NWFA Real Answers
The NWFA's "Real Answers" podcast series features NWFA President & CEO, Stephanie Owen and Chris Zizza, founder of C&R Flooring, Inc., and past Chairman of the Board of the NWFA.
NWFA Real Answers
Designing with Wood Floors — A Conversation with Karen Asprea
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Recorded live at the 2026 NWFA Expo, Chris and Stephanie sit down with New York City interior designer Karen Asprea for a conversation on where design and hardwood flooring meet. Karen shares how the relationship between contractors, retailers, and designers shapes a project's success, why lookalike products are hurting the industry, and how the wood floor sets the foundation for everything else in a room. The conversation also covers the value of clear communication, choosing timeless looks over passing trends, and why nothing beats putting a physical sample in a designer's hands.
Welcome to Real Answers. I'm Chris Sizza and here again with Stephanie Owen. If you hear some background noise today, it's because we're live at the NWFA convention in Orlando. Today we're going to talk with Karen Espreya, who is a designer. I'm going to let Karen tell you say hello and tell you a little bit about her locations, New York and Miami, I understand. Tell the listeners a little bit about yourself, and then we'll jump into some interviews here because I know you have an opinion.
SPEAKER_02Well, Chris, Stephanie, it's very nice to be here with you both. Thank you so much for the introduction. My name is Karen Espreya. I have a firm in Tribeca, Espreya Studio. I work for commercial real estate developers as well as private homeowners. I design private estates, um, luxury residential developments, and um hospitality.
SPEAKER_03And where are you in Miami?
SPEAKER_02Uh well, we have clients in Miami and some staff in Miami. Um, we have an incredible connection between the Northeast and uh South, like Southern Florida.
SPEAKER_03So Miami's the fly-in location.
SPEAKER_02Yes, Miami's the fly-in location.
SPEAKER_03Good choice.
SPEAKER_00What's neat about today, this particular, um, and then also going forward in our future, is that today Karen was able to be with our members at NWFA Expo talking about this connection between the designer and the job sites. And this is an intentional space that NWFA is trying to get into uh to do a better job of making that connection, not just from the retail aspect, uh, but also from the contractor standpoint and how do those relationships work together? Um, one our industry specifically um is battling a lot of other look-alike products. So, what can we do to make wood um the more prominent species that a designer is choosing and then a contractor is putting in the home? So that's what's special about today. We're super excited to have Karen with us. Um but from your perspective, how do you view the role of the wood flooring industry in today's design world?
SPEAKER_02Wood flooring is the foundation for everything we design. So I think it's very important. I see that there's some disconnect sometimes, especially being here today with the NWFA and speaking on a panel this morning to installers and contractors, between what we as designers understand as wood flooring and how that translates to installation. Sometimes designers are not fluent enough to direct the installers and the contractors on the proper installation method of like how we want this done. And I feel like there needs to be a little bit more conversation back and forth, you know, between the design community and the and the technical community when it comes to wood flooring. But for me as a designer, the wood floor is the foundation. That is what we put everything on top of. And when I speak to my clients about their floors, the conversation always starts with the point of connection between your physical body and your home is the floor. And so just even like energetically, you want to be standing on a natural material. So when I specify wood floors, I like to specify the whole assembly because we want there to be a little bit of like bounce in that wood floor and not just, you know, I look, I love porcelain tile, I love natural materials, like I use marble, but um, there's something just really nice about putting your bare feet on a wood floor, right?
SPEAKER_03But you're backing those up with a with an underlayment pad. Yes. Because that's that's you're speaking about personal comfort.
SPEAKER_01Yes.
SPEAKER_03And so that tells me a lot of your work is probably high-rise on concrete. And so there's a double benefit there with not only do you get the added comfort underfoot, but that's also a lot of those buildings are requiring it because of sound deadening.
SPEAKER_02So typically I specify when I'm specifying prop wood flooring product for uh high-rise buildings, I like to specify double glue down.
SPEAKER_03So yeah, double stick.
