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

159 – High Point Fall 2017 Market Preview

High Point Fall 2017 Market Preview

Today in The Lounge, we are talking all about High Point! Janine Wagers is the Creative Director and Showroom Designer of the Universal Furniture Showroom in High Point, North Carolina. She joins us to discuss the best ways to prepare for Market. Lisa Kahn of Lisa Kahn Designs is the keynote speaker for Gail Doby’s Interior Design Summit and gives us an inside look on what she will be speaking about. As always, connect with us on our website, iTunes, Stitcher, Facebook and Instagram @thechaiselounge.

Nick has been on a mission to uncover how the 3D Rendering software at Porcelanosa works. He measured his bathroom and sent in pictures to Porcelanosa to design 2 different remodel prototypes, and the process only has a two day turn around! On the next episode, we will share an interview with Carla Espino to learn more about how this product works. Additionally, we will include the BIG REVEAL of Nick’s bathroom BEFORE and AFTER. Utilize this free service by going to Porcelanosa’s website or by visiting your local showroom.

During High Point, Nick will be moderating a panel, Passion Sucks. It’s All About the Money!, at the Universal showroom, Saturday the 14th at 11:00 am. All of the designers Nick has spoken to are passionate about interior design, but that’s not what makes it or breaks it for them. So Nick will be asking Nina Magon of Contour Interior Design, Steven Favreau of Favreau Design, Kellie Ellis of Kelli Ellis Interior Design and Chad James of the Chad James Group: What does it really take to become successful? To RSVP and for a FULL list of The Chaise Lounge High Point Market events, visit our events page.

Meet Janine

Janine Wagers joins Nick from High Point, North Carolina, furniture capital of the world. Her work as Create Directive and Showroom Designer concentrates on displaying Universal Furniture’s products within the showroom in new and interesting ways.

Market? WHAT DO I DO?

Here’s Janine’s advice: As a designer, you have to figure out what you would like to accomplish at Market. Ask yourself, What are you here to see? What vendors would you like to visit? Are you buying furniture? Are you buying accessories? Are you here to establish new relationships with vendors? Or are you meeting with your existing vendors? Maybe you’ve never been to Market and are just here to grasp, what is High Point? (It’s like regional markets….but on steroids). Think about what price points you want to look at and what styles. Anyone and everyone furniture connected is going to show at High Point SO you need to plan and narrow it down to what you want to focus on. There is no way you can make it to every showroom in 5 days, that’s 11.5 million square feet of showrooms!

High Point Market’s website has a full list of exhibitors so Janine says that you definitely want to prepare beforehand, look them up, and see which products fit into your style and price categories. You also want to target specific areas at Market, if one of your vendors is in an area, it’s likely similar vendors will be there too. Get your geography down! Market is very spread out. Nick Janine advise to make a list of the vendors you want to see, so you can plan each day accordingly by location.

It’s also important to know that there are accessory vendors that are preset (you go in and buy it like it is), but there are also places you can buy samples or one-of-a-kind pieces! You might want to take a day to just visit accessory companies EARLY ON and pick up samples or one-of-a-kind pieces, as those go quickly. It’s always fun to have a treasure to bring back to a customer. You get to tell them that you located it in High Point and it’s the only one of its kind. You’ll have a good story to help you sell a piece or to let someone know you picked it out special for them.

The Universal Showroom

Universal exclusively makes and sells furniture, but they shop Market too, for accessories for the showroom and to continue their relationships with vendors. They start preparing for the next Market, the month after Market, at least a 5-month procedure to get everything organized. When at Market, you will see Universal’s building, a fresh new look with brick and stucco and an outdoor covered patio with music playing. When you come in the front glass doors, it will be unlike any other furniture showroom you’ve ever seen before. They have three floors and 90,000 square feet of JUST furniture, from used furniture, Universal product, to designer lines and a curated area. There is also their To The Trade area SPECIFICALLY for designers with products that their brick and mortar stores do not carry. There is also a learning center where they hold events, a cafe area, and their offices. The cafe alone takes up 10,000 feet and Janine is pretty proud of their restrooms too.

When designing the showroom for Market, Janine tries to bring something new and fresh each time (not only furniture-wise but design-wise too!), as that’s what she always looks for when she goes shopping. If it’s not quite like it was last time, you are faced with new ideas to refresh your sense of style. Janine always does something a little out of the ordinary like penny, pallet wood, or scrabble flooring.

