Curated Conversations: Hey guys, welcome back to Curated Confessions where we drink wine, talk design. I am Hilary Smith. And I'm Brittany Pelche Como. And we are the ⁓ lead designers and owners of Brit Hill Interiors in Prairieville, Louisiana. So we had a meeting with this client to touch back base and re you know go over all the particulars of their remodel, look over The bid they got back and you know, they kind of already honed in on what they didn't want to do, what they did wanna do. But in doing that, they how can I say this? I had certain ⁓ certain vision in the the second guest year, I think is how you say called Yeah. I'm just thinking about it. This exact same thing I just explained happened on this one. Mm-hmm. Okay. So We might need to work on our business model. No, I'm like, just trust. Just learn to trust. No, no one can trust when you're saying this will cost you a hundred thousand dollars. That's like Well no, I gave the f the cheaper option first. I know, but what I'm saying is it's a I think a human reaction to be like, I think I'm gonna go get a second opinion. Alright, let me like scroll online for days just finding all these ideas to send to you. Yes. Or maybe if I find some if I do some of the legwork, it won't be as expensive. Yeah. So let me tell you. Yes. I presented two options for this pantry edition. One of them She's saying pantry edition. She keeps honing on this pantry. It that it was a very small part of the the remodel, but it was, yeah. She's very obsessed with this pantry. But this is the piece. Because I'm like, it's a hundred thousand dollar kitchen. And she's they want a pantry. And I'm like, that seems crazy. That they kept going back and forth about because it was like the focal wall basically it we're creating a wall in the They needed a functional pantry, but unfortunately the way the kitchen was positioned made it They had like a little corner closet that was their pantry before, and now we're making like a walk in pantry with wraparound shelving and and whatnot. Almost like a butler's Mm-hmm. Slash pantry. Slash whole additional room. Mm-hmm. So first option I gave was a a stained door with like obscure glass. And then the rest of it was sheetrock. Hung a nice piece of art on the wall in the three D renderings. And then, you know, their their kitchen cabinetry started after that. ⁓ then the other option was d like basically a continuation of their Kitchen cabinetry, but it was like faux cabinet panels ⁓ that kind of made up to where it was like a hidden door pantry. but I really liked and we were stressing like because we were thinking about either like an antique pantry door or some type of cool swinging door. Anywho. Like some saloon doors. Yeah. Cool. I don't know. With a little push thing. So initially they went with the hidden pantry door. shenanigans. So full circle, months have passed by. She starts looking at AI pictures and renderings and TikTok. Just double checking to make sure you know how to do your job. Yes. Yeah. You know, getting ideas of more intricate like finish, glass, things like that. so in our meeting this past week, they She circled all the way back around, went back to the swinging door sheet rock that was originally presented. And she was like so she was explaining I so much time has passed by, I think they forgot what we originally presented and design. So what she was ex I think I want this now and in and I pulled up my original design 3D rendering walkthrough and she was like, Yeah, just like that. And was like, Yep, I Got it. So I I guess it's Yeah, I I don't know. you think one thing and then I guess to the the pricing of all the cabinetry. I was like, they're gonna save now on not doing all the faux cabinets and the the hidden cabinet ⁓ pantry door. So point of the moral of the story is we Upon looking at her inspiration pictures she recently found from TikTok and whatnot, she was loving certain finishes of things. We had originally talked about white oak cabinets and ⁓ staining them, but what she was showing me was more like walnut, which is a lot more pricey than white oak. ⁓ and if you've ever stained or tried stained samples on certain wood, you know that if you try the same stain on a white oak versus a walnut versus a cypress, you're gonna get three totally different finish colors. So a lot of people don't understand that like just because they're looking at a picture and they're like, I want this doesn't mean that it is within budget. I was gonna say and the easy way of saying like not everything that you see in an inspiration picture can happen but we also work in an industry where everything can happen. Yeah. Depending on if your time and your budget allows. So these are the questions that we always ask, like what is the budget and what is the timeline? And then we have to be the bearer of bad news that's not feasible or it or we're gonna have to