All-In Design
"All-In Design" is IIDA Alabama's podcast that invites you into the dynamic world of commercial interior design. Immerse yourself in the artistry, innovation, and inspiration that shape the spaces where we work, collaborate, and create. Discover the latest trends, cutting-edge technologies, and timeless design principles that define the ever-evolving landscape of commercial interiors.
All-In Design
Episode #39 - Interview with Grace Hoffman
In our continued discussion with Huntsville interior designers, in this episode we interview Grace Hoffman with KPS Group. Grace takes us through her journey of becoming an interior designer and how she landed at KPS Group (those IIDA events can be key!). We also discuss navigating the design of government projects and also sugar shacks, which this host had never heard of until speaking with Grace.
recorded with microphones and other fancy equipment this is all in design Hello and welcome to All In Design, IADA Alabama's podcast. Thanks for listening. My name is Chad Moore here with my co-host Mark Griffo. Hey everybody. And we are continuing to record from the IADA Huntsville studio up here in Huntsville, Alabama. We've got another guest here today. Mark, if you'll introduce who we have. I'd be happy to. Yeah, we've been on the road for weeks now. Yeah, we keep coming up here. Yep. So we love Huntsville, Rocket City. I am very happy to introduce, I think this is the, I don't know, the Last count, the ninth, tenth, maybe the eighteenth person we've had from KPS. We've had several. We have had several. From KPS, but this is the first person from Huntsville that we've had. So Grace Hoffman is with us here today. Hello. This is like a very official introduction for you. Thank you. We're so glad to have you on the show, Grace. I'm going to pass the mic off to you. And if you want to tell everybody a little bit about yourself. Yeah. So I got into interior design by my mom kind of telling me to. This is what you're
SPEAKER_00:going to be when you grow
SPEAKER_01:up. Yeah. I tried a couple of things and she was like, that's not it. What were the couple of things? Well, so I was a chemical engineering major in college for like two and a half years. Two and a half years? Yeah. When you were like, my mom told me, I was thinking like in high school, she's like, all right. But no, you started. I was, yeah. And I was home for Christmas. and I was decorating the house for Christmas and I was like this is so fun and she's like why don't you do something more creative and I was like well but I'm good at chemistry like it was one of those weird things where it just came so natural to me I was like I gotta capitalize on this because that's not normal and so she was like think about different options and so my neighbor across the street was at Mississippi State for interior design so I talked to her a little bit but my mom her direct quote was you're gonna hate your life working in a lab with a bunch of nerds so she was right she waited two and a half years to tell you this yeah yeah it's her money so it doesn't matter were you at uh mississippi state uh-uh no i went to una okay but i did engineering school in huntsville and then transferred nerd i know i know but but no i grew up uh dad was a contractor so grew up on a job site and you know sick days were in a truck usually my mom worked at a bank so she couldn't right do much but we'd go on a job site and I have fun like just playing with the different finishes that they were using power tools the old you know like the old wallpaper books that the paint store would have that was like my bedtime story I would love those he would take them home a lot for me to look at but yeah so then Through college, I worked at a furniture place and did design, furniture sales. And where was this? Pottery Barn.
SPEAKER_00:I didn't know if you meant city. I did mean city. Oh, Huntsville.
SPEAKER_01:No, I was a designer for Pottery Barn through college. was going to go to Texas to work for a furniture dealer, an old dealer, actually. Then COVID happened. Womp womp. Womp womp. Yeah. So then ended up going residential back in Huntsville for about a year. And then I met this girl named Alyssa. And she said, hey, I'm drowning. I need help. Do you want to come work with me? And I said, sure. How did you meet her? It was at an IEDA event. Okay, nice. a swimming pool. She was actually drowning. No, we were hammered at a bar. I'm kidding. No. So yeah, that was two and a half years ago. Nice. Here. Nice, nice, nice. Yep. What's your favorite thing? Ever? I could see that question. I don't know why, but I could see that question just, like, railroading in your head. Like, just be like, I have this question, but it's not quite there. Yeah, I'm just going to abandon it. What's your favorite thing? What's your favorite thing? Usually we've got this pre-question or pre-interview questionnaire that we do, and she did fill it out. We just didn't get it until right before we started recording. Well, I didn't get it. Well, true, yeah. So she got it yesterday. Like late yesterday. I didn't even have 24 hours to do this. It was probably today almost. It's really my fault, actually. So I did the best I could with what I had. Yeah, which was, for me, I gave you very little. So what kind of projects do you work on mostly? We're pretty much corporate, straight up. We're doing actually right now some higher ed, and that has been my favorite. I think that's really fun. You could be a little bit more. I don't know. In Huntsville, it's hard because all of our corporate stuff is government, contractor, missile defense, what have you. And so they've got standards that... Yeah, and so oftentimes I joke that like... Everyone's like, what do you do for work? And I'm like, interior design. And they're like, oh my God, that sounds so fun. And I'm like, no, I pick out shades of gray and ugly carpet all day because that's just our market in Huntsville. Maybe you should pick out pretty carpet. I do pick out pretty carpet more, but in budget restraints and things sometimes make it difficult. Or a lot of times they'll come to us and be like, this is what we used for the last seven buildings we've had. Can we use it again? And so that's fun. What happens if you go, nope? I'd probably get hit. I don't know. I don't know. It's the military. It is the military. No, it's a bunch of scary old men, so I don't really want to fight with them. And they're probably not asking. They're telling. This is what we're using. So you had a higher ed project recently? A couple of them, yeah. And that's been fun. We've got one going out in Texas. I'm glad I'm not there right now, though. My next question is, are your projects... No. And I think, you know, also having a Birmingham office, we're pretty fluid with, we've got Birmingham people on Huntsville projects. I've been on Birmingham projects, Tuscaloosa even, you know, we're kind of all over. But we had a connection from Huntsville move out to Texas and he just loved working with KPS so much. He was like, can y'all get licensed out here? So yeah. That's good, though. Yeah. That's nice. What kind of higher ed project? What are you doing? So it's a church, and they're building a private school and a church and their corporate office, too. So it's a whole campus design. It's really fun. Or a little overwhelmed, but in a good way. Higher ed... No, that's just regular ed. Just regular ed. Just regular ed. Okay. Normal ed. I have done some higher ed, but not for that specific. Nonprofit and corporate all in the same umbrella. Yeah. Have you shown them the gray carpet yet? This is what I like to use. No, we haven't. We're still deciding where the walls go. We haven't gotten to the point. Those are their steps to this. Yeah, there's kind of a process we tend to follow. Walk us through the building. How does it get built? I'm just kidding. Let's talk about chemistry. Yeah, let's go back to that one. Do you travel to Birmingham? at all? Yeah. Here and there. Sometimes more than others. Just depends. If we have... If I'm on a project team down there, then... Sometimes we have it in the budget for me to go down. Sometimes we don't, you know. You were recently there because KPS, shout out for KPS, is that they're celebrating their 60th year. That's right. We had a big old party. A big old party. It was a good party. It was a good party. You were a greeter. I was a greeter. Yeah, I'm not going to lie. My feelings were a little hurt. I was like, you don't want me in the party. You don't want me around people. And they're like, no, you just know how to talk to people. And I was like, okay. Perspective. That's the first thing you said to me when I got there. was like, they relegated me to greeter. And I was like, you know, that's front of house. Like you're not like in the back. No, it was a hundred percent. Just my attitude. That was the problem. And I learned that, but your attitude was the problem that they put you at front to greet. No, I just handled it poorly. No, you were receiving a compliment and you were not aware that you were. Yeah. And I was upset about it. Yeah. So, was telling me I'm doing a good job and I'm like, not good enough. Thank you. Grace, you're so great. Whatever. When she was saying, she was like, do you go to Birmingham very often? I almost asked just because I kind of got in my head, I'm just going to ask terrible questions the entire time. It's like, did you take 65 down? Yeah. And I used my car too. That would be my favorite answer is when people ask me how I got here from Boston. I just go, in a car. And they're like, No, that's not what I meant. I'm like, phrase it better. I'm kidding. Yes, I usually go to Birmingham on 65 and in my car. Sometimes I'll go in, sometimes me and Alyssa will drive together and I go in her car. Is your place on 65? You stop on the way? No. It's only an hour and a half drive. So not any bathroom breaks or anything? No, I could usually hold it. You, Chad, will remember this. And depending on how much old school SNL. I'm a big fan. Okay. There was a Chris Farley skit, and I don't know how often he did it, but he was a talk show host. But his whole thing was just basically asking remember questions. He had Paul McCartney on there and he'd be like, remember when you were in the Beatles? And he'd be like, yeah, that was a great time of my life. Yeah, that
SPEAKER_00:was awesome.
