Designing Together: Mentors, Moments & Making It: A Conversation with Journalist Diane Cowen

Casey: 00:00:32

Hi, I'm Casey.

Rainey: 00:00:33

And I'm Rainey. Welcome to the Reframing Design podcast. If you're a new designer, a seasoned designer, a homeowner, or a home enthusiast, you are in the right place.

Casey: 00:00:44

We are going to talk about all things design. Our stories, our opinions, our experiences, and we're probably going to chase a few rabbits down a few rabbit holes.

But one thing we can guarantee, we will not talk about politics.

Rainey: 00:00:58

Aloha.

Casey: 00:00:59

Aloha.

Rainey: 00:01:00

It's been a hot minute, especially with hot.

Casey: 00:01:04

Aloha.

Rainey: 00:01:05

Aloha.

Casey: 00:01:06

And it's warming up, which is so nice.

Rainey: 00:01:08

It's a little bit crazy, right?

Casey: 00:01:10

It's a little bit crazy. And we're gonna take a different format today. We have learned.

Rainey: 00:01:13

Yeah. We are changing up our format just a little bit, so if you're a regular listener, you might recognize it. Yep. So first of all, wins. What's your win?

Casey: 00:01:26

Oh, God, there are so many. The win today, actually, is that season started here in Houston, baseball season. And that is always just a great time.

Family's in, so Josh is in town. We have family in for it, and it's just always a great way to spend a day right at the ballpark.

Rainey: 00:01:47

And so how. Why is it so special? You have to tell. You have to spill the beans? No.

Casey: 00:01:54

Well, it's so special because we. Our thirteenth season and just.

Rainey: 00:02:00

It's all huge fans. Yes, Huge fans. And you guys make it to so many games. But so my win is we went to Santa Fe for three weeks for our 35th wedding anniversary.

The first week, I actually had the flu, but it was a great place to heal up. And the last two weeks were magical, and we can't wait to go back, so.

Casey: 00:02:21

And you were completely off the grid.

Diane: 00:02:23

For the most part.

Rainey: 00:02:24

And I'm gonna tell you, so putting my phone away was really hard. It was even harder picking it back up after three weeks. I was looking at emails going, I don't know if I can do this. Like, this is too much.

And just really realizing how relaxing life was and how being unplugged was so refreshing. I've never done that before. And I have to tell you, thank you so much for handling.

You handled all the reframing stuff, and you let people know they're reaching out to us for interviews and stuff. And you were like, sorry, can't do this right now. Rainey's on sabbatical.

Casey: 00:03:01

No, I felt kind of like your bulldog.

Diane: 00:03:03

I really liked it.

Casey: 00:03:04

I was like the gatekeeper. No, Rainy is busy.

Rainey: 00:03:08

Is busy.

Casey: 00:03:08

But the fact people Were, like, reaching out about those things was also so exciting that I was dying to see texting you and saying, crazy Jesus, like, what in the world?

Diane: 00:03:18

But. But you're back.

Casey: 00:03:19

And now we can do that all day long.

Rainey: 00:03:21

Crazy stuff coming up. And we feel so honored that the interior design community has been so kind to us and so receptive.

Casey: 00:03:29

Everybody's been wonderful.

Diane: 00:03:30

So.

Rainey: 00:03:31

So one of the things that Casey and I have talked a lot about is that when you're involved in the interior design community, there's all sorts of events all the time. Right. Monday through Friday, for sure, almost every week. And sometimes, sometimes at the end of a day, making yourself go to those events is hard.

Casey: 00:03:51

It can be really, really hard. And then also, you don't know which events to go to sometimes and what's most important. And going by yourself can be a little bit intimidating.

But today we have somebody here that we get to talk to. And the reason she's here is because she was insanely impactful for both Raini and I.

And what is so big is that just being able to be comfortable asking people sometimes what we need is really hard. But this, it's game changing.

If you ask the right friends and they're generous enough with their time to share their assets, really, it's really true.

Rainey: 00:04:27

And when you go to events and you meet people in the industry, it sort of opens doors for you that would otherwise not be open. And so our guest today, she is really a titan in our industry. She's recently.

And that has made us both sad and glad, but she really reframed my career, and I think she reframed your career, too, right, Casey?

Casey: 00:04:56

Absolutely. We have Diane Cowan today, which is just for Houstonians and further. She reaches so many people.

She's worked with the Chronicle, retired from The Chronicle after 40 years.

Rainey: 00:05:11

Yeah, and I think she was actually. She's been a writer for 40 years, but she was with the Chronicle for 24 years as a lifestyle editor first or a lifestyle writer first.

And then she went into the architecture and design writing space. And that was for the last 10 years of her career. And we, Casey and I, are two of the people that are so lucky that she did that.

Casey: 00:05:35

Just changed how people saw our businesses, I think, and how we saw our businesses. And I won't lie, the retirement does not work well for me now because I miss Sunday morning.

Sunday morning's the only day I read the paper, and I miss opening it up and seeing everybody's beautiful profiles and their pictures. It's just. It's changed in there.

Rainey: 00:05:54

Mind blowing.

Casey: 00:05:55

Very sad. They haven't.

Rainey: 00:05:56

And I think in our industry it's very hard to figure out how do you get published?

And when you start with a local medium, like a local newspaper or a local TV channel or something, those are discounted a lot of times because we want to do the national thing. Right.

Casey: 00:06:13

It's true. People want the big.

Rainey: 00:06:14

Yeah, went the big one. But for us, we were so lucky. So we are going to interview Diane and you are so lucky to get to meet her.

