The Chaise Lounge – Page 2 – The Chaise Lounge: Interior Design Podcast

Team-building and Flexibility with Nicole Salceda of Eye For Pretty | S30E5

48:28

Welcome! In this week’s Chaise Lounge, Nick May sits down with Nicole Salceda, interior designer and owner of Eye For Pretty in Danville, California!

Nicole attended St. Mary’s to earn a teaching degree. She later got married and the couple purchased a house, which she would decorate and re-decorate. Visitors would ask her if she was an interior designer. She played around with the thought and did design work for friends and family while teaching part-time. After becoming popular on Instagram, Nicole decided to drop her teaching career and officially become an interior designer. She opened her studio Eye For Pretty on the bay area of Danville, and her team is comprised of hard-working moms.

Nick and Nicole discuss the business and operations side of running a design firm – or any kind of business. They go into hiring the right people, being flexible with our employees, and building a strong team. Nicole reminds us to keep ourselves in check; establish what kind of business we want to have and who we want to work with. We need the courage to decline projects we can’t tackle, even if they are our dream projects. Additionally, she lets us know that design does not have to be ultra-formal, and that it’s okay to add some personality for flavor.

You can connect with Nicole through her Instagram @eyeforpretty and her website www.eyeforpretty.com. You can also check out her retail store at eyeforprettyathome.com. If you want to have a chuckle, check out @eye4petty, a parody account ran by Nicole’s husband!

I know at this point in my career that hiring a strong team is really the secret to a lot of my success.

Nicole Salceda Tweet

Chaise Lounge Updates

Coast to Coast Design is back baby! Give it a listen to learn about just how many ways there are to run a design business.

Resources

See what our sponsors can do for you.

Upcoming Markets

High Point Market – April 2 – 6, 2022

Wrap Up

If you would like to hear more episodes, please visit us on iTunes, Spotify or your favorite podcasting app! We’d love it if you post a review, you may even hear your review read live on our next podcast. Also, find The Chaise Lounge on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. With that said, keep dreaming big, and keep designing a great design business. See ya!

The AD100 List, The WOW List, and Streamlining the Architectural Digest Experience with David Kaufman | S30E4

38:43

Welcome back to the Chaise Lounge podcast! It is now 2022 and to start the new year motivated, Nick May sits down with global Digital Director at Architectural Digest David Kaufman!

David has been featured in the show a few times before. For those who missed out, he worked as editor for the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, New York Post, and other giants in the world of journalism. As his current title suggests, he is in charge of translating AD’s print content to digital platforms.

Aside from reminding us about the new AD100 list, David introduces us to Architectural Digest’s first ever Works Of Wonder (WOW) List, which features a curated selection by their international editors of the best projects in the world. Furthermore, AD’s editors are also working to slowly make the AD experience more visual and less verbal, removing the need for the extra translation work and incorporate the universal language of images and icons.

If you’d like to learn more about David, you can follow him on Instagram @kaufmandavidnyc

This year... there's a company-wide effort for all of the brands with international presences to try to integrate global content and global operations.

David Kaufman Tweet

Chaise Lounge Updates

Coast to Coast Design is back baby! Give it a listen to learn about just how many ways there are to run a design business.

Resources

See what our sponsors can do for you.

Upcoming Markets

High Point Market – April 2 – 6, 2022

Wrap Up

Positive Energy In A Space, With Boulder & Aspen Interior Designers Joe McGuire and Matthew Tenzin | S30E3

55:24

Welcome! In this week’s Chaise Lounge, Nick May chats with fellow Colorado designers, Joe McGuire and Matthew Tenzin, principal designers of Joe McGuire Design in Boulder and Aspen.

Joe and Matt enjoyed rearranging furniture and decorating their rooms at an early age. Joe studied Art History and started his design career in New York right out of college. Matt on the other hand earned a degree in philosophy and became a Buddhist monk. He later met Joe – who was an already-established designer – and pursued design himself to be part of the journey.

Joe McGuire Design puts a strong emphasis on the importance of space. They make it clear that interior design is not just a job. It’s an experience; a deep exploration of a person’s spirituality and their connection to a space and its contents. Joe and Matt take everything into consideration to ensure that their work plays into a client’s well-being and enhances serenity.

Check out Joe and Matt’s portfolio on their website joemcguiredesign.com, and be sure to follow them on Instagram @joemcguiredesign!

We practice what we call "holistic design." It's a wellness-focused approach to design that understands wellness in a deeper and wider way than is typically thought of... There's an energetic component to true health and well-being... the energetics of a space are key.

Matt Tenzin Tweet

Chaise Lounge Updates

Coast to Coast Design is back baby! Give it a listen to learn about just how many ways there are to run a design business.

Resources

See what our sponsors can do for you.

