Ep. 15: What’s It Really Like to Open an Interior Design Showroom? With Maison Mischief Co-Founder Katie Gutierrez

What does it really take to open an interior design showroom?

You may be picturing beautiful windows, fabulous objects, and customers wandering in to admire your impeccable taste.

Now add the commercial lease, insurance, accessibility, security cameras, wholesale minimums, damaged shipments, tariffs, returns, music licensing, broken merchandise—and the occasional day when not one person walks through the door.

In this episode of Stuff Interior Designers Need To Know, Rebecca sits down with Katie Gutierrez, co-founder of Errez Design and the recently opened Maison Mischief in Coral Gables, Florida, for a remarkably transparent look at the money, logistics, uncertainty, and joy involved in opening an interior design and home-goods showroom.

Katie took Maison Mischief from “maybe it’s finally time” to open doors in only six months—but that speed was supported by 17 years of business experience, a season of strong projects, a willingness to reinvest in growth, and what Katie freely admits is a particularly high tolerance for risk. 

Rebecca asks:

1.  When did Katie first dream of opening a showroom—and why did it take nearly 17 years to make it happen? 
2.  How did she go from spotting an available storefront to holding the keys only a few weeks later? 
3.  What surprised her most about negotiating and signing a commercial lease? 
4.  What unexpected requirements came with opening a public-facing space, including signage, music licensing, insurance, accessibility, security, and breakage? 
5.  How does she choose vendors while balancing profit margins, wholesale minimums, available storage, and completely unpredictable customer demand? 
6.  How are freight, tariffs, e-commerce, damaged shipments, and return policies affecting the business? 
7.  How does Maison Mischief support—and complicate—Katie and Ruben’s established interior design firm? 
8.  What has been the scariest part of opening a showroom? What has been the hardest? And what has brought the most joy? 
9.  How did Katie develop Errez Design’s signature approach, Biographical Design? 
10.  What would she say to interior designers who know they are watering down their point of view in an attempt to be more marketable? 

Katie shares the kind of realities nobody pictures while daydreaming about opening a shop: discovering that a commercial tenant may be responsible for nearly everything “from the ground to the clouds,” realizing that one $150 online sale could require placing a $1,000 wholesale reorder, and experiencing days when nobody enters the store followed by a day when one designer buys $7,000 in accessories. 

But this conversation is not simply a warning about leases, inventory, and broken candle lids.

Katie also explains how Maison Mischief has given her greater creative freedom, created opportunities for press and community engagement, and allowed her to put Errez Design’s distinctive maximalist point of view fully into the world. 

The result is an honest, funny, passionate conversation about the difference between having a beautiful dream and building a business capable of supporting it—and why the qualities that make your work different may be the very qualities that make people care.

If you have ever dreamed of opening a showroom, wondered whether you have the courage to make a bigger move in your business, or secretly suspected that you are sanding off the most interesting parts of your brand, this episode is for you.

Enjoy!

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About Katie

Katie Gutierrez is the co-founder of Errez Design and Maison Mischief and the creator of Biographical Design™, an approach that uses clients’ histories, experiences, and identities to create deeply personal interiors.

Katie and her husband and business partner, Ruben Gutierrez, founded Errez Design in Miami in 2009. Their residential and commercial work is known for its bold use of color, meaningful storytelling, and belief that every client’s home should reflect the life of the person living there—not simply the prevailing design trends. Their work has been featured in publications including Architectural Digest, Veranda, and House Beautiful. 

With Maison Mischief, Katie and Ruben have translated that philosophy into a retail experience filled with furniture, lighting, art, and expressive objects chosen for their character, craftsmanship, and ability to make everyday life more memorable. 

Connect with Katie, Maison Mischief, and Errez Design

Maison Mischief: https://maisonmischief.com
Maison Mischief on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/maisonmischief/
Errez Design: https://www.errezdesign.com
Errez Design on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/errezdesign/

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https://seriouslyhappy.com

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And here's where to find Rebecca's book on Interior Design Psychology:
Happy Starts at Home
https://www.amazon.com/

Transcript

0:00

If you've ever dreamed of opening your own showroom, this is for you. Welcome to Stuff Interior Designers Need to Know, a podcast all about building a residential interior design business that makes you, your clients, and your bank account beseriouslyhappy. I'm Rebecca West, an interior design business coach, and I'm so glad you're here. Today, we're talking about what it really takes to open an interior design and home goods showroom: the money, the logistics, the hidden costs, and the emotional side of putting your taste out into the world and hoping people will buy it. With us today is Katie Gutierrez, who, after having run her interior design firm in Coral Gables, Florida since 2009, in big news just last year opened Maison Mischief, a maximalist home design showroom filled with colorful objects, curiosities, and pieces that encourage people to color outside the beige. She's not just gonna tell us exactly what it took to open the doors to Maison Mischief. She is also gonna talk about what it's like having a style that doesn't match the local stereotype and how she found the courage to embrace her unique point of view. Let's dive in..

