Michelle Lynne 0:02
Welcome to design for the creative mind, a podcast for interior designers and creative entrepreneurs to run their business with purpose, efficiency and passion. Because, well, every design is different, the process should remain the same. Prepare yourself for some good conversations with amazing guests, a dash of Jesus and a touch of the woowoo. And probably a swear word or two. If you're ready to stop trading your time for money, and enjoy your interior design business. You are in the right place. I'm your host, Michelle Lynn.
Welcome back to the podcast everyone. I'm so happy you're here today because I have my amazing design team here with us again, Debbie Pratt and Megan Fornes. We're going to be talking about how to advise your clients on trends. So Debbie Macon, thanks so much for being here. Yeah, always fun. We're actually standing in my home office Interior Design Studio on a Friday. We're always together on Fridays, we get together and wrap up the week and look forward to the next couple of weeks and talk about all of our current design projects, and, and so forth. So it's always a great time to spend talking about topics that are relevant to the audience. So just for the record, y'all, I am not a 90 year old chain smoker. You can hear it in my voice. Allergies in Texas are real. So let's talk a little bit about trends. What are you guys seeing trending in the market today when it comes to interiors? Furniture
Debbie Pratt 1:41
wise cane cane, I feel like rather it's on the back of chairs on coffee tables on dresser Yeah, draft, which is beautiful, but it's very trendy right now.
Michelle Lynne 1:52
It is very trending. Do you feel like this is a an old trend? Come back?
Debbie Pratt 1:57
Oh, yeah, there's a lot coming back, which I am obsessed with. Personally, but yeah, and
Megan Fornes 2:02
the application of it is new. So like on case goods that you don't normally see it usually are like, think about like old school media cabinets. But those hours, that's the old unwashed. But now it's just I mean a dresser. And it's not just your typical circular looking cane. It's like a weave. It's just there's the patterns are a little bit more interesting.
Debbie Pratt 2:24
Yeah. Wicker. And it's funny. My mom, she's like, how it's back. She's like, I sat on that when I was a kid. And now it's really popular. I'm like, Yeah, I want it. So it's just pretend like it all of that stuff. And back then
Megan Fornes 2:37
chandeliers, it's really fun and lighting. And then it
Debbie Pratt 2:41
kind of dominoes into rope. And just other textiles. That would Yeah, that are more organic. I feel like a lot of things organic, are very trendy right now.
Michelle Lynne 2:52
Yeah. Do you think that that has to do with the fact that life in our world has gotten so complicated that just bringing it down to a more natural level? Or that the homes were so highly decorated in the years past? Like, what do you attribute this organic vibe towards?
Megan Fornes 3:11
I think when we a few years ago when everything was so simplistic and gray that in white, it just it felt a little sterile? I mean, it's it's clean and the decluttering movement, I guess you could say was great, but now it's like it didn't feel as homey and cozy and relaxing. And I just have to add that Michelle's wearing return slash wicker trend. That's my shoes. Yeah,
Debbie Pratt 3:39
I mean even wallpaper I mean it's it's come back and it's been back for a while or not for a while for a little bit. But like people that like we always say it's not your grandma's wallpaper. Yeah, because it was Lou trellis is very heavy. Ornate back and read all those things the
Michelle Lynne 3:58
border with the border, yeah, sculptured border. Or just the border
Debbie Pratt 4:03
on tree leaves this border. The 90s early.
Megan Fornes 4:08
Tree wallpaper is really cool. Not like the poly tree, the palm leaves. Exactly. You get that kind of base patient. Yeah, like without being, you know, a theme park at the Beverly
Michelle Lynne 4:19
Hills Hotel. That's true. So um, so what about Okay, so we've got the, the organic materials What about kitchens? Like what are we seeing as a trend? Now for kitchens like it's like you said it's not all the white and gray anymore? Yeah, I
Debbie Pratt 4:36
feel like that's that was the trend and now people are like Debbie just said kind of tired of the sterile the cold. And just um, and maybe like you said maybe I don't think it's more than just this year but needing that warmth and that comfort. And just the personality back in the home is expressing itself.
