From Set Design to Entrepreneur: How Home Decor Impacts Mental Health | Dabbs Decor

In this episode of More Than 2 Min, we sit down with Donna Dabbs, owner of Dabbs Decor and Gifts, to explore her journey from a quiet, shy girl growing up in Oak Cliff, Texas to becoming a successful entrepreneur, home designer, and creative force in the Dallas area.

Donna shares how her early experiences at Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts shaped her love for design, staging, and storytelling through space. From working behind the scenes in theater production to building a business rooted in intentional design, affordability, and community impact, her story is one of growth, vision, and purpose.

We dive deep into:

• The power of home decor and interior design in shaping your mental health
• How color, lighting, and space influence your mood and daily energy
• Why home staging is essential in real estate and how it helps buyers visualize their future
• The journey of launching a women-owned small business in DeSoto, Texas
• How to decorate your home on a budget without sacrificing style
• The difference between trends vs. personal style in your living space
• Why art, culture, and exposure matter in our communities

Donna also breaks down how she turned her passion into a business, the risks of entrepreneurship, and how she creates a positive, affordable, and unique shopping experience for her customers.

This episode is more than design—it’s about identity, creativity, community, and building spaces that heal and inspire.

So sit back, grab some tea, and get ready for a great conversation!

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Thank you for tuning in for more than two minutes. I'm your humble host, Will E. Sometimes the way we decorate our home says more about who we are than anything we post online. The colors we choose, the furniture we keep, the pictures we hang on the wall. All of it tells a story about identity, culture, and memory. But in a world where trends, social media, and algorithms constantly tell us what looks good, it raises a bigger question. Are we designing our spaces or are those spaces being designed for us? Today we're talking about reclaiming authenticity through creativity, entrepreneurship, and community. My guest is Donna Dabbs, owner of Dabbs Decor, a boutique business located in DeSoto, Texas, helping people create spaces that reflect who they really are. This conversation is about more than decorating. It's about identity, it's about mental health, and it's about the environments that shape the way we live. So sit back, grab your tea, and get ready to listen to Donna Dabbs on more than two minutes. Thank you, Donna Dabbs, for joining me today. Donna Dabbs, owner of Dabbs Decor and Gifts. Well, thanks, Will, for having me. Absolutely, absolutely. So I always like to start with the background of the guest. Okay. But I have one question for you before we get into your background. Okay, so the Donna Dabs of today. I don't even know what today is, all right? I know it's Sunday. But the Donna Dabs of today, okay, out of all the the experiences you've had, uh, your journey, um, everything, what would you tell the Donna Dabs of the 10-year-old Donna Dabs?

SPEAKER_05 1:49

The 10-year-old Donna Dabs, I would tell that uh you won't always be so quiet and shy. Okay. I was always known as a sh quiet, shy girl. Really? In school, yes. Okay. So I kind of kind of grew out of it, but I'm still a little a little shy.

SPEAKER_01 2:10

You you're shy when you need to be, right? Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I I learned to fake it till I make it. See, and that's important. Yeah. That's really, really important because, you know, in each episode, I always talk about me being uh I I don't like the word creative, but I have to use it because, you know, I'm a creator. Uh but it's it's very interesting because when I was growing up and everything, I heard that a lot. Yeah, just just fake it till you make it, fake it till you make it, fake it till you make it. And it's like, okay, okay, okay. And then I finally made it, and I was like, but it doesn't feel real now, you know. So, but that's uh that's that's very interesting. All right, now the good stuff. Okay. Where did you grow up? Oak Cliff, Texas. Oak Cliff. We're proud Oak Cliff being. Man, I tell you, I tell you, I tell you. It seems like, and I don't know what what the universe is telling me, but every single guest that's been on more than two minutes, they've been from Oak Cliff. Well, one person was from South Dallas, but my dad is from South Dallas, but Oak Cliff.

SPEAKER_05 3:12

We love Oak Cliff. You know, it gets a bad rep, but it put out great people, I think. Absolutely. Absolutely. What part of Oak Cliff? Lancaster Keith. Lancaster Cleese. Actually, my husband's from Leinster Keith, also, just two, three blocks from where I lived. Oh, did y'all know each other growing up? Yeah, we went to Johnny Lee Bryan together. We went to school, went to Aldo Wendell Homes together. Okay. Um, my dad worked at the post office right across the street. Long story short, he I I was a cheerleader for the little league team he played for, his dad coached. So we kind of knew each other, but we never talked until really late 20s. No way. Way, way. Wow.

SPEAKER_01 3:51

Yeah. Okay, so y'all saw each other grow up.

SPEAKER_05 3:53

Yeah, and it kind of, I think we both had like crushes on each other, but you know, he thought I was, I was a quiet shy girl. So he never, and I was kind of a brainiac as he called it, but I never talked. That's cool.

SPEAKER_01 4:06

No, that's really cool. Yeah, I always tell Viv, so um, I grew up in Oakliff, right? Born and raised Oak Cliff. Vivian, she's from Oklahoma, right? And we didn't meet each other until our 20s. But I always tell her, I remember when you were 10 and you were rolling around, and she looks at me, she's like, boy, please. So, growing up in Oak Cliff, going to Johnny LeBron, then you went to OW Holmes. Yes. Okay, I went to Johnny LeBron. I went to OW Homes, all right. And then what uh high school did you go to?

SPEAKER_05 4:36

I went to Arts Magnet. Arts Magnets. Booker T. Washington Arts Magnet High School.

SPEAKER_01 4:40

I'm trying to think how many people have been on. There have been a lot of people on the show that have gone to arts. And I have to, and I always say this, okay. So I was accepted in the arts, but I didn't go. Long story. Not gonna get into it. Anybody's interested, go check out the last episode. Okay, so you went, what did you audition uh for?

SPEAKER_05 4:58

I actually went my sophomore year.

SPEAKER_01 5:00

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 5:00

Uh so I didn't really audition. Um I got in because I had good grades. But my freshman year, I went to a Miss Shield Smith and they kind of ran me out.

