Caroline Alberstadt & Maggie Lambert - STV: 19

Marc sits down with designers Caroline Alberstadt and Maggie Lambert of Alberstadt Lambert Design for a lively conversation about creativity, partnership, and building a business that beautifully blends residential and commercial design. They share how their collaboration began, how their different backgrounds strengthen their work, and what it’s like balancing design, entrepreneurship, and family life. From new construction to thoughtful renovations, this episode offers an engaging look at the process of helping clients create spaces that truly feel like home.

Check out Alberstadt Lambert Design! [Website]

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hello everyone, this is Mark Charbonnet, and this is my podcast Seeds of Ville. Today we have a very nice treat. I really appreciate this being a designer. I am in a designer's office with amazing resources. I wish you could see it. And I am with Carolyn Albert Stadt and Maggie Lambert, and they are two very fine designers who work the um the in the cities of Baton Rouge and St. Francisville and in between. And I'm so happy to have you all today. Hi, Caroline.

SPEAKER_02 0:35

Hello there.

SPEAKER_00 0:36

Hi Maggie, it's nice to see you again.

SPEAKER_02 0:38

Hey, thanks for having us.

SPEAKER_00 0:39

Yeah, sure. So tell me about um how you two got into business together. Maggie, why don't you go first?

unknown 0:48

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 0:49

Well, I actually hired Caroline back in how long ago was that? Maybe 2010, I think. I um hired her. I lived in St. Francisville, and I hired her to come in and help me with some window treatments. And our meetings started out pretty normally, and then we ended up just chatting about design a lot. And then one day I dared her to let me come work with her.

SPEAKER_02 1:17

And she did a little, a little sketch and a little on in plan. And I said, Oh gosh, you really should come work for me one day. You really have, you know, the eye. And she's like, Well, all right then. So if you visit the city.

SPEAKER_00 1:32

How fortuitous that's wonderful.

SPEAKER_02 1:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:35

And Maggie, something I find interesting is that and Caroline, you as well, that you both have lived in different areas of the country, but wound up in Little St. Francisville. Maggie, I understand you now live in Baton Rouge, but you did live in St. Francisville in the neighborhood that I first lived in when I moved here. And Caroline, you've lived in several different cities, but you both are this Greater Baton Rouge, St. Francisville area. And I think that's really interesting. It's nice to have that perspective and that that um influence uh to work together. And it's interesting that, you know, you both from other places. Maggie, you're originally from New York. And Caroline, where are you originally born?

SPEAKER_02 2:18

I was originally born in Kansas. My parents are from Mississippi. We moved to Louisiana in the late 70s and graduated high school from there and then went to Ole Miss and then Louisiana Tech and then Chicago.

SPEAKER_00 2:33

And Maggie, I understand you came down here with your family and you attended LSU.

SPEAKER_03 2:39

Yes. So I grew up um on the East Coast, New York, New Jersey, and outside of Baltimore. And then uh around 2000, when I was graduating high school, my father got a new job here. So I moved, I made the big move. I'm a big old Yankee.

SPEAKER_00 2:57

No, you sound southern now.

SPEAKER_03 2:59

I know. I've been here now. So I've been here now longer than I was up there. So yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:09

You do, I appreciate it. You sound like my parents. You sound like a New Orleanian to me still.

SPEAKER_00 3:14

Well, it's new New Orleans and New York. And I love to tell people the story. The reason New Orleanians and New Yorkers have similar uh uh accents, if they are, is because the largest port of immigration was New York. The second largest port of immigration was New Orleans. So in the late 19th century, you had the Germans, the Italians, the Sicilians, the East European Jews, the Russians, a lot of Asians moving into both ports. Therefore, in New York, you hear someone say, I seen my mama this morning. Whereas in New Orleans, somebody says, Hey, you want to go make groceries this afternoon? And that's where those accents come from.