Megan Fornes 4:54
Black blacks in the kitchen and even on the exterior, painting your house. like black houses with like cedar trim are just gorgeous. I was
Michelle Lynne 5:04
thinking about doing that to this.
Debbie Pratt 5:05
I wanted to do that.
Megan Fornes 5:08
Oh, yeah. So yeah, it's just classic. I'm just totally drawn to that versus the white, which is still beautiful with the black windows. But it's almost, you know, once the production builders boy just segwayed into exteriors. Sorry about that. Once the production builders in the track home started to look and pick up on that trend, I was over it, you know, show me something else. So hopefully they don't do the black houses. probably will. But black kitchens with accents of wood. Yep.
Michelle Lynne 5:35
Or even like the Emirates, Dan and yet, yeah, it goes back to the model coming up. So how do you? How do you advise clients? So let's say you have a client, they come to you with their inspiration photos early in the process? And everything you see is just on trend? How would you suggest? How do you advise them? Like, do you do it all trendy?
Debbie Pratt 6:03
I mean, well, if they do want an alternative, ask when they want to, are they ready to replace it in one to two years depending on the trend style. But I would say getting deeper in what that trend, what the style of that trend is and then getting because we talked earlier, not every house is just one style. So it's finding out which styles that they're attracted to pulling out some of those trends. And then some of those classic pieces, those classic lines, straight line furniture mixed with maybe an ornate an ornate chair, whatever that may be. Linen and velvet, I mean, you could just mix all these different components and trends and styles to get a more classic overall design. And
Megan Fornes 6:42
not all the pieces have to be that trend. So if they liked the return sofa at a coffee table and the cane chairs, and they're like, oh, but look at this robe chandelier, it's going to look like over it's overdone. So like let's do a statement on trend that is going to survive the trend and outlast it and become a classic instead of every piece
Michelle Lynne 7:03
will that and even some of the larger pieces can be classic and some of the more trendy details can be tricky. You can try them out as
Debbie Pratt 7:12
I was just saying like maybe it's the pattern that's trending so you make that a pillow or maybe just one accent wall that's wallpaper so it's not redoing a ceiling which requires you know, extra labor and all that other good stuff. So it's trends that are easy to replace not a sofa this you know a lovely, right green or whatever it might be
Unknown Speaker 7:38
there is always a plan for something all that is on the
Megan Fornes 7:41
line. Yeah, and line when change what's around it if it's easy to walk, right.
Michelle Lynne 7:46
So I can speak from experience when the going back to my kitchen in my old house. I loved that glass mosaic backsplash for a long time. But I guess for a long time is technically about three years and then I was so ready to replace it. If you have clients that want something really bold that's that's in place. Do you want how do you walk them through? Like how do you advise them? Because like I was fine with it, I didn't think it through if if I had had a designer at the time say hey, you know you're gonna have to live with this for a little while. Is this something that you're really comfortable with? Or hey, what if we just did this that or the other like how would you how would you advise me back in the day?
Debbie Pratt 8:29
Yeah, what I mean trying to use I was thinking because I actually just had a client that has a very wild bedroom and weight room or gym and it's it's the level every room has different levels of style like whether or impacts so when you walk in Are you impacted by the wallpaper? Are you impacted by the floor tile, or the backsplash tile and so finding out what's gonna make the most impact and then letting that be the statement and that could be the trendy item. But making sure it's not also overwhelming kind of
Michelle Lynne 9:03
kind of like grandma who has too much makeup and way too many accessories and
Megan Fornes 9:06
if it is something that you absolutely love, right? Maybe limit where it goes and don't put it everywhere but it's somewhere that maybe it could be like maybe if it was done just behind your cooktop right and something excuse me allergies are contagious. Something just something that's permanent Yeah. So maybe but you don't overwhelm right basically back to if it is if
Debbie Pratt 9:30
it isn't really busy backsplash, then make sure that your cabinets are light, you know a lighter color and and that's kind of the counter that I was talking about. Yeah, so it's and then I don't know trends or trends, man and it's just like if you love it, do it. And hopefully, yeah,
Michelle Lynne 9:48
well that and also just advising the client of okay so we can go full board and do this trendy, trendy old kitchen. Just know that that is going to be what you have for the next five or 10 yours, or are you okay with it if we come back in seven years and change it? Yeah, because we have clients that are willing to change things out because they don't want to move, but they want a different house, right.