SPEAKER_01 5:11

It was a little rough. Oh, oh, let me on that one there. Uh okay, a rabble rouser. Okay, so you went to arts. Did you graduate from arts? I did. Okay, so uh did you have I know that they had just regular students there, but uh were you involved in in any of the um clusters as they call it?

SPEAKER_05 5:37

Clusters. I was in theater because as even as quiet as I was, always thought I wanted to be the black Carol Burnett. Okay, I wanted to be, I thought I was funny. I like the slapstick. I like so I basically idolized Carol Burnett and I wanted to be her. Really? Grew up Carol Burnett, I love Lucy, those were my shows. Those were your shows.

SPEAKER_01 5:58

Those were my shows. Wow, okay. Yeah. Okay, I'm I'm wow, okay, okay. So do you have any memorable moments um when you were at arts? I mean, were you any any uh in any particular shows or uh no?

SPEAKER_05 6:14

Actually, once I got there, I realized I like doing the background stuff, like the lighting and the sound. I I love that directing. I love the background stuff. Even in my life now, I do a lot of background.

SPEAKER_01 6:25

Okay. I love so that's is it safe to say that's where you were first introduced to designing? Yes. Okay, or the concept of design. Yes. Okay, it definitely is. So uh was there a particular type of set design that you did at arts?

SPEAKER_05 6:39

Um it's not really, we did. Everybody participated and everything we learned to sew. You know, the background, you learned to sew costumes, you learned to build background sets. Um so for any productions that they had, I worked on them all. Okay. So every everything from flooring to stage directions to lighting. Yeah. I loved it all.

SPEAKER_01 7:05

Yeah, yeah. It I guess in my mind, I'm thinking when it comes to designing, you really have to pay attention to detail.

SPEAKER_05 7:12

Yes. We had to study the script, read the script, study the script, and come up with designs that best match the strip the script and the characters. Really? Yeah. So it wasn't just saying, okay, I'm gonna build a house here. Okay. Well, how how is this gonna make the character feel? Yeah. How um how does it affect the scene? Yeah. You know, there's placement. Yeah. You know, you have to one thing you learn about theater is that, you know, they never turn around. I don't know if you ever notice in theater, you never turn your back to the camera. Right. So it's always what the camera sees, or in theater it's more like what the audience sees. So you have to be cognizant, cognant of that. Right, right, right.

SPEAKER_01 7:49

But I guess it it also makes it very, very challenging, you know, because you you like with a script, you start from nothing and you turn it into something. You start with an ideal. Yes. Then you turn that ideal into substance. But I I imagine you're doing the same thing when it comes to a set. Yes. Okay, so you start with just a blank stage, so to speak, and then you have to build up from there, right?

SPEAKER_05 8:13

It takes a lot of studying. Um we would look at, you know, past productions, Broadway shows, how they did on Broadway, how they did it in the movie, maybe. And we would take pieces of everything to adapt to our stage. Because remember, each stage has a different setup, a different size. Right. So we have to do adapt those things to our setting.

SPEAKER_01 8:36

Okay. So tell me about home. Uh, because I know that when I was in school, all right, I did a lot of music. But music was my life. So everywhere I went, you know, music was with me. So I'd go go to school. I'm playing the drums and everything loud, come home, playing them even louder. Okay, so did you take any of the the design or your interest in designing? Did you did you take it home and did you have like this really uh eccentric room or anything like that?

SPEAKER_05 9:03

Well, I shared a room with my sister, so okay, you know, O'Clift, the O'Cliff, the houses were a little small. Right. Uh, but yeah, I make sure I decorated my side. My side was always different. Yeah. Um, you know, I'm not an artist per se. I I married down on my name. I use my name as dab, so I dabble. That's a good thing. I dabble in art. But um, you know, just like any little girl, I would do the the star posters. I had Todd Bridges on the wall, and which may be showing my age a little bit. But um, you know, we go out and pick our own comforter sets and pick, you know, it's just things like that that I could control. Yeah. When I got older and had my own place, I was very particular about what I put in my house. And I mean, even on a budget, I didn't have a lot of money, yeah, but I knew how to shop and find the best deals and and make my place feel like a home.

SPEAKER_01 10:00

But tell me about that first, that first spot or the first place that you had and you went out and you actually started decorating. I mean, did you just say, okay, I'm gonna just decorate, put some stuff here and there, or whatever, or were you intentional with the way that you designed it?

SPEAKER_05 10:13

I've always, always been intentional. Uh I've always been intentional. I knew that my funds were limited, but growing up, my father always told me to save, taught the whole house, save for what you want. Don't just go out, it's not quantity of things, it's a quality. Right. So I would save for what I wanted. Right. You know, there's a like right now, I I love carousels. And the first piece of art I bought, um, it was black kids on a carousel. Well, it wasn't really my budget, but I just saved for it. I put money back, put the money back. And my first piece of art was in my 20s, and uh it was black kids on a carousel. Wow, that's cool. Yeah, and so my furniture's made, my furniture may have been, you know, admid, but I made sure the accessories were a little better.

SPEAKER_01 11:04

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know my first spot, uh, I was not intentional at all. Yeah, it's it's like it had a bed, had a sofa, and a cup, one cup, one dish, you know, that was and that was it. That was solid.

SPEAKER_05 11:17

So No, I learned early that you get a piece of art and then you pull those colors out to accessorize your house. Find something you love, yeah, and then you can accessorize your house with. Whether I went to Salvation Army or Goodwill or you know, a garage sale, I'll find those things that I thought went with my style.

SPEAKER_01 11:38

Yeah. Did you have any influences back then? I mean, were you were you influenced by a particular person or a particular um you know type of art or television, magazines, anything like that?

SPEAKER_05 11:51

Not really. Back then, we didn't have a lot of influence. You know, we didn't have internet. Um, if we did, it was just starting. Yeah. And so we didn't have internet access. I just had a feeling of what I liked. And if I saw something I like, I put it together. Wow. Okay. So as far as that's concerned, now I had influences in the arts. I love Debbie Allen.

SPEAKER_01 12:17

Really?

