Episode 290: Honoring Legacy Through Interior Design | Anne Michaelsen Yahn | Interior Designer
Interior designer Anne Michaelsen Yahn joins Kara to talk about design, grief, resilience, and raising a family of entrepreneurs. From growing up in Newport Beach to running her business through personal tragedy, Anne shares how she found strength in creativity and community. They explore her approach to intentional design, the art of hosting, and how legacy and love show up in the spaces we live in. If you're reimagining your home, your business, or your life, this conversation is full of insight, beauty, and heart.
This episode explores interior design, female entrepreneurship, and building through resilience.
“When you understand the rules, you are able to break them well. Knowing the history and the origin of architecture and design is the difference between mixing and matching badly or in a way that makes sense. ”
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Follow along using the Transcript
Chapters:
(00:00:00) - Introduction to Resiliency and Power
(00:06:09) - Facing Tragedy and Embracing Change
(00:07:47) - The Role of Community in Healing
(00:18:24) - Finding Love Again After Loss
(00:20:42) - The Impact of Travel on Design Perspective
When I was 38 years old, I had four children ages three to 13, and my husband suddenly died of a heart attack two nights before his 41st birthday. I was thinking about what does it mean to be a powerful woman? And I really think resiliency is one characteristic, I would say is very important for everybody.
That's Anne Michaelen Yahn. I'm Kara Duffy, and this is the Powerful Ladies podcast.
Welcome to the powerful ladies podcast. Thank you. I'm so excited to have you here today. You have such an amazing business and rich story about how you've gotten to where you are. And I think you're such an example of a powerful lady that the people who know, you know, how powerful you are, but I don't, you're a story that I think the world needs to hear.
So before we jump in any further, let's tell everyone your name, where you are in the world and what you're up to.
Okay. I'm Anne Michaelsen Yahn. My company is Anne Michaelsen Design. I'm in Newport Beach, California. My, actually my new studio and soon to open shop is in Costa Mesa, right over the border. And I'm an interior designer.
Did you grow up in California?
I did. I grew up in Newport Beach. Nice. I went to school in Claremont, California, and then Los Angeles, and then came back here about 25 years ago.
Growing up in Newport, did you imagine that this would be your, your place? Or did you imagine like running away and escaping somewhere?
Maybe a combination of the two. I remember thinking, oh, I'll go to a big city and be, you know, an independent woman with a job, like, which there were TV shows in those days showing that for the first time. And I, I kind of assumed that's what I would do. I ended up getting married really young, so I didn't run off to the big city.
Well, I guess L. A. is a big city, actually. But I wasn't alone. I was with my husband.
It is like I don't like LA is a big city. It's one of the largest in the world, but I know you mean it's not like a New York or a Paris or a London where it it feels like a proper city. So I understand.
It feels like like a sprawl.
Yes. How did you meet your husband?
We met in college. I was a sophomore and he was a senior and friends introduced us.
When you guys first met, did you imagine that together you would create this family of entrepreneurs?
I don't, I don't know. I don't, I don't think quite as entrepreneurial as it's become. I guess the answer is no.
So you are an entrepreneur. Your four children have also become entrepreneurs. Was that what you guys talked about at the dinner table? Was it just, it just happened this way? Like, how did you curate?
It just happened this way. I remember when one of my sons left Nike because he and his other brother's business had gotten to the point where they both needed to be doing this full time, I looked at my husband and I said, Oh, great. The last kid who had an actual job. But luckily they're all very dedicated to their entrepreneurial paths.
And they're also very different, right? There's beverages, there's products, there's art. Like there's a lot of variety. It's not like you've created a bunch of entrepreneurial e commerce brands, even, but I think it is so fascinating because So often entrepreneurs feel lonely and like they're not understood by their family because they're the only one crazy to not have a regular job. So I think it's so fascinating to look at you and your family and see how it's normal and it's common and everyone can contribute to each other in different ways.