Universal Furniture really tries to make their showroom a home away from home for designers. You can come in, put your luggage or briefcase down, check in, go to the designer lounge, hang out, relax, charge your phone and use their iPads. Most importantly though, you can hang out with #TANKtheshowroomdog. Take selfies with him while at market and TAG NICK. Universal will have breakfast at the cafe every day of Market and Nick will be there on Sunday at 9:00 am so come join! You can find a list of Universal’s events during Market here.

We love Benjamin Moore Paint, not only their products but the customer service that they give too. They just launched a new product: dry erase paint that you can put anywhere!!! SO COOL. You can turn ANY service into a dry erase board. It’s called Notable by Benjamin Moore.

Getting to Know Lisa Kahn

Gail Doby’s flagship event the Interior Design Summit (IDS) is the day before Market, on Friday, October 13. Lisa Kahn will be the keynote speaker.

Lisa’s favorite magazine is Miranda and on the weekends her and her husband like to pursue their creative endeavors such as a writing, painting, playing music and having spontaneous relaxing time. She is currently in the midst of renovating her husband’s music studio. When Lisa is asked, beer wine or a cocktail? Her answer is “Yes.” Right now she’s in love with champaign and intrigued by experimenting with bitters in a good old-fashioned.

How Gail Got Her Start

Lisa’s mom is an interior designer in Ohio and at one point her family owned a commercial firm, which was a great training ground for Lisa. It was fun working with her mom growing up, but when it was time for college she told her mom she was not going to study interior design. Lisa really wanted to do something else so she started studying marketing. After the first semester though, she decided she needed hands-on creativity every day to really feel challenged, so she switched back to interior design and graduated with her degree from Miami Ohio.

Lisa’s dad told her she could always come back and be the corporate designer at her family firm, but he wanted her to go out in the world and spend at least one year working in a business outside of Ohio first. Lisa took a position as the corporate interior designer for Lutron Electronics in Pennsylvania, where she spent the first four years of her career. It was an interesting job out of school when you want to be working at a design firm but instead, you are interfacing with design firms all over the country. Afterwards, Lisa relocated to Florida where she worked in residential design and then started her own firm, Lisa Kahn Designs, in the 2000s.

IDS

While working with Gail for the past few years in a coaching capacity, Lisa found the real meaning behind the work that she does. She has come to embody the concept that our spaces are sacred sanctuaries rather than just rooms or houses. Furthermore, what this means is how it translates into her brand and deeper, into her lifestyle. Gail told her, if you are going to sell your brand, you need to live it first. Lisa spent a lot of time thinking about what this meant and looked like because it sounded inspiring and wonderful. She thought she was going to get a massage every day, eat the healthiest foods, and be the most enlightened version of herself….but life has other plans. Lisa has a special needs daughter and began to face some big challenges in her business and her life. All of her problems were rising to one culmination of unpleasantness. Lisa learned that living a sanctuary life doesn’t look like being a victim of your circumstances but instead using them as a catalyst for your own growth. The journey from big personal challenge, to wonderful personal and professional success, while using her sanctuary lifestyle message and truly living her brand, is what Lisa is going to be talking about at IDS. What does it mean to create a brand that you can live, woven both into your life and your business?

If you are the first person to message nick on the website with the questions tab nick has a FREE IDS ticket to give you to attend on Friday!!!!

Upcoming Events

IDS – Oct 13 – 16

High Point Market – Oct 14 – 18

BDNY 2017 – Nov 12 – 13

KBIS – Jan 9 – 11

Dallas Market– Jan 17 – 23

Wrap Up

If you would like to hear more episodes, please visit us on iTunes or on our website at TheChaiseLoungePodcast.com. Lastly, find The Chaise Lounge on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter or post a review on iTunes, you may even hear your review read live on our next podcast. With that said keep dreaming big, and keep designing a great design business. See ya!

119 – Barry Wooley: Painter Turned Amazing Interior Designer

0:58:03

Barry Wooley: Painter turned amazing Interior Designer

On this episode of The Lounge, Nick chats with Barry Wooley for the second time. Barry shares his journey into design, how he started his business, and how he keeps a family culture alive in the workplace.

Checking in with Barry

Barry is joining The Lounge from Louisville, KY. He and Nick met previously at High Point, where Barry works with Hillsdale Furniture to curate collections and provide input on finishes and hardware.

Barry loves Barcelona, Spain for its architecture, fashion, food, and mixture of old and new.