SPEAKER_05 12:18

Yes. You know, after Carol Burnett and I love Lucy, Debbie Allen was the first person I saw that did everything. To me, she sang, she danced, she did, she acted. So that was she was my idol back then.

SPEAKER_01 12:31

Yeah, I remember I remember Debbie Allen from Fang when she was with that stick, and it's like, oh man. See, I'm glad I didn't go to arts.

SPEAKER_05 12:39

Yeah, because we had to take dance too. Right, right. We had to take every aspect of uh the art. Right. Music. I can't remember what I did, but we did everything.

SPEAKER_01 12:48

That's wow. So thinking about your your home, your family home. So if someone walked into the home, what would they find out about your family?

SPEAKER_05 12:59

Um, they will find out that we didn't have a whole lot, but we had quality items. Yeah. Um my parents took pride in the home. It was always clean. You know, everyone had a chore. My chore was, you know, back in the 70s and 80s. Everything was glass. So I cleaned all the glass, all the mirrors, yeah, the glass door in the front. That was my job. And everybody had a job, and it was always clean. Yeah. It was always tidy.

SPEAKER_01 13:33

That's so wild because we had a lot of glass in our house. So we had like the China cabinet. Uh-huh. And I got so tired of the glass. And then, you know, I broke stuff and get in trouble. But it seemed like every family back then. The glass was important. It's like either glass or plastic on the sofa. It's like you're either gonna have one or the other, or maybe both. That that velvet couch, you had to keep not the velvet couch.

SPEAKER_05 13:58

The velvet couch and the glass with the uh brass around. Yes. Yes. Had a Sunday China, so and so my job was to keep it clean, including the curio or china cabinet or that we had. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:13

But my job was to keep all that clean. Oh, I'm glad that glass uh went out. Me too. So let's talk about your transition. Okay, so you left um uh arts, okay. You started being a young adult and kind of finding your way and and figuring out, okay, am I going to be on a path or I'm going to take a journey? Okay, so I believe that most creatives, they end up at some point in time taking a journey because they discover themselves, right? Right. So when it comes to you and and you know, and I don't know exactly when you uh founded Dab's decor and gifts. But I believe it, and correct me if I'm wrong, but at some point prior to establishing your business, you said, This is what I want to do. Right? So what was what was that moment like? When did you have that moment where you said, I want to design, I want to do interiors, I want to collect gifts, I want to, you know, collect art. What was that like?

SPEAKER_05 15:17

Well, that's a comp it's a combination of things. Um, my husband and I've been married 30 years now, and we have two boys, but we've always had that entrepreneurial um mindset. We even have, you know, meetings at the house, a table, and we talk about, talk to our kids when they were eight, nine years old about okay, what kind of business are you gonna do? What are you what are we gonna invent? What are we gonna do? But it was always about um being an entrepreneur. Yeah. Um and my trade, I'm a real estate agent also. Okay. So I'm a real estate agent and also an investor. So we're buying housing, selling. I was um either in real estate or investing, I was um staging homes. So we're doing a lot of staging. We had the Airbnb that, you know, we staged the whole home. When I say we mean. I talk in we because, you know, we already, my husband and I already team. I got you. But, you know, I staged so many homes, and in staging, I was trying to find um things that were affordable, things that were beautiful but affordable.

SPEAKER_04 16:27

Right.

SPEAKER_05 16:27

And what made me step into DAB decor, there were several things. One is, you know, I've been in DeSoto a long time, 20 over 20 years. And so I watched the path of DeSoto and I I would go to some of the meetings, whether it was entrepreneurial meeting or, you know, uh business plans, what they wanted to do, the 10-year plan, 20-year plan. Right. And one thing I noticed was on the plan was DeSoto didn't have any home decorating or uh furniture stores. And so I kept that in mind. Now the light bulb moment was when um, because I lived at Target, I was a tarkaholic. Target holic. And every year I would wait for their black history uh items. Okay. And so I would wait patiently and then I'd buy a few things, and next year I rush to buy more things. It was just something I look forward to. Right. But as you know, we decided to boycott. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And at that moment I decided, why am I waiting year-round to do something that I should just do for myself? Right. I there's no reason we should wait for February to celebrate our history. Right, right, right. And also the fact that Big Lot was leaving. So they gave me an opportunity. I already knew in my mind what I wanted to do, but when we start boycotting things and stores start closing down, it just gave me an opportunity to do exactly what I wanted to do.

SPEAKER_01 18:03

That's cool. That's cool. Now I want to go back to staging homes because I think that's a that's interesting. Yeah. I think it's cheating. You know, it's real estate cheating. It's not cheating.

SPEAKER_05 18:15

It's giving people vision. Some people don't have vision. You'd be surprised if some people don't have vision.

SPEAKER_01 18:20

Yeah, they don't have vision. And what they're gonna do is walk into that house with that one cup, that one plate, and and they're gonna say, Well, why does my house not look like but anyway, okay, so the whole concept or the art behind staging a home. All right, how does that work?

SPEAKER_05 18:41

It gives people, I mean, again, some people don't have vision. Right. So you walk into a blank space and they can figure out where am I gonna put my couch? Yeah, how is this gonna look? How am I gonna decorate this? Right. You know, even people, if you notice when home build home builders always have model homes because it's telling you that's staging, it's telling you this is where this goes. This is this is how this can look.

SPEAKER_01 19:04

Even if the people don't have furniture. No.

SPEAKER_05 19:08

No. And even though.

SPEAKER_01 19:10

So they're gonna take the old furniture and go into the new house and try to arrange it like this. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 19:17

Okay. It gives an idea. Okay, Donald. How many times have you walked into the house and go, Well, where am I gonna put my television?

SPEAKER_01 19:23

Oh, I know where the TV always is gonna go, you know.

SPEAKER_05 19:27

But the whole stage is to let people know your house can be this beautiful. Right.

SPEAKER_01 19:31

No, that I think that's cool though. I think I think it's really cool because it it it when you when you start talking about colors, you know, and and the way colors pop with certain, uh, maybe it's a sofa or a chair or even a painting. You know, I'm really big into art. And and so I get it. I I I understand how staging can give someone the vision that they may not necessarily have. And some people are visual folks, you know? Yeah. So it's it's not like they just wake up and say, you know what? I'm going to create something today.

