Hiring A Designer

Paloma Contreras: Hello, how are you Caroline?

Caroline Gidiere: Hey, I'm doing great. How are you, Paloma?

Paloma Contreras: I'm doing well. So excited to chat with you today.

Caroline Gidiere: I know it feels good. It feels good. It's always great. I look forward to it. It's definitely the most fun. This part of it is the most fun work that I do during the week.

Paloma Contreras: Definitely. Mm-hmm. Yes, me too. I would definitely agree. It's fun to just connect and see what's going on in each other's worlds and in the design world at large.

Caroline Gidiere: Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Tell me about your week. What was your high and low?

Paloma Contreras: ⁓ it's been good. I would say my high. So it's currently Texas design week in Houston. so a couple of friends have been in town because they've got book signings and things. So I was able to see, ⁓ my dear friend Young Ha on Monday and had lunch together, which was really nice. ⁓ Peter Dunham came by the studio yesterday and showed us some of his new things, which were really beautiful and exciting. And he's always so fun to chat with because he has that classic.

Caroline Gidiere: We have. ⁓ yeah. He's delightful. Yeah.

Paloma Contreras: British humor, you know, and it just doesn't get any better than that. Yeah, what about you? No low for me this week so far, thankfully. What about you?

Caroline Gidiere: Yeah, no, I totally agree. It's great. High and low are just like life. You know what I'm saying? Like, this just how it goes. And pride goes before fall. ⁓ Just when you think like, boop, boop, everything's going so great. Something, something happens, that swipes you and you're like, ⁓ So I had this past weekend,

Paloma Contreras: Bye. Yeah.

Caroline Gidiere: lose Starlight Ball. And my daughter is ⁓ sophomore in high school. And way when, long before I moved to Birmingham, and I'm from North Alabama, I'm not from ⁓ Mountain Brook Birmingham. And so didn't go to high school here, but they used to have ⁓ high school And we can put a pin in that they're pros and cons, but ⁓

Paloma Contreras: ⁓ wow.

Caroline Gidiere: In any event, the cons kind of overtook the pros here in town in that were excluded ⁓ ⁓ very hurtful at a tender age. ⁓ so the moms got involved ⁓ coerced the girls and said, we've got to get rid of these things. ⁓ if you will give up these sororities, we will throw you a big dance every year. We won't do it every year of high school, all four years and now high school. building is only three years, but we will alternate. We'll one your sophomore year and then one again your senior year. So you can have your big lead out and everything, but we're gonna include everybody in the whole town. So if your is within the city limits of the city of Birmingham and you're 16 years old, you are invited to join and you can participate. ⁓

Paloma Contreras: Mm.

Caroline Gidiere: We're not excluding anybody, which I really love. I think that's really nice. And we can all get together. We'll have a lead out. We'll do a ball. ⁓ with most things ⁓ this town and maybe others, they to ⁓ aggrandize. just say they start getting ⁓ bigger. I've been to one of these. I only see the pictures on social media. I've never been on the inside. ⁓

Paloma Contreras: That's nice, yeah, that's wonderful. Mmm. ⁓

Caroline Gidiere: I didn't really appreciate what went into it when I got a call this past fall from the chairs who said, hey, will you be on the decorations committee? And I was like, oh, great. Thank you so much for including me. I would love to. Anything that I'm invited to do for my daughter, as you know, I'm just delighted to participate and be a part of it. And so, because I stay busy, you stay busy, you know, I might miss it if you didn't call and invite me to participate. And after the first meeting, it was like, a second. ⁓ is like throwing a huge wedding reception, ⁓ on a no budget, like no budget. And everybody in town is going to come and judge you.

Paloma Contreras: Mm-hmm. ⁓ goodness. you

Caroline Gidiere: your work this tiny little budget. I literally no idea. So I have been fretting about this thing for six months. you know, Lou will come in and be like, how's this starlight ball going? I'm like, please don't even mention it. ⁓ Like chest starts to tighten so tight, I can barely breathe when I start thinking about all the ⁓ things could go wrong. last year did beautiful flowers. It was just so gorgeous. And was like,

Paloma Contreras: Mm-hmm.

Caroline Gidiere: how do you even compete? And not that I want to compete, but I don't want to, you know, I want girls to not be disappointed when they walk in, right? ⁓ so anyway, I'd leaned into the theme, the starlight ball. you ⁓ know, go with stars. Let's do twinkle lights. One thing I know about high school girls is they them some fairy lights, you know, like they all.

Paloma Contreras: Right, of course. Yeah. Thanks

Caroline Gidiere: At Lou's camp, they all liked to hang those lights over their bunk and all that kind of stuff. And it was a tremendous success. I had two co-chairs, who flowers for events, one who for Suzanne Kassler and is just like supremely talented in execution and great taste. ⁓ Three of working together, very hard, long hours, got it all done. It looked great. It looked like a professional production.

Paloma Contreras: Aww.

Caroline Gidiere: A of, I mean, two brave reviews, feeling great. A lot of attaboys like whoop whoop. Life is great. Coasting into Tuesday morning. I mean, feeling like so competent and capable. Coasting into Tuesday morning, as you know, for all the listeners, Paloma and I are producing this podcast ourselves. ⁓ is nobody. ⁓

Paloma Contreras: Good. Yeah. Yes, yeah, we don't have a producer, we don't have a budget, we don't have any outside help. We are doing this on top of running our design businesses and are managing our families and everything else.

