Where Peace Anchors with Dr. Alphonso Buie | Ship's Log #37

“Do it right or don’t do it at all.” 

- Dr. Alphonso Buie

Episode Summary

Becoming an interior designer “wasn’t on my bingo card,” Alphonso Buie says. Yet here he is in his 40s, building a new career in Atlanta, running Place of Peace, and loving it.

The name came from his grandmother, who always told him that a home should be a place of peace—“and if it’s not, you need to figure it out.” For years, Alphonso didn’t fully understand what she meant. Then he created a home of his own that finally felt calm. Now he helps other people find that same feeling.

His conversation with Jeanne moves easily from why your bedroom—not your office—should be your sanctuary to the healing that can come from letting go. Alphonso shares the story of a client who finally released child-support paperwork she had carried for 27 years. They also talk about mixing metals and colors because “anything matches if you design it right,” Peppercorn accent walls, grasscloth wallpaper, and fabric-and-furniture pilgrimages to Gayle K and High Point.

Beneath the design talk runs a deeper theme: reinvention, letting go, and making room for other people to succeed. As Alphonso puts it, “There’s more than enough for us to eat.”

The conversation gets candid, too. Alphonso opens up about the panic attacks and medical leave he experienced after a workplace rumor involving—of all things—a Beyoncé concert spiraled into an investigation.

Then it’s time for Two Truths & A Lie. Alphonso’s three stories involve teaching in Beijing, being fired over Beyoncé, and winning a million-dollar penny-slots jackpot. One of them isn’t true. You’ll have to listen to the end to discover which one.

Guest Bio

Alphonso Buie is an Atlanta-based interior designer, entrepreneur, and former hospitality professor who once taught business in Beijing. His design career began unexpectedly when an accidental Instagram post grew into a thriving business.

As the founder of Place of Peace, Alphonso specializes in creating “museum-style” homes that allow the art to tell the story. He also does much of the hands-on work himself. Part designer and part therapist, Alphonso helps his clients decide what to keep, what to release, and how to create a space that finally feels like home.

Guest Links
Website: www.placeofpeace.co
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/drbuie
Instagram: @place_of_peace_llc

Guest CTA
Let’s figure out what we can do to get you to a Place of Peace. 

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Transcript

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— Cold Open: "Anything Matches If You Design It Right"

Speaker 0:03

I think part of it is being visionary, you know, seeing what's not there. Another part is being creative. My mother's a very creative person, so I get a lot of my creativity from her. And then I really

— Intro

Speaker 0:15

don't have bounds on design. You know, some oh that's taboo. Like I'll mix metals, I'll mix colors. You know, people say, oh, that doesn't match. Anything matches if you design it right.

Jeanne 0:28

Welcome to Project Candor, Ordinary People, Unexpected Stories. I'm your host, Jeanne Andersen, your Admiral of the Unexpected. Today we're stepping into a conversation about design, not just of spaces, but of life itself. Joining me today is Alphonso Buie. Dr. Buie is an Atlanta-based interior designer, entrepreneur, and former hospitality professor. As founder of Place of Peace, Interior Designs, he specializes in transforming spaces with refined aesthetics while leading community initiatives, mentoring students, and advancing projects that blend design, culture, and business innovation. This is going to be a really good conversation. I'm so excited you're here.

Alphonso Buie 1:14

I'm

— "It Wasn't on My Bingo Card"

Alphonso Buie 1:15

glad to be here.

Jeanne 1:16

So I'd like to start asking you some questions first. Is there anything you'd like to tell the audience?

Alphonso Buie 1:22

Well, I'm based out of Atlanta, Georgia. And so this was so interesting in how this all came about because being an interior designer wasn't on my bingo card. So the first thing I can say is it's never too late to find your calling. I didn't think I would be on this road in my 40s, but I love it. I really do. I think a lot of times we shy away from entrepreneurship because it's scary, right? Because you're used to insurance and certain things being taken care of. But I say take a chance and venture out on your own and see what happens. You know, you only have one life to live. So I'll say that the name of my company's Place of Peace. And I got that from my granny. And so she always said your home should be a place of peace. And if it's not, you need to figure it out. And so when you're young, you really don't know what anyone's really talking

— A Place of Peace — Granny's Wisdom

Alphonso Buie 2:15

about. I mean, think about all the songs you listened to over the years. You didn't really understand until your first heartbreak, your favorite heartbreak song.

Jeanne 2:22

Right. Exactly.

Alphonso Buie 2:24

It wasn't until my home was in a place of peace that I realized, okay, I understand what she means. And so when it came time to name my company, it was a no-brainer. It was place of peace. So what I do is I strive to help individuals gain that, whether it's at work, whether it's at home, whether it's just in a commercial space where you're hanging out, you know, I really want you to just be at peace.

Jeanne 2:50

Oh, great. That's wonderful. So that follows along with me. When I in a new house, you know, the first thing I try to decorate is my bedroom because they call it my sanctuary. Oh, yeah, that's really anytime anybody bothers me or if I'm just stressed, I want to go in my sanctuary. So I want a relaxing chair there, a comfortable bed, everything perfect. So I get what you're saying.

Alphonso Buie 3:14

You just spend most of your time in your bedroom. Really? You know, people have these massive homes. You sleep at anywhere from five to eight hours, you know. And think about it, you're gone most of the day. So

— Your Bedroom Is Your Sanctuary (And Your Brain Knows It)

Alphonso Buie 3:25

by the time you get home, you do some things around the house if you work your a regular eight, you know, eight to five job, but then you're in your bedroom for the rest of the day.

Jeanne 3:33

Yeah, that's very true.