SPEAKER_02Right. But but a lot of designers don't know what that means. So it's like you have your concrete slab, then you have a layer of um adhesive, adhesive, which is also a vapor barrier. Yes, then you have your rollout mat, then another layer of the adhesive, and then the wood floor.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, 100%.
SPEAKER_02And so this is what I mean by assembly. And when I'm doing private homes, you know, that has to be on joyce with two layers of subfloor because you want that balance under your foot.
SPEAKER_00Well, when you said that there was like a disconnect between designers and contractors, can you elaborate a little bit more on what that disconnect, what you're seeing?
SPEAKER_02So I was on a panel this morning, and a lot of the audience members were contractors and installers, and so the frustration that I was hearing from them is we get we get a lot of decorators who are really focused on spending their time and efforts towards like the furniture, the fixtures, the wallpaper, the lighting, and not really paying attention to the wood floor. And then, you know, on the other side, you have the homeowner or the investor who's being kind of directed to put their attention on these other items that are like ancillary to the space and not focusing on the wood floor, which is like foundational to all of the other items. So, you know, the conversation that we were having was like as the installer, as the contractor, and myself, somebody who's been in the industry for 20 years now, it's our responsibility to educate younger designers on the importance of the foundational architectural materials that are the backdrop to everything else.
SPEAKER_00So that was gonna be my next question. Do you have a suggestion of how do we how do we bridge that gap? Like what do we need to do uh to as an industry to be the the bridge barriers between those gaps?
SPEAKER_02Education. I think getting into design firms, doing lunch and learn CEU programs. And also, you know, I I see a lot of young designers that they go to school and they're really kind of like sitting behind a computer a lot. And even in my own firm, I'll see somebody like struggling with a detail and I take them by the hand and I'm like, come come out here in the hallway, like let's look at this door jam together, let's look at this wood floor, like let's pull a piece up and like so you actually they make the connection between the lines on paper and reality.
SPEAKER_03How many designers do you have at your firm?
SPEAKER_02Eight.
SPEAKER_03Of your eight designers in your firm, do you put them through additional education on learning things like this whole assembly that you put together?
SPEAKER_02I do, but I do it myself. I mean, it would be great if we could have, you know, somebody from the NWFA or like have installers who are qualified, um, you know, to a to a specific standard so that the information that they're getting is standardized in some way.
SPEAKER_03Right. So in my market, I'm out of Boston, although I work, I work New York all the time. Um you probably work with one of my developers, Neftali.
SPEAKER_02Yes, we know each other.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. I was just with with them two days ago. So in any case, they do a lot. Yeah, they do. They do. Um, but my point is in in our Boston market, my company, C and R Flooring, will go into a design firm like yours, and we have a thing, coincidentally, Real Answers. Uh our our program is called Real Answers in Hardwood Flooring, a region-specific talk about the floor assembly, the ins and outs of it. And we'll go into a design firm and we'll do that educational seminar. There's no credits, but there's knowledge. And that's the kind of value I see between a design firm like yours and your flooring contractor.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that's amazing. I mean, I've seen, you know, and the education goes both ways too. I was talking about this this morning, and I'll try to keep it brief, but you know, I've seen installers do things with really beautiful select grade wood flooring that just ruins the product. So it's not just the product, and like this is part of the education. Designers will see a beautiful piece of flooring and be like, okay, this is perfect. The color is gorgeous, it matches everything, it's the right width, the right length. But then not understand the installation process.
SPEAKER_03And like, you know, I know that I need to go to that job site and tell the installer, you better cut the first board so that we get a random so yeah, so elaborate, because that's where I'm sitting here as an installer going, well, how are they ruining it if it's perfect? Like you're talking about layout. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, look at it. You're talking about don't mess with my give me a second here. I I know the word I want to use, but then I I was just avoiding swearing. Um, but you're saying don't mess with the aesthetics of the floor. You want to look at it. The layout's supposed to look right, the rack is supposed to be proper. Some people don't spend the time on the first row and and considering what the last row is gonna look like. And so these are the needs of the designer and the flooring installer to get along and understand each other's wants. Yes, this is a set the expectation moment.