Caroline Gidiere: That's right. And some may say I'm a little long in the tooth to be learning some new technology. But I'm in here with my sleeves rolled up trying to figure it out. we had, when we filmed Steele's episode, we heard an echo, but it kind of went away. And I clued in that. the echo was continuing and when we looked at the recording afterwards, there was a tremendous echo and you don't want to ask anybody to re-record. You can't really recapture the magic of an episode as it's unfolding. And so I spent all of jury duty going in and meticulously hand editing the thing salvage. ⁓

Paloma Contreras: which is so impressive by the way, because we're on this platform called Riverside. And seamless in many ways, but there is a very steep learning curve. And I personally have tried to go in and look the recordings and figure that out, and I haven't been able to. So kudos to Caroline for doing our editing and tackling all of that. So yes, you can learn new tricks. ⁓

Caroline Gidiere: Probably, yes, and I probably spent eight hours editing that thing. I thought I had it. I was feeling so good about that as well. But when I went in to do some other things associated with it, some auxiliary pieces that I felt like had to derive from that because all the other audio was bad, ⁓ unintentionally undid everything that I had spent hours doing. ⁓ And I was unaware when I uploaded it. And it's one of those things. It's never, here's the lesson. It's never the thing that I was anxious about, right? Like the ball over the weekend is what I'm losing sleep over. I'm like blissfully ⁓ about this episode that I've totally nailed, which has fallen apart without me even knowing it. ⁓ I just kind of take from that, like, ⁓ worry.

Paloma Contreras: Right.

Caroline Gidiere: Okay, because you're not worrying about the right thing. Ever.

Paloma Contreras: That's such a good lesson. It's true, it's true. Life has other plans. plan, you worry, you fret, and ⁓ is gonna throw you a curve ball. ⁓

Caroline Gidiere: And you're looking over here and the thing that is going to knock you down is coming right up behind you and it's going to like hit you in the back of the head. And you're like, what? Yep. Always, always, always. So I try to tell myself when I'm worried about things, just let it go, let it go. This is not the thing that's actually going to fall apart. It's going to be something else anyway. But you know, no worse for the wear. We're learning. Please, please.

Paloma Contreras: right. Yes. Yes.

Caroline Gidiere: give us just a little bit of grace six months from now for still making those mistakes. I hear you. But as I mean, we're on a little bit of a learning curve. We'll get there. I feel I mean, we're doing so much better from where we started where we've really come such a long way. So we'll get there.

Paloma Contreras: Yes. Definitely, I agree. as you said, a little bit of grace goes a long way. We're doing our best, we're figuring it out. And now that's behind us and hopefully, moving forward, it'll be smooth sailing. But we're so supportive. So many people have sent in really nice comments. We've gotten so much great feedback about the podcast. It sounds like people are enjoying it. Please, we love to hear from you. Let us know if you have questions, if there's something you want us to talk about.

Caroline Gidiere: Mm-hmm. ⁓ gosh, yeah.

Paloma Contreras: Any kind of feedback is always welcome, also, as are a fledgling podcast, it always helps us to gain traction. you download the episode rather than just listening to it, really helps. ⁓ So the episode, yeah, I heard that on ⁓ a podcast I listened to that's been around for a long time. And they mentioned it the other day and it's a popular podcast, they were like, please, make sure you download that helps us with ⁓ our standing. ⁓

Caroline Gidiere: Paloma, didn't even know that. Okay. Okay. I'll load it.

Paloma Contreras: So download the episodes, rate, that takes a second to give us a review, like just the stars, and then leave a review.

Caroline Gidiere: Guys, we really need you to rate it at a minimum. If you like it, if you don't like it, you can just like keep that to yourself.

Paloma Contreras: Yeah, if you like it, if you don't like it, move on. Yeah, exactly. So we're going to encourage positivity in the world, help us spread it. We are open to receiving and we will put it back out.

Caroline Gidiere: You Here's what do, if you don't like it, just turn it off and don't listen. That is the harshest punishment for sure.

Paloma Contreras: Exactly. Exactly. I agree. in other news, it was recently announced that Tillett Textiles, which is this small textile house that's been around for had been around for a long time, has been acquired and by Schumacher, shall we say. So it's ⁓ they've now of absorbed the company and they're breathing new life into it, which is so wonderful.

Caroline Gidiere: Yum. Yeah, I have used Tillet from the jump. I've always loved, I love designing things myself, you know, and it was always so easy to choose your color, choose your pattern, choose your background, choose your ground. And the...

Paloma Contreras: Mm-hmm.

Caroline Gidiere: the designs are so iconic. the greats have always used them and particularly, ⁓ Parish for Jackie and the Bunny Melon ⁓ had that she loved and Patrick, who was a family member, one of the owners was kind of out there doing it all himself ⁓ and ⁓

Paloma Contreras: Yeah.

Caroline Gidiere: There were moments when they were more responsive than others. there was a moment when I thought it had gone away, but then came back and they were doing more. it's really wonderful. And that's one of the services that I think Kravet provides as well, is Scott goes and when a iconic fabric house is about to fold or has folded, he buys their inventory. So ⁓ we... ⁓

Paloma Contreras: Mm-hmm.

Caroline Gidiere: as the design community don't lose those designs and patterns and often revives them. And ⁓ is so at and delivery. it's ⁓ wonderful to them. Do you know, there still be the same level of customization?

Paloma Contreras: Mm-hmm. That I don't know. do know offhand that Schumacher does offer a ton of customization. Like if you wanted to do something completely custom with them, they would do it. I'm sure that if you approach them, they would be able to do some sort of customization. ⁓ I think you sort of touched on ⁓ much broader sort of topic in the industry that I think is so important. ⁓ ⁓ much artistry, craftsmanship.

Caroline Gidiere: Ahem.

Paloma Contreras: is kind of going by the wayside as time goes by. And it's wonderful when a big company like Schumacher can come in and revitalize and provide a new chapter for a company like Tillett. We also saw recently last year, think David Netto bought, was it Woodard Weave? ⁓ carpet company that may have ⁓ other circumstances gone under. And you hate to see ⁓

Caroline Gidiere: Mm-hmm. ⁓ huh, yeah. Yeah.

Paloma Contreras: you know, these locally owned individual makers of whatever their particular product might be go away, you know, because it is a tough environment right now. This is a tough climate for anybody to do business in regardless of, you know, what kind of business you own. And especially I think for the design industry, I don't know. talk about it, I think offline. don't think people, I don't know how openly people are talking about it in ⁓ like this, but

Caroline Gidiere: Right. All

Paloma Contreras: It hasn't been like the most amazing time for many businesses. You know, it's certainly been challenging and we are seen as a luxury and it's not always an easy time in which to be fluff. And even if your clientele is super affluent and not as impacted by, ⁓ know, socioeconomic changes in the world at large, ⁓ still the of optics. People don't always want to be seen to

Caroline Gidiere: Mm-mm.

