October 30, 2025 • 51 mins
Creating Your Ideal Home with Intention: A Conversation with Interior Designer Kim DepoleIn this episode of the Silver Disobedience Perception Dynamics Podcast, hosted by Dian Griesel, she speaks with interior designer Kim Depole who offers her insight on creating ideal environments. Kim elaborates on designing from the 'inside out,' emphasizing the importance of intention, personal expression, and functionality. The discussion covers her career journey, the role of listening in design, and the intimate process of curating homes. Kim also addresses the trends in interior design, the challenges of working with different clients, and her recent focus on meditation and spiritual alignment in her work. With humorous anecdotes and practical advice, this episode offers a deep dive into thoughtful and personalized interior design.
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I’m Dian Griesel, Ph.D. aka @SilverDisobedience to my hundreds of thousands of monthly blog readers. You can learn more about me here: https://diangriesel.com
But for starters…I am a perception analyst, counselor, hypnotherapist, author of 16 books and a Wilhelmina model. For 30 years I have helped my clients to achieve greater understanding as to how perceptions impact everything we do whether personally or professionally.
This episode was recorded in collaboration with The Manhattan Center, New York City, New York. https://www.themanhattancenter.com/
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@DianGriesel on Instagram and X00:00 Welcome and Introduction00:24 Guest Introduction: Kim Depole00:50 Understanding Intention in Design03:56 Listening to Clients' Needs05:04 Spirituality and Design07:50 Curating Your Space10:17 Balancing Personal and Professional Design14:04 Challenges in Design Projects23:49 Transparency and Integrity in Design25:40 Budgeting and Cost Transparency26:45 Client Demographics and Market Trends27:46 Personal Reflections and Family Stories32:27 Designing for Different Life Stages36:21 Trends and Timeless Design47:48 Final Thoughts and Advice
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hello, welcome. I'm Diane Grissel.
This is the Silver Disobedience Perception Dynamics podcast.
And today we're going to be talking about our environments,
our immediate environments and how those environments might be
impacted right from the very inside, our most intimate
(00:21):
environments to come outside. It's an interesting concept.
And Kim Depole is my guest. She is an interior designer who
has, I almost think that's not an accurate term.
So we're going to let her describe exactly who she is,
what she does and where she gathers her inspiration from.
(00:43):
So thank you very much. Such a pleasure to be here, such
a pleasure. You know, you've said some
interesting things that I pickedup on your website about the
need to go outside before we go inside.
Go inside before. You go outside OK, because part
(01:04):
of me says are you picking up the environment outside to then
create your internal environment?
Oh, interesting. Or is that you really need to
understand who you are before you can create that external?
Absolutely. So it really stems from your
intention. So, and where do you tap into
(01:24):
your intention? Into the deepest part of
yourself? How do you define intention?
Intention is what brings you joy, what sustains you, The
clarification of what that is interms of intending to surround
(01:45):
yourself with the beauty, intending to be compassionate
and loving. It's the center of your heart.
It's the very center of your being.
Now, how does that center our intention in your perspective
apply to creating our ideal environment?
(02:07):
I think what's really imperativeis to go from the when I, when I
say from the inside out is the experience of closing your eyes
and visualizing what you want tocreate.
So it's sort of the source, the power source of your creativity.
(02:28):
So that's where it stems. And you know, whether it's the
expression of your heart or yourjoy, but that that really is, to
me, the North star of the beginning.
You know, it's so interesting, one of the reasons I wanted to
speak with you, and I've had lots of people who say they're
interior designers reach out. But you, well, first of all,
(02:50):
you've got a very warm personality.
You've got a lovely way about you.
You bought me lovely flowers. There's great flowers here
always, always of my heart flowers.
But one of the things was, you know, I, when I think of
interior designers, a lot of interior designers have a style
that they're known for. Yes.
And sometimes I've had, I've haddifferent friends say, well, I
(03:12):
hired this interior designer andjust look at their work.
I'm like, well, that's really beautiful.
But knowing you, I can't imagineyou living there in a million
years. Where are you going to put those
things you love exactly? They just you're not going to
it. So how that's where you're asked
your your route of going to intention intrigued me.
(03:37):
Yes, I want to hear more about this.
Well, I've been, you know, I'm, I'm a day older than water, so
I've been doing interior. Just two of us for Hello Silver,
but. It's never quite silver.
So I had a whole career of designing homes and corporate
environments and what I always what always appealed to me and
(04:01):
the my main design feature was my ear listening, listening and
looking for cues. Because a lot of the clients
didn't have that kind of confidence in expressing their
creativity or in what they loved.
If they wanted a designer that was a status designer that only
(04:23):
wants to buy a label of this or that, I was not their designer.
And so whenever I'd go on interviews, I would say, what
number am I? If I'm number one interview,
please have at least three more because this is so personal,
this is so intimate that I am not going to impose my design
(04:45):
aesthetic on you. I'm going to make it better.
I'm going to educate you and andbring things, you know, to widen
your experience. But it's my ear, it's my eye and
my ear in terms of the listeningto what they love.
So that's been sort of the trajectory.
And what's really fascinating about this part of my life, I
(05:08):
have to be honest with you, is Iclosed the big design studio,
said no to all the developers and corporate stuff, and I did
some really deep spiritual work.And what's a little ironic is
I've been meditating since I was17 years old, and I was very
secretive about it. But what I would do when I'd
(05:28):
finish a job, I would go in and I would meditate in the house or
the room and I would put that intention of what I would hope
it was like my way to do a puja,a blessing and and be very
intentional and sacred about it.But I wouldn't tell anybody.
And even in my office with the other designers, it's like,
(05:49):
where's Kim? Oh, she's in the library closet.
Meditate like don't, don't touchher for 20 minutes.
You know what I mean? So I was so secretive about it.
And then I had were. You secretive about it because?
I felt people wouldn't understand.
I think it was like before yoga,everybody knows about yoga and
(06:10):
everybody's, you know, so evolved in that way and it was
like my little secret or just private treasure.
And so now I don't think. Were you working on your energy
in the space? Were you trying to connect with
the energy of the space? Was this before starting the
(06:32):
job? During it?
After. All three, all three, all three.
Interesting. All three.
Because for me, interior design,the container of your home is
about what isn't everything energy?
Is it expansive? Is it contractive?
Is it intimate? Is it welcoming?
I mean, you know that instinctually when you meet
(06:53):
somebody, there's a certain simpatico straight away.
So that's how I am with containers of home.
There's nothing more revealing than to go to someone's home.
That's. Very true.
Or look at their bookshelf. Or look.
At their bookshelf or their closet, like, or their shoes.
Oh, I. Don't even want to.
I don't even want to go into what my closet might say about
(07:14):
me. Let's not even let's.
Not even open that door. Let's keep that door.
Let's keep that door closed. Very interesting.
Is container a word that you coined?
I don't know. I mean, that's a word I use
quite often now. Yeah, it's an.
(07:36):
Interesting phrase to refer to the home as your container of
your life. I think it's because everybody's
so obsessed with decluttering, and so I don't use that
decluttering. I say curating.
It's curating. That's a much more positive,
yeah. It's less negative.
(07:57):
Nobody ever wants to hear that. And then the other thing is I've
also started, I mean, my goodness, I studied Feng shui.
I think her name was Sarah Ross back what, 30 years ago first
came and introduced it to Western culture, and now
everybody's got a Feng shui, youknow, shingle.
But I studied that in and it wasinteresting to see how I would
(08:19):
do those things just now naturally, intuitively.
