Curated Conversations: Hey guys, welcome back to Curated Confessions where we drink wine and talk design. You got it right today. I'm Hilary Smith. And I'm Brittany Pelche Como. And we are the lead designers and owners of Brit Hill Interiors in Prairieville, Louisiana. Still just doesn't roll off the tongue like I think it should. Also, I'm exhausted. Also, excuse my appearance if you watch this and not listen. but you should definitely watch it because I make a lot of weird faces, so definitely something to add to make a lot of weird ones back at or rude. I have been blast during today, so I look how did you get like my cup my liquid death. How'd you get all that purple off your hands? Mm. saw our Saturday and like it was full on Barney with cuts. So I did politely ask to take a couple days off too, so that my cuts I think on the last podcast I talked about how I usually slice up my hands, but I was so proud that I haven't this time and then proceeded the next day to slice them up like four or five times. That blade just keeps getting sharper and sharper. And then one of was bleeding so much that I couldn't make it stop. So I just took plaster and like filled in the cut and let it dry. Though I will say it is so I was there what was the last day I went f Friday. This is Monday. So I went Friday and I kept questioning every time I would go to the top of the wall and hit like I would hit the my the ceiling, like as I was trying to get the trial, like right in the corner, I would see like purple or pink little marks. And I like, What is going on? Like I've washed my hands repeatedly I had taken all the hide off my knuckle. That was blood, not plaster. So I'm gonna have to touch up their ceiling, but or there's just a little piece of their designer left there. also sprinkle it around the room. If there's a crime scene ever that takes place, they will be confused why there's blood splatter just around the perimeter of the room. But hopefully that won't happen. So we don't have to worry about that. I'm just gonna paint over it. Maybe I'll bleach it and then paint over it. I don't know how that works. But if you paint a crime scene, does the DNA go away? How does that work? That's a great question. I guess it depends on if you use kilts. Is that like a pronna the whole podcast be thinking if paint will cover up DNA. So not Hopefully we don't need to find out. Always good to have in your back pocket. by the way, we didn't have our Monday morning meeting this morning, so Yeah, 'cause I've been plastering. I literally just came in on two wheels. so this is kind of I meant to the homeowner text me over the weekend and was like, you know, the wall that used to have the wallpaper had some glue residue left over and he was all worried about it. But I was like Don't you worry, Hillary's gonna be sanding that which I was like I couldn't remember all the steps but I was like, I feel like that's next, you'll be fine. Mm-hmm. I did sand the walls that were already You saw what I'm like where the glue was like yeah it kinda looked pretty. Yeah. How it looked like I've been using so oddly enough, as I plaster throughout the day some of the dried up bits on the side of the bucket I'm using start to fall into the plaster, which then start affecting your finished look. So it gets frustrating and you have to clean more often. But I've just been cheating and us doing on the beginning of the day the detailed final work and then when I get to the chunky bits at the end I've been going to that wall and filling the deep gross and then I'll yeah, go and skim coat it with a pretty coat on top. So I think I have it under control. Yeah, you do. Mhm. No doubts. He was like I did meet the stair railing guy at the house today, so I'm sure that was interesting and intricate. It was. There was a lot more thinking that I had to do than I thought I was prepared for. The the staircase in this house is very curvy. Very curvy, but it has some straight parts too, so not a full curve. and then it goes over to like a balcony situation that looks over partial. So and everything on it right now is very curved like rounded. Very curvy. ra stare rails and everything is rounded and they want it very much clean line and squared off. So trying to figure out where to meet in the middle. And with finish. Wanna change and finish. So I feel like y'all can probably came with a yeah. A r solution for the problem. He I I so this used to be my downfall, downside whatever. anytime I would have a meeting with somebody and we would ha get stumped on something, I would always be like, Well here, let me put it in CAD, let me try to look at it, let me think about it and I pulled I have no clue how to make this mm. I don't know. I'm pretty sure that's your job. I was like Because like I'll put enough on you cat and see what I was like, just send me those drawings after you're finished with them. Thank you. Because I don't want to figure out how to draw this. Thank you. So and then the scaffolding people will also I'm like, could y'all get together and use y'all's CAD drawings together so I don't have to do that. Yes, like no subcontractor on this job wanted to think about scaffolding for these stairs because we have to do a wall application. my fault, I dreamed that up. I did try to get out of it. Not even gonna lie. Yeah, we're gonna we're gonna add molding to a curved wall, which one of the contractors sent me the pliable molding options. So we're going to be doing molding around these very tall, elaborate like quartz and brass sconces. And