When Katie Hutchison and Dawn Oliveira, longtime friends and collaborators, first conceived of their podcast, Design Me a House, they certainly did not imagine that they would be launching it at a time when we would all be at home, with extra time on our hands, and hungry for new media to keep us entertained and educated.

Ms. Hutchison, a Touisset-based architect who focuses on residential properties, and Ms. Oliveira, a Bristol-based textile designer, met several years ago, when Ms. Hutchison attended a Bristol Warren Art Night open studio at Ms. Oliveira's studio. "I really liked what I saw, so I got her card," said Ms. Hutchison. "I knew I would be able to engage her with some of my clients."

"Katie started out as a client," said Ms. Oliveira, "but she's become a friend."

About a year ago, Ms. Hutchison approached Ms. Oliveira and asked if she wanted to team up with her to create a podcast where they could chat like the friends that they are, about home design. "I wanted to reach a general audience, and cast a wider net," said Ms. Hutchison, already the author of two design books, The New Small House and The New Cottage.

Ms. Oliveira was happy to oblige — though she admits podcasting was a completely new skill to master. "I've never done anything like this before," she said. "It was really generous of Katie to invite me to come along."

The two took a Podcasting 101 course at the What Cheer Writing Club in Providence, which also has a studio that podcasters can rent for a reasonable fee. The learning curve hasn't been too steep — despite minimal editing (eliminating the occasional awkwardly long conversational pause), their shop talk and banter have come naturally.

"I really enjoy listening to Katie talk about how she does what she does," said Ms. Oliveira. "The last episode we recorded went really well. I think we're getting in a groove."

While the pair were not looking to reinvent the wheel with their podcast format, the pandemic had other plans about how they could more forward with production. With only a handful of episodes in the can, the What Cheer studio was forced to shut down, and the women had to transition to recording their podcast remotely, and remotely from each other as well.

With the help of headsets, Google Hangouts, and the Hindenburg Journalist editing software, they seem to have figured it out.

Though Ms. Hutchison was initially very concerned that the audio quality would be compromised, they seem to have ironed out most of the kinks. She connects with Ms. Oliveira over Google Hangouts and then imports her audio into the editing software. It seems to be working. "I am going to have to bring a bunch of pillows into the small room where I have been recording, there was a bit of an echo," said Ms. Hutchison. "Dawn considers me tech-savvy, but these things are relative!"

There are currently 5 episodes of Design me a House, with another awaiting editing. They plan to record additional episodes every 4 to 6 weeks or so.

"It's been really fun," said Ms. Oliveira. "And a great diversion from the usual grind."

For more information, visit www.designmeahouse.com or search for it wherever you get your podcasts.