SPEAKER_05 20:02

So it's easier to sell a home when they can see themselves in it. I mean, even some homes that aren't staged, they may have some really old furniture and and their mom's antique, it may be beautiful to them. When people come in and they, it can be a fairly new home. They go, oh, this house looks old.

SPEAKER_01 20:20

Right, right.

SPEAKER_05 20:20

But it's because of the furniture in it. It's because so you have to know who your customer is or who your clients are, um, who you know, what neighborhood you're in, and what do you what they're looking for in that neighborhood? You're not gonna reach everyone, but um know your demographics.

SPEAKER_01 20:36

Okay, yeah, that's important. That's important. So when you got ready to open your business, did you have either a particular fear or were there a set of challenges that you had to overcome?

SPEAKER_05 20:48

My biggest fear is um not making any money. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:55

No, that's real.

SPEAKER_05 20:56

That's real. That is this is the biggest fear is being broke.

SPEAKER_02 20:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 21:00

And so we had to look at our finances and see, you know, if I didn't make a dime, how long could I last? Right. Um a lot of times people go into business and there's no money. Right. You know, and they they've gotta make that income every month. And I love to do that. Yeah. But I realistically, you know, before I did uh real estate, I was in accounting. Oh, wow.

SPEAKER_03 21:23

Wow.

SPEAKER_05 21:24

So I am a numbers person.

SPEAKER_01 21:26

I was gonna say, it's all about numbers.

SPEAKER_05 21:28

Yes, I'm all about numbers. In my store, I try to keep everything a certain price point because I know where I am. And I know that, you know, yeah, there are people with high incomes, but there's my audience is usually um first time buyers or people to come in and buying for their children and move into their new apartments or new houses. Yeah. Um and they're working class people.

SPEAKER_02 21:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 21:54

So I try to keep my prices at a working class uh price range. Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:00

I think, you know, this it's interesting you said that because uh not too long ago, actually it was a couple of days ago, I read this article and it's talking about, you know, um if you are an entrepreneur or a small business owner setting price points. And it was talking about that a lot of times uh people they set the price based on what they think someone will purchase, you know, purchase it at, opposed to looking at the time, the energy, uh what you had to do to either bring uh that item together or for you to go out to purchase it. And you know, and and they were talking about the difference in uh the knowing what the customer wants versus knowing what the customer will buy.

SPEAKER_00 22:41

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 22:42

And and I, you know, I was sitting with that for a while and I was like, okay, now that's kind of heavy. I don't know why it's heavy, but knowing what the customer will buy versus knowing what the customer will want, because it to me it goes from being an artist, you know, to being a commercial, whatever, whatever, whatever. So what are your thoughts on that?

SPEAKER_05 23:03

I think you'd never really know the customer. I'm always surprised that that people come in and never ask the price of anything. Yeah. And they just buy. Yeah. But I would say 80% of the customers want to know how much is this? Yeah. How much is that? Yeah. And we live in an age now where they can Google everything. Yeah, that's true. So, you know, the young people especially, they come in and they're checking, they're checking my prices and checking their homes. Yeah. Oh, wow. And so, and it's hard to compete with I one thing I try to do in my store is order things that you can't find at Walmart or Target. So I research everything I put in the store. Yeah. Um, because it's hard to compete when you're a small store. You know, they sell, they make more money in a day than I would in a month. Right. So uh probably a year. Yeah. Yeah. So I try to do those things that are unique and fun. I try to keep everything in my store, not try, I do, I keep everything in my store positive.

SPEAKER_04 24:07

Right.

SPEAKER_05 24:08

I, you know, I want to be a positive experience. And I want you to leave in a positive mood.

SPEAKER_01 24:15

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And that makes sense because I mean it's it's a connection. Yeah. You know, it's in, I think it's a mental connection. And that's important when we live in a world where energy is so important in how you, you know, the energy you put out is the energy that you attract. And so I think that it's wonderful that you do that. You know, uh, when I was in in college, my roommate, uh, he was an artist, uh, JC Gill. And I love art. Uh, but he taught me the value of understanding art. Because the one of the most challenging careers you can have is either a painter or a sculptor or someone in an artistic field where it's very challenging or it's difficult to put a value on.

SPEAKER_05 25:00

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 25:01

You know, because it's an it's about interpretation. So when someone comes into uh into your boutique and they're looking around, and and you know you kind of get the sense they they want to buy something. They really don't know though, okay, is is is that really worth that price? I mean, it do you do you get a sense that someone is is questioning the value of something? You kind of have to educate them on that, or is that something that you really don't have to even think about?

SPEAKER_05 25:29

I don't normally have to do it. I think uh I think people come in, my experience to be honest, people come in and are surprised. Really? That so I maybe I'm underpricing myself, okay, but I'm being I want to be fair. Um so um people are usually surprised because they think most people think that um small businesses, their prices are too high.

SPEAKER_02 25:56

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 25:57

And that's not always the case. Yeah. Because we want to be competitive too. There's a there's a big company called A to the Z, and that people can get stuff all day. Right. What when they come to see me, they're coming for experience. Right. Um they come to feel good. Right, right. And at the same time, leave it with reasonable prices. Yeah. So I don't really have that problem. I do have sometimes like I do my own artwork in a lot of cases, and the story behind that is every summer I would just spring, I would just get outside and paint. See, you left that out at the very beginning. I say like dabble.

SPEAKER_01 26:36

Oh, that's the that's part of the dabbling. Okay, like that.

SPEAKER_05 26:38

I'm not an art, I don't consider myself an artist, although my husband says I am. Okay. I think I may have an eye for it, but I don't know. I just, you know, kind of just spend some time and and I would just paint outside just because it felt good outside. Yeah. And he said you need to put something in the store. What? Okay. What if I put in this place?

