Hello, this is The ProSource Podcast.
I'm Kevin Devine,
Director of Digital Marketing Content
for ProSource Wholesale.
In this series
we’ll focus on home remodeling,
especially kitchens and bathrooms.
You'll hear from those in the know,
including our corporate merchandizers
showroom team members
and the trade professionals
who ultimately make it happen.
We're glad you've joined us.
Enjoy.
Hello.
In this episode of The ProSource Podcast,
we're joined by Ellen Kurtz,
who's an interior designer.
A member here at ProSource Wholesale.
Ellen, thanks for joining us. Thank you.
So let's start
with a real simple question.
Ease into it here.
Tell us who you are and what you do.
Well, I'm an interior designer,
have been in business for many years.
Don't want to say the number,
just want to go with many.
And I
started out went to the
University of Missouri.
I have a minor in architecture,
major interior design,
and been in the business for,
like I said, many years. Okay.
So that answers that part.
What got you into the industry?
What motivated you?
Obviously, you went to college,
you got an interior design degree,
but what motivated you to do that?
Well, when I was younger,
I always shopped with my mom and dad
doing their own home
and then got interested in
but was really interested in fine arts,
but realized
I was not going to be able
to make money doing that. So quickly
decided when I got to Mizzou that I,
I thought, you know what?
Interior design
is definitely where I want to be.
And we'll have a discussion later
about why Missouri calls itself Mizzou.
That's a whole separate
discussion we can have. Right.
Do you have
so you're an interior designer.
You put together design.
So do you have other trade professionals
that you work with
to execute on your vision
that you put forth? Oh, yes. Many.
So I work with lots of builders,
many contractors and
specifically like two major ones
right now.
And they execute
my design, put everything together.
I give them a drawings and selections
and then they take it from there.
So I'm guessing it
probably helps
to have some consistency in who you use
because you understand their work and
they understand your vision.
Absolutely. Absolutely.
Yeah.
That's that's
it's hard to find somebody
that you can be matched up with
and you work well together.
And I've been to lots of contractors,
you know you just as you work with them
and they understand you
and you understand them,
you let them be
professional in their part
and you hope to receive that on the back
end of it as well.
So but yeah, it works.
It works
well when you connect with somebody.
I was going to ask,
what does that dynamic like
when you work together?
So part of my job,
I always laugh with the contractors
I work with now is
my job is to get the materials
there, on location
and their job is to stay there
and put it together.
So making selections with my clients,
like my part is always up
in the beginning of the project.
And, and then as he executes
and pulls things
together, I'm
always checking in on the jobs.
It's not that I'm not there,
but I trust him in
taking care of that
and not having to check in with them
too often. So.
Too often.
Yeah, too often.
So let's touch on that.
Your job is to make sure the products
get their his
his or her job is to make sure
that it gets installed. Right.
How often do you stop by it
at the job site and check on progress
and see how things are going?
It varies.
It depends
on, you know, what part
a part of the job that they're at.
And many times my clients they,
they're not on the job site at all.
So they just want me to
walk through with them at different times
just to make sure everything's
running smoothly.
And, and that
and that works out pretty good.
Sometimes the contractors
are there, other times it's after
hours, so he won't be there.
It just it it varies.
Yeah.
So now, I’m
compelled to ask,
have you ever gone in
when the contractor isn't there
and just been freaked out
at what you're seeing that
that is not what you envision?
Yes. Or a product that arrived recently.
I had a situation
where I'm doing a executing a fireplace
and the stone was on the job.
It got delivered
and the stone was not correct.
It was
it had shading of green in it
and there was no green in the sample.
So I had to walk through and
get Eddie on the job and
pull off everything.
And we went through all the boxes and,
and there was a lot of tile,
so we had to send it all back
and I had to make a reselection.
So that's been a
process is still ongoing.
Well, you reselected
just out of curiosity
was because you just couldn't
trust it at that point.
Or they were saying,
it’s probably going to have green. Yes.
Yeah.
They were saying by the time
you eliminate all the green stone
that was appearing,
you know, it was a natural product,
so there was no guarantee.
So we had to get rid of it.
And I picked out something
that was a little bit more predictable.
Well, that's a good way of putting it.
Yeah.
How disappointing is that?
No, it. Was.
It was because it doesn't change.
The whole vision, too.
No, not that much.
I mean, it did in the beginning.