sell a kidney to make that one happen. I don't I've I've looked into that. I don't know how to sell a kidney to be honest. But I did look also at selling my eggs while I was in college 'cause I was, you know, always trying to find a way to, you know, make some money to, you know Did you? To do some design work. No, they like want your GPA and like they're very selective about the eggs. I feel like you can go donate sperm and no one cares. You ha they really serious about some eggs. But ⁓ I digress. But I think so we were having this conversation and am ⁓ You r it's really just a weird way, you don't want to scare people off, but also you wanna be honest and open with them. And we were talking about ⁓ my gosh, remember back in the day when TLC, that's where I used to watch home design shows, trading spaces, and with the little cute guy that was on there, Will Carpenter. ⁓ man, I loved him. And ⁓ and they would redesign a room for two thousand dollars. I don't know if anyone's tried to Paint a room here recently, but if you want good quality paint and some paint brushes and some frog tape and some we're not sponsored, so I'm gonna bleep that out. I'm joking. And ⁓ you can spend claws. You can spend two thousand dollars just on paint. And you still have to do the labor yourself. you want a new light fixture with all matching bulbs because ⁓ You just moved in and all the bulbs are all crazy. You can spend two thousand dollars on light bulbs. ⁓ you can spend two thousand dollars on cleaning supplies just to clean your house. So I have changed. So that's where we started and well that's where I started, I guess. So I don't know what was on the I actually w have watched some TikToks here lately of older design shows and they're terrifying. Before trading spaces, they are terrifying. She was breaking some glass mugs and paper macheting them on a in table and I was like, Look at this and I'm like, You will die. That requires stitches. That was not safe at all. ⁓ so codes are a thing. I mean not about furniture, but they should be. I mean they yeah. Some DIY is not a good idea. so and then you had the whole HG T V and ⁓ two days you go out of town and all of a sudden you have this beautiful room and I'm like, you think that that's how that worked? That is that didn't work that way. It did not happen. They had that meeting months ago and things were ordered and shipped and and it so television made things fun and exciting and quick and instant gratification, which we all know we all love now, and So that seems to be, you know, people's mindset. And then also you had these people making rooms for two thousand dollars. So things are cheap. Like, and that was my favorite thing on ⁓ you know, those shows is like pain is always the easiest option. And so we have clients coming in saying, We have, you know, forty thousand dollars. We've been s and you you're like, Yes, great budget. And they're like, We want to paint our whole house. I'm like, You have no money left. I'm so sorry. ⁓ you want the cabinets painted too? I don't think you've gotten a paint quote here lately. ⁓ okay. You well you need a loan. I'm sorry, that's just not gonna work out. So ⁓ or we wanna change hardware for the cabinets and we don't we don't like the short ones. I'm like, so you that means you have to fill the holes and that means you have to paint them. So your five thousand dollars that you've budgeted for cabinet hardware, n you now need twenty. Which most people don't even budget that much. Like because cabinet hardware is cheap, right? And so then so I've been following some TikToks here lately and you have designers that are telling people what things really cost. And while some people in the comments love that, some then tell you how crazy you are that you you do that. And so but I think what between Television and now AI, which we could go on and on and on about apples to apples, I guess, or apples to oranges, or what are we actually talking about? Or what is like I I don't know if people really We're letting you know why we're still needed. I is AI great for like Seeing different paint colors in your room. Sure. Seeing if you want a blue sofa or a white sofa. Of course. Instant gratification. Seeing how you want your landscaping or if you want to paint your exterior of your house. Great. We do have a client that sends us pictures all the time and he's like, ⁓ he'll take a picture of his pool and be like, I put a dollar sign in the center of it or I put like money like flying everywhere and we're like we like Both of them. Build two pools actually. And so that is it has a great purpose as far as giving you a starting point or a better way to express what you want. But so my niece came to visit. She loves some chat GPT and I'm like, I just to be honest, refuse to download it because I heard some scary story about it. hurting some kid and then nope that's not happening. It'll