Casey: 00:06:25

Okay. We are so excited that you are here. You have no idea. Diane.

Rainey: 00:06:28

Yes. So we were talking about who we wanted to have come in and interview.

It was like Casey said your name and it was like, yes, yes, yes, the perfect person because you were so impactful in our career.

So one of the questions that I wanted to start out with is how did you decide during that 10 year period when you covered architecture and design, how did you decide who to interview?

Diane: 00:06:55

Well, first, thank you for having me here today. I really enjoy doing this kind of thing.

As for how I chose who I was going to write about, when I decided to make the shift into a new beat to write about architecture and design, I told my, my editor how I wanted to do the job. Because you have to have a focus or a mission on what you are trying to do or it's just out of control.

And so I told her I want to write about how we live. So it will be architecture, it will be design, but the overarching theme will be how we live.

And so when people would pitch projects, I always wanted to obviously see how beautiful the home was. And it didn't matter if it was small or large or somewhere in between. But I wanted there to be a good story about the people who lived in the house.

Casey: 00:07:51

So to that point and all you go in all these homes and people come come to you. Designers, typically, I would imagine, were the ones who approached you with these things. Was there ever something that you.

When did you decide yay or nay on it? The story was there. Was it based on the photos? Was it ba. How did you base your decision on doing it? Because I'm sure you got a ton of inquiries.

Yes, for sure. Take them all. Because.

Diane: 00:08:16

And it came from a variety of ways. So sometimes I would be at an event and someone would say, oh, I'm so glad I ran into you. I've got this house, I'm going to email you photos.

So usually the first time I'm looking at it is someone has emailed photos. And if I like the house.

If I feel like there's a good representation of different things, then I ask a little bit, well, tell me something about the homeowner, like, what's their life like in the house? So I'm trying to figure out what the story is, what the house looks like, the angle. And sometimes they're commercial or hospitality jobs.

And so, you know, you just skew it a little bit differently for that. But, you know, mostly I just wanted to feel like over the long haul, I'm representing the city, so you're judging one house at a time.

But have I had too many 10,000 square houses, you know, and I might tell somebody, let's save this for summer or fall. I'm really backed up with houses, but I think this would be perfect for September.

Rainey: 00:09:23

Okay.

Diane: 00:09:24

Yeah. So that I don't have a lot of what feels like the same thing in a row.

I need some that are smaller, some that are medium sized, some that look like the people didn't have a bottomless pit of money to spend on it.

Casey: 00:09:38

Which I will say thank you for doing it that way because just, you know, because we do look through magazines and we do wonder, oh, my gosh, will I ever be able to be in. And we might be the proudest we could possibly be of this tiny little space because it's what we got to do, but.

But it doesn't get the representation. And so I've always admired that about you, because you could do 10,000 square foot houses every day in Houston.

Diane: 00:09:59

You can.

But also, like, sometimes there are one room projects that are extraordinary, that are extraordinary because not everybody spends a ton of money all at once on an entire house, front to back, top to bottom. Right. You know, somebody redoes their kitchen. People do that all the time, and they're still spending a chunk of money.

And, you know, sometimes it's good to just show. Here's this kitchen that went from this to that. And so it was always great to have before and after pictures because you can see the transformation.

Because I always felt like sometimes people would look at a kitchen and say, well, my kitchen could never look like that. And I think, well, if you saw the before, your kitchen probably did look like that.

Rainey: 00:10:43

Right.

Diane: 00:10:43

And so I always thought it was great to be able to show them and, you know, in a photo gallery that would be online. So the before and then the after. And people are like, I gotta go back to that before. I gotta see that again.

Rainey: 00:10:54

Cause you couldn't see the same kitchen, right?

Diane: 00:10:56

Yes. You couldn't believe that could be this. And so smaller projects, literally one room.

Those are good to show too, because I really think that's how most regular folks with regular budgets, that's how they do their homes. One room at a time.

Rainey: 00:11:11

That's right.

Diane: 00:11:12

Or one space at a time.

Rainey: 00:11:13

That's right. One of the things that you and I experienced not once but twice is when the stories ran.

Somebody in the family was not happy that the story was published. And I remember one of them was during COVID It was a fantastic remodel, like million dollar remodel or something.

And the family, very high profile family in this town. And this was a younger member of the family. It was her home. And the older siblings lost their mind because it's. We're in Covid.

People are struggling and trying to survive. And you've published this unbelievable home. And so you and I had to work through that. I mean, you can't unprint something that's been printed.

Right, right. And so how did that go behind the scenes in the Chronicle? Like, what was that like on your side?

Diane: 00:12:11

I'll be honest with you. We really take the opinion that once something is in, it's in. And so if there are errors, we correct errors for sure.

But we don't change things just to soothe someone's ego.

Rainey: 00:12:28

I like that. Say that again. We don't change things to soothe someone's ego.

Diane: 00:12:36

I mean, they can throw any kind of temper tantrum and be worried about how they look. But the, you know, the younger woman in that family who, let's be clear.

Rainey: 00:12:48

Was 25 years old, she wasn't 12.

Diane: 00:12:52

Right. She was not a minor. She's a grown woman making decisions for herself, living on her own.

And I kind of feel like if her older brother throws a shit fit over something his little sister did, it is not my problem.

Rainey: 00:13:06

That is not yours. Yeah, we had to work through that a couple of times. I forget what the other one was.

Diane: 00:13:12

Was.