Alphonso Buie 3:35

So, you know, I always encourage people to just go like whatever you want in your bedroom, put it in your bedroom. It's your restorative space, like health-wise, you sleep. It should be your mental safe space. I always encourage people not to put other things in their bedroom. So I learned that in China when I lived over there, that spaces are kind of small, right?

Jeanne 3:55

Right.

Alphonso Buie 3:56

And so you kind of have to figure out, you know, how to maximize on space there. And I had a one-bedroom studio, and all of a sudden I couldn't go to sleep. And then so I found out when I went to the doctor, is because I was doing work in my bedroom, so my mind couldn't differentiate when it was time for me to work and when it was time for me to shut down and go to bed.

Jeanne 4:17

Oh.

Alphonso Buie 4:17

Yeah, so a lot of people who can't go to sleep in in their bedrooms is because they have a little mini office in the corner. So...

Jeanne 4:24

Oh, okay. Well, I have a TV. I know that's a no-no.

Alphonso Buie 4:30

Look, I have a TV as well. So, but I don't think I watch morning news and I turn it on as I'm getting ready, and then I turn it off. I'm not a watch till I go to bed guy.

Jeanne 4:40

Yeah, me either. I just sometimes I want to go in there. That's why I call sanctuary. When things go wrong or something, I might sit in there and watch a series or something that you know just calms me down. But anyway, that's really nice to know. So uh, how do we know each other? Wanna go there?

Alphonso Buie 4:58

Yeah, so Freda introduced me to you. So she, you know, Freda's uh a client of mine, and and she is just phenomenal. And I call her the great connector because she always knows someone, right? And so, and she has these amazing stories, and you you just wouldn't believe it just by who how she carries herself. She's very humble and quiet and simplistic, but uh in the same breath, she loves people, she lives this great life and just this beautiful spirit. And so she said, Hey, I have a friend who has a podcast. Would you be interested? And I was like, sure. She said, Okay, I'll send her an email, and then here we are today.

Jeanne 5:36

Yeah, I think that's so cool. Yeah, she's a wonderful person, and she's also been on the podcast, too. Um, so everybody needs to check out the episode with Dr. Freda Brazle.

Alphonso Buie 5:45

I need

— The Great Connector — How We Met

Alphonso Buie 5:46

to check out that episode to see what her podcast looked like.

Jeanne 5:49

Yeah, wow. I want to see it because you said that she's gonna have her home featured in uh where? Did you say that?

Alphonso Buie 5:56

Yeah, the Atlanta Style and Design Magazine. So we just did the photographer last month. Excuse me, it's policies here in Atlanta. So if you've ever lived in Atlanta, it's just it's like a layer of yellow over everything.

Jeanne 6:08

And so I didn't live in Atlanta proper, but I lived in Roswell.

Alphonso Buie 6:13

So you understand. Yes. Basically.

Jeanne 6:17

It didn't snow last night, it pollen.

Alphonso Buie 6:21

Right. We have pollen season, summer, and a little bit of chill in the fall. So those are our three seasons. But um, back to Freda, her home is going to be featured in an Atlanta styling design, and I think what you can expect as part article, part design. And what you can expect with that is to see a lot of earth tones, minimalistic, so not overcrowding spaces, but still having those special moments of color. So...

Jeanne 6:53

Oh nice.

Alphonso Buie 6:54

Yeah, and I let the artwork kind of tell the story. We definitely went with a museum-style home with all the artwork that we are going to feature. It's just a beautiful scape. You know, it's one of my favorite projects. All my projects have I love, but this is definitely one of my favorites.

Jeanne 7:12

Well, I know she showed me a video you did. I was talking about that to you earlier that you had sped up the design process and had, you know, put up this beautiful mantle place and just pictures aren't everywhere. It was just so refined and so nice. That's just a wonderful video.

Alphonso Buie 7:31

It's interesting when I meet clients because they have all these ideas. And so she has all this artwork, and it's just gorgeous artwork she's collected over the years, and she's she downsized her home. And so she thought she had to let go of a lot of it, and I was like, no, we're gonna use all of it. She said, What? And so I was like, trust me on this. So instead of investing in a lot of decor, I went with a museum style, and so basically what that is, is I use the wall space to feature different art pieces she may have, masks, sculptures, we use uh podiums and arrange them in various collages or interesting ways. And so the piece you're particularly talking about, the mass, what I did is I created kind of this floating bar, and then I mounted it on the wood floating bar is it's hand stained. And a lot of the work I actually do myself, which is, I believe, different for interior designers. You know, I mean, don't get me wrong, I do hire people for certain things. You know, I won't do your plumbing, I'll do my own plumbing, but you know,

— Museum-Style Design & the Floating Mask

Alphonso Buie 8:39

like I know how to do electrical, but the reality is if I want to be sustainable in business, I have to bring people on who can do these things, you know, and so but if it's a small project, I'll do it really quickly. And I love those special projects where I get to be hands-on, and so that was one of them. And so mounting and framing those masks and creating some backlighting to it. If you go to my Instagram, you can see it. So for those who are listening to the podcast, go to my Instagram. It's uh place underscore of underscore peace underscore LLC, and you can see I think it's my highest viewed Instagram post, that one right there.

Jeanne 9:17

I can vouch for that. It's so nice to look at when you're doing that and how it comes together and how beautiful it is when you're finished. It's just a wonderful, yeah. Go out there and watch it, people.

Alphonso Buie 9:27

Thank you so much for that. But I think Place of Peace is a duality. It's not only serving my clients, but it serves me. I found, you know, it was my calming space when things may be going kind of chaotic in the world or in my personal life. So as I start designing it, I calm down and I'm just in a place of just zen and I love it.

Jeanne 9:50

Do you come to St. Augustine?

Alphonso Buie 9:52

I can.

Jeanne 9:53

I have a personal friend that vouches for you.

Alphonso Buie 9:59

I can come to St. Augustine.