I think it's really interesting because like you said, they're all a little bit different. And I think There's so many similarities, and then there's the differences, and I think sometimes they even feel amongst themselves that nobody understands them because of the little differences, but there probably are more things similar than, than disparate.
When did you launch your interior design business? Was it, like, did you dream of being an interior designer always?
No, it's funny, I didn't. I dreamed, Well, I didn't dream. I majored in art history, and I was about to get my graduate degree in art history, and I sort of thought I would go to that big city and, you know, work in a museum, at least in my career.
I ended up going to LA after college and found a class at UCLA on the decorative arts. And I thought, I'm going to take that class because in all of my education, we never discussed or learned about decorative arts. Turned out that was the intro class to UCLA's Interior and environmental design program and it sort of went from there after I started, I realized I used to lie on the beach here in Newport Beach in the summer and I would like draw house plans and restaurant ideas and rearrange my mother's house, which I'm sure she really appreciated.
Looking back on it. I should have realized it, but I didn't until it kind of all came together.
When we had first met, you had been running this business for decades successfully. And what I think is so powerful about your story is the arc that you've had of having to have and run this business and raise kids unexpectedly on your own.
I'm not sure how much of that story you're open to sharing, but how did you end up a single mother?
When I was 38 years old. I had four children ages 3 to 13 and my husband suddenly died of a heart attack The two nights before his 45th 41st birthday. So it just happened in in You know 10 minutes that just everything changed and I think I was thinking about what does it mean to be a powerful? woman, and I really think resiliency Is one characteristic I would say is very important for everybody to be able to be powerful You need to be resilient because you don't know what's going to happen Yeah, and I was able to switch gears a little bit after that and I started Renovating and selling houses because it would at the very beginning.
It was really hard For me to focus on, you know, a bunch of other people's homes and raising four children alone because that had the, I was doing the same job, but I was doing it for myself. Theoretically didn't have a bunch of clients to juggle because part of this job is being very client centric, obviously. So that really got me through the first few years, which was great. But again, that's resiliency, right? That's being able to pivot and use your skills, but in a slightly different way. And then Honestly, it wasn't until the kids started graduating high school that I really could focus for the first time in my entire career of really building this business to what I always thought it could be.
Yeah.
And expand into different parts of the business.
What did you learn about yourself when you were going through that heartache and transition to having to figure it out on your own now?
That I could do it. I mean, a lot of people have said to me, How did you do it? And I said, I had no choice. So, you know, I don't know how I just did.
You just kept waking up and doing it. That's right. How important was your family and circle to get through that period of time?
Extraordinarily important. By luck, I guess, we, my husband and I, my late husband and I, and the three of the kids, I was pregnant with the fourth, moved back home from L. A. to Newport Beach soon before the youngest Alex was born. And only Three years before he died, he happened to be in the same neighborhood, practically down the street. So fortuitously, that was extremely helpful. And my parents were. You know, surrogate parents to them and ended up with such a very, such a close relationship, much more than a typical grandparent grandchild.
Of course, my friends too. So there were my parents and then there were my friends in Newport Beach and even this private school the kids went to was helpful at the beginning. I mean, people were very helpful.
Yeah, it's, it's it's one of the silver linings, right? When tragedy strikes to see how powerful the community was.
Cause we're, we don't notice it on a regular basis of who's actually on our team and in our circle. And I think it's a bit sad that in modern day, we. stop asking people for help as much as I think we used to. Even asking someone for sugar is weird. It's like, why ask your neighbor? You can just jump in the car. Like it's not a big deal. Exactly. Exactly. But I think we miss opportunities to allow people to be a contribution to us. You know, if, if anyone asked you for help, you'd be like, yeah, sure. Hold on. Let me move some things around and make it work. And we often think we can't bother people or we're a burden. And when you truly can't do it all by yourself, that kind of has to go out the window.
You know, and it's interesting to you were saying sometimes like you don't recognize it on a daily basis that people are there. There are people who, who are such close friends of mine today that I knew before this happened, but they really stepped up.