Debbie Pratt 10:10
And typically, I mean, once you get past 10 years, usually you need an update overall in general. So, like, we're kind of like trends in a sense of color, like the black cabinets, classic. I mean, I don't think I'll ever be tired of black cat which is
Megan Fornes 10:25
just like white. I mean, a black kitchen is as classy as a white kitchen which is a trend that won't go away. Right.
Debbie Pratt 10:31
So there's nothing wrong with a classic yeah, there's still nothing wrong with white maybe sometimes just shapes in
Michelle Lynne 10:38
the molding details because even
Debbie Pratt 10:40
with some of the white kitchens right now put in a really cool barstool. change out your pendants, like add that extra character that just adds on top of your basic white quartz, white countertops.
Megan Fornes 10:50
Change the hardware? Yeah, I mean, just changing any whatever just get your mean. The gray kitchens from a few years ago had a lot of brushed stainless hardware because it was cool. After you know, the oil rubbed bronze went away. So pull in the gold, mix it up, do different sizes, because you know, paint a cabinet. It's easy because you just fill that hole. So you can go bigger.
Debbie Pratt 11:13
Yeah, was like mixing hardware. So you do cut pools and then pools or cut pulls and knobs, knobs and pulls
Megan Fornes 11:20
double knobs spread out on Yeah, it's kind of fun. So especially if you double breasted
Debbie Pratt 11:25
suit, yeah, especially of an island or even your uppers to your lowers or mixing up your perimeter cabinets with a darker color, or eye, you know, mixing it all up and doing the hardware, right different
Michelle Lynne 11:38
different, which is goes back to some of your larger pieces need to can stay classic. And then you can go to the gold hardware, you know, or the black hardware and get rid of the silver in the in the
Debbie Pratt 11:52
I mean, yeah, kitchen
Megan Fornes 11:54
lose a lot of loose sight and silver. Yeah, so
Debbie Pratt 11:57
And that's I think that's classy and timeless.
Michelle Lynne 12:04
Y'all, this podcast episode was made possible in part by foyer, a lightning fast interior design software that creates photorealistic renderings. I'm not kidding, you can barely tell that it's not a real room. So why leave your beautiful designs up to the imagination of your client, when you can show them what their space is going to look like. You will sign more clients and get more approvals with the software. It's powered by artificial intelligence, and a whole vouch for its ease. Because if I can do it, anybody can. Because y'all know that my design team are the ones who do all the work, find [email protected] as well as in the show notes. So going back to the cabinets, you can advise on having a classic color cabinet, but you can update the hardware. And now you can add the trending golds and Platnumz and blacks and some of those different kinds of colors compared to in years past where like you said you'd have the brushed stainless or you'd have the even the polished nickel. And so it's less of an investment to change out your hardware than it is to change out your cabinet color or your
Debbie Pratt 13:21
cabinets, as I say, and going forward with cabinets. And this all depends on obviously the style of the home. Because if you're extremely modern, this wouldn't this wouldn't apply. But say you're transitional. And you're just kind of in that middle realm, instead of just doing a Shaker Cabinet. Do a Shaker Cabinet with a little bit of a trim detail. So it's still clean lines. It's simple, but it has that extra bit of character to where it'll still continue with the trends still be clean, still be updated. But then you just have that little bit different and you're not everybody's Shaker Cabinet.