Hillary is going to Venetian plaster behind them to give it a little Dimension. Dimension and have the light reflect off. It's gonna be beautiful. and they have a very large mosaic piece of art that is going to be the focal point that is going to be framed out. they love this tile. That is on a hu so also so heavy heavy. So heavy. Just because on the staircase installer doesn't know that yet. He's never mentioned scaffolding, but I was like, I feel like we're gonna need like some scaffolding here. So thank goodness the homeowner really wants the staircase done. Yes. So he's like I got all of the solutions. And I was like, stop figuring out solutions And like it's this Designer carpet from LA that ombre that we're like we're not putting on. I don't know. I'm terrified of it. Yeah. I'm terrified even like I don't know. The stair p like It's a rich and chilla. Don't come at me, Peter. It ombres from like a light Celadon green to like it's it's pretty. It is pretty. And it's gonna be beautiful with their tile mosaic that has all the greens. but yeah, to g it that's it's gonna be a a little bit of a feat. Mm-hmm. Yes. that could be why I'm drinking liquid death today. I've decided my fate is We hadn't even got to it yet and we're like, yeah, it's happening. And he was like, two weeks. Knock it out. Love that. Yeah. We got it. Handled. Mm-hmm. Cheers. Cheers. I don't know if we cheersed. Yeah. Sometimes he s sneaks up and watches these, so we love you, we appreciate you, we see you. And we're it's gonna be amazing. what else happened? Do you ever think about like I don't know, the things that we've dreamed up over the years that were like I mean, I'm known for it. I do it all the time. I dream up something, don't know how it's gonna happen, who's gonna do it, what's involved, but I'm like, I don't know, it's just it's gonna happen. And and then it somehow happens. But She does that a lot. I Yeah, this job had a lot is is it it has a lot of things. We usually make it happen. We just take we just dream it up, we try to pawn it off on somebody else, they kick it back to us, and then we just take one little bite at a time. Like, okay, if we looked at everything crazy that we had to figure out in one day, no, the answer's no. But that's never stopped us before. Not knowing how to do something I mean Feel like what is the point of our job if you're not constantly having to figure something out? Yeah. And like we were doing this limits every single day, then that's boring. Bless you, Bailey. So it is also exhausting, but that's also what makes it fulfilling. Yeah, in the end, you look back and you're like, wow. We did that happen. Yeah. Now sometimes we dream of things and then we figure them out and then we get back the quote and then the homeowner won't pay for it. And we're like, but I figured it out. So I really would like it to come to fruition. 'Cause I really want that for my portfolio. Or you dream it up, they get the quote back, they pay for it, and then not happy with the quality of the I'm not the craftsmanship I'm not the exact stonemason or whatever it reflects on me you know like I feel like it's still you know which is one reason I have a firm stance on which is why I pawned off on Britney. I do not like to give recommendations period because just because I did something good on one job Yeah. Does not mean that your job is gonna come out flawless. And somehow that's my fault. Yeah. Brittany did send some crazies to my house and I let her know that that was not a great recommendation. Which one? A landscaper. He was arrested mid job. I had to find him in the newspaper for not things that I approved of. He finished my house. When he got to Hillary's went off the rails. But he was highly recommended by someone that used him, so I was like, All right. I was like, I hope you're not just out here willy nilly telling clients to use these people because No, I did not with that. Lock up everything. Well, I think he got arrested for like Your your children, lock up your children. Ch child pornography or something. Mm-hmm. We're good here. I mean, you could tell he was a little, you know. we don't judge books by covers. I just went with my day. I'm glad he was working outside of my house and not inside. I mean I there's a anyways, let's move on. Okay. All I know is he would not answer my text and it was really agitating me that he came and took a deposit and then never came back. And he also ripped everything out of my flower bed and then just never came back. I was like, if you were just gonna take the money, you could have left the flower bed intact. Like, just take the money and run. Like don't And he straight left my house and got arrested. I called the lady that recommended him to me and I was like, I don't know if you know this. So I don't think you'll be getting him back to do your house because he is locked up. She was like flabbergasted. I was like, Yeah. You know. But mm-hmm. She I think she said she was by his mother recommended him and I was like, Well mothers don't tell you these things. Yeah. Lesson learn. Don't pay cash up front. References and check your local area. But see, references wouldn't have done it because I had to I I had to pull out like two thousand and four Hillary and in the dating worlds and do background check to get this information. His name was not his name. But I've found 'Cause of past records maybe. What do you how do Briars is what they call it? Yes. And then you should also check your how do you check that if someone's a pedophile in your