And then there's people that I was really, I thought I was really close to before that kind of faded away. And I really think sometimes it was that they couldn't handle what happened. In other words, it's just too scary for them to confront it. And so some of those people faded away, but I honestly have several friends now that I knew, but I wasn't that close.
And we're, you know, however many years it is later, which is a lot now, 22 years later, we're really close friends. Interesting.
Well, and one of your close friends, I have the honor of working with Kris and you guys have been friends. You guys are such an example of. long lasting friendship and evolving together as people. What has it been like to have someone like that in your corner?
Well, I was just, when you said that, it flashed into my mind the very first Mother's Day after my husband died. My parents had to go somewhere. They hadn't left me for however many months it had been, but they had to go somewhere. You know what? It might've even been the next year because it was probably the next year. But anyway, Kris flew down and like help the kids go to the grocery store, make breakfast in bed and do all those things. And she and I haven't talked about that a lot, but start to cry. But that was really special. And you know, she's not a mother. So I think, you know, Being close to my kids has been special for her too and for my kids.
Yeah. And she shared that with me. She's like, they are my kids.
Well, you know, and we were a group of five women who lived together our senior year of college. And to be honest with you, of the five, Kris and I were not the closest in that time. We are the closest now. And I think what I attribute that to is we both made the effort. get together all those years when, and it could have just been luck that, you know, when she had her 30th birthday, I was able to go and other people were having a baby or, you know, who knows, but we always made that effort and it, and it's paid off in the long run. We're closer now than we ever were. You know, we own a home together, even in the desert.
Yeah, which is one of your incredible projects. Do you want to tell people about that project a little bit?
Well, my husband grew up with family that had a home in the desert, always wanted a house in the desert. And I was like, okay, well, I just, it wasn't a big deal to me. And I'd heard about this neighborhood. We were out visiting friends. We drove through it. I knew some other people. Famous like nationally famous designers had bought in there and I knew some local people who'd bought in there and I knew the clubhouse was being redone by a very famous East Coast clubhouse designer, and I noticed that the house, the neighborhood, which is pink, kind of a dusty rose pink, every house was meticulously maintained. You don't drive through so many neighborhoods where you notice that that there was such a Love of place you could tell my husband was like this place is ridiculous and i'm like look more carefully Anyway, we look I found a house I'm, like I think we should buy this and I think we should buy it right now and chris and I had been talking about Getting something where her family always had a home in sun valley And things had skyrocketed to the point of crazy after or during the pandemic COVID and I called her up and I said, I think we should buy a house in the desert. And I found it. Will you fly down here? And she did. And we did. And I was right. It was the perfect time. The neighborhood has gained in reputation and knowledge. Significantly since we purchased. I was lucky enough to be able to redo the whole thing. The architect of the neighborhood was sort of the master of the Hollywood Regency style, and I redid are sort of paying homage to that period. It's not a time capsule. Which I think can be cool too, but mine is more just respecting that and modernizing at the same time. I've gotten involved with the Architectural Landscape Committee, I've learned more about the time, it's been really fun for me. And it's been professionally gratifying, both in that the home has been very well received by my colleagues as well as It's been published and it's going to be published again. And also I've met a lot of colleagues out there that are interesting and I've done things with them and it's really great.
And I don't know if it's because of knowing you and what I've Google searched, but lately I've even been getting YouTube videos. of people talking about the neighborhood and whether like these I know I know it's like these mini documentaries have been popping up on recommended on youtube, which I think is so fascinating because there's Obviously, there's so much attention on the palm springs desert area and the history and the architecture and they even just had the that new aluminum house set up with the Palm Springs Museum of Art which I think is one of the first, like, fabrication houses they had. So there's all this attention to architecture and history there, and it's unique when that specific neighborhood is, all these people are talking about it again, so, yeah.