SPEAKER_02So I just as an example, I had a very large project. I ordered a very specific engineered white oak. It was uh rift and quartered, wide plank, foot gold.
SPEAKER_03How wide?
SPEAKER_0212. Okay, but all of the lengths of the boards were the same, and the installer took that floor and installed it in a brick pattern.
SPEAKER_03Simple brick pattern.
SPEAKER_02Yikes.
SPEAKER_03I'm sitting here a little annoyed. Yeah, and yeah, I bet you lost it. I was it glued down, yes, sir.
SPEAKER_02Oh, oh boy, it was glued, it was nailed, it was done. And you know, this is what I mean.
SPEAKER_03Like And you wouldn't have thought you had to communicate that. No, sir, but apparently it did.
SPEAKER_02But this is what I mean about like the education goes both ways because when I saw that, I threw a fit that those people will never forget.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, the irony of that is uh I actually have a job in Boston that we're working on. Um, we're a couple months out on the install, but the designer sent us the layout and it's actually drawn in a simple brick. So I actually asked the question is this just her computer doing the layout, or is she actually looking for simple brick? And then two days later it came back to me. Actually, this person wants simple brick on that particular design. So it is out there, but it's certainly not the norm. If if we got two pallets of all eight footers, you know you need to create a stagger. Yeah, that I bet that moment didn't go well.
SPEAKER_02Yes, it did not go well.
SPEAKER_03It was there's people driving their truck right now that are laughing.
SPEAKER_02I'm sure I mean it was.
SPEAKER_03I know you, but guys, she's not laughing.
SPEAKER_02No, no, I was irate like to say because it was a really expensive wood floor, too. Sure. At 12-inch wide planks, like you can only imagine.
SPEAKER_03I totally get it. Um, was it pre-finished?
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Wow.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, so a lot of money wasted.
SPEAKER_02A lot of money wasted and a lot of product wasted.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Time wasted. You know, we have to order more, get in a shipping container, bring it from Italy. Like it was a whole, you know, I don't have to tell you. Yeah, no.
SPEAKER_00Well, one of the, I mean, this is an extremely lofty goal, but I think what would be something we should work to try to achieve is connecting the design community with our certified professional program, the people that have been educated, that we know are qualified installers, that are gonna understand where to start a layout to not do a brick pattern. That would be obviously that's a huge lofty goal for us. Um, but I think it's something that we can achieve by some small bites. Um, and having conversations like this is step one, right?
SPEAKER_02Exactly. And that's why I'm here today.
SPEAKER_03So um I'm curious. You've got one, you've got two, you've got five go-to guys. Uh, you don't need to tell us who it is, but I'm I'm like, I have designers that we work specific with. I know I'm their floor guy. Do you have that one or two in your repertoire?
SPEAKER_02Or yes, I have probably four people that I go to regularly, and it just depends on the type of product, the scale of the project, and the budget.
SPEAKER_03Okay, so that you you you you pretty much answered my next question, which was gonna be I'd like to think that the obvious answer is why is that your go-to? And it's because they make your job easier by producing. But what's that expectation? You know, you're gonna get into a relationship with a flooring company. What are your expectations on what they're, you know, how do you want them to deliver to you?
SPEAKER_02I think the most important thing is communication. Like all of the things that I just described to you, they should come to the designer and and ask those questions. I know that I'm working with a trained professional with real industry experience. When they ask me 20 questions, you know, if they're not asking me questions, is like when I'm not getting phone calls from the job site, I know that it's a problem and I have to go there. And that's when I find things like the brick like the simple brick pattern. The simple brick pattern, half million dollar mistake.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I'm I'm I can't imagine, I can't imagine how bad that day was. So um are you are are you well, I I understand you have your clients, but the designers under you have their clients as well. So is there is job comes on online, they're meeting, they're meeting on their own with the floor guy, or or are you are you specific on all of them?