Paloma Contreras: be spending money or they want to hold off until times are better. And so it's challenging. And then of course that impacts makers as well. So whether it's that or individual work rooms, you think about crafts, like even just installing wallpaper, like my wallpaper installers are starting to age out and it's like, who's gonna come after them? Peter Dunham was here yesterday, I mentioned earlier, and he was showing us all these amazing things. And he's so creative and clever and with artisans in India and now Peru. He was showing us these beautiful alpaca blankets that ⁓ utilizes as blankets, obviously, but also ⁓ them to make curtains out of. He ⁓ used as upholstery on sofas, like did all these things.

Caroline Gidiere: Mm-hmm.

Paloma Contreras: And then he was talking about some of his work rooms in LA and he's like, who knows how long we'll be able to do that or something that's made in Asia. I don't know if we're going to be able to continue doing that because people are aging out and the craft, you know, it's not continuing in the younger generations. We are across the street from a high school here in Houston. My office is right next to Lamar High School basically. And those kids, they park on our street. They're up and down all day long. ⁓ I'm always thinking to myself, it would be so wonderful. mean, ⁓ this exists, but

Caroline Gidiere: It's.

Paloma Contreras: someone should maybe not me because we've got enough irons and fire, but someone should start some sort of like Artisan craft guild to teach kids a trade because not every kid can or wants to go to college And I mean with the dawn of AI that's that landscape is changing too So teach these kids a craft so that they can earn a good living and have you know a trade and then we can continue making things in

Caroline Gidiere: Right?

Paloma Contreras: the US or anywhere.

Caroline Gidiere: Yeah, when I was in high school, we had trade school. And lunchtime, more than half of my high school left and worked trades. ⁓ And we a shop. But most people, like back in Grease they in ⁓ high school with, allegedly, when were working on Danny's car. ⁓

Paloma Contreras: Mm-hmm. Wow. ⁓ yeah. ⁓ I'm initially, I'm thinking Grease the country. Not yes, Grease the movie. Yes. Yes. Yeah.

Caroline Gidiere: Okay. No, no, In Grease, the movie, there used to be so much more of that. And an electrician's shop and all of that kind of stuff, that wasn't used as much, but most people left ⁓ either worked for hairdressers or ⁓ what you, or an or a plumber or...

Paloma Contreras: Right.

Caroline Gidiere: Whatever, because it was primarily a blue collar community and most everybody knew that their high school education wasn't gonna train them for the job that they were going to need coming straight out of high school, right? now college has gotten so expensive and it's a different animal. There's not as much emphasis on liberal arts education anymore. Everything is so STEM. ⁓

Paloma Contreras: Sure.

Caroline Gidiere: or oriented, but now all of those STEM jobs are being taken by AI. It's a brave new world out here, for sure. It's hard to parent a child through all of this. I have one who is more skills oriented, but joined ⁓ an ⁓ electrician's and is doing that, which I would have said. ⁓

Paloma Contreras: Right.

Caroline Gidiere: I would want him to focus more on liberal arts, but I don't know if that's not a better thing to be doing. But anyway, any event, I digress. I do think our economy is changing and it's hard for the younger generation to see the value in the work of an older business. I feel like everybody is all into social media and like, you posting their kitchen organization or whatever it is rather than. ⁓ getting up and going to the factory and screen printing these fabrics. But ⁓ artisan, mean, like every trade that I work with is in their 80s, just about. ⁓ And of them, a few of them have younger guys coming up behind them. And I think this is such a lucrative business. ⁓

Paloma Contreras: Mm-hmm. Yeah, yeah, no, they're I mean, they're all aging out.

Caroline Gidiere: But it's work. I feel like everybody's kind of looking for what can I do that's just like an easy coast to ball in. And I think people think that about our jobs, that they're super easy. it is a grind most days. There are fun parts of it. You have to love it. And you have to love hanging wallpaper, too, and get satisfaction from that.

Paloma Contreras: Yeah. It's not sexy, you know, it's not being an influencer. Yeah.

Caroline Gidiere: perfect scene, you know?

Paloma Contreras: That's right.

Caroline Gidiere: But anyway, okay, so I had a question for you. you use lotion?

Paloma Contreras: I do, I use lotion every day. ⁓ I shower every day and I always use body lotion after. Currently I'm using Necessaire, their body lotion. I really like it because it has peptides and vitamins and different things in it. I use the, they have different scents. I like the Santal one. It smells really nice. It absorbs quickly. I don't like anything that feels tacky or sticky for too long. So it's light, non-greasy. And they make a

Caroline Gidiere: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Paloma Contreras: A body retinol that I will sometimes mix in with the ⁓ cream ⁓ I use that. that's been ingrained in me. I don't know if it's like a Hispanic thing, but like I've slathered Margot in Mostela body lotion after every bath since she was a teeny tiny baby. I love it. I mean, your skin needs it. ⁓ If don't moisturize, I feel like your skin feels tight and thirsty. What about you?

Caroline Gidiere: Mm-hmm. Mm-mm. Yeah, me too. Yeah. Well, and particularly as you get older too. Yeah. I have, I was going to mention, I've using this ⁓ or OS2, I don't know, ⁓ skin. ⁓ it's got the peptide like for old, old skin to keep it from, to your skin from starting to get crepey or losing ⁓ its you know, it's, it's pushback and all of that.

Paloma Contreras: Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Caroline Gidiere: Let me tell you something, it starts happening and when it does, it's a precipitous decline, but it's really great and I'm using a Prequel glycolic milk. Before that, ⁓ I on my entire body. It's like glycolic peel for your face. So in the shower, you really have to get in there and use your loofah or your scrub or whatever to just your whole body. ⁓

Paloma Contreras: Mm-hmm. on your entire body. Okay.

Caroline Gidiere: Instead of doing like skin brushing like I used to, now I'm using that Lufa in the shower to just kind of basically the same thing. But use that glycolic body milk and then I mix that one skin stuff in with whatever I'm using. Have you used that brand Osea or Osea?

Paloma Contreras: I haven't, but I've seen it. know what you're talking about. And I also don't know how to pronounce it. Yeah.