You know, it's interesting because it's definitely took place in tandem with mid century, which most people now are very well aware of, but it's different. Right? Mid century's low, low and horizontal and Hollywood Regency's tall and vertical, basically, and sort of, you know, glamorous and, and so they're, they're, they're parallel, but different. And it's neat that that whole desert area has embraced architecture, which in Southern California was not the norm until relatively recently, you know, LA lost a lot of really important buildings before the movement to save historic architecture really got strong.
Yeah, I mean and this again, you can, maybe this is what I'm just watching on YouTube, but I, I watched a whole documentary on the beautiful Victorian and Gothic homes that used to be on Wilshire Boulevard. And you're like, how, like, so many people complain that LA doesn't have any of the history, doesn't have any of the, the culture and style and the things you find other, other places.
And it's like, Yeah, because we chose to get rid of it and build skyscrapers instead. It's, yeah, I would like, I know that it was awful what happened in Paris when they cleaned everything out and rebuilt the city to what it is, you know, how beautiful it is today. But I feel a little bit like L. A. needs a little sprinkle of that, not so aggressive of kicking everybody out.
But how can we, it could be the most beautiful city in the world with the weather and the money that we have access to. And I do wish someone would care about it enough to
There are some, there are some organizations now that do focus on these things and people who even John Elgin Wolf, who's the architect of Marrakesh, where we are in the desert, there are now people who will go buy those homes in LA, like, you know, because a lot of people bought a lot of the important homes and tore them down. Yeah, there are people now who will buy them and restore them and pay homage to those architects, which is good.
You also have been lucky enough where you have gotten to fall in love again, and remarry. How did you meet Don? And did you think it was possible? And were you even thinking about it when you're probably just trying to, I imagine, survive for a couple years?
Well, I think, I did not imagine the wonderful life I have today, like I, I wouldn't have dreamt of imagining that. I did always, I liked being married and I liked being part of a, you know, family unit that had both, theoretically both parents there. I hoped that I would have that and I hoped that my children would be raised like that, especially the younger ones. You know, the youngest, doesn't remember his father. Yeah. And I, so yes, I was hopeful that, that it would happen. I don't think I was too optimistic. I was a widow with four children. That's not high on people's wish lists usually. But I met Don at a birthday party. It was a close friend of mine, the, the husband and wife, the kids went to the same school and my husband Don was a fraternity brother and classmate of them in college and had known them all along and we'd sort of parallel known them and it was her birthday, her 40th birthday and we met that night and we were engaged nine months later.
Wow. What a romantic he is, huh? I think because we had some mutual friends, the meshing of our lives has been absolutely seamless. Like, my best friends are his best friends and vice versa. And it's just as if we always were part of the same group, even though we were kind of in parallel universes. Yeah. We even grew up in the same town, but we never knew each other.
That's so crazy. Yeah. And I get the impression, The few times I've gotten to spend time with, with him that he just is kind of like, yeah, we'll figure it out. Yeah, it's no problem. It'll work out between the two of us. He's definitely the calmer.
I think it's also so important to find a partner that. Encourages you to be chasing after all your dreams because so often dreams start as a project before they're ever a business and it's like, let me tinker with this and he seems to be such a supportive partner, not just for you, but for all the kids as well to be like, yeah, like go figure it out.
Very much.
Another thing that you and I have talked quite a bit about is how much you love getting to travel the world and see all the art and architecture and bring things back when you can. What are some of your favorite cities and how has traveling changed your life?
Well, I even tell young people who are looking at design, I said, get it, get an education. And frankly, I think that could be in business, marketing, it could be in a lot of things. Along with interior design, but you've got to look and see and travel. And I think that's the difference between technically good at something and being knowledgeable enough about. In my case, architecture and design of the world that I bring to my projects. I think very important. I'm lucky enough. I, you know, I studied abroad in, in college in Florence. Fabulous experience. One of the things I've been able to do Lately that I couldn't do when I was raising we talked about four it ended up being seven children because my husband had three I now i'm able to do some travel related to business And so I try to go every year to paris to the design shows and I just went to philadelphia a few weeks ago to On a trip to visit John Pomp, a fabulous glassblower, lighting, furniture manufacturer, he had a group of us here into a studio and to see what he does. And I've been to Jesse Plumbing's plant outside of Milan, Italy, and going and seeing things and the artistry that goes into things. It, it inspires me. It also helps me explain to clients why one thing is different than another thing. I'm not saying it in white. What what that handmade beauty can bring to your life and all that kind of stuff.
