I've really been working on perfectionism in the last few years. I don't know about you but I feel like I really tried to make things perfect and just right. And it doesn't serve me well, right? Because I put myself to a higher standard than anyone else would and sometimes getting something done is better than getting it perfect. This podcast episode is a perfect example of that because my friend Lara and I were driving to Portland, and we decided to record a podcast episode while we were driving. So in this episode, you are going to hear some background noise because we are on the road. I think at one time it actually started snowing so you start hearing the precipitation falling on the windshield. It is what it is. I think that this is still a really great podcast with lots of really good information included, but it's not going to be perfect. So if it bothers you, just skip ahead to the next episode and we'll catch you next time. But I do encourage you to listen because I think it has some really good info. So that is my apology for the background noise. 

Megan: I'm here with Lara, again, from Red Door Interiors, we are going to be talking about personal shopping, via your interior designer and what you get out of that and why you might think about working with an interior designer when you are shopping for furnishings and home decor. This is going to be one of those fun episodes where you're gonna learn all about interior design and just enjoy a conversation between Lara and I. So welcome, Lara.

Lara: Thank you, Megan, I'm glad to be back.

Megan: So we were talking about different topics that we could have for the podcast and we realized that many of the listeners likely have never worked with an interior designer, so they don't understand the benefits of it. One of the greatest things about working with an interior designer is using them as your personal shopper, because we all know how frustrating the shopping process can be. Online there are so many offerings, and it gets very overwhelming. When I get into this shopping mode, I just keep scrolling and scrolling and going to the next page and I spend hours doing it and often I don't even find that I get anything from those many hours spent shopping. So one of the best benefits of working with an interior designer is that they actually do the entire process for you.

Lara: You know it reminds me of the popularity of getting clothing online with Stitch Fix where you're getting a monthly package of perfectly procured pieces that are for you, for your body type, your taste, all that kind of thing. It makes sense that you could relate this to interiors as well. Let's say we have somebody that wants us to furnish and decorate their family room. There are so many elements that you are dealing with, that somebody who hasn't been trained in it, it's overwhelming. The options are vast, the pricing is vast, the quality is vast. And the average person may not have the ability to pull stuff together.

But working with an interior designer, we bring our education and our experience into it to hopefully streamline the whole buying process to save you the time. Time is so valuable and you could be spending more time with your family or more time working or whatever it is you want to do with your extra time. We can pull together, not just the product, but present it in a way where you can go, “Oh, my gosh, you know, I didn't think I like that style. But the way I see it all put together, that's gorgeous.” That's the beauty of an interior designer, because we know how to pull it together. 

Megan: We're just one interior design studio, you're going to find the other interior designers do it differently. But when we work with curating a room for a client, the process typically looks like first we have a phone call, where we learn more about the client, and we learn about their project, we learn about their budget, we share a lot about how we work and how the whole process will work. So that's like the first stage. We call it our discovery call. And the purpose of that stage is really to figure out if it's a good fit for both of us. And if it is a good fit, then we go to the next stage where we actually go to the home and we tour the space. We again, make sure that it's a good fit. We'll do measurements and make sure that we can get an eye on how the space works and really what the ultimate goal is. We come up with a proposal where we talk through, okay, this is what you're going to get, this is how much it's going to cost. And again, another benefit of working with an interior designer. Let's say you really want to redo your family room. Like Lara said. You might think, okay, I'm just gonna buy a couch. Well, let's be honest, just buying a sofa is not going to change the entire look of your room.And so if you're budgeting for just a sofa, you're going to be really disappointed when you buy just that sofa and the entire family room still feels very much like it did before. So we really incorporate and we help you understand what your investment is going to be. The sofa, the lamps, the side tables.

Maybe it's adding in some window coverings, or some blankets or just little pieces that really make it feel homey and beautiful. When clients agree, then we kick off into the next stage, where we are doing layout plans. So you know, you may have your family room where you've always had your sofa in the same spot. Well, you're going to have a designer's eye, looking at the space, knowing the right size and the right scale of the sofa and the tables. And maybe we do a sectional here, or maybe we do two sofas in this space, or we do some extra chairs, some swivel chairs.We incorporate your personality and how you use the space into that layout. And so that's kind of how the whole process begins and starts, and then there's a lot of back and forth with, okay, do you like this? How about this fabric? And one of the joys of working with interior designers, typically, at least with us, is that you're going to get a custom piece of furniture. Usually you're going to be able to pick the exact fabric that you want for the sofa, plus, you're going to know that it's going to fit perfectly in this space. You're going to see a layout that shows the size of the sofa within your space. You're also going to see some renderings with the colors and 3D images that really just show you what it's gonna look like. You just don't get that when you're shopping online.

