Episode 20
Frequently Asked and Sometimes Challenging Client Questions
Rainey Richardson and Casey Brand are unpacking the common questions interior designers working in the luxury space often hear from clients. Some inquiries may seem simple on the surface, but they can reveal a deeper gap in understanding about the design process and the true value of professional services. They discuss how to set clear expectations around timelines, why living in a home during major renovations can create challenges, and the often-overlooked emotional and psychological impact of transforming a space.
Whether you’re just starting or have years of experience, listen this week for strategies to handle tricky client moments with confidence, clarity, and professionalism!
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Transcript
Hi, I'm Casey.
Rainey: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: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. Hello.
Rainey:Hello. Right here, back in your gorgeous studio on a gorgeous day in Houston.
Casey:It's such a gorgeous day in Houston. Actually. Today was a beautiful morning.
Rainey:It was only 98 degrees today, but.
Casey:There was a breeze, so it made it feel like it was 94. It was nice.
Rainey:Nice, right.
Casey:The sun coming out though. I don't know if you captured, but it was just a little like that 12 dimensional look. Yeah, kept going. It was.
Rainey:It was beautiful. It was a beautiful morning. And I was thinking what a great day to film and to see my friend and talk about the things we love.
Casey:I know felt a little Christmas morning ish because we haven't done this in a while. So to get to do it again, it's awesome. And I love that you came in that color. Cause you're just satur.
Like we talked about saturation on our last podcast, but you are really bringing the aqua sphere from Sherwin Williams, which is what this color is on the my wall.
Rainey:Thank you for naming this as a color.
Casey:It is a color, but with the linen, it's even better. It's even most better.
Rainey:You know, Ralph Lauren is one of my favorite designers. If I wear only Ralph Lauren, it's what I would only wear.
Casey:He dresses you very well. Yeah.
Rainey:I love Ralph Lauren. So little linen number is always good.
But I didn't know this was gonna be the color behind me because you were so kind to do this gorgeous sort of backdrop refresh. Not that it wasn't gorgeous here before. You just had bookshelves in here.
Casey:Wasn't gorgeous.
Rainey:So when you moved out, that gorgeousness we had and you just. You're just so kind and gracious.
Casey:Oh, gosh. Oh, geez.
Rainey:I really mean it. You know, I don't say this stuff, I don't mean especially when it's super nice.
Casey:And as we're looking back on this wall, there's a piece of art there that we could get to talk about.
I unfortunately don't have as much information on her, but what I do have and a lot every year here in Houston at the Glassell Arts Academy, they do a sale of all of their students work over the. Of the previous year. And it's from their beginner, beginner classes all the way up through. And you can get just epic pieces.
They've got pottery, they've got everything.
Rainey:You have to go early. Cause the really good stuff gets snatched up.
Casey:Snatched up. But I got her last year and just fell in love. It's named Times Square and Kingswell is the artist. And so it's just something about it.
The colors and the people. I don't know. It's the bustle with. But with a pastel palette, which New York is a little bit more primary colors typically. Right.
It's such a strong kind of vibe in that city. So I like that it softened.
Rainey:It makes it look almost restful and peaceful.
Casey:Yes. Which. Okay. And this is a complete pivot twirl. But. And I don't mean to, but I do because we're talking. We're just talking about going on sabbaticals.
And I was with Jake and a couple of his buddies. And so we were really getting into where you would go on a sabbatical.
And in my head, it's like a far off land similar to Castaway, where there's nothing but a volleyball to play with. So Jason, my youngest son, his was New York.
Rainey:Interesting.
Casey:He said, because you can get lost in that city, nobody pays attention to you, and you can witness life happening in every capacity. That kind of would spark what a sabbatical is typically used for, which is new direction or, you know, self inflection.
And now I have a complete different perspective on a sabbatical. But this kind of adds to his sabbatical in my brain that it's a softer version of New York, which can be real.
Rainey:All true.
Casey:Isn't that anyway.
Rainey:And insightful from such a. I mean, college age.
Casey:Kind of an interesting bird. Man.
Rainey:I love that. That probably made you proud.
Casey:I loved it. It was just such a cool. I loved it. But okay. And I know, you know, what's your sabbatical place?
I would say Santa Fe, but is it a place you can go and like, that would be your sabbatical?
Rainey:Totally.
Casey:Okay.
Rainey:Totally. One of the things that I tell people about Santa Fe is I say I love to hike, but I also say I love to camp and go camping.
And camping means three star hotel. And I'm not trying to be like, I can also stay home. So. And so when I say I don't.
Casey:I don't have to go at all.
Rainey:That's it. And so when I say hiking, I'm not talking about scaling at the side of the mountain. Like, I'm not doing that. None of this is doing that.
So, I mean, sauntering down a path where you go through this gorgeous, you know, lush fauna, floral and fauna, and you come across a beautiful stream or a waterfall, and then you saunter back. Right.
So the way I decide whether or not a trail is for me is I go on the hiking app and I see how much elevation you're gaining, and if it's over, like, I don't know, 250ft. Not going that. That hike is not for me.
Casey:That is. That is not. Is a scaling. No, that is not a height.
Rainey:That's it. That is. That is mountain climbing. Oh. And so.
Casey:God, that is hysterical.
Rainey:But for me, on my sabbatical, these saunters and finding a spot is. Is really it for me.
Casey:That's it for you.
Rainey:Yeah. The pinnacle of existence.
Casey:And I absolutely love that. And I do. Like, now that I understand when you say hiking, what to expect when I come to your.
Whatever home you purchase when it's time and you're going to be. And we go hiking. I know what to. Because I. In my head, it's.
Rainey:It's hiking because you're scaling mountains.
Casey:We're scaling mountains in my brain.
Rainey:Yeah.
Casey:Which you can wear.
Rainey:Like, I can wear my boot. Wear your boot. You wear cute shoes when you go hiking with me.
Casey:Which is so nice because then when you end it, you can go for brunch and not feel like schlepping a schleppy, which I don't love. Slowing up. Slowing up is a schleppy. I can't even say it. I don't like it so much.
Rainey:Yeah. Anyways, showed up schluppy, so.
Casey:Yeah.
Rainey:And then also in New Mexico. Same in Colorado, when you go hiking.
And I'll put that in quotes, actually, any kind of hiking, you have to go early because you have to be back home before it starts to rain for the 30 minutes or an hour. And it can be a gentle rain or it can be sort of violent all of a sudden, but it's happening, so it's happening. One of my favorite things.
Casey:Oh, my gosh. And the smell. Every time. Just the smell. I can still. Yeah. Whenever I'm talking to my dad and he's in Colorado. Oh, it just started raining.
I'm like, oh, give me a minute. I can muster the smell real quick. It's fabulous. It's only the mountains that gets that kind of that crisp piney.
Rainey:Anyway, I love That I love how this painting took us to those moments of sabbatical.
Casey:I mean, 14 minutes of a rabbit hole, which. Let's. Can we just talk travel and sabbaticals?
Rainey:No, we cannot.
Casey:Maybe that will. Actually, it's funny, because this podcast is about why we do need sabbaticals.
Rainey:Yes. A hundred percent. While people in our industry do. But before we dive in, we should probably talk about our win.
Casey:Oh, yeah.