SPEAKER_02Well, at this point, my design team, they're amazing. They've for the most part have been working with me for multiple years, and they know now what questions to ask and how to specify the flooring stuff.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, so when they say I'm gonna call Karen, I'll be right back, and that conversation's real short. It was really, they were just crossing a T, Don and I, and now let's get back to work. So will they have a pre-construction meeting? Like maybe you're going there on a measure day to get a lot of those questions answered. Because I think that's when you get those answers.
SPEAKER_02Yes. So I like to do a page turner with the general contractor, and I like him to have all of his subs there.
SPEAKER_03Okay.
SPEAKER_02So that we can go through all of the drawings and the specifications, and I pull out all the materials and we go through everything.
SPEAKER_03And so if there's a question or a comment about like how do we detail this or you know, means and methods, we try to answer it in that meeting before they so I'm curious if you go, I I've never heard a call to page turner, but I certainly understand what you're talking about. So you're gonna go to one of those meetings. Are you having maybe two of those because there's different levels of trades that are gonna happen at different phases, or do you want to just get them all in there at once? And because you I don't imagine you are jumping in on the infrastructure side of this. This is all cosmetic at the tail end.
SPEAKER_02It really depends on the on the project. Sometimes, sometimes we are. I'll sit down with a general contractor first, and yeah, well, window treatments.
SPEAKER_03Sometimes you've got to get the motors set up and you gotta know when that's gonna go in. So you would be in the pre-construction stuff.
SPEAKER_02Yes, we do. Yeah, because anything that affects the concrete pores, depressions in the slab for you know mudset, you know, door undercuts, uh, tracks for roller shades, all of that. So yeah, we do. But I do like to have two meetings. One of them is to get the pre-construction preliminary budgeting estimates, and then you know, once the job is awarded, I'll sit down with the actual vendors, all right, the sub trades, and go through all of the details.
SPEAKER_00So, so Karen, you you've used a lot of terms that are actually resonating with our listeners. Oh, good. Accurate in the wood flooring industry. So, kudos to you. But is that the norm in specific to the wood flooring industry, or are you a unicorn?
SPEAKER_02I don't know the answer to that. Okay, you okay, you probably know better than I do. I'm not sure.
SPEAKER_03So um I I'll be the long in-the-tooth person here, you know. 39 years of being in business doing just hardwood floors. I love the design community and have tried to embrace it the whole way. And so we know, or at least the way we've done it, is open the door, knock the door. You you gotta go to um, forgive me, is it ISDA? Um, what's the organization in II? IIDA. The the beauty of being at the NWFA Expo is passerbys will have the answer to your question. So um when they when when the design community has an event, I think that's the time to put your college shirt on and go and meet designers as a wood flooring person. Are you guys open to that? Do you want to see them at that event and find out who's available trying to get into the market?
SPEAKER_02I yeah, I think so, of course. Yes, why not?
SPEAKER_03I'm saying I think sometimes the wood floor community, they're intimidated to go to that. Absolutely.
SPEAKER_02Why do you think that is?
SPEAKER_03I think it's because this is personal, but I I don't have this problem. I'm not intimidated by anything. I I would just be like, hey, you have to have some questions, you know, why call them questions in the can? So, hi, my name's Chris Cesar. I own CNR Flooring out of Boston. I've heard of your firm. It's remarkable. Wanted to meet you. What does it take to get on your bid sheet? How do I maybe get an opportunity to see some of the projects you're working on? That would be an approach that I would throw out there. And you as a seasoned designer, would you be like, oh, sorry, I have my people?
SPEAKER_02Kind of, probably, to be honest with you.
SPEAKER_03I mean, you know, well, this is why I'm asking the question that way. How is that guy supposed to break into the design community?
SPEAKER_02So a lot of times what happens is there's like an oh shit moment, and then your guy comes and fixes it, and you're like, oh my god, thank God, Angel Man came here and like fixed this problem, and then you don't want to go outside of the person who like took the time to like hold your hand, talk to your client. So I understand the questions, but the answer I think is nuanced.