Lara: I've had so many clients in the past that said, “Yeah, I bought that sofa and I know it's too big and the color might not work or it's dingy.” The worst is when somebody says, “They had this great deal at Costco so I got a whole matching set.” Those pieces of furniture just lay flat and they have no personality. They certainly don't look like that magazine that you want. Ultimately that's our goal. We want to walk into our house and think oh my gosh, pinch yourself, I live here. This is beautiful. That's the space we're trying to create for you. Yeah, mistakes get made over and over again, especially related to scale. Scale is a big thing that we definitely help with. And then also, I mean, it's such a fun process, putting together the vision boards that we do. That place where we're throwing out ideas to the client, and we ask them to please go with their gut instincts. You know, don't feel like you offend us by saying absolutely not, I don't like that. It's just as important to know what you don't like, as much as it is to know what you do like. So you're being very honest and frank about what you like and don't like. And then pretty soon we kind of dial it down, narrow it down, we get a lot closer, we have a color palette that helps drive the design. And then we have different products that are inspirational and we get so excited about that perfect sideboard or that perfect dining table or light fixture that kind of just pulls everything together. But yeah, it's really a fun experience. You have faith in us, faith in our design ability that what you get is going to be beautiful. We're going to also oversee the ordering, delivery and ultimately the styling of the space which is really the cherry on top. I mean, you can buy a whole bunch of stuff and have it delivered. I've seen many many rooms that just were not put together right. There are a lot of beautiful things in there but the result is not the wow factor. So as our cherry on top, style your room and make sure everything looks just as it should. 

Megan: You also have the confidence knowing that these are brands that you're not going to find by searching online. These are not brands that are, you know, Pottery Barn or West Elm or the brands that you typically would shop for; these are specific to the trade and specific to interior designers. So these brands are higher quality. You have the confidence that we've worked with these brands before that we know this product. And you would be surprised that the price is typically right on par with those big box brands that you usually buy. So you're getting higher quality but the price point is what you were considering you would pay anyway. Plus, you have this hand holding and this reassurance and this knowledge that it's all going to come together very well, that the product is going to be higher quality, that you're going to walk into the space and it's going to feel like you're walking into a magazine. Who doesn't want that? I mean, I know I see on social media all the time, I'm in a lot of Facebook groups, I see people post and they're just like, gosh, this room doesn't feel like I thought it would, and I can see just from the pictures why. It's like, well, that's in the wrong space, or you're hanging your pictures too high, or you need more lighting. And those are all the things that you get because we are experts. Instead of you worrying about it and spending a lot of your precious time on it, we can do it in our sleep, really. It's also crazy, because it's one of those things that truly is a natural gift, I believe. I mean, it's a gift that Lara definitely has and I feel like I've honed my gift a little bit better over the past few years. But you know, it's a natural gift. And then because we work in this every single day, we have developed the expertise to really create that beautiful space that is designed perfectly for you, for your personality, for your family, for how you use the space. I had this aha a few weeks ago. So you know, I used to work in state government and I would go into the building and I would work in my cubicle and I would go to boring meetings. I really thought that was my path in life, that I was going to work in government until I retired. Then COVID happened and you know, my whole story. A couple of weeks ago, I had this aha. I was at the Seattle Design Center, I was looking at the most beautiful furniture, seeing beautiful lighting, hanging out with these awesome designers that inspired me. And I had a pinch me moment. I was like, I cannot believe I get to do this. Finally, I get to do this thing that I love. I get to bring joy and beauty to people. What a gift is that? So much better than what I used to do.

Lara: I love what I do. I am grateful that it is the career that I have. Like you said, I definitely have that natural instinct for balancing the scale and color and all of that. But even further, the fact that we go to these design shows, we go to these showrooms, we learn from the reps, we learn about what the products are, what the trends are, I mean, we eat, drink, sleep design constantly. And that's what we're bringing to the table. Because you and your busy life, you don't have time for that. That's not your nine to five.

Megan: Nope. One other thing I just want to bring up before we close out this episode is just if you support an interior designer and you purchase your furnishings through them, you are buying local and supporting a local business. It's almost exactly the same as supporting a local furniture business because we are doing basically the same thing except you're getting more service from us because when you work with the interior designer, you're getting the layout, you're getting the entire plan, you're also getting all of this service as far as the delivery and making sure that the the product is perfect. You know, if you order it at a furniture company, they're going to have it delivered on a certain day and it might even be white glove delivery, but chances are they won't call you back to make sure that it was delivered and it's perfect. They pretty much just check off their to do list that it was delivered. Whereas with us, we are going to be there during the delivery process. We're going to set it up, we're going to put it in the right spot. We're going to make sure that the lighting is in the right spot. We're going to make sure that it becomes again that magazine quality feeling for you. So I just wanted to put that out there. Again, if you are supporting a local interior designer and ordering through them, you are supporting a local business and that does stay in your local economy.

Lara: Agree. Wonderful point.

Megan: I hope this was a great episode for you and that there wasn't too much background noise. We are in the car driving and we decided to take this opportunity to share and because usually we're typically in the studio working on our clients projects. So we don't have a lot of time to do these episodes. As you can imagine, we’re headed to look at beautiful products. Yes, we are. We're gonna learn a ton about the product and we are super excited about that. So thanks again for listening, and we'll see you next time.