Rainey:What is your win for today?
Casey:We're ending the summer right now with, you know, baby being home. I'll head back up to normal.
Rainey:Little baby. Newborn.
Casey:Newborn Jake, who's 20.
Rainey:What?
Casey:20 years old, but he's going into his junior year, and it's going fast. Right. But we had him home for the entire. Since before Mother's Day. And we sat last night, the three of us. Matt.
Josh hasn't been able to be home, but we kind of shared a moment of appreciation for the summer that we've had. And so much. Just genuine satisfaction and gratitude of how it went. We. You know, that started the summer.
It started with me having to get that surgery on my leg, which I hate to beat a dead horse, but it started with that. And he really just was such a champion for the house and helping, and he enjoyed his summer.
He was at home more than I've ever seen him through high school or anything. Like, he just genuinely was. And it just reiterated the importance of home and just being with people and how it feels good.
And it was just a very cool night. And Matt was clearing out the bar, and there were three bottles of, like, of tequila, and all of them just had, like, nothing.
And he was like, what is this about? Just a skosh. And this is so not my husband. But he pulls out three shot glasses, and he's like, let's do this in. We're gonna do this in.
So we all bid farewell to our summer with a shot of tequila. And it was actually really. It was a Monday.
Rainey:I love that you did that on a school night.
Casey:A total school night. I can't. It was the beginning of the school.
Rainey:Makes it better.
Casey:I know. And that was Matt. So, anyway, so that's my win. Just a really cool way to send off the baby.
Rainey:I love that. So my win is. It is so interesting.
So our daughter Paige and her boyfriend David rented a house on Crystal beach for, I think, six days for them and our grandkids. And they invited us to come. And so it's the first time where we have stayed in accommodations that were paid for by one of our children.
And it felt like this immensely celebratory thing to be invited into their vacation and their space. And we were invited for the whole time, but we just went down for two of the nights just to give them some time together.
And the really cool thing was when we opened the refrigerator, so it was stocked with all the things that I've purchased for vacation for the girls growing up. And we did take a moment and talk about the full circle moment. That is, we eat pretty healthy.
We don't eat, like, rockstar healthy, but we are definitely on the right side of eating healthy. And so just all of the things, all of the snacks, it looked like our refrigerator. And we talked about that, and it was kind of a really cool moment.
And she said to me, you know, mom, when you would do these little vacations and stuff, it's like she said, I never realized, number one, how much it costs, and number two, how hard you worked. And she said, I just want to thank you. And it was a really cool moment for Tom and I, and just kind of special. So it was a win.
Casey:My God, I love that because it is so much goes into that. And you do wonder if they, you know, they love it, but you don't know what they're taking from it.
Rainey:Yeah.
Casey:And the fact the refrigerator part is what kind of just got me a little bit like, oh, my gosh. So just give a couple things that were in that fridge just so I know what's in your fridge.
Rainey:So our two nights that we were there. So the night we arrived, we did taco bar. Our taco bar is a little different. Cause we. I don't eat. We don't eat red meat. So it was turkey meat. Right.
So just the turkey meat and all the vegetables that go on top of the tacos. And of course, you have crispy, and you have soft tacos, and then the black beans and the Spanish rice.
Just exactly the way that I made it with them growing up. And we did taco bar a lot. We did it on Taco Tuesday, and their friends were able to come over on Tuesdays, and just long as I kind of had a number.
And that was one of the ways where we kind of kept a pulse on the relationships and the friendships, and we sort of became a safe house for a lot of things that kids were going through that maybe not that needed to be kept from their parents, but maybe they just had a place to talk about it, so.
Casey:Which is huge.
Rainey:Tacos were a big thing. And then the next night, we did grilled chicken with baked Potatoes.
And then we did green beans and corn and, you know, a little bit more of the summer. Summer feel. But it was just very much how we cook and very much what, you know, how they were raised.
Casey:That's so cool.
Rainey:It was a cool moment.
Casey:Well done, Paige.
Rainey:Yeah, that was really kind.
Casey:Yeah, I love it.
Rainey:And lots of snacky vegetables and fruit, which is. We'll just lay out on the. On the countertop, so.
Casey:But you know how that can. Like those vacations, they just eat you out of house and home, so.
Rainey:They do.
Casey:Yeah.
Rainey:And she was like, mom, I never had any idea how much it was to, like, pack all of the coolers and do all that grocery shopping and get it all in the car. And it's like. But you don't tell your kids that you don't want to burden them. You're just being a mom.
And then when she got to do it and then also invited us in for that, it was just really, really cool.
Casey:That's really.
Rainey:Yeah. So big win.
Casey:That's a big win.
Rainey:Yeah.
Casey:I love that. Yeah.
Rainey:So amazing, the win.
Casey:There was just an Instagram reel when you were saying that, because the woman says she's about to. She's going to bed. The husband's like, okay, I'll see you in a minute. See you in bed in a minute. And then it talks about everything she does.
So she stopped and she put a load of.
In the laundry, started folding something, made coffee for the morning, put the dishes away, made a list for tomorrow, got the bags out for the kids, and I mean, it was 42 things on thing. And then right when she's about to turn off the kitchen light to go, her husband says, I'm going to bed. And he goes in and goes to.
Rainey:Bed two minutes later. Yes, he's sleeping. He's sleeping.
Casey:And it was absolutely. Nobody knows what the mama does.
Rainey:That's it.
Casey:And we're not telling. I mean, it's. It's just. We don't have. Nobody's asking us to. It just. It has to get. I don't know.
I do wonder sometimes if we didn't do it, if it would get done. Probably would. But it's just a mom thing. And it's not a bad.
Rainey:I remember raising our kids, and my number one ask of God, the universe, all the things was that I would be the only one who met their needs as children, that I would live long enough to get them through that, that somebody else step in and be the one to make the lunch or fold the clothes or any of Those things. So that was one of the ways before we had Instagram telling us all these cool things and podcasts.
It was one of the ways that I kept myself thankful for the role of some of those things that sometimes felt unappreciated and mundane and like a lot of work that nobody really noticed. It was one of the ways that I stayed thankful.
Casey:I think that's huge because it's the stuff we really do wish for, like folding this. Like, you could get a little bit begrudging about it, but it.
The fact you have the gift of time that you can sit in fold clothes or a washing machine that flushes those clothes, or, you know, kids that wear those clothes, all those moments of, like, you can switch it or anything from shitty to pretty, you know, oh, my God, did shitty and pretty work. They do rhyme.
Rainey:Shitty and pretty, shitty and pretty. Reframing something from shitty to pretty.
Casey:But you really can just sit there and either be pissed or appreciative. I mean, it's really our choice every second of the day, which kind of.
Rainey:Is a great segue in today's topic.
Casey:Again, we segued 18 minutes ago.
Rainey:Sorry, we segued the re segue.
But today our plan is to talk about the questions that clients ask us, that we hear often as interior designers, especially in the luxury space, and that sometimes they're frustrating and make us just sort of take a moment and wonder if maybe the person on the other end of the line, number one, understands what we do, and number two, can appreciate what it is that we do.
Casey:And so, yeah, those difficult questions that sometimes I think we have been asked the entirety of my career. So it started prior to luxury, for sure, but. And I thought once I got to luxury clients, I would hear them less, and it's not necessarily less.