convince me that I'm crazy. So I'm not talking talking to that thing. ⁓ but he was so he coddled her and told her she was, you know, the best. And I was like, how did you get your guy to talk so nice to you? And she was like, well I programmed him to do that. And I'm like, ⁓ okay okay. So how do you know if what he's telling you is the truth or what he thinks you want. I don't really understand how this works in the big scheme of things. But like we have had clients take a picture of a room and them say, like, you know, design me a beautiful room. Yeah. And it does. Yeah. Or they'll say, like, pottery barn-esque. And so it'll do that. And the problem is the shelves, there's only 20 inches next to the window. There's a shelf there. So now you're talking about this little fifteen to eighteen inch shelf that obviously they have on the wall. And we're like, where are you gonna find that? Because that's like not a thing. And it has this really pretty bowl on it. And I'm like, what ⁓ that bowl can't fit on that shelf. Like that doesn't even fit size wise. So it'll design the room for you, but trying to find the furniture at that scale is not an option. And it doesn't care. It did what you told it to do. It said make Pretty room out of this space based on your design aesthetic and which also is great until you have to say, Well, then worry about symmetry and worry about flow and also worry about codes and worry about and you start saying all these other things, well then it glitches because it doesn't which so do we, but then we sit down and figure it out. But like we're like no, no. And then you say, build it in. you know, my twenty thousand dollar budget and sure, but based on where is it this stuff coming from, which I have seen some of them ⁓ source out materials and stuff, but ⁓ you have to get really deep into that and know what you're talking about. I mean, know what materials are needed and know what I mean, you literally would have to have like your contractor's list of I mean This would get so in-depth and so which she was using her she had gotten in a car little car incident and so she's using her chat GPT to tell her like is this gonna be an affordable fix? Is this going to be you know like how much should this cost? But I'm like, you're telling chat GPT what is wrong with your car and when did you become a mechanic? Yeah. So you smell gas, so now it's a your gas line and I'm like, okay, well it's now telling you how much the parts should be and how much the maintenance or the repair should be. But what is it tied into? And is that damaged? Or like, you know, like so when did so at what point Does that become helpful or does it start making you second guess who's actually doing the work? Which these are is it a great tool to double check something? Yes, if you know that you're comparing apples to apples. Which is some is very similar to AI showing someone a picture of a room and having a little Tag on something. ⁓ you can purchase this console here and okay, let me get that from our room, but without knowing just like what I just went through, with the depth and the window, and you don't know how far the draperies are gonna go out, and you don't know how close the rug is gonna be to that, and you don't know how far it needs to be from the fireplace because you have the gas on off turny thing, whatever you call it. Like, probably that big scary key. Whatever that thing is. Like, there's so many things that like That is what we are here for. You know, that is what we are here to figure out and make easier for people and ⁓ so yeah, that we can we're gonna go we're gonna take a deep dive into all of this in part two of so I'm not even gonna lie. Yeah, we're like well into this. ⁓ we said we're doing the whole ending. I don't know. ⁓ yeah. Anywho now that we're in part two, let's continue. Yeah, obviously. We're at 43 minutes. Yeah, she's been so I was ⁓ thought you said we were doing the whole another episode. I thought we were too, and then we and then we just kept talking. We never stopped. ⁓ And so it just like transpired. So I was like, we're just gonna have to find a spot and add a fake I have like minute twenty two, you know. And then I was like, and then we're just gonna add a fake intro and call it a day. I was gonna copy the intro and copy the exit from the first episode. Great ⁓ we can keep going though. Sorry, I thought you knew I was like once we started talking to you guys, I was like, ⁓ we're all well in I like, Kelly's talking about all the good points. Well, I was like, We're at forty three? We have It's we're at forty three. I was like, that's Yeah, I was like, No, we're I'm almost done here. Okay. Okay, wait, what else did we That was hilarious to me when you looked at it in the camera and said, And we'll get into that in part two I was like, Whoops. I was like, How long she wants these to be? I'm gonna be dry. We're