SPEAKER_01 26:59

Now we gotta talk about art, okay? So you as an artist, all right, you see either a blank page or a blank canvas. What's the mechanism that goes into the thought process that goes into saying you're going to either sketch something or you're going to paint something or you're going to create something a certain way? Because I know with music, what I do is I sit down, I hit a note, and then I hit another note. And then like something starts, you know, I start humming something, and the next thing you know, you know, I'm gonna play it, you know, and try to build it out. So what do you do?

SPEAKER_05 27:42

I just well, first of all, I never liked abstract. Okay. And so I always say abstract is like jazz. Right. People don't understand, they like it, but they don't understand why. Right. But but um I bought something from another store because my husband said, Well, yeah, we need abstract. So I bought something and I liked it, but it was still mediocre. I'm like, I can do that. Right. And, you know, I'd been doing it, but then I'd throw it in the closet or and he started bringing things up. He said, What about this? What about this? Why do you spend money on this when you have this? And so when I paint, it's just that I'm feeling happy and I'm feeling artsy and I just you know, there's no really no rhyme or reason to it, and and I like this color. Oh, and you know, I'll paint over. If it didn't work out, we'll do some strokes. Right. If that didn't work out, I don't like the way that it looks, I'll paint over, start over, try another. Let's try this color. Oh, this color will look good with this. Oh, if it doesn't work out, I'll start over until I find something I like.

SPEAKER_01 28:44

Okay, so you're doing your own kind of version of you're dabbling.

SPEAKER_05 28:47

I'm dabbling, I dabble until I find something, yeah, something that I like. Right. And then the funny thing is there's things that I paint that I don't like. My husband loves.

SPEAKER_01 28:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 28:57

And people love it. I'm like, Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:00

See, that happened with me when I was doing poetry. I was writing poetry, and I would uh write something like, I uh she would she'd like, no, I think that's cool. Or I'd go read it. Yeah. And and it would have a reaction from the crowd that I thought would be different, and people would love it, or whatever the case may be. And and so so I I really get that. And I also get that you're saying that that jazz and abstract goes together because you know, I'm a jazz musician, I grew up playing jazz, I love jazz, but I love abstract art. Yeah, so you know, maybe I like confusing myself.

SPEAKER_05 29:32

Yeah, none of it makes sense. None of it makes sense, but I do realize with abstract, uh, as I can say, beauty is an eye of the beholder. Yeah, you walk into the room and everyone sees something different. Yeah, yeah. And that made me want to do it more. Yeah. Because I can paint this because I like this troke, or I like this, I like this dot, or I like, yeah. And then people go, Oh, I see there's a person here, and there's this. Yeah. And, you know, when I'm done, I'm like, oh, this is like a playground. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:02

I see this, but so then this is interesting, okay? You're building out a home, okay, or you're decorating a home, design, and you start with an art piece.

SPEAKER_02 30:12

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 30:12

Or would you start with an art piece? I definitely start with the art piece. Okay, and then you would build it out from there?

SPEAKER_05 30:17

Yes. Okay. You definitely pull colors from you, you know, like this.

SPEAKER_02 30:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 30:22

I would pull color, I would pull the blue out, I would pull the red. If you like, if you like whatever brings out, there's gold here. So I would see that the, I see there's some texture. So there's there's all kinds of things going on here that you can create and draw from.

SPEAKER_01 30:38

Yeah, and then you just kind of keep expanding, expanding, expanding. Okay. So do you think people have they're challenged to do that? Or because to me, if it, you know, because maybe it's it's because I, you know, I had a roommate that was an artist and I was always around it, you know, and when I was when I was younger. But do you do you think that people fail to do that uh in our community? Because I I know that art is an asset that appreciates the right type anyway, the right kind of. But it doesn't seem as though in the community that we really talk about art and artists enough. So, I mean, is it is is it something that got lost in, you know, from from one era to another era, or what exactly did it?

SPEAKER_05 31:22

I don't think we've been um conditioned to do it. I think uh growing up, you know, growing up O'Cliff, we would have, you know, Jesus and and Martin Luther King on the wall. Yeah. You know, we have the wooden spoons and some home interiors. Well, final supper. So um I think getting out of your community, I the important thing is getting out of the community and going to different cities, different states. Yeah. Um, if you can afford to go out of the country. But we've got 50 states here. So if you can go to different places, see different things, go to museums. Yeah. Figure out what you like. You know, you may go to a you know, museum, a modern art museum, if you like modern art, and you see something that you really like. You may not be able to afford that piece, yeah, but keep looking for something similar to it. Yeah, yeah. Um no matter what your budget is, you can go to thrift stores and find things similar. And as your budget grows, change the art.

SPEAKER_03 32:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 32:29

That's the best thing about it. You can start, but start looking at things and start visiting museums. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 32:34

Um, you're you're you're so right on that. And so I have this thing, I talk about it a whole lot, social engineering. And I believe that there are agents or there are folks or uh there there's there's an engine and something outside of the community that works tirelessly to influence our community. And the one thing that we see a lot of is music, we see religion, we see film, television, and it seems as though all those different things have a certain uh theme about them. But the one thing that it's not injected into a community is art. It's like you said, go to a museum. All right, we we don't, we don't, we don't, it doesn't seem as though as a community we go to.

SPEAKER_05 33:26

Do you realize, in my opinion, in my years, yeah, the first introduction to art commercially for people of color, for black people, was a Cosby show. Yeah. You remember the Cosby show would have, and I can't remember the artist, but he had a they had a lot of it on the walls. And it that was our first introduction to black people owning art. Yep. Um now people other people may say different, but that's the first time I noticed it. And I think that changed our perception of it. Um and Cosby was in the 80s, 90s.

SPEAKER_01 34:00

Yeah, that was in the 80s. Yeah, it was in the 80s. And and and so it and you you're so right. And and so uh going back to music, I always go back to music, but Neo Soul. It's like we had this this era of music that was beautiful and it was positive, and then it disappeared. And going back to your point about uh the art that was on the Cosby show, it it seemed as though we were right on the verge of popping out when it came to art and artists and people really getting in touch. And then all of a sudden, you didn't hear about it anymore. And then you started seeing these television shows with uh fancy cars, you know, expensive cars. You started having rappers with jewelry and all this other stuff. And it's like, wait, hold on. Where's the art?