SPEAKER_01:Remember when you recorded Abbey Road? That was awesome. So you could do a whole spiel like that. Yeah. And then just see if anyone notices that you tanked. All the comments being like, what's wrong? Do you remember at the very beginning when I asked what you liked the best? Yeah. We're circling back. Have you come up with an answer yet? So I'm going to admit something. I don't know if I just was not paying attention or blacked out. Did you already mention Boston before you just mentioned Boston? I think I did before the mics were on. Yeah, we were talking about Boston. When you were making 800 copies. That was, yeah, when I was behind someone printing 800 pages when I needed to print four. Right. Okay, so you've... What were you doing in Boston? Yeah, I was born outside of Boston. Okay. Lived there for a while. Like I said, dad was a contractor. With your family? Yeah, my parents. And I also have a brother. And we had a dog who also lived with us. Okay. Then, because he was a contractor. The dog? My dad. That's so
SPEAKER_00:good.
SPEAKER_01:He, you know, winters were hard because they were colder. Okay. No, that's a family inside joke. My mom used to be on the news and she did a segment one time on like drinks and she was like doing a hot chocolate and she goes, yeah, because winter's colder. And we all were like, good job, mom. Winter is colder. Good job. So then just say every time I think of winter being colder, it makes me laugh anyways. Was your mom like a newscaster? She just had like a, like a little morning talk show in our very small, like community. It wasn't like the today show by any means, but just, and she was teaching people about hot chocolate that day. Yeah. Okay. Not every day. Have you ever thought about, okay, so your mom, your dad's a contractor. Your mom was a morning show host, but also a banker. Oh yeah. Also a banker banker. Right. Yeah. And then you, I went into school for two and a half years to do chemical engineering. Yep. Now I pick gray paint colors. Now you pick gray carpet. To be creative. Yeah. It's just an interesting thread. Yeah. That we're pulling at. We're a ball of surprises over here. Since we're bouncing around, I'm going to, so, you know, we're connected on social media. Yes. Right. We're social media buddies. Yeah, I watch your animals. All our animals. Yeah. About six, eight weeks ago, I realized that you and I have a connection. It's really not... you and i having a connection but it was like oh like i'm putting these pieces together members of the industry like friends of friends like yeah yeah so your sister-in-law yes mallory yes is an interior designer she is to auburn okay and i and so mallory and i are connected on social media as well and mallory and i met i'm pretty sure it was probably pre-covid yeah auburn would do their but she worked for their facilities department in school so she knew a a lot of people yep and she I connected her briefly with on a call with my wife yeah and I can't remember if they just talked on the phone or if Mallory was actually went and visited her at Gresham was that during college yeah yeah it was when she was in school yeah she was just kind of like looking at meeting people and networking but yeah I don't know you posted something I guess maybe it was your brother's wedding yes in the last few months and I was like oh I know her that's Mallory yeah she's the best she's great so shout out to Mallory yep they're in Dallas now with my dog. My brother took her with them. The thread continues. Yeah. How old is this dog? She's like five. Oh, okay. It was a different dog. Not in Boston. No, he died. Okay. A long time ago. Um, but yeah, she's a designer and I mean like hard to compete with that Christmas. I mean, she's just amazing. She's so sweet and nice, but she also does like four seasons hotels in Hawaii and And I'm like, she's like, what are you working on? And I'm like, meh. It's okay. It's okay. We don't have to. Has she ever been on a podcast, though? No. Yeah. Uh-oh. Sorry, Mallory. I will say it is fun. A lot of our, like, Christmas presents are all, like, wrapped in branded, like, paper. Because, like, Christmas time, people come out with, like, they're branded, like, wallpaper companies might. And so it's all, like, a bunch of branded rep stuff and she gave us like uh some like branded chapstick in our stockings last year and my mom was like this is the best of what's this company and i was like mom that's a furniture dealer in texas you can't go she's she's regifting swag yeah she's i mean we all do it for free we all do it i mean i'm not putting her on blast but i mean i've done it okay what have you given Like, are you giving away, like, mugs, notebooks? Oh, one time I got, like, a pair of headphones from a tile rep. And I have so many pairs of headphones already. I gave them to my mom. What's the best swag you've ever gotten? I was going to ask that. Okay, I will say... Last Christmas is hard. What have you not given away? I'll tell you exactly. I have an answer for this. Christmas time is very hard as someone who's diabetic because everyone comes and brings you cookies or chocolate covered whatever. And our conference room literally turns into just a treat buffet because it's so many things. We had Brandon at South Cypress. My buddy.
SPEAKER_00:Yep. Shout out to Brandon.