at forty three. Who could know? I thought you caught on and just went with it. Yeah. I'm glad you I'm glad you knew what was going on. Okay. So I don't remember what we were saying though. There's things like if you are wanting to I had a a consult I went on not long ago and someone was sp wanting to open up their kitchen to their living space. Well you can have AI envision that all day long, but AI doesn't know load bearing wall. It's load bearing wall and what has to be moved and that there's a kitchen hood vent on the other side that goes into the attic and I mean there's like It goes on and on and on. So, ⁓ things like structural, things like emotional, like there's a lot of things that we pick up on in when we're at someone's home, when we're meeting them, ⁓ as far as what they're truly wanting out of the space without saying it. Like So we have a client that we worked with that was adamant she did not want a kitchen island. She we went, she And when I say I appreciated the amount of details she gave us, it's so it's catch twenty two. Yeah. Which I've never understood what that saying means. I'm sure there's a meaning behind it, but I'll be Googling that later. But ⁓ sometimes you can give someone too much information and sometimes you can give them not enough. Like it is our job to ask a decent amount of questions. But at the same time, when people are just divulging all this, you just start writing it down and then you're like trying to fit in this box. And so you do the design that hits every one of their bullet points, but it they're just sitting there going, It's still not it. And you're like, I know, because you need an island. Like your space needs an island. But and so but they have envisioned an island a certain way and they don't like it. But I'm like flip the island the other direction. Yeah. Wait, you can do that? And yeah, you're doing a remodel. You can do whatever you want. So but she was adamant about not having an island. And then ⁓ but I want, you know, a ceil I need ceiling height and I need this. And I'm like, okay, so we can take off your whole roof if you if you want to, you know, spend a hundred thousand dollars and get a new roof and do reframe that and we can Or you can build an island and put a tray ceiling above it and get the height and that cost you fifteen hundred dollars. But so a lot of it th it's th this delicate dance we have to do where it's hit all of the bullet points that you want, but then also keep them within a reasonable budget. But you also People have the stigma. I haven't quite figured it out yet. What is your budget? ⁓ I don't know. You know. They always know. There's always this number bouncing around in your head. I'm like, tell us the number. People don't want to tell us. Tell us. I've had clients point blank look at me and said, If I tell you my budget, you'll just make sure it's that amount of money. And I'm like, What you asked me was four times what your budget is. Y Yes, I'm going to use that money. But we can get as many things on your checklist as possible in that dollar amount. Or you can say my number is max max seventy-five, but I would really like to spend fifty. Well No, I have you know, being forty years old, I've figured out that not everyone is nice. So yes, I I guess I just assume everyone's like me. And I'm like, Well then I would try to sit within fifty because that's what you told me. I get excited when I'm like close because it doesn't happen as often, but I'm like, ⁓ yeah, I've had under budget, you know, like it's You should always have contingency money. So no, you shouldn't tell people what every penny you have it. No, you should at least have ten, fifteen percent set aside for contingency, but like to not give a number well, we're gonna do a design that hits all your bullet points and I don't think people are prepared for what that number actually want list So this we were also talking about this. I know that we always talk about one percenters. I don't really know what the number is as far as well off people but not you know, billionaires. But I don't know if y'all have noticed, but like the people we follow on Instagram and TikTok and all if you go back and look at their old videos, they were all in their studio apartment or these two bedroom homes. And then all of a sudden now they're in these luxurious, beautiful kitchens. And now everybody wants that. And I'm like, they're rich. I don't know. ⁓ they got famous and you gave them money. I don't know if you understand how that worked, but ⁓ they started out small and have now made more money. So are you sh like, do you understand that they're at a different tax bracket than you is the polite way of I I don't know if that's the polite way of saying it, but in every job is important and everything is possible and every but you just how do you tell people to have realistic expectations or what is your