He also likes cats, Mac products, and convertibles. Barry loves to entertain in his dining room, but you will never catch a glimpse of his TV room, not even on Instagram.

How did Barry get into design?

Barry’s mom was creative and always decorated their homes, and his siblings are all in creative fields. Barry went to school for educational psychology then worked in the corporate world. He took on some design jobs on the side and was able to make the move to full-time by age 27.

Barry’s parents were painting contractors and decorators, which was an advantage for him. He evolved the paint company to paint and decor, and now into a design firm. Barry has no formal education in design, so he started by hiring people to work for the firm. He can’t draw but can come up with solutions. Barry disagrees with some things that are taught in design school but realizes the importance of differing opinions and teamwork.

What does the business look like today?

Today, Barry runs a full-service interior and exterior design firm specializing in residential, commercial, and hospitality projects based in Louisville, KY. He loves the personal connection of residential projects. Barry employs 20 full-time employees within two retail locations. His employees include designers, carpenters, painters, affiliates, etc. He wants to be able to do it all for his clients.

Barry talks about some of the coolest projects he has been involved with including: fantasy interiors in basements, amazing kitchens, upholstering walls, grass cloth on ceilings, and even a bourbon bar in a basement or speakeasy wine cellar with a separate entrance.

How to turn a painting company into a design firm?

Barry began helping his brother and his wife paint and decorate their home. He was able to personalize it without spending a ton of money. He ended up developing a questionnaire to help select colors and soon became known as ‘the guy with a painting company who was good at color selection.’ This was a natural evolution to move into decorating and selecting furniture. In 1998, Barry was invited to a home expo, then people started hiring him to design their homes. From there, Barry hired designers and developed a resource library and the rest is history.

Barry’s projects range from main homes in Kentucky and Indiana, winter homes in Florida, and summer homes on Lake Michigan. There are currently over 30 projects in the works. Barry believes that the busier you are the better you are. And if you love what you do, it all works out.

Barry feels strongly about creating a family-like atmosphere at his company. He is building a new design center with a family room, child care, and a space to eat lunch together. Everyone has their own office but is encouraged to work collaboratively.

On the marketing side, Barry says they do everything from editorial publications, charity events, local TV shows, radio ads, social media and more. He is currently working on a pilot for TV called Ministry of the Interior.

To learn more about Barry Wooley, visit him in real life at 835 East Main Street, Louisville, KY 40206, online or on social media (Facebook and Instagram).

Wrap Up

If you would like to hear more episodes, please visit us on iTunes or on our website at TheChaiseLoungePodcast.com. Lastly, find The Chaise Lounge on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter or post a review on iTunes, you may even hear your review read live on our next podcast. With that said keep dreaming big, and keep designing a great design business. See ya!

99 – Jarret Yoshida: A Philanthropic Interior Designer

1:08:05

On this episode of The Chaise Lounge, Nick chats with Jarret Yoshida, a philanthropic interior designer. Jarret talks about breaking into the design industry, running his own business, and his passion for working with charities.

Get to know Jarret Yoshida

Currently living in Brooklyn, NY, Jarret has also lived in Washington DC, Los Angeles, Tokyo, and was born and raised in Hawaii. He has loved living in each of these locations for different and unique reasons including the culture, climate, and community. Similarly, Jarret’s favorite vacation spot is Florence, Italy for the beauty of the architecture and design. He and his partner are currently renovating the parlor of their 120+ year old brownstone and are excited to continue the legacy of this historic home.

How did Jarret get into interior design?

At just seven years old, visiting a family friend, Jarret first remembers being concerned with his surroundings, specifically considering whether cinder block or lava rock would be a better option. Jarret has no formal interior design education, but does possess a double undergrad in East Asian Studies and International Relations, both of which have helped in his design business.

After school Jarret started working in political fundraising. He soon started supplementing his day job with design studies in Paris as well as the Fashion Institute of Technology and Parsons. He let his donors know of his design interest and got his first job as a Design Assistant through one of these connections. Jarret mentioned that it can take some time to find someone to give you a shot, but recommended being persistent. Within two months of this role, Jarret was thrown into the role of Project Manager and eventually encouraged by a client to start his own firm.

What does Jarret’s business look like today?

Today, Jarret employs three full time and seven part time associates. And with one associate now in school at FIT, he is seeking a design assistant with a positive attitude and ability to multi-task. Almost all of the firm’s work is residential in Hawaii and New York. With Jarret’s educational background, he is able to source from all over the world for unique items and great pricing. He touches every project.