Caroline Gidiere: Thank I mean, if somebody knows, please let me, I always stumble over it because I'd like to hear somebody with authority say it out loud and boldly. I love the way it smells and the products are really luxurious, but sometimes, and it gives you a nice little glow, you know, particularly like if your shoulders are going to be bare or whatever. But if I'm throwing on, you know, like a long sleeve turtleneck or something, that's not what I want. So.

Paloma Contreras: Mmm.

Caroline Gidiere: I have, again, back to Eurcerin I use the super, super extra dry skin one of those, but never take shower, even if I do two a day. I'm not the glycolic, but I'm slathering up with lotion. Yeah, and I did the same with both of my babies, and ⁓ Lou uses lotion but not a chance in hell that my son does. ⁓

Paloma Contreras: Mm-hmm. Yeah, yeah. think that's men in general too. It's not that hard. But maybe that's also why women, were having a conversation, a rep came in and was doing a presentation and she said she'd recently gone to her high school reunion and she's like, all the women look amazing, but ⁓ the ⁓ looked ⁓

Caroline Gidiere: Yeah. You Listen, my s-

Paloma Contreras: But I think it's just as women, take better care of ourselves, you know, and men don't feel like they have, they don't even worry about it. They're just like, whatever.

Caroline Gidiere: 100%. Okay, 10 years ago, my sister and I had, ⁓ sister is a year, one of my sisters is a year, Tay is a year ahead of me, ⁓ her name is Samantha, call her Tay. And we had a close friend who died of a heart attack, sadly, and suddenly, and ⁓ very traumatized everybody. ⁓ He was such great ⁓ guy. ⁓ And, Her class all got together for, know, people came in quickly for the funeral or what have you, but then they set a weekend and they all got back together to just kind of process ⁓ very traumatic ⁓ early passing. And took a picture. And when she got back, she showed me the picture and I was like, okay, every one of the girls, you don't to tell me, I know everybody, but I don't know who these men are.

Paloma Contreras: Yeah. Yeah

Caroline Gidiere: They all had lost all of their hair had their had aged ⁓ and already had, you know, kind of the dad if not more. And it was like, nobody cared what they look like except for the women. And they all looked exactly, I mean, they looked older, but they ⁓ all ⁓ very and were

Paloma Contreras: We are. Sure. Mm-hmm.

Caroline Gidiere: in there doing the work on a daily basis, trying to keep it all together. But these guys, tough. It's tough to be a guy. I think at some point, I think if I lost all my hair though, let me just say this. If there was a point at which I didn't have any hair on the top of my head, I would give up too. I I would be like, all right guys, I'm out. ⁓ I'm I've done all I can do. And we're gonna coast on in like this ⁓ and just even look in the mirror.

Paloma Contreras: Right. Yeah. Yeah. That's hilarious. Too funny. Yeah, but I mean, it's just a fundamental difference, I think, between men and women.

Caroline Gidiere: Yeah, yeah, for sure, for sure. And one other quick question. How often do you do Botox?

Paloma Contreras: every three months, four months, depending. Like ⁓ it wears off quickly in my forehead. Like right now it's still pretty good. ⁓ I got it done, I think at the beginning of March, so it's fairly fresh, but ⁓ wears off more quickly than I wish it would. What about you?

Caroline Gidiere: Yeah. Well, I'm somewhere in between that three and four months. You know, if you go four you can eliminate one. So if you can go those extra four weeks. ⁓ I asked myself, is it psychological or is it physiological that I feel like I need it? You know what I'm saying? I ⁓ I need to take pictures of myself, one month at the same ⁓ day the month and mark on the calendar what day. ⁓

Paloma Contreras: Mmm. Yeah.

Caroline Gidiere: I got my Botox and actually see what's going on. I'd really like to know because I feel like I can get too much Botox in my face Even I try to keep it light, you know what I'm saying? Like ⁓ I do fillers ⁓ The only I had I did a little bit of Sculptura or right here just to fill my temples in which

Paloma Contreras: Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Caroline Gidiere: you have to do as you get older, just a little bit of that. That's something new, that's a recent thing. But outside of that, tried fillers way long time ago and didn't like any of them. ⁓

Paloma Contreras: Yeah, I did that one time a few years ago, handful of years ago in my under eyes because I have dark circles and I hated it. I could like, I could feel it in my face, you know? It had like a, it felt crunchy to me. And then of course all that research came out that it migrates and it never fully dissolved. So I never got that again.

Caroline Gidiere: Yeah. Yeah, me too. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Well, sure. No tea, no shade, no pink lemonade. If it works for you, I'm not out here telling you you shouldn't. I just tried it and felt kind of felt the same way. I felt like ⁓ was puffy right here, like in this weird area that I've never been, and I felt like it changed the way my face looked. ⁓ I should say I do get a little bit of filler right on the...

Paloma Contreras: Yeah, exactly. Hmm.

Caroline Gidiere: very edge of my lips just to keep them from bleeding. It keeps the lines from going. don't notice any difference in the fullness of my lips from that. It just keeps the lines from marching in.

Paloma Contreras: ⁓ what does that do? Okay. That's filler or botox in the lips? Uh-huh, on the line.

Caroline Gidiere: There's filler right there. then I sometimes the last couple of times I've done the lip flip. I'm not sure if I'm going to continue that. It really is hard to drink and sometimes like swallow even because you can't get your mouth completely closed. So I'm not sure about the lip flip, but that's, but that's Botox. But filler is just like right on the edge, like that little thing right there. And this fullness is the lip flip, but

Paloma Contreras: Mm-hmm. ⁓ gosh. Mm-hmm. Okay. Mm-hmm.

Caroline Gidiere: You can't really tell with the amount, I don't think. Yeah, it doesn't, again, I think people, I could get them all plumped up, but I get nervous. And I only do that about every two years, so.

Paloma Contreras: Okay, yeah, it looks very natural. Okay, ⁓ wow, so that lasts a while. That's good. Mm-hmm. Yeah, well, should we dive into today's big topic? Okay, great. So topic is actually derived from a few listener questions that we had the last time we asked you all for questions. ⁓ overwhelming majority were related to the same topic. So it's all about

Caroline Gidiere: Yeah, I think fillers are supposed to last for a minute. Anyway. Yeah, let's do it.