area? There's like a app for that, huh? Yeah, don't get on that 'cause you'll be terrified. Yeah. That's sad. It's really sad. Yeah, but that's yeah, not this week's Podcast. No. She's getting so big. I'm gonna cry for you. Everybody already has. Y'all are starting to make me feel like I'm crazy. Which I already said that if we brought it up on the podcast, I would say that I've been crying because when I say that I'm not crying, people look at me like I'm a terrible mother and a heartless person. But Some people handle things differently. Yes. Now, the other day I put her in a white, a plain white t-shirt and like gym shorts, bald. Hysterically. And I was like, and then Kyle went and picked her up. And then when I came home, he was like, Hillary, what outfit was she in today? And I was like, it was like just outdoor clothes, is what I called it, or whatever. And he was like, It was like just that the t shirt just threw me and I'm like, it's a plain white t shirt and both of us are losing it because it was like not a romper or a lunzy or something that snapped somewhere. It was just a t shirt. And she had her little I call gem shorts and tennis shoes on and she she looked grown up. Mm-hmm. And we gotta figure out, can you put deodorant on babies or something? This girl plays hard. And so She came in looking like a teenage boy. I'm like, honestly, my house smells like n a teenage boy. And I'm going the girl sweats. Huh. So I don't know how to address that. I don't know if this is the place to address that either, but I'm going I'm not the one to ask either. I mean you've lived in Louisiana. I don't know. Is this common here? I feel like everything and everyone in Louisiana needs deodorant. Sheesh is hot. Like I worry so much about Organic and for her, not for me, obviously. Brittany has me drinking I think battery acid or something. It is terrible. she called it rose, and I'm like, I think it's like sake rose or something. It's plum wine or something crazy. Please help us through this. We will be slurring our words here in a minute, which could make this more entertaining. but I'm so worried about all of those things. Now obviously I feel like I've old. I'm not going with natural deodorant. We live in Louisiana. I've tried it. It mm mm. It does not work. If y'all found one that works, please let us know. And like right now I'm trying to use like sunscreen is a hot topic for moms and they're so mean 'cause like how dare you put sunscreen on your kid, but also how dare you let your kid have skin cancer. So I'm trying to figure that one out. So I'm using this powder mineral nonsense and You know, you just don't know if it works when you s when you see sunscreen on you, you feel like you're protected. Though you're definitely things are leaching into your skin and whatever. then they're like, Do you know that you're not even supposed to wear sunscreen if you go into the water with like wreaths? 'Cause it will kill the wreaths? Like the sunscreen that we're putting on. I'm like, Well, if it's killing the fish, what does that mean for me? So that's questionable. Things you Yeah. Become a model. So you're supposed to get skinny. It no, you're supposed to first of all, you're supposed to wear a onesie. Not just an after outfit. And then you are also supposed to use I'm supposed to know the words. Is it zinc positive or negative? I can't remember. and then like you're supposed to slather it on and not rub it in. You're supposed to just be bright white when you go to the beach. No. And that's called vanity, Brittany. Sorry. I see people with all that white at the beach. I'm like, let me rub that in for you. And like I and what is funny is they're like we just all went to the beach with my husband's family and all of them did that to their children, but none of the adults had it on like that. And I'm like, lead by example. Like, I don't understand how we do this. How we don't want to look like that, but we want to protect our children. And I'm like, this is so confusing. I don't know if I'm coming or going. Not saying I disagreed with what they were doing. I was over there, but the frickin' powder sunscreen's like seventy dollars and she's over there trying to eat it, which I'm like, is it organic? I don't know. Can you eat it? I don't know. And but it's a whole but I put it on every day because apparently we're getting skin cancer from driving in her car. Not my but you can't have ten windows because then the police are out. You just it's a lose, lose, lose around here. So I don't know. Needless to say, the girl needs deodorant. I don't know how much not trying to put deodorant on early. But she's sweating. Just let her sweat. She might be the stinky kid in class, but the rest of them will be two. There's that. See? There's no, not if they don't perspire. We're in Louisiana, they can be perspiring. And they can be played and they can be out of Daddy, all I can think about is that she's a smelly kid in class. No. Every time I wash her hair. I've done it since she was a baby. I'm like, back in my day, Frankfurt's cost a nickel. keeps saying this and I'm like I don't know I can't not say it every time anyways anyways so this week we have it's it's it's a depressing week not depressing you have to go to court well Estelle start school let me I have to go pay a ticket I have to pick out tile this is not my It is sometimes it is sometimes. It depends on the tile. But the tile I have to pick out this week. I don't know. I will say pool tile is like pool tile. The least fun thing there's