Rebecca 1:14

Hi, Katie. Thanks for being here.

Katie 1:16

so excited to be with someone I love well,

Rebecca 1:18

Well, that's a nice thing to say at the top. You know I have a bunch of logistical questions, but first I wanna start with when did you realize you wanted to open a shop, and why in the world did you want to?

Katie 1:33

It's a good question, cause I have so many people who have said, "Why in the world would you want to do that?" From the very first couple of years that I started design firm in 2009, I found that I loved I loved that they were about the things I was passionate about, namely their home. I desire to be able to reach more people than just my private clients, really wanted the world. Not to sound overly, um... really wanted to touch the world. And so very early on I had a desire to open a store, but always felt like it was an overwhelming, insurmountable, unclimbable mountain. we had a very good friend of ours who was an architect. For christmas one year she drew an architectural drawing of a showroom storefront with our name on top of the storefront, and she drew it next to Hermès and next to jonathan Adler. And That drawing was framed in our office for years and years and years, always tapping me on the shoulder, not letting me forget that I was about that Um, but it did take almost... Well, we're year 17 right now when we finally launched the store, so it did take a little bit of climbing to get there.

Rebecca 2:55

Which takes us directly into all of those logistical questions. So for, uh, we- I'm assuming all of those logistical questions. How long ago did you truly start the process?

Katie 3:01

Yeah, I would say that one thing to know about creation is that I have a personality type that is very dive in fast, dive in deep, and go at 100 miles an hour. So I think that while hearing my, pace and timeline of things is very valuable to people, I also recognize that not everybody has the type. Um, not everybody has the risk tolerance. Not everybody has the gumption, if you will. So that all being said, we had a season in our business where we were getting a lot of really great with, we're, we're talking real talk here, with really g- great budgets and really healthy We were in a season of influx we're dedicated to in our office is consistently business developing, consistent growth, um, the word for this? investing back in Um, and so with this influx of income, you know, one option is to go on vacation and buy a new luxury handbag. Um, to do is felt like is the time. It's time for us to up-level our firm, it's time for us to up-level our office, open the store. We felt like the funds in to support that. So, um, from the moment that we said, "Okay, it's time," to the moment that we opened our doors was six months. In the world, that is a very extremely accelerated timeline. This is why I started with, you have to understand that I have a high risk tolerance. You have to understand that I am a dive in fast, like

Rebecca 4:51

Yeah, well, but I mean, seriously, ......like, there's a personality thing there, also there's, there's gotta be some miracles that unfolded in front of you. Because my next question was how long did it take to find a space? That can take forever

Katie 5:05

For something to happen fast, it's because there's years and years of background, life that contributes to being able to know when right? Um, you know, I, I feel like we always knew we wanted to have a store that was going in the world. if it's gonna be impactful in the world, we felt like it needed to have prominence, so we felt like it needed to be on a street. Where I live in Miami, the most expensive, or one of the most expensive neighborhoods is and there's a main street in Coral Gables that is the most prominent street in this very prominent neighborhood. And so we always just felt like that's where we wanted to one day we were down that street going to lunch, just on a regular day, and we were walking by a storefront that said, And my husband, who's my business partner, he and I looked at each other and we just felt like, "Man, wouldn't that be awesome? And we felt like, what if? You know, what if we could make that happen? Well, in order to make something happen, you at least have to entertain the idea. You at least have to look into it, right? So we called the number on the sign and, um, long story short, our realtor was like, "Guys, just so you know, um, commercial real estate takes forever. Like, the negotiation part takes forever. The contract agreement takes forever. It just takes forever, so just know that you have months until we're actually anywhere with this." And we were game for the journey, um, but we had a signed lease within, I think, two weeks and keys in our hand a few days later. It just was shocking to everybody involved. So yes, Rebecca, I do think that there was some, you know, luck and magic on our side. But I also with a lot of years of knowing how to do things and a lot of years of kind of like the, the saying that plumbers have. It's like, "Why did you charge me, you know, $300? It took you to, fix the toilet." And the plumber says, because I, I needed 10 years of experience to know how to fix this toilet fast." And I think it's the same kind of in business, you know, at this point 17 years, so I know how to do a lot of things. I know things when I see Um, and I think that's what to that i,

Rebecca 7:27

I think a good analogy is gardening. something is ripe and then all you have to do is pluck it. if you try and pluck it before it's ripe, then work

Katie 7:38

You're so brilliant. Yes

Rebecca 7:42

All right, so I'm assuming that first time negotiating a commercial lease. What did you discover in that process?