Paloma Contreras: how to navigate hiring an interior designer and how to know if a designer is in your budget, if it's the right move for your project. So a couple of people have sent questions in related to that. There's so much to unpack. ⁓ we'll dive in. There's so much to know, I think, about the design process, hiring a designer. And of course, it bears mentioning that every designer, most designers work differently. There's a few standard ways. ⁓ But, you know, in all of my many years and conversations with so many different designers, I think everybody has sort of a different method to ⁓ their process to the way that they build, the way that they structure their studio and their team. So we can share our experience. That doesn't mean that it's the end all be all. It's what works for us and sort of what to for. But a lot of the conversation will be sort of from the perspective of

Caroline Gidiere: their own way.

Paloma Contreras: a client finding the right fit. So at what point, I get this question sometimes from people who are like, I'm not sure if it's the right time yet to engage you, but know, we have this project, we're going to build this house. ⁓ at what point in the process should a client consider hiring an interior designer?

Caroline Gidiere: Well... You know, there's not going to be really any work to be done. I mean, when there's something to do, I guess, is basically, and that is if you're doing ground up, you're going to want your designer from the time that you have your architect to, yeah, to, to start that process. And hopefully the architect and the designer collaborate. The designer is working with the client also to

Paloma Contreras: Right.

Caroline Gidiere: get the feel for how they want their interiors to unfold because that's gonna inform so many decisions about the way the house is laid out and what the details are. So you're gonna want your, you're doing ground up or a gut renovation, you want your designer from the jump. ⁓ you're hiring your architect, you need to hire your designer. You don't want the designer coming in later because there may be things that have to be changed or.

Paloma Contreras: big renovation.

Caroline Gidiere: edited that would have just been part of the organic process, right?

Paloma Contreras: Definitely. And I do think that when it comes to that also, most impactful and effective way ⁓ utilizing that team that you put together between your architect, designer and builder is have ⁓ regular meetings as team. Most of the time, would say 99 % of the time we're involved in all of those meetings. There have been a couple of projects here and there and it's ⁓ not the that I would want to do it, but the client is like,

Caroline Gidiere: meetings.

Paloma Contreras: We're going to meet with the architect separately and then we'll fill you in. think it's because ⁓ wanting to save on ⁓ time that they're paying for perhaps. But ⁓ think it's to the detriment of the project because in meetings, there's so much that we can discuss and work through in real time. ⁓ We anticipate issues. We can address issues. We can work as a team to resolve any, you know, ⁓

Caroline Gidiere: Mm-hmm. For sure. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Paloma Contreras: gray areas or problems or differences. You most of the time, ⁓ always a very collaborative, wonderful process, you know, and I think that if assemble the right team, you're going to have an amazing result, but it's really important to involve all of the people, even though ⁓ at stages, you know, early, early on with a new build, the architect is really going to be driving the process and the conversation and

Caroline Gidiere: Yeah. Yeah.

Paloma Contreras: It's not really until later that the designer really has a bigger role. However, it's so important because we're thinking, as you said, about how those spaces are going to live on the interior. At the beginning, the architect is often thinking about the elevation, the shell. They're thinking about roof lines, pitches, how a window looks on the outside. However, ⁓ thinking about ⁓ is that window placement?

Caroline Gidiere: Yeah, for sure.

Paloma Contreras: How am I going to illuminate this vanity if there's a window where a mirror would go and I can only have one sconce, I can only light one side of this person's face, all of these things. So it's just, you have an extra advocate to help you think through all of those things. Because when you're building new or renovating, doing a big gut, there's so many decisions to be made. So you definitely wanna assemble your team early ⁓

Caroline Gidiere: Yeah. That's right. Mm-hmm. And they're great architects who can think of everything. then there are so many architects are men these days too. And a lot of times I find they're not asking clients questions about like, are you going to put your linens for your dining room? You know, like, or ⁓ are you going to, if you're going to entertain on your patio, like

Paloma Contreras: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Right.

Caroline Gidiere: Are you going to come through the kitchen in the back door or should we figure out a way to get to the patio from the living room or, you know, things like that, like questions that are more, know, working maybe with ⁓ the lady of the house that's so arcane or just ⁓ the lady of the house, but whoever might be the entertainer in the house. If you're going to use your house for entertaining or little like that, like, well, if you

Paloma Contreras: Mm-hmm.

Caroline Gidiere: If we have this casing all the way up, there's no place to put a drapery rod or whatever. So you do need your designer, if you want it to be cohesive and kind of all in, if that's the look you're going for. And I assume if you are hiring an architect and a designer, you want everything to be thought of and considered.

Paloma Contreras: Right, right. And there's so much to consider in those big projects. And I think even if you have of a straightforward furnishings project, let's say you've ⁓ from a new city or into a new house ⁓ ⁓ house you're moving into doesn't require a lot of work beyond, you know, maybe changing out some light fixtures or hardware or installing wallpaper, paint, that kind of thing. It's more straightforward. ⁓ do think if the scope is large enough it makes sense to bring in a designer. Again, to create a very cohesive look from one space to the next to consider the way that you live and entertain ⁓ the way that your family moves the home's rooms. ⁓ That's always, I think, ⁓ a time to bring in a designer. But other times, you know, if somebody's like, well, I'm not sure if I need a designer. think anyone can benefit from a designer if the ⁓

Caroline Gidiere: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Paloma Contreras: If the budget allows, it's always going to be a benefit because you'll have access to more resources and ideas that you may not have thought of on your own, the experience that a designer brings to the table. But perhaps if you have just like small tweaks or just a single room to work on, or sometimes people like, they enjoy working on things and putting things together and they're not. an active designer, but they are design enthusiast and perhaps they have the bandwidth to sort of take their time with it and execute it themselves. I think in those cases, you could utilize a service like the expert if you wanted, you know, a designer to sign off on it. I offer consultations on the expert and there's so many designers on there. And I feel like that's a, that's a good way to like invest a little bit and be able to know that you're on the right track or maybe get some expert advice.