Jeanne 10:01

Oh my gosh. My house is a mess. We like downsized three times in like five years, and so moving from Florida to Wyoming, then back to Roswell, and then now back to Florida. And so nothing matches. Oh, it's just sad. But anyway, this is uh interviewing you, not my house issues.

Alphonso Buie 10:25

Oh, it's okay. Look, this happens all the time. I'm okay, you know, and it is it's part of the process, right? Because I can tell you what we can do with your home as well. Because people move from place to place when you think about it. And so when I come into spaces such as yours, my goal is to make it cohesive. And so what I do is I find that common thread or theme and I weave it all together. The other thing is, what are you willing to let go of? And most people say nothing, you know. And I tell people I'm a therapist as well. And people don't believe me until I enter their home. They're like, You really are a therapist. So I have one client, and she just I was redesigning her office space, and you know, she's a school teacher as well, or she works in education and she's a therapist at the same time. And so she has clients that come

— The Designer as Therapist — What to Let Go

Alphonso Buie 11:13

over and so on and so forth, and she has a uh like a two-bedroom condo. And so she just has all this paperwork, and I was like, Well, what is all this paperwork? You know, we gotta get you some file cabinets, but I'm gonna challenge you. What can you let go? And so she was going through one box one day, probably two weeks later, and she was like, Oh wow. She said, I didn't realize this was in here. I was like, What are we talking about here? And it was her child support papers, and so her kids, her youngest child is 27. And so she was like, What do I do with this? I was like, I think you let it go. Do you need it? And she was like, No. She said, Yeah, you're really right. I'm holding on to some of these negative experiences, and I need to let it go. I was like, Yeah, because what is that paper serve, you know, at this point?

Jeanne 12:05

Right, right, absolutely.

Alphonso Buie 12:06

Children are grown, and you know, she threw it away and she was kind of tearing up and she was like, Wow, I'm really done with that. You know, that was a hard situation to be in. I was like, Well, you know, I'm glad I'm here to help, you know. And you you'll have people going through photos and they find a photo of a parent or grandparent that had passed away, or something from their children, because I I have another client who's holding on to a crib so they can pass it down to their kids. And I had to explain to them in this day and age, by the time your kids are old enough to have kids, there'll probably be a crib that can change the diapers for the kids if they want first.

Jeanne 12:42

Yeah, give them a bath and everything.

Alphonso Buie 12:44

Right.

Jeanne 12:47

Plus, those things like that, those and they're antiques to the point of people, you know, they have recalls, and sometimes these beds from before they take them off the market saying unsafe for your child, they can put their heads through the rails. Yeah, that sounds like good advice to them. But let's roll back a little bit because we didn't start with, you know, talking about your credentials as a psychiatrist because you're a doctor of psychiatry. Is that correct?

Alphonso Buie 13:15

No, I I'm actually I have my doctorate in business.

Jeanne 13:17

In business. Okay.

Alphonso Buie 13:19

Yes. Yeah, I have my doctorate in business. So my journey, I grew up in Chicago, Illinois, born and raised there. And that's where I kind of got my foundations for working with my hands. So I took work working, I took electrical plumbing. I went to Chicago Park District. During the summer, you had to take different crafts. So I learned how to do art. I learned how to sew, but I didn't realize this would all lead to me being an interior designer, right? So I went to uh the Chicago High School for Agriculture Sciences, found my love for plants. So like I was in charge of the greenhouse, had my own landscaping business. And so I believe that's how I'm able to have an eye for color and what goes together and what doesn't. Then I from there I went to Lincoln University of Missouri, got my bachelor's and masters, uh, got my bachelor's in agriculture, got my master's in business administration, found my love for business. Went back to uh Chicago after I graduated. I worked for pretty much every area of hospitality. So I worked for a conventional visitors bureau. Actually, that's I did that while I was doing my master's, worked in restaurants for quite some time, worked for an airline, and I was an overnight concierge once I moved to Philly because I started doing my doctorate, and so I stepped back from management to you know finish that

— Chicago Roots to Beijing Classrooms

Alphonso Buie 14:42

up. And so from there, I started adjuncting in Philadelphia, found a job in outside in like Radner, PA.

Jeanne 14:52

I know where that is, strangely enough.

Alphonso Buie 14:55

You know where Radner is.

Jeanne 14:56

Yes, I'm I'm trying to think, isn't that it was where an air conditioned company I worked for in my IBM years.

Alphonso Buie 15:08

Yep. York. Just a little ways down from um Vanderbilt.

Jeanne 15:12

Yeah.

Alphonso Buie 15:13

And so adjunct, started applying for jobs in China. I started abroad, then I narrowed it down to China because I started getting interviews. And so landed a job, taught business courses as a lead professor in China, in Beijing, China, for about five years, came to Atlanta, Georgia as a program chair, and I started interior designing as a hobby. Like it was never anything on my bingo card. And I started with my place because when you move all these places and you go overseas, I can't take my furniture with me, so I got rid of everything. And so when I moved here, I had six bags, and so I got to start over from scratch. And when I say start over from scratch, I mean like I'm buying a broom, you know. Think about the last time you really had to start over, you know, and you had to buy a broom. And so I, you know, I got to pick the furniture I wanted, and you know, I was posting my process on Instagram and my friends saw it. So one of my buddies was like, hey, come do my place, and then it happened again. Then it happened again. The next thing you know, I have a business. It was never intentional. And so two interesting things happened at the same time. My job at the time investigating me, uh, started an investigation of me because I attended a Beyonce concert.

Jeanne 16:35

Oh, wait, wait, yes, your stories. Let's don't go there. We gotta get to your two truths and a lie. I don't want to tell everybody before you get there.

Alphonso Buie 16:44

You don't know if I'm telling the truth or not, though.