Challenges in running an interior design business

Jarret said that the hardest part about running the business is the actual operations: how to invoice, collect money, get paid in full, etc. Without a business background, he has lost more money than he wants to admit, but is learning from it. Jarret is willing to share any mistakes to help others learn. He wants to leave something for someone else to build on. Jarret said that no interior designer can be responsible for a client’s happiness, but they are responsible for delivering on a project.

Charging what you are worth

Jarret charges the standard rate for his peer group in New York. The market is changing based on information availability online. When there is a pressure to lower rates, the relationship usually never works out. Jarret uses a hybrid model including an hourly rate during the design phase and a fixed model for the rest of the project called Net + 30. Net + 30 means that the Interior Designer charges their net price on an item plus thirty percent of that cost as an administrative fee.

What Jarret loves about owning the business

In running his own business, Jarret loves being in charge of his own path and steering his own ship. He enjoys learning about himself as a person and a business owner. As the firm rises and falls, so does his self worth and awareness of strengths and weaknesses. Jarret has been able to improve his work-life balance to be more available for his partner, and like Nick, enjoys an afternoon trip to the gym.

Getting the phone to ring

Jarret works with Kendall at Kennedy Rowe PR, who helps him focus on marketing and networking. In addition, he shared his passion for and interest in non-profits. Jarret is involved with Womankind, The Dream Foundation, Brooklyn Animal Action, and

The American Cancer Society. Not only has this involvement been good for Jarret’s soul, but has also taught him leadership skills and has led to referrals from fellow board members.

To learn more about Jarret, please visit JarretYoshida.com.

Side note…

So after talking with Jarret, while looking over his website, I realized that he worked for one of my favorites! Daniel Craig! Yes, Jarret worked for 007 and lived to tell the tail. While I try not to get too hung up with names and client lists, this one stood out, so I thought I would share. Click on the image below, and it will take you to Jarret’s portfolio to see more images.

Chaise Lounge Updates

Resources

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Upcoming Markets

High Point Market October 13 – 17

BDNY Nov 11 – 12

Wrap Up

92 – Industry: Social media, choosing an Interior Design program and finding success

00:45:03

This week we focus on our Industry, which means Nick is joined by Phyllis Harbinger a few others that bring great value to you the interior designer. On this episode of The Chaise Lounge, Nick chats with Holly Mattson from CIDA on interior design program accreditation, Fred Berns shares tips on sales and marketing in the design industry, and Phyllis Harbinger jumps in with some social media strategy.

Interior Design Accreditation with Holly Mattson (0:20)

Located in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Holly Mattson is the Executive Director of CIDA, the Council for Interior Design Accreditation. With 186 currently accredited programs in the US, Canada, and abroad, CIDA sets standards for quality assurance in professional level interior design programs. In her position, Holly works with the programs on an administrative level, where volunteers conduct evaluations of the programs, which include student interviews to ensure standards are being met.

Acquiring accreditation is voluntary and is obtained by completing an application on basic eligibility requirements and complying partially or completely with 16 specific standards. These standards range from basic resources, like faculty and facilities, to a focus on professional content, including a minimum of a bachelor’s degree within the program and other basic education credits. Programs are reviewed every six years for re-accreditation.

While attending and graduating from an accredited program is not a necessity to become a professional in the design field, there may be an advantage. Accredited programs expose students to a rigorous process and curriculum, which can help prepare them for the professional environment. Employers may be looking for accredited programs on resumes and the level of preparation and education may better prepare student for NCIDQ, the National Council for Interior Design Qualification.

If you have any questions or would like more information, please visit accredit-id.org. The FAQs, list of programs and contact information, online programs, and program accreditation history list may be a good place to start.

Marketing and selling yourself with Fred Berns (10:08)

Nick and Fred have known each other for awhile now, going back three years. Nick had called Fred for a live event in Denver. Interestingly enough, this event turned into Nick speaking with another group of designers and business owners, which ultimately parlayed into The Chaise Lounge. Now, Nick is podcasting on a weekly basis!

Nick and Fred were able to reconnect more recently at the Interior Design Society National Conference in Dallas. Fred spoke on the Selling Methods of the Masters. As he mentioned – It’s not rocket science!