And that surprised me a little bit because it's lessened in some of these questions, but not all. We still get the question. So for you, too, do you find that you've had it the whole way through?
Rainey:For sure.
And I think maybe your point is very well taken and that maybe now it's a little more surprising when they're asked, because when you're designing a 3, 4, or $5 million house and some of the questions that are asked, and one of my mentors really walked me through some of this, which I'll talk about in a little while, but it does seem a little more maybe meaningful or I clock it a lot deeper than I did earlier on in my career. Is that same for you?
Casey:Yeah, I think that's probably very true, because a lot of the questions are budget and investment related and we'll get to them. But people will say, well, that's why they have that much money to buy or build a five or six million dollars home or above.
But I would have to guess that along the way. Not everybody loves being asked these questions in business. E. So there is a. There is a trigger point.
And whether you take the client or not is really up to you at that moment. Because what it leads to you kind of. They're flags. Yeah.
Rainey:And I think it. I think it helps you decide whether or not that is the client. Like, if it's a good fit. It's like a shoe. Right. The shoe has to fit the foot.
Casey:Yes.
Rainey:And so. And both of them matter.
Casey:Absolutely. And one. So for. For me, you know, we all get them.
And it's funny because, you know, Matt, being pretty successful business dude, he's done real well in, you know, his world. And he loves to give advice to my business, which is sometimes so helpful.
Other times, you know, we'll just leave it there, hanging in the air, but forever, you know, we would give. I would so of a design fee, for instance. Right.
And so you give your fee and the client comes back and asks if there's any room for a discount on your fee. And I was taught by Terry Taylor, who I love, as you mentioned, a mentor.
But at that moment, you ask, okay, what would you like to take out of the scope? Because I don't discount my work, but I will gladly take something out of it with the money to get it to a place that might work better for you.
So that was always a really great moment. But Matt sees it as a give. Like, well, if the client asks everybody in business, they want a little bit, like they feel like they won something.
And I'm like, ours is different. It doesn't work out. That. And the reasons I have found that once that you have the give, the entire process becomes the same.
You're giving some capacity the whole time. And so I've had to tell I no longer will ever just. I don't even love entertaining the idea of taking stuff out of the scope. But he now sees.
Oh, my gosh, I see what you mean. Because he's watched me wear it through a couple clients.
Rainey:So you go from like a luxury service to a commodity. I think at that moment that you're willing to negotiate. It's absolutely how I feel.
Casey:It's true. And those, they will ask to ask our vendors to discount themselves. And I've had to tell multiple people.
I will never ask a vendor, I might use another vendor because their price is higher than what we're budgeting for. But I'm not asking this vendor to go down in price. Cause that's their price. You wouldn't ask a plumber.
I mean, you just don't ask anybody at a store or doing their own personal job to go down in there. Why would we do that to human beings? But it's just the nature of business, I guess. But if they value you, they'll pay your fee and not question it.
And those are always the fee, the.
Rainey:Projects that you're doing. Do you wait until that question is asked to address it?
Like, do you wait until a question till a client says, are you willing to discount your fee or do you address it earlier?
Casey:It's always a wait because I don't want to put it out into the ethers. Like I don't nip it in the bud.
Rainey:So one thing that I learned to do, and this is because that question was so offensive to me, is at the initial consultation, I would say just when they first come into my studio, the meet and greet, I would say we will have a design fee. And just so you know, I don't. That fee is non negotiable. And I don't make a big deal out of it.
Like I just say it and I don't go into it of here's why. And you can't. And I'm not. It's just a very. And that fee is non negotiable. And then keep going.
Because once that question is asked, it feels like that's not a good client for me. And I want that client to know that right up front. I don't know, maybe that's not a good thing to do, but it's something that I have started doing.
Casey:No, I think. But you started because it had been asked.
And so that's the part where of course, we're always changing in our business because we do find these moments where we're like, oh, wow, okay, now I didn't like that and I don't want to have it again right now. Force this hand this other direction because it still gets asked even at this luxury level, which is wild.
And so have you had anybody push back or not sign your fee that you thought they would because it was too much? It was maybe too much. And they might have tried to negotiate. I guess you wouldn't know if they had.
Rainey:Well, of course there's been. I've sent out contracts that didn't get signed for various reasons, and that could be one of them.
But then there are the few that came back and asked, as things didn't go as they thought they would, would I reconsider engaging in the job? And I won't. Because I've made that mistake in my career. Picking up the pieces of a job that is not going well. And it never ends well, right?
Because it's already broken. And it doesn't matter how much you bring to the table or how much you rescue or how great you are. It's not so.
Casey:I want. I hope that resonates for people listening, because I think so. We are innately problem solvers, dream keepers for people.
And we want to fix everything. That's why we do what we do. We want to fix a room. We want to make it perfect for whoever it is.
And so that client comes back and you sort of have this. I don't know about you, but I have this. Okay, you went. Now you. Now you see I'm valuable.
And like, there's a, like, worthiness in it that has probably got some therapy behind it I probably need to look into.
Rainey:No, I think it's perfectly normal.
Casey:You're like, okay, yes, okay. And it doesn't pick up in this really great space because they're coming into it with energy that is less exciting than it was before.
So you could sage the shit out of that situation and you're still gonna have.
Rainey:But they've wasted money, they've been burned, and so they're gonna be suspect and untrusting, and it's just not a great.
Casey:Place to start your pretty stuff. And we all want. Whether it's because you want to fix it or you are looking for a job, because we've all done that too. We'll just take it.
Because you're like, gotta keep the lights on for a little longer. But I hope some people hear that. Cause inevitably it turns into something that's not ideal. So. Okay, what's a question for you?
That's kind of one that kind of grinds.
Rainey:This is sort of along the same guidelines or the same track of thought. And I think you charge this way.
So on a new build, there's square fe footage of the house and we charge a price per square foot to take that home from really plans to completed build. Right.
So that includes all of the plan meetings, all the specifications of all the materials, passing that off to the home builder and making sure they get the right materials, the walkthroughs during the process to make sure that the home is built according to the design specifications, helping the client navigate things like budgets and those sorts of things. All of it to walking punch that final walkthrough where you're blue, taping for paint and grout and all of those things.
So we charge a flat fee, a price per square foot for that.
And when a client says, well, what if I take out these three rooms and I do those myself and we take the square footage out, will you reduce the square footage? The price based on the square footage footage. But it takes us right back to the discussion about reducing our fee.
And that is, first of all, those rooms automatically fall within the specification. When you're talking about things like trim, when you're talking about things like flooring, hardware. Exactly.
Can lighting placement in your lighting plan, you're not going to say, well, I'm not going to touch these rooms because you're doing them right. So it's either the all or nothing in that way.
And part of it is on us to educate the client about what all is involved and the 127 million questions they're going to have to answer. But no, if you decide you're going to design a few spaces yourself, that does not reduce my fee because it never works out like that.
Casey:No. And if, if your entire budget. So let's just say that room's $300 or 300 square feet. So three rooms, and that's pretty sizable.
And you're even at 10 bucks a foot.
I mean, so, so the $9,000 and you're building a 4, 3, 4, 7, whatever million dollar home, that $9,000, you really want to take that on for yourself in the midst of the stress of building this house and not knowing.