dollar amount and people are like, ⁓ I don't know, just do the design and then they're upset when you're like, this is a sixty thousand dollar room and they're like, I mean, I feel like you could do chat DBT says you could do it for twenty. I'm like Yes. And I get a lot like people showing me pictures of bathrooms that are floor to ceiling marble and the most expensive Calcutta marble and all the detail on the edge of the countertops and all this marble arched doorways. Yeah. But if they're like $50,000. I would like this look on a better budget. Okay, let me pick you some porcelain tile. That looks like marble, but that's all in the communication of you telling us your budget. Same thing. I love this look. I know I can't afford it. Yeah. Or like how can I tell me how much this room is? And I'll a hundred and twenty. Easy. So that was one of the TikToks that I watched that it was just a lady and it was like, custom cabinetry, twenty five thousand dollars. Custom or not custom, but just designer plumbing, fifteen thousand dollars and some You know, finally the comments were like, Thank you so much for being realistic. Like, thank you for letting me know that this is not something that I even aspire to spend money on. Like, I want this bathroom, but even if I had a hundred and fifty thousand dollars, I don't want to spend it on a bathroom. And I'm like, that is fair to say, you don't have to. But I think we've all gotten accustomed to watching ⁓ influencers and All these beautiful things. TV shows that put ⁓ in million dollar mansions and like we're like which nowadays million dollar isn't even a mansion. I don't even know the definition of a mansion, to be honest. And I'm like, I don't I think we've all like I know over the last twenty years things are just not at the same they're just not at this which that's every generation. And I'm like, ⁓ my gosh, I feel so old that back in my day, you could buy a whole mansion for half a million, and I'm like ⁓ we tried to quote out a a client's pool house and it was half a million dollars. And he was like, I just can't I just can't, you know, understand that. And I'm like, you still have all the same subs. You still have a general contractor, you still have you still have everything. You just it's not your home, so it's not that important you know, like you just don't want to spend it on that, and that is perfectly fine. Or you You know, you start taking into account, you know, do you move versus do you remodel? Like these are all valid, you know, points to make. And and we do like that's the whole p we're like we offer consultations. We do ask that we, you know, get compensated s not say mildly, smallly. What's the word? A teeny tiny bit for our expertise, but you know, just to for our time, but like Let's have a conversation about what your actual goal is and before you buy a house and then we go in there and we're like, ⁓ my gosh, this is gonna be a half a million dollars just to re just to do what you wanna do. Yeah. Yeah. Have have us out beforehand. We don't mind. Yeah. ⁓ it stop by and talk to us. ⁓ we don't even charge to have a conver I love to ⁓ my gosh, people come in here. I'll be take a seat. Let me tell you about some things. And but it is, you know, People do come in here and ask us, like, well, I want a quote, how much would it cost to make this kitchen? I'm like, Well, that's not fair either. Like that's I need to call like eighteen people and to get a true bid isn't but I can easily ballpark and be like, Are you willing to spend a hundred? Yeah. Because that's what you're looking at or you know, so but I do I just our thing is My hus so my husband does HVAC and the amount of time he's been talking to me about data centers and AI and I've also seen so I'm like, okay, so this is the future. Everyone is spending all of their time, money, effort, and energy in getting literally those are like literally what they're spending all of their water and energy and to get these data centers up and And so you then you have of course the huge pushbacks from the communities that it's affecting, which, you know, brings in jobs, but takes your resources. There's we could go on a whole green ⁓ or, you know, just I don't know enough about it to be honest, but it is interesting to me to do the research. But but we we're part of a group, a woman's group that small business owners were in and they were posting flyers and stuff that they did and they were using AI and everybody was like, I would never use a company that used AI. And I'm like, so you can use it every day when you Google something, but a small business trying to make something look fun or catch your attention or find an inexpensive way of doing a little marketing, they're now the Bad guy because they're using AI. But those big corporations that you use every day are using AI every single day and you just don't know it. Yep. ⁓ I do understand