SPEAKER_03 3:56

That's actually funny. Uh, when I first moved here, um, I got a job waiting tables within the first week, and people came in and they started to talk to me, and I was like, Oh my gosh, I just moved here. You're from New York? And they said, No, we're from New Orleans. And I was like, Well, I guess I'm closer to home than I thought I was. So that's great.

SPEAKER_00 4:17

So, what year did you two get together?

SPEAKER_02 4:20

We started working together in 2018, um, out of my office in St. Francisville. And then I'd say around like right after COVID, we started really getting very, very busy and became formal partners in 2021 and um got the this office space at that point. And we've been here ever since. And we formed Alberset Lambert Design uh together and have been nonstop ever since.

SPEAKER_00 4:53

What type of work do you normally do? What projects uh is it residential? Is it commercial? How do you all is it one and the other or both?

SPEAKER_03 5:02

We do both. I'd say we're probably 70% residential, 30% commercial. Um, Caroline does more commercial work than I do, but we do both and um enjoy both of them.

SPEAKER_02 5:17

Yeah, I started my career uh with commercial architecture firms in Chicago doing corporate design, um, banks and large offices, things like that. And then moved when I moved to Baton Rouge, ended up working for a wonderful designer here who only does commercial work, Tracy Lemoy. And we did everything. We did libraries, schools, restaurants, spas, you name it, um, which was really a surprise to me. I thought when I left Chicago my career would be over and I was never gonna do anything interesting ever again. And it turns out I had to wear so many other hats than I ever, I was very much only corporate, high-end corporate design, which was beautiful and great and amazing. But when I moved to Louisiana, it was a whole different situation and I learned a ton. And then I ended up going out on my own when my youngest child entered kindergarten um and basically had been asked over and over again, do you do residential? Do you do residential? And I would always say, Oh gosh, no, I don't do residential. And then finally I said, Yes, I do, and started designing my house here in St. Francisville. And um that's where my love for residential began.

SPEAKER_00 6:31

But yes, we both have chops in both in both markets, which is now Maggie, I understand you really kind of fell into a pot of gold when uh Caroline came to work with you.

SPEAKER_03 6:44

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 6:44

Did you have design experience before?

SPEAKER_03 6:47

I had, I've I think if like if you asked my mom, she would say Maggie used to rearrange a room like once once a week. Um well then you have the gene.

SPEAKER_00 6:56

We all did that.

SPEAKER_03 6:58

Um I've always loved it. Um, I've always been really into art. My grandfather was an artist, and I've just always been very creative. Um, and I had helped friends with some things here and there. I had done a lot of things in my own homes, but not professionally. So um it was something I always loved and thought about. And then really just that one question one day from Caroline kind of put a little bug in my head and just kind of took off from there.

SPEAKER_00 7:26

Caroline mentioned that she has uh a youngest, and you have how many children, Matt? Four. So, how do you do this? That you both, I want to hear from both of you, how is it to be a busy parent and you have to get kids to school and you have to do all of those things and then you work? I mean, everybody does it, but give me your take on it.

SPEAKER_02 7:48

I definitely um think design has really lent itself very well to being flexible. Uh yeah, sometimes you work late hours and weekends, but sometimes you can take off a day and go on a field trip or volunteer at your child's school because also being your own bosses helps that situation a lot. But it is a challenge. It's a you really have to have that type of personality uh that's willing to juggle a lot of things. A lot of, you know, basically we we are project managers and we we manage our own home projects as well as our clients' projects. Uh I always like to say we have a lot of tabs open in the brain. And it it's it it very much depends on your personality, I think, whether you're gonna be able to handle that kind of um constant flux.

SPEAKER_00 8:40

Definitely being your own boss makes it a lot easier. It really, yeah. So, Maggie, what were you gonna say?

SPEAKER_03 8:45

It really does. Just to kind of piggyback off what Caroline said, it, you know, it definitely helps that we can we're in charge of our own schedule. So while I do have a lot going on with my kids, um, you know, I'm able to just schedule around that, try to schedule when they're at school, try to, you know, figure out when the best time is for me to get things done. And um, I mean, just like Caroline said, there's a million tabs open all the time, but just you just do what you have to do and we love it. So just make time for it.