It's just it's incredible One place I went was africa a few years ago, and that was such an amazing trip and obviously Not that much about architecture, but just the art of the local people some of which I was able to bring back and just the natural beauty Is I would recommend that to anybody? I just thought it was everyone says it's incredibly powerful and it is You
And just, there's, every continent has had such a different concept of like what colors combinations make sense and just the textile varieties around the world is so incredible.
And for me, I know that like when I'm traveling and going somewhere that the more it feels like another planet, the more impressionable it becomes.
You know, it's harder and harder to find those places.
It is. It is. It is. I remember when I went to London for the first time. I'd actually been lots of parts of Europe before going to London. And I got there and it was very weird. One, it was weird to be able to speak English in another country. And growing up in Boston and in the Northeast, I'm like, this just kind of feels like it's the Northeast, like this is strange. So it was almost more out of body having to be so close to what I knew versus it being so different.
I think also when you see how things were put together from their place of origin, it also gives you a lot more freedom to mix and match things so that it makes sense. sense versus it being a pile of stuff. You know, there's the art of, of the styling of a home, not just the design of it. Where do you think people go wrong when they are styling their own homes?
Well, a very famous designer once said you have to know the rules to break them. And I think being eclectic, mixing both styles and items from different periods is not easy to do well. So, I think that's a mistake. That's some, I think two mistakes. One, they try too hard to be too eclectic, but there's nothing that's tying it together to make it look like not just a pile of stuff.
Yeah. Or a lot of people, it's too generic. Like their design is just too generic and they don't have anything they've collected from anywhere. And it looks like, you know, they wanted a certain look and they went to a store and they. Put it all on the shelves and it has no personality because I do think, you know, my job is not to create and Anne's home for all these people, it's to help them create their home.
And I like to respect the location. Other words, the city, the country, the by the sea, by the mountain in the desert, and then the architecture of the particular building and also the people and to pull all that together. Well, he's not, you know. The easiest thing to do, but there has to be some sort of common thread.
Well, and that's what you and I spent a lot of time talking about in the past was there's You know pulling out those key statements that really define you as a designer versus every other designer that's out there There's so many And in southern california, especially orange county. There's a lot Of ones that you can tell who did the house, because all the houses look the same, which is maybe good for their brand recognition, but it's not good for the personality of the people who live there necessarily.
And The levels and layers of thought that you put into all those things you mentioned, plus the people who live there and how they actually use it. And even respecting the idea that we have to make smart choices so that you don't have to redo your entire house in three, five, whatever years. Like there's a legacy component that matters so much to you that I don't know that every, or many, I should say. interior designers today have. I think the great ones do because it allows you a lot more flexibility of who and where you're working, but it's a different perspective than something that just looks good right now.
You know, I think you're right. And theoretically, your house should never have to be completely redone, right? Like wiped clean. Even if you were in a very traditional home and you moved to a very contemporary home, I would hope that there are things that are going to make that move. They might be used in a different way, another, the antique. You know, break front might become sculpture in that contemporary home, but it's just not thrown away And I think that goes also true for things that come from your family You know your I have things that were my grandparents and you don't have to keep everything But nice things should be kept and should be used in new ways One of the things when I did the house in the desert that's been really fun Is to take a lot of my grandma's things that she got when she got married in the 50s Because some of her wedding gifts were from that era and now they're living in their homeland again.
That has been really fun.
You've also had the pleasure of getting to work on projects outside of Southern California. What have been some of your favorites?