Jeanne 16:47

I know could we tell a twisted truth? You know, that job didn't work out, right?

Alphonso Buie 16:56

And so I won the lottery at the same time. So it gave me a little money to really propel my business.

Jeanne 17:02

So you didn't put that in the two truths and a lie.

Alphonso Buie 17:05

That's what I'm saying. You don't know which one is which. So they keep you on the cliffhanger. So I think that, you know, this was a very liberating experience for me. Being able to work for myself and build a business, it's been a very encouraging because people really believe in you, you know, and it's been so interesting. All of my part-time employees are people who wanted to work with me. Like, hey, I saw your work. Can I work for you? And you know, I'm like, you don't necessarily take people seriously, and but then I had a buddy of mine say, Hey, listen to them, like bring them on, see if they really want to work. And every last one of them have. And so I'm very thankful. You know, I didn't know this would be a journey. I have some great mentors in the

— Six Bags & an Accidental Business

Alphonso Buie 17:52

business who didn't want anything, they just wanted to help me. And so, and they're all successful designers too. They say, Oh, this is this more than enough room for us to eat. There's more than enough space for designers.

Jeanne 18:02

Oh, I like it. I like the way that you said that. That say that one more time.

Alphonso Buie 18:06

There's more than enough for us to eat. You know, there's more than enough room for there to be designers.

Jeanne 18:11

Nice, because they say that a lot in businesses. Oh, don't go there. There's too many. Like podcasting. There's too many podcasters, you know.

Alphonso Buie 18:18

There are not enough designers. Because there are endless amounts of homes. You know, even I have my capacity of how many homes I can juggle at a time. I've had clients who have 26-room homes. And mind you, this has only been a little over three years.

Jeanne 18:35

Do they play for Atlanta Falcons or something?

Alphonso Buie 18:38

Well, they're from overseas and they have a few large homes. And so they found me through uh social media. I do have uh contacts in magazines as well as like Angela's and Thumbtack. And so clients find me through various sources. A lot are word through mouth, which is very important.

Jeanne 18:58

But 26 room homes. Wow, that's a lot.

Alphonso Buie 19:01

Yeah, they literally have a tree that goes from the basement of their home up to the second floor through the middle of the home. Like, it's so awestrucking when you walk in, you can't even believe it. I was just like, wow, okay.

Jeanne 19:15

Well, I have not even heard in a residential home or somewhere you're living to have the tree in the middle. But Atlanta is the city of trees. I will say that. There are so many trees everywhere. I could not believe it. You can't see the highways.

Alphonso Buie 19:29

I know, as right now with the pollen.

Jeanne 19:33

Yeah, exactly. Well, it's so interesting how you got there. Like, but why what makes you see things, you know, spaces differently than you think other people do? Like, if I was to look at something and say, I don't know what to do there, you would come up with five other ideas.

Alphonso Buie 19:49

I think part of it is being visionary, you know, seeing what's not there. Another part is being creative. My my mother's a very creative person, so I get a lot of my creativity from her. And then I really don't have bounds

— "There's More Than Enough for Us to Eat"

Alphonso Buie 20:04

on design. You know, some, oh, that's taboo. Like I'll mix metals, I'll mix colors, you know, people say, oh, that doesn't match. Anything matches if you if you design it right. I think my traveling all over the world, you know, I've I've lived abroad, I've traveled abroad, even in the United States, you know, the West Coast is totally different than the East Coast, you know, North, you know, like growing up in Chicago is totally different than going down to Mississippi and seeing just design and decor in New Orleans. So I believe having these different elements influence my lives. And then my client. So I I've really listened to my clients and see and try to see their vision and then take it to that next level. And then if it doesn't exist, I can create it. So I can tell you how many times I'm like, that doesn't exist, I'm just gonna make it. And they're like, what? And then I make it, and they're like, oh.

Jeanne 20:59

Oh my goodness. Well, tell me you said you learned how to sew, too. What what do you sew? Do you sew in curtains or know how to get somebody to do it?

Alphonso Buie 21:11

Both. So if you're looking for a straight hem, I'm not your guy. But if you if I need to put a button on, I'm your guy. If I if I gotta, you know, because sometimes we may receive furniture and there may be a little like break in the seam, I can take my a needle and and fix it up real quick to where a client won't even notice. You know, okay. It's those little things. And I think being able to do those things helps me, you know, meet my deadlines and just kind of add that extra value, you know, because there's a certain level of craftsmanship that comes with my business.

Jeanne 21:47

Yeah, that's very nice. I know um they don't teach those kind of things in school anymore, but my husband was born in Sweden and raised in Sweden, and they used to have to go to classes where they learn to sew iron. Buttons on. I don't think they do that in the schools here.

Alphonso Buie 22:03

I'll tell you what, one of my part-timers, I taught him how to do wallpaper to the point where I could leave a room and not even look over his shoulder anymore. And you know, and I'm all about growth and expansion. I'm never gonna hold you back. But I was like, look, hey, if you want to start a side wallpaper business or, you know, any other business, go ahead. And you know, I can help you with your profit margins and help you come up with your your platforms. You know, I encourage him to get his LLC because he wants to be a general contractor one day. He's in school for that. And so I always push people to always have a craft in their back pocket because you never know what may happen. You know, and putting a wallpaper, you know, right in the middle is usually $300 per row unless it's the ceiling, and then you you double it. And so it's not something that a lot of people know how to do. Curtains, drapery, my goodness, finding someone who can do drapery is tough.

Jeanne 23:03

Yes, it is.

Alphonso Buie 23:04

You know, and to your point, these are lost crafts. There are people who don't know how to operate a hammer. I'm not joking. Like a drill or hang a picture, change a light. Like they'll call me to do the simple task, and I'm like, you could have done this yourself, you know.