Rainey: 00:13:13

But you were so good about telling people. I'm using your first and last name. I am going to tell the area of town you live in. I'm going to tell the size of your home. Are you okay with this?

And when the answer is yes, here we go.

Diane: 00:13:27

And it's my defense. And I do that on every story. Even something that's one room.

And I go over, you know, so for example, if someone says, oh, we have three other vacation homes, I will say, is it okay to put that in the story? And sometimes they say, yeah, and sometimes they say, oh, probably not. But, you know, I Want to avoid those things because I have dealt with them.

Not a lot, but I have dealt with them enough to know I have to tell people I am using your names. Even though we went over that before we committed and I asked for the spelling of the name.

And once I had a woman say, well, you didn't tell me we were using the name. I go, of course I did. I told your designer before we I even knew your name. I told you at the interview and I had you spell your name.

What did you think I was doing?

Casey: 00:14:21

But that came out after the story ran and then they were upset that their name was in or something.

Diane: 00:14:25

Every story you read in the paper, names are in it. How is this a surprise? But, you know, there are all kinds of things that people get weird about.

One time, it was after Hurricane Harvey and everybody's fixing their homes. And there was one home I wrote about that it was under construction and it flooded and these poor people were in a house, it flooded.

The house they're building, flooded. They go to their daughter's house carrying children above their heads out of the water. And I put all this in the story.

Like they had horrible things happen to them too. And so, you know, the house under construction finally gets finished.

And somebody made a comment about, oh, look at these rich people with their fancy house while everyone else is struggling. And the wife, like, called and like, she's so upset we have to take this story down. I'm like, hang on a second. Did you read the story yet?

She hadn't even read the story. She saw a comment. I said, I want you and your husband to go in and read this story because I tell about your own struggles.

You flooded in two houses and had to carry children over your heads to keep them out of the flood water.

Rainey: 00:15:40

And that's somebody's takeaway that they're rich.

Diane: 00:15:41

And if their takeaway is that they didn't read it either, they looked at the pictures and left some smart ass remarks.

Casey: 00:15:48

Exactly.

Diane: 00:15:49

And so they, you know, they read it, they called me back, they go, we're so sorry, we're fine. You didn't put anything in there that made us look, you know, pretentious or like we were above everyone else.

And I really did write very early in the story that they had flooded.

Like, they couldn't have read the top three paragraphs or they would have known and thought these people struggled and they've come through it so sad.

Casey: 00:16:17

Such an interesting dynamic that people have. Like we watched Dave Chappelle thing the other night. Josh and I.

And you know, he comments on something that was said similar to what's happening in Palisades. Right. And you just are thinking really like that's our response is oh, they're rich.

Like either how rude of them or they can afford, you know, all these things that were just where's the humanity in it? And you know, from the computer. But if you're face to face, it would never come out that way.

Diane: 00:16:41

Right.

Rainey: 00:16:42

I call those keyboard warriors.

Diane: 00:16:43

So frustrating. Oh for sure. Because we're in this time when we react like that.

Rainey: 00:16:48

Yeah.

Diane: 00:16:48

You know, you send an email, you get a reaction immediately. You, you know, everything is instant and not just instant gratification, but communication.

And people feel the need to, to respond now, now, now, now. And they don't even step back and like read the whole email that was sent to them.

Casey: 00:17:05

So in the, well, all the years you've been doing it, 24 years, but really the 10 years of this end of it. Because that's really when, you know, social media and all of these things have been hotter than, you know, the first part of your career.

It sounds like have there been many or can you have memory of when people have gone crazy over an article that maybe you weren't expecting there were responsive way good or bad? Because I know a lot of your stuff can be very high profile and then people do kind of latch on and you know, like to comment.

So it's interesting to read through some of them. Is there anything that sticks out for you that you're like, God, I didn't think that one would get the attention that it got or vice versa.

I thought this would maybe pull more and it didn't.

Diane: 00:17:47

There was one story that, oh, I want a popcorn. It is, it was a positive one.

And so I can't even remember how I got onto this story, but the guy, and I'll even say his name because he would love being talked about. His name is Reggie Van Lee. And I did this story several years ago, but I will never forget this man.

So he is a black gay man and he is married and he's from Houston and grew up Acres Homes. Maybe like very, very poor. And he had maybe four sisters, four or five sisters. And he was the youngest. So all these sisters are older than him.

And he's growing up and he loves, he's nerdy, super smart and loves Star Trek and the. I think his name would be Scotty, maybe the engineer on Star Trek references that he went to mit.

And Reggie is old enough to be thinking, I want to go to college. And so he says to his mom, where's mit? So they look it up and he says, that's where I'm going to go to college. And he does go to mit.

Rainey: 00:19:08

Wow.

Diane: 00:19:08

Then I want to say, maybe he went to Harvard Business School.

Casey: 00:19:11

Oh, my gosh.

Diane: 00:19:12

Super smart, super high achieving, and he works for a big company that sends him all over the world.

Casey: 00:19:19

And.

Diane: 00:19:20

And he said, you know, I was gay, so I wasn't married, didn't have kids. A lot of the other guys didn't want to travel as much because they had families.

So I became so high profile, I did all these big jobs that took me all over the world, so. And his sisters remain in Houston, and they were very close knit. And then I want to say, maybe one of their parents was ill.

And so everybody was back for that. And they were talking and he said, one of the sisters said, you know, it was so much fun growing up in that house together.

It was a smallish house, so, you know, he had all these people, they said it was so much fun. Wouldn't it be fun if someday we could live together again? And he's like, well, I can make that happen, because that would be so great.