And then I had to, like,
just come to resolve with it
and just say, hey, we're just moving on.
We got to get going on this project.
So
because it held it up
for a good three weeks, so. Wow. Yeah.
No fun.
Then.
Probably the homeowner was none too
thrilled with that either.
How do you, how do you manage
that aspect? Yeah.
Luckily, this homeowner
trust me and everything.
So I just flat out said, hey,
you know what?
We're going to have to
just change course.
And, you know, and they're like,
Whatever you think. So that was. Good.
Well, that works out well. Yeah.
Yeah.
I mentioned earlier
you're a member of Process Wholesale.
How long have you been a member?
And why did you join?
Well, I've been member at least 30 years.
When they first started
and they were over off of,
I think it was Metro Boulevard and
did work with them when they first
like I was in appeared
in one of their magazine ads.
And I used to go there all the time
just to make selections for carpeting,
mainly at that point.
And then as
you get further into your career
and stuff tiles
and you know, any
anything that they offered.
And now of course,
there's so much bigger,
you know, with the cabinetry
and plumbing and all of that,
which is great to utilize.
I just I love coming here.
So yeah, so I'm
I'm going to put a little context on this
for our viewers and for our listeners,
because you said for 30 years.
So ProSource Wholesale started in 1991.
St Louis
showroom was the first
of those showrooms. Yeah.
So here we are, 2023.
Yeah.
So, yeah, you were
you were pretty close
to the beginning there.
I was, yeah. Yeah.
I worked with Mike,
who was the manager there,
and like I said, did
many, many projects with them.
So you've seen many changes?
Oh, yes, lots of changes.
And we'll be talking about that.
Yeah, that's.
Yeah, yeah. So here's the question.
That's how long you've been with us.
What keeps you coming back
as a member for that long. For 30 years.
Yeah. It's what's the.
What's the.
Biggest?
Well, the biggest thing is
Eddie Weddington is my manager,
and he always gets back with me quickly,
which is great.
And if there's a problem,
always comes to some solution.
But then when they started
adding the cabinetry and took me off
into another part of my career,
which I could then purchase the cabinets
and do the complete design,
you know, before
I always had to go to a retail place,
pick our cabinetry there,
go from place to place a place. Here,
I can come one,
you know, it's like one stop shopping,
you know, it's like everything's here.
So it,
it makes it much easier, much faster.
Specifically as a designer,
you know,
what are some of the benefits
of working with ProSource?
Is it
just being that one stop shop,
especially now? Yes, definitely.
Yeah, Products.
Definitely that
and I get the help that I need.
So I think before
when I used to have to
go to cabinet places,
you relied on the salesperson
to come up with the design.
And I always had input,
but not as much input.
When I can control it from the beginning,
which I like a lot better,
I feel like I end up
with a much better product
because I have a vision
and I want to execute that.
And instead of having somebody
share that with a client,
it's me sharing it with my client
and having the support behind it
and it makes my product come out
much better and my vision
come up a lot better too.
So when it comes to product selection,
do you have a preference in that?
Do you bring your homeowner
clients here to the showroom
and go through the product selection,
or do you prefer to take samples to them
and maybe have a little bit
of a control there?
Yeah, it well, it depends on the client.
Okay.
Some people will just say, Hey,
I'll just narrow it down to two
selections or just give me
what you think and I'll take the things
you know, the selections to them.
If somebody's really wanting
to go through lots of things,
then I will bring them in.
But usually that only happens once
and we'll spend
quite a bit of time pulling from,
you know, flooring,
cabinetry, countertops,
plumbing, all of that.
And then once we put it all together,
then they'll just say,
hey, bring
bring me some other choices
or some other ideas.
But typically it's
only one time they come in.
So yeah.
So when you talked
about taking all those products
and putting it together,
do you put together like a
sort of,
I'll call it a design board, as it were,
putting all those products
together in one little grouping
so they could see how they may
all interact in that particular space.
Yeah, quite a bit.
If once I go and see a client
that and then I'll invite them
to come here,
I'll usually have
something already
laid out as a starting point
so that we can say, Hey,
what do you think of these?
And, you know, narrow it down from there,
you know, tweak it, whatever.
So yeah.
So you mentioned Eddie
your account manager.
How do you navigate the product selection
along side of him?
Do you how involved, I guess
does he have. Hardly any at all.
He laughs at me
because I just come in and take over
and just do whatever.