Hawaii's been great. I've done Three projects in near Kona on the Big Island, and I have a project in Maui that is designed, but we haven't commenced anything because of the fires and all. There's just other priorities on that island right now, but it'll be fun to do once we can. So that's been fun. And to try to do the homes respecting the fact that we're in Hawaii, but not kitschy. That's, you know, and it's been great, very successful. I also have some projects in Colorado, which have been fun.
You also are known as a great hostess and you and I have also talked about how there are so many home arts that Seem to be disappearing or not respected. Even the idea of like dressing up for important dinners or holidays. What have you been doing yourself for your own family to pass on those traditions? And what is it that you love about hosting and celebrating?
Well, you know, it's interesting because I, I think food, I thought about this a lot. I cook and even when my late husband died, we talked about that period. I would have people over and make dinner and you know, as a single woman that, and it was a really good way for me to keep socially active. I wasn't waiting for people to take me out. Also we would have the whole families over. There was really not that much difference between my family of five And everybody else's family, you know, we we would have food together share that and I still do that, of course with my family, which is starting to move all over the country So it's a little more difficult but certainly whenever we're all together dining and Eating and cooking is a big thing and most of my kids have also You Taken that that they like to cook or entertain or all of these things. And I just think having someone into your home Is an act of love and cooking is showing love and putting effort into it And I I really do enjoy Being able to do that with people.
I mean now you have kids in new york in miami How has that been for you knowing that they're you're now stretched to like the four corners?
I'm just getting used to it. The big moves were right after Labor Day. So I haven't been able to even get Becky's to go to Miami yet. They'll be back here before I go there, but it's definitely a change. And, you know, my little grand doggie went with them.
Yes. Well, and that's also speaks to you know, your daughter in law, Jackie, who we've had on this podcast, who is also an entrepreneur who just added to the family.
She took the job. She's out of the entrepreneur game for now, which is why they moved to Miami.
Which I think is so exciting because there's so much pressure, I think, when people do start their own business that you can't go back to being an employee. And I think that's so silly. The whole reason we've chosen to be entrepreneurs is usually for a freedom we couldn't have somewhere else. So if the next fun project means you have a W 2 instead, like, who cares? Like, I think the whole purpose is not to have limits where we don't want them. And we certainly don't need to put them on ourselves.
I think too, you learn something by working in a big organization. You may, if you hadn't already had that experience, like before you went to become an entrepreneur, There's a lot to learn from that, that then you can utilize in a new way later in your next step. I think it's all really important.
If we go back to eight year old you, would she have imagined that this is your life?
Eight year old me? I don't know. I don't think so.
Do you remember what you wanted to be back then?
Probably a housewife. Honestly, I mean that, you know, I was raised in, I guess I always thought I would be independent. My father always raised me to believe that I could do whatever I wanted to do. So maybe that's wrong. I don't know what it was I thought I would do.
Yeah. Well, I think I remember the first thing I knew I wanted to be was like a mom because that's what I wanted to be. All the women I knew were like, that's, that's what you saw everywhere. You know, we've been, we always ask people on this podcast where you put yourself on the powerful lady scale. If zero is average everyday human and 10 is the most powerful lady you can imagine. Where would you put yourself on that scale today and on an average day?
Well, because of you today, I've got to be at least an eight. On an average day, I think I'm a, I'm an eight. I mean, I know I could be better and bigger and greater, but I think you always want to feel that way. Don't you? But I do think that. I do get a lot done and I, I, you know, you know, interesting. I just thought of this, it's hard to imagine, but before my late husband passed away, I was not as powerful. I mean, I was always independent. I, you know, all that, but I was more timid and that event. Changed me Dramatically people can't believe it, but I remember walking through a department store And I didn't have a watch on and of course we didn't have cell phones and I wanted to know what time it was I was like too timid to ask somebody what time it was
I can't imagine that version of you.