Rainey:So again, a red flag.
Casey:It is because you realize like, like people are looking and I get it. It's because it's. I don't even think people have a single idea of the minutiae in which we are detailing. I mean grouch.
Rainey:Our clients do.
Casey:Well, they do after a while. But when they're just like, oh well this isn't just they think it's going to be, oh, you're just picking pay colors, hardware, appliances.
If that was it. Oh my gosh, spot on. Can I just tell you, we wouldn't need a sabbatical. But it's all that other stuff that we, we understand.
So that coming out then sets the tone and makes that feel trusted. I always, and I, it's a value thing for me, but I always take it as a not Trusted thing.
I don't know why, like they think I'm gonna like I'm sort of pulling one over on em or something.
Rainey:I think for me the way I see it is they don't value what we do. They don't understand the technicality of what we do. I think you're about to touch on grout size.
And so when you're walking into a bathroom and you have tile on the floor, does that start with a whole tile? Does that start with half the tile?
Is the grout joint in the middle of the walkway is the grout joint or do you have a whole tile centered and that's based on how it's going to run into the shower on the other side of the bathroom and where those transitions are and the slope of the shower. Is it a linear drain? Is it. There's so much involved in insane just the lay of that tile.
Casey:That part. The amount of questions that go into just tile is crazy.
And some people call it a straight stock, some people call it a soldier stock, some people call it running on. I mean it's all of it. And I'm glad we get to do it, but let us do it.
And I think for past years when I used to be hourly and you know you touched on we're both now fee based even in new, new construction. But also remodeling which is a little bit different of pricing, how that works in but price per square foot sometimes still works. But hourly.
I would be asked often how did you spend that many hours for this? I'm like oh bitch, please. I spent 14 more hours than that. But I didn't charge it to you because I didn't want. I knew you I'd get pushback.
So that's that trust feeling where you're like you're really questioning my ethics at this point. Like I'm not pulling one over on you, I promise I'm doing the work.
But people just, there's a non understanding because if they're scrolling or if they're taking to the looking for a couch, they don't really track how much time that takes.
Rainey:Exactly.
Casey:Anyways.
Rainey:And that all goes back to when we go to fee based when we're choosing a sofa and we've gone to market for years and we've spent hours in vendor meetings and we've gone to CEUs and we've touched and felt the fabric and we've sat on all the cushions and we've like how do you quantify the value of that to make sure that your Sofa's right. It's, it's a lot.
Casey:It's a lot. And that's why going from hourly for me worked better going to fee.
Rainey:Yeah.
Casey:But I know some very, very high end designers here still. You do hourly. And it's perfect. Perfect.
Rainey:There's not right or wrong.
Casey:Not at all. It fits your business, it really fits you.
But if it's, if you're somebody listening and you're like, I just don't feel comfortable when every time I do my billing for these reasons because I don't like being asked. And yeah, fee based might be.
Rainey:And let me just tell you, sometimes we lose. Sometimes we're way behind on with our fee. And it's not about the win or lose, it's about your value and what you bring to the table.
And also industry standard in the luxury market, we don't just make up stuff. Right, right.
Casey:And so when you say, you know, sometimes we get on the back end of that and it doesn't work out, is it typically because you're in a situation where a client is asking for more than what was specified or is it because you're just kind of in it, you love the client, you're putting in more than Sometimes.
Rainey:Yeah, sometimes.
You know, in our fee, we might think that it's gonna take us in this home, it's gonna take us a week to do the tile, all the way from the selections to the drawings to the specification. And it really takes two because it's a very niche design aesthetic.
And we're learning new vendors and we're spending more time in meetings learning products. You just never know. There's a million different reasons why that can happen.
Casey:I get that. But yeah, but. So sometimes it doesn't, but yeah.
Now, what about the question when we get asked, can I purchase my own either lighting or my own furnishings? How do you. I'm sure you get that question. Do you have a good response for that for our listeners? Because I know all of us get that question.
Rainey:Right.
And so our resources in our industry that are pro designer really have very protected pricing and very protected rules and regulations around purchasing their products. And again, we've spent years developing these relationships. Stay on top of their trends.
We meet with the reps, we touch and feel the finishes, we order in the finishes to make sure they work in the space. Same thing with furniture. Huge amount of education and time spent on a yearly basis for us to stay on top of those things.
So the short answer is, most of our resources will not allow the clients to purchase Directly.
Casey:Right.
Rainey:It is only to the two industry partners. But in our contract, it does say anything that we specify must be purchased through our studio. And so that is something.
Again, in that initial meeting, when we talk about this is how we work, I am very open and I say, as you're well aware, we do get trade discounts, and no, we do not pass those on to you. And here's why. It's part of the way that we make our money. And one thing I can tell you is you will not pay more than retail for your products.
So I am not going to hide the vendor, I'm not going to hide the finish. I'm not going to hide anything about it.
You can know anything you want about your product and you'll pay retail, which is the same price that you would pay if you were buying it yourself. But there is a space between what I pay and what you pay. But it's part of how we make our money.
And there's also a commitment that I am not going to specify the most expensive product that I can find for you.
Casey:Right.
Rainey:I am going to be. I'm gonna honor your budget and make sure that the investments are made in places that matter.
Casey:Right.
Rainey:So how do you deal with that?
Casey:I fight back the urge to no. It's taken a while, but no is a complete answer.
Rainey:I love that.
Casey:Which is a complete sentence. No, it's a complete sentence. I love that. I forget. I think it was Michelle. Anyways. It made it that one very easy for me. But it's a no because.
And I used to say yes, but I won't have. It's all on your doc. You know, you're handling all the logistics, you're handling any headaches, and now it's just no because.
Because of all the things you spoke of. But so often it gets a little too.
You know, we spoke about rogue clients before, but it's just, you know, they might get it from somebody that then our electrician won't guarantee it because if it's a light, unless it's something special that they brought, like, you know. And of course, everything has a caveat. So I say no.
But then the clients I did in Dallas or Fort Worth, they brought some lighting from India back, and it's absolutely fantastic. Now, I had it down here at Lighting Treasures to have it kind of bathed to our standard, but it still the light. So those kinds of moments for sure.
But just going in because they saw it on Peargold or something is a no, because, you know, you don't have to know what the stain's going to look like. You don't know the timing. You don't know if it just, it takes away from the.
Rainey:If it's ul protected and all of that.
Casey:Just all of it. Because again, some of those vendors do. It is from the actual vendor, but a lot of it is not.
We've talked about it's subpar to the standard and I don't feel like then we're giving them that full experience.
Rainey:Agreed.
Casey:As well. So I. It's. It's just easier not. And I same thing. It's like, like try and get it to, you know, right. At msrp you're not going to be spending more.
But you're. I'm not giving my discount. It's not even a discount. It's just our trade pricing.
Rainey:That's right. We're professional and it's what we buy them at. It is known. People do call it the trade discount and sometimes even in our industry it's called that.
But it's really not that. It is. We're professionals and just like any business target is buying their things at their trade.
Casey:At their pricing.
Rainey:Pricing.
Casey:So it's not a. So I think we need to reword it too because it's.
Rainey:We need to reframe it.