SPEAKER_05 34:47

You know Yeah, I think there's there's some things behind the scenes. Yeah, yeah. You know, I don't know if we're gonna talk about it on this episode, but no, no, we're not gonna talk about it on this episode, but yeah, the cosmic was our our first introduction to number one, a wealthy African-American family with style, right, with class, with art. Right. Uh it influenced the way we dressed, right? Leave up to the fresh prince, you know. Right, you know, we start kind of mimicking those things, but it did introduce us to art.

SPEAKER_01 35:17

Yeah, yeah. And and so as we go into this, this, this next segment, and you know, I mental health is very important to me. And I believe that every aspect, every corner of our life, it either promotes good mental health or it takes away our mental health. I believe that society has been designed to stress us out. Yes. You wake up, you gotta go. All right, you get to work, you gotta go. You get home, you still going, all these different things. And and and it's in especially in our community, and I know with black men, taking care of yourself mentally, taking care of your mentals, as a lot of cats that I know, that that's what they say. It's not something that we are very uh astute with, you know, it's not something that we take that that we take very seriously.

SPEAKER_03 36:12

Right.

SPEAKER_01 36:13

So going back to designing and starting with that art piece, okay? Because I feel as though the space you live in, how that space is set up, it it contributes to your mental health. Yeah, it does. So so talk about that. In in your in your opinion, how does your space how how does that support your mental health?

SPEAKER_05 36:37

Um, I think that yeah, starting with color. Yeah. You know, if if you find yourself in a state of um mental decline or depression, change the color. When you wake up in the morning, maybe you shouldn't wake up to a paint black walls painted. I painted my house bright colors. When I say bright colors, I had some yellows and some whites, but but that matters if um some homes the black is beautiful, black black walls are beautiful, but lighter colors lighten the mood. Um dark curtains darken your mood. Yeah, yeah. And you can change over years. Yeah. You can change, you can change your attitude, you can change the way you feel by how you feel when you walk in the house. You know, your house should be your sanctuary, you should walk in and and feel kind of that whoa.

SPEAKER_02 37:38

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 37:39

Yes, and um I think, and again, this is just me, I think lighter colors just lighten the mood. Yeah, yeah. You know, you want to smile when you walk into the house. You don't want to walk into your house and feel down. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 37:54

Um, yeah, it's you know, I I I like that um because I know that uh some there are times when like if if I'm down, someone that they'll send a song, you know, to kind of lift me up or whatever. And and and and that's great. But there are other times when I think it's like you said, it's the color scheme. Yes. Because if you look at something that that's a brighter color or a lighter color, it really lifts your spirit, you know, because I also believe in frequencies, right? So we live with low frequencies, we live with high frequencies, okay. And if you if you're around too many dark colors, okay, you're gonna be in that low frequency line range. And it's easier to to darken your mood when you're when you're involved in or when you're around those particular types of things. So what are some things that you think you could put into someone's home or you would suggest them having in their home that would actually help them brighten their mood?

SPEAKER_05 38:49

Go back to a piece of art. Yeah. You you go back to you go to putting something in your home that you love. Yeah. Um, you know, I remember growing up, we had pictures of you know, other people walking, and some of those pictures were dark, as in it's like a girl in a white dress walking through the woods, yeah. Almost gonna go to Walton Walter Through or whatever, walking through the woods on a stormy evening or something. But but that kind of stuff is depressing. Yeah. You know, if keep in mind that depression increases with the winter fall and winter months because there's less light. More light creates better mood. So even you know, if you you're coming from a dark space outside, coming from a dark space at work. Right, right. Your home can lighten your mood. Yeah, you want to find that joy in your home. Yeah, yeah. Um, so I would work on lighting up the space. Yeah, yeah. Oh, that's important, yeah. Yeah, and it doesn't have to be every room, right? But in the space that you spend the most time in, lighten it up. Yeah, yeah. Um in the morning, and some nice music. Yeah, yeah. Like we used to call uh Saturday morning cleaning music.

SPEAKER_00 40:07

Oh, see, you went way back on that one. Yeah, yeah. Mama used to turn on the yes, we knew it was cleaning time.

SPEAKER_05 40:14

But I think um your house should be like sunshine. Yeah. Um, you know, and I'm not talking about all white walls or but put things in there that that bring you joy, things that you love. Yeah, yeah. Uh and that's different for everyone.

SPEAKER_01 40:29

Yeah, I like sunshine. You know, I like early in the morning opening up the curtains.

SPEAKER_05 40:34

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 40:34

And just letting the sun come through because it reminds me, dude, you don't, you know, this is this is nice being here today. You know, you didn't this was not promised. And it's important to have those reminders throughout the day that you know what? Peace, happiness is a choice. Yes. And you have to be intentional in the way that you live. And and one of the things that you need to do is make sure that, you know, if you get away from the dark walls, yes, get away from dark carpet, you know. I don't want to play.

SPEAKER_05 41:10

Some rooms you want dark, you want to be able to go back and just chill, right? But not an entire house. Right, right. Um but when it comes to mood, I I have a thing that people ask me, how are you doing today? I'm my thing is I'm always happy to be here. Oh, yeah. And that can mean anything, but the whole fact is not not everybody made it. Yeah. So I'm always happy to be here. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 41:32

I'll always. See, and that's again, you know, you mean you're touching on so many different things. My goodness. Oh, it's all. We got we got no, no, it's it's it's great because, you know, I went through some health issues, and through that journey, I came to this conclusion. And there are people, I've had this conversation that disagree, but I feel as though our only true blessing, the only real blessing that we have is grace. And that grace is the it's it's manifested in us opening up our eyes, taking in that first deep breath, getting out the bed, being able to move around, opening up the curtains, having that sun hit you, and then you you kind of realize, you know what, it ain't bad. You know, like life, life ain't bad. That's right. There are a lot of things that that pull at us, but it's a choice, and we have to be intentional. And and so I like what you're saying in terms of the colors and decorating and you know, it's it's like there's a it's a it's a fresh perspective to have, you know. So I'm I'm happy I'm talking to a designer.