Megan Fornes 13:52
And in a when Megan was mentioning a modern, contemporary kitchen. How do you update that because it's almost a timeless style. And that brings us right back to the organic. So you have to bring in some organic features. So you can get rid of your canned Tony Chrome, you know, counter stools, and let's bring some wood in, but in a more contemporary shape, and add some greenery, some real or faux if you're a plant killer, and just just to warm it up and bring a little bit outside in so it's not as
Michelle Lynne 14:22
sterile. I think that's a great point. And it goes back to the accessories because we're talking about the kitchen. Maybe you don't want to change out your hardware, you can change out your accessories. And by bringing in the wood elements, it does bring in that organic. You know I live in an Uber contemporary home and we've warmed it up even without J major construction by adding a lot of wood accents and greenery and so forth. But it also goes back to the style of my home is very modern, but it goes to show that it was built 40 years ago I think and it's still timeless. Yeah, absolutely like the kitchen and needs to be redone. But it's still timeless in the selections that they made for the most part. So finding that with
Debbie Pratt 15:08
the color too, it's black and white, just what we've been talking about. Can't go wrong with that.
Michelle Lynne 15:13
Mm hmm. All right. So would you agree with the statement that anything you love will work together
Debbie Pratt 15:22
in a balanced harmony way? Yeah,
Megan Fornes 15:25
those things are not necessarily together next to each other. But they perhaps can work in the same home. For instance, in Michelle's Uber contemporary home, she has a painting downstairs that has an old school vintage gold, but not gilded, almost aged gold frame. And it's beautiful, and it works. And she has it paired with a very contemporary, organic, you know, live edge table and it's just you would think those two go together. But her contemporary Yes, backdrop is perfect.
Michelle Lynne 16:01
I'm gonna do some design skills.
Debbie Pratt 16:04
training right now. I think it goes back to like the old. What is it? Somebody called it? There was a term it's like, baroque No. Matter No. Not oldies, but only like the term old the mixed with new tidge? I don't know. We'll find it. No, no, it's not. It's like more of like a fake term. Describe today's trend. Gotcha. How everybody like,
Unknown Speaker 16:31
vintage.
Megan Fornes 16:33
Oh, gosh, oh,
Michelle Lynne 16:35
you know, our listeners, or listeners are probably like it's a hello. But it's missing behind it
Megan Fornes 16:42
is not collected. It's
Michelle Lynne 16:45
another really market?
Debbie Pratt 16:46
No, it's not. It's current curator. Thank you. You're welcome. Even if there's no how to come up with the vintage frame with a modern piece of art, again, it's taking two time periods and mixing them together. And I think that just the interest.
Michelle Lynne 17:03
It's the yin and the yang, the push and the pull. It's the masculine and the feminine.
Debbie Pratt 17:06
I think people are just wanting more of that. And a lot of it I mean, your childhood. Think about your childhood and what makes you happy, but bringing it to today's level of interest and style. And I think merging the two is making people very happy in their home. Yes,
Michelle Lynne 17:23
it makes them comfortable. And it doesn't. So I think us as a design team, if you look at the homes that you guys design, I say us have a little bit of a say sell once in a while, though, the homes that you guys create, they don't look like you can't live in them. Like our clients hire us because the designs are livable. They don't look like they're jumped out of a magazine print. Oftentimes we take some beautiful photos. Yeah. Because they're staged. Yeah, that's a whole other podcast. Yeah. But it's I think it's important that you do climb into your clients heads and find out what they want. There are clients out there who just want it to look really pretty, and there are rooms for that.
Debbie Pratt 18:05
And that's what we even asked him going into the accessory phase. It's like, okay, do you want to stage it for photos? Or stage it for your life? Like, do you want your family photos out there? Or do you want, you know, a beautiful piece of art or?