Caroline Gidiere: Mm-hmm. Yeah, that's a great idea. Yeah. Yeah, or even somebody, a designer in your town that you, that would be willing to take those types of commissions by the hour. I know there's several people in Birmingham that will just run out to your house and give you some advice and then you can do with it what you will. You know, you can consider it, but make your own decisions. ⁓ If one of those people that has ⁓ a

Paloma Contreras: Mm-hmm. Right.

Caroline Gidiere: point of view and knows what you want to execute, you're kind of in a, you've yourself in a corner. I think the expert is a great way to, ⁓ to resolve those. Yeah.

Paloma Contreras: Yeah, right. Yeah, otherwise, I mean, that's not something that we typically don't offer that, you I know you don't either, we're full service. For those who don't understand or don't know, you know, if they haven't worked with a designer before, what does full service mean at your firm?

Caroline Gidiere: Yeah, well, for us, it means manage everything ⁓ as much as want us to, not just the furniture, we can and have all of bedding and towels ⁓ and put stuff in the and completely

Paloma Contreras: Mm-hmm.

Caroline Gidiere: turnkey. Not everybody goes that far. You don't have to go that far to hire a designer. You can certainly buy your own sheets and towels. ⁓ sure, that's ⁓ issue, but ⁓ as far as the breadth of it goes. And that also means, you know, a lot of times people on the front end have questions about like, well, if we're buying something from like a big box store or what have you, I usually tell my clients, do you want to Like, let's just say you have a playroom and we're going to order a sleeper sofa sectional from Pottery Barn. I'll say, you want to ⁓ to buy this on sale or do you want us to manage it? And I think this demonstrates what full service is. That means we pick it out, we measure it, we make sure it's gonna fit in the space, manage delivery, know, like storage, delivery, when it comes in and it's, you know, wrong, we send it back, we do everything to make sure that it's perfect so you don't have to do it. If you're doing it yourself,

Paloma Contreras: Right. Mm-hmm.

Caroline Gidiere: Like you need to order it, you need to figure out where you're going to store it, get it there the day that we're moving in. And when they cancel the delivery or, you know, the guy calls at six o'clock in the morning with the truck and says, we're here, where do want us to leave the sofa? You know, you're up, not, not your designer.

Paloma Contreras: Right. Mm-hmm, right, right. Yeah, yeah, that's true. It's very much the same for us. It's full service from the beginning, and that means sort of the discovery period where we're getting to know you, understanding what the project is, refining the scope, determining a budget together, ⁓ all of that work. And then obviously we have a big design phase in which we're designing everything. ⁓ our office, we do obviously scaled furniture plans.

Caroline Gidiere: Yes.

Paloma Contreras: We also do beautiful watercolor renderings for every room. If the client is more visual really wants a more photorealistic representation, we can also do 3D renderings. ⁓ We do that quite as often. And then do our design presentation, itemize proposal. ⁓ We then into the production phase is what we call it. And that's when all the ordering and expediting happens. You there's so, you call it procurement. Yeah.

Caroline Gidiere: Mm hmm. call that procurement. Yeah.

Paloma Contreras: procurement production, there's so much that goes into that that people don't always understand. ⁓ know, let's say we propose a chair, we're going to have a lounge chair made, ⁓ have to get a quote from the workroom, we have to get a quote on the fabric, the trim, we have work with those three vendors to secure those three things. ⁓

Caroline Gidiere: Mm-hmm.

Paloma Contreras: Then we're also sending off for CFA's or cutting for approvals on the fabric and the trim. Those have to come in. We send in the purchase order. We have to wait for an order acknowledgement to come in. If the CFA is wrong, we have to request a new one. There's a lot of back and forth. It's not as simple as like going on a website, adding something to your cart and checking out. And that's maybe I think where people don't realize how much happens behind the scenes. And then you've got to manage the shipping and the delivery and...

Caroline Gidiere: Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Paloma Contreras: making sure it arrives to the right place at the right time in the right color. know, there's so much.

Caroline Gidiere: I don't think, yeah, I don't think people will get how much goes into it. Not just the design, because it's not just, is a good chair. It's, you know, like how many ⁓ it should be deep for the purpose it's serving, how inches a seat should be off the floor, what the pitch should be.

Paloma Contreras: pitch.

Caroline Gidiere: There's all of that kind of institutional knowledge that goes into the design, but not just that, not just the individual pieces. It's the knitting and the weaving together of the whole house to, and keeping in mind what the client wants and bringing to them options that that desire, It's like, it's all of ⁓ those elements. And then it's the execution of that. ⁓

Paloma Contreras: Hmm. Right.

Caroline Gidiere: you know, to this end, it's tax season and I have my general ledger ⁓ out and sending to my husband for our taxes and everything, because he manages all of that for us, thankfully. ⁓ and I left it for him last night. ⁓ I sitting on the patio kind of decompressing for the day and he came out and he said, can I just say I am overwhelmed with the number of transactions?

Paloma Contreras: All right.

Caroline Gidiere: in your office. He was like, this is extraordinary. the pages and pages and pages and pages, ⁓ hundreds of thousands of tiny little transactions that go into. And you know, I tell my clients like we do this. So you to do the fun stuff. You get to come in and say, ⁓ I really pink and I've always dreamt of having a pink closet. ⁓ You know,

Paloma Contreras: Mm-hmm. Exactly. Yeah. Right.

Caroline Gidiere: take it from here. We'll come back to you and let you tell us what to do, ⁓ you can just rest. So really is for someone who has the budget to go the distance on that, for sure. ⁓

Paloma Contreras: Yeah. Mm-hmm. It's amazing. It's like having somebody unpack you and move you into your house. ⁓ a luxury because ⁓ as client, if you're able to do full service design, ⁓ you get the benefit of having a seasoned team ⁓ with processes ⁓ in ⁓ to all of that because there is so much, there's so many details, so many transactions, ⁓ so to keep up with. all of that that we talked about on... also has to come in on time and on budget. So it's so much to manage. And I feel like if you can a designer, have fun with the creative part, empower them to do the execution and run with it at that point, and then come in for the installation and just see your home transformed. That's amazing. Excuse me.