SPEAKER_00 9:18

Maggie, tell me about some of your projects that you're working on now.

SPEAKER_03 9:22

Right now, I have I have one new build that we're in the um that's lingo. Yeah, one new construction, which means that uh new construction projects are fun because you kind of get to do everything from the basics, you know. Yeah. Um, right now we're scheduling a meeting to meet with the architect. So we're just in the drawing phase. And then what's nice about that is you get, you know, hopefully your clients trust you and you get influence over every decision in a house, which at the end you feel like it's it's your house.

SPEAKER_00 9:56

Everything from uh commercial residential.

SPEAKER_03 9:58

It's residential, yeah. So I have one of those right now. I have a lot of um, a lot of people right now are not moving or building just with the market the way it is. So right now I have a lot of people wanting to stay where they are, but kind of, you know, spruce things up. So I have a lot of uh furniture right now, window treatments, wallpaper, decorative pillows, art, um a lot of that right now. Whereas I think a couple years ago it was a lot more new construction and major renovation. People are kind of wanting to stay where they are right now and not make as big as investments, but hopefully that'll change.

SPEAKER_00 10:39

You know, it's interesting you say that. I interviewed Heather Melançon, who owned which is she has her woman's own construction company. Yeah and she does design as well. And she was saying the same thing that with property prices and interest rates being what they are, a lot of people really like their homes, but they feel like they have to do something. And she's working on a lot of redoes, redoing kitchens, redoing uh, you know, bathrooms, uh, changing the interior of a great room. And she said it's very rewarding, and people love it because they love their homes, and so they make their homes work for now. I think that's really great.

SPEAKER_02 11:18

Or they love their location, uh, they don't want to leave their neighborhood that they've, you know, their kids are comfortable there, or it's close to their kids' school, or whatever it is. It just seems like a lot of people are staying staying in place.

SPEAKER_00 11:33

Let me say one thing. Yesterday I recorded uh James Fox Smith from Country Roads, and he was a wonderful guest. But I've already heard the story, and he told us a story about how he and Ashley met. And have you heard that story? Yeah, it's a great story. I think you have a pretty great story, too, because you were focused. Tell us about it, how you and your love of your life got together.

SPEAKER_02 12:01

Well, my husband John uh and I have been married 31 years yesterday. And uh Congratulations. Thank you. Thank you. It was it was definitely quite a story. Uh, we went to high school together. I had a huge crush on him. He was a year older than me. I remember sitting behind him at the bleachers at the basketball game in eighth grade and being like, oh my gosh, uh John Aubersty's so cute. And we never dated in high school, dated each other's, you know, friends and whatnot. Just our paths never really crossed. Fast forward, I go to Olmus. He went to, I don't know, I guess LSU. I'm not sure exactly where he was at that point. He'd gone to multiple places. And uh I was home for Easter break and we were at a crawfish boil. And my good friend, who was, you know, we all were high school friends, her boyfriend brought him along to the crawfish boil because he had broken his ankle and was home, was off school until he could start the next quarter at tech, Louisiana Tech. And he was in architecture school. So we started dating long distance. I'm at Ole Miss getting a business degree. I start visiting him at tech all the time. And I fell in love with architecture and specifically interior design. And I said, I want to go back to school. And my parents were like, I don't think so. You're not going to just pick up and leave and go hang out with your boyfriend in a whole new place. So I said, okay, well, I'll finish school. Um, finished my business degree in three and a half years from Ole Miss, finished my last final on a Saturday in December in Oxford, drove on Sunday to Ruston. And on Monday, they had already started the quarter. Let me start late. I started Art 101 on that Monday morning and completely started my next degree over another three and a half years. So I have two degrees: business degree and a uh Bachelor of Fine Arts at Interior Design.

SPEAKER_00 13:59

And you told me that you were so motivated, you got your undergraduate degree uh in three years.

SPEAKER_02 14:06

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 14:07

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 14:08

It was.