Megan Fornes 18:17
Or your pets? I mean, I have a project now that they had to rearrange the living room? Is it ideal? No. But while the dog is a puppy, and you know, was jumping over the sectional to get to the other side of the room until she's trained. It doesn't work for living, but it works for training a puppy. Yeah. So it's take those things into consideration when you accessorize and choose things for a home that it needs to be able to work with whatever moment there is in our lives. That's
Michelle Lynne 18:47
a valid point. Now that I have a three year old, my accessorizing is a little bit different than it would have been choices that I will make in a few years when she's not.
Debbie Pratt 18:54
I noticed that she
Michelle Lynne 18:58
can pick she grabbed a candle the other day and threw it when she was mad. I was like, Oh, thank goodness, it landed on the rug. And she's not very tall. Yeah. Just got a fiery little temper that a pitcher could be Yeah.
Debbie Pratt 19:11
Are you going lessons are here. Thanks,
Michelle Lynne 19:13
Megan. For those of you who don't know, Megan went to college on a softball scholarship. So remind me not to piss her off of her right hand. So with trends, how, how would you how would you shop for those with for your clients?
Megan Fornes 19:31
Depends on the tournament. And then what room in what room it's in and how much they're really into it. Because some people have their mindset like I have a client whose mind is set on a return type chandelier. So she can picture in her eye what she wants, and we just have to find it and make sure of course it's in budget because, you know, sometimes the wallet doesn't always afford what the what the heart wants. So Do you have to like, like, look? Yeah, you can get that. And then what if you don't like it in five years, because you see something prettier, but you feel like you have to keep it because it
Michelle Lynne 20:07
costs an exorbitant amount or
Debbie Pratt 20:08
vice versa. I had a client that hated cane, wicker, for a tan vs. Everything I love, they did not want in his house. And so it's knowing those vendors and you know, most of our vendors keep up with the trends. So right now, there's a lot of that out there. So now it's like, okay, so now I have to source from vendors that don't have that, or that there's more options of just like a little bit modern or contemporary. So just knowing even which trends certain clients don't want in their house, because it reminded him, actually of his childhood, and he didn't want that. So that's where the interview process and learning your client and knowing
Michelle Lynne 20:45
your vendors, yeah. Because if our go to vendors, or the general trends, plus the classic furniture, well, then how do you go and find something else? Right? So let me ask you that. So we the last time we were together, we talked about how to source efficiently and effectively. How do you find vendors that are outside of the trending styles?
Debbie Pratt 21:07
Well, thankfully, most of them have two to three, good wellness, like either they have a little bit of a modern line, or they have a little bit of a traditional line, trendy line. So thankfully, if not, now, I have to go to more vendors, instead of usually just selecting three or four items from one vendor, which is really nice, because it procurements easy. But it's just finding more of vendors versus kind of going to that one hub and finding those things. So that gets a little time consuming. So you kind of have to search a little bit more to find those unique pieces or the style unstyled specific or entity specific items for that project. So I would say you just gotta, you have to almost do more research to find those items. How
Michelle Lynne 21:49
has that affected our design fee? Do we charge more when it's not trendy? No. No,
Debbie Pratt 21:56
I mean, it's, I think after and then after learning the client after your first few visits, because I also that same client, I learned that she was kind of bleeding and like a little lamb, which is totally cool, too. But she didn't know that either. So I think the more you have the interview process, and you learn your client, you learn their budget, and all of those, they it helps your search get narrowed down, and then you're like, Okay, I can go to here, here, here, here. Great Love this love this love this. And then you present it as sharing
Megan Fornes 22:24