Katie 7:51

I thought that when you're going into rent a commercial property it would be much like residential right? Wherein it's like, oh, your dishwasher you call the landlord, right? And I think my biggest takeaway from commercial lease is that you are renting the land, the building, the roof, the air conditioner system. You're, you're in charge of everything. basically you have to think of it like you're taking ownership of everything from the ground all the way to the clouds. ownership of all of that for the entire time that you're renting, um, which means that you don't really call the landlord for anything. It's all within your responsibility. That was a big shock to me, and that's what the c- um, commercial lease agreement is about

Rebecca 8:38

are you connected to neighbors in your building? Like, what if you had a situation that involved the next-door Yeah,

Katie 8:47

That's where, to get into like the nitty-gritty, that's where a lot of this lease agreement stuff you know, has language about. both of our side walls share adjacent above us there's a So there, there is some complications when it comes to who's for what as it relates to that. But for the most part, we're responsible for almost everything, with the exception of the foundation of the building. Um, but we're kind of responsible for almost everything. So if there's an AC problem, it's our responsibility. If a window breaks, it's our responsibility, things like that

Rebecca 9:24

I am assuming that, and this is I think my last question on leases, cause obviously we could go down this for an entire episode, but I'm assuming there were some restrictions on what you could do in terms of signage, uh, parking, I don't know, those kinds of

Katie 9:38

This is our first time ever having a storefront open to the public. There is a lot of things that we're learning along the way. We're sort of building the plane as we fly it, yeah which I have to say I'm a little proud of ourselves, or, you know, proud of myself for. There's two things that were surprises to us that we didn't know. One is in signage, to your point. I didn't know that in order to have the signage approved by the city, we had to have the logo trademarked. trademark a logo takes a million years with, you know, the government and all the things. We found that trademark with the state, you can get that within a few weeks, and that's enough trademarkage to trademarkage get approved by the city to have the sign. Meanwhile, we're waiting for the, the, you know, national trademark. So there's things like that that we learned that have delayed a little bit of the process. So as we we've been open now for still have temporary signage up outside of the store. We just printed one of those vinyl ban- vinyl, uh, banners, and so that's hanging from the roof. you know, we're, we're definitely, like I said, building the plane as we're flying it and learning a lot along the way. Another example is we didn't know that our music store, we thought we would spotify but we didn't know and learned while we're building the plane that, you have to have a license for the music if you're going to be playing music in a commercial space. So we had to apply for a music license. So there was a lot of things like that that we're learning along the way, but what I trust my resiliency. I do trust that I have the resilience to overcome any challenge that we're being thrown. Even though I know there are many things like this that we're still trying to figure out

Rebecca 11:30

I love the transparency that you, that you're sharing with us while every single situation is obviously going to be different based on all the things, including the state you're in, this helps us be prepared for the right questions to ask what changed in terms of, from, from when you were, like, quote, just a designer, right, You didn't have a public-facing showroom, to now having a you are responsible for the wellbeing of other people while they're on your premises, of insurance and that kind of We

Katie 12:05

definitely insurance'd up, you know, to make sure that we're covered for all the things that could possibly happen. And I am in no way an insurance but my advice is call your insurance expert and make sure that you're covered in all the my father is in a wheelchair, so I have particular care and love for making sure things are wheelchair, w- wheelchair accessible. So that was something that was a hot topic for me, making sure that the door was wide enough, making sure that the, there was no step up into the store, making sure that the bathroom has a turn radius, making sure that The furniture in the showroom is organized in a way to allow wheel- to, you know, navigate through that was my biggest, do feel like I am extra worried all the time. For example, our showroom is carpeted, and I have noticed that if the carpet has the slightest bit of ripple in it can catch someone's foot and someone can So I think that there is a heightened sense of, "Oh my gosh," all the time that I have that I didn't know, you know, I didn't carry those worries before. So, so yeah, I am always looking around for things like that know, make sure are in sure that we're a great access

Rebecca 13:22

I kinda hate to ask this, but speaking of access to the public, what have you thought about in terms of security, 'cause theft is a real thing, and in terms of breakage? Because somebody just walking by can elbow a very expensive vase and what happens, right?

