. It will free up your energy to make more balancing adjustments.

Put the shoe rack somewhere else — or if you want to leave it in your kitchen, “make it nice,” says Tan. “Paint it pink, build a curtain around it.” The way you problem-solve can turn an annoyance into a statement piece or even a favorite part of your home.

Move your desk by a window and “let the light shine on your face, which can also give the impression that the room is much brighter,” says Tan.

Malaka Gharib/NPR

hide caption

toggle caption

Malaka Gharib/NPR

Advertisement

3. Spend your time in the nicest part of the house

Walk through your house and ask yourself, “Which is the nicest part?” says Tan. The most pleasant areas are usually by a window. As a source of light and natural ventilation, they can help circulate light, air and energy.

That’s where you want to spend most of your time. “This sounds like common sense, but you’d be surprised how often this is not done,” says Tan.

For example, some people who work from home tuck their desk away in a dark corner because they don’t want to be reminded of work when they’re off the clock, says Tan. “Even though they spend eight hours a day working, they’d rather have their empty couch in the beautiful sunlight.”

So move your desk by a window and “let the light shine on your face, which can also give the impression that the room is much brighter,” says Tan.

In a bedroom, always put your bed against a solid wall, says Tan. It’s nice and sturdy and makes you feel in charge of the space. And don’t put your head next to a door. “I will do anything I can to keep my head safe from all that movement.”

Malaka Gharib/NPR

hide caption

toggle caption

Malaka Gharib/NPR

Advertisement

4. Create an energy that makes you feel safe and comfortable

When you’re at home, you want to feel safe and secure, says Tan.

In feng shui, you can achieve that by placing yourself in what is called the “command position,” he says. Whatever is behind you should be nice and sturdy and make you feel in charge of the space.

In a bedroom, always put your bed against a solid wall, and try not to point your feet toward any openings in the room, says Tan. Too much energy comes through doors, and that can make sleepers feel vulnerable. And don’t put your head next to a door. “I will do anything I can to keep my head safe from all that movement.”

To mimic the varying lights and shadows in our natural environment, use multiple sources of indirect light to illuminate a room, says Tan. A big, overhead light glares “down the floor” and casts strong, unnatural shadows.

Malaka Gharib/NPR

Advertisement

hide caption

toggle caption

Malaka Gharib/NPR

Advertisement

5. Use multiple lamps to create warmth and consistency

According to feng shui, supplementing any natural phenomenon (like light) must be done with care.

To mimic the varying lights and shadows in our natural environment, use multiple sources of indirect light to illuminate a room, says Tan. A big, overhead light glares “down the floor” and casts strong, unnatural shadows. Table lights and spotlights, however, create depth by giving you more control over the direction and quality of light. Use these smaller lights to highlight areas of focus, like a piece of artwork or a reading nook.

To create a sense of warmth and consistency in your home, “make sure all your bulbs are the same color temperature,” says Tan. He recommends bulbs between 2700 and 3000 kelvins. They offer a cozy, relaxing glow.

What may work in one room may not work in another. That’s how people end up with a beautiful round table that looks lost in your long, rectangular dining room, says Tan. Your furniture should showcase the best qualities of the room and “make the space as good as it can be.”

Malaka Gharib/NPR

hide caption

Advertisement

toggle caption

Malaka Gharib/NPR

6. Consider a room’s dimensions when picking out furniture

Social media can be an exciting place to find interior design ideas, but what might work in one room may not work in another. That’s how you end up with a beautiful round table that looks lost in your long, rectangular dining room, says Tan. “It’s too fat, it’s too short and it doesn’t fill up the space.”

When designing a room, the goal is to optimize flow, says Tan. You want to keep energy from moving too quickly through the space, but a room that’s too stuffy or cumbersome to navigate around can also feel stagnant.

So pick furniture that interacts well with the room. You don’t want a coffee table so large that you’re always barking your shins when you try to get up, and you also don’t want two small armchairs in a zone that would be much better for a full-size couch.

“Nothing beats working with your space,” says Tan. Your furniture should showcase the best qualities of the room and “make the space as good as it can be.”

This episode was produced by Sylvie Douglis. The digital story was edited by Malaka Gharib. The visual editor is Beck Harlan. We’d love to hear from you. Leave us a voicemail at 202-216-9823, or email us at LifeKit@npr.org.

Listen to Life Kit on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, and sign up for our newsletter.

Los Angeles-born actor and singer Miranda Cosgrove has been part of our pop culture landscape for more than two decades. She made her big-screen debut in 2003’s “School of Rock” (filmed when she was 9) followed by a run of sitcom roles (first from 2004 to 2007 on “Drake & Josh” and then 2007 to 2012 as the star of “iCarly,” a role she reprised for its 2021-to-2023 revival) before returning to movie roles where she’s been seen — or, in the case of the “Despicable Me” animated move franchise, heard — ever since. (She most recently reprised her role as Margo in “Despicable Me 4,” which hit theaters July 3.)

For that entire time — and the decade that preceded it — one place has been a constant in her life. “When I was little, I filmed ‘School of Rock’ in New York for five months,” she recently told The Times. “I don’t really know if it would count as living there. I think maybe the longest I’ve been in a different place was a year and a half. And I recently went to Thailand for a couple months. But as far as living somewhere, I’ve only ever lived in L.A.”

In Sunday Funday, L.A. people give us a play-by-play of their ideal Sunday around town. Find ideas and inspiration on where to go, what to eat and how to enjoy life on the weekends.