Casey:We are reframing it. It is not a discount. We are getting it for the vendor's price because they're still the vendor's making money.
So then who they're buying it for is their pricing. Not a discount either. Exactly.
That would honestly be like us going to Leigh Furnishings and asking them to get the price that they paid for that couch. Not the price worth buying it for. It's absurd. So we just need people to hear that.
Hopefully clients hear it, but mostly designers to know and I what you said about, you know, this is also another part of how we make our money. And I know a lot of clients have had pushback on that. I've heard myself and from other designers that, well, what about what's your fee?
And I love because I think it was also terri. But our fee is for our design genius. Like what? It's our design. It's our genius.
You're not getting the design without whatever crazy shit's happening up in here. So that's the fee, but purchasing and all of the selections, that's a very different thing.
And that comes into the bulk of what that design, what that comes from not the discount, but the a hundred percent.
Rainey:So this thing just came into my brain. It's like if you're an orthodontist.
There is a fee for you knowing how to look at that mouth and know what needs to be shifted and where brackets need to be placed and all of that. Then there's the fee for the actual brackets, bands, and staffing that goes behind that. There is a lot involved.
And so I think a lot of times our industry, for various reasons, has been sort of devalued in a way where we can pick this apart and know what you're paid, how you're paid, how you make your money, and all of those sorts of things. And we don't do that to people in other professions. And so I think that that's part of all of this.
Casey:It is so interesting because we, you know, we have all so many different industry friends, and I think it's so huge, and they're in different states, cities, whatever, even within our own city, and how people do it so differently. But some friends who were talking recently, and everybody's in different cities. So four different cities were on this call.
And the price per square foot for furnishings was shocking from one city to the next.
Rainey:And.
Casey:But each of these other designers do their pricing that way, which I don't.
Rainey:What was the highest?
Casey:$350 based the per square foot on how they were gonna furnish that room. Now, that's not their fee, but what their furnishing investment was gonna be.
Rainey:Got it. So if you have a 12 by 12 bedroom, it's 144 square feet. You're saying you take 144, multiply it times 350, and that's what you can expect.
Expect to spend in that room for your furniture. Okay.
Casey:So my math brain used to be much quicker. I'd like to be able to have that on the floor.
Rainey:That's like 35, $40,000.
Casey:Okay. Okay. Yeah, a $50,000. Okay.
Rainey:So that's a $50,000 investment.
Casey:Yeah. For that room. So then if you're $200 or whatever, however, and then break it back down.
So when people come and they think they're going to get their whole house for 50 grand, which happens every day in these multimillion dollar homes, it ain't happening, or it's not happening in this house.
Rainey:One of my husband's favorite things to say is when we're talking about primary bedrooms and we talk about you're looking at 50 on the lowest end, 100, something like that, and the husbands just freak out, but then they go get in their trucks that cost 120, $140,000 and it goes back to what you value. And the thing is that is not, not ours to determine what a client values. You can value anything you want. And there's absolutely no judgment.
It's just when you're talking about being in the interior design space and especially the luxury interior design space there, it's not shocking what we're talking about.
Casey:It's not to people who want that people to people when they hear it the first time though. Right. And I do wonder when that shifts for people. I guess it's second, third, fourth home that they've built.
They kind of get a little bit more comfortable with hearing those numbers. But that's a perfect analogy of the car.
And of course that's like buying seven different cars to fill or eight cars probably by the time you've got all your primaries and secondaries in that house. But your home's appreciating your car is not. So. So that's just something different.
Rainey:And you usually keep a car for four to five years. Right. Max. And your home, you're looking at this investment lasting you 15 to 20 years and appreciating. So it's just a shift.
Casey:Total shift. It's when I used to do hair and people would gag at the thought of spending 75 for a haircut. And I'm like, but that blouse, I.
Rainey:Wish I was paying $75 so long ago, 30 years ago. Now we're double.
Casey:But the blouse that you're wearing is 150. And you only wear it once a month.
Rainey:Yeah.
Casey:Your hair, really. So anyways, I get that. But yeah, but it's what you value.
Rainey:It's what you value. And if you don't value it, then hiring an interior designer might not be for you. And that's okay too.
Casey:It is. Or just. Yeah. Or a different type of designer. There's no different type of designer for everything. And I think that is the hugest part.
So when you get these calls and you have these, you know, we kind of have that weeding out process of just even the intake form and then the phone consultation or in person or however that works. But. And you get the question of something that might trigger you whether it's, you know, will you can I buy my own stuff?
Or can I, you know, will you reduce your fee or whatever? The thing is, I'm not going to do that, but I will gladly find a designer in a group. Cause there's somebody who will. And we always put it out there.
Rainey:Really good about referring.
Casey:Everybody's really good about that. And Some designers, and I'm one of them, you refer to client because you couldn't. And I needed it at the time, and it was a huge gift.
It literally transitioned my. I almost was done. To shifting into a year. That was remarkable, because, you know, I was like, okay, maybe this is it.
Because we do have those moments in our industry, and I don't care what designer you are. Everybody shares the same thing. We have so many peaks and valleys, and sometimes those valleys are scary.
So somebody will take that project, but we have to warn.
Rainey:Yeah. And sometimes it's like the budget here is really tight, and they ask some of these questions. And just so you sort of know.
So in the remodel space, I'm interested to know, have you ever had this question, something that goes like this?
So I understand that you're gonna run in GC, the remodel, but my cousin's husband is an electrician, and I want them to do the electrical on the project. Okay. Does that work for you?
Casey:Oh, my gosh. That's crazy. My last client, her nanny's cousin, was a painter, so that's funny.
Like, I wonder if they're all in the same family is what I wanted today, because that's all comes out up often in these. Right. But my question. No, I. Not if I haven't vetted them, especially electrician.
I do not feel comfortable whatsoever with that, but I will backtrack and. Oh, have you met them? Are they a professional?
Are they licensed and go kind of go through that process of elimination hoping that they'll get to how absurd it.
Rainey:Sounds on their own.
Casey:On their own. Because that is something, though.
I don't feel comfortable with other people's trades on my projects because, you know, where you can push and where not to with the people who work for you. And you trust that we have very little firepower in that one.
Rainey:I totally agree.
Casey:What do you feel?
Rainey:I honestly think, Casey, that it goes back to them not knowing what they don't know.
And when you're working on a remodel and you have the MEPs, the mechanical, electrical, plumbing, that has to happen while the walls are open before they can be closed, and the layers that go into that and the way that the trades have to work around each other and respect each other and actually show up, or the whole project can be delayed, and that costs everybody on the project money, including the homeowner. If you have hired that person in the. The cousin's friend and they have pulled a permit, that permit is actually held hostage on that project.
Until they release it.
Casey:That's a great point.
Rainey:And so if that person leaves, if that person doesn't have the chops but can't say it, all of those things, if any of those things become true, then the entire project is delayed and we have a problem.
Casey:Oh my gosh, that's such a.
Rainey:And so the answer is absolutely unequivocally no. And I don't care if it's a painter, a flooring person, I don't care who it is. They are absolutely not gonna be part of the project.
Casey:I'm glad you brought it.
The other trades as well as just, I mean, my gosh, the inspections alone, but the other trades, because how those guys are together more than they're with their families.