And I still, you know, follow those tenants of the first thing
in your home. Make sure every corner is not
cluttered the corners and how many?
Like, if you think about it, yougo, let me think about that
bedroom yet. You know, Kim, you're right in
that corner. I have, you know, blah blah blah
(08:40):
blah. Why don't you clutter corners?
Because it's it stops the energyfrom flowing within the space.
The same way you don't lock a door, same way you don't block a
window. Same concept, but it's
practical. I mean, didn't your mother say
clean your room? I mean, and make sure you get in
the to the corners? I mean, it's right.
(09:02):
If you think about it, it's. Yeah, it's pretty basic when.
When you meet with a client or somebody who's saying, you know,
I want to, it wasn't declutter, I want to curate.
I want to curate my home, which is a very opening statement.
You know what? What are the first things you
(09:25):
you're listening to them, right?But are you asking them quest
particular questions for them tothink about?
Yeah. Absolutely.
It's always, I mean, especially now with with apartments and
homes being a little more spatially compromised or even
too big. So that you have that other
challenge is always what's happening in this space.
What are you asking this space to do?
(09:47):
Because it needs to do a lot of work for you.
It needs to function as what? So I make them list their
priorities for the room. I recently worked with a client
that had a little bit of a capital H hoarding issue in her,
her create her creative studio, so to speak.
And so it's like, OK, what do you want to do in this space?
(10:09):
Oh, I just want to sit at the desk and then I want to work on
this kind of project. I want to be able to write a
letter, but I also want to organize my bills.
And, and so then it's like, OK, so let's focus on the desk.
Let's focus on the chair. Let's focus on the comfort.
Now what inspires you? What do you want to surround
yourself with when you look up what, what is the touchstone of
(10:34):
your heart? Your history that you want to
look at that and say, oh, that'sa picture of my dear Aunt Emily
that I just want to be able to, you know, look at her sweet face
and remember all of the time I had with her.
So so it's really, you know, sort of pinpointing the
essential elements that that arereally important to her.
(10:56):
And then we kind of build from there.
But they have to do the work. I mean, I'm not, you know, it's
like, OK, yes, no. And and then there was something
somebody shared with me that wasso interesting about that issue
of curating because I don't liketo say the D word is to do
whatever you bring in your house.
If you bring one thing in your house, you take three things
(11:18):
out, you do, I mean, that's a little brutal.
I try to do that myself. Or in 30 days you're removing
something one each day and then you like sort of stick to it.
But whatever works, whatever magical elixir has you like,
clean the space. Is is really OPT?
(11:40):
You know is what's key. Yeah, it's a funny thing.
A few years ago I moved into a new office space and I'm like,
Oh my gosh, this is so nice. There's nothing here.
There's me, my desk, my computer.
Then all of a sudden the mail started to get added and some of
the things I had to file or someof the things I had to look at
another day and about a year later I'm looking around saying
(12:03):
what happened to this space, like it was so free and easy.
And then it's amazing. It is amazing.
It is. And it's never one and done.
I mean, I, I'm guilty of the same.
Absolutely. It's time for a little bit of
purging here, you know? Yeah.
What's? The first reaction when some
(12:23):
when you talk to someone about not purging, not decluttering,
Yes, curating. Is.
Are is there a defense mechanismthat goes up?
It depends. Or is there an openness there's
an? Openness because you know
they've reached out, they want to be better.
It's the same reason you go to it.
You know you have a little bit too much in the middle and you
want a trainer to help you or you.
(12:45):
It's the same way that you seek help or some insight to realize
what you're not able to realize on your own now.
Are you working like as a stylist that doesn't just go to
the store, You go through someone's home maybe and say,
listen, this is a great piece, keep this.
Always go. Or this should change?
(13:07):
Yeah. No, I just look like that
process. I mean, it depends on what the
client wants and what they prefer.
You know, right away I'll say what piece in this in your home
is a non negotiable. This must be here.
So tell me what that is now. So I'm I'm prepared.
I know where to place it. I know the level of importance.
(13:30):
Some people want a fresh start. Some people don't want to come
with a single thing, which is always shocking to me.
But it's like, OK, let's you know, that's fabulous.
Let's start from from, you know,0.
So it really depends on where they are and what they prefer.
It's not me imposing that. It's it's a conversation, it's
(13:52):
an unfolding. And like I said, there is
nothing more intimate than creating someone's home.
Really nothing more intimate. And it's, and it's funny what
you say because I've been both kinds of movers.
I've moved in the past 40 years about no exaggeration, 25 times.
Wow. And I'll go places and I'll say
(14:13):
that's a really nice couch. And somebody will say, are you
kidding me? You gave me that couch.
I'm like, oh, no wonder I like it.
But I moved so many times. I genuinely don't remember.
My brother recently reminded me that's.
Extraordinary Who lives? In Arizona that he said, you
know, I finally just recently got rid of that that leather
couch and recliner you gave me. I'm like, Oh my gosh, what move
(14:35):
or year was that? Like, what was I doing that you
have a couch and chair in Arizona like and I never lived
there. So sometime he took it out of an
apartment I had in New York City.
That's. Hilarious, but.
It's a, it's an interesting thing, you know, going into a
brand new space. Yeah.
(14:56):
You know, versus saying here I am, how can I change this space
for the better or for my evolving personality?
Right. And what was interesting, I had
clients I've been working with for literally decades and they
wanted to create their dream apartment in Paris.
And so, you know, of course I had the history and language of
(15:18):
their aesthetic that I developedin the Hamptons, in Manhattan,
blah, blah, blah, blah. So it's like, what is this part?
So I came up with a scheme and they're like, absolutely not.
And they said, you're going to go to the Baccarat Museum, Kim,
and you're going to walk around there and you're going to get
inspiration because we want Fantasia, we want French, We
(15:41):
want, you know, sexy, wild. This is like, you know, And so
how fun was that project? Yeah.
How fun was that? But then still, you know,
adhering to like, you know, Louis, the 14th traditional
chair that was cast in aluminum that I got from a dealer in
Brazil. And then I covered the chair in
(16:03):
the fabric from the Louvre that I researched that was of that
period and literally the same manufacturer.
So in that way, it was such an act of creativity to be able to
express, you know, this wish they had and and they, you know,
it was a glorious project. Amazing, amazing.
(16:25):
Oh my. Gosh, that's got to be a lot of
fun it. Was so fun.
And everybody says what do you do?
And when I tell them what I do, they're like, oh, I've always
wanted to do OK, what? Do you do if I, if we were in an
elevator, if we tried to, you know, give the one minute pitch
before the elevator lands in thelobby, Yeah.
(16:47):
Wow, You know, it's, it's tough.Well, I, you really got to put
me on the Yeah, you put, you really put me on the spot.
Well, to tell you the truth now,I've been doing a lot of
teaching meditation because I'm looking for the entry point of
modeling the meditation experience with how you create
(17:09):
your home. So and then also I feel the need
to serve a larger audience. I feel very strongly about
social impact and I portion of whatever I'm making is going to
Habitat for Humanity. So how do I integrate that
fully? So I still put on my yes, I'm an
(17:31):
interior designer, but as a result of working with me, the
minute you open your front door,you feel energized and and have
entered your personal Oasis. What I do is help you get there
on that journey of creating thatexperience.
(17:51):
That's what I do. And you look confused, no?