SPEAKER_03Yes, no, you just gave a beautiful answer because what I heard was, guys, we know we get that call when the the mover scratched the floor, or there there's something needs to be taken care of, and the you're out of solutions, and that's an opportunity to get a relationship started. 100%. So you don't ignore those nuisance calls. And and I know that in the industry they call them that, but it you need to realize, gentlemen, that's an opportunity.
SPEAKER_02So I'll give you a good example. Sure. Um, in Connecticut, and the builder put in six-inch wide four-mil were layer white oak rectified, finished in sight on site.
SPEAKER_03Sure.
SPEAKER_02Okay. And it was supposed to get a matte UV oil.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_02And they did that. Floors looked amazing, open pour beautiful. And then two weeks later, the cleaning crew came in and they put a shiny Bona product that Bona polish. Yes, not knowing. And the floor, um, I think it was about 7,000 square feet of that house, is now forever shiny because you know, you have to sand it. Okay. But the point of my story is that I did not call the builder or the um installer or the cleaning company. I called the owner of PID floors because I knew that they would have a solution for me.
SPEAKER_01Yep.
SPEAKER_02And it is sometimes those nuisance calls. Like I could have called somebody else, but it's the person that picks up the phone, listens to the problem, and is like, I'm going to help you. I understand you're in a crisis right now. Yep. And then you become reliant on that person because you know that they have the awareness and you know, they're probably more um uh enthusiastic about their business than somebody else who's just gonna say, Oh my God, what a mess. Good luck with that.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, well, you know, you know, you I heard you mention PID, and I and I can speak from experience. I know the firm, they are service-oriented, they will get you the answer. And and so that's kind of the way we go to market too. I uh, you know, I I tell everybody there's no such thing as a job that's too small because the job that you just did, the small job, it was successful and it led to the next job. Every job leads to another one if you're providing the service. Absolutely and the design community wants service. Well, they expect it.
SPEAKER_02They expect it, and our clients expect it. I mean, what we're doing is a luxury service, and so I think that sometimes the communication with a client and like having them feel well taken care of, heard, and seen is almost more important than anything else. And so when we are able to bring in vendors and tradesmen who also take the extra time to care, right? They're happy. And if they're happy, we're happy.
SPEAKER_03Yep, exactly. Um, this may seem like a stupid question, but Bert, you can edit it out if you don't like the word stupid. But my question is this how important is it that everybody on your job site is speaking English?
SPEAKER_02It's not very important.
SPEAKER_03Okay. And I want I wanted that to be the answer because this happens on the projects a lot, and it's more about I don't care. First of all, we've got plenty of guys that work for me that speak broken English, but we what we do provide is we provide them English lessons so they can communicate more. And when I I I have designers that are going, I'm so happy I heard you send your guys to English class.
SPEAKER_02Oh, that's nice. I think that's a great that's a great thing to do. I mean, from my side, the design community is so diverse and I have such an amazing network. It doesn't matter. Everybody's bilingual. Everybody's bilingual. It really doesn't matter if you speak zero English.
SPEAKER_03We know somebody who can translate, so it's not so if you heard what she just said, that's not a barrier, guys. So the doors always open and opportunity is available to everybody.
SPEAKER_02Listen, I'll tell you honestly that the last three or four major recommendations I made for wood flooring installers speak very little English. They're uh Brazilian, Albanian, they're, you know, they they're not from here, they're first generation, or they're, you know, just moved here because it's a family business or whatever it is. But the work, the craftsmanship is what's the most important thing, right?
SPEAKER_03So what's the hot button then? What's what's the thing that you you have no tolerance for?
SPEAKER_02If you don't bring a laser to my job site, you're going home.
SPEAKER_03So straight lines.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Fair enough.
SPEAKER_00Okay, so I have one question that I think we'd be remiss to not ask you as a designer for a wood flooring product uh podcast. What trends are you seeing in the marketplace? Uh in particular to wood?