like, no, don't take money away from your graphic designer or no, don't take money. But but you're also getting upset at these small companies that are trying to just find, you know, get a leg up. So I really I just don't understand where I don't know if anyone even knows what they're talking about when it comes to AI. I know I don't. I'm being completely Yeah, there's like it's so extensive as far as what it can do and how useful of a tool it can be. Correct. Like I just scrape the surface on like I don't even use it for design stuff. I use our program. But I'm like it is great. Like I said, a great tool for for quick you know, if you wanna see your room but just don't expect it to design for you. Like it di Yeah. It can give you some inspiration and it can give us some inspiration as to what you're wanting, but just don't make it a ⁓ you know, think that it's a realistic tool that you're gonna get that duplicated in your home. Or like without doing just as much due diligence on that as you are on, you know, getting It's from other people. Or it's very common that when you're doing construction that you would get multiple bids, but all of a sudden now that if my phone tells me it should cost this much, that's how much it should cost. Or There's a lot of factors that go into that. Yeah. I just I didn't mean to go on a soapbox. I just I'm trying to figure out how like, you know, small businesses are held to the standard, but yet ⁓ you know, larger businesses are all doing it behind the scenes. So it's just very curious what has been told to us about, you know, AI and what it actually means. Cause I do watch those robot movies and I'm terrified that they're coming for me, but it's gonna take over I was not I'm not a sci fi person, but I'm like, that's scary. I'm scared. I'm scared of it. But I did think that like AI was gonna take over our job. And then I started seeing some of the designs that people are coming back with and I'm like, ⁓ we good Nope. Yeah, that's not that's not it. That can't happen. Now if you're look wanna know if your room would look better green versus blue. Let me give you a quick example before we leave you too. Okay. So I had a client doing a small ⁓ condo design for and she took her little breakfast room and was sending me AI pictures of different size tables and chair configurations and I'm like She was like, I just don't know what to do because there's not enough room to walk around the table, ⁓ to get to the kitchen. It's just so crammed and I don't know what to do with it and this is kinda like my vision, but it still doesn't help the space because I know how small it is and I know what AI is showing me is like the the Different size tables and square versus oval versus round. So we were going back and forth, she was just sending me all this and I'm like, Well, why don't you just we create a banquette, like a corner banquette in the room, so we can basically push everything closer to the wall and have the table there, which creates a walkway into the kitchen. And she was like, ⁓ my gosh, genius. Like I would have never thought of that. Nor would AI. You couldn't tell it to do it. Yeah. So that's just one example of like just seeing a a picture of a room and knowing how to manipulate your lighting and your furniture to where it works better for you. ⁓ so yeah. That's I'm also gonna leave you with something scary. So me and you were hav you and I you and I ⁓ here I go. ⁓ were having a conversation this morning. Mm-hmm. We briefly talked about what we were gonna talk about. so this is about as prepared as it gets if that doesn't terrify you. literally In the meeting, have a conversation about it, go back to my phone. I have a thing saying, If you're confused on what AI will do for your business, you can join this seminar and you can do and I'm like I'm so tired of it. Listening to me. Except whenever I'm shopping for something and they're all popping and I'm like, Yes, yes, I need all of those things. Sometimes I think my husband talks to my phone. I've been having RV. I do that to my husband's phone all the time. At Christmas time I would like a tennis country. All these motorhomes have been popping up on my speed. I'm You're not using g technology correctly. Now I need to go talk to his. Mm-hmm. Yes. I need a trip. I need a massage. Yes. But I mean, that's that was my soapbox about technology. I don't know if we got anywhere but that's it. Yeah. So if you I don't know if anyone followed along with us, but I hope we got our point across. All they know is robots are coming for them. And that lemons are great. Great hydration. Chilton. Cheers. But ⁓ like, subscribe, follow us along on social and you can see our podcasts on Spotify, Apple podcast and YouTube. YouTube. That's the last one. That is like the one, but yes. I need to post that somewhere. Anyways, I hope y'all have a good day and you enjoyed. Cheers.