Katie 13:39

Yeah, and, and there's two parts to one is the financial protection, and then the other is social That's a big part of this, right? So I- we have all the things in the store. For example, we have cameras that, every inch of the whole entire store. We have an alarm system. We have, locks on every d- you know, on every door, things like... the, the obvious things you would do to protect your store. That's, uh, definitely in place. In terms of someone breaking so it did happen. It has already happened. We you know, we've only been open six months and it's already happened, and I think that the hardest part is the social awkwardness of it. That's I mean, the money part, right, we can figure that out, but the social awkward is, is for me the hardest part. So, um, there was a gentleman in our store and he was taking a candle off of a shelf smell it, and he didn't realize that the candle had a porcelain top. And so when he took it off the shelf, the porcelain top, of course, went crashing to the ground and broke. And he was like, "Oh, I was intending to buy this candle anyway, so I'll just go ahead and buy it." And so the candle part was intact. It was The candle is poured in a, in va- you know, jar. Um, so that part was still intact and usable. And so he bought the candle for full price and said, don't worry about the top. I didn't even want the top." And it just was like a very socially awkward moment of like, "Do we allow you to buy this at full price? Should we give you a discount?" And then we didn't give a discount 'cause we were like, you broke the thing." so it was, I think it was just very socially awkward. I think it was $150, that candle. So could I have swallowed the loss of the $150? Of course. You know, but we l- like, allowed him to purchase it and he felt bad and we felt awkward and just the whole thing was like, we're it's like we're not ideal, shall we I

Rebecca 15:36

think it explains a lot of the signs that we see when we're walking around stores, like please do not touch, or please ask for help,

Katie 15:43

Yes, yes. And also, like, hold your children by the hand.

Rebecca 15:48

Oh, children. I'm sure that's a whole conversation, especially because the things in your shop are so irresistible. I mean, who wouldn't wanna touch them all?

Katie 15:56

Yeah, and in the beginning, we did have a lot of kids come in, and we actually had some children's things. We had, couple of stuffed animals that were made out of alpaca fur dyed all different colors. So they were multicolored alpaca teddy bears. They were fantastic. And thankfully they were attracted to the teddy bears, and so would pick up the teddy bears. And then ultimately the parents would buy the teddy bear, and I think it was like an, maybe an $85 teddy bear. So, you know, a good sale for us. So one thing we were learning is there will be children in the store, and if we can have something for the children, you know, that's really helpful to keep their little hands busy. One thing I think is important is that we lingering in the store. I'm really dedicated for the store to not have, uh, an air of don't touch anything and don't sit on anything, and let me look at you to see if you're worthy of entering into our location, you know? I def- I definitely don't wanna have that vibe. to feel fun, I really want it to feel friendly and welcoming so everybody, child or grown-up, when they walk into the store are offered chocolate, a golden platter filled and, and toppling over with Ferrero Rocher. We have wine and tequila and champagne and of course sodas and different types of waters I do want it to feel fun and welcoming. I do want people to feel like they can pick things up and smell the candles and touch the vases, and I do want people to feel like they can interact with the store. So it's a fine balance of don't touch that and please touch that.

Rebecca 17:31

Yes, absolutely. Going to a little bit more of an industry question, how did you choose who to source from, what brands you were gonna have in the store?

Katie 17:42

Honestly, to this day, this is the most challenging thing for us. In order for us to turn a profit, right, we need to have a good margin. In order to have a good margin, products that are goes without saying, going somewhere. We need to find products that are When you're buying wholesale, you have to buy in high quantities. In some cases, it's a quantity, like number of products, for example, 10 candles, let's say. For some other wholesalers, you have to spend a minimum dollar amount. So it'll be, you know, a minimum of $2,000, let's Well, the challenge for us is we wanna stock in our store things that are, you know, physically in... present in the store and on the shelf and in, in our back room of inventory, then okay, maybe we want six of something. But maybe we have to buy a minimum of 12 of something, and then maybe we don't buy that particular item even though we love it and think we have to buy 12, but we can only fit 6, and so that's a real challenge. There are some times where and buys one item, and sometimes another customer will come in and buy five items, and that's great. can't... We don't feel like we can ever really know what how much we're gonna be selling at any given day terms of inventory and vendors, it's challenging for us to know when, when we've sold out of something, let's say, but we only bought we buy three more the three we sold, or should we buy six more because that's selling well? But what if that was just a fluke and someone bought those three, and no one's gonna buy anything ever, you know? And we also have eCom, e-commerce, so online sales through our online website, and the same challenge exists there too. Someone buys one $150 candle, let's I have to buy a minimum of 10, so I'm... I have to spend $1,000 in candles to fulfill that one $150 candle order. So that kind of thing is really challenging for us to know how much to buy and the vendors that allow us to buy the quantity. So anyway, I'm over talking, but I think you, you get the frustration that I'm feeling.