SPEAKER_02I think trends are kind of like uh I don't really do trends in the traditional sense. I work with homeowners who are building their real estate portfolio so they acquire assets. And the question is really like, what are we doing with this home? Is this a legacy home, family home with my builders? Is this a long-term hold? Is it something we're gonna flip? And then we find the right product. But in terms of trends, and maybe I'm a little bit old school, I like wood flooring that's gonna maintain its relevancy in the industry for a long time. So I personally love a French white oak, rift and quartered, seven-inch wide, four milware layer. Like, give me something that's gonna look beautiful forever. We can sand it down, we can refinish it if we have to, wire brush it if we want to, like in the future. You know, walnuts are beautiful. I tend to use walnuts on the walls and not the floors because they're it's a little bit soft, a little bit soft. Um outdoor decking, you know. I like Kumaroo, I like teak. Those are forever woods, also. They tend to gray out, but they'll come back with an oil, like a good oil finishing.
SPEAKER_01Yep.
SPEAKER_02Um yeah, I don't know. I mean, some end grain cuts are really cool when it comes to trendiness, but like I would use those hospitality, retail, kind of more um not in living spaces.
SPEAKER_00But I think you just touched on something that like speaks to the heart of our wood guys. Like the market right now is like quick, right? Uh, there's a the pre-finished market is just going crazy, right? Um, and we're we're losing the share of the traditional unfinished hardwood and home. But to your point, it lasts forever. And that really speaks to the heart of like the real true woodies in our industry um that love to put down that natural product and put the you know, just the finish on it on it and the sanding and all of that. So that that I'm sure resonated with a lot of our listeners.
SPEAKER_03So I would ask you you do or you do not have a colored trend, your own trend. Like, do you like dark colors or are you into the lights right now? And and or as you just said, every property is different?
SPEAKER_02Every property is different, but I would say if you looked at my portfolio, 70% of those wood floors are uh white oak, rift and quartered with a little bit of a white, little tiny bit, 10% white in the UV oil to keep that orange tone out of it. Okay. Because in the Northeast and also in South Florida, Miami, you have a lot of sunlight.
SPEAKER_03Yep.
SPEAKER_02Um in the north.
SPEAKER_03So that Scandinavian white tone. Very natural.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, very natural. And if you look at my design work, a lot of it is nature-based. I like natural materials.
SPEAKER_01Sure.
SPEAKER_02I think there's something beautiful about how a wood floor ages. You can see where somebody's walked a path, you know, you can see a countertop where the marble is touched all the time. I think that's part of the beauty. I don't like materials that are printed, man-made, unless they're, you know, necessary and appropriate because it's almost time stamped and we're organic and we change with time. And so why wouldn't our environment?
SPEAKER_03Very cool. So Woodfloor Guy's in there, he's he's his first, second year in business, and he's trying to grow from the design community. What's your advice to that company?
SPEAKER_02So I don't like to advocate this because I don't think anybody should not be paid for their work. However, I just built out an office in Tribeca. And the, you know, I had a couple of tradesmen call me and say, hey, Karen, like, can I paint your office for you? Can I install wood floors for you? Can I like put your backsplash in? Small things. It's a small office. But just to just so that there's like a personal connection, it gives me a moment of time to spend with that person to get to know them, you know, understand their work ethic, understand like what they're focused on, and actually see the products being installed and their craftsmanship. So, you know, again, this was a small studio. Right.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, you're not saying, hey, I just did 8,000 feet on 58th Street. No, you know, and I need this, and I expect it, you know, for free.
SPEAKER_02No, not at all. No, these are small samples. My office is, you know, maybe 2,400 square feet. It's a little bit more.
SPEAKER_03I think you should always be willing to put together an assembly of samples and say, here you go, because that's exactly how you get you to pick up the call, phone and call.
SPEAKER_02Yes, if I see something on my desk in a beautiful box, beautifully presented, like we're designers, we're, you know, of the five senses, we like to touch things and see beautiful things. And then when something arrives on my desk and I'm like, oh, what is that? Oh, then I'll pick up the phone.