Rainey:They know each other.
Casey:They know each other and they have to climb on each. And even if you bring in a new person, you've already vetted and worked with this person, so you trust them and so then they innately do.
And I put a project recently that.
And I don't know if you've had this happen, but it happens unfortunately in all industries and it's happened with full on contractors and then just trades. But people will get to a point, I'm sure it happens to us even in our own.
We get a little wobbly at a moment and somebody maybe goes off the reservation and it's not great. And it really affects the entire process.
And so this did happen and some of the trades had to come and say, look, we've worked with them on, we've been together four or five other projects and this one is unlike any other. And this is what's happening.
And it took them though, knowing him well enough to know they tried to talk him through it before bringing it to my attention because they do work so well together. And when he kind of disrespected them, then they brought it. But had that just been somebody's uncle?
You know, there's a real energy that goes into these homes. And I think not to sound so woo woo, but I am a woo woo. What we bring into these places is huge. And what dynamic these guys have together.
And if they're playful and they're listening to music, and almost 90% of the time they are. And so when there's one egg that's not bringing the crew together, it does feel, you feel it.
And then your homeowners come and see it or walk through it.
Rainey:Agreed.
Casey:Yeah. So the answer is to know it's just gotta be no.
And even if you bring somebody new in, I Think it's our responsibility to make sure they integrate well with other people, because it is. It's a family in there for a while.
Rainey:It's huge. It just impacts everything.
Casey:Now, how about. Do you get a lot of people bringing their Pinterest interests to you?
Rainey:So I love Pinterest for one reason, and that's inspo. And it opens. We don't just get Pinterest photos and then operate off of those. We will then sit down and interview the client.
What about this group of photos was meaningful to you? And I think I mentioned this in a past podcast. One time we got this Pinterest board and that over, and every photo was blue.
And so we designed with blue as this major color in the house. And they sat down at the meeting and they were like, so we hate blue. And I was like, oh, dear God.
Casey:Which, by the way, that would have been my red flag. If you hate blue, I'm sorry, we cannot be friends.
Rainey:No. Which was totally. I mean, they were just more organic. And we got to this place and it was just. It ended up being beautiful. But I was like, okay.
So we added that step to our process. We don't want to just see your inspo image.
We want to then have a meeting to talk through what it is that you see, think, and feel based on the images that you gave to us. So. But if somebody brings an image and I wonder if this has happened to you and said, I want you to make my room look like that.
Well, you can do that yourself. I mean, serious. And I'm not trying to be ugly. It's like, please. And this is my famous line. It's like bringing an Uzi to a paint gun fight.
I'm an Uzi, and you want a paint gun fight? Please don't pay me to do that. I mean, honestly, you can do this yourself.
Casey:What they're seeing, they're not. They're regurgitating. They're not creating.
Rainey:I love that.
Casey:And so I don't want to be a regurgitator. We've had to do some regurgitating, but is that a gross word? I can't decide. It rolled off my tongue first, and then I said it again, and I'm.
Rainey:Like, I think it paints the picture, but we create. Yeah.
Casey:So if there's something about it, give me the vibe and all of that. That. But if you want this whole thing. Exactly. And we did the AI thing, and we need to do another backup, because I think we could have.
We could go very far down the AI route, because I do think it is. And after our trip to Spain, which we have not even. Why has that not even happened?
Rainey:I talked about that.
Casey:Spain and Amsterdam. Oh, my God. But what AI did on that, the unbelievable. Not just, oh, God.
Rainey:I mean, anyways, yes, it was mind blowing.
Casey:Mind blowing. So. But anyways, that. But you could run that through an AI and I bet it would design your room and tell you where to go.
So, yeah, do that, do that, do that. And you'll be so happy.
Rainey:Yep. You don't need a designer for that. For sure.
Casey:For sure.
Rainey:It's kind of like, you know, if you just need a light. Back to the same analogy of teeth. I don't know why I'm on teeth today, but if you need a light teeth whitening, go get Crest White Strips. Right.
I mean, you can do this yourself. It's kind of at that same level. You got this.
Casey:Now I'm checking my teeth because maybe you're staring at sandwich or something up in my mouth. I'm like, oh, my God, not at all. But that is just crazy. Okay.
Rainey:Yeah.
So another thing that I've heard, and I wonder how you handle this, is on a discovery call or an initial consultation, it'll be, you go through the whole thing. They want to gut their house, they have the budget, everything sounds good. And then I ask, ask, what is your time frame?
And they go, oh, well, it's February now, and my son's graduation party is going to be at our house on May 12, and I want to have this done. And you just are like, you mean in my. It's like, you mean next year. Right. You're talking about May 12th, next 14 months from now. Right.
And so how do you handle that sort of the unrealistic time expectations?
Casey:Well, I used to be such a time optimist. And I'm stealing that phrase. I think it was from Beth.
Rainey:Right.
Casey:Was Beth. Anyways. And it's perfect because I would say yes as a people pleaser, but now, gosh, no. There are no guidelines. So why don't we start it after?
But I do find. Yeah. The answer. We cannot. So is there. Can we start after? How important is this party? Or what room could we do?
Is there possibly a backyard situation that we could be using instead? Because we don't work on timeframes like that. It's just too much up in the air for construction.
Rainey:We can't even get a permit.
Casey:We can't get a permit for that. We can't get a crew. We can't even get budget before that. So that would just be shooting ourselves in the foot.
And I don't wanna set anybody up for that. So what can we do in the interim? Or can we rent out a pretty space that your son's graduation could be at? Because this is not gonna be the place.
Rainey:I love that.
Casey:Because how many times have we tried to. And then you just. People are unhappy. Timeframes are tricky.
Rainey:They are.
Casey:I do like something. I like to overshoot though. What is it? Under promise, over deliver.
Rainey:Yes, I just said that yesterday.
Casey:Really. Where I try. Aiming to try. So.
Rainey:Yeah, I love that.
I think also another thing that I like to say as a follow up to that is if you're talking to somebody who says they can meet that deadline, please don't hire them because. Or make plans. Make a plan B. Because I can guarantee you after doing this for 25 years that it's actually physically impossible.
And so please be leery of anyone who's telling you that.
Casey:And if they can, then there's some. Some janky stuff up in there.
Rainey:Something isn't.
Casey:Something's not right.
Rainey:Yeah, something's not right. And then to follow up with that, I think along the same lines. I know I've had clients ask this.
I know you're gutting my house, but we really want to stay here during the remodeling process. How do you handle that?
Casey:It's kind of the same. I just. It's not. I don't think it's a possible situation for you. I don't think it's a healthy situation. It's.
Especially if you've got kids and animals. It really isn't having them in that environment. But mentally, I. Yeah, this is not a good place.
And I understand if this is a financial situation, which is most of the time, almost all of the time it is to save money. Cause it's expensive to rent something in the midst of doing this expensive undertaking of a remodel. Absolutely.
So look at where you could possibly either save more money, put this off another six months to save. So if that really is a crunch and you wanna pay cash. And I understand that like a lot of our clients, they wanna pay cash for this stuff.
Rainey:They do.
Casey:And they don't wanna be pulling out of their investments. So I understand that. And you know, so. But it really isn't a good thing to do for them and anybody living in this space.