SPEAKER_00 14:08

It was I was love.

SPEAKER_02 14:10

He was, yes, it was. He was in architecture school. Uh, so he was finishing up architecture school. We didn't quite align time-wise, but when we finally did, we both uh we got married. And the next couple of weeks later, we moved to Chicago.

SPEAKER_00 14:25

And so what did you do in Chicago?

SPEAKER_02 14:27

Uh we both worked, went to work for architecture firms in the city, had the the wonderful city adventure. Chicago's a wonderful town to to live in. It's very livable. Uh, we lived in Wrigleyville, um, Lakeview area by um by Wrigley, obviously, and um just had the time of our lives, probably the most fun years of my life, without question. It was just amazing.

SPEAKER_00 14:50

So I like Chicago too.

SPEAKER_02 14:53

Such a great town.

SPEAKER_00 14:54

So, what about your uh school, uh your university days, Maggie?

SPEAKER_03 15:00

Well, I moved here in 2000, started at LSU. It was a big change from what I was used to, but you know, Louisiana is pretty inviting, so that was good. Um so I actually graduated in um accounting. So I had started school originally, a few different majors in psychology, which I loved, really still love that. Um, but um I was pregnant with my first son, Aiden, who's 22 now, um, in school. So I took off a year, had him, um, I had gotten married and um decided, do I want to go back to school for six years and be a psychologist, or do I want to go back and get a degree? So I went back and I had taken business classes and graduated in accounting and um started my own accounting business, um, which I did for probably five or six years. Um and then when I got pregnant with my second child, I stopped working and I just was home for a while just having babies. And then when my youngest daughter, so I have three boys and a little girl, when she went back to Mother's Day out when she was two or three, is when we had moved back to Baton Rouge. And then that's exactly kind of when we hooked up. And um, I was renting a bit renovating a house here, called Caroline to ask her some questions, and that's kind of where everything took off from.

SPEAKER_00 16:28

Well, you both bring, you know, interesting parts to this relationship. And it's it they all flatter each other.

SPEAKER_02 16:36

We really do complement each other. That's what I tell people. Um, I I have some ski have certain skills. Maggie has other skills, and we just some of them are similar. Some of them, I really look at her and go, I need you to help me with this. And she says the same to me. And we carve out the time to be there for each other when we need to be, for you know, if we're not as comfortable in this particular, you know, phase of the work. Um, but we mostly are, unfortunately, we used to do everything together, and now we don't, we we've have had to divide and conquer, and it's sad because we don't have as nearly as much fun as we used to.

SPEAKER_00 17:14

Y'all ships in the night.

SPEAKER_03 17:15

When we started, we did all of our projects together, and then COVID hit. People had to sit at home and they got really tired of their homes. And well, it's so unfortunate for us, our business just kind of took off. And then now we have too many projects to do everything together. So it's a it's a good and bad problem to have. But like last week, we ended up, we're like, we need to go to New Orleans together.

SPEAKER_02 17:38

So we took a day, we had the day together, we got to have fun and we met with clients and we went and looked for rugs and lighting and things, but we also got to just hang out and it was great.

SPEAKER_00 17:52

Did you go to the new visual comfort showroom?

unknown 17:54

We didn't make it.

SPEAKER_03 17:55

We ran out of time.

SPEAKER_00 17:56

It's amazing. It's in my old hardware store where I used to go to buy hardware. Harry's Ace.

SPEAKER_03 18:01

We wanted to, it was on our list. Really impressive. We ran out of time.

SPEAKER_00 18:05

Yes. You have to put that on your list though, because it's really interesting. So uh tell me your approaches to dealing with a new client. Like, how do you they've they've decided they like your work and they're going to sign the dotted line, they have, and now it's your first meeting. What do you well tell us two things? What do you do to uh you know sell yourself? And what do you do once you have? Like, how does a project begin for you all?