But I do bring him in
when I don't know something
in particular about a product,
which is great
because used to be, you know,
I would have to go to all these different
like things
to, you know, teach me about products
and I don't have time for that anymore.
So I really lean on Eddie to help me
with that part of it.
Like, especially with flooring.
That's one thing with,
you know, hardwoods in the
LVT products now
and it changes so quickly anymore.
So and I just depend on him to kind of
guide me in that.
So is also part of it
keeping Eddie
not necessarily
out of the product selection, but just,
you know,
you controlling that part is part of
that also just your comfort level
because you have been
a member for so long. Yeah, Yeah.
A lot of it is.
I just come in, I'm in and out
like so quickly and,
you know, and Eddie
always laughs with me.
I go, I come take samples
and then he'll go,
Is your car full of samples?
And I'll say yes.
And he goes, Jump me, go clean it out.
And I'm like, Yes.
So we bring all the samples back in
and we drop them off. And anyway, so.
Okay, yeah.
So, you know, ProSource
has in-house kitchen and bath designers.
Do you make use of that service?
Oh, yeah. Yeah.
Well, at least once a week, if not more.
Okay. Yeah.
So I work with Laura. Okay.
And she's great.
She does a great job and helps me execute
my designs and and my vision.
So, yeah.
So this might be a
I want to talk a little bit
about the dynamic of that relationship
and this might be a good time
also to sort of clarify,
because you're a designer
an interior designer,
we have kitchen and bath designers
maybe talk a little bit
about the distinction of what role
each of you play here
and then therefore how you work together
when you're coming to the showroom.
Right.
Primarily, I mean,
I already have a vision coming in.
What what
really AIDS
is the drawings
that she generates for me,
especially the 3D drawings,
because if somebody in
in their home has a certain vision and
and I'm not seeing their vision,
but anything
that I can give them on paper
so that they can comment on and
just help to see,
you know, yes, this is where
we're going in the right direction.
You know,
anything visual
that you can give a client
is best.
So and she really helps me on that
part of it so much.
Okay. Yeah.
But at least once a week
you're working with her. Yeah. Yeah. Okay.
Yeah. So
that would raise
another interesting question in that
when you look at the projects
that you do, are the vast
majority of them kitchens and bathrooms
or at least involve
a kitchen and bathroom?
I would say not, no, not all projects.
I mean,
I do do a lot of kitchens and baths,
but like a bar.
I'm doing a wine cellar right now
that she's helping me with.
I'm doing another bar.
So it just it's all over.
It could be just even refreshing a house,
which a lot of my clients
are just refreshing.
So it just involves changing countertops,
maybe a backsplash.
So, you know, we come in
with a drawing to do that.
So, yeah, it's all over the board.
I mean, you know,
lots of different things.
But no, I'm not always doing kitchens and baths.
I do lots of other products.
Well,
if you want to come over to my place
and do a wine cellar, I'm
not going to say no to that by the way.
Yeah, that was interesting.
Something else
that you mentioned there with the refresh
and maybe just doing countertop
or doing a backsplash.
So it doesn't have to be a whole room
makeover for you.
You could take something
that small and work with it.
Is that mostly though,
also from previous clients. Yes. Okay.
Yeah. Yeah.
It's clients
that I've worked with for years
and maybe I did their house, you know,
10, 15 years ago.
They'll want to come back
and say, okay,
take this house and give me a new look.
Some of it is just like maybe
using their area
rugs, changing paint colors,
adding some new
cabinets or, you know,
furniture pieces just to change it up.
You know, they get tired
and they want it to look different.
So, yeah, so I'm working on
lots of projects like that. Yeah.
So the smaller scale as it were.
Yeah. Yeah.
How many projects do
you take on at a time?
Well, I was counting the other day
because I'm like usually I,
I know usually
throughout the year
I'll have like 20 projects
going at one time.
Right now I have probably about 12 or 15.
At one time. Yeah. Yeah.
How do you balance that?
Everybody's had a different
face, so, you know,
you might concentrate
really heavily on a project.
Like right now I'm doing a barn.
I haven't done a barn.
Yes, I'm doing a barn.
Okay. Yes, We may talk about this.
Yeah.
It's a great project.
In fact, I'm going there
right after I leave here, so.
But it's a two story barn, and I'm.
I'm working with all the finishes
right now,
trying to come up
with the stained colors for the exterior.
But anyway, so it's a fun project.