No, no, not at all. But no, that sounds very, that
sounds very intimate. I'm trying to figure out how
that process would unfold. If someone, if someone said to
you tomorrow or this afternoon, Kim, I would, I'm moving into a
(18:15):
new place or I want to redo my home.
Would you say, well, let's meditate on that?
No. I would do it.
I would have a discovery call. OK, I'm.
Trying to figure out I have to. Meet them where they are.
Got it. Now maybe I find somebody that
is in this, in the same alignment as I.
Yeah. But maybe I don't got it, maybe
(18:36):
I don't. So that's my challenge.
That's really testing my service.
That's really testing my commitment to service, isn't it?
So that's kind of the process I'm going through now.
I mean, I have a recent project I'm going to go be seeing
tomorrow and I'm in such alignment with the 2 owners that
it's, it would be an incredible experience if we proceed with
(18:59):
that. I'm trying to think and I have
to say lately they've all been pretty harmonic in that way.
I'm trying to think of a of a situation where I retracted and
because I always want to help, Ialways see what's possible.
My big skill is I can go into any space and go, it's like my
(19:20):
superpower and just scan the room and say if you move that
over there and you do that here,that's why nobody wants me to go
over their house because it's like, Oh no, Kim's coming.
But it's like, but I'm not that way at all.
It's just I want to, I see the, I see what could be improved,
right? It's this obsession with with
(19:41):
making it better, more functional, more beautiful,
bringing that awareness. What happens with all the stuff
that you get people to Oh. Donation Housing Works.
There was a wing in Housing Works and there was an
organization called Material forthe Arts.
(20:02):
When I was doing larger construction projects, I think I
had a wing at the warehouse because they would take things
like the Masonite that was covering the floor, the cabinet,
leftover paints for artists. Because my other part of my
secret life was, you know, the whole time I was doing my
business, I was working in tandem with a nonprofit.
(20:23):
Art gallery. So art has always been, you
know, central to my heart. So there's always like, oh,
let's go take care of the artistnow come on, don't throw that
away. Like somebody can utilize that.
So how? Does design differ in your mind
for working with a an individualclient versus a corporate?
(20:44):
Well, I've done a lot of corporate work.
It depends on how it's structured.
Am I, am I reporting directly tothe CEO is always ideal, or am I
assigned to a group of editors? I did a lot of work for Simon
and Schuster, and that was a challenge because each floor is
different. And I remember that boardroom,
(21:05):
Oh my God, I didn't know that, that there are tables that big,
you know what I mean? And so that was a challenge, you
know, to, to sort of please everybody's agenda, so to speak
with a, with A1 on one person and then also couples, how
interesting is that? Absolutely.
So then right away, first question, how do you make your
(21:29):
decisions, right? Who's in charge?
Who's signing the checks? If you did, see you.
Get do you get accurate answers are.
You. Yeah, at the beginning.
It's like I'm in charge. I'm recording Alaska later.
Exactly. Oh, or Alaska I get.
All kinds of variations on that one yeah, I bet absolutely.
(21:51):
But generally, you know, it's, it's, it fascinates me to see
how that because each time is completely, absolutely
different. Each couple is unique and
idiosyncratic, and there's not ever one type.
Yeah, ever. Yeah, there's, there's a lot of
psychology that goes into oh. Yes, indeed, I.
Mean, I know if, if, if someone walked into our any place I've
(22:15):
ever gone to look at, let's say with my husband, his first focus
is, is on, well, where can we comfortably have ATV And then
where would the Christmas tree go around Christmas time?
So that's his first focus. Mine is where are the books
going to go? Exactly where are my?
Books going to go and yeah, where this is a Christmas tree
going to go that it's comfortable.
(22:37):
That's so interesting because it's, you know, what if I, if I
think back, most of the men willask that question because you're
the one that has to engineer thetree in the, in the apartment or
the house. No, you're, you're absolutely
right. That's so that's really fun.
That's a great title for what where should the Christmas be?
You know it's. Funny, we have ruled out more
(22:59):
than when we were looking at houses a few years ago.
We ruled out more than one placebecause it's like this room,
there's just no place to put a Christmas tree.
So if we're going to have peopleover and we're going to be
sitting around, what are we going to have the Christmas tree
in the other room? We can't do that because I throw
a Christmas party every year, so.
That is, that is hilarious. Well, there's, there's
(23:21):
suspending it from the ceiling. I mean, that's the, you know.
I have seen those people that dothat.
That's hilarious. I know it.
It, I mean, it's, it's a little rough where you put in the
gifts, but you know, what are you going to mount them on the
ceiling on the, you know, there's that whole other
concept. But yeah.
Yeah, it's funny. What are what are you?
What are the primary things people ask you when they're
(23:44):
starting this kind of process? How much is it going to cost?
Am I going to go bankrupt? You know what in?
Perspective. Yeah.
How does an interior designer get paid?
Oh. It, it depends.
I'm very transparent. I always have from day one
because my mother always said, you know, Kim, you wake up in
(24:04):
the morning, you look at the mirror, you have to own who you
are and your integrity. So don't you ever forget that.
Are we twins? Yeah.
Are we twins that had. I don't have the same mother.
My mother would always say integrity.
You walk into this world with one name.
Yeah, you want to make sure it'sunblemished when you leave, and
(24:26):
that's your integrity. Did.
She ever say the one where if you say something bad, it's
placed right on your head for everyone to see.
Like when you do something and it's so it's so like when I do
that, I have this like and I love to wear hats.
So it's sort of. Like, oh, it's somewhere on my
head. Under my hat.
You know, her other big one was know thyself.
(24:48):
And I mean, she embroidered it and it hung over the door as you
walked out. One door had know thyself.
The other door had an embroidered sign that said today
is a gift. And I cannot tell you how many
times I wanted to smack her withthe sign that said know thyself
when I would get angry about something and go to blame it on
someone and she'd say, Diane, know thyself.
(25:10):
Wow. Italian mother.
No. Irish and Lithuanian OH.
Wow, that's even more maybe. Maybe I was adopted.
I know. Interesting.
OK, so so you're transparent, but how does that work?
OK. So time everybody works.
Yeah, everybody works differently.
(25:30):
So it's always, you know, a freediscovery call to see if I'm the
right one and answer any questions.
And then it's what's the scope of work.
And then I, I do like probable budget, so to speak.
Give me the dream, the, you know, ideal.
Give me that. Here's my magic wand.
Go for it. And so I'll outline it and then
(25:51):
I'll give a probable cost budgetrange based on other projects.
And then what I'll do is I'll base it on my time for it as a
as a lump sum, as you know, figuring out the time, but I'll
also put if it exceeds the scopeof work.
This is what the hourly is. And then all the other
expenditures as far as purchasing go, I again, I'm very
(26:14):
transparent because there's trade only resources at like 200
lakhs D and DI don't do that Hidin bait and switch.
Here's the price wholesale and here's my fee on top of that.
You're getting discounted this percentage.
Why aren't I getting the whole discount?
Well, because I have to buy it, I have to do this, I have to do
(26:37):
that, blah, blah, blah, blah. So that's how the whole, yeah,
that's how the whole Misha got that's.
Interesting. Yeah, very interesting.
Now do you get hired by people that say, you know, I just want
you to I, I don't want you to add, I want you to subtract.
Oh, interesting. I wish.
No, no, never, because. Speaking with you, it seems like
(27:01):
that would be a big area of yourbusiness.
And I would think of growing area because you have there's an
older population. I mean, I'm, you know, mid
almost 65 and, you know, we've got, you know, kids around still
now, but they're leaving. So, so many things.