And so he built, I mean, it's the most amazing, like a family compound, right? It is.

And at this point, point they're all in their 60s, and he buys some land kind of out in the country, and he builds this house that would be hard to sell because who would ever live this way? But it's like he has his wing.

Rainey: 00:20:28

Casey and I want to buy it.

Diane: 00:20:29

Yeah, we're ready. I'm telling you, like our family.

If the Golden Girls were rich, they would buy this house so they could each have their apartment within this, this compound. But it's one building. You're not going from house to house. He had his wing, which was pretty fancy because he's a fancy guy.

And then in the center was all the shared space, a giant kitchen where they could all cook together. So like two big islands.

And they have to have a dining room that can seat this big extended family and have a birthday party or Thanksgiving or whatever. So the dining area was almost like a multipurpose room where they could set up ten tables for ten, you know, giant.

Rainey: 00:21:07

Amazing.

Diane: 00:21:07

And then each of the sisters had you go out another way. And each of the sisters had like a one or two bedroom apartment with a kitchenette living room.

And they got to say how much square footage they wanted. Like, they designed it together and they had like a little gallery down There.

And the ladies like to go to the beauty shop, but they, you know, they're like, oh, do we really want to have to drive all the way in?

Rainey: 00:21:33

Beauty shop in the house.

Diane: 00:21:34

So there's a beauty shop in the house. They're very faithful. They have a chapel in the house. Oh, my love. And one of the sisters died before the house was done.

So they dedicated the chapel to the sister who passed. And it was like, oh, my gosh. I didn't want to leave. I did not want to leave. And this man would have these elaborate birthday parties.

He invited me to his birthday party every year after that. But the problem was they were always in other countries because, like, you would have to fly to Bali to go to his birthday party.

I'm like, I didn't really know him that well, but I really loved being able to say, well, I got invited to Reggie Van Lee's birthday party in Bali or wherever it was. But this was the most incredible family. I got so many responses from the story.

I mean, people commented on the house, but it was gratifying because for all these, like, crazy people who would overreact to seeing a picture, not even reading the story, people were like, I loved that they had the chapel. Like, the chapel was three quarters of the way into the story, you know.

Casey: 00:22:36

So they got through.

Diane: 00:22:36

They were. They read the whole thing. I probably heard from a hundred people on that story.

And I would say, you know, it was before COVID So this was several years ago. And I got so many comments for so long. And it just remains this story that really touched me and kind of reminded me, this is why I do what I do.

Because.

Rainey: 00:22:58

Is that your favorite story of all of it?

Diane: 00:22:59

It probably is, because I'm remembering it in detail from 70 years ago.

Rainey: 00:23:05

I mean, you are there.

Casey: 00:23:06

And I'm wondering how I never. Because I was religious about reading Zest.

Diane: 00:23:10

I'll find a link and I'll send it to you.

Casey: 00:23:12

Matt would even set the family was.

Diane: 00:23:15

You know, he was Reggie Vanly.

Rainey: 00:23:16

We should put a link in linktree on reframing on Instagram so that people can read that story.

Casey: 00:23:22

Yeah, absolutely.

Diane: 00:23:23

You know, because like, no matter what you do for a living, there are these moments or these projects that you do that you think for all the crap that floats around on a day to day basis.

That's why you do that story, because you remind people of the sense of family you can have, even if you don't all live together, whatever that looks like for you. That's right. You want to have Your house.

So that when they come in for Thanksgiving dinner, everybody has their chair they like to sit in or they want to go outside. And, you know, just the way we bring together people together in our homes, whether they're the family you create or the family you have.

Rainey: 00:24:00

Yeah.

Casey: 00:24:00

That is so beautiful.

Rainey: 00:24:01

So on the flip side, this was like a favorite story. Was there a time that you did a story and you were like, I hate that I have to write about this because it just is icky.

Did you ever walk away from a story like that, or were they all like, I'm really glad I did that for some reason, I would say if.

Diane: 00:24:19

A story felt icky, I just didn't do it.

Rainey: 00:24:22

Oh, so you did have some of those feelings.

Diane: 00:24:26

For sure. For sure.

Casey: 00:24:27

Would, you know, once you got to the house, were you like, oh, this is.

Diane: 00:24:31

Once I'm at the house, I'm doing this story. Just like, if I had bad experiences with a designer, I might say, we're just not going to go there again.

And I would say, I'm going to pass on this story. Okay, but it would.

Rainey: 00:24:47

You have to do.

Diane: 00:24:48

I mean, I guess it is because you don't want to keep revisiting the same experience or the same bad feelings. Yeah.

Casey: 00:24:55

In your whole, like you said at the start of the interview that you want to share the story of how people are living and they're. So if it's not a positive experience for you, you can't write that. I mean, you're an authentic person, so it's not like you're going to fake a story.

Diane: 00:25:09

And I'll tell you, there were times when I had to sort of reframe the story. So there was one. It was a Southern living show home up in the Woodlands kind of area, and it was this fairly new golf course community.

And the designer, Cindy Aplonow Ruzika, and I can't remember the name of the builder, but it was a beautiful home. And I did all the interviews, we had all the photography. And then I think it was Hurricane Harvey and everyone flooded.

And I thought, I can't do this story about this fabulous home while all these other people are suffering. And I thought I had to really think about, what am I going to do with this?

Their timing is just bad because the show home, the open house for people to come see, it was maybe about a month after the storm. So sometimes I really did my interviews weeks before a story would publish.