SPEAKER_05 42:41

Yeah, your house, your house should, you should feel happy in your house. Yeah. And, you know, again, people, there are people that been in different mental states and repaint their house and and reflect that. But hopefully you come out of that and you can lighten up. Um, again, we grow and we progress and we change our colors, we change our houses, but you still want to feel happy in your home.

SPEAKER_01 43:10

Absolutely, absolutely. And and that's important. And again, I'm going back to to social engineering because I think that some kind of way we ended up in this this this world of trends and influencers who push certain trends. And so, you know, if you're if you're a trendy person and you have trendy people around you and you host events and you want to make sure that you have the trendiest of trends that you have. Trendy, trend, trend, trend.

SPEAKER_02 43:39

Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_01 43:39

Absolutely. It's like you're doubling and tripling down on the trends, right? Although you're also going broke. You are you are also going broke, but all this seems to be taken away from your mental health. Yes. Because, you know, if if you're having a hard time affording it, or if you can only double down on your trends, you can't triple down on the trends, and someone they kind of sm you know, smile. work or you know they kind of look at you kind of crazy and this I I don't get it. I I really don't.

SPEAKER_05 44:06

And people come to your house or you don't have to come to your house. You turn your television on and you know your house is outdated. But you know what you can update it to be outdated again another three or four years. Yep. Yep. You know, according to the trends on television every year you usually change the design of your home.

SPEAKER_02 44:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 44:21

Yeah. I get an email from a painting company this is the color of the month. Yeah. Am I supposed to paint my house every month?

SPEAKER_02 44:28

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 44:29

So ignore it. Do what you like. Right. Make your home comfortable for you and not for anyone else.

SPEAKER_01 44:34

Oh, that's so important. So we had an episode, it was it was fashion, right? Well style. And and the whole concept was fashion versus style. And so I feel like this part of our conversation is trends versus style because you can have a certain style for your home. Yeah. And someone may come in and was like oh your home is 10 years old but then you start pointing out the different art pieces right or you you point out the color scheme or how things are pulled together. Yes. You know maybe it's a situation where you have candles or whatever the case may be. And so I really think that you have to find a way to be comfortable like you said in your own home.

SPEAKER_05 45:12

Yes you have to design and decorate your home for yourself and not for anyone else. Yeah yeah you have to do what is comfortable for you because you're going to live there. You know we, you know, we live here and we have guest rooms that never show up guests never show up right but your house is your home and it should reflect you and no one else. Right, right. Not what HGTV or there you go I'm just being honest. I mean one of the reasons I stopped watching some of those shows was because you know those shows they wanted to redesign your home what's your budget? Oh 150,000. Yeah I want to know what you can do with 1500. Yeah yeah you know and and th there weren't any shows that did that yeah that's a good I need to write that down. That's a show that's a show to do they used to have those shows years ago right and so I searched the internet searched um um YouTube I searched all the places looking for shows that show people how to decorate their home for yeah you know less than a hundred I've got a what's your budget 75000 I don't have 75000 yeah yeah yeah you know what can I do for 5,000? Yeah I give you 10,000 I don't want to replace all my tech cabinets.

SPEAKER_01 46:28

I don't want to replace no you're right you're so right it's is it's it's one of those things I think these reality shows and certain movies and certain TV shows. Yes reality TV they've um they've made it they've made living in a home it's it's almost as though you're putting your home on display you know instead of figuring out a way to be comfortable in your home figuring out a way to enjoy your home when you come in like you said when you come into your home you should look and it's like oh Wusa yes yes yes it it shouldn't be about it shouldn't be about anyone else but yourself. Right right so that's a good family you this is where you live this is where you play yeah this is where you relax yeah where you find your peace so so a little earlier you were talking about and I think you were talking about redesigning your identity okay so it and I know with clothing it's easy you know it's it's like okay so I want to have a little bit more of uh this type of style or this particular type of style or I want to build out my style a little bit more okay so it's a it's probably a little bit more challenging in the home okay not really seeing that's what I want okay so break it down to um I think I think you're gonna start with your basics um and you build from there if you're if as you evolve and your style evolves I think the easiest thing to do is move pieces around right if this this when people enter your home and this this is not what you want them to see then move it to the family room or move it to a bedroom yeah and then buy another piece.

SPEAKER_05 48:13

Yeah you know I think you can reuse and repurpose anything. Yeah yeah yeah um if you if you decide you don't want it have a yard sale give it away whatever yeah but as your style changes paint a wall yeah yeah yeah um move a picture buy another one yeah you know uh but I don't think you have to redo the whole thing I don't think you have to go out every five or ten years and rebuy everything for your home.

SPEAKER_01 48:43

Right right what do you think about restaurants? Do you walk into a restaurant restaurant means I don't have to cook and clean see see here we go here we go I buy the groceries the groceries then you gotta clean up food all I gotta do when I go to the restaurant sit down eat and get up so what I was gonna ask you when you go into a restaurant okay because you know designing is your is your profession is your life all right is it is it hard for you to go in and s and and not pay attention to the decor is that is that part of the whole experience I definitely pay attention to the the decor I know that was a crazy question wasn't it I love I love going different places seeing different things yeah um you know my husband my husband's an architect too so he's looking at the structure he's doing this right and I'm doing oh yeah I never thought about that I love the way they did that right oh well they didn't spend much on they just put a something in the middle yeah you know yeah we're we are kind of critiquing places yeah yeah um but oh they haven't this is the same cover they've had for the last 60 years right you know right this old spaghetti I used to love spaghetti warehouse but even restaurants they they update their style occasionally and they change the name they go from this long name to a short name you know now everything is you know two letters and yeah but um yeah I love that I love seeing uh style and texture in a restaurant see and and the reason I ask that is it it kind of goes back to exposure okay in with art okay and I believe that there are certain communities where if all we have or fast food places or all we have or you know places where you sit in the you they have chairs and tables but you sit in the chair and you rocking back and forth because the chair is uneven or I and and so I guess the thing is is that it it it all goes back to that experience and not being satisfied with what's being injected into the community but saying no we want something with texture we want something with style we want something with ambiance you know because when date night comes you know we don't want to go to the shack eat something and no you want it to be an experience right right okay yeah yeah of course you want to you want to you know you want to feel like you're you've gone somewhere right like you are somewhere right um one of my favorite places in Arlington and I don't know the place some of my husband found but I love it when you go into it it it reminds me it's kind of an antique kind of place great food but you feel like you're in your grandmother's home.