(27:22):
You look around and you say, youknow, how could this space be
different now that you don't have four people or five people
or. Oh yeah.
I mean for, you know, when they.Say I just want to.
Oh yeah, well, the whole empty nester model and such and I
think. That's a big business, oddly.
Enough. I haven't done any of that I'm.
Surprised. Because I'm surprised myself.
(27:42):
You're. How you're describing yourself.
Right, interesting. No, I, I haven't.
It's so funny because on my Instagram and all those other
things and I look at my demographic, it's always like,
you know, 30-40 fifty and I'm like what it where's, where's my
people? I'm not a people, probably.
It's this is where I, you walk into a house and you can't, you
(28:07):
know, present, not figure out how to modify it or change it or
tweak it or make it more comfortable.
I look at any business and I'm like, well, how could that
business get it, you know, be tweaked And, you know, knowing
you and you know what I read online and when you say really
your business stops at 50, because kind of like if I look
(28:28):
back at my life up until age 50,I was more in accumulation mode.
You know, I was adding things. I would see something and say,
oh, that would look great. Now that I'm 65 and I say, well,
let's say I live another 10 years, you know, maybe I live
another 20. Years more than that, deer well.
Whatever, you know, I I could die tomorrow, I could get it by
a taxi this afternoon. You know, I'm very fatalist like
(28:51):
in that way and it doesn't bother me.
That's not morbid in any way. But what I look at is, I think,
you know, what would my kids be like if all the stuff that was
here was here, right? Exactly you.
Know at any point, you know, andmaybe it's because, you know,
four years ago my mother died and a prior to my mother dying,
(29:12):
I'm very much like her. I, you know, there was not an
empty space in my mother's house.
My parents had no money but everyone thought we lived in a
museum. My mother would go buy furniture
and she would refinish her herself.
I remember being humiliated as akid when she would see something
on the side of the road and she always travelled with a metal
(29:34):
nail file. And.
She would say, Diane, I'm just pulling over a second to scrape
it to see if it's oak underneaththat paint.
Wow. Somebody from school is going to
see me. They're going to know we're
garbage pickers. You know, it was like, oh, it
was more than my ego could handle as a kid.
(29:54):
And yet she would find that piece.
She was not hesitate to walk up to someone's door.
You know, I saw you had that piece in your garbage for a
week, You know? Do you mind traumatizing?
For you but. I ended up doing the same thing
to our kids when they were little and I would give them a
dollar and say we're going, we're going to go treasure
hunting today. Because years ago I bought Alice
(30:16):
Cooper's mansion up in Copique, New York.
And it was this huge old mansion.
I got it at a great buy and, butit was empty and it was big.
You know, it was like over 10,000 square feet and it had
nothing in it. And I was relatively new in my
business. And so I'm like, shoot, I now
that I bought this place for a song, I don't have the money to.
(30:41):
And you're like Ma. Once I pay the oil bill, I'm
feeling broke and I didn't keep it that long because once the
tax bill came in for the second year in a row, I'm like OK, one
thing is buying a mansion, the other is maintaining a.
Mansion, absolutely, but. I would say on Saturday mornings
to our kids, at first it was ourdaughter.
You know, I've got a dollar for you.
(31:03):
We're going to go treasure hunting and we'd go out to all
the yard sales and find all these treasures.
Wow, wonderful. And she'd come back with the
dollar because everyone was like, oh, she's so cute.
I just gave it to her. But you know, that's how we
furnished for years. And now I think, Oh my gosh,
there's just a lot here. It's got sentimental value.
(31:24):
But so I was saying when my mother died, a year, about two
years before my mother died, shegot back down to Florida and
there had her humidifier had broken.
So there was mold everywhere. Oh.
God, then you have to throw everything out.
That's what she did. So when I had gone down to see
her house a few months later, I'm like, I didn't even
recognize that the walls were white.
(31:45):
You know, I'm like, wow, there'snothing on the walls.
There's no things. I mean she would get the old
post office boxes and fill all the slots with little things
like it was really cool. So very shocking to see it
empty. But that's what I'm I like.
When she died, I remember thinking I'm kind of glad my
(32:06):
mother got rid of everything because what would I have done
with it? I mean, I have 5 brothers and
sisters, but I pretty much handled the getting rid of
everything, you know, so as you get older.
So that was kind of a long mini monologue in the middle of your
interview. But you never know how these are
going to go Kim. But she, you know, it really, I
(32:29):
look at you and your business and your capabilities and I
think I could see you as a someone who really built a whole
new branch of your business on curating.
Let me curate your environment for your 60s.
(32:50):
You know, I have a girlfriend who just moved out of one
apartment and moved in a 2 bedroom apartment because she's
single and, you know, has had a humongous business over the
years. But she is single and she's
like, you know, if I ended up needing a an aide, I can't have
(33:11):
them in my one bedroom. So I'm going to switch, you
know, I'm going to switch up my super high rise.
You know that I know I can sell for X and I'll go into a lesser
expensive apartment, but I'll have two bedrooms.
But then it's I'm going to redo everything.
I'm going to get rid of all thispart of my life.
Right, No, absolutely. It's like hitting the the reef.
That's an interesting idea. I mean, I just last year I was
(33:34):
asked a really dear client of mine passed away, a developer.
And it was one of my, I always say one of my favorite projects.
But it was a amazing triplex in the West Village.
And we fitted it out with just amazing furniture and stuff.
And his wife is like, Kim, my kids don't want anything.
(33:56):
Yeah, I was shocked. I'm like, are you kidding?
There's an Andy Warhol print offthe wall.
I would be coveting that. And so it was.
It was really hard to take the contents of that house and then
sell it, auction and help her, you know, deacquisition and
stuff. And it was emotionally really
(34:18):
difficult for me because I had put my heart into collaborating
with them to do it and then to dismantle it.
So I think that's why I did a lot of internal work after that
experience because it's important for me to find the joy
every day to be intentional withreally improving people's lives.
(34:39):
But I'll think about that. I mean that's there are
different. Phases of life.
Oh. Yeah.
You know, there are so many different phases and you know, I
as as Josh who's our engineer here, could tell you I often
talk about death because I I does it.
Maybe it'll bother me the day it's happening, but or maybe you
(35:01):
won't know doesn't or maybe I won't know.
But I really look at it as such an essential part of
understanding life. Yes.
And if you acknowledge that, youknow, there is that time when
you know you're not going to be here and you have all these
things that you've collected andit's not to be morbid, but do
your kids want them? There are articles every day in
(35:21):
the newspaper. The kids are saying, don't leave
me your house either. You know they didn't.
Want it and? And part of that is expense.
It's different lifestyles, it's commuting, It's are we moving
more urban or can we live some place because of the Internet,
you know, and what are the things we want?
I mean, I know when our kids were little, you know, they had
(35:43):
toys, but I couldn't wait to getrid of every single plastic toy
that was in or anything plastic like get it out of here.
Especially now, I mean, there isthis whole thing about even
Ziploc. There's some class action suit
with Ziploc bags. You can't put food or it's like,
what else? My goodness.
Yeah, we're going to get rid of Ziploc bags.
(36:05):
We're going to get rid of the bags at the grocery store and
then we're going to get these like plastic bags that we're
going to use that the handles fall off and they're even harder
to decompose because they're notthey're supposed to last.
It's ridiculous it. Is it's truly insane.
But OK, so you said most of yourclients tend to be under 50.