No, I'm not letting this go.
I can't. Okay.
What are the animals
being kept inside this barn?
And we're, like,
setting them up on some nice LVT flooring?
No, No. This.
This is going to be more like a fun barn
where they have lots of toys to store.
Okay,
so it's out in Wildwood,
and we're actually
doing a container pool.
It's a pool made out of a
truck container. Okay.
And they're taking containers now
and they're actually lining them
and turning them into pools.
And so we're adding
one of these on the end of the barn.
So they it's a lap pool, basically.
Wow. It's a fun project.
I would love to see pictures of this
when this is done.
I know.
Because I'm trying to envision that.
Well, it's really fun
because I was there yesterday
and I'm seeing all the wood go up
and it's like an actual barn raising.
I love it. It's so fun.
I'm taking pictures every day.
So. Have you
ever done anything like that?
No, no, this is a new venture
So how did you prep yourself?
Is there even, like, research
you can do for this?
No, not really.
It's funny because my client.
You know, I've done their home,
obviously, and it's
right on their land, so
they've been wanting
this barn for a while.
So anyway, I got involved and,
you know, it's just fun.
Yeah.
So, so sorry to drive
so much into that project,
but that was so unique.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
I have a lot of unique projects. Yeah.
Okay. Yeah.
So maybe a little
bit of a spinoff of that.
How do you go about gathering information
on the homeowners
lifestyle and incorporate
that into your design?
And when I say that I'm talking
kids, pets
working from home,
which many people do now,
even in-laws who may or may live there,
how do you go
about getting that information
and then incorporating those parts
into your design?
Yeah, well,
that's part of my
one of my very first meetings
with the customer
and talking to them
about how they use their space
in their house,
you know,
and some of these homes that are older,
you know,
they'll have the formal living room,
formal dining room.
People don't use those.
So reworking spaces, I
do a lot of space planning
to make the
rest of the house work
instead of adding square footage,
use the square footage
they have to try to incorporate
some of those.
Right now
I'm working on a project in the city
where the customer, they live there for
probably about ten years,
but they want their in-laws to move in.
So they're we're developing
and adding an addition
onto the home
so that
the parents can live with them
as they age.
So yeah, I think
we're going to see a lot more of that.
You do to sort of the trend
line is going.
Yeah, I think you're going to see more
families living together
because costs are getting so expensive
and I think I think
we're going to see some of that.
Yeah. Okay.
So you touched on a little bit here.
How do you navigate actually
take into account the traffic flow
within a home,
a home remodel design, especially,
say, in a kitchen
that could may
or may not have like an island
they could, you got navigation around that.
So how does traffic flow
get incorporated into your designs?
Yeah, it's definitely important.
Obviously, it depends on,
you know, how somebody is coming in
from their home,
whether through the garage or
how they use that kitchen space.
A lot of people will want
to incorporate places
where they make charging stations.
They'll use their computer at an island.
There's an
if they have pets, you know,
many people want to incorporate
like a pet area,
whether it's in the kitchen
or close by in a laundry space.
And I'm seeing more
like people who use appliances
and they don't necessarily
want it in the kitchen.
Pantries become really important,
so they're actually
incorporating stations in the pantries
where they bring out appliances
or leave them out all the time
so that they do use them instead of,
you know, trying to pull something out.
You know, don't keep it already set up,
which is good.
That isn't when it's
either out or easily accessible it’s amazing
how much more frequently they are used.
Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.
Yeah.
So just because you brought up
because we were talking about pets
here, too, are you seeing a lot of
look, I'll
use the
term pet station
but more like the bath or shower station.
Oh yeah. Yeah.
For dogs. Yeah, I've done those.
It could be for cats. They’re a little less likely
to cooperate.
But yes, I've done a few dog showers.
Yeah, Yeah. Okay.
Yeah.
We just lowered the shower door itself
and have a handheld
so that you can actually rinse,
rinse the dogs off
and trap them in there at the same time.
So they don’t get everywhere. Yeah. Right.
Oh it's always important. Yeah.
So the pivot
a bit off of the word shower here
and go into plumbing
when you're doing a kitchen or bathroom,
how do you address
plumbing issues
that could occur there either
maybe it's
the existing plumbing
and that you're working with
or you have to relocate the plumbing.
Mm hmm.
Yeah.
Relocating. We do a lot.