SPEAKER_01:Brought us a box. It had like four or six rolls of wrapping paper. It had bows. It had gift tags. It had ribbon. Like just a complete wrapping kit for Christmas. I think I've seen this because I think Aaron got one. Probably. I'm like that's genius. Does it say South Cypress all over it? Well just like the box it comes in. I think the box just said it. Very tasteful. Nice wrapping paper. Yeah it was just like a good navy blue or gold or polka dot stripes. So helpful. Yeah I'm like it's used It's useful. It's practical. It's something that isn't going to expire with the food. I'm like, we can't eat it all before it goes bad because there's only five people in our office. So now we're up to seven. But anyways. But that's been my favorite. You're still not sold about the two new people? No, they're fine. I don't recognize them yet. They're fine. They're architects, so, you
SPEAKER_00:know. Who needs them?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. But no, that... I guess you could say I regifted that one, because I used it to wrap presents. Yeah, you did. Does that count? I don't know. No, I think it was used for its intended purpose. Yeah, but no, that... He was intending for you to do something with it. Yeah, hands down. Me and Alyssa still talk about it. We're like, that's the best, because... It would be interesting to... Because we do know that several reps listen to this show regularly, and now that I'm thinking about them, I don't think they would steal the idea, but it would be interesting what reps would... no like how many or stop doing all the sweets yeah I will say this was a fun conversation on my Instagram a couple weeks ago we had a rep pop in we didn't know she was coming and I hope she's not listening to this I don't know who it was but I never met her before she just was like hello but she brought me and Alyssa 17 bananas each Collectively. Okay. And we were like, hey, what do we do with this many bananas? I mean, we just weren't expecting it. Yeah. And so at first we were a little like, that's weird. I'll tell you, in three days, those bananas were gone. Everyone in our office was grabbing a banana. So it was a real, I'm writing down bananas. Better alternative than, don't get me wrong, still bring me a cookie every once in a while. Right. But not during, like the holidays. Holidays, so much. There's so much. So much. So maybe more bananas during the holidays. Signed, you're diabetic. That would be hilarious. I'm just going to, I put it on my story and all my rep friends who like follow me were like, oh my God, who did that? Like, I'm like, I'm not telling you because I don't want to throw under the bus. It was just funny. So since you said that, I'm trying to remember if, because I know I thought it of messaging you. Yeah, you probably said it. But I can't remember if I actually did because I was thinking like, okay, come on. Who was it? Yeah. Right. Yeah. And you're trying to like look at other parts of the photo. But it was weird. It was weird. But overall, it ended up being okay. I mean, great. Yeah. Yeah. It ended up being great. But like, no, at first we were just like. Oh, that's strange. So many bananas for two people. But we shared with the architect.
SPEAKER_00:That was nice of you.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. We also have three interns this summer. So they. In the Huntsville office? Mm-hmm. Oh, wow. Yeah. We're literally out of desk. One's in the conference room. Are they all design interns? Two architectural, one interior. Okay. And they all like bananas? Apparently. They were gone. I will say Jess, our beloved Jess. Our beloved Jess. Yeah. Our IDA Alabama president. Yeah, our mighty steed. She slid up and she was like, what are you complaining about? I would love to get bananas. She was like, fruit sounds like such a nice switch up. I was like, yeah. Okay, so what's the worst one you've gotten? Bananas. Is the bananas the worst? You made it sound like it was pretty good. Like weird at the beginning. They weren't ripe. And then the next day you're like, this is great. This is a Mitch Hedberg joke here. In the moment we were just very confused. But no, it ended up being fine. I'm trying to think if there was a worst one. I'll tell you another favorite. Okay, favorite's good. Wine. Okay. Wrapping paper, good. Bananas, got good. Wine. Great. Always good. Always good. Yeah, we had a couple. It's always funny who gives it to you because you can tell, you know. We had this one guy who's very fancy and he got us like an expensive bottle of wine and got us like each one. Okay. And then a couple people were like, oh, I don't drink this. Do you want it? I'm like, yes. You do? I do. Give me all of it. Was this a holiday gift? Yeah, it was Christmas. Yeah. Nice bottle of wine and wrapping paper. Yeah, that's decent. That's good. Because wine is also one of those things I don't have to eat that in a week. No, it can stay. Yeah. Yeah. As long as don't open it. Whereas like the bananas, you're like, I gotta eat all these right now. Step on it. What are we gonna do? Yeah, we got four days to eat 20 bananas. We completely lost the script on the questions. Yeah, what are we talking about? Yeah, what are we talking about? So interior design. Tell us more.
SPEAKER_00:Tell us. Go on.
SPEAKER_01:So we design interiors and It is more than picking finishes. So how many years are you out of school? Three, I think. Say 30. Three. Three. I'm not even 30 years old. Don't make me older than I have to be. So what was the biggest surprise coming out of school? Oh, I love that question because I was like everything. There's so much. Life. Yeah. Paying bills. No, I think, you know, school is fun. It's great. But it's kind of very like La La Land a little where, you know, you don't have to work with budgets. You don't have to work with other people. and their money, which is a sensitive thing. Your teachers are just like, make it fun. Which it does exercise your creative muscles a ton. But just a lot of the practicality of what can actually, one, be built. Because you can model anything you want in Revit, but can that actually physically be made? That's fun to figure out. But, yeah, a lot of that kind of stuff. We did, you know, dip our toes in codes and ADA stuff, but not to the extent of doing a whole— Do we actually have to, like, pay attention to them now? Yeah. Yeah. So would you have preferred that more of that was part of your schooling, or is it just—? No, because that would have been less fun. I liked having fun in college. But, no, I don't know. Maybe just, like, a little bit more on the code stuff and just— I don't know if one of my professors would have just been like, hey, so that actually can't be built in real life, you know? Right. But they're just like, yeah, that's awesome. You're being so creative and so fun. Maybe they just don't know. There's a time and place for both, I think. Yeah, maybe they don't know. Yeah. That's a death trap that you designed. Go into the world and design. Hey, that ceiling's going to cave in. But other than that. But it's okay. No one in a wheelchair can actually get in the building, so it's fine. We don't have to worry about that. They'll all be able-bodied people that suffer. Yeah. Where do you find inspiration?
UNKNOWN:Hmm.
SPEAKER_01:Do I? Bananas. Bananas. Fruit. No, I don't know. I think just the world a little bit. Such a specific answer. That's my favorite. What's my favorite? The world. I'm going to use the most generic questions, and you come back with the most generic answers. Yeah. No, I think traveling. I don't travel a lot, though. That's a lie. I don't go anywhere. You can be whoever you want to on your podcast. Yeah, these could be aspirational answers. You know, my apartment in New York that I go to. I think my New England roots, probably. The nature up there and East Coast. Especially in the summertime, I feel like I just think about it all the time. Where winter is colder. Right, and summer's hotter. I just think about being up on the coast again and... Stuff like that. Or just seeing other people's projects, and I'm like, oh, that looks good. I'm going to steal that. I'm going to steal that. Yeah. Would you ever move back to the Northeast? If I became really rich, yeah. But there's just so many taxes up there. It's so expensive to live up there. It's not fun. Other things you figured out when you got out of school? Yeah, other things that surprised me after school. Paying taxes. This is what the world is like. Yeah. Seeing gross versus net sucks. Not a fan. Rent is expensive. Oh, I also wrote down the shock of what, you know, like the work hard, play hard, just how play hard works. this industry could be. And I think that's, that was a lesson I had to learn. And that there could be too much. There could definitely be too much. Too much playing too hard. Yeah. And especially like right out of college, you know, and then you go to all these events and it's open bar here and open bar there. And it's just like, woo. And then. Yeah. And we'll see you at eight in the morning. Yeah. Hey, Grace, it's a Tuesday. So. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But you brought in the bottle of wine. Grace, you don't have to BYOB.
SPEAKER_00:It's okay. Don't judge me.