Upcoming Markets

High Point Market – April 2 – 6, 2022

Wrap Up

Heather Weisz and Lisa Hynes of Florida’s HW Interiors: Setting Expectations | S30E2

53:44

Welcome once again to the Chaise Lounge! This week, Nick May invited Heather Weisz and Lisa Hynes, dynamic duo and founders of HW Interiors in Wellington, Florida!

Heather grew up in New York, and moved to Florida when she was 13. While attending the Art Institute of Miami, she married and bought a house in Miami to raise her first child. Lisa, an English major, grew up in Connecticut and eventually moved to Florida as well. Both ladies met while playing tennis and instantly became best friends. Lisa approached Heather for help with furnishing a custom home she was building. They enjoyed working together and decided to make it official by acquiring an office. Heather with her creative talents, and Lisa with her organizational skills, founded their own firm, HW Interiors.

Heather and Lisa share their experiences and challenges building their company as single moms. They managed to establish a balance between work and home life that their children could work with. This no-nonsense attitude carried over to HW Interiors, where they set clear boundaries by educating their clients about realistic expectations. Breaking the news to a client about a low bid to a high price is tough, but it’s a necessary step for any designer to take.

Check out HW Interior’s elegant work on their website www.hwinteriors.net, and be sure to follow them on Instagram @hw.interiors!

Letting go of being home all the time with the kids or being that controlling presence at home... taking a step back from that and giving control to other people was hard for me... and also letting go of my own expectations of myself.

Lisa Hynes Tweet

Chaise Lounge Updates

Coast to Coast Design is back baby! Give it a listen to learn about just how many ways there are to run a design business.

Resources

See what our sponsors can do for you.

Upcoming Markets

High Point Market – April 2 – 6, 2022

Wrap Up

Award-Winning Denver Interior Designer and Passionate Leader Andrea Monath Schumacher | S30E1

44:26

Welcome back for a new season of The Chaise Lounge Lounge Podcast! To kick things off, Nick May goes local and invites Andrea Schumacher, a high-end residential designer based in Denver, CO.

Andrea and her family traveled around the world since she was kid. Her childhood in Nigeria greatly inspired her design work today, as evidenced by the vivid and exotic colors of her projects. Having grown all over the place, even going to a different high school every year, she developed an ability to make friends and better understand people. All these experiences influenced how Andrea built her company and team. She focuses on people, culture, and relationships, both for her clients and her team.

Things are looking quite exciting for Andrea Schumacher Interiors. This year, the team grew from 7 designers to 17. They are working on developing product lines of wall covering and textiles. What’s more, Andrea recently wrote a book; It’s called Vibrant Interiors: Living Large at Home and it features some of her best works, many of which have not been published before!

Be sure to check out Andrea and team’s work on their website, www.andreaschumacherinteriors.com, and follow them on Instagram @andreaschumacherinteriors!

I look at longevity... if on your resume you jump around a lot to different jobs, it's not for us... It's so much better to find somebody that you really want, and then train them up and keep them and do whatever it is you can to make them happy.

Andrea Schumacher Tweet

Chaise Lounge Updates

Coast to Coast Design is back baby! Give it a listen to learn about just how many ways there are to run a design business.

Resources

See what our sponsors can do for you.

Upcoming Markets

High Point Market – April 2 – 6, 2022

Wrap Up

Interior Designer Chad Esslinger: A One-Man Team Armed With Passion, Processes, & Experience | S29E12

00:50:43

We have reached the end of Season 29 of The Chaise Lounge! This week, Nick May chats with Chad Esslinger in Downers Grove, Illinois!

Chad grew up in Jacksonville, Illinois. As a kid he was into creating things with LEGOs and drawing houses and floor plans. He studied Industrial Design at the University of Illinois and moved to Chicago after graduating. He went through a few décor jobs over the years, even one where he got to travel. The corporate life became unappealing after a while, however. With enough experience under his belt, Chad set out to start his own business, Chad Esslinger Design, in 2010.

Chad is a one-man team. He refers to himself as an “imperfect perfectionist,” and recognizes his bad habit of doing too much on his own instead of sharing responsibilities. Despite that, his past experience aided him in establishing systems and processes early on to make the experience smoother for himself and his clients. He also knows to be picky when choosing his clients, enabling a flow of enjoyable projects and serious customers. Most of his projects are kitchen and bathroom renovations, and decorating and furnishing. In the future, he would like to create his own line of furniture and design a restaurant from the ground up.

Go to www.chadesslingerdesign.com to check out Chad’s portfolio, and follow him on Instagram @chadesslingerdesign

When people call me it's because they have done a little bit of homework on me... They're not looking to find the lowest-priced designer or the designer that can start next week... I wanna be the right designer for them, and I want them to be the right client for me.

Chad Esslinger Tweet

Chaise Lounge Updates

Coast to Coast Design is back baby! Give it a listen to learn about just how many ways there are to run a design business.