I can't I can't either but it that is the truth So, you know different things in your lives propel you hopefully to be better. Yeah, I think that's That's the truth A really important lesson.
What do you wish more people knew about the world or me? All of it. Yeah life. Yeah.
Well now I think maybe I wish people would know more that You know, I'm not this only this like super powerful person who does everything and thinks everything has to be perfect. You know, that's a big thing when you're a good entertainer, people think that you expect that of them. And then they don't want to have you over for a backyard barbecue. Do you know what I mean? I'm actually. Somewhat easygoing. Yeah. Completely, but somewhat.
Well, I do know having many clients that are in fashion, that are stylists, that are interior designers. It's like, it's intimidating having all of you over to, you know, my little cottage. Because I'm like, listen, you guys have skills I don't have. So, but come on over anyway.
But, but because that, I think, is fun. What I'd want people to know, like, don't, and don't hand me over and start apologizing for your pillows.
That's when we get to turn around and hire you and be like, please swizzle everything. Thank you.
Another thing is a lot of people think it's so much more expensive to hire a designer. And I truly believe at the end of the day, it probably, If it doesn't save you money, you're going to get more for your money. And I just think too many people like are building houses, which is not their forte and the, and the wife or the husband is doing it all. I mean, like, like I said, I travel, I'm on a national board of an appliance. conglomerate and I go to seminars. I was on a seminar about shower valves right before this talk today. Like I'm constantly learning but there's so much to know and I think it's a shame that more people don't utilize a professional if they're already building a house or completely gutting and rebuilding a house.
No, I agree. And you're, when you're going to build, remodel, redesign a home, you're going to be spending a significant amount of money. And then to think that, you know, the best choices to make in an efficient manner, and then to also project manage it and to make sure that the money you're spending is worth it. Like even me moving into my place now, like. It was 20 grand to move to move to to get new furniture like it was still a significant amount of money and going from sharing a home with my ex to not like I, there's a lot of starting over stuff so it's expensive at any level so why wouldn't you bring in someone who can make you love your space at a different way.
Like it goes from like being good to great or extraordinary.
I agree.
When you're spending that much money, we went extraordinary only please. And thank you. When you look at the business that you've created and the clients that you've gotten to work with, what are you most proud of along your journey so far in the business space?
Well, you know, I did a lot of changing around the time that I met you and then COVID where, you know, I started watching zooms and all this stuff. I had let, I had, you not kept up with technology because I've been doing this for so long and then different changes and this and that. And I did made a huge push towards lots of technology things. A few years ago, and I'm still we just recently took on a new sort of design management program, and I'm, I'm proud of the fact that I'm able to look at change and not be afraid of it, which not every even my team. I sometimes have to like, say, okay, guys, we're going to do this. You know, it's hard to change and to learn new things. Yeah.
And I keep trying on every industry is like, I don't know of an industry that's not changing and evolving at this point, like all of them are even things you think are pretty standard, like driveway resurfacing or something.
It's still shifting because if it's not shifting in the actual work delivery, it's shifting in how you get customers pay customers pay your employees. So there's always a different change happening.
Yep. And I still have clients, you know, who barely read their email every once in a while. You know, I have to text and say, I sent you an email thing is something that seems to be no matter what age people are, they've taken to that. Like even I have clients over 80 and they texting is universal, but not all technology is.
No, no. I was amazed recently talking to one of my celebrity clients and learning that they're like one of the weirdos in their circle who has an actual laptop. I was like, what do you mean? She's like, they don't have computers. They just have like a phone or an iPad. I was like, what? People can exist today without a laptop? Everything on their phone or iPad, or they have someone doing it for them. I think a hybrid of both. And if you imagine like, Being in the acting or music space, like all your work is happening in real life with other people doing things. So I think it's a unique group of people that don't need a laptop. Like that, that tells me that they're not a writer. They're probably not a producer. They're truly the performer and only in that space. But I thought that was fascinating. It's like. When I get shocked that a young person doesn't know how to use Excel, I'm like, Did you go to school? Like, what happens? I think they're teaching you this in like fifth grade now.