Fred has been coaching interior design professionals for quite some time. He stated that so many work so hard, but so few earn top dollar. Throughout working with his clients, there are a couple of things in common when it comes to sales and financial success:

● Designers must sell themselves. They may not be the best designers, but they must be the best self promoters.
● Many say they don’t market themselves. If you have a website and/or social media accounts, this is marketing! It’s more than an ad in a magazine.

But what if selling is not your specialty? What if you have no sales experience? How do you get better?

Build your network. Make a hit list of who you need to know.
Probe for pain. What are the challenges, dilemmas, and pain points of those who you need to influence? Come up with solutions for that pain. Be the caregiver.
Blog, market, and produce content for social media on those pain points. Solve your clients’ problems.

The biggest mistake interior designers make in sales: Leaving money on the table. Too many clients are treated as one and done. But rather, Fred proposes:

Work with clients on a regular basis; be dependable.
Educate clients on all services they offer and all they can do.
Include a bio on your website, Houzz profile and other social media to spell out your capabilities.
“Play billiards” – Set up your next shot. Up sell, cross sell.

By increasing repeat business by 40%, you will double your income in a year! Don’t act as an “order taker” but as a problem solver – If they are changing all décor items in a room, they will likely want to paint, which will lead to drapery. Interior Designers should be design consultants who coach their clients. Turn a one time contact into a long term contract.

If you are picking up with Fred is putting down, you can find more words of wisdom on http://interiordesignbusiness.net/ where he offers personalized coaching calls to take your business to the next level. Fred also specializes in promotional bios for designers at Bio Briefing and website coaching at Website Onceover.

Social Media with Phyllis Harbinger (24:16)

Anecdotally, in the design industry there is quite an array of social media savviness from a low level of understanding to those who rock it and to those who pay others to help. Regardless of where your level of comfort lies, social media isn’t going anywhere. We need to embrace a social presence.

Phyllis mainly uses Facebook, Instagram, Wecora, and Houzz.

On Facebook, Phyllis utilizes her personal account as well as pages for DCI Studio, Harbinger Design Consulting, and even some private groups she has created or been invited to. By posting on these pages and within groups, Phyllis is able to get more visibility and attention on her content from these relevant audiences. Phyllis also mentioned that she is getting into Facebook videos more.

Phyllis also mentioned she works with Donna Cravotta from Social Sage PR. While it is absolutely acceptable to employ help with social media, it is important to remember that the content and engagement should be in your voice.

While Pinterest is a very popular social platform, Phyllis uses Wecora to connect with her clients instead. She invites clients to discussion boards to show and share thoughts back and forth. If you are interested in a promo code for Wecora, please contact The Chaise Lounge.

Phyllis uses Houzz to give prospects homework prior to meeting. She asks them to create ideabooks and reasons why they like those photos, which helps to interpret the clients’ needs and wants as well as likes and dislikes.

Overall, social media can be a reflection of who you are, personally and/or professionally. Be mindful of how you are portraying yourself.

If you would like to connect with Phyllis:
● Email: info@harbingerdesignconsulting.com
● Phone: (914) 734-1382
● Facebook: Harbinger Design Consulting
● Instagram: DCI Studio

Wrap Up

67 – Industry: Ellen O’Neill – Creative director for Benjamin Moore

00:56:56

Industry: Talking the business of Interior Design

On today’s episode of The Chaise Lounge, we are talking Industry and specifically are talking about the task of Time Management. Nick May, your host, interviews his friend and designer Phyllis Harbinger, and the Creative Director of one of our favorite Sponsors of the show, Ellen O’Neil of Benjamin Moore. Tune in to learn more about organizing your business and your time!

Phyllis Harbinger: DCI Interiors

On the week’s show, I first talk to our good friend Phyllis Harbinger from Harbinger Desig n Consulting and designer at Design Concepts/Interiors, LLC. In this episode of Industry, we talk about time management, and how to determine when it’s time to hire someone to help. Phyllis speaks from recent experience regarding the loss of a team member to which she says, “I was presented with my own time management dilemma, but also a dilemma on many different levels, because we bring people in, we spend a lot of time training them, and then we start giving away a lot of the tasks and areas of expertise that we might have owned previously and then we finally have trust and someone who can take that over so we can pursue other parts of the business, and then all of a sudden you are like ‘uh-oh’ because someone can’t come in in two weeks and take that person’s place.