SPEAKER_00Okay, well, that's my one of my questions is of like if one of our listeners was driving in a truck or on a way to a job site, they could do one thing to connect with the with your community. What would you uh suggest they do?
SPEAKER_02Say bring a beautiful sample.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I just heard I'm telling you right now, we at 39 years in business, we've never done well, not true. We did one thing called signature series with one of my distributors, and we invited 20, 30 designers to come, and we did a real answers talk about it. And you left with a bag that had uh it was actually a roll away bag because wood samples can be you know heavy. Yeah. And you left with an array of samples that were to help you go talk to your customers. But what I just heard you say is yeah, I could see, you know, a proper box done with a couple right colors, maybe an informative note in there about why this adhesive is the right adhesive going on, and here's the sound pad rating for this. Give you some information in that. And what she's saying is it should be in a presentation. Presentation. And that's gonna open a door.
SPEAKER_02Yes.
SPEAKER_03I I love that advice.
SPEAKER_02We're tactile features, us design community, like we like to touch things and you know, look see that care, like care has been given to this product, thought has behind this presentation. And so, you know, what we're doing is giving our clients an experience. And so for us, we also like to have an experience, and maybe that's something like, oh, this is like beautifully packaged, and somebody really put the thought. Yeah, no, I'm loving this. It's a great idea.
SPEAKER_03It's a great idea. You you have to invest in getting opportunities. So uh I can tell you right now when when this podcast is over, I'll be making a note. I'm gonna work on my design box and because there's enough designers in my marketing. Yes, tell you if it's good or not.
SPEAKER_02Send it to me. And also, I would say, like, sometimes we get samples that are you know four inches by four inches. A designer, especially one that, you know, maybe doesn't have a lot of experience in the industry, will look at that and be like, oh, this is perfect. But then when they see the full plank or the full board knots all over it, or it's knotty, or you know, the color, the grain variation is not what they want. So I would say, do a lunch and learn, come do a presentation, bring a full board, and kind of show, like, hey, this is a small piece of a much larger.
SPEAKER_03There's a good reason to take photographs because if if here's the sample of the color and here's a picture of a room we did.
SPEAKER_02Yes.
SPEAKER_03Now you get the whole genre of it.
SPEAKER_02Yes. Yeah, exactly. I like it. And like, I don't like like sometimes I get samples sent to my office where it looks like somebody chewed the end of the wood. I'm like, I don't know, like you know, I can't show this to a client.
SPEAKER_03Well, I was I was just gonna say what you just said. You're not bringing that to the you know, to that meeting with your client, and they're gonna look at it and go, Did you see what she brought us? Yeah, you're not gonna do that.
SPEAKER_02No, I'm certainly not.
SPEAKER_00Well, we're so grateful for your time and for the relationship with PID and Steven and Lawrence and bringing you out here, spending time with our industry, helping hope break down some of those barriers, or there's intimidation factor. Um, hopefully you said, Oh, this this uh designer in this industry, she's approachable just like the other guy down the street. Um, and that that so thank you for your time.
SPEAKER_02Of course, I'm so happy to be here. Thank you both really for having me. This has been really fun. Um, I think it's important for designers to educate themselves about the technicalities of the products that they specify. So this is important, you know, for my community also to hear this.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, well, you're gonna get to see what's out there that you can then put into your assembly, as you put it. And the other side of that is if I heard something today, it's meet and greets are important. You might not get the next job, but it's important to let people know who you are. So go to the opportunities when people are getting together within the trades, when the design community has an event. I recommend taking out an ad. I recommend showing up. Get people to know who you are, or at least get familiar with your company name. You don't walk away and say, Oh, well, she already has a floor guy. Eventually, there's gonna be an opportunity.
SPEAKER_01Yes.
SPEAKER_03Yes, fantastic. Well, thank you very much for your time today. Guys, if you're listening today, go find your designers, grow your business. Have a wonderful day and keep it real.