like four options. And it's like Or you go out the box and get a tile that's not a pool tile and you run the risk of it having some weird haze once it's in the water for a long Or like there's so many different but those are all the any pool that you see on Pinterest or social media or any all has some specialty tile that is not in a pool store and they're definitely taking a risk by using it. Or it's AI and it's just not just ruining everything. And the client's like, I want this. And you're like, hm. but anyway, we've been doing a lot of pool tiles collections. Pool pe pools have gotten so expensive. So expensive. I don't know. Which I'm not saying they shouldn't be. I'm just saying since how long have we been doing this? Twenty years. Move. I wonder if they charge extra to install pools in the summer. So hot. Well, I mean, obviously we have to work around I think that's when they're the busiest. So they do like some say they'll cut you a deal if you do it in the winter. But we have hurricane season from what? It's like June to November. It's insane. So I keep thinking it's like August and every time I'm corrected that it's not. It's just the biggest one always is normally in August. August but week in the birthday But it's like June to November. And then also we have another rainy season come like what February to like spring. Yeah, the wet, rainy and so that leaves like Christmas to get a pool. Yeah. Which nobody wants to work during Christmas, so it's really difficult to get a pool around here. Though they are popping up like crazy. Yeah. especially with that price tag. I don't I don't understand. but I had a friend that put in a pool And it was a s six digit number to get a pool, which is pretty much just what's happening these days. Bailey's looking at us like she's in shock. A hundred grand for a pool. A hundred grand. I mean, unless you doing like some. But I mean even with even with a cocktail pool, you're still paying close to that because that ends up being just pool supplies and concrete and pool lights and then the tile. It's really not and these are the crazy thing is they did not even put in glass tile or anything. I don't want to say beautiful because the any pool to me is beautiful because I love a water feature. So I'll like I'm not saying that their pool wasn't beautiful, but their installer or their pool guy literally told them to use the four by four ceramic tiles. And they had a hot tub that had like a spillover that went into the pool. So it had like a ledge with tile on it. Kyle stood on it and slipped and fell backwards instantly. And I'm like, this is so dangerous. Multiple people did it. Obviously my husband did it first because that's my husband. but he did a pool a while back that who was telling them to do it? rated for like water outdoors water you name it. It was like a one of those that look like wood but it's tile. Mm-hmm. And they had so many people fall. I'm like I'm like so you're about to get sued with this. So rip it out. You have to be so careful when picking materials for out I'm like I don't love picking pool stuff because I don't do it often enough that I know what the outcome's gonna look like. And I've learned so much about pools in the last year. More than I care to and I still don't I'm I still get nervous. I'm like, final Well I think that's I'm like everything we do I think some people are like, I wish I could visualize like y'all and yes we can. I can see the room Yeah. When I pick out a drapery fabric or something. I'm like, Okay, I'm seeing it all start coming together. But there's still things that get installed and I'm like not how I envision that. But okay, let's we're gonna work with it. Sometimes it's Even better. Sometimes it's not and you're like, all right, we're gonna pivot. but a pool to me, I'm just like, I don't know. What would the pool how what is the pool depth? What is the sun? What month are we talking about? What is what sun is in your pool like your yard. How there's so many different factors. The color for the bottom of the pool to me is the hardest thing to pick up. That's what I'm that's what I'm actually referring to. Like 'cause I'm I don't know. You can put White with blue and it looks beige underwater, or you can put blue on blue and it looks grey underwater. You're just like they give you like a two by two little sample that looks totally different when it's wet or underwater. And then even you take that sample and you put it in say just like a bowl of water and then you put it in a bathtub and then you put it in like some you make the depth go s Okay, well I don't have nine feet of water to go drop this in to see what it's gonna look like at the bottom. I'm like I I think that's gonna look great. And then like you yes, you can look at other pools that have been done, but it it all matters too. What they picked for the waterline tile could reflect differently into the pool and make the w pool look a different color. The the decking around like there's so many different factors. I just I don't I don't like it. It's like how I felt when I had to pick out paint colors when I was like year one after graduation. Yeah. I think you should pick this color. We're gonna pray that it looks good after we finish. And I love color. Like that's my favorite thing. Like I love paint. I love color. I mean actually colour theory and like I understand it's a totally different world with pool. But It's like you picking out a color for plaster and I'm like, if you don't actually work with the medium, how do you know