SPEAKER_05 51:56

Yeah it's a big place but it feels like you're in your grandmother's home.

SPEAKER_01 51:59

Yeah and so I wouldn't eat there every day but occasionally it's nice to go there and feel that I'm looking at the yeah uh Victorian art and yeah I'm looking at that and that's just a a good visual I think oh yeah yeah and I like that I mean one of the the spots that I like going to uh actually is in DeSoto uh greenhouse Lounge and Wellness Center. Oh you haven't oh gosh you gotta go the reason I like it is because it has an old school vibe to it so it's greenhouse wellness and lounge center and you walk in one side of it they have like little chairs and a sofa the other side they have uh the tables uh in the chairs but they're different you know there's thick wood they have albums on the wall oh yeah you know and there's this energy and they have greenery coming from the lights above you so the whole ideal of it is to promote positive energy so it's like walking into someone's home actually so my I I I wondered about it and I'm sure I'm gonna go but I couldn't figure out what it was. Yeah yeah yeah it's you know do you go there hungry is in there a restaurant yeah yeah that's just the restaurant yeah yeah it's it's it's it's a restaurant uh but it's also a wellness center and the whole thing is is based on uh on uplifting your mood uplifting your spirit uh but it's it's it's moving energy you know positive energy it's constantly moving positive energy around so uh but it's it's it's a great thing okay so this is one of my favorite parts of each and every podcast all right and you will you actually see this is cool because you came from Oak Cliff all right you remember back in the day there was a song and it was you can get with this or you can get with that you can get with this or you can get with that everybody knows the song right funny is on my TikTok I've done a uh a little video using that song because I sell these um lunch bags and I show one of my lunch bags and then like a tomtum bag a little so I'm showing a brown bag you can get with this this really stylish bag or you can get with yeah so I love that song. Alright so see now that you're familiar it's gonna be easy for you.

SPEAKER_05 54:21

So we're gonna start with uh earth tones or bold cultural color palettes this or that I will start with earth tones and throw in pillows or artwork to bring out the colors the bold colors so I would do in that case I would do both I will start with earth tones.

SPEAKER_01 54:42

Okay okay um I would I would use the bold colors and small quantities I guess I would say that bold colors small quantities I gotta remember that yeah yeah yeah because it it's it kind of accentuates yes all right so I'm learning um minimalist luxury or Afrocentric maximalism I would choose afrocentric mass maximalism okay why well I don't know why but I I love I would love walking to someone's house and seeing their it's almost like your their life played out on the walls yeah you know there's it's there's so much personality personality and um that's being a maximalist I'm not a maximalist but I love seeing it on everyone else okay um it works I don't know how to do it in my house oh you don't okay I'm working on it but this gonna be on your TikTok once you figure it out right it'll be on TikTok vintage or modern designs vintage or modern I am more vintage I wouldn't say vintage I would say traditional okay okay I'm more traditional um with some modern okay I don't think you have to choose we I think I think um an eclectic style is the best style yeah where you have a little of each yeah uh there's some history behind yeah some of your old stuff yeah but I like that I like that you know a little eclectic because it's telling a story yes I love a home that tells a story see and and that's to me that's very important for a bunch of reasons um you know doing jazz it was all about storytelling yeah and then when I started doing uh hip hop beats and everything the type of beats I tried to put together you know was to to try to tell a story especially when I was doing poetry and now with the podcast more than two minutes because everybody has a story to tell and it takes more than two minutes for them to tell it. So all right so here we go this is a good one here gallery wall or one oversized art piece and what I mean by that and you probably just already know okay a gallery wall where you have several different pieces on there versus one pop-out piece of art I love one big piece yeah I love one big piece yeah it's it's just the beauty of it you know and big pieces look more expensive yeah you know it it it says it it anchors the room yeah yeah a big piece anchors the room definitely does gold accents or matte black finishes um and this is for me that's this is a that's a tough one I like them both yeah um if you're doing more um contemporary yeah I would go with the black matte uh if you're more traditionalist we'll go with the gold yeah but not the shiny shiny old gold yeah yeah you see a lot of shiny shiny old gold yeah that's that's a kickback from the 70s and 80s not shiny i don't I don't really do shiny I do a I like a little brass a little brassy but not brassy brassy okay so and this is the last one right here layered cozy living room or an open luxury layout because the lighting is gonna be different with both of them the art's gonna be different with both of them you know I like them both to be honest yeah you know again my husband's an architect so you know when he's designing homes and and um we're going look at him in those open concepts as long as it's not extremely open I don't want to walk in the house yeah and see the dishes from the living room from the front door that's one thing that's that's a little too open yeah but a lot of natural light yeah yeah um it just fills up I like light that fills up a room yeah and so that open concept is nice yeah um as long as it's not too open yeah yeah it that the in I think in New York you know I've seen certain apartments where it's it's like wide open or you know some of the homes in California where it's just wide open uh opposed to having more detail you know or more separation too yeah I I like a little separation yeah you know it's it's the concept is really nice but it's not as functional as you think right right yeah right okay what Donna Dabs with Dab's decor and gifts yes before we get out of here social media where can people find you I am dab decor on Facebook TikTok and Instagram that's dabs with two B's right D-A-B-B-S D core or D-E-C-O-R okay and where's the boutique uh located I'm at the DeSoto Marketplace 324 East Beltline Road suite 701 thank you so much for coming out I really appreciate you taking time out to uh jump on the more than two minutes podcast uh I've learned a lot hopefully you have fun I know I had a blast thank you I appreciate it I had a good time all right we're out