(36:27):
How do you think someone in their first home versus their
second or third home or apartment views what you do
differently? Oh, completely differently.
I think that's so interesting. Like, you know, now you're
making me do a little self reflection.
(36:48):
Like am I avoiding that kind of working in that way because I'm
in that demographic myself? And I am, you know, have the
same challenges because I am a little bit of a book obsessed
woman and there's more books in my house than the New York
Public Library. But you know, I, I think when I,
(37:08):
I love working with younger people because there's just the,
it's a blank slate, so to speak.And if I could and always, you
know, how long are you going to live here is always the first
question. Interesting question.
How long? Are you going to live here is
the most pivotal question. Because invariably if you're
(37:31):
going to move, then every choicewe make, I think design wise
needs to be spatially efficient,easy to, to move, you know,
modular in some capacity. So if you want to add to it
later to have it be more functional, you would do that.
So to me, it's like a more interesting, because to me it's
all design problems, isn't it? It's spatial problems, it's
(37:53):
color, it's aesthetics. So it's the, it's the figuring
out the design part is always what I love.
That's exciting to me, you know?That is, it's such an
interesting question to say how long are you going to live here?
Because I don't. I've moved a lot.
God, you've. Moved a tremendous a lot.
And I think every place I went into, I thought though this is
(38:15):
it, you know, but for whatever reason I ended up moving or you
know how. Are your kids with all those
different moves? You know, there were there were
times that I think they didn't love it.
And there were times they said, you know, how could, you know,
we don't have a stable home? I said, well, you have a stable
(38:40):
family. Yeah.
And families move. Like look at what the military
does. Exactly my.
Sister and her husband, who you know, is a retired Vice Admiral,
their kids went to 18 different schools.
Oh, yeah. So that's a very different kind
of move. Like a lot of my moves.
I mean, I didn't get married till I was 40, you know, or the
(39:01):
marriage I have these children with and.
And. So a lot of the moves were prior
and then moves with my our children.
Yeah, there were probably 5 so significant.
And then homes that we bought assecond homes, you know, maybe we
(39:22):
loved Pennsylvania for a while, then decided, no, we have
friends moving into Connecticut,Let's go move to northwest
Connecticut. And then it was, no, you know,
let's try seeing what the beach would be like for a while.
Interesting SO. When it came to second homes,
moving all over the place and. You did them all yourself.
You never asked. Wow.
(39:42):
Interesting. And you loved everyone that you
liked what you did. Yeah.
And all extremely different Brava.
I mean, that's what I say. It's like self empowerment.
It's, you know, I think that's wonderful, but.
I'm fascinated, you know, I've always been fascinated with the
idea of having someone help you with that process, right?
(40:03):
I mean, in many, many ways, if anything, probably it's now is
the first time in my life I'm thinking about.
I just don't know if I could do this myself to try to figure
out. Interesting.
Yeah, Yeah. The releasing process.
Yeah, see, but for me now at this part of my life, the
meditation parts really essential and I needed to be
(40:26):
part of it. So with that insight that you've
given me, which I appreciate greatly, I'm going to think
about that. I'm going to think about is that
a better way for me to serve? And I mean, I, I did another
project recently where the woman's husband was quite ill
and I had to make his bedroom ADA and have him come back from
(40:47):
the hospital. And that's.
All business that's a. Halt Yeah, So and I like
variety. I mean, that's why I chose this
profession because it's every job is different.
Everything is like, there's no rinse and repeat in my in my
life. So and it's challenging and it's
rewarding. I mean, you're, you're making
(41:08):
someone's life, you know, different and joyful.
And, and I love like when, when,when usually especially like a
young client comes in and sees their apartment for the first
time. I do like the Oprah moment where
we open the door and they, you know, all of that and and just
build up that excitement for them, you know, having their
first apartment, one of the. Things I think is always
(41:28):
interesting is because I've moved a lot and invested in
places and then sold them or moved in them.
I spend a lot of time looking atplaces, looking at, you know,
could I imagine living here or what does this house look like
or what's this apartment lookinglike?
Do I want to move again? Because part of why I move is
(41:48):
partly A decluttering thing, forces me to get rid of
everything. But I've been in the space we're
in almost 10 years. You can't.
Bear painting the one you're in.We'll just move.
No, I just seem to add to it, you know, but I'm looking at a
move sometime in the next year or so.
But one of the things that fascinates me is when people
(42:09):
talk about, you know, the color of the year, silver, silver
knobs are in or gold knobs are in.
The other day my husband was watching something was so
hilarious. It was an in an episode for
Better Call Saul. And they're in some, they're in
(42:31):
some like abandoned mansion, which is hilarious, very modern
for the time period that that show takes place during, I
guess, which is the 70s or 80s. But the hilarious thing, he
goes, Oh my God, Diane, look at this.
And there's a bathroom scene. And it has this bathroom faucet
(42:51):
that was in this house we boughtone time.
Oh. Stop it and one.
Day one of the bathroom faucet. It was a double sink and one of
the bathroom faucets stopped working and we had to replace
it. And my husband finds it online
and it's like $4000 to replace this.
(43:13):
So we're, we're looking at this show.
It's bringing back trauma because I'm like, in my life, I
would never have spent $4000 if I was the one building out that
bathroom, but it just happened to be in the bathroom when we
got it. So what do you have to say to
the trends of oh, gold golden brass are in this year or
silver's in this year? Because you look at an old movie
(43:37):
and they're so dated by whateversomebody thought was the style,
Well, for whatever reason. So my mantra is to create
timeless design. What I consider those are
moments in time. So if somebody is likely, I want
all my fixtures to be black. I want the I want the shower
(43:59):
head, I want this, I want I wanteverything I go as.
And you know, I like black. I said moment in time.
No stainless. It's a classic.
There's classics. I mean, you could walk into a
Frank Lloyd Wright design and itfeels contemporary.
You could walk into an Eames showroom, you go to design
(44:20):
within reach and you know, not like you have to be, you know,
loving mid century modern, you know, ad nauseam, not not at
all, but classic. I also love French period.
I love beautiful molding. I love you know, that's that's
not a moment in time. That's classic design.
(44:40):
There's a difference. You.
Know it's so funny, you really trigger another memory.
I'm bringing up all this drama. Oh my.
Gosh, no. A place we rented in Northwest
Connecticut on Lake Warrimog that you know, people call
Goldman Sachs N we rented this house, but I used to prep people
before they would come visit. I'm like, listen, yeah, we have
(45:01):
a three-year rental on this house.
It's right on the lake. It's spectacular.
It was really big house had six bedrooms, but it had the orange
bathroom. I mean, I have never seen an
orange toilet or sink in my life.
I don't think it had the red bathroom.
It had the red sink, the red toilet and the red tub.
I'm like Oh my gosh if this place ever comes up for sale I'm
(45:22):
buying it and keeping the color.Just I change everything else
but I got to save these fixturesbecause they are hilarious.
It had a Navy blue bathroom thathad the Navy blue tiles in the
shower, the Navy blue sink, the Navy.
Everything in the room was the same color.
No, just. It was just like the shock
(45:43):
portion of of. I mean, I can't imagine it.
Was hilarious. The throne.
Being orange in any orange in any universe.
Dayglo orange, the like, you know, kind of like a burnt
orange, but like vibrant orange.Wow.
That's crazy. And of.
Course, it had the green countertops and the mustard
refrigerator. I'm feeling a little like.
(46:04):
Nauseous right now it was. Like this outtake from the 1970s
and the shag carpet that we had replaced.