Okay, So
because we're changing space around,
you know,
particularly the finishes
when you're getting into the plumbing,
Not so much.
I mean,
you can learn a lot
about shopping with somebody
on their plumbing
just by the finishes
they choose
and things that they talk about.
It's interesting.
When I do a whole house,
I'll start with plumbing
because it's kind of easy
and at least I get to hear
what a client like leans toward,
whether it's
more of a contemporary faucet versus
something a little bit softer,
I can kind of tell
where they're going
with the rest of the items
they're going to choose.
So but
right now,
I think there's so many great finishes
that they're coming out with plumbing
and it's like kind of like jewelry,
just like
hardware is on cabinets,
you know, it just it
it kind of adds another element.
That's it,
you know, really makes the kitchen shine.
So I like that.
But it's interesting
that you would say that, though,
that you might actually start with
with some of plumbing
like faucets
and drive out from there,
because I think that that would be
maybe last on the list.
But you kind of use
that as the motivational element
for the theme in the room.
And getting more information
from the client.
You know, just talking about a project,
sometimes they don't know
what to tell you.
You have to kind of
pull that out of them.
So starting with something simpler,
you can kind of hear
what they're saying
and, you know,
it helps you with other parts of the
of the project. Yeah.
So staying for a moment in kitchens,
what about existing appliances
that are in there?
How do you take that into account
or are you
more often than not changing out
appliances at the same time?
No appliances are a challenge these days.
Takes a long time to get them
and if somebody has like, for instance,
I'm doing a project
now where they have a 48 inch subzero,
I'm encouraging them to
keep it and work with it because really,
I mean, it's almost like 18 months
now to get some appliances
and it's crazy.
It does dictate,
you know,
what you're going to do in a kitchen.
And I often tell them to go ahead and go
appliance shopping
and give me some input on that
before we actually get
started on the design,
because it does
it does dictate some of those things.
So. What about
if we break out side of that?
What about existing furniture
that they may want to keep
in a particular space? Yeah,
a lot of people have heirlooms
from different family members.
You know, we try to incorporate that,
but also letting them know
it also is going to dictate their style.
So you have to walk gently with that,
but try to incorporate as best you can.
And you know,
most of them know whether or not it's
going to fit the design or not.
And they have to make that choice
whether or not to use that in their space
or put it somewhere else.
So because we've talked a little bit here
about style,
if I were to ask you,
what is your particular style
preference? Just straight up yours,
if you could take any blank space
and put it
put a particular style in there,
what would you lean toward?
I'm I am more contemporary,
not on the modern end of it,
but more contemporary personally.
But of course I do every style right?
And you have to in this business.
I also have a Western style
lower level,
not my preference, but my husband's.
But our. Whole. That's nice of you.
Yeah,
well, I started there
when I moved into his home.
We decided to remodel it
and I told him he could do anything
in the lower level, but beyond that,
that was it.
So he was confined to that one space.
Yeah, he is confined, he loves it.
And so he's happy with that.
So I get the rest of the house,
so it's all good. Okay,
so I ask that and then I'm curious,
when you're designing a space
for one of your clients,
how are you able to keep
your own personal preferences
sort of out of it
and zone in on what they.
Oh yeah.
Oh yeah, definitely.
Yeah, yeah.
I've done
lots of different styles, you know,
over the years. So
yeah, so
one of the
interesting projects
I did, a lady and her husband
lived in Singapore
and they had quite a few artifacts
that they brought back from there
and the whole house was around that.
Not necessarily my style,
but it was a great project
and was fun to deal with. So yeah.
So you mentioned
you worked
with all sorts of different designs.
How many different design styles
do you think you've worked with?
Is there one you haven't worked with?
Maybe is an easier
question.
Yeah, probably that would be the easier
question. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Like Southwest.
Yeah, yeah.
There's, yeah, a number of styles.
Okay, so
let's do this.
And if this brings us back to the barn,
so be it.
But can you talk about
some of the most fun projects
that you've worked on
and what made them so enjoyable?
Yeah, so I did a really great project
some years ago.
It was
for a
house that was being built over in Ladue
and the gentleman
collected artifacts
from all over the world. Fireplaces,
architectural pieces,
and he had a whole warehouse full of it
and the home was quite large and so
when I got hired,
he took me to this warehouse
and said,
I want you to incorporate
as many of these items as you can.
Into the house. Into his new home.
And it was a big home, so
there was lots of space,
but it was a challenge.