SPEAKER_01:No, I think that was just like a growing up thing in general of just, hey, we can still play, but got to work hard first. Yeah. I mean, some people don't learn that. Yeah. So, right. Yeah. Yeah. But I mean, this industry, I mean, it's built around relationships and part of that is. It's very work hard, play hard. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So how did, how did you find, like, cause we were talking about building your professional network and you mentioned, you know, finding your job. after graduation through iida events and reps yeah like was that something that you were you aware of that you're like i need to go do these things so i was aware um i was really involved in well asid in college um because they had like a student chapter and all that and i didn't i met your dad in college and he talked to us about the coalition and all that um but you know, I got getting used to those events. Also shout out to Mallory again. She would, you know, she kind of held my hand a little bit. She's like six months older than me. So she was a year and way more mature. Right. And way better at her job and way nicer and way sweeter. I don't know why we didn't invite Mallory. I know. Can we call her? Yeah. I mean, it could be, it's the Alabama podcast and she's in Texas. True. True. That could be it. Does she ever come home to visit? Yeah. Yeah. Then we'll have her on the show. What is she in town next? Yeah. Thanksgiving. Okay. Great. I'm going to book her ahead. Yeah. but you know she kind of was like we would meet at events together and she'd kind of be like hey here's who I know and like introduce me to people so having her as a resource was a gift I mean not many people have that in college especially UNA was really small and pretty new when I got there their interior program um so I think like I graduated with five people so going to like a Birmingham show and it's a lot more than five people there you know and she being as connected as she was helped out a lot through school and then when I got out just staying connected and well then switched to IIDA because that was more Huntsville present No shade to either. Yeah, and I'm not going to say it's better than ASID. It's just different. It serves different purposes. I think in Huntsville specifically, ASID is a lot more for the residential, and IDA is a lot more for commercial, so switch
SPEAKER_00:over. I think that's true in general, but it's not true everywhere.
SPEAKER_01:I think there's some markets where it's foot popped, but yeah, but I think in general, yeah, it tends to be a little bit more commercial. Yeah. So then when I moved to commercial, I switched over and yeah, going to events and just meeting people and other designers. And I've always, I mean, I can make a friend with anybody, you know, some people I think get weird about like, well, you don't work, you're a competitor. And I'm like, I don't care enough really to think that. It's such a small market too. Right. I'm like, Hey, I'm going to see the same eight of you at every one of these events. So If we could not clause out, then that would be cool. Clause out. Yeah. But, no, I've never really had an encounter like that. Everyone up here is great. I'm going to scratch out my follow-up question. Who was it? When did you go clause out at an IEDA event on a Tuesday? No, everyone up here is great. And I think we have a great community of– and, I mean, even, like, supporting each other of, like, hey, I need– Does anyone have an answer for this that we don't in-house? Yeah. When it's interesting, too, I mean, I think it's important for, like, the grace, you know, three or four years ago, right, that you've learned. And so those students and those designers that are coming out, like, you may know one person. You may have... a Mallory or like, you know, a Chad or a Mark or whoever or a nobody. But just, you know, it just starts with one person and then one's two and then two is four and you just have to go. The thing about you is that like you... you show up. Right. You go to the events. Especially if there's wine. Especially if it's an open bar. No, I don't want that to be my reputation. No, that's mine and Chad's reputation. Yours is bananas. Yeah, fruit, I'm there. Bring on the fruit. Juice form or not. Don't discriminate. So have you found... difficult as a young designer to get your point of view across or your ideas across or sometimes but I think also there's just like that acceptance of like I am not the smartest one in the room And maybe my ideas aren't. Is it general acceptance of this? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Are you thinking it right now? No, no, that hasn't crossed my mind today. I feel like hosting a podcast is easy because these guys are idiots. I could do this. No, just, you know, like having suggestions is one thing, but like, I don't know, if someone comes back and it's like, yeah, but X, Y, and Z, why that won't work, or it's going to cost too much, or what have you. You can't actually build that thing that you draw on. Right, that's not physically possible. You know, just having that acceptance of like, oh, okay, and not like fighting. I don't know. Right. Fighting so hard to get your ideas across. And also, I think my answer was like, just knowing when to pick your battles of... Like if I really like this wall covering and my coworker really likes another one, Claws out. Who cares? Claws out. Yeah, I'm not going to go fight. Set the bananas aside and go claws out. It's not worth it to go fight in the parking lot over who has the better taste in wallpaper, you know? Because we know it's you. Well, I'm not saying anything, but, you know, it's just like. We're saying that because somebody else didn't join us that we're supposed to be here. That's true, yeah. This was going to be our second two-guest episode, but Alyssa had a conflict at the last moment. Yeah, she had to actually work. sucks for her she's not actually building the thing that can be built with the really impressive wall coverings yeah hey that girl knows her wall coverings we'll have her on the show and then we'll get her hound her on wall coverings it'll be a point counterpoint sort of thing we'll get some info on you yeah to answer that question I mean just know when to pick your battle of like if you're really passionate about something I mean by all means go for it but like me just as a general person I don't care I'm just like, hey, here's my idea. Then say yes or no, and then move on. I'm not going to be like, okay, well, here's why I think you should. So you're pretty easy to work with then? I would say so. I mean, that's a skill. We can ask later. We can circle back to that question. What do you do in the non-gray carpet situations where you're very passionate about something for your design and you're talking to the client? like excluding coworkers. Like if they hate it, like if I give a finished presentation, they're like, that's gross. Um, I just try and share my intention and like the thought process behind it because I mean, nine times out of 10, I'm not picking a finish and just being like, it's pretty like, right. There was a reason I picked it. Um, And a lot of times that can persuade them. Like I showed a client the other day a rendering and they're like, that floor looks really dark and they work outside a lot. And I said, yeah, but it hides red dirt really well. And he was like, oh, okay, we'll keep the floor. And I was like, right. Do you want white carpet? Or do you want dirty carpet? So I think just sharing intention. And I mean, if they're stuck on it that they hate it, then they hate it. And again, that's what I pick my back. Like that same client also hated the backsplash. Well, I don't have any like life or death reason of picking a backsplash. I'm like, okay, I'll pick a different one, you know? But if I think it's worth saving, then just be like, um, Here's why. I don't be like, you're wrong. Right. But when we had Morgan on, that was one of the things that she talked about was just like having a thick skin. Cause sometimes you do, you know, you've worked hard on it and you've pulled things in. You might take it kind of personally, but it's like, you gotta kind of just, and it's their money and you know, they want what they want. And obviously you're trying to guide them as best you can. But at the end of the day, it's their decision. Right. You know, what's going to go in. I had that in the answer for something. Um, Oh, yeah. Advice for aspiring designers. I'm skipping ahead. It's okay. You're in charge. This is your show. I said perseverance and tough skin. And one, confidence, too. Because I think if you can walk into a room with all these C-suite people handling their money and being like, I think you need to do X, Y, and Z, you need to, one, have a reason why, back it up, but two, your confidence is what... sells it. Because if you walk in and you're like, well, I mean, you could if you wanted to, they're going to be like, oh, what are we doing here? They hired you for this job, right? I'm sure there's exceptions, but they're expecting you to come in and be like, this is what you guys should do. And I think young designers are going to... They're terrified. Yeah, they're terrified, so that confidence is difficult, but as what you're saying, as long as you're prepared and you've got a reason, you've thought through, there's a reason for these things yeah that that's where the confidence comes from where you can answer any of those questions like well you're outside a lot and there's a lot of red dirt yeah so that's not going to show up on the carpet because that's you know that makes sense were you terrified in your first several presentations like i mean was there a point she was terrified coming in this room you should have come in here with some swagger some confidence just been like look guys no i walked in should i say this yeah no you should i walked in and julie was like are you nervous i said no i took my pills i'm good but um For sure. I mean, the first couple ones. Yeah. They're always terrifying. Right. I think, but also, I mean, KPS has been around for a minute and they know how to... 60 years. 60 whole years. Yeah. I haven't been there the whole time, but... Because you're not even 30. Not even 30. Right, not even 30. But, you know, they know how to... train up a designer to, and they're not going to just throw you in the deep end and be like, all right, here's this$40 million project. Go run the meeting. Yeah. Happy second week of your career. It's hard to last 60 years if that's your approach. Correct. To new business. So, I mean, they're like my first. I'm doing air quotes for those listening.