Caroline Gidiere: Yes, well, right, exactly. And should a client look for in a designer?

Paloma Contreras: Well, I think there's a lot to look for. always say that interview sort of vetting process, or there's a potential project on the table. We are really vetting one another because in most cases, you know, our projects take a while to complete. If it's straight furnishings for a house, we might be together for a year. If it's a ground up new construction or major renovation, we're going to be together a whole lot longer. It might be two to three years.

Caroline Gidiere: Mm-hmm. Yeah, two to three.

Paloma Contreras: So I think there has to be good synergy between the two parties and you have to get along and enjoy each other's company. ⁓

Caroline Gidiere: client should be looking for a designer who's aesthetic they like. ⁓ some research. Come ⁓ find your designer because you like what they do. Never hire one because said, ⁓ she's great. You should use her. Because you never know whether to trust judgment.

Paloma Contreras: Yes. Yeah.

Caroline Gidiere: look at their work, we can all do that. It's not like people have portfolio books that you would have to have them come to your house and spread it out. You can find them on Instagram, look at the work that they've done. If that hits, if you say, I wanna live in a house like that, then those are the people you should interview for sure.

Paloma Contreras: Mm-hmm. You don't have to go request, yeah. Absolutely, I think that's also that yields the best result when somebody comes to you because they love your work and they followed your work they want you that really that's the way to get the best work out of a designer because if you're coming to them and you're like, ⁓ well, you were available sooner or you were less expensive or ⁓ neighbor recommended you those are

Caroline Gidiere: like you. Mm-hmm.

Paloma Contreras: valid concerns, but that shouldn't be the driving factor in who you ultimately choose.

Caroline Gidiere: And I'll tell you when that makes a difference. There's gonna come a time when you don't really know what you want to do. You're like, I'll know something, whatever it is in your house. And going have to decide to hold on to it, white-knuckle it, ⁓ and say, scared ⁓ of... what this person is proposing. So I'm gonna not listen to them and I'm gonna do it how I think in my mind it should be done without knowing anything about any of these other things. Or I'm gonna say, okay, I don't really understand. I don't see it, but I'm gonna trust you because I know I've looked at all the other stuff that you've done and you seem to make everything look the way that I like for things to look. I'm gonna let, project comes to that moment ⁓ Do I trust you or do I not trust you? And if I don't trust you, then I'm gonna start making all these decisions myself. And it's almost like if you were making a painting and you were starting to paint a tree and somebody came in and said, okay, now I wanna do a different tree here.

Paloma Contreras: trust is paramount. That is the factor. And we'll get to what makes a positive, fruitful client designer relationship. before we do that, just a few other things that I think are important for people to consider when they're hiring somebody is while I think important to have a clear sense ⁓ of style and of view, you want somebody that has ⁓ a look that you identify with. also want there to be a range in their portfolio to a degree. perhaps you're working on a Manhattan apartment or you have a beach house and their portfolio only shows, you know, single family homes. You want somebody that's worked in the type of scope and style and application, let's say that you are needing. You people that have worked on similar scope.

Caroline Gidiere: Mm-hmm. Sure.

Paloma Contreras: if you're doing a ground up new build, you want to find somebody who's experienced doing new builds and ⁓ on projects of that size.

Caroline Gidiere: I that is more important than necessarily having the particular type ⁓ project before. Because I think like you and me, that would just leave us doing only the things that we had done before. And I welcome a new, ⁓ you were talking about an Art Deco project. If they eliminated you because you had never done Art Deco, well, where's the challenge in ⁓ ⁓

Paloma Contreras: Mm. Yeah, that's true. Mm-hmm. Meow.

Caroline Gidiere: those of us who are worth our salt are willing to grow and accept broader projects than we've done before. But have you managed one that's the scope? you know, and or are you willing to do what it takes to come up to speed to learn? think architects maybe have a harder lift with things like that as far as codes and what have you. Ours is more than that. ⁓ definitely managing large scope projects. ⁓

Paloma Contreras: It's so true. Correct. Definitely. Mm-hmm.

Caroline Gidiere: You want somebody who has the team and can manage the scope and the breadth, go the distance. You don't want to get halfway in and have somebody who's they're not cut out for the business or whatever, you know.

Paloma Contreras: Right, definitely. I also think it's important to ask about their particular process. What does your design process look like from the inception of a project through the installation? What am I to expect from that experience? What does that look like for me as the client? think that's super important because ultimately, you're not just hiring taste and somebody to make aesthetic decisions for you, you're hiring somebody to manage a process.

Caroline Gidiere: Mm-hmm.

Paloma Contreras: and solve problems as they arise. And if we're honest, even in the best case scenario, there's always gonna be an issue, a hiccup. There's always, I mean, when you're dealing with hundreds of items and skews, it's inevitable that is gonna arrive incorrect or it's gonna be put on backorder or ⁓ in transit. There's always an issue to solve. We always say, know, ⁓ It may not be our fault, but it's our issue and we've got to resolve it for the client. know, and oftentimes you'll find that even if it's not the designer's fault, some of the other people involved, whether a shipping company or the receiver, whoever, they may not want to take responsibility for things. And then ⁓ we up having to be the ones that make it right for the client. But we do because we are charge of that.

Caroline Gidiere: Our problem, yeah, for sure. Sorry.

Paloma Contreras: you know, that overall experience in getting us to the finish line. So I think it's super important to understand that they have, like what their process is, what that looks like, what deliverables you'll receive and sort of a timeline for that, because it helps to manage expectations. Then everybody enters the project on the same page. We all understand what's expected of one another.

Caroline Gidiere: That's right. Mm-hmm. Sure. Okay, so what are the, I ⁓ feel like I know that your office charges ⁓ that, yeah.

Paloma Contreras: We do. Yeah, we're hourly and then a commission or markup as it's often called on goods. And then other people, you know, do flat fee. We have done some flat fee projects. We have proposed proposed projects both ways in the past. And I mean, when you do an itemized budget spreadsheet side by side of hourly plus markup or flat fee, in our experience, it's always shaken out to be about the same.