Phyllis talks about how her business has changed, and how her interest within the business has changed. Phyllis is much more intrigued by other parts of her business, other than the design aspect. “I decided to take a step back and think about a course correction, I want to look back at what really worked for me in the past and I made a list of all the pros and cons of building my team with a different methodology.”

“I want people who are listening to understand that just because something works for a certain period of time, doesn’t mean that’s the only way things can work, and to be open to exploring things and course correcting, looking and taking a pulse of our business.” Phyllis talks about the importance of having reserves, and being able to weather the storms that can be typical to the interior design field. Nick runs with what Phyllis is speaking about, and speaks about how he has gone about organizing his business.

Phyllis talks about hiring a social media expert, and how quickly her presence on social media has grown in just a short period of time. With social media, Phyllis talks about the importance of keeping your voice in your content that is being posting. Nick and Phyllis talk about the different ways they go about archiving content, whether it be an internal Facebook page or a shared photo stream.

“I think that we all effort too much, about too many things, you just said it perfectly, you’re trying to put a square peg in a round hole, we effort, and when you don’t effort and you just say I’m going to do what I need to do and put it out there and the right people are going to show up, and they always do, if you worry about it, nothing good happens.” Phyllis talks about missing things that are right in front of you, and how easy it can be to get caught up in the minutia. Nick, as well as Phyllis, gives advice on how to get started, taking that first step, to save your time for higher value tasks that you are actually passionate about. Phyllis also talks about how fulfilling it can be to hire someone just starting out, who can save you time, and also learn so much from you and your business.

To learn more about Phyllis, connect with her Phyllis@harbingerdesign.com, or follow us on Instagram @DCIstudio, Phyllis offers strategy sessions and full coaching programs available. Reach out!

Ellen O’Neil: Creative Director of Benjamin Moore

Nick gets to know Ellen O’Neill, who is responsible for picking the color of the year, and this year proved to be quite controversial. The color of the year for Benjamin Moore ended up to be Simply White; her “baptism by fire” into interior design was being hired by Ralph Lauren as a freelance stylist to help design the vignettes that their tabletop collection was using. Ellen was supposed to have a 3 weeks contract, which turned into 13 years.

Ellen studied journalism in college and had some background in journalism. More recently, Ellen has worked for Benjamin Moore for the past 3 years. As the Creative Director, Ellen has created the department from the ground up, “it was time to form a formal marketing department and reign in all the work internally, so that you had a consistent brand, view, message and visual vocabulary.” Ellen talks about how she has tailored messaging to each constituency within the field, “I was presenting a product that was indisputably the top of its class.”

Ellen talks about her background with Ralph Lauren, and how that has helped her with her current position, especially with her knowledge and experience with color. She discusses how she picks colors for color pallets; she tries to embed color theory into her schemes. Ellen also looks at other trends, like what’s happening with bedding trends, lighting, and furniture, etc. and how that affects the colors she chooses.

Ellen and Nick discuss the press that was received regarding the color of the year, which was simply white this year. “It was a really important color discussion for the interior design community.” Ellen talks about how a lot of other paint companies outsource to color trend forecasters, however she states, “I want our stuff to be original and I also want it to reflect the color conundrum that we read and answer questions about from the consumer, so I want it to be true and authentic and applicable to people’s design issues, so color forecasters don’t necessarily dig down onto that level. We look for different signals.” Lastly, Nick asks Ellen what colors she chose to paint her apartment, tune in to hear!

47- Patricia Davis Brown : A Digital Designer

00:40:30

Patricia Davis Brown is a Florida designer that has been in design for 30 years now. She realized from a very young age that she was meant to be a designer before she even knew she could make a profession out of it. She started her own high end kitchen and bath in 1992. She was very successful though she closed her doors in 2010 to move her business to her home. She then decided to go digital with her design. Patricia wanted to share her ideas and designs with people all over the world so she started the below sites.

professionalkitchenandbath.com allows for consumers to send pictures of their space along with measurements. At that time Patricia and her team will discuss the goals of the space and continue through the preliminary design process. Once there is a firm footprint you allow for the lighting design and then comes the order. There are several packages which you can purchase to have Patricia digitally design your space. Most of this business is done via Skype
pdbhomestore.com is Patricia’s e-commerce site which provides products for home furnishings
digthisdesign.net is Patricia’s blog where she receives sponsored posts and discusses all things design from how to wear a swimsuit for you to do it yourselves. She has received tremendous support for this site and this has allowed her to grow her business substantially.

Patricia believes being digital is very important to grow your business.