SPEAKER_00:Cracks yourself up. I'm so good at
SPEAKER_01:this. But no, my first few presentations, I mean, I wasn't just in there by myself. I mean, even still to this day, me and Alyssa do most of them together. And we will tag team a lot of stuff. And we had a finished presentation a couple weeks ago. And, you know, she handled... Like, all the public-facing spaces made them look so good, very high-end stuff. But this also had, like, chemical labs and electrical labs. And you said, I'm a chemist. I said, I know chemistry. Let me take that one. So I found all the, you know, chemical-resistant wall covering, floor covering, ceiling, you know, like, all of that, like... meaty technical stuff right she made it all look good and then we both came together for that meeting and when the client's like well why is it this much money i'm like do you want it to eat your drywall or right yeah not um and then she was like and also do you want it to look like a jail cell or not you know so i think we can we bounce off of each other well
SPEAKER_00:sure
SPEAKER_01:and that helps and there i mean there has been some where i'd go in it alone and they are a little terrifying but I mean, once you, you have to remember, like, they're just people too. Right. Like, and you're, you're the expert. Right. And they know very little about what I'm even talking about. So as long as I just sell it convincingly enough, then they're like, sweet. Sounds good. Yeah. I mean, the first one I ever did solo, they didn't change a single thing. And I was like, this is easy. I was like, no, I was like, I can't believe that happened. Someone write that down. Like, this is never happening again. And it hasn't. You went around to the other businesses and said, It hasn't. But no, that was a real big win. Fresh little baby Grace was presenting for this huge client, and they were like, yeah, that all looks great. That looks fantastic. And I'm like, ah. Is this one of those things where, like, you did that in your head or, like, in real life? In my head. No, I did it in my head. Did you get in the car and, like? Thankfully, it was a team school. So I just took my headphones off, and I looked at Alyssa, and I was like, oh, my God. And she was like, what? And I was like, it went so well. I freak out if it's good or bad. So she could never tell with my reaction. But we also joke she's so type A and I'm so type B that, like. So you're like the little design odd couple. Yeah. We really are opposites attract in like we actually joking yesterday that Texas project She was like do you have any like inspiration images like Pinterest or whatever and I was like, yeah I've got like a couple I saw that were like cool and then she was like have you started a board for this client and I was like, oh no, I just have one called clients and it's every project I've ever worked on. It's just like, it's just a combination of, I like, I'll see a, like a pain or whatever. And I'm like, Oh, that was for that project. Like I remember. And she was like, Oh, ha ha ha. I have one started and it also is subdivided by each room. And I was like, awesome. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Me too. Yeah. That doesn't surprise me. No. And like, we laughed about it. We're like, yeah, that checks out for us. I have one client. total everything goes into it everything it's a progressive board yeah of your entire career pretty much and then she has this client divided by this building divided by that room yours is so much easier to scroll back and see things from the past i'm like yeah it takes one click first it's actually an interesting idea of like if you had like a progressive board for 30 years like what that would look like do you think pinterest will be here in 30 years Do you think computers will... I think... Anyways. We're asking the question. Sorry. My bad. Do we think computers will be here? I don't know. I feel like we're going to just go completely like... Wally. Paperless? Like VE. VR. Not VE. You can tell what I'm doing today. What phase we're in a project on. We're in the gray carpet phase. Cheaper than the other one. No. VR. VR. Yeah, I don't know. Like WALL-E, how they all just float in the little chairs. Right, yeah, yeah. That's my biggest fear, I think. Was it big and easy? What was the name of the ship and the name of all the stuff? I don't know. I don't know. I've only ever seen that. It's a great movie, but I've only ever seen it once. Yeah, me too, and it was like 2009. I've got four kids. We watch it every so often. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I don't know. They'll definitely change, and they are trying to continually put things you know computers into glasses that you're wearing so it could be a there was a book I read it was a fictional book but it was augmented reality where talking about architecture like this guy was going to a university and there was the official view of the university that you would you know look at and it was kind of your traditional but then if you turned it off it was just like cement block you know yeah that's we actually have VR glasses in our office and we can like export a rendering, essentially, to them that you can have the client walk through. We don't do it a lot because it costs a lot of money. Sure. Does that change the experience for them? I mean, not to ask a dumb question. Oh, I'm sure. Like, is it a selling point? Oh, 100%. Because, I mean, your average person doesn't look at a floor plan and is like, oh, I know spatially how that translates in real life. Right. And even, I mean, just the development of renderings alone, how far those have come. Right, yeah, for sure. That's a selling point for sure. Yeah, and how quickly you can get them versus before it's like, okay, we'll have this back to you in a week. I'll have a horrible RGB in four days. Right. But, yeah, now they're, like, on the spot. So it'll be interesting how fast the VR stuff can change. Yeah. Like, where that's going to be in four or five years. Right, right. Because, like, we're at four or five years, and we're still doing the show. Mm-hmm. And I come back. And you're back. Yeah. My second appearance. Yeah. Probably fourth by then, I think. Four. Oh, okay. Yeah. We'll do one a year. Once a year? Booking yourself in advance? Yeah. Yeah, when's good for you? This is the confidence we were talking about. See? When's good for you? What is your schedule like? Let's go ahead and put you down. What's your 2026 so-called? Yeah. But we would be joking about, yeah, remember when the VR renderings took a week? Yeah. And now if you don't have it. It's AI, too. I mean, it seems like we're just scratching the surface. And there's a lot of cool things about it. Yeah. Yeah, like how does that work? revolutionize or just tear it down. I don't know. We have a Matterport at our office, which has been life-changing. It 3D scans a building so we don't have to waste nearly the amount of time to go measure the building. It'll put your windows in for you, your doors for you, everything. It'll be a 3D model you can walk through, but then it also slices it and puts it in Revit. Like as a floor plan. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, no, it's not perfect. I've had. Sure. Yeah. We've actually talked about it before. I used to, there's some things you just need to like some double checks. I had one, it was an office building and you know, it's just like a long hallway of office, office, office, office. And then one of them was just like catty corner. And I was like, that's not right. Do you have a particular design style yet that you've developed? No. I always joke that my style is every style because it has to be. But I think... I'm just wording my answer right now. You said this so matter-of-factly. It's like you're just like, nope. I've rehearsed this. My style is every style because I have to be. Yeah, I mean, going from designing a kindergarten Sunday school classroom to a government contractor's office, you can't just be like, well, this is my style. We do florals. Yeah, right. Or neon.