Rebecca 19:59

You're really, uh, cementing the fact that I knew I never wanted a store. It's just like this huge jigsaw puzzle, um, of, of guesses until you've had a store for long enough that you have data that then will tell you what that seasonality is and what those trends are. And of course, everything is always going to be shifting, 'cause there's not just the economics of your store, but there's the economics of the world, my next I know you've only been in this game for six months officially, but what about freight, delivery, storage, and tariffs?

Katie 20:36

Oh, why'd you say that T word? Um, yeah, these things are absolutely playing a big role on, people purchasing things, you know? We have a beautiful lighting collection in our showroom that I'm very proud of. So if you're listening, please go check it out, um, maisonmischief.com. Our lighting collection's amazing, and it's all coming from Spain. So to your point about tariffs and shipping, it's really challenging for us to know how much shipping to charge in the website, for example, because it depends on if someone's buying one fixture, we can air freight it, no big deal. If someone's buying a few, then we have to, um, ship it on a shipping container, right? Those prices are very and the tariffs are fluctuating every 15 minutes it feels like. It's a different tariff percentage on the sale. It's really challenging to keep up with all of those different fluctuating things. you mentioned it feels like a jigsaw puzzle, 100%. The only thing is that the jigsaw puzzle pieces are constantly changing color, so it's hard to know how they fit together.

Rebecca 21:46

Not to mention, I'm not sure you actually have a picture of the final result either to work f-

Katie 21:50

not at all.

Rebecca 21:51

Um, okay, so just to add more complexity here, especially because you're doing e-commerce and in-store, which I'd forgotten about, and it's just absolutely bananas, how have you handled return policies?

Katie 22:05

Oh, that's another thing that is like... Well, thanks Rebecca. You're bringing up all the very challenging things that have been weighing on my heart. But I appreciate cause it's really important for people who are interested in opening a store to understand the realistic things that happen. So we have had some only a and As long as it's within our 30-day return policy, which is what we established, it's okay. The reason why we have done a 30-day repr- return policy has only to do with the financials of running the business, right? We wanna make sure that we didn't count on money that we have brought in and then s- like, if you bring in money and you spend it, okay, great. But if you bring in money, you spend it, and then they return the thing, and you have to give that person's money back, right? That's not ideal. So we have had parameters of 30-day return policy, which I think is very common for a lot of stores. Um, the bigger challenge for us right now is when something is returned because it was delivered broken, and that's a big challenge sometimes we're able to drop shipping, for those of you who don't know, is when you can order something from a vendor and they mail it directly to the customer. In a lot of cases, we have to order things quantities of six, let's say, earlier. So we have to have that delivered to our showroom broken down in its parts so that we can mail the one to the Now, when that one arrives to broken, which unfortunately the person that I had helping us do all the packaging was not packaging things strong enough to be kicked off of a uPS survive, which is what happens. They kind of toss it to the front door, right? Um, so been a challenge, mostly financially because if we have some of the six left over, great, no problem. We'll just ship them the new one. But if we don't, then we have to do the thing again of the challenging decision-making of do we order six more to fulfill that person's one order when we didn't really wanna stock that item to begin with? And yes, I mean, rebecca, you made the point perfect when you said it's like puzzle pieces, right? It's like a lot of puzzle pieces always changing color, and we don't know the picture.

Rebecca 24:18

What is the relationship now between Erez and maison mischief? Is it a, a pipeline for erez design? Is it completely independent?

Katie 24:26

Yeah I'm glad that you brought that up, cause I feel like, I'm, I'm giving all of these, like, challenges. But I want people to know that it so much joy When we're designing for clients, we're largely designing for what the client's needs and wants are, and what their style is, and what their perception of beauty is. With the store, it really allows us to exercise our own creativity and exercise our own point of view, which is really really to answer your question, rebecca, in terms of how is the store and the firm benefiting from each other, or are they, um, one thing that I'm seeing is that the gives us a lot of for press in ways that I didn't know we were missing out it hasn't come out yet, but house Beautiful is, has just announced that they, for the fall episode, um- issue issue. Sorry. have just announced that for the fall we are named design maison and I cannot tell you what I feel inside of my heart, and in my stomach, and in my brain, and in my skin, in my whole body, what it feels to have that honor. And w- what I expect to happen is that definitely people coming to maison Mischief from House beautiful will link interior design, you know, our interior design firm called eres Design, will link us also to the House Beautiful recognition. So, um, I think that that's an amazing opportunity. I also just had, um, mCAD, which is, kind of like the aIA, but more geared towards... I, I started life in architecture, so I dabble in, in architectural, um, communities. I, I don't know if your viewership or your listenership, is familiar with AECOM and Perkins and Will, but they're huge architecture firms. They asked us if they could use our space for their architectural sort of, lecture series that they have. So it's giving us access to being able to interact with the community in huge ways that we weren't able to before, not having a space for th- people to physically come together. so the recognition and the community engagement has been unbelievably amazing for visibility to our name, both for the store and for our interior design

Rebecca 26:47

That is really fantastic, and congratulations. huge.