And, you know,
I had to work with specific sizes.
Of course,
and just there was some fabulous pieces
a marble fireplaces,
columns from all over
brackets and from old buildings.
Anyway,
so the project was great
and it lasted for quite a while.
And the home is gorgeous.
It turned out really beautiful.
Yeah, it was a great project.
So it's all done?
Oh yeah. Percentage wise.
What do you think?
You how much of his artifacts
did you think you got into the home?
Quite a bit.
And I think he was really impressed
by how much I was able to incorporate.
You know, we did things in doorways
and he had a copper ceiling
that I incorporated
into a pool table room,
like one of the old tin ceilings
that he had gotten out
of a particular place,
doors, old
doors, windows,
you know, quite a few pieces of it.
It was really interesting
how it came out.
So. I don't think I ever want to go into
how he got all that back.
Yeah, I know. And I'm like, Yeah, yeah.
I don't know how he got it all there,
but he had quite a bit, so.
Wow. Okay then.
Well, let's flip it the other way.
Can you talk about
some of the challenges that you face
and how you overcome
those challenges in your design?
You mean working with
in what way?
What challenges? It could be anything.
It could be
just the space
in the way it's
configured or what
you want to do,
or it's a product that gets selected.
Yeah, well,
I guess there's always challenges
on every project.
What I like to do is, is look at a whole
space for a client
and instead of confining it to say,
Let's do a kitchen design,
many people don't look outside of the box
by opening up,
like taking down a wall
or opening up a window
or relocating a window.
Something as simple as that
can make all the difference in the world.
And I try to share that with them
and press them a little bit
so that the outcome of the project
can be so much better.
Sometimes you can get to people
to do that type of thing
at other times that they
they're not open to it at all.
So it just depends.
Have you ever gone into a project
and the client wants something done
and you look at the space and like,
this just can't be done.
Right? Yes, of course. Yeah.
And sometimes you just have
to educate them
and prove to them
that it show them
another avenue, you know,
you know, put down a
different objective,
a different way of looking at something
and you can get them to come around.
Yeah. Yeah.
So here, maybe a fun question for you.
Taking it from a designer standpoint,
there are one or two shows on TV
or streaming. Yeah.
So within the home
remodeling world, as it were,
how do you take first off, do you,
is there any of those shows that you like
or feel
are realistiv enough
or can even offer inspiration from
with it,
or do you just find them
to be more of a nuisance
within your profession?
Oh, I think they're
they're all great because it does
teach people
what a designer actually does.
I think many people just think that
you choose,
you know, you choose furniture
and you put it in. The space planning
part of it
is really what we're all about.
And I think those shows
have taught people
that that's what
a designer actually does,
looks at your space
and reworks your space.
So that part's good.
The down part of it
is that they looks like
in one episode in one sitting,
you can have your whole job done.
And I mean. That's not realistic?
It's not realistic.
The other part
that is sort of irritating
as well is all of the programs
they use to convey the projects,
like all of the 3D elements.
I mean, those are all great,
but they cost lots of money,
so they are not all realistic
for somebody like myself to have
access to.
You know, we have
a little access to some of that,
but not like they portray
in some of the shows.
Yeah, fair enough.
So you sit down and you agree
on your vision with the homeowner.
How hard is it to set a realistic.
I put the emphasis on
that realistic budget with them. Yeah.
Do you find that
they even know what the budget should be?
No. Wow. That's.
That's pretty much what it is.
They don't know what the budget should be
because they're not aware.
But what I always look at is,
first of all, where's the home?
What price point are we in?
You don't want to overprice your project
because you're
never going to get it back.
We talk a little bit about that.
Some of them have an idea in their head.
Most of the time they don't,
so they just want to go
through the process and say, okay,
this is what I'm looking for.
Tell me how much that's going to be.
You know, and unfortunately,
I think throughout the years,
things have gotten so expensive,
like a project,
maybe even three
or four years ago, you know,
it's elevated so much and people
in their heads
may have looked at a project
maybe three or four years ago.
And now what they're seeing
is it's increased so much more. But
thank God they're still
out there doing them and it's all good.
So I was going to ask you
about that, about the changes.
It's not just having
done this for 30 years,
but with ProSource.
But just the last few years.
Oh, things have changed.
It's changed a lot. Yeah. Yeah.
Supply chain has just been horrendous
for this business.
It's been really tough.