It was just sometimes, you know, there would be an embarrassment of riches in terms of the stories I was Working on. And this was one of them. And so I called Cindy and I said, listen, we're in a pickle here. She said, I know.

I said, we can't just do a story about this great house because that's just not how we work. And she said, I'm totally with you. What can we do? And I said, let's reframe the story completely. It's a show house. That's the title of what it is.

But why don't I write a story about how it's an idea house so people have flooded and they know they're facing a big project. They can come to this for inspiration and see the ideas for what you can do.

Rainey: 00:27:00

I love that.

Diane: 00:27:01

Things that you splurge on, things that you save on, because everyone will need to do that. There are things you can cut corners on and things you can't. And everybody likes splurging on different things.

Like, personally, I'm willing to splurge on counters and tile. I don't want to splurge on floors because there are some great, affordable options for floors. And so let's just.

We'll do the interview all over again, because we could do it on the phone, because I know what the house looks like now. And I'll call the builder again, and I'll call everyone that I interviewed and sort of re interview them from a different point of view.

It'll be faster. It won't take long, because in my mind, I'm already thinking about what the ideas would be that we would talk about.

So we really reframed the whole thing. And I told my editor, I want to use these photos because these are the ideas that will get us through this without a lot of blowback from readers.

And they may even say, oh, you.

Casey: 00:28:04

Thank.

Diane: 00:28:04

Thanks. I had no idea you could do that with those carpet tiles.

Or that we could use, you know, the remnants left over from the kitchen on a little shelf in another spot. Where.

Rainey: 00:28:14

So did it go over well? It was well received.

Diane: 00:28:17

It was very well received. And we were all pretty relieved, I bet.

Casey: 00:28:20

And it got to be still showcased, but in a completely reframed direction.

But it gave people who were reading it again, they go to see something that's inspiring or aspirational, and it gave them something truly tangible, like, oh, God, I can now. I hadn't thought that way, because how many people were.

I mean, I would be so curious how many people's kitchens look identical because so many friends were just sending each other, like, I'm using this tile. I'M using this wall. You know, this is the paint color I'm using.

Rainey: 00:28:48

Survival.

Diane: 00:28:49

Survival.

Casey: 00:28:50

People are just trying to.

Diane: 00:28:51

And driving home the point, like the paint color where this house had an island that was canary yellow. I mean, super bright. And that's not for everyone. Right. But it drives home the point that paint is very impactful. I love it. And expensive. Right.

Casey: 00:29:08

Very inexpensive.

Diane: 00:29:09

And things like good value.

Casey: 00:29:12

Good value.

Diane: 00:29:13

Right.

But things like, you can buy this light fixture, but don't forget it's available at probably three or four different price points because nothing is not knocked off anymore. And when it comes to lighting, there aren't any fixtures that are that original that no one else has had a similar idea.

So if you're searching for a certain kind of thing, you can pay $3,000 for it, but you can probably find one for $1,200. Or if it's 500, you can find it for 100.

Rainey: 00:29:43

That's true.

Diane: 00:29:44

Not the same brand, but the look is very similar.

If now you've just flooded your house and you didn't get back very much money from your insurance company, and you have to put your house together and in the guest bedroom or bathroom, you're just going to go with a cheaper option because it's a guest.

Rainey: 00:30:01

That's right.

Casey: 00:30:01

Suite.

Rainey: 00:30:03

So you retired last year?

Diane: 00:30:07

before last, the very end of: 2023

Rainey: 00:30:12

And so what made you decide that you had written your last story?

Diane: 00:30:19

Well, some of it is just age. Some of it is that the newspaper industry is changing. I worked at three newspapers. Some journalists worked at a lot more. They moved around more.

I was married, and so moving around is harder because my husband would have to find a job. And he was the trailing spouse when I came here. So I got a job offer, and he moved here because he could.

He was in sales, a manufacturer's rep, and he could work from anywhere.

Casey: 00:30:46

Oh, nice.

Diane: 00:30:47

And so deciding to finish, my husband had already retired, and I was fairly jealous. You know, I'm getting up early every morning, he's still in bed. I'm thinking, that's the life.

And I would also say that my parents died when they were 70 and 71. And my dad retired at probably 62. And the same year he retired, he was diagnosed with cancer.

And so the lesson from my parents life was, don't work till you die or, you know, work for years. Enjoy life. And so I always knew I was gonna retire and enjoy retirement. I was going to play golf and I was gonna play Pickleball.

And I was gonna travel and spend time with friends and visit family elsewhere.

Casey: 00:31:39

And I was drink more.

I remember you telling me you were planning on drinking more, which made me so insanely happy to hear, because nobody says that, and I hope it's okay to say, but you're like, I'm gonna just have fun, and I'm gonna maybe drink more.

Diane: 00:31:50

And I'm gonna brag about that for a minute here. Because I go to lunch with two of my girlfriends every Friday, and it's our wine lunch.

We drink at least two glasses of wine sometimes also a glass of champagne every Friday at noon.

Casey: 00:32:04

We should all be doing that.

Diane: 00:32:05

And, you know, I have happy hour. My husband doesn't drink, so it's happy hour by myself. But sometimes I have friends over, and so I'll just make myself happy drink.

My two favorites would be margarita or a whiskey sour. Awesome. And, like, I'm so into it that I make my own boozy cherries to garnish my whiskey sour. I'll give this.

I'll give this little recipe for everyone. Because when I tell people this, they always have Casey's reaction of like, let me give you my recipe.

Casey: 00:32:36

Oh, my gosh.

