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HGTV Magazine’s Editor-in-Chief, Sara Peterson lets us in on the inner workings of the second-highest-selling magazine on newsstands. She reveals to Marianne just how far in advance they plan and create content, and how many issues they work on at a time. They usually juggle three issues at once, but sometimes they can be working a year in advance when it comes to holiday and seasonal decor — especially because it can be difficult finding real pumpkins in July.

When asked how she and her team forecast design and commerce trends, Sara says that they do a lot of research and legwork. "We're lucky, we get to travel around the country and scout real homes to feature in the magazine," says Sara. “We find those sometimes through designers, sometimes through friends and sometimes just good old-fashioned networking. We also have market editors who are shopping all the time and going to tradeshows.”

Sara and Marianne also discuss how colorful front doors — which often grace the cover — are always popular among magazine readers and on HGTV.com. Another hugely popular feature in the magazine is the “How Bad Is It?” column in which experts answer and rate (not bad at all, not so bad, very bad, etc.) common home improvement and housekeeping questions. Sara and Marianne play a lightning round with some popular questions from past issues.

In our Defend the Trend segment of the podcast, Marianne asks Sara about the monochromatic design trend — where everything in the room is in the same color family. Sara says she loves it. She does advise if you’re going to paint the walls, ceiling, trim and doors all the same color, to use different paint finishes, such as flat on the walls and semi-gloss on the doors.

Marianne then talks to professional photographer and fashion blogger Allie Provost. Allie reveals her top tips for taking fall photos. When it comes to family portraits, she shares advice on how to coordinate color and patterns in the group’s wardrobe. She also stresses that it is important for everyone to wear something comfortable, "If you're uncomfortable in your outfit, it's going to show." Allie also says it is possible to take high-quality photos on your phone and she shares some advice on how to do that.