UNKNOWN:Right.
SPEAKER_01:But no, I think doing a lot of the industrial side style wise, you know, a lot of blacks and grays and stuff. I think personally it's made my style a lot softer, like at home. Right. That was going to be my next question. Yeah. Like if you're designing for yourself. Yeah. I think it's a lot more like old traditional, love some good like wood details, good brass in there. Wood paneling. I know. Hot topic. Wow. But I like it. Yeah. What do you... 95 years old? I am, and I needlepoint. Do you needlepoint? I do needlepoint. I have to explain to people what that is sometimes. They're like, what's that? And I'm like, don't worry about it. Don't look it up. Mind your business. That's my daughter's crochet. Yeah. Well, I just needed something to do with my hands all the time. And when I watched TV, I kept getting annoyed because then I would just be on my phone and then I'd have to rewind the show I was watching because I zoned out. And then it would take me twice as long to watch a TV show. So I started needlepointing as something to occupy my hands. So what do you needlepoint? I did a Christmas ornament for everyone in my family last year. and specific to them and what they like. Actually, Michael and Mallory, Michael's my brother who's married to Mallory. They travel a lot and they go to a bunch of... They sound awesome. I really can't wait to get her on the show. No, I hope you're serious about that because I think that would be so fun. Thanksgiving. Yeah. Home for the Holidays can be the title of that episode. I want to have hot chocolate. When they come home, do they come here or Birmingham? They do both. Okay. But we will have hot chocolate because... winter's cold winter's cold yes yeah yeah i'm not gonna tell my brother that and then when he hears it he's gonna be like oh my god how do they know he's a little slow but that's okay we love them um but i made them like monogram luggage tags for their travels yeah um my dad i made You know, do you remember the old Super Bowl commercial a couple years ago of, it was like all the Boston guys, like Ben Affleck, Wahlberg, and it was that Duncan, the Duncans, and they had all the track suits. So I did the jacket. of that track suit for my dad. Oh, nice. That was really fun to do. I was going to say, I'll show you pictures, but no one else can see it. Yeah, and we can react to it. Yeah. Oh, wow. It's amazing. I loved my mom's, too. She's also grew up in New England. My dad didn't. We said that, did we? That was probably off mic. We should probably let people know that, though, that your dad did not grow up in New England. No, outsider. We call them flatlanders up there, if you're not. I did not know that. It's so mountainous, we call anyone else a flatlander. Anyways. Even, like, everybody who, like, lives in the Appalachian Mountains or Colorado? No, it's more for, like, Connecticut people. Okay. It's like the Flatlanders, like, in that other tiny state right there. And it goes everywhere. Yeah. Everywhere else is Flatlanders. Connecticut. Oh, anyways, so. Mom, I mean, we all grew up going down to Cape Cod in the summers, and she would go with her grandparents. I went with my grandparents, and there's a drive-in theater. It's still up and running called the Wellfleet Drive-In. This episode's sponsored by? Yeah. I wish that we could go. But I found their marquee sign, and it's like the original marquee sign. But there's the... The dunkings. It just went black. Yeah. Sorry. Perfect. That's awesome. See? I love it. And then you cut it out. That's amazing. You guys should see this. It's almost like watching a commercial. That's insane. After you're done stitching, then you've got to cut them out, and then you stuff it and sew a back on, and then it's like a little puffy ornament. And I will say, life hack, I ordered a bunch of fabric samples, and that's what I used for the backs of all my orders. Life hack. I'm not paying for fabric. That's actually a really good, clever idea. Yeah. Thanks to all. Shout out to all the fabric reps out there. Did you do that through Material Bank? Mm-hmm. Okay. Yeah. I'm a big fan of material bank. I am too. They send me a lot of Starbucks gift cards. Wait, how do you get Starbucks gift cards? I will say they told me I was in like the top five. If you order enough stuff.
UNKNOWN:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Interesting. I just got a tote bag from them the other day. Yeah. So, I mean, the manufacturers all pay for it. Yeah. Right. And it's, at least talking to my manufacturers, because when Material Bank first came out, it was like, all right, are you going to get on Material Bank? And they're like, we looked into it. We could hire two people full time to send out samples. Yeah. Instead of doing Material Bank. Yeah. So, she's making them lots of money by ordering lots of stuff so she could start writing gift cards. I wonder how much you, just relative to my wife, who I feel like. like we have lots of material bank boxes coming to our house all the time yeah and I will say I mean they have a great return program right so wait you send them back yeah except for the ones that go into the ornaments yeah they end up on Christmas trees except for the cut up sewn ones yeah but also what it did was now manufacturers that aren't doing material bank are so much faster of getting their samples out because that's who they're competing against sometimes because it's like overnight right material bank that's the beauty of it that's what I love because it's just so vast I mean like I don't know if I have nine times out of ten if I'm looking for a material it's not by brand or Like it's just like a look or color. You're looking for a specific Christmas plaid. Right. That compliments the Duncan track suit. Brentano made great plaids last year. Anyways, but with my great carpets, you know, I share the love on my carpet. I love all my carpet rep. So, you know, I try and go around and so I can go on there. Try to get free stuff from everybody. We get it. Yeah. Even trips. Trips are a great perk. I love those. But anyways. Are you plugging for trips? Maybe. If anyone wants to take me anywhere, let me know. Where do you want to go? Anywhere. Just not to work. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. My boss is listening. Sorry, Donna. Donna listens to every episode. I'm sure. We'll just make sure. We'll be like, hey, Donna, you know you've had like four of your employees on the show. It's all roughly the same. You don't need to listen to this one. Here's Grace's. No. We just want you to listen here. Just listen from minute 50 to minute 53 Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I'll say how wonderful she is and what a great leader she is. Such a mentor. She is. Such a mentor. She's so smart. She knows everything. I don't mean that like snarky. I mean, she really knows. I can go to her with any question. She'd be like, well, have you tried this? And I'm like, I didn't know that was an option. I didn't know I could try that. Yeah. Can I try that? Yeah. I'll try it right now. That sounds great. Have you been on a manufacturer trip before? Yeah. I've been on a few. Where'd you go? I went on... Schluter to Montreal with BPI, Pam. Love me to Pam. That was a great trip. And just because Schluter is such a way more than you think. Yeah. Yeah. It's a lot of stuff. And so got to go in their factory, got all the demos. I learned how to waterproof a shower. They gave us the certification for it. I'm like, awesome. So you can start a business now. Cool. So you've got a backup plan. Right. So when Donna listens to this episode, you can waterproof showers. Right, become a tiler. That was a great trip. What else? A bunch of tile manufacturers in Tennessee. That was fun, because it's a lot of Italians who just come here, and so it's American-made, but Italian ingenuity, if that's the word. Interface went to their... house in georgia right that was a lovely trip yeah it's two of my favorite people adam and laurie they're great familiar with them you don't know you should look them up they do actually speaking of podcasting and asking people questions they've been doing have you followed the unicorns want to know yeah
SPEAKER_00:yeah i'm a unicorn