Jeanne 23:24

Yeah, that's so very sad that people don't know how to have, you know, they don't have any crafts. I call it, like you said, law skills. I always wanted to do an more than school is

— Lost Crafts — Sewing & Wallpaper

Jeanne 23:36

what I was gonna call it, kind of business where people could come in and learn some of these things. But the problem is there's no interest.

Alphonso Buie 23:44

I don't know if it's no interest or no time. You know, life is so it's really busy these days. And I trust me, I know because running my own business, people like, oh, you could do that at night when you get it, you know, get at home. I want to sit.

Jeanne 23:59

Yeah, you need to relax. Yeah, you need to relax.

Alphonso Buie 24:03

So doing that one thing, I'm like, I'm going to bed.

Jeanne 24:06

But see, I like to sew too, so I gotta tell you, even when I try to relax, I can't relax. So here, I'll give you a case in point. Maybe this will resonate with you. I go to relax, I want to watch something, and I like to watch British TV. Everybody, I keep saying that on my podcast, but there's a show, and I don't know, it's on a British broadcast, but I think it's Irish or something. It's Shetland, maybe it's Scotland. I don't know. It's somewhere. Anyway, Shetland. And I find myself looking at how the set designers have tied the water in Shetland, which is phenomenally beautiful, and the landscape is so beautiful. And all of the people's outfits. I'm like, oh my gosh, he's wearing the most beautiful blue I've ever seen. Oh, this guy's got blue and a green with it and a uh rust color. Oh, wow. And I sit there and I can't relax because I'm just like involved in the clothing and the tie-ins.

Alphonso Buie 25:04

I think noticing those, you know, and I love set designers. I watch certain shows and I watch a lot of anime. And so I do look at how they play with color or textures, or oh, that would be something really good to implement. Like recently I watched Bridgeson, and so they do a lot of wallpaper Wayne's cotton boxes on a wall. So whether they'll paint around it, put the trim, and they'll put the wallpaper in the trim and then put artwork on it. And so I I do modern versions of that. I will take colors that don't necessarily you think will go together and and and find just that right hue of it. Oh or that right shade, and then it works, you know. So because people say, Oh, I want rust. Okay, do you want deep rust or do you want a bright rust? And they look at me like, huh? You know.

Jeanne 25:53

Yeah, I just want your canned from Sherwin Williams Rust, oh. It's not that simple. Even there, it's not that simple.

Alphonso Buie 26:01

Even white, my favorite white last year, and it's I think it's gonna be this year as well, is Ivory Lace, because it has a cream undertone to it, but it's very subtle. And so any client tones, I put that white in, it worked. You know, it's like, oh, I love it. It's not gray, it's very warm, you know. And because I have a Sherman Williams color palette, and I'll spread it out. I'm trying to see if it's around here. Oh, here it is. Here it is. And so by the time I spread this out, let's say for white, I'm just go to some of the whites. Look how they're all so different. These are whites.

Jeanne 26:37

Oh, right. Yeah.

Alphonso Buie 26:39

These are whites, and then some will have a purple undertone or a green, you know. So I say, hey.

Jeanne 26:46

Find a color. I don't know if you can find it fast, but my favorite color and what we did our house in was we decided to do where the TV is in our den. We decided to paint that wall dark, and the rest of it's lighter around it.

Alphonso Buie 27:01

I love a great accent wall.

Jeanne 27:02

It's really good, but we picked, and I sat in these rooms, and I would say, What do I want there? What I picked this color peppercorn. Peppercorn? Yes. Is it Sherner Williams? Yes. It is so phenomenal. It is like brown, not brown, purple, not purple, black, not black.

Alphonso Buie 27:23

I have a client who just used the peppercorn in their powder ring for the ceiling. We do this really nice chocolate wallpaper, and it's it's called chocolate plume. It's made by Arison. And it has a metallic, and it's just like simple and wavy. Because I'm all about your powder room, can you can go crazy in your powder room because you can close the door if you get tired of it. Yeah. But I think the powder room is where you can get creative and play with colors and designs.

Jeanne 27:49

It's small and you can redo it a million times, too.

Alphonso Buie 27:52

You can. Oh my goodness. You know, I was I tell people all to yeah,

— Color Stories — Rust, Whites & Peppercorn

Alphonso Buie 27:56

peppercorn, uh 10, 236. Yep. Here it is, right here.

Jeanne 28:01

Yeah, I don't know what, but we put it on there and then we painted where we have this big giant kitchen island. Yep, there you go. And we have this big giant kitchen island. So we painted the bottom of that peppercorn and then the one wall. So, because it's not in the same kind of room. And the funny part is that when you sit to watch TV, the black peppercorn looks like you're in a theater. And so it does this multi-purpose thing. And I guess that's the kind of stuff you you can evoke when you're doing yours. I'm not really into design very much, but when I wanted to do it for myself, I was this really picky about trying to find it, find the right colors.

Alphonso Buie 28:38

Well, I love dimension in the space, you know, and I think that's what you have to figure out. And so I'll play with color blocking in combination with wallpaper. I love wallpaper because wallpaper isn't like my granny's wallpaper, where it's just apples on the wall, you know, it's really like intrinsic and that it can add texture. You know, so let's say you you want a texture on your wall, but you may not want it permanently, use a wallpaper. They do have like stucco style wallpaper or metallic wallpapers, and I can tell you how many times I've transformed a space with wallpaper.

Jeanne 29:14

Bamboo, I think. Yeah.

Alphonso Buie 29:16

Bamboo wallpaper. You know, you can have grass cloth wallpaper, cotton wallpaper, like it's endless. So I'm all about wallpapers.