Caroline Gidiere: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Paloma Contreras: I happen to like hourly most everybody that I know and talk to in terms of other designers who have been around for a long time. They charge hourly as well. It's just a very sort of black and white kind of clear way we understand like this is what we're getting for the time. But that doesn't mean that it's for everybody and I'm always questioning if we're doing it the right way and constantly like trying to refine processes and the way that we might.

Caroline Gidiere: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Paloma Contreras: present our services. So I know some people do flat fee or a design fee plus hourly for production where it's sort of a hybrid. What do you do in your office?

Caroline Gidiere: Yeah, you know, it's a question I'm always asking myself, I doing this right? One thing we've done recently with success is a monthly flat fee for the of the project. Does that make any sense? So it is an average of hourly costs monthly so that the client has some ⁓ expectation what they're going to spend.

Paloma Contreras: Yep.

Caroline Gidiere: each month and for the length of the project, particularly if it's very, a very long project, because I find that clients get billing fatigue at the backend of a project when it's hourly. And those are the hours that sometimes are the most crucial to spend. You know what I'm saying? So yes, and this comes from my experience practicing law and billing by the hour as well. Like I can see it coming down the road.

Paloma Contreras: Yes, that's right. Right, because they're getting us to the finish line. Mm-hmm.

Caroline Gidiere: and they're wanting to cut it down, you know, ⁓ expectations is certainly costs and having a fine point, goes a long way. ⁓ I that the client is winner in those and not the designer always. ⁓

Paloma Contreras: Yeah, yeah, that's very true. Very, true.

Caroline Gidiere: Yeah, so, anyway. Okay, Paloma, tell us what makes a great client designer relationship before we close out.

Paloma Contreras: think trust is the most important thing. You have to trust that you've hired the right person. Hopefully you've vetted your designer properly. You feel good about this relationship, this working relationship moving forward, and you're excited about the person you've hired and their team, their process makes sense and works for you. mean, the greatest gift a client can give me is their full trust. ⁓ that doesn't mean that...

Caroline Gidiere: Mm-hmm.

Paloma Contreras: they're going to give me carte blanche. I don't need or want that, but I need them to trust that I'm showing them the best version of something to trust that I'm taking all of the feedback they've given me, their lifestyle, the flow of the house, all of those things into consideration when I'm designing things. I'm not just picking things willy-nilly. And to trust the process, you know, we have that process in place for a reason. My firm has been around 13 years. We've done hundreds of projects like

Caroline Gidiere: No. Right.

Paloma Contreras: We understand the sequence in which things need to happen in order to be the best stewards of the client's timeline and budget and to have the best result. And if we disrupt that or somebody wants to do things differently, it's never for the benefit of the project. Like I've relented in some ways and just maybe done something differently than I typically would because a client requested it. never ⁓

Caroline Gidiere: Right.

Paloma Contreras: works out any better than sticking to our tried and true process would have. So I would just say trust, trust the person you've hired. And if it doesn't feel like a fit, have that conversation early on. ⁓ Because if not, I think you end up in a situation where you're unhappy, you feel like you're spending money on something that isn't what you wanted. And the designer's probably picking up on it and feeling like they just can't get into a groove with the client. So it's always best to be honest.

Caroline Gidiere: Yeah, I agree. Yeah. Yeah.

Paloma Contreras: ⁓ But really for successful relationship, trust, have fun with it. It's an amazing, wonderful thing to be able to do. you know, really enjoy the process and communication, just answering questions, making decisions, I think in a timely manner is really important. If you sit on something for too long, that might be an indication that maybe you need to see another option. I also think it's important to trust yourself as the client to make the decisions and not have to go to like a peanut gallery of people to get a second opinion. Because then that starts to dilute the design and ultimately they're not paying for it and they're not, you know, the ones that are gonna live in the house. Like doesn't matter what your neighbor thinks or your best friend from high school. Like let's focus on the task at hand ⁓ ⁓ client what they, yeah.

Caroline Gidiere: ⁓ yeah. Mm-hmm. That's always the hardest. Yeah, when you have a client, when you've been working with them, you'll go through this whole process and talk about different things, what they want, guiding them, ⁓ come to a conclusion of whatever. ⁓ then four later, they come back and they've talked to their mom and their sister and they've got idea and that idea and this idea. ⁓ And then start spinning, you know, it's much better. Now had a...

Paloma Contreras: Mm-hmm.

Caroline Gidiere: mom involved in the process from the jump on the team. And that was 100 % delightful. I loved it. And she gave advice. She had been a designer. And I thought when we got started, ⁓ Lordy, ⁓ here go. But ⁓ was great because she could say to her daughter, you see what she's doing here. She is

Paloma Contreras: ⁓

Caroline Gidiere: looking at this, that, and the other, and she's got this all, and in a way, and could talk to her daughter in a way that ⁓ didn't know that I needed to. You know what I'm saying? So was really, if is a part of the team, then they should come to the meetings. You know what I'm saying? Yeah.

Paloma Contreras: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yes, whether it's a husband or any other family member that's going to be part of the decision making, they need to be present at all of the important meetings at the presentation. And you need to be able to be the one as a designer to explain the vision and the decision and the why so that the onus isn't then on the client to explain it to another person who also has decision making ability. I think that's super important for sure.

Caroline Gidiere: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And it can be really inefficient to constantly to make decisions and constantly change them and be circling back and change them, change them. And then everybody kind of loses their sensitivity to what we decided, which is ultimately to your detriment. Okay.

Paloma Contreras: Mm-hmm. Totally. Yeah, I agree. know, I really just one's instincts, trusting their designer and hiring the whose style and process fits feels good to you ⁓ is a key takeaway, know, and if you're trusting and comfortable in that, then you're going to have a great experience. Yeah. And as Miles Redd says, you buy the best and only cry once. So.

Caroline Gidiere: Yeah. Yeah, I agree.

Paloma Contreras: It's a big investment not to be taken lightly. Yeah. Yes. Yes.

Caroline Gidiere: No truer words have ever been spoken, for sure. For sure. well, I'd to be in with you. Have a great week. Bye-bye.

Paloma Contreras: Likewise, thanks for joining us. Bye.