SPEAKER_03 18:36

Well, for me, luckily, what most of our clients, I mean, we do advertise and things, but I would say 90% is just word of mouth. So when someone's calling us, they've seen something that we've done and they've liked it. So I I generally don't feel like I have to sell myself that much, but you know, we'll set up a meeting and generally meet with the client, ask what they're looking for. Um, you know, you get a good a lot of what we do is design and business, but a lot of it is um interaction and communication with people and really trying to figure out um what this person wants and what kind of a process they want.

SPEAKER_02 19:16

And what kind of what their problem actually is that we can solve. Cause sometimes they don't really know what the issue is. And so they bring us in to do kind of a full forensic um analysis.

SPEAKER_03 19:27

Yeah. So we'll kind of generally, you know, um first meeting, we'll go to the house or where the project is, we'll get a feel for what they want. Sometimes they know what they want. A lot of times they they have a picture of something they like, but they don't, like Caroline said, really know exactly what they want. So we'll ask questions, we'll look at pictures. Um a lot of times if a client knows I need to renovate my kitchen, but I have no idea, I'll start. I I usually ask what don't you like? That's a good starting point. Because normally people don't, they know what they don't like, they don't really know what they do like sometimes. So we'll start there and then we'll kind of go back to the drawing board, get a proposal together, send send them information about us and how we work and the process and our fees and everything like that, and then kind of hit the ground running usually. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:20

That's great. I was telling Carolyn one day, my thing was to show up at a new client who had signed the dotted line and bring lots of samples. And they weren't for anything. It was my test to get to know them. And what I really wanted to learn, and I would, because out of hundreds of samples of wallpaper, memos on furniture, uh, fabric samples, I would wind up with maybe half a bag of things that they both said they liked. And it wasn't for anything, it wasn't for a sofa, it wasn't for the kitchen, it was it was just to do a a yes or no. Because when you're dealing with a couple, especially, you gotta really cut it down. But what I really learned is what they didn't like, and it saved me so much time never showing them anything that they don't like. And it's important to know that that's a very good way to go.

SPEAKER_03 21:15

And I think a lot of times too, um, with something like fabric or where it starts to get really personalized, there's so many options that like you said, I just did uh some drapery and pillows for a client a few weeks ago. It was the first time we just started to work together, and I brought so many samples, and you know, we it took us a couple hours, we got through them all, we found something she loved, and then we went to a different room. And that time I probably brought 10 samples, and she's like, You got it, you know exactly what I like nowadays.

SPEAKER_00 21:48

Don't you love that?

SPEAKER_03 21:49

So, yeah, it was great.

SPEAKER_00 21:50

I love those those moments when you just hit the nail on the head. You were gonna say something, Carolyn?

SPEAKER_02 21:56

I was just gonna say, Yes, some in the beginning, um I Usually do bring just kind of a yesterday. I had a meeting and and I've gotten to know this client very well, but we moved on to another phase of lighting and more materials and different selections. And sometimes you can overwhelm people and they get really frustrated if there are too many choices. They're like, that's what I hired you for. I want you to edit that down. But knowing this client, I knew I could show her quite a few things and she wouldn't, you know. And yeah, it was great. She's like, okay, I love this direction, maybe not that exact thing, blah, blah, blah. But it's just kind of like, I know you have a feeling for this person, you have a feeling for their home, you know where what it should look like. And then, you know, show them the best thing. I don't, I don't get too hung up on price point or any of those. It's really more of a visual idea of where we're going. We certainly refine that. That's what you call more schematic design. Then we get into design development where you're actually refining those choices, you're crafting and and curating it to use that term, uh, to fit their exact needs, finding the exact thing that they would actually purchase. We do budget estimates. I mean, we we pretty much can do, we can do everything from plans to the pillow on the on the chair.

SPEAKER_00 23:17

And let me ask you this. Um, designers work in different ways. They some are by the hour, some are purchase fees, some are my net plus 25 or plus 50, some are uh they charge a design fee up front, and then they charge a fee on the purchases. How do you all work?