Katie 26:51

you

Rebecca 26:53

as we wrap up this section, 'cause then I do wanna actually talk more about your design POV, big picture when you think about this adventure that you're still very much in the middle of, what were you most afraid of? What has been the hardest part, and what has been the best

Katie 27:08

Yeah, what I'm most afraid of is still what I'm most afraid of. It's, it's... I think that the, the scariest thing is always the part. I, I don't think that I'm scared of creating a product no one will like, because I feel like I have been doing this long enough to know what people like. And I also feel like I don't care people like it or not, to some degree, because I feel like it is an of who I am, my own creativity, and my own point of view as a designer. And so the amount of fun that I'm having living inside of that passion, I feel like I don't care if anybody likes it, you know? that said, I care if I'm making money out of it, right? So, so, in that point, I do care if people like it. There are some days where not a single person walks into the showroom and we don't make a single dollar. But then there will be, you know, another day where we have an interior designer come in and want do accessorizing for a completed, and come in and spend $7,000 on accessories, you know? It's a little challenging to be in the days where not a single person walks in and we don't make a single sale, and just hope and wish that, you know, someone's gonna come in and make a big purchase. So that's the most challenging part, is not having certainty on, on the money. You know, in interior design, we have a little more certainty on the money because when we land a project, theoretically, we're, we're committed to, or that person is committed to paying us for, let's say, a year to completion. So we know we're locked into a year's worth of money, and so that stabilization in that way feels a bit better, wherein with the store, the money piece is much, much, much more, mm, rollercoaster feeling because, like I said, one day yes, one day no. We are working on stabilizing that. We hired a PR team to bring more, um, eyes to the store. We are investing in marketing to bring more people into the door. We're absolutely trying to do a big push with social media to bring people into the store. I think that the important thing is that the part that gives me fear is the part that also motivates me into action-taking to avoid the downfall of what I'm afraid of. So I'm actually grateful for fear in some cases, you know?

Rebecca 29:19

Did you start out designing such maximalist spaces? Like, did you start here when you started as a baby baby designer?

Katie 29:28

Oh, I love this question. So our very first project ever, we were working with a who were graphic and when we went in to, to do our discovery meeting with told us that they wanted an all-white wanted white cabinetry. They wanted white backsplash tile. They wanted white countertops. They even wanted white hardware. Okay, so I said, "You know, this is really curious to me, because you're graphic designers. You are experts in color and pattern, and, you know, like, all these things." so what, what we offered them was, hey, what if... Okay, what if we do one wall of white cabinetry and white counter and backsplash and whatever? Um, but what if on the other wall we do wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling flat cabinets painted in chalkboard paint?" And chalkboard paint is black, so that's, so that is like a, a, a very, you know, opposite from the white that they asked we were a little nervous suggesting that or offering that opportunity for them, and they were all in on the idea and they loved it. And so we ultimately did build that wall of chalkboard. What I loved about it was that when we went back over the years, we found that their child was drawing things at the bottom of the cabinet in chalk, and they were drawing their grocery list. So instead of writing milk and cheese and, steak, they would draw a milk jug, they would draw cheese, and it became this beautiful artwork that lived with the home that, that encouraged express. Over the time we saw that developing with the family and how that contributed to how they lived, we were so, so, so eye-opened to possibilities of what interior design can do in the way it contributes to people's lives. We made a declaration that we will never again design purposes. We will only design things that give life to the people who are ultimately using the spaces. So whether that's in commercial spaces or in residential spaces, this is absolutely a claim that we make, and only take on projects wherein we can exercise that, that passion. In order to make sure that we could deliver that to every single person in the whole entire world, systemized it's our signature We call it biographical design. It's a design philosophy where we learn and understand someone's literal biography in order to make sure that we are reflecting that in their space, because that's when a person feels really resonant to the space they live in. I'm literally asking people, "What was life like when you were a child?" you know, "What was the culture like in your home growing up?" I love the question, "What do you like to wear on your birthday?" 'Cause that gives me a lot of insight into the type of person that they are.

32:18

Hey, listeners. Katie just gave you a great example of the kind of unique questions that can build a client's trust in your ability to help them get what they want in a way no one else can. If you're still asking the same generic questions every other designer is asking on your contact page, your discovery calls, and during your initial consults, come find me at beseriouslyhappy.com and let's chat.