And I don't know how you feel about this. I feel the same way about going to the home multiple times a week. Please don't. Because it Will do your head in.
And we just did a walkthrough and I'm so glad the builder called it out as we were doing it because it's very close to the end. We've only got, you know, six weeks left before we're supposed to be.
Rainey:It's so close to magic.
Casey:So paint's been done, but not. But stuff needs to. Some paintings, you know, rooms didn't get the colors they were supposed to. No big deal.
It's only paint and then the, you know, all these things. Right. So but they're only seeing the nicks and the scratches and the run ins on the paint.
And so I loved It's Morgan Moore and he's such a great builder and I love how he handles all of his meetings. But he just said, oh, and by the way, the paint, the last thing. So like walk through. If you see other stuff, of course, let us know.
But if it's paint, we're not talking about paint.
It's not a need at this point because that they've done this and then they're gonna come in and I know it seems, you know, mundane or whatever, you know, redundant. Redundant, that's the word. Yep, it's redundant. But this is how this painter likes to do it. It's all gonna be fixed.
And I could just see the deification in the face of like softening. And not that the client was mad, but they were. It's their beautiful couple million dollar house. Like what's happening here?
And so just again educating people on it. But also maybe at this stage, stop. Maybe we need to not come as much because the wows aren't happening like they were.
So you fixate on those moments and so that's what's gonna happen if you live there.
Rainey:I love how you talked about the wows. That reminds me. So anytime countertops are going in, I will tell clients, next stage, next step is countertops.
Do not call me when you see the countertops. There are going to be seams. You're going to see the laminate edges. We have expert fabricators. There's no one better.
They actually do exist because they're actually seams and there's actually laminate edges. And this is just part of it. Especially when you have natural stone. I mean, it just.
They're there and that is going to be the thing you're fixating because that's the latest wow and you're excited about it. And there are imperfections because it's human. I mean, it's just part of the product. It's inherent in the product and the fabrication.
So don't call me about seams. You are not allowed to call me about seams. You can call me about seams after you have lived in your home for six weeks. Oh, at the time.
If there is a seam that bothers you after six weeks of living in your home, after you move in, call me. Guess how many phone calls I've had about seams.
Casey:0.
Rainey:0.
Casey:I love the time frame because I think and because it's the new wow. That's all they see. And there's not a typically, there's not a sink there. There's not a faucet. If it's a kitchen, we're not done.
There's nothing happening that is anything else interesting except for that and that imperfection. And so back in the day, when I used to design by the piece.
So, like, you know, you're doing a room, and I would come in and be like, I found this cupcake today. And then put it on their old janky table. And then, like, music in the background.
Because in my head, I see the table and I see the rest of the room, but I wanted them so bad to see the one piece that I found that I love. And as all they're fixating onto, does it go in this? And so you can't.
It's almost like you don't even want them to see the wows, because even the wows start to become deflating because they're not quite the wow. Because the grout, the wow is not in yet. Where the tile goes in and the tile is so gorgeous, but the grout really makes that pop.
Or the lighting's in, but the bulbs aren't in or whatever that thing.
Rainey:Agreed.
Casey:So I wish I just could go on a sabbatical in New York for the whole time. Rena Pierre de Terre de I know the word. Oh, my gosh, I love this word. Little place in Paris. Pieta, terre, pied a terre. There we go.
Fourteen tries later, my French is coming back. Get a little place somewhere else. Have some time, take a moment, Trust.
Rainey:Us to do our job, and we.
Casey:Promise it's gonna be great.
Rainey:Trust us.
Casey:Yeah.
Rainey:Yep.
Casey:But people, obviously, there's always caveats, and people will stay in their home. And that's just another thing we have to put up with. And they do.
Rainey:So for us, certain remodel. Especially when we're taking out a kitchen, we're taking out all the bathrooms. You can't stay there. I mean, we just.
The job is the project's not for us because I.
Casey:That's the ding, ding, ding.
Rainey:Yeah. We will say to them, you will hate us so much that there will be no way that you'll be happy about this project.
And there are just some certain conveniences about life. When there's. Bathroom. Yeah, we can leave one bathroom. But there's six people in this house.
Casey:Like, just.
Rainey:No, we're just not. And if that doesn't work, that's okay. We have made a couple of exceptions and worked around it.
One was when one of our clients had a special needs son and moving him out of the house at his age and with the things that he deals with in life, it would have been earth shattering for that family. So we made a plan that worked. They lived upstairs and we.
We set up sort of a temporary kitchen up there for them and it turned out wonderfully well for them. Another one was. It was a single man and he was like, look, I'm gone half the time for work. I get it.
But one of the things that I'm sure to tell people, whether they live in their homes or not during a remodel is however bad you think this is gonna be, it's going to be 100 times worse. And so I can't prepare you for how horrible this is gonna be for you.
Casey:The frustration and everything that you're gonna feel and walking in. And some days you're gonna show up and there's not gonna be a person on that job site.
And if you are living there and you know that three days out of seven that nobody showed up, you're going to go bonkers through yourself. I know that feeling.
Rainey:Yeah.
Casey:It is beyond frustrating to show up because for us, well, now when you do remodels, it's with your. Your crew. So you know when people aren't showing or whatever.
But if previously and you think you're gonna show up and there's gonna be somebody there and you can't. It does my head in.
Rainey:Crickets. Yeah.
Casey:But. But to the point of your client that had somebody, you know, their son and I had a similar.
And that's another moment where you're like, okay, so this is gonna take a special builder or contractor as well, because there's on a drop of a hat, everybody out means everybody out having a bad day. Nobody in a bad, you know, kiddo's.
Rainey:Having a bad day.
Casey:Kiddo is having a bad day. And it's not today and come back tomorrow.
And that is huge to have somebody that you can trust, an entire crew on In a home like that, I think it's really special because they're trusting us with their most special person.
Rainey:Right, exactly.
Casey:So, yeah, I do. There's so many moments. But you're to the stage now in your career and hopefully I am as well.
We can say yes or no to those clients, depending on what. Cause there might be a feeling or a vibe that you get and you're like, I just wanna work with them. And I'll kind of maybe cave on a couple of these.
Because I can just genuinely tell by their energy.
Rainey:That's the beauty of owning your own business.
Casey:Owning your own business. And so it takes some years to kind of. You might like the person.
But, you know, some of those questions, you're just like, I like you, but we are gonna be friends. We are not gonna go out.
Rainey:Right, right, exactly. We're not gonna date. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We're gonna stay friends.
Casey:But you don't know that until later. And sometimes we just have to take clients. And so that's okay. Take em.
But know when you get that gut feeling, when you get asked that question that makes you like, God dang it, I hate answering this question. Know that that's your inner self saying, like, this is not our person and trust it. Cause a better one's coming, I think.
Rainey:Exactly. So I think to end all of this crappy question stuff or uncomfortable questions stuff on a positive note, because we've talked a lot about remodeling.
What is a favorite space that you ever remodeled?
Casey:I was referred to her from a builder or a contractor and that was great. And then she ended up actually using a different contractor once we met. And she kind of got pricing from a couple.
Cause she had asked like builders refer multiple of us and we do the same. And so it ended up being a different fit.