SPEAKER_03 23:39

We charge, we have a design fee that we we charge an hourly fee. Um, and then we also sell specific items. So we always say to our clients, because we have people that are, you know, we'll say, What's the markup? Um, it just really depends on how we receive. Are we we're getting it from our vendor at wholesale? Are we not?

SPEAKER_02 23:59

Um we going through a third party, um, another vendor because we don't have the volume, you know, to, but we're getting a percentage of that.

SPEAKER_03 24:09

So it it really depends on what we're what we're selling or presenting to somebody, but we just usually tell our clients, you're gonna if you buy through us or with us, you're not only guaranteed the service, um, but you will also pay less than retail, like if you went in on your own. So we combine that with an hourly fee. If we're doing something like generally like window treatments or something, or we're selling something, sometimes I won't charge somebody hours for that if they're buying it from us. But we also don't like to lock our clients in um to having to buy from us. Meaning at the end of the day, if we think the right choice for something in a room is a line that we don't carry, we're gonna take you and we want you to get the right thing or at the right amount that you can spend rather than just buying it from us.

SPEAKER_00 24:59

And I think Do you get a fee on that? I mean, if you've drawn that chair on your plan and then you have to go to Mr. somebody who you don't have a uh an account with, do you get a fee on that?

SPEAKER_03 25:10

Sometimes, and sometimes not. Like that's sometimes depends on the price point. Yeah, we're offered, you know, there's certain people that will give us a commission. Um, but sometimes there's not. We don't make anything on that selling that particular item. But like in those instances where we know it's right, at the end of the day, we both really want the design and the clients to be happy.

SPEAKER_02 25:31

And we that's why we charge hours, uh, hourly fees, because that does it does free the client a bit to pursue, you know, different avenues if they want to. We we encourage them to buy through us, they can, because to maintain design continuity, control over the design process. There's a lot of advantages to buying through us. But if you choose not to, we're still covered. We've done our the planning, we've done the all the due diligence that surrounds that choice. And uh, you know, other we can't we're not just depending on the the sale. And so that that kind of relieves some pressure, I think, from other maybe other designers who only sell. Uh, it makes the client feel a little bit less like they're forced into a situation.

SPEAKER_00 26:22

You know, New York was so competitive when I was very busy. Um, I did something which kind of shocked a lot of people. I would let clients pay direct and then they would pay me separately. So they always knew exactly what they were paying. And what I really liked about it was they had to pay the vendor tax. So I didn't have to do all those quarterly taxes, which I really liked. I just did a quarterly tax and it was zero.

SPEAKER_03 26:46

I just did I just was doing taxes before you got here. So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:50

And that that was a you know, people always think the decorator's ripping them off. They've had they've heard stories, it's kind of like par for the course, you know, they just think that. And this way, if they were paying direct, it was like, uh, don't worry about it, you know?

SPEAKER_03 27:03

Yeah, I think we've done something right because we really haven't had any. I mean, you know, you have certain people that ask more questions than others, but I think in if you ask most of our clients, they would just feel that we're very fair.

SPEAKER_02 27:16

And try to be as transparent, you know, as possible. I mean, we are you know, there's we're all here to do a job. This is not a hobby. Yes, we are here to make money. So true, it's not a hobby. It's not a hobby, and it's uh it it is a fun job. I love we love our job, but it's a hard job.

SPEAKER_00 27:34

It's it's exhausting, and sure, y'all know that it's it's a lot of work and people don't really realize they'd call you because something's late and they're acting like you're keeping it at in your apartment under your bed.

SPEAKER_03 27:45

I know, I know. It's hard. You have to, like I said, a lot of it is managing people also.

SPEAKER_00 27:52

It's a good thing you were in psychology because you wind up being shrewd.

SPEAKER_03 27:56

I I feel like it helps sometimes. You know, people are we're not saving lives, you know. I think what we do has a lot of value, and we're hopefully helping people create a home they love, spend their money wisely. But at the end of the day, you know, it's people's money and you're spending their money for them. And um, that's a big responsibility sometimes. So at the end of the day, like, are you this upset about a throw pillow? I mean, you have to respect that your client hired you to do something.