Katie 32:43

To give you an example of how this plays out, we had a client who raised birds as a young adult, and she loved that part of her life. Is a really one-to-one example, but I think it paints the picture, pun intended. one of the things that we did was in her kitchen we brass cabinet we painted a bird on the front of the cabinet. and It is so beautiful. Spoiler alert, we have just submitted that project to aD, so so we'll see. Um, but I think it is of that caliber, and I'm saying that to say that I think people hear biographical design and they're like, "Oh, that sounds super specific. How does that translate to anybody else liking the room?" I promise you that it translates to other people liking the room because it yields a very textural, um, very rich That's why we believe in maximalism, I believe that maximalism is the access to allow us to do a bird on the cabinet. It allows us to do a pattern that is like clouds because you love to surf and see the sky while you surf. It allows us the access point to deliver things like that back to our clients, so that's why we're wholeheartedly maximalist. To bring it back to the store, we're living in a world right now that is largely beige and maybe some gray. You're lucky if it's black. So why we opened the store, wanted to allow people to have access maximalist things that are colorful and vibrant. we have in the store different collections that are relevant to different persona because we want people that resonate with them in what I would call their biography

Rebecca 34:23

It's touching on, mm, I guess I, I have to call it a pet peeve I have with so much work that I do is helping designers distinguish themselves from each other, because every single designer's website exactly the same thing, one of those things that I keep hearing is, your home should tell your story. Find Designers write that on their site, but they're not seeing it through. I'm not sure if it's because they don't have the courage to take the client there like client, or because of something else. What would you like to say to them about this?

Katie 35:01

In my career, I have had very great fortune of being able to work with incredible people all over the I'm talking about people who own Fortune 500 I'm talking about people who own companies that are household names, and I'm sure your listeners would know Um, and I did have a part of me going in to meet with this, you high-power, high-profile person and say, "Hey, what was life like when you were a child?" you know? Um, lot of our clients are very private people who don't want their identity known by, many people, and have gates in front of their houses you know. So i, I absolutely was nervous going into these high-profile meetings and asking personal questions. I mean, I ask really questions. What I have found is that the more I stand in my the more I stand in what I absolutely wholeheartedly believe way to approach people respond to that confidence, respond in a way that is, um, I don't know a way to describe this, but almost like bowing to my, um, reverence of my truth. hope that's coming across how I mean it. What I have found is that everybody, every walk of life seen, appreciates being heard, and appreciates having their story told and and w- and having someone listen to it. I have had, again, Founders and owners of Fortune 500 companies that are on Wall Street, you uh, you know, companies in the stock exchange, i, I have had those owners sit across and cry and telling me stories of, you know, their childhood or telling the, me stories of, you know, very tragic times in their lives. I love it, and I think they love it, it creates a bond between us. And the projects that we're able to deliver to them at the end of the day I think speak volumes. If anybody's interested in looking at my portfolio, errezdesign.com, you'll see 100% that every project is very different one from the next, and that's because every human being is so different one from the next. I think that if you're afraid of asking your client something or if you're afraid of making a claim about something that you believe in, then what you're gonna get in return is a person who doesn't trust you're saying because you're not saying it with confidence and you're not making a claim. If you don't have confidence in it, you can't ask someone to confidently follow your direction, follow your leadership in that direction. But if you can confidently say what you're passionate about, what you claim to be your truth, then people will 100% fall in line"

Rebecca 37:52

preach, girl." that is so, so accurate. What would you say to the designer who's listening who secretly knows they're watering themselves down to be more marketable?

Katie 38:06

Yeah, i, I could talk about this for 100 hours from the top of a mountain with a megaphone and shake the world. If I look at examples in the world that I see, right? Um, okay, for example, I know this is gonna be highly controversial, but we're here for truth, right? Um, Taylor Swift. Taylor swift is, you could say, an icon in the music industry. And guess what? There are a lot of people that don't like Taylor Swift music included. Don't send me hate mail. I just don't find her her songs very resonant for me. She's very talented. I think she's very worthy and deserving of her fame and, you know, and all the things. But it's just not music that resonates with me personally. I love Broadway musicals. I am obsessed. I go to all of them. I play them in the car. Turn on a Les Mis song and I turn into a puddle on the floor and I can't stop singing, right? And there are... You're gonna be shocked to hear this. There are a lot of people who don't like Broadway musicals I am obsessed with my two cats. I love cats. I cannot, like, stand a life without cats. I can't believe that there are human beings on this planet that say they don't like cats. Like, I can't believe it, right? My point is we're like, we're bringing humor into this to paint our picture, but my my bigger point here is people who do like Broadway flock to Broadway. They are diehards. They wear the shirts. They buy the music. They have the keychain. I have Christmas ornaments. I have, you know, I have flown to New York and stayed in hotels to go watch Hamilton when it came out, you know? The opportunity is the more you deepen into what I'll say is your differentiator, the more you deepen into your truth, and the more you deepen into your passion, the more you'll create diehard followers for what you believe in. that any business at any size, that's the goal, is to create that diehard following. But if Nike sold potato chips because they didn't want to offend anybody who wasn't an athlete with their marketing or with what they believed in, I absolutely believe that Nike would water down their brand by selling potato chips, right? So I think that that's the designers.