I, I like to do things on my laptop more than a little phone, but like my kids will, you know, one of them bought a car on the phone. So, you know, It's all crazy now.
Yeah. So for when we, you and your business, what type of clients are you looking for? Who would you love to connect with?
Yeah. So, you know, Dream Client appreciates architecture and design, knows that they want fine things, but knows they need help to get there. Also has or wants real art. Art's a real, real, I mean, I was an art history major, so it's important to me, but also I think that is the final elevating factor in a home, is that the quality and the level of the art. And to bring Art made by artists and then it actually could be a coffee table, a lamp or paintings and sculpture that it's really meaningful. I think just makes it the next level. And so dream client wants art. You know, I'm close with some gallerists. I love to advise on that. Bring things in that just make you think and don't match your sofa.
Well, I read a statistic recently that Less than 10 percent of homes have any original pieces of art.
You're probably right. And a lot of people think they do and they don't, and that's where I have to walk on a tightrope. It's like, I can't insult them. But a lot of people really don't.
Mm hmm. Yeah, it baffles me. I have multiple originals that, again, they're not, I'm not having original Picassos in my house, but I have a lot of original art and I thought it was weird that other people weren't, if you like it, go get it type of approach.
There's the lady down the street who paints and there's the, you know, but it does make such a difference. And hopefully it makes a difference in the inhabitants daily life. Yeah, agree. Now, you know, you know, I like it when somebody wants their home to not be a, not, they're not doing the home to impress their neighbors, but it does, but they're impressed not because it's glittering in gold, but because of the emotion and the artistic sense that it brings out when they walk in.
Well, you can tell the difference between intentional and not. So, you know, it's. There's so many, there are people who are designing homes that are copying what they see and like, and there's people who are really making it their own and working with people like you that can weave it all together because there's like, it's always amazing to me when somebody chooses something very trendy for their home, because I'm like, okay, it looks good right now, but in six months won't even look good, let alone in five years. So, paint's one thing. Everything else is questionable.
I did a couple houses a few years ago that I had done 20 years prior. And happened to be doing them at the same time. Neither one was being redone because it was outdated. It was that, Well, it's been 20 years and the floors need to be redone. So we're going to move the furniture. We should paint the walls. Like we ended up changing some things because what had, what did look dated was like the, the can lighting. I mean, what had changed in 20 years, technology had caused change. Secondary bathroom countertops that were tile because it was Tyler marble and really a granite in those days.
Now there's ports and other things. So certain things we updated because. Those things weren't available 20 years ago, but neither house had anything that I would say was stylistically dated, and I was proud of that.
Yeah, you should be. I know you've also been really proud that how much you've been able to work on a home with somebody, and when they choose to sell it, it becomes one of the highest selling homes in their neighborhood.
Yeah, several of them have been like that. Most of them have been like that that have sold, which is really nice.
Well, the last thing we've been asking everyone on the podcast has been, what do you need? How can we help you? What, what's on your to do list to manifest list? What can this powerful community help make happen for you?
I'd love for people to follow me on Instagram and check out my website and sort of see all the things we're doing. We are about to open a shop as part of our studio now. So if you're in the area, we'd love for you to come on by when that happens, which will be in a few weeks, we'll be ready to actually open exciting.
Thank you for being a yes to me and the powerful ladies and sharing all of your wisdom today. It's been so nice to see you and catch back up. Nice to see you too. And I hope I see you soon.
All the links to connect with and her interior design firm and her new shop are in our show notes at the powerful ladies. com. Please subscribe to this podcast wherever you're listening and leave us a rating and review. Join us on Instagram at powerful ladies, and you can connect directly with me at Kara Duffy dot com.
I'll be back next week with a brand new episode until then. I hope you're taking on being powerful in your life. Go be awesome and up to something you love.
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Created and hosted by Kara Duffy
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