It's getting better,
but it's still not completely there. So.
But yeah, it's been a challenge.
As a designer,
how much do you pay attention
to trends that come out
and everyone
you know, every paint
company comes out
with their color of the year
and some of them are very neutral
and others are just wild, right?
And so how much do you look at trends
and either you or the homeowner
want to incorporate
those into your designs?
Well, thank God they have trends
because otherwise
we would not be doing what we're doing.
So that's all good. But the trends, yeah,
what I encourage my
clients to do
is don't pay attention to them
because there's
always going to be something new.
So do what they feel like
that's best for them.
Use their color palettes.
Like when we went through all the whole
white kitchen and everything being gray,
I encouraged my clients, don't do that.
Do what,
those, you know,
your colors and your finishes
make you happy.
Not not something that's just so trendy,
you know, because it do it for yourself.
People are in a
worry about resale
unless somebody is only fixing it up
for resale.
That's the only time
I suggest that they look at it that way.
Otherwise, if they're staying there
and they're
doing a project, do it for themselves.
Yeah. Yeah.
So let's just flip it
maybe to your own world here
in the projects that you do,
do you see sort of trends or themes
developing within the projects
that you do?
Do you see a lot of that,
a lot of similar things happening?
Yes and no.
You know, I think in the Midwest, we all
people have a tendency
to be more traditional,
not so contemporary, but
I think the shows that are on TV
have inspired
lots of people to,
you know, reach out into other things.
When I go to market for furniture,
you know, it's a coastal thing.
You'll see
trends hit on the on the coastlines
much sooner
and then it comes back to here.
But for the most part, I think, you know,
if people are hiring somebody like me,
they're already interested in design,
so they've already educated themselves
to some aspect of that.
And so they're they're already aware
of, you know, what trends are coming
or what they're interested in anyway.
So you touched on it a little bit earlier too,
circling back to it.
Do you see a lot of technology
fitting into your designs,
like one of the one popular one
that we see out there
a lot is Alexa
is making her way throughout the house.
Oh yeah. In
a lot of especially
into kitchens and bathrooms.
Are you starting to see that
come forth in your designs?
Yeah, you do see that
sometimes it's just,
you know, mainly toward one one room.
But yeah, somewhat a lot of my clients
think technology is
it's too much into space
and it changes so quickly.
And what we've seen, you know,
just for instance with TVs over time
that industry changes so drastically
from even year to year that they're not
they don't
want to get caught up into that
and limit themselves.
So I don't know
if I've answered your question
well enough, but yeah. Good enough.
I’ll accept it. Okay.
All right.
So last question for you
here as a designer,
and it's a little bit
touching on budget as well,
how do you overcome the perception
that some homeowners may have of saying,
A. I don't need a designer,
I just do this on my own and work
with a contractor to get it done,
or they look at it and say,
I might want to designer,
but I can't afford that. Right?
That because that's just going to add
to the cost of the project.
You think it's just going to go up
exponentially.
How do you overcome that perception?
That's easy.
Okay, so.
I'm glad I could ask you
an easy question. Yeah. So
so first of
all, when a client does call me,
I'm honored that they do.
But when I go out to meet with them,
basically it's just for us
to get to know each other.
And I tell them that in the beginning,
it's it's more about,
can you work with this person
and can we collaborate together
and get to some design
to make them feel more comfortable
with that,
either like charge an hourly fee
or give them a flat fee
And some of the flat fees.
I'm seeing more and more of that,
especially if somebody has never worked
with the designer before.
They want to know what that
what that outcome is going
to be as far as dollar amounts.
And so I'll tell them, okay,
that this includes
this service and give them a flat fee.
They feel comfortable.
It's then they don't feel
bad about calling me or
inviting me to come out or
shopping with them or whatever
part of the project is because they know
there's a set dollar amount
and that helps them.
And I think once they get started,
then they're ready to
go on another project.
So it's it's easy once we get, get,
get in there
and get some comfort zone for them.
Do you feel it's fair, say,
even if it's not perceived that way,
that using a designer
can actually save you money in some ways?
Oh yeah. Yeah.
And I think, you know,
I don't necessarily say that to them
because I'd rather them know that
by when they get into the project,
they're then they start realizing
how much it does save them
and how much time it saves them as well.
Yeah, Well,
thank you for joining us here today
and sharing your thoughts.
Appreciate that.
Ellen Kurtz, everyone.
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