Rebecca 40:24

Do you think that most interior designers have this spark in them, they have a point of view in them that they just haven't figured out how to articulate? Or do you think it designers some time and some experimentation figure out what their unique point of view is?

Katie 40:45

I love... This is so important. You're really good at this, rebecca. Your questions are deep and rich and so valuable to people. I wholeheartedly, like, i, I, I'm getting emotional. Like, I'm trying not to cry literally right now. I feel my stomach in a knot and my heart is, like, pounding. I feel so passionately about this. Um, and I think the, the best way that I would wanna describe it is like this: did you know that the sands in africa, the literal sand in Africa, picked up by the wind, blown across the ocean, and it falls into the South American rainforests? The south American rainforests cannot survive without the fertilization from the African The South American... I'm going somewhere, I promise. the south, the south american rainforests then, they create so much, um, m- mist it goes up above the clouds and it goes as a river in the sky that goes all the way to the glaciers. It falls down onto the glaciers, which then feeds the glaciers. Those glaciers relea- release diatoms into the ocean, and those diatoms are what feed our ocean and what creates the most amount of on our planet. Those diatoms then ultimately die, fall to the ocean floor, and they become the sands of, of Africa, right? And if we think about the way that our whole planet works, way that our solar system works, planet cannot survive without the sun, the heat from the sun, the uV rays from the sun. We we are living in whole entire planet and a whole entire solar system that every piece is playing an indispensable, valuable And humans are no different. Every human being is created with a unique, valuable role to play in humanity, and I think it is our, god-given right as a human being to be unique. I have never met two people who are exactly the same. Even when I... The twins that I know are very different people it's one of the beautiful things about humanity is that we are all created to be different so that we can weave together a beautiful tapestry. So if there's a designer like, "Well, I don't have anything different about me," I would say look at your fingerprint and find me anybody else on this planet who has the same fingerprint, right? You can't. There is nobody who has the same eye color, same eye pattern. Everybody's so different, and I think that you absolutely, every designer has something different that is an important part of the way the world works, and that is 100% your access creating wealth for the more you are dialed into what makes you unique, And if you are operating inside of your divine gift, that is 100% the easiest access point to your 'cause you're working with the solar system. The solar system is of abundance. You never have woken up in the morning and thought, "Oh man, I hope there's enough sunshine for me today. Everybody else is gonna get sunshine. I hope, I hope I get some too." No. You wake up as a child of abundance. You wake up and say, "I expect there to be sunshine for me today because I was born and I was created of the sun. So of course I have access. In the same way, of course you have access to created in the divine creation that is the sun's abundance. You were created in that same likeness. course you have access to, individuality. It's your gift.

Rebecca 44:30

I don't know that there's anything else you could say to top what you just said, but is there anything you would like to leave your fellow designers with today, especially anybody who is thinking that they might wanna open a shop?

Katie 44:44

Well, um, if I could leave someone with anything, it is absolutely and 100% that if you are feeling passion inside of you towards a direction, without question follow that lead because it is not coming from somewhere that is not valuable

Rebecca 45:06

Thank you, Katie. Thank you for sharing your passion with us and with the world through your showroom and your amazing designs and your advice today. W- you are a gift to everybody including me in my life

Katie 45:20

Oh, rebecca, I really appreciate that cause I feel the same about you. I'm so grateful for all the work that you do for all the people that get to be a recipient of your genius.

Rebecca 45:28

Thank you

45:32

Hey friends, I hope Katie's story and her encouragement left you fired up not only to follow your passion, but to take a stand for the design impact you wanna leave on the world. If you have big dreams for your business, but you're not sure how to get there, that's exactly what private coaching is built for. Come find my private coaching over at seriouslyhappy.com. That's also where you'll find my What to Fix Next diagnostic quiz to help you figure out if you need to focus your marketing, strengthen your client communication, or learn how to get your clients to make confident design decisions on time. Thanks for listening. Till next time.