stuff in the beginning stages when you know that they liked certain trends. But you know, maybe they like it, because they like what they see on Instagram or Pinterest. But in reality when you see it, and then they say, you know, when you put it in, you tell them how it would work in their house and where it would work. They're sometimes like, Well wait a second, and they can revisit it. So then you can dig even deeper, and see what part of the trend Do they like, and then that's on us to do more research and kind of think out of our, our safe zone. And our Go twos, and there's just a world of product out there. And sometimes it's in the most unexpected places that someone who's like say, for instance, their like Uber, Uber, Uber, traditional, a showroom, then they may have a really contemporary lighting line in the back that you didn't know about. And it's just because you find something and like, oh my gosh, they carry it, I would have never gone in there. Right? So it's really it's like, well, wait a second. So now you can be down in the design district wherever and you see a showroom and you think, hmm, I'm gonna see what they have. And you can look them up and see what lines they carry. And then just do a little research before you go the actual hunt and see is it worth and then just pull from those trends what they have, because sometimes you'll find something else and how to mix it so
Michelle Lynne 23:38
well that in the architecture of the home, that too, because we've had clients that lived in a castle, but it needed to have a moat, it had one of those round turrets, basically. And they were Uber contemporary, airy. So finding a way to marry that is key as well, because
Debbie Pratt 23:57
because it would do such a disservice if we didn't I mean, you can't
Megan Fornes 24:00
you can't put that you have to marry those two. And those are just setups or else it's gonna look
Michelle Lynne 24:06
ridiculous. So how do you how do you tell that to the clients,
Debbie Pratt 24:08
you educate them on sense of like, you can have a still have that modern, but then you mix it in with some like different lines or a curvy coffee table that has a straight line sofa or a very contemporary rug with more pattern on the pillows and just explain the balance. And usually they once they see it, they understand the vibe and that okay, this might be a little bit more traditional or transitional. But it still feels good. And it still makes sense. And that's because it feels good with the bones of the home. Otherwise they would find it so hard. And then they would be like you didn't do your job. And it's like, well, actually we did right but you wanted this and we didn't explain to you why this would look better.
Megan Fornes 24:46
And Michelle actually this was her design genius back in the day of the house with a moat is that she took an 18th century cherry dining table with very classic lines, you know, reproduction meal, you know, 18th century dining table. Oh, it
Michelle Lynne 25:02
didn't have that good idea. Yeah. And we
Megan Fornes 25:05
project it a high gloss black lacquer, it looked really good. And it looked amazing because it was it's almost, it's softened. And it was the transition piece to marry the old with the new and a really fun shimmery rug and a great sideboard that was very contemporary. And then the chandelier was a classic design, but it was pure glass. So it kind of gave that modern look. Without being you know, the Jetsons. Right, so
Debbie Pratt 25:35
and then you just explained like just listening to the different elements that you just listed. Like you have glass, you have wood yet black, like we've been talking about, like dining chairs, and black. Yeah. And in the Sheen's of different things. Because we kind of talked about that think in a blog posts the other day, how just mixing the different Sheen's so the high gloss lacquer, a bedroom I just said had the bed was high gloss, the bookshelf was a matte, and the wall was satin. So you have different elements of the same color with a feel different. But it all flows really well and adds that level of interest. And I
Michelle Lynne 26:09
think also the color selections. Yeah. So going back to that very traditional home. It didn't have to be the reds and the gold and the Burgundy's and pages that were of times past and still lovely if that's what you live in right now. But um, we were able to lighten it with the walls, and then bring in a lot of the black and the white and then had punches of blue throughout. Yes. And it just flowed all the way through.
Megan Fornes 26:34
It didn't look like it didn't work. And yeah, it didn't look to try to fall on deaf in an old house.