Jeanne 29:27

Yeah, that's good. You know, the thing that's really cool in this day and age, too, is that if you can't find, and I don't even know where you look for wallpaper anymore, do they still have books of them at like your so I have uh a store I go to, it's called Wallpaper Your World.

Alphonso Buie 29:41

And so they had endless books. So they'll have York, they'll have Sandcar is another company, Advantage is another company. There's so many companies that wall coverings, wow wall coverings is another one. I love them as well. So uh, but needless to say, they're there Cuba is another one.

Jeanne 30:02

They still have them out there.

Alphonso Buie 30:04

There's an endless like array of wallpapers. And so they have a store here in Atlanta and they have one in Florida. I don't know where their store is in Florida, but they do have one in Florida. And Corey and Jack, they're they're their owners of the store, and they're actually my my mentors as well, because they're interior designers. And I found them looking for wallpaper for my house, you know. And so that's how it all meant, you know, and so I would go pick their brains about interior design, and they was like, you have a knack for this. You ever thought about just stepping out and doing it? Like, go for it.

Jeanne 30:37

Yeah, there's a I was trying to think of the name of it. Atlanta has so much, it's almost like you just need to go, just go there. People don't understand all the stuff that's there, but they have Gale K. I found it. I was looking on my computer down here because I was like, have you been to Gale K fabrics? No, no, oh my gosh. There's like three, I think, in Atlanta in different parts. Oh, you have to go there. Gail K. I don't know. These people are um from I don't know if they're Korean, I don't know, but anyway, they've owned this store for years. And so when I want to go up and look for fabric, I want to go there. And it's just like you say wall-to-wall wallpaper. This is wall-to-wall fabrics of all styles, all kinds. Some of them are like people, the designer dumps. Like I think I bought something because I wanted to make a nice shirt, and I got some dump from like um Ann Klein or something from New York. It was the fabric she had used the season before or something. They go, Oh, you got good taste. I'm like, Well, I just stumbled upon that and I like the color because I was watching Shetland for gosh sakes and it was blue. So it's crazy.

Alphonso Buie 31:52

I've learned a lot through people, and I've learned just exponentially just by doing, right? Right, exactly. Wholesale, you know, and once I learned that, that was like the cheat code, you know. I was like, oh, this is the markup on furniture. Man, this is crazy. You know, just how much things cost, or just being able to go up to High Point, North Carolina. It's not far from here, but anything dealing with homes goes through High Point, North Carolina. I had no idea. A whole city dedicated to furniture, wallpaper, Thomasville. Yeah, just like pick it, whatever goes in your home.

Jeanne 32:38

So that's my part. I was born in North Carolina, that's my part of the state. We came there. I would we were in Winston-Salem and came down to Florida, and uh North Carolina is the furniture capital of the world, they say.

Alphonso Buie 32:51

So it is. You know, people travel from all over the world, and I'm going again in April for um uh market because you know they like the hey, this is what's new. And whatever company you can think of, it's there. If they sell furniture or if they've bought furniture to resell, it's happening there, you know.

Jeanne 33:13

I've actually got them to ship some down to me um here in Florida. And I got some Alexander bed, I forgot the name of them. It was nice, but anyway, it was in their um their outlet, and I was like, she was walking through with her phone and showing me the furniture, and I'm like, I want that. And so I I was almost cheering when the truck came to my house. I'm like, yeah, this is my people. Anyway, yeah, I I go crazy and go into the furniture market, but I just don't have the cash. I mean, I'm not I'm not really got all that money to do all that. But anyway, so hey, it's getting time. I I think this has been fun because you are so good. I can't wait. I want you to write me if you go to Gale K. Because that Gale K. Oh.

Alphonso Buie 33:56

Oh, yeah, you got to send

— Gale K, High Point & the Fabric Hunt

Alphonso Buie 33:58

send me in an email, you know, and I'm gonna go. Because trust you, me, I'm always looking for fabric. Because I make my own valence boxes sometimes. So I was, and you know, that's I think it's something we've gotten away from.

Jeanne 34:08

Oh, you make valances? Oh my gosh.

Alphonso Buie 34:11

Yeah, yeah. So I make a balance box. Sometimes the curtain rod don't go with the design, so I was like, ah, this isn't, you know, elevated. And so I was like, oh, I'm gonna create a balance box.

Jeanne 34:20

Wow.

Alphonso Buie 34:21

You know, and I'm pretty handy to where I can figure it out.

Jeanne 34:23

Yeah, you're a cool guy to know. I'll have to have you down here. Can't fix my house. It's a mess. But um, anyway, and we want to play our two truths and a lie. So uh for everybody listening, our guest has provided us with two truths and a lie, or a twisted truth, or just an exaggeration. I don't know. And so we're gonna go around, I'm gonna read the headlines and I'm gonna guess and which ones I think is the lie, and then he's gonna walk us through each story, and then at the end of that, he's gonna reveal what it is. This episode is sponsored by Rebel 180, the home of brave pivots and fresh starts. Rebel 180 is all about helping you rediscover what's possible when you stop settling and start listening to that little tug inside that says, life can be different. Whether you're navigating a career shift, dreaming about a new direction, or standing at the crossroads wondering if it's time for your own 180-degree turn, Rebel 180 is a reminder you don't need permission to change your story. And now, as we open the door to our second sponsor, we're stepping into the world of tech. Simple socket print, the lightweight blazing fast label print solution designed for those who need reliability without the bloat. With version 1.5, you get instant printing in milliseconds, fully maintained print sequence, and automatic base 64 decoding all without needing print driver installs. If you're running SQL Server 2016 or newer, Simple Socket Print 1.5 drops right in and gets to work. Keep your workflow simple, keep your label printing fast with Simple Socket Print. Thank you to our sponsors. So, Alfonso, here's your headlines. You lived in Beijing, China. Somewhere I heard something about that, so I might guess that one. Uh Alfonso was terminated based on a rumor that he attended the Renaissance Beyoncé concert. We might already know that one. I don't know. And then you won one million off of penny slots. Oh man, I'm gonna guess that you did not get terminated because of Beyonce concert. I can't even believe that. I had somebody on the show, you will not believe this, that said they got a calling from God while at the Beyoncé concert. And I'm like, okay, I know he's everywhere, but what was he telling you?