Exactly all the ins and outs of it? And I still get a little I'm you know, this is I know I can feel that this is right, but I'm gonna hold my breath until I see the outcome because But yeah, pools are. So yeah, I have to pick out pool dial this week. Fun. I'm sure she now feels very confident. It'll be beautiful. It is yeah. It I feel too because of pools being so expensive, it doesn't really allow us to be as creative as we wanna be. Well no because their budget's gone by the time. Exactly. So they're like, you have these two to pick from and I'm like, They're like we can yeah, five dollars a square foot and we're like, I don't I don't you get a four by four ceramic. I see now why we went here. Yeah, I just don't feel like I'm needed. You need to wear water shoes when you get in your pool. No. And then you watch T V and they're like building some grotto with a beach walk in and you're like Yeah, what is that? Like three hundred grand? It's gotta be. Easy. Like Atticland built a half a million dollar pool and I hate to say it, I don't even think it was anything to get excited about. I mean it did have like a lazy river that went to their bar, so That's kinda exciting. Yeah. That part was exciting. Especially whenever there was somebody working the bar. I was like, now we're talking. Does it come with a built-in bartender? I would like to visit the pool. And make sure that's I take it back. I did jump off that rock cliff thing a couple of times. That homeowner was very cool with me hanging out at their pool. Those are the clients I'm looking for. Just FYI. You did not invite me. so besides pool tile, I have to pick out regular tile for showers. This week. For a couple of Don't pick out what I had to clean my shower this weekend. That is why my I was like I did something this weekend that I know is why my hands look better. And it is because Use bleach or something? Used no, because I have marble. Somebody said that's a great idea for the shower floor. I think she Told me that marble for the whole bathroom was a great idea. Was that me? Mm-hmm. It is beautiful. Yeah, until I used the wrong cleaner to clean it and it etched all of the dial. So not my fault. This is why people that aren't used to nice things should have a class before they get nice things. So I etched all of the marble in my bathroom after it was installed. So does it just have a honed fluke now? in little circles where I spritzed it. man. Should have definitely put it on the rag and then maybe tried one square. but no, I just sprayed it out of the bottle and where every drop landed, there's now a circle. Hmm. Yeah, that's But then you like Smear it and it didn't do that. It literally was when it hit it. Mm-hmm. So then I've been terrified to clean the shower and it's I mean I have, but like with chemicals I it needed a good thorough cleaning and it's good to have mosaic on your shower floor for slipping purposes and I am old so that is important. and then you get to clean them with a little brush. And so I did that with this apparently not a aggressive cleaner that ate up the marble floors on the outside, but it did eat up the plaster on my fingers. Kind of. There's a wind somewhere always. Also never mind. Hmm. Do you know how hard it is to clean your shower? No, because my husband cleans mine 'cause I don't take showers. Neither do I, which was a huge thing that was discussed this weekend. So instead he just had to watch a still while I clean the shower. 'Cause then I was like, Well, you're gonna ruin the tile anyway, 'cause you don't know what you're doing. But and then he came in, he was like, What happened to testing one line? And I was like, ADD is what happened. And you gave me a power tool, so I just kept going and then it just kept going. And I was like, Well, at this point it is what it is. I mean I tried to help. I got him one of those like rotator Yeah, that's what I shower brush things. I ate that bristle up. It is I don't think he's ever used it. I don't know what he does, but But I don't know how to be in the shower and clean unless hate to say it naked. So he does it before he takes a shit out. Like, yeah. But then you're like there's a whole lot of chemicals and you're just naked. And then I wonder how cleaning companies clean your shower. I'm like huh. Things that make you go, huh? Cause I can't figure out how to do it. Scuba sh scuba shoes and scuba Steve walks in there and I mean When they have a wetsuit on or their and their birthday suit and they just can you Imagine coming home and you're claiming people are just naked in the shower. No. Just proceed, I think. Especially ones that don't have like a handheld, you know? Yeah. Shh. Talk for another day. Anyways. Yeah, we def she used to always put that in everyone's design. I'm like, some people can't afford that. Why are you just adding acutrement for no reason? They come in handy. You want a handheld in your shower, people. I have one. I still have to get naked, so I don't know. I don't know what you're doing. Not cleaning my shower well. Okay, so until next time. I don't know if we educated anybody on anything. no, I don't probably not, but we did our best. That's all we can do. That is yes. So like and subscribe, please. And rate us apparently. I told myself not to say it this time. I thought it was just funny because I was surprised every time. And I don't know if I'm I I don't work here. Okay. You can catch this craziness on YouTube, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts. Yay. Cheers. Cheers. I don't have no more.