Michelle Lynne 26:39
There wasn't a lot there was selective patterns. Yeah. Let me interrupt myself to take a quick moment to thank satin off Insurance Agency for sponsoring this episode of The designed for the creative mind podcast, their support and understanding of the interior design, decorating and home staging industries is unrivaled. Satin off understands what our businesses do, and they provide insurance that lets me sleep at night. Yep, this is the firm that I use. And they will do the same for your sleep habits. And your business too. They're more than an insurance agency, they're an extension of my business, they take care of the worry, because they are the experts, which allows me and my team breathing room to do what we do best designed beautiful spaces, you can find their contact information below in the show notes, give them a call today. So I think the patterns also play. So even if you have a very or if you have a contemporary home, but you want to make it feel more traditional. That's where you can bring it in as well as just the different the rugs, the pillows, and so forth. textures, I think,
Megan Fornes 27:49
which is great. And that's that's a design challenge that we love. Because how do you make something work in something that the general public so to speak with? No. So it's like, how do you bring that in when you tell the client this is you tell them the whys as you're doing it, yeah. And that convinces them like, Oh, I get it. And then that's where you can throw in a trend or two, because if you can get them past that, I want my traditional home to be more contemporary, then you can pull in something trendy and classic veterans classic because of the architectural elements mixing with the contemporary ceiling.
Michelle Lynne 28:27
And I think you really just hit it, Debbie, is that a lot of when you advise your clients on trends, it's not necessarily just advising them, it's educating them. Yeah, I know, this is what you want. But this is what the direction that we really need to take it so that it doesn't feel uncomfortable. And
Debbie Pratt 28:42
that's very true. The clients trust in you is so valuable, because they that's why they pay you they pay you for these these expertise and all of that knowledge. Otherwise, they would go and buy, you know, the same thing and it still look like the same. It's
Michelle Lynne 28:56
like shoes, it's like you know what, I love the way my legs look and my feet look and you know, high stiletto heels. Right? That's awesome. But are you going to wear them for very long? No. So can I get Can I get some some wedges? Thank you.
Megan Fornes 29:13
Balance between the two buttons. Education is exactly the point. So when we go into a new project, and they walk us through what they like, what they don't like about things and we learn what the problem is, even though we can see it the way they can explain it to us and then we explain why it's not working for them. And just realizing that just some even sometimes just minor changes can make a huge impact
Michelle Lynne 29:37
like you're working on redoing the bar in the client's house and just taking out some of the stone that was entered there and replacing it with a different material is going to make a huge difference in regards to the warm.
Megan Fornes 29:49
I mean it's they're warm contemporaries and cool contemporaries and sometimes you need to bring the outside in. Always, always but you know, in this particular project, it's up There's a lot of Chrome, we don't have to get rid of all of it. But we need to mix some natural elements, which I'm pulling wood in the bar to balance the Chrome, and the stone and the leather, right with with the beautiful exterior. Look
Michelle Lynne 30:12
at all the materials that you have in there. So the trend can be in some of the accessories or some of the lighting selections or whatever, that you can switch out later. Oh, yeah. And
Megan Fornes 30:22
so they move. It looks intentional, like, wow, this is a really unique home, because the exterior and the interior talk to each other. And, you know, it all depends on what you put in there to make it your own. Yeah, the tool
Debbie Pratt 30:35
belt. I mean, just that the House leader in the other day, oh, yeah, the front room has a lot of color, the living room does not. And now we're doing the patio, and connecting all those spaces like you keep, like you said, bringing the outside in inside out and making it feel like an codebases living space for her. Yeah. And it's connecting the front of the house with the back of the house. So maybe accenting a pillow and the color that's up in the front. And just really making sure that all the spaces are balanced and reflect each other, which is when you do put in those trends. It's just it doesn't feel like it's over trendy because it's balanced. Debbie, how do you explain
Michelle Lynne 31:08
it Disneyland,
Megan Fornes 31:10
you don't want to go into a home your own or anybody else's work with you walk into one room. It's all done in return in his tropical beach room. And then you go in the back room. And maybe it's more rustic and it has a Texas Star, which is not a problem. But there's it has to feel like it there's a flow and then all the rooms talk to each other. That's why when we design we make sure things like pillows can be moved from space to space to pace space, depending on your feelings. So if you don't want the bright pillows in the front room in the wintertime, but you want more of the subdued natural ones, you switch them with the bedroom and everything works together. You want to make it feel like it's a home that was intentionally put that way and unlike going to Disneyland or Disney World, where you're in Tomorrowland and then you go around and you go into
Michelle Lynne 32:00
frontier land, Frontier land. Thank you because I had stopped from it. It's been a while since we've been to
Megan Fornes 32:06
Disneyland a very long time. So you want to make sure you you don't want to you want to feel like the room. The home is cohesive. And not a theme park. Yeah.