I'm like, OK, I'm renting in thefirst three years.
How? Did I replace the carpet?
Throughout the house, but those snapshots in time as you talk
about some are hilarious. Absolutely.
But actually a lot of them are people like bad taste.
(46:27):
There's a whole movement of embracing bad taste.
I mean, there's a whole, there'sa whole aesthetic of that.
There's a whole book about that.It's people that love like very
eccentric kind of design. I mean, it's all I.
Did love the red, Yeah. I mean, it was classic.
Kids got tuk tubs in there. But but think about like,
because I study all the chakras and the and the meaning now it's
(46:50):
pretty profound that it's a red tub because red is your base of
your body. That's your foundation.
So to be that's actually really interesting.
I think there's going to be a new trend movement, not a moment
in time, but of red tubs. I kind of loving that.
But the orange toilet? No that.
Was weird. I.
(47:10):
Say no. Yeah, the orange toilet, the
orange toilet and the orange sink were like Oh my God, I.
Hope you have pictures. I want to see pictures of this.
No, I wonder if I do. I don't know.
I don't know. I'm usually the one taking the
picture. That's what my kids will say.
Mom, we don't have any pictures of you from this time period.
I'm like, because I was the one behind the camera, the one
(47:33):
remembering that picture moment where we needed to take your
picture 100 times. Treasuring you in that moment.
Oh my gosh, time goes too fast on these podcasts.
It. Does so.
What would be your parting wordsonly for this episode of the
design take away you would want somebody to think about before
(47:58):
they enter any designing experience?
What are the most important things somebody should consider?
Number one is always the choice of where your home is and how
long you're going to be there #2be really clear on how you live
(48:19):
in the home. Is it just you?
If it's your partner that you'reIn Sync and with your children,
you're In Sync. It's all about the conversation.
It's not about picking out a single thing, it's about being
in alignment with everybody in terms of what they prefer.
And then also very important to me is creative expression, not
(48:43):
just to go with what you see on the Internet or in the magazine.
It's OK if you love it, but OK, maybe just that sofa, maybe that
chair, but not that whole ensemble room, all done with no
expression. I mean, how many, how many
magazines look so the same. It's just, and now there, it's
(49:08):
the maximalist trend, so to speak, where it's more and more
and more and then it's like a little too much.
So yeah, with pattern, yes, it'sreally, it's swinging because
doesn't it have to? It's like anything else.
It's the stock market. It's the level of the hems of
your dress, right? All influenced by that aren't,
isn't it? So, yeah.
(49:30):
So I would say, you know, that'sreally, it's the communication,
it's the planning, it's the intention and to be really kind
with yourself. If you make a mistake,
basically, you know, go back, beforgiving and be flexible and
test things out. Don't think I'm just going to
finish it all. No, you.
(49:51):
It's layering. It's like, let me add this sofa.
Oh, you know, I love that sofa, but you know, I'm not sure about
those chairs. So let me just wait and see.
And I'm a big proponent of vintage, of buying it auctions
because I get such better quality.
The wood is real wood. And then I love upholstery.
(50:12):
I love window tree, I love all of that layering.
So it's, you know, to consider all that and not just to be like
everybody, everybody else. It's your, your container is the
expression of who and what you love.
So why not, you know, elevate itto the highest level?
(50:33):
That's a great closing, Kim. Oh, good.
Thank you so much for joining meSO.
Much fun. It went way too fast it.
Does it does so fast? Well, I have been speaking with
Kim Depole who can help you curate your home.
She is really fabulous. She's shared tons of great ideas
in this podcast, so there'll be all kinds of contact information
(50:54):
for her below in the descriptor here.
So please do check her out and stay in touch with her.
I'm Diane Grisello. This has been the silver
disobedience perception dynamicspodcast we're recording here in
Manhattan Center, which is always a treat and a treasure.
And Kim, thank you so much for joining you.
It's. Incredible, I.
(51:15):
Really appreciate it and thank you for the beautiful flower.
Enjoy, enjoy. OK, Take care everybody.
Please hit subscribe.
Hello, welcome. I'm Diane Grissel.
This is the Silver Disobedience Perception Dynamics podcast.
And today we're going to be talking about our environments,
our immediate environments and how those environments might be
impacted right from the very inside, our most intimate
(00:21):
environments to come outside. It's an interesting concept.
And Kim Depole is my guest. She is an interior designer who
has, I almost think that's not an accurate term.
So we're going to let her describe exactly who she is,
what she does and where she gathers her inspiration from.
(00:43):
So thank you very much. Such a pleasure to be here, such
a pleasure. You know, you've said some
interesting things that I pickedup on your website about the
need to go outside before we go inside.
Go inside before. You go outside OK, because part
(01:04):
of me says are you picking up the environment outside to then
create your internal environment?
Oh, interesting. Or is that you really need to
understand who you are before you can create that external?
Absolutely. So it really stems from your
intention. So, and where do you tap into
(01:24):
your intention? Into the deepest part of
yourself? How do you define intention?
Intention is what brings you joy, what sustains you, The
clarification of what that is interms of intending to surround
(01:45):
yourself with the beauty, intending to be compassionate
and loving. It's the center of your heart.
It's the very center of your being.
Now, how does that center our intention in your perspective
apply to creating our ideal environment?
(02:07):
I think what's really imperativeis to go from the when I, when I
say from the inside out is the experience of closing your eyes
and visualizing what you want tocreate.
So it's sort of the source, the power source of your creativity.
(02:28):
So that's where it stems. And you know, whether it's the
expression of your heart or yourjoy, but that that really is, to
me, the North star of the beginning.
You know, it's so interesting, one of the reasons I wanted to
speak with you, and I've had lots of people who say they're
interior designers reach out. But you, well, first of all,
(02:50):
you've got a very warm personality.
You've got a lovely way about you.
You bought me lovely flowers. There's great flowers here
always, always of my heart flowers.
But one of the things was, you know, I, when I think of
interior designers, a lot of interior designers have a style
that they're known for. Yes.
And sometimes I've had, I've haddifferent friends say, well, I
(03:12):
hired this interior designer andjust look at their work.
I'm like, well, that's really beautiful.
But knowing you, I can't imagineyou living there in a million
years. Where are you going to put those
things you love exactly? They just you're not going to
it. So how that's where you're asked
your your route of going to intention intrigued me.
(03:37):
Yes, I want to hear more about this.
Well, I've been, you know, I'm, I'm a day older than water, so
I've been doing interior. Just two of us for Hello Silver,
but. It's never quite silver.
So I had a whole career of designing homes and corporate
environments and what I always what always appealed to me and
(04:01):
the my main design feature was my ear listening, listening and
looking for cues. Because a lot of the clients
didn't have that kind of confidence in expressing their
creativity or in what they loved.
If they wanted a designer that was a status designer that only
(04:23):
wants to buy a label of this or that, I was not their designer.
And so whenever I'd go on interviews, I would say, what
number am I? If I'm number one interview,
please have at least three more because this is so personal,
this is so intimate that I am not going to impose my design
(04:45):
aesthetic on you. I'm going to make it better.
I'm going to educate you and andbring things, you know, to widen
your experience. But it's my ear, it's my eye and
my ear in terms of the listeningto what they love.
So that's been sort of the trajectory.