SPEAKER_02 28:24

So hopefully they they let you do what they hired you to do, and and you can help alleviate the process of building a home or well to to say to um add to what you said about you know, are we holding back on something that is out of our control? And as you well know, we depend on vendors, we depend on tradespeople, we depend on lots of different moving parts. And unfortunately, that is a reflection on us when things go wrong. And we are the person who gets the blame. And another reason why we do have a markup on things, because things might be really somebody messed up somewhere. Well, somebody's got to pay for that. Uh, somebody's got to return damaged items, somebody's got it's just you you have to cover yourself. And um, that that definitely is an issue. We had I had an issue recently um where yeah, I've I mean I'm going back tomorrow for probably the fourth or fifth time on a project that I'm you know, isn't it was not I did all the things I could possibly have done to make it come out right and it and it just didn't, and that's unfortunate, but it happens, and luckily this person client was very understanding, but it was still embarrassing, you know, because you feel so responsible because they're part of your your team.

SPEAKER_00 29:50

I get it, it's it's the truth. So uh are you thinking of expanding?

SPEAKER_03 29:57

I mean we actually have been um we love our our studio space right here, but um we're kind of busting at the seams. Um so we've been looking at other um places to expand to and also when we do that, maybe just expanding our business model a little bit to be a little bit more of a showroom where we can um, you know, sell clients what we sell already, but also have like furniture that they they can come and sit on and um just trying to make it a more um inclusive experience for them and being able to offer them more things that we'll have room for. Whereas right now we can meet with our clients here and we can look at fabrics and wallpaper, but you know, it's um there's room for expansion and we're really excited about it. We actually met with a uh rep for a furniture line earlier, and so hopefully that'll be something that we can kind of just keep growing from.

SPEAKER_02 30:57

Hopefully in the next six months, we would like to be able to make a move. We'll see. We have our eye on a place, but it's gonna require some work. So we're gonna have to see how it goes. But yes. Yeah, it is exciting, and and we'd really, yeah, we as you know, we'd like to be on the first floor because it's exhausting.

SPEAKER_00 31:17

Do you ever get to work with your husband since he's an architect?

SPEAKER_02 31:20

Yes, actually, I do. Um, he we kind of call him our architect on staff, architect on call. Uh, when we have uh renovations, I mean we we do house plans as well from the you know the ground up. Um, but mostly when he helps Albert Stat Lambert design is when we're doing a renovation or an addition or something that is requiring um more structural detail, more code detail, et cetera, that we would never want to, you know, dip our toe into without professional involved. And so we do, you know, have him do some of that work for us and with us, and we work together and we've we're working on several right now.

SPEAKER_00 32:02

I'm just remembering that uh, I don't know how I forgot to bring that up. Carolyn and I worked on a project with Ellen Kemon, the restaurant in the middle of town, uh Petra. And uh Carolyn did the plan, Ellen picked the paint, and I took all of those beautiful sepia pictures that you see in collar and just put them on a sepia wash and they were blown up. Yeah, and that was a fun job. We were called the three amigos back then. That was so much fun. It was fun. That's how we got to meet numbers. Yes, it is. Well, ladies, thank you so much for joining me today. I can't tell you how much I appreciate it. And I actually love doing this on site, it was actually a nice thing. Normally we're at the producer, Ellen Kennan's home, which is also very nice. But uh this was a nice change. So uh thank you for meeting with me.

SPEAKER_03 32:56

Thanks for having us. It was fun.

SPEAKER_00 32:57

We had a great time. Thanks so much. So remember, y'all, to uh keep following See the Ville on Apple or Spotify or any place you listen to your podcast. And uh also remember I do a tour called The Ghost of Bayucera, and I would love to take you on one. It's a really interesting tour of St. Francisville and the history. So thank you very much. I look forward to making another See the Ville with some other very interesting people, but I had a wonderful time today. Thank you.