Michelle Lynne 32:16
And I think that that's a great way is like when it comes to trends. It could start feeling like a theme park. But if you just weave them in naturally. And I would also say one of the one of the key elements of good design is to edit things out. Yes, like you fill the room up. And then you bring things out and you leave only the best pieces. And you don't necessarily need to fill it just to fill it. And
Megan Fornes 32:38
all of this also applies to kids rooms. Oh, so your kids rooms don't have to look like Disneyland that you may want they may want them to. But if you pull some of the color palette from the the rest of the home into that kid's room, but make it a little bit happier for you know, on a kid or cheeping out Yeah, but as long as the colors work, it won't feel like whoa, I walked into a different world you don't want to
Michelle Lynne 33:02
and I think every every parent probably has their own opinion on that. Because there's been so many that asked us to do such a specifically themed room for the kids versus those that are like I'd like it to feel like like you said a more juvenile representation of my home
Debbie Pratt 33:20
right? I was just thinking okay, so there's one that we did and her the girls were ambushed these both were preteens are now their teens at the time. But it had a lot of pink and soft blues. But also the blue the light blue kind of went throughout the house and then in the boys room. The Navy went through it in the house, but yet she had a pink with her blue and she had an orange right. So it's more so it's specific to what their Pinterest boards and what they wanted. And you know, the fun thing about kids rooms is you know, expressing their personalities. It had that. But still also it wasn't like a shock. Yeah,
Megan Fornes 33:53
it was a no, no, no, no. That their special, unique space worked with the rest of them. Yeah, that's right. We'd like to do that. Yeah, and we'll still make it special. Oh, yeah. Like a Dora the Explorer. We'll make it work with you.
Michelle Lynne 34:07
We've been watching Dora by the way you have yeah,
Megan Fornes 34:10
I've never seen why it's good, actually really is.
Michelle Lynne 34:12
It's got some education in it. There's some teachers annual Si, si si. Vamos. Speaking of which, let's go so thank you guys both for being here with me today. Debbie deck I was gonna call you Debbie Fornes Debbie Pratt and Megan horns. You can follow them will have their information in the in the show notes so you can find them on Instagram follow along. And then you'll also find ml interiors group will be dropped into the into the show notes and coming up. I'm not exactly sure I think this is going to be airing in June. But stay tuned y'all watch for the interior design business success summit will be announced soon I'll be hosting the second annual One in November at Dallas Market Center, you can meet Debbie and Megan in person, they'll be there speaking. Otherwise, please don't hesitate to drop a review. Wherever you are catching this podcast. It definitely helps us keep stay relevant. It helps us in the search in the searches for interior design, business podcasts, and so forth. So thanks for joining.
Debbie Pratt 35:23
I'm also curious to what your most favorite trends are as well. And then in the comments. Oh, yeah, it'd be fun.
Michelle Lynne 35:28
That would be very fun. So
Megan Fornes 35:30
there are people are thinking out there.
Michelle Lynne 35:32
Either that or you can DM us as well. So you can find us. So thanks for joining. And we will see you guys next time. Bye. Hey, y'all, if you love the show and find it useful, I would really appreciate it if you would share with your friends and followers. And if you like what you're hearing, want to put a face with the name and get even more business advice. Then join me in my Facebook group, the interior designers business launch pad. Yeah, I know it's Facebook, but just come on in for the training and then leave without scrolling your feet. It's fine. I promise you'll enjoy it. And finally, I hear it's good for business to get ratings on your podcast. So please drop yours on whatever platform you use to listen to this. We're all about community over competition. So let's work on elevating our industry, one designer at a time. See you next time.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