And what's really fascinating about this part of my life, I
(05:08):
have to be honest with you, is Iclosed the big design studio,
said no to all the developers and corporate stuff, and I did
some really deep spiritual work.And what's a little ironic is
I've been meditating since I was17 years old, and I was very
secretive about it. But what I would do when I'd
(05:28):
finish a job, I would go in and I would meditate in the house or
the room and I would put that intention of what I would hope
it was like my way to do a puja,a blessing and and be very
intentional and sacred about it.But I wouldn't tell anybody.
And even in my office with the other designers, it's like,
(05:49):
where's Kim? Oh, she's in the library closet.
Meditate like don't, don't touchher for 20 minutes.
You know what I mean? So I was so secretive about it.
And then I had were. You secretive about it because?
I felt people wouldn't understand.
I think it was like before yoga,everybody knows about yoga and
(06:10):
everybody's, you know, so evolved in that way and it was
like my little secret or just private treasure.
And so now I don't think. Were you working on your energy
in the space? Were you trying to connect with
the energy of the space? Was this before starting the
(06:32):
job? During it?
After. All three, all three, all three.
Interesting. All three.
Because for me, interior design,the container of your home is
about what isn't everything energy?
Is it expansive? Is it contractive?
Is it intimate? Is it welcoming?
I mean, you know that instinctually when you meet
(06:53):
somebody, there's a certain simpatico straight away.
So that's how I am with containers of home.
There's nothing more revealing than to go to someone's home.
That's. Very true.
Or look at their bookshelf. Or look.
At their bookshelf or their closet, like, or their shoes.
Oh, I. Don't even want to.
I don't even want to go into what my closet might say about
(07:14):
me. Let's not even let's.
Not even open that door. Let's keep that door.
Let's keep that door closed. Very interesting.
Is container a word that you coined?
I don't know. I mean, that's a word I use
quite often now. Yeah, it's an.
(07:36):
Interesting phrase to refer to the home as your container of
your life. I think it's because everybody's
so obsessed with decluttering, and so I don't use that
decluttering. I say curating.
It's curating. That's a much more positive,
yeah. It's less negative.
(07:57):
Nobody ever wants to hear that. And then the other thing is I've
also started, I mean, my goodness, I studied Feng shui.
I think her name was Sarah Ross back what, 30 years ago first
came and introduced it to Western culture, and now
everybody's got a Feng shui, youknow, shingle.
But I studied that in and it wasinteresting to see how I would
(08:19):
do those things just now naturally, intuitively.
And I still, you know, follow those tenants of the first thing
in your home. Make sure every corner is not
cluttered the corners and how many?
Like, if you think about it, yougo, let me think about that
bedroom yet. You know, Kim, you're right in
that corner. I have, you know, blah blah blah
(08:40):
blah. Why don't you clutter corners?
Because it's it stops the energyfrom flowing within the space.
The same way you don't lock a door, same way you don't block a
window. Same concept, but it's
practical. I mean, didn't your mother say
clean your room? I mean, and make sure you get in
the to the corners? I mean, it's right.
(09:02):
If you think about it, it's. Yeah, it's pretty basic when.
When you meet with a client or somebody who's saying, you know,
I want to, it wasn't declutter, I want to curate.
I want to curate my home, which is a very opening statement.
You know what? What are the first things you
(09:25):
you're listening to them, right?But are you asking them quest
particular questions for them tothink about?
Yeah. Absolutely.
It's always, I mean, especially now with with apartments and
homes being a little more spatially compromised or even
too big. So that you have that other
challenge is always what's happening in this space.
What are you asking this space to do?
(09:47):
Because it needs to do a lot of work for you.
It needs to function as what? So I make them list their
priorities for the room. I recently worked with a client
that had a little bit of a capital H hoarding issue in her,
her create her creative studio, so to speak.
And so it's like, OK, what do you want to do in this space?
(10:09):
Oh, I just want to sit at the desk and then I want to work on
this kind of project. I want to be able to write a
letter, but I also want to organize my bills.
And, and so then it's like, OK, so let's focus on the desk.
Let's focus on the chair. Let's focus on the comfort.
Now what inspires you? What do you want to surround
yourself with when you look up what, what is the touchstone of
(10:34):
your heart? Your history that you want to
look at that and say, oh, that'sa picture of my dear Aunt Emily
that I just want to be able to, you know, look at her sweet face
and remember all of the time I had with her.
So so it's really, you know, sort of pinpointing the
essential elements that that arereally important to her.
(10:56):
And then we kind of build from there.
But they have to do the work. I mean, I'm not, you know, it's
like, OK, yes, no. And and then there was something
somebody shared with me that wasso interesting about that issue
of curating because I don't liketo say the D word is to do
whatever you bring in your house.
If you bring one thing in your house, you take three things
(11:18):
out, you do, I mean, that's a little brutal.
I try to do that myself. Or in 30 days you're removing
something one each day and then you like sort of stick to it.
But whatever works, whatever magical elixir has you like,
clean the space. Is is really OPT?
(11:40):
You know is what's key. Yeah, it's a funny thing.
A few years ago I moved into a new office space and I'm like,
Oh my gosh, this is so nice. There's nothing here.
There's me, my desk, my computer.
Then all of a sudden the mail started to get added and some of
the things I had to file or someof the things I had to look at
another day and about a year later I'm looking around saying
(12:03):
what happened to this space, like it was so free and easy.
And then it's amazing. It is amazing.
It is. And it's never one and done.
I mean, I, I'm guilty of the same.
Absolutely. It's time for a little bit of
purging here, you know? Yeah.
What's? The first reaction when some
(12:23):
when you talk to someone about not purging, not decluttering,
Yes, curating. Is.
Are is there a defense mechanismthat goes up?
It depends. Or is there an openness there's
an? Openness because you know
they've reached out, they want to be better.
It's the same reason you go to it.
You know you have a little bit too much in the middle and you
want a trainer to help you or you.
(12:45):
It's the same way that you seek help or some insight to realize
what you're not able to realize on your own now.
Are you working like as a stylist that doesn't just go to
the store, You go through someone's home maybe and say,
listen, this is a great piece, keep this.
Always go. Or this should change?
(13:07):
Yeah. No, I just look like that
process. I mean, it depends on what the
client wants and what they prefer.
You know, right away I'll say what piece in this in your home
is a non negotiable. This must be here.
So tell me what that is now. So I'm I'm prepared.
I know where to place it. I know the level of importance.
(13:30):
Some people want a fresh start. Some people don't want to come
with a single thing, which is always shocking to me.
But it's like, OK, let's you know, that's fabulous.
Let's start from from, you know,0.
So it really depends on where they are and what they prefer.
It's not me imposing that. It's it's a conversation, it's
(13:52):
an unfolding. And like I said, there is
nothing more intimate than creating someone's home.
Really nothing more intimate. And it's, and it's funny what
you say because I've been both kinds of movers.
I've moved in the past 40 years about no exaggeration, 25 times.
Wow. And I'll go places and I'll say
(14:13):
that's a really nice couch. And somebody will say, are you
kidding me? You gave me that couch.
I'm like, oh, no wonder I like it.
But I moved so many times. I genuinely don't remember.
My brother recently reminded me that's.
Extraordinary Who lives? In Arizona that he said, you
know, I finally just recently got rid of that that leather
couch and recliner you gave me. I'm like, Oh my gosh, what move
(14:35):
or year was that? Like, what was I doing that you
have a couch and chair in Arizona like and I never lived
there. So sometime he took it out of an
apartment I had in New York City.
That's. Hilarious, but.
It's a, it's an interesting thing, you know, going into a
brand new space. Yeah.
(14:56):
You know, versus saying here I am, how can I change this space
for the better or for my evolving personality?