Alphonso Buie 36:52

I love Beyonce, she's a hard worker. You know, if you go to one of her concerts, like, first of all, she's there, it's a three-hour party. We're like, we're in this together, you know, and she'll go and she'll change and she'll change sets. And I'm like, oh, not only that, when she has her concert, she's already building the sets for the other two concerts while she's at the current concert. So she's making sure all that's getting done. She has her outfits there already again. And I was like, this woman works hard. So I'm I'm a fan of her. You know, I I really am a fan of her. Like she has a business savvy to herself, and she puts she puts on a good show, you know.

Jeanne 37:31

Well, for you as a designer, I know that's just really like it's eye candy to see her gowns. I mean, there are certain movies I'll watch over and over again because I just want to see what they're wearing, what the sets look like, and exactly.

Alphonso Buie 37:44

You know, I'm just taking it all in. I'm taking it all in.

Jeanne 37:47

Yeah, that sounds good. So why were you terminated? Well, we skipped one. So you lived in Beijing, China. That was when you were doing what?

Alphonso Buie 37:55

I was teaching business courses in Beijing. So I was teaching at China Agricultural University.

Jeanne 38:01

Did you know how to speak Chinese or Mandarin?

Alphonso Buie 38:04

No, I don't know how to speak Mandarin at all. Not at all. So they they had to speak English in order to take my forces.

Jeanne 38:10

Oh, and they probably did. We're the lazy ones over here. We don't know any languages as much as other people. Oh, wow. Okay, so that was fun. How did what was your favorite food over in Beijing?

Alphonso Buie 38:23

Uh, so there was I fell in love with pork belly, believe it or not.

Jeanne 38:27

What? Yeah, that's a southern thing, anyways.

Alphonso Buie 38:31

It is, but

— Two Truths & A Lie

Alphonso Buie 38:32

they love, you know, a lot of the food was synonymous, believe it or not. And so pork belly turned out to be one of my favorites. They had this one cuisine called Hot Pot, my absolute favorite.

Jeanne 38:44

Oh, they have hot pot restaurants here. I love them.

Alphonso Buie 38:47

Yeah, I love hot pot. You like they have different broths and they you pick your meats and veggies and you put it in and you just eat and you I love hot pot.

Jeanne 38:55

Don't you have one in Atlanta? You gotta have one up there.

Alphonso Buie 38:57

Yeah, we got a few here. We got a few here.

Jeanne 39:00

Yeah, that's good. I like those too. Um, I like it. That ours has this um conveyor belt. One of them has a conveyor belt that comes around, so your vegetables come by you. And so you're like, oh, here's some weird weed-looking thing.

Alphonso Buie 39:15

It's probably lotus or dandelions.

Jeanne 39:18

Yes, it is lotus. It is lotus leaf. That is exactly what it is, and I love that. I'm I'm crazy because it makes your soup even more peppery or whatever. I don't know. It's it's crazy. All right. Well, so much for my food taste, but that we have a lot in common. So you'll do good. I'm there's one that's right down the road. So when you come to decorate my house, we'll just go.

Alphonso Buie 39:39

Oh, look, we're speaking into existence. I'm there.

Jeanne 39:41

Yeah, exactly. Then I'm just gonna come visit you and go to Gale K. Uh, I need more money. All right, so why were you terminated because of Beyonce? I can't believe that.

Alphonso Buie 39:52

Well, I was I'm terminated because of Beyonce.

Jeanne 39:54

Yeah.

Alphonso Buie 39:55

There was a coworker, she was just too invested in my life. And so some people just can't mind their their business, for lack of better terms. And some people, I think it was rooted in as long as you're around, I'm not successful. And so some people are crabs in a barrel that way. Whereas once again, I live in a realm of everybody can eat, you know, so I'm never going to hold you back. If one of my part-time employees came to me and said, Hey, I want to start looking for another job, let me know. I'll give you a letter of recommendation and let me know what I can help you with. You know, I was I was that way when I was a restaurant manager. I would find out what my my employees wanted to do, and I would invest in them, and in turn, they would invest in the company. And so I had some of the better shifts because they knew I cared about them. And so I think sometimes people fear that their light will be diminished if someone else's light exists, and that's just not true.

Jeanne 41:03

Yeah, that's sad. But what what was wrong with you going to a concert? Was it during the day when you're supposed to be at work or something? I don't know.

Alphonso Buie 41:10

No, it was just it was made up. So I went through a period in life where I was overwhelmed, and so for you know, in full transparency, I started having panic attacks and I had to take FMLA. And so came up with this wild story that I wasn't, you know, that it was all a lie. I was attending concerts and having fun and you know, all this other stuff.

Jeanne 41:34

Oh, okay. That's what her stuff was rooted in something.

Alphonso Buie 41:38

Her info was, yeah.

Jeanne 41:40

Yeah, but I hey you have like some issues that you want to just take a break, and then what does the concert have to do with uh that's just crazy.

Alphonso Buie 41:48

Exactly.

Jeanne 41:49

You should be able to have fun too.

Alphonso Buie 41:51

And then the the crazy part, I took FMLA in September. The concert was in August. Oh, you pulled them all here.

Jeanne 41:57

Yeah, but still, a concert. Come on, it's music, it can it's relaxing. You need the like when you're having trauma, you need that outlet.