But she had raised her four beautiful kids in this home and all of these things and was on to have grandbabies. But she never entertained in this house because she didn't feel proud of it. Her kids didn't feel proud of it. They were very social family.
And they never had stuff at the house because they just didn't love it. And it didn't speak to who they were. And so that kind of being embarrassed of your space is really hard to wear.
And we talk about this a lot and how it feels waking up or going to bed or anything we do in our homes. It is who we are. And so if you don't like what you're looking at, you don't feel like you like Yourself. Right. It's kind of a direct reflection.
And so doing that one was huge. And because their daughter had. Who's a brilliant young woman who now lives in New York City.
But she had had a major brain trauma a few a year or two before we did the remodel, which brought her to have to live back in the house. And that was really difficult on her because she is a brilliant young woman. She was off with great success.
And this had kind of brought her back and had to twirl pivot a little bit for them. So they just really wanted to make it nice for everybody. And so the whole space but the kitchen, because.
So we put the Sonos speakers in and we had the bar. We had the coffee bar totally separate. And another in the breakfast nook area. So everybody.
Cause it is a big, bustling family, Huge, beautiful island. She went for it on the tile, artistic tile on the backsplash, which is gorgeous. And it just. It was one of my favorites.
And she sits and she paints in that kitchen daily. So she's got her playlist. And so she just listens to music and paints all day. And it's just so anyway that I think. And now they have.
And because she lives in our neighborhood, I get to drive, they party, and then that woman entertains. They've got stuff constantly there now. And so their kids have people back. It's cool. So that one just meant a lot.
Rainey:Major lifestyle change.
Casey:Yes. And you just. They all kind of flourished in that independence of their spaces. You know, everything was touched, so it was just cool.
But yeah, that was probably mine. Just cause of what it did for her and her family.
Rainey:I love that. For me, a family in Tanglewood comes to mind. And when I first met this husband and wife, they were so sweet.
And they wanted to work on three spaces in their home. Their primary bedroom, primary bathroom, and powder bath. And so they came in a couple of times. And I noticed that the husband used a cane. Right.
Probably our age, early to mid-50s, and really super hyper focused on the primary bedroom and bathroom. And it really took sort of a feminine edge. The inspo photos are really feminine, really soft, kind of sexy.
And maybe our third or fourth meeting, they disclosed that the husband had a terminal illness and only had a few months to live. And he wanted for his wife to have her dream space when he was gone, but he wanted to be part of watching her enjoy the design of it.
And so it was very intentional, it was very kind, it was very loving. And we did not get the room finished before he Passed away. And so about a month I went to his funeral. It was packed.
Just a really amazing doctor in Houston. And I got to of course know about him, but she got that space about a month after he passed away and she asked for me to be there.
We're typically not there for reveals. It's just kind of our thing. But I was there with her and I will never forget the tears that she cried.
She was so grateful to him and the gift that he left behind. And she said to me, Ray would have been so proud of this.
Casey:Oh my gosh.
Rainey:And he would be so happy at what I have. Of course, my belief is that some way he was there, but it was a gift that was unimaginable that he left to his wife.
And so we completely gutted the bathroom and we did it kind of quickly and made it a top priority because of the time. But we didn't make it. And they knew that that was probably the case. So that's my favorite. Oh my gosh. And it's just a beautiful space.
Casey:It's such a selfless act because those last few months are typically so important for quiet and for healing. All of that goes into that. So for him to know that there was going to be some.
A little bit of chaos because you can't do a space like that without people in and out and all of that activity and him knowing that and still wanting her to.
Rainey:Of course, the last month, I believe it was the last three weeks he was in hospice at the house and had three daughters. So of course that was parallel to our lives. They were late junior high in high school and just a precious family who I just heard from her recently.
She's moving out of that house into a ranch style house and I'm going to get to work with her again. But just the preciousness of that and being part of that very sacred time in that family was really, really special. So that's.
I don't know that a space could ever be more important than that.
Casey:I don't think. Yeah, there's not. And it just speaks to you because they trusted you with something so intimate. I mean there's nothing more intimate than that.
And what it gift. But it just. Space is important. Our homes are so important. And letting your person have theirs too. I think.
Who knows, earlier on in their marriage, he probably was that giving before. Maybe would've wanted her to have her perfect, beautiful bedroom, but they were too busy that. Or maybe he wouldn't have.
Maybe he would've been like, do you really need to spend that much on those linens. Or do you, you know, like Matt and I have this sneak right now, we're calling it this next stage.
It's wheels up or let's fucking go, which both are the same thing. But just like, let's just go. We can and let's do it. But it hasn't always been that way. Way not in our house.
You know, you can't always wheels up it and. Or you can, but you don't. But you don't. And so letting your person have that space, whatever it is, it might not be your value, but if they value it.
So give that gift when people, you know, as you can, when you can and when you're living, you know.
Rainey:Right.
Casey:But it teaches you a life lesson, man. Make your beautiful, man. Sorry I cried on that one. I didn't even heard the story and I still. That touched me. It's beautiful.
Rainey:I think about them often. So I think this has been a really good podcast and meaningful.
I think that it's important to allow people to ask these questions, but also to educate people about how we hear them and then also to help the baby designers and maybe even the experienced designers that are uncomfortable with, with these questions people are going to ask them.
Casey:They are.
Rainey:And I think it's the way they respond to the way you answer them that is the most meaningful.
Casey:And I'm glad you brought that up because the client isn't doing anything wrong by asking it.
Rainey:Agreed.
Casey:They don't know and they've heard that somebody else's designer gave them their discount or however that works. And so the question isn't as offensive. It doesn't come from a mean or mean spirited spot.
But what it does to us, it triggers something in some, not all, but. So if it does, just know that you're not alone and there's an answer and then just move on.
Rainey:Right. We have an answer.
Casey:No. And yeah. And then just keep on rolling.
Rainey:That's exactly right.
Casey:Yeah.
Rainey:So thank you so much for joining us today.
If you have any questions for us, you can reach out at reframingdesign.com follow us on Instagram@reframingdesign.com and you can follow me at rainierichardsoninteriors.
Casey:And I am cassandrainteriors. And if you wanna follow us on, yeah, Spotify, please go to YouTube though, so you can see the artwork. It's just so pretty and just. Yeah.
If you wanna just pop, pop over to YouTube every once in a while.
Rainey:Yes.
Casey:See our stuff like us and Share us and like us and share us and thank you to Vacation Rentals Design because you guys are such a great sponsor. And I keep like, it keeps being on the tip of my tongue of them as such a great resource because I use them all the time as a buy. It's beyond.
Like, we just did our entire project and all of their. It was. Yeah.
Rainey:So with all their resources, it's not.
Casey:Just for vacation rentals. And that's, I think that a little bit of a confusion. You know, you just. It's for all designers, so.
Rainey:Exactly. For designers, not homeowners, unfortunately.
Casey:Yes. We got the big banging discount. That's it.
Rainey:That's it. Okay. I love you so much. This is so much fun. And until next time, see you.
Outro:That's a wrap for this episode of Reframing 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 at. Hello, Reframing. We want to help you make it happen. Don't forget to subscribe, Share and leave a review.
This show is edited and produced by Truth Work Media. Until next time, remember, your space is your story. Make it beautiful.