SPEAKER_01:yeah yeah yeah and the naked and afraid one was a little much for me the what the last one was like in the woods and he's like have you seen naked and afraid well i'm not and I'm not afraid and I was like I didn't but he had his shirt off right I was like I didn't know where that was going it was a little scary I was like where's this going yeah we thought about doing a topless podcast and you didn't invite me to that one dang I'm kidding it was gonna be there's no video it was gonna be us and Andrew this is a topless podcast right now there's no video nobody knows Andrew I feel like would die if you asked him he'd be like no I don't know. He's an interesting guy. I can't pick favorites at work, but he's my favorite. There's times when he'll answer something a certain way, and I'm like, I would never even consider that an answer. I love the way his brain works. He's my favorite. I'm not supposed to have him, but if I had to pick, it's Andrew. Who is your least favorite at work? Depends on the day. I'm kidding. No, there's definitely an answer. I'm kidding. Yeah, so my wife's going to Milwaukee next month. Oh, with the lighting? Is she doing the lighting? She's going... I think she's... I'm going to get in trouble for getting this wrong. I think she's going with Aaron Schumacher. Okay. Okay. To Milwaukee. To Milwaukee. I know Robert Mills did a Milwaukee trip with some of our people. Yeah. I didn't get to go on that one. Yeah, they're taking a few of the Gresham folks. Okay. Nice. And I'm like, okay, cool. I've never been to Wisconsin. I've been to Madison. I've never been to Wisconsin either. Yeah. There were some beers that were had. I bet. Yeah. And cheese. Yeah. Big fan of cheese. Big fan of cheese. Yeah. Yeah. It's the Vermont side. My mom's from Vermont, so we have a big cheese family. Is Vermont cheese better than Wisconsin cheese? Mm-hmm. Okay. I sensed that there was an opinion there. I was going to say that was a stupid question. Your questions have been way better. I've asked stupid questions today, but that was a really dumb question. What makes it better? Vermont cheddar. I don't know. Okay. You know the people who make it. I will say the most... So we have a family farm up in New Hampshire, so I go back all the time. And the most Hallmark movie part about that is our next-door neighbor, Jerry, is the one who makes all the maple syrup. And so he's like our dealer, and we get a case of maple syrup from Jerry in his sugar house up the road. His sugar house. Yeah. His sugar house. It's so like... That's something different in Alabama. Right. And I'm like, every time I tell someone, they're like, huh? I'm going to go visit Jerry's sugar house. Oh, sugar house is so fun. It's. Essentially just a tiny little log cabin in the middle of the woods because that's where trees are. And you've got to get the sap from the trees. And it's just these giant vats of boiling sugar. So it smells amazing. And you can just find them out in the woods? I wouldn't just suggest walking in on one. It helps if you know the people. Because it's usually just like two dudes in there with like a 30 rack of beer. They're topless? No, they're covered. It's the middle of winter when you make syrups. Winter is cold. Winter is cold. I'm writing that down. Next tattoo. Winter is colder. That would be a good t-shirt. Anyway, so they're just in there stirring it like 24 hours a day. Couldn't they get a machine? It's just life's different up there. And this is like real maple syrup. Straight out of the tree. It's not corn syrup. Maple syrup flavor. Right. I've never in my life had. And I noticed you said syrup. Yeah. Syrup. Syrup. So I lived up north for a little while. Yeah, syrup. Syrup. Syrup. Yeah. So I like, I just, I don't know, I feel some sort of validation that you say syrup and I say syrup. I hate to take us away from this in-depth discussion of interior design, but why don't we go to our rapid-fire questions? I feel like we've been on rapid-fire questions. This is just one rapid-fire question after another. Yeah. Okay, well, my first is syrup-related. Is it really? Just randomly? Yeah, just randomly. Okay. Because it's, I don't know, I feel like this is a good question. Okay. So when you put syrup on your pancakes, are you like syrup off to the side? Are you like stack of three, lift the two up, syrup, drop one, syrup, and then top it off with more syrup? Do you carve a hole in the middle of the pancake? Or just pour? I may serve on everything. I will put my eggs, my sauce. Yeah, kind of. Is there sugar in syrup? There's sugar in syrup. Not if it's made from trees. I'm kidding. There's still a shit ton of sugar in there. No, I like it on my eggs and my sausage, too, so I just kind of put it all on my plate and then just do one big drizzle. Didn't you say you were diabetic? Yep. I am. You and my wife should start a club as worst diabetics ever. It's her favorite thing in the world is ice cream. Yeah. And she could not have enough of it. I'm a sweet treat fiend, and it really is tough. I tried for a while to find sugar-free alternatives, and then I was like, meh. Oh, gross. Yeah, I gave up on that. Yeah, it's not as good. No, I just... What's it? Portion? Portion control? Portion control. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, a little bit here and there. We stopped buying, at least we've taken a temporary pause, on Blue Bell homemade vanilla ice cream just because we'll eat it so fast. Right. Right? I like how serious we got all of a sudden. I know. I'm dropping some dimes for some people. So we've kind of just set that aside because I don't need to be doing it either. Right. Right? And instead, at Piggly Wiggly— And I don't know if it's every Piggly Wiggly. I don't know. I've never been to one. Homewood on 31. They sell their Mexican ice cream pops. They're like a lot of those, which is, you know, Spanish for ice cream. And they're like, they're delicious. But they're like appropriately sized. Right. So it's like. You get your fix. Exactly that. Yeah. You get your fix. And it's not like you. I mean, I guess we could get up and have two or three more, but it's like, no, like you have your one and then you're done. Right. Yeah. I mean. Just a big bowl. A big bowl of ice cream. And then I'm a chocolate syrup fan, so then I'm going to put chocolate syrup all over it. I've been on an ice cream sandwich kick lately. Same. One little bit here and there. With the chocolate syrup, do you swirl it? Or do you do it on the side and dip it in? I'm overly aggressive and have been since I was like five years old. Like when I was little, I don't do it anymore, but when I was little, I would turn the vanilla ice cream into chocolate ice cream. Right. Yeah. But like, not like, oh, this vanilla ice cream got a little bit lighter brown. This is like, did you, do you have dark chocolate ice cream? It's like, oh no, this was vanilla. And now there's a half a bottle of Hershey's in here. Yeah. It's a wonder I'm not the diabetic. It's not fair. So, yeah. Okay. That was our first rapid fire question. All right. We're doing so good. What are you currently binge watching? Um, I don't know. I don't know the last time I turned my TV on, to be honest. That's a terrible question for you. Yeah. No, I just, I finished something the other day. This was a couple weeks ago. What was it? It must not have been that good. It was really memorable. So good, yeah. So good. But that's an answer to say that you don't really. I don't really watch TV. Yeah. Do you watch movies or listen to music? Read books? What's your... I've been on a reading kick lately. Okay. But I just have a lot of things to do after work most days. So by the time I get home, it's like 8.39. So what do you do? Quite the social life. Yeah. I'm really involved in my... Meeting people for wine or... No. Um... I'm really involved with my church. So in the summers, we do a discipleship group with the high schoolers. So we do a chapel with them every week. That's Monday nights. And then Tuesday's my book club. Then Wednesday, we have church again. Then Thursday's usually more of the social event. That's like if an IDA event happens after work or whatever. Those tend to fall on a Thursday. And then my very exciting social life, Friday nights, I make no plans so I can sit on the couch and do nothing but it's your day of rest it is Friday night inside is my my jam But yeah, I've been more reading. Right, but you're in a book club. I am in a book club. And you meet every week? Mm-hmm. Okay, wow. Chad's also in a book club. Yeah, but we read, it's once a month is when we get together. It's just like read what you want kind of book club. So we all meet at the library and then we just split up and read for like an hour and then we come back and tell each other what we read about. Like we're all reading different books. I know. And then we just pray for each other and then go home. Is it a regular group? Like I mean, is it the same people like every time? Yeah. Cool.