Diane: 00:32:37

So I have, like, a mason jar, and I stuff it with pitted cherries. You have to pit them. Cause nobody wants to, like, chomp on a cherry pit and break your teeth. So you pit your fresh cherries.

You put them in, if it's a big jar, about maybe like a smaller jar, quarter cup, bigger jar, about a half a cup of sugar. And then you pour in the whiskey or bourbon that you're gonna use for your drinks. Shake it up real good.

Let it sit for a couple of weeks so the sugar dissolves.

Casey: 00:33:05

Oh, this is a commitment.

Rainey: 00:33:07

In the refrigerator.

Diane: 00:33:07

In the refrigerator.

Rainey: 00:33:08

Okay.

Diane: 00:33:09

And then you have these amazing boozy cherries.

Rainey: 00:33:13

If we had known about these, that would have been a requirement for today.

Casey: 00:33:16

Yeah, we'd have to send you one for a minute and come back or send an Uber driver to go pick that up.

Diane: 00:33:21

Well, you might just have to invite me back. I will in two weeks.

Casey: 00:33:25

It's going to take two weeks for those. Right?

Diane: 00:33:26

I know. And then I make my own sweet and sour mix.

So it's like the small version is a third cup of lemon juice fresh, a third cup of fresh lime juice, and half a cup of simple syrup. And I make my own simple syrup, of course. So like a cup of sugar and a cup of water.

It's a bit of a production, but you do it all at Once it's worth it, and you stick it in the fridge, and then you can make, like, your whiskey sour. And I'm telling you, I'm on whiskey sours because of Ina Garten, who is my favorite food network person.

During COVID Hearst would have these sort of entertainment things for employees where they would have a zoom call with some famous person, and you could sit in and listen to the interview. One time it was Condoleezza Rice, and it was super interesting.

Another time, it was like someone from the Met about some big exhibit they were having. And one time, they had a session with Ina Garten, and I was not gonna miss Ina Garten. And I didn't realize Hearst is part of.

Casey: 00:34:29

Was it part of the grand. Yes.

Diane: 00:34:31

The Chronicle is a Hearst property.

Casey: 00:34:33

I don't think I knew. That's really amazing. Okay, sorry.

Diane: 00:34:36

And so there were magazines. Like, the magazine division would do these interviews with all these national people. And so with Ina, it was.

She was gonna provide a recipe for whiskey sours and, like, roasted nuts or rosemary, blah, blah, blah, nuts or whatever. And I thought she was gonna demonstrate. So I had all my ingredients sent out, and I've got my laptop on my kitchen counter.

Rainey: 00:34:59

You are ready?

Diane: 00:35:00

And it's all. Then she comes out and it's all made, and she's drinking it. I'm like, I thought I was gonna make it with her, so I had to hurry up and make my drink.

Rainey: 00:35:08

So she could drink with her.

Diane: 00:35:10

Damn right. I'm drinking with my idol, Ina Garden.

Casey: 00:35:13

Oh, my gosh.

Diane: 00:35:14

This is so awesome. And so I'm still using Ina's recipe. I found the boozy cherry recipe separately because I was just using jar maraschino cherries, which is dangerous.

Cause I could just set them down, like, 14 of them.

Casey: 00:35:27

I mean, the stem alone, just the top and the bottom. And then.

Diane: 00:35:29

Anyways, we're the same person.

Casey: 00:35:32

It's amazing.

Diane: 00:35:34

And so once I got the boozy cherries, I started buying bourbon. And I thought, well, it's a bourbon sour. And then I'm trying different kinds of bourbon.

And I'm kind of set on Maker's Mark right now, But I heard of another one that's like, King Ranch reserve something or other.

Rainey: 00:35:48

You're getting it.

Diane: 00:35:49

I'm gonna try that.

Casey: 00:35:49

Okay. I love that. So you talked of Ina Gardner, which. So who is your go to? Who do you love when you were trying to get inspiration?

If you were finding you were just, like, you know, 10 years or 24 years, 40 years of this industry or collective writing when you were just sort of feeling like less than inspired, what would get you going or what could do it?

Was it be reading or watching something like that, or did you have something that kind of in your tool belt that you'd pull out if you were just struggling with getting something put together?

Diane: 00:36:18

I would say that journalists as a whole are big readers. And so I just read a lot of other people, sometimes reading books, but sometimes reading other journalists. Okay.

And like, there were a couple of coworkers in particular who are really gifted writers. Andrew Dansby, who retired that this past.

Casey: 00:36:39

Year, that was sad, too.

Diane: 00:36:39

Me too.

Casey: 00:36:40

Gosh, I really loved reading him.

Diane: 00:36:42

And Molly Glentzer, who wrote about a lot of different things. She wrote about the arts. She was a dance writer at one time and wrote about a lot of. She's a wonderful gardener.

She's one of these people who is a perfectionist at every single thing she does. Okay. And there would be times I would think, oh, God, here she is being perfectionist.

Casey: 00:37:04

Cannot believe.

Diane: 00:37:05

Like, I, you know, I'll never live up to Molly. And, you know, I remember one time I was kind of in a rut and I had.

I can't even remember what the story was, but I was just, like, bored with my own interviews. Like, I'm looking. I was bored with myself. I couldn't.

And I'm like sitting in front of my computer and I'm like, I don't even know how to start this story because everything I have, it bores me. Like, I can't. Like, there's nothing that jumps out as that's my lead.

And I just, like, I looked at some story Andrew had written and it was just like singing. It was singing right off, dancing and singing right off the pages.