Advertisement

Which means that when Cosgrove is throwing out suggestions for an ideal Sunday itinerary — as she did in a Zoom call from the L.A. home she shares with three dogs (a pug named Maude, a Shih-poo named Penelope and a terrier mix named Diego) and three cats (Mama and fosters Ethel and Lucy) — you can take it to the bank.

Before we dug into her perfect day (which is heavy on the food, felines and family), I asked which of the many characters she’s played might cobble together an enviable Sunday lineup.

“Probably Margo from ‘Despicable Me,’” she answered almost immediately. “Because she’s really smart. And she’s really kind of sarcastic and not afraid to stand up for herself. And I think you kind of have to have that quality to get around L.A. And she also has a personality where she would do exactly what she wanted and just wouldn’t care. So I feel like she’d come up with some fun stuff — probably much crazier stuff than me.”

As far as coming up with fun stuff, Cosgrove didn’t disappoint, as you’ll read here. (Grilled branzino in a pizza box, anyone?)

This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for length and clarity.

11:30 a.m.: Start the day with a coconut kale smoothie
I love sleeping in. I’m a huge night owl and I stay up until 2 in the morning watching TV shows and movies. So I’d probably get up at around 11:30 and go get a coconut kale smoothie at Naturewell in Silver Lake. It’s the coconut date smoothie that I add kale to. It’s really good. I’d start light because I like to finish strong and do a huge lunch and a huge dinner. … I’m a huge foodie, so I’m always looking for good places to to eat. That’s probably where I get the most joy from in my entire life.

Noon: Grab some Frankenstein face time at the Face Place
Recently I’ve been going to this place called the Face Place in West Hollywood, and they do facials. And it’s just really, really nice. I’ve never really been a big facial person, but it’s gotten me really into it. And it only takes 45 minutes. They put this crazy, almost helmet-like thing on your face that makes you look like you’re some kind of Frankenstein experiment — but only for about 15 minutes. And for some reason, I find it really relaxing.

1:30 p.m.: Take a cheesy road trip
This doesn’t exactly make sense because it’s so far away. But I might go to Long Beach to get the best pizza ever at a place called Speak Cheezy and then take it to my parents who live in Downey. On Sunday, there probably wouldn’t be too much traffic, so I’d grab a pizza. The thing that I love is they put these like little dollops of cheese on their pizzas that’s almost like frosting, so you can’t go wrong with any of them. And they have this really good Caesar salad that they put a whole soft-boiled egg on.

3 p.m.: Chill with nature or some furry fosters
Sometimes when I’m down in the Long Beach area, I’ll go to the El Dorado Nature Center. I haven’t done it that much recently, but I used to do it a lot. And it’s just really pretty. You pay $6 to park and then you walk through. [Parking is $8 on weekends.] They have these kind of man-made lakes, and there are tons of squirrels and cranes and that sort of thing. And it’s pretty shaded, so even if it’s really a hot day, you’re not straight in the sun. It’s three or four miles, but it’s flat, so it’s more like a walk than a hike.

My other option would be going to the CatCafe Lounge in Westwood. It’s a cat cafe where people can go and get a cup of coffee and hang out with the cats, and a lot of times, they end up adopting them. I foster cats and I’m actually fostering two sister tabbies right now — Lucy and Ethel — and the CatCafe Lounge has taken probably 12 of the cats I’ve fostered and gotten them adopted. I always write these really long bios for them in hopes that people will read them when they come in and adopt them quickly. I work with a place called Kitten Rescue Los Angeles that has a home base in Atwater Village. They rescue them, and the ones I’ve fostered always go the CatCafe Lounge.

6:30 p.m.: Decide a delicious dining dilemma
Depending on how long I was at the cat cafe, I’d probably head on out to dinner. I’m always torn because Union in Pasadena is always an option I love, but a place I go at least once a week, that’s probably my favorite restaurant, is Bestia in downtown L.A. Union’s menu always changes, but I’d go for a pasta there — you can’t go wrong with spaghetti and meatballs. They also have bucatini there that’s really good. And they have really good house-made fresh bread with house-made butter and sea salt.

At Bestia, I get so many different things, but they have a soppressata and honey pizza right now that’s just so good. And they have this really good grilled branzino that, if you get it to go, they give it to you in a pizza box. And then there’s the chestnut and mushroom agnolotti. Those are the main things I always get.

9:30 p.m.: Squeeze in 10,000 steps with peripatetic parents
I have some walking buddies near my parents’ house, and my mom is obsessed with getting her 10,000 steps a day — she’s done it for something like 520 days in a row at this point. So sometimes I’ll go meet my mom and I’ll walk the dogs. And we’ll walk with our friends in the neighborhood. We’ll walk for like an hour or so because it takes a while to get to 10,000 steps. We actually walk kind of late, but my parents only live about 15 minutes away from Bestia.

11 p.m.: Fall asleep to crime time or cooking shows
After that, I’d either stay at my parents’ house or go home and watch some really good television shows or movies because that’s how I like to end the night. Right now I’m watching [Hulu’s true-crime drama miniseries] “Under the Bridge” with Lily Gladstone. I love watching cooking shows to fall asleep. I’ve also seen every single episode of “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.”

I don’t know why it’s calming to me, but I’ve been doing it for so long, it’s weirdly comforting. I’ve never watched the other “Law & Order” [shows]. I’m sure they’re good, but I just love Mariska Hargitay so much. And I’m so into the whole Olivia Benson/Elliot Stabler will-they/won’t-they. That has my heart.