UNKNOWN:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:So it's been super fun. So that was our second rapid fire. Yep, it's moving right along. What's your number one design pet peeve? So many. Oh, I was going to say, I feel like you have an answer. I have so many. Yeah, there's too many to choose from. I'd say plastic laminate countertops. Especially with the amount of solid surface options and how much that's progressed and they look good now. I literally had a contractor try to VE a solid surface countertop because he thought it was quartz. And I'd be like, hey, no. That is the VE. So when we have resources like that and you're going to use the plastic laminate that chips and peels and bubbles when it gets wet, that drives me nuts. Okay. If you were trying to impress someone with a meal, what would you make or what would you have catered? I would cook. A couple options. Usually something pasta-related. I, in New England, grew up with a lot of Italians. Big fan of their food. And my family was Greek, though. But I have this, like, sun-dried tomato Tuscan chicken pasta. It's so good. Sounds good. Sounds great. In college, another... I talk too much. Sorry, you can cut me off. But... This is... It's a podcast. So it always cracks me up when the podcast guest is like, oh, I'm going on. I'm going on. Well, there's supposed to be rapid fire, and then I just keep... But no, in college, I used to... Not every Sunday, but a lot of Sundays I would do family dinner and have all my friends over. Oh, nice. And I'd make my own spaghetti sauce, which was really cheap in college to make a lot of. So I'd cook it all day, and then everyone would come over and we'd have spaghetti for dinner. That was a fan favorite. Nice. I think that you also do a potluck dinner up here, like an industry potluck dinner, and then invite me and Chad. I'm just throwing that out there. Yeah. We could do that. I also like hosting. I could just have y'all over for dinner if you want to bring the kids and the wives. Perfect. Describe yourself in three words. That's one. Introspective. Complex. I don't know. The look on your face and you're
SPEAKER_00:like, complex.
SPEAKER_01:Fine. Um... I don't know. I hate talking about
SPEAKER_00:myself. Thanks for coming on the show. I
SPEAKER_01:mean, I'm not talking about myself the whole time. We're talking about design and things, but I don't know. I say I'm fun. Fun, fun, fun. Fun and complex. Sleepy. I'm sleepy a lot. Sleepy? Yeah. What time? Yeah. 3.30 is usually my, like, I either need another coffee or a nap. Yeah. So we're getting close. So you have your phone in military time? Oh, yeah. Because, so it's been that way most of the time I've had a phone because I kept setting my alarm for like 7 p.m. instead of 7 a.m. And then I was late to high school a lot and my mom would get mad at me. One of the more practical answers. That is. And then now it's just there. If you could have any superhero power, what would it be? Invisibility. Invisibility? Yeah, 100%. I'm nosy. It's not that you don't want to be seen, you want to creep on people. No, I don't want to be seen so I can be in places where people don't think I'm there and listen to what they say. That's what Chad said, so you can creep on people. Not creep, but more so if they're talking about me. Like, I want to hear what you're saying. Not like, what are you doing in your free time? Follow up. If you were invisible, what's the first place you would go? I don't know. Probably, this is probably going to get me arrested. But like, I don't sound like top secret. I don't know. Like the arsenal. I was going to say redstone arsenal. Yeah. Go into some war room and just be like, so what are we planning, guys? They're like, how'd you get here? And I'm like, don't worry about it. Don't worry about it, but this carpet looks great. Hey, you need a designer bed. Yeah. Here's my card. So is that your question? Yeah, that was my question. Okay. Well, this is a terrible question. No. You're on theme. What candy do you find is the most overrated? Overrated. I don't know that I get raving reviews of candy often in my life. But... I don't know. Skittles? Skittles. Not a Skittles fan? Taste the rainbow? No. Don't taste the rainbow. No, I wouldn't recommend it. Stay away from the rainbow. Kind of chalky and gritty. And then just like that artificial chemical taste. I'm also more of like a chocolate than like a sour... person. You should have him make some ice cream for you. And it's just like liquid at that point. I made this for you. I'm going to bring it to the dinner that we have. I'll make dinner. Sort of cold soup. Yum. It'll probably be delicious though. Yeah. Okay, this is my last one. Okay. Your project just got a boost of$50,000. Where do you spend the money? Well, that's not a ton. Okay,$500,000. She negotiates well. Yeah. My dad told me to get a job spending other people's money, so I did.$500,000. I'd probably just like... step up the finishes like if we had a tile floor maybe doing a little bit more intricate pattern or something versus like go to like a marble look instead of a concrete look or something countertop I don't just dress it up I don't think I would add anything because I'm usually you know pretty good at making a whole design complete no matter the budget but Well stated. When he said$50,000, my first thought was like, just add it to our fee. That's going in our bank account. That's one of the more practical answers. Add that to our CA budget because I'm sure we're going to go over. No,$500,000. You're making Donna proud. Put it in our bank. No, I'd probably just dress everything up. Maybe add a wall covering if that got taken out. You're like, I'll take everything and make it more expensive. Yeah. But look more expensive, too. Yeah. Not just the same thing for more money. All right, my final question is... the same as my first one. What's your favorite thing? Jesus. He is everything and everywhere. Nicely done. Well done. He's a little disappointed you didn't answer that the first time. Sorry, God. But you got caught flat-footed. It's okay. He knew you were going to recover. He's in my heart. Recently, we've been finishing the podcast with a custom AI song made. But I want you to come up with three random words for AI to have to try to figure out how to put into the song. Okay. Spunky. Spunky. Tree. Tree. That's funny. Look out the window. You know, Chad, we need to make the guests sit in a different seat. Did they also say tree earlier? Yeah. She said tree. Did the exact same thing. It was like, I don't... Tree? In our last episode, one of the words was tree. Bridge. Bridge. Bridge. All right, and what genre? Rap. Rap. Nice. Perfect. Well, great. Thank you so much. This has been fun. Awesome. Enjoyed having you on. Thank you for having me. Thanks, Grace. You were great. Of course. See ya. See ya. See ya. Toodles.
SPEAKER_00:Yo, Grace is in the house, spunky as can be. Working at KPS Group on a crazy design spree. Her family's got that syrup fresh from the tree. Maple sweetness flowing, it's a family legacy. Sugar shacks in the woods, that's the place to be. Grace got the flow designs, her specialty. Chad's asking questions that don't make much sense. Got some color to the day. She builds the bridge with her design, no fear. Transforming spaces, making them shine clear. Sugar shacks remind her of family. DA to KPS, watch her grow. Chad's questions don't stop, but Grace stays on track. With her spunky vibe, she always brings it back. Mark loves his chocolate and that vanilla vibe. But when Grace drops the knowledge, it's the real design tribe.