And like, there was some passage that was really descriptive and I thought, I need more description. And so it was about a park. And I thought, I've got to go back to this park and I'm going to walk around it until I've got my description.

Rainey: 00:38:02

So you get some adjectives in your.

Casey: 00:38:03

Head singing off the page.

Diane: 00:38:06

So I get in my car and I drive to this park and probably very inappropriately addressed because I was. We were still working from the office and I kind of walked around this park and it was just like, sitting in nature felt great.

And I got my phone out and taking pictures of flowers so that I can describe, like, these black Eyed Susans, yellow cone flowers and, you know, whatever that are just sort of hanging and blowing in the wind and all the, you know, I had to look up the titles of all these plants and things and got my descriptive moment that I could kind of lead with. Because, you know, part of the beauty of parks is just the restorative nature of being outdoors with wildlife and plant life.

And so, you know, I just. It was just like a little part of Andrew's story kind of inspired me. And it. You know, I'm not a lazy reporter, so I'm not gonna make it up.

I'm gonna get in my car, drive there, find something that really inspires me, take pictures of it so I can describe it adequately, and then go back and write it. No, I love it.

Rainey: 00:39:13

And then that just launched that whole story for you.

Diane: 00:39:15

It did.

Rainey: 00:39:15

I love that.

Casey: 00:39:16

And it changes it.

Cause I think we probably fall into that sometimes, you know, so when you do just sort of feel like you're specking the same thing, it's like, oh, God, no, no, no, no, no. I need to go down, and I need to. That's when I go to books. Inspiration, right?

Diane: 00:39:29

You have to be charged up. You have to be excited. Because I felt like if I was bored while writing a story, everyone will be bored reading it. Okay.

That's not the reputation I want. Oh, yeah. How many times did I make them yawn in that story? I want people to think I really enjoyed my job because it's gonna show up in the stories.

Rainey: 00:39:48

And you do enjoy your job, right?

Diane: 00:39:50

I did. I do still. Cause I'm doing a little bit of freelance writing.

Rainey: 00:39:53

Oh, I was gonna ask you about that.

Diane: 00:39:55

Perfect segue. So I'm doing some freelance writing for Houstonia magazine. Emma Balter is the editor of it, and she used to sit across from me at the Chronicle.

And so when I retired, she asked me if I would do some writing for her. And, like, I will do anything for you.

Casey: 00:40:09

That's awesome.

Diane: 00:40:10

And then I'm doing some work with the Houston Design District's Leaders in Design program, and the media sponsor is Memorial and River Oaks lifestyle magazines. And so I write a story, a little profile about moderator, don't you? I do. And so they have a quarterly event, and they honor three at a time.

So, you know, I'm with the microphone, you know, asking people questions, doing the introductions, helping put on the show of honoring people.

Rainey: 00:40:38

Perfect for Denzel.

Casey: 00:40:39

Was like, when you were retiring, goes, oh, no, no, no, no. We're gonna. We're gonna find something.

Rainey: 00:40:43

Kind of retiring.

Casey: 00:40:44

Yeah. He's like, we're gonna find something. Because he's just. Yeah, we're all.

Diane: 00:40:46

Denzel so wants me to keep Working.

Casey: 00:40:49

He does keep telling me, love what you just richness to our industry.

You've brought so many people, you've interviewed so many people that make everybody tangible and design tangible to readers, to designers and stuff like that. And the homeowner who, you know, the ones that you've. The houses that you've done of mine and I'm sure Rainey's, they felt so honored.

And I mean, Veronica, still, the, you know, veteran, just is so pleased because you take so much time and you're really genuinely in their home and you're so as excited about it as they are. And I don't know, you just.

Diane: 00:41:26

I talk about Veronica all the time.

Casey: 00:41:27

She's amazing.

Diane: 00:41:28

She is. And she.

Casey: 00:41:30

Her story. But was one that they. Where they brought the whole. They had to really change how they were looking at their future because, you.

Diane: 00:41:36

Know, with her daughter had a stroke very young daughter had a debilitating stroke while on vacation in another country.

Casey: 00:41:43

Well, she was a 30 under 30. 25 of the most brilliant minds were in Israel. And she had a major massive brain bleed stroke. And her. And so.

Diane: 00:41:54

And like, the right side of her.

Casey: 00:41:56

Still doesn't completely work.

Diane: 00:41:58

And her speech is affected.

Rainey: 00:41:59

And like, they had to reframe.

Casey: 00:42:01

They really did in their lives, building their up.

Diane: 00:42:04

And when I retired, Veronica got a bottle of Veuve Clicquot and painted a picture of me on it. And she had discovered painting while focusing.

Casey: 00:42:17

Brought for the retirement party from Veronica. Cause she was just like, what? You know, I show that bottle to.

Diane: 00:42:23

I am conflicted about whether I should drink the champagne or not. You should.

Casey: 00:42:28

She wants you to drink her.

Diane: 00:42:29

And I finally decided I should really drink this. But I'm not throwing the bottle away. It's gonna sit out.

I have a little wine rack with this stained glass top, and it's gonna stay there forever there because it's such a beautiful gesture. But, you know, she discovered painting. She was not an artist. And in.

She's in like, reframing her whole life and fixing her house so that the daughter could live there with him again. She started painting with another daughter.

Casey: 00:42:57

Yeah, her younger daughter that she was.

Diane: 00:42:59

Not particularly close to, but they started painting together. See, it's back to the story of.

Rainey: 00:43:04

The people and how they live and.