Alphonso Buie 42:05

So Right, you know, I think people have this misconception of what healing and therapy looks like. It's different for every person. Right, yeah, you know, and so it can be a duality. It's part relaxing, it's part just getting out and just being you. And I think if well, the way in which I see it, the more a person can really just be themselves, the more grounded people can be. And with all the chaos going on in the world, we need to be as much grounded as possible.

Jeanne 42:37

Well, something like this has

— Fired Over Beyoncé (The Real Story)

Jeanne 42:39

got like emotions and makes you happy and could be a de-stressor, right? That's a totally different than if you say, Oh, I need FMLA because I hurt my leg and I can't walk. I'm almost crippled, I'm gonna be in a wheelchair. And then they're bungee jumping down or they're skydiving down at that thing over by Top Golf down here in Jacksonville. I forgot the name of it. But anyway, you know, that's a little bit different, but okay.

Alphonso Buie 43:04

Yeah. Well, I was totally vindicated from that, you know, to that situation. I'll say everything was supposed to happen the way it happened, because I I'm in a great space right now.

Jeanne 43:14

Oh, that's good. That's really good. Well, so did you win a million off of penny slots? Uh, tell us about that.

Alphonso Buie 43:22

So the the funny thing is there are pennies just everywhere. So I just I started collecting them. Because you know, there was, oh, there's a penny shortage. And so anytime I saw a penny, I just pick it up and I put it in a jar. I said, I wonder how many pennies I could collect. And and so once I had this huge jar of pennies, I was like, okay, I gotta get rid of them. And so my buddy was going to Atlantic City, and I was like, Oh, I haven't been there in a while. I got all these pennies, I'll just join you and play the penny slots. So we took a road trip up to Atlantic City and played the penny slots, and so and he was so angry because he plays the lottery and penny slots and stuff all the time, and so the one time I played. It because I never do. I win a million dollars. And he's like, I can't believe this happened. I said, Me either. So here we are now.

Jeanne 44:10

Oh, that's amazing. Well, that's a good start to your business.

Alphonso Buie 44:14

Okay. Yeah, right, right, right. Absolutely.

Jeanne 44:16

Well, I guess two. So which is the lie?

Alphonso Buie 44:19

The lie is three.

Jeanne 44:21

Oh. Well, your friend wasn't too mad at you then. Now, did he win it?

Alphonso Buie 44:30

No, no, no, no, not at all. But it was a it was a fun trip, needless to say.

Jeanne 44:35

Yeah, that's a problem with me, is like, uh, oh, that'd be so fun to put a quarter in and then win a bunch of money. But I don't gamble.

Alphonso Buie 44:42

So me neither, you know.

Jeanne 44:44

I I wouldn't be seeing that happening to me.

Alphonso Buie 44:47

So I'm like, all right, I spent $100, I'm done.

Jeanne 44:49

Yeah, I yeah, I think I had like $20 limit in Vegas, but I was just like, I can't just do that.

Alphonso Buie 44:55

I'm just not no fun. I'm gonna do everything but gamble when I go.

Jeanne 44:59

Yeah, I'm not that much gamble uh gambler. Well, hey, Alfonso, this has been so fantastic to have you on the show. And I know people are gonna want to get in touch with you in this airs. And so I provided down here the ways they can. And one thing that you did tell me was I asked you for a quote and you told me do it right or don't do it at all. So you want to say anything about that?

Alphonso Buie 45:22

Well, that's just what I I believe in, you know, especially when I'm when I'm working on someone's home, you know, I take it really seriously because you live there, you know, and you don't want anything to necessarily be out of place because it can mess with your psyche, you know, just that one off thing. And so I always encourage, especially other designers, you know, people are a bit OCD about their homes because that's their space, that's where you have total control. And then so here I come in as a designer taking your daily routine out of order, so you know, because sometimes you have kids and kids are on a regimen, right? And so if I do something incorrectly, it just ruins everything else. And so I don't want to come in someone's home and mess with their their Zen to where they they just don't feel at home. And so if I can't do it, I'll find somebody who can do it. Oh, because once again, do it right and don't do it at all.

Jeanne 46:19

Yeah, I like that. I wish my builder had said that. We're still putting down molding down the bottom, shoe penny molding, or what is that, shoe molding?

Alphonso Buie 46:30

Oh boy.

Jeanne 46:31

Yeah, yeah. You can't catch those on a walkthrough. It's like, I didn't see that.

Alphonso Buie 46:36

You know what? My friends love bringing me on a walkthrough because I I've Oh yeah. I was like, well, what about this? And this this is in sealed and and this isn't tight, you know. Yeah, wow. Really take the time, you know. I think when you're having a walkthrough, you're so excited. You really have to calm down and just really change your mindset. And I always say, bring somebody with you. There, they never wanted you to bring anyone with you. Bring somebody with you.

Jeanne 47:04

Yeah, that's true. Good advice. Well, here's uh ways you can contact Alfonso, and then I'll have these links, and his call to action is let's figure out how we can get you into a place of peace. So that sounds good. You need to reach out to him. All this information will be in the transcripts and in the show notes, and it'll get posted. But at the same time, I just want to thank you so much for being on the show and you know, sharing with us, you know, what you've come through and what you do. And I wish you all the best.

Alphonso Buie 47:38

Thank you so much. I really appreciate it.

Jeanne 47:41

Thank you. And for those listening, as always, I hope you tune in next week for another uh astounding guest. And until then, from your Admiral of the Unexpected, I wish you all smooth sailing. Thanks for joining me on Project Candor, where the doors are open, the stories are unexpected, and the treasure is always real. If today's episode made you laugh or think, follow the show and share it with your crew. Otherwise, I might just make you swab the deck. I'm Jeannee Andersen, your Admiral of the Unexpected. See you on the next voyage.