Diane: 00:43:06

How they live and how they connect with each other. And she discovered a love of paintings. And like, she sells paintings.

Casey: 00:43:12

She does. We've commissioned multiple. And I almost regret.

I almost hesitate telling this, but a car just about two weeks ago now, one week ago maybe drove into their home After a police chase in our neighborhood and hit that front window of the kitchen. And it affected all the way back to the powder room, down that whole thing. And she's beside herself.

Cause she loves her kitchen so much, but I think also where she's gonna paint. So like all those things. And she's just like, not my kitchen, you know, but.

Rainey: 00:43:46

And so.

Casey: 00:43:47

And the youngest daughter is now engaged. And she. They had just gotten engaged anyway, so their family is doing beautifully.

Except for that one little unfortunate thing you met anyways, and I'm sure you have.

Diane: 00:43:58

But the connections within the family have changed dramatically.

Casey: 00:44:01

It does. When you.

Diane: 00:44:01

And for the better.

Casey: 00:44:02

And when you can bring people together in a home that you're proud of, it makes a big difference in your.

Rainey: 00:44:08

Entire life, in the home and outside of the home. I think.

Diane, I cannot tell you how thankful we are that you would take time out of retirement and that you would pack up, leave your cherries, and come and spend some time with us. You are a delight. You are a, like I said, a titan in our industry. I have never heard an L word be seen spoken about you.

You did so much for our careers and probably a big reason why Casey and I are sitting here today. And so thank you. Is there anything else that you want us to know about you?

Diane: 00:44:48

Gosh, you know, I would say that I would want people to know how happy I am right now. I'm retired. I can keep my hand in work a little bit and stay connected to people like you two and keep your vocabulary. For sure. For sure.

But like, you can be happy knowing that I'm, you know, about five o' clock, I'm having my whiskey sour, my bourbon sour with my boozing whiskey, cherries, 505.

Casey: 00:45:14

I'm sorry.

Diane: 00:45:15

And you know, I have actually two jars in my fridge because I tried like a different kind of recipe to see how it would go. But I'm not giving up the kind I really like. Yeah, you gotta have your stash. You gotta have it, you know, and if I.

If I come back to someday, I'll bring the whole set up and we'll have a little cocktail.

Casey: 00:45:34

We will do that for sure.

Rainey: 00:45:35

It's happening to that.

Casey: 00:45:37

Like anyone can do this.

Rainey: 00:45:39

Yeah. So I. I do have to talk about the art today that we have on set.

And if you're just listening to the pod, you might want to jump on YouTube because this one's a really good one. The artist on this is Mark Hellinger. And the name of this piece of art is Paleolithic Art.

Critic, and it's a caveman, and he's come up on some cave art, and he's like, ah, anyone can do this. And if you've ever had that experience looking at a piece of art, you know how that is.

And so you might think that anyone can do what Diane Cowan did, and you would be wrong.

Casey: 00:46:22

You, too can retire.

Rainey: 00:46:23

Yeah, you too can retire if you plan well. So, anyway, thank you again, so much.

Casey: 00:46:28

Thank you.

Diane: 00:46:28

We can't. Thank you.

Casey: 00:46:29

You've done so much in this.

Rainey: 00:46:31

Again.

Casey: 00:46:32

Yeah, we love it.

Rainey: 00:46:33

We love you.

Casey: 00:46:33

Thank you.

Rainey: 00:46:34

Thank you.

Casey: 00:46:34

And thanks for listening.

Diane: 00:46:35

We're a mutual admiration society.

Rainey: 00:46:38

I like that.

Casey: 00:46:41

Okay. How amazing was that? Like, not that we were thinking otherwise, but she's just such. Still the biggest rock star in my brain.

Rainey: 00:46:48

She is just so amazing and so grateful for what she's done for us. But if you are a new baby designer, or even if you're a seasoned designer and you feel a little unplugged, this is your reminder to go to events.

Diane: 00:47:07

Yes.

Rainey: 00:47:08

Right.

Casey: 00:47:08

And check your junk mail, because often the invitations for these events go there, and it's really unfortunate how many get missed. ASID is a great option, and KBA has stuff, and there's just showrooms galore that do things for our. For us, for this reason.

And introducing yourself to people is huge. That's how mix it up and you meet new people and you.

Rainey: 00:47:31

Exactly. And if there's someone that you want to cover you or you want to interact with somebody, reach out to them.

A lot of times the answer is going to be yes. And it could reframe and really launch your career.

Casey: 00:47:43

Absolutely.

Rainey: 00:47:44

So that brings us to the end of this episode.

If you would like to chat with Casey and I, you can either DM us or you can email us at hello below@reframingdesign.com you can also follow me on Instagram, rainierichardson interiors. And of course, please follow Reframing Design to get all of the updates on our podcasts.

Casey: 00:48:05

And if you want to follow me, I am Cassandra Underscore brand interiors on Instagram. And, yeah, any questions or anything you guys have, just shoot it our way. We're always interested to help anybody. That's how we got to know Diane.

So ask away.

Rainey: 00:48:20

Exactly. So thank you and we'll see you next time.

Outro: 00:48:25

That's a wrap for this episode of the Art of Interior Design. We hope you had a blast and found some inspiration to bring your dream space to life. Feeling inspired to start your own home transformation?

Contact us@helloeframingdesign.com we want to help you make it happen. Don't forget to subscribe. Share and leave a Review this show was edited and produced by Truth Work Media.

Until next time, remember your space is your story. Make it beautiful.