Right. And what was interesting, I had
clients I've been working with for literally decades and they
wanted to create their dream apartment in Paris.
And so, you know, of course I had the history and language of
(15:18):
their aesthetic that I developedin the Hamptons, in Manhattan,
blah, blah, blah, blah. So it's like, what is this part?
So I came up with a scheme and they're like, absolutely not.
And they said, you're going to go to the Baccarat Museum, Kim,
and you're going to walk around there and you're going to get
inspiration because we want Fantasia, we want French, We
(15:41):
want, you know, sexy, wild. This is like, you know, And so
how fun was that project? Yeah.
How fun was that? But then still, you know,
adhering to like, you know, Louis, the 14th traditional
chair that was cast in aluminum that I got from a dealer in
Brazil. And then I covered the chair in
(16:03):
the fabric from the Louvre that I researched that was of that
period and literally the same manufacturer.
So in that way, it was such an act of creativity to be able to
express, you know, this wish they had and and they, you know,
it was a glorious project. Amazing, amazing.
(16:25):
Oh my. Gosh, that's got to be a lot of
fun it. Was so fun.
And everybody says what do you do?
And when I tell them what I do, they're like, oh, I've always
wanted to do OK, what? Do you do if I, if we were in an
elevator, if we tried to, you know, give the one minute pitch
before the elevator lands in thelobby, Yeah.
(16:47):
Wow, You know, it's, it's tough.Well, I, you really got to put
me on the Yeah, you put, you really put me on the spot.
Well, to tell you the truth now,I've been doing a lot of
teaching meditation because I'm looking for the entry point of
modeling the meditation experience with how you create
(17:09):
your home. So and then also I feel the need
to serve a larger audience. I feel very strongly about
social impact and I portion of whatever I'm making is going to
Habitat for Humanity. So how do I integrate that
fully? So I still put on my yes, I'm an
(17:31):
interior designer, but as a result of working with me, the
minute you open your front door,you feel energized and and have
entered your personal Oasis. What I do is help you get there
on that journey of creating thatexperience.
(17:51):
That's what I do. And you look confused, no?
No, no, not at all. But no, that sounds very, that
sounds very intimate. I'm trying to figure out how
that process would unfold. If someone, if someone said to
you tomorrow or this afternoon, Kim, I would, I'm moving into a
(18:15):
new place or I want to redo my home.
Would you say, well, let's meditate on that?
No. I would do it.
I would have a discovery call. OK, I'm.
Trying to figure out I have to. Meet them where they are.
Got it. Now maybe I find somebody that
is in this, in the same alignment as I.
Yeah. But maybe I don't got it, maybe
(18:36):
I don't. So that's my challenge.
That's really testing my service.
That's really testing my commitment to service, isn't it?
So that's kind of the process I'm going through now.
I mean, I have a recent project I'm going to go be seeing
tomorrow and I'm in such alignment with the 2 owners that
it's, it would be an incredible experience if we proceed with
(18:59):
that. I'm trying to think and I have
to say lately they've all been pretty harmonic in that way.
I'm trying to think of a of a situation where I retracted and
because I always want to help, Ialways see what's possible.
My big skill is I can go into any space and go, it's like my
(19:20):
superpower and just scan the room and say if you move that
over there and you do that here,that's why nobody wants me to go
over their house because it's like, Oh no, Kim's coming.
But it's like, but I'm not that way at all.
It's just I want to, I see the, I see what could be improved,
right? It's this obsession with with
(19:41):
making it better, more functional, more beautiful,
bringing that awareness. What happens with all the stuff
that you get people to Oh. Donation Housing Works.
There was a wing in Housing Works and there was an
organization called Material forthe Arts.
(20:02):
When I was doing larger construction projects, I think I
had a wing at the warehouse because they would take things
like the Masonite that was covering the floor, the cabinet,
leftover paints for artists. Because my other part of my
secret life was, you know, the whole time I was doing my
business, I was working in tandem with a nonprofit.
(20:23):
Art gallery. So art has always been, you
know, central to my heart. So there's always like, oh,
let's go take care of the artistnow come on, don't throw that
away. Like somebody can utilize that.
So how? Does design differ in your mind
for working with a an individualclient versus a corporate?
(20:44):
Well, I've done a lot of corporate work.
It depends on how it's structured.
Am I, am I reporting directly tothe CEO is always ideal, or am I
assigned to a group of editors? I did a lot of work for Simon
and Schuster, and that was a challenge because each floor is
different. And I remember that boardroom,
(21:05):
Oh my God, I didn't know that, that there are tables that big,
you know what I mean? And so that was a challenge, you
know, to, to sort of please everybody's agenda, so to speak
with a, with A1 on one person and then also couples, how
interesting is that? Absolutely.
So then right away, first question, how do you make your
(21:29):
decisions, right? Who's in charge?
Who's signing the checks? If you did, see you.
Get do you get accurate answers are.
You. Yeah, at the beginning.
It's like I'm in charge. I'm recording Alaska later.
Exactly. Oh, or Alaska I get.
All kinds of variations on that one yeah, I bet absolutely.
(21:51):
But generally, you know, it's, it's, it fascinates me to see
how that because each time is completely, absolutely
different. Each couple is unique and
idiosyncratic, and there's not ever one type.
Yeah, ever. Yeah, there's, there's a lot of
psychology that goes into oh. Yes, indeed, I.
Mean, I know if, if, if someone walked into our any place I've
(22:15):
ever gone to look at, let's say with my husband, his first focus
is, is on, well, where can we comfortably have ATV And then
where would the Christmas tree go around Christmas time?
So that's his first focus. Mine is where are the books
going to go? Exactly where are my?
Books going to go and yeah, where this is a Christmas tree
going to go that it's comfortable.
(22:37):
That's so interesting because it's, you know, what if I, if I
think back, most of the men willask that question because you're
the one that has to engineer thetree in the, in the apartment or
the house. No, you're, you're absolutely
right. That's so that's really fun.
That's a great title for what where should the Christmas be?
You know it's. Funny, we have ruled out more
(22:59):
than when we were looking at houses a few years ago.
We ruled out more than one placebecause it's like this room,
there's just no place to put a Christmas tree.
So if we're going to have peopleover and we're going to be
sitting around, what are we going to have the Christmas tree
in the other room? We can't do that because I throw
a Christmas party every year, so.
That is, that is hilarious. Well, there's, there's
(23:21):
suspending it from the ceiling. I mean, that's the, you know.
I have seen those people that dothat.
That's hilarious. I know it.
It, I mean, it's, it's a little rough where you put in the
gifts, but you know, what are you going to mount them on the
ceiling on the, you know, there's that whole other
concept. But yeah.
Yeah, it's funny. What are what are you?
What are the primary things people ask you when they're
(23:44):
starting this kind of process? How much is it going to cost?
Am I going to go bankrupt? You know what in?
Perspective. Yeah.
How does an interior designer get paid?
Oh. It, it depends.
I'm very transparent. I always have from day one
because my mother always said, you know, Kim, you wake up in
(24:04):
the morning, you look at the mirror, you have to own who you
are and your integrity. So don't you ever forget that.
Are we twins? Yeah.
Are we twins that had. I don't have the same mother.
My mother would always say integrity.
You walk into this world with one name.
Yeah, you want to make sure it'sunblemished when you leave, and
(24:26):
that's your integrity. Did.
She ever say the one where if you say something bad, it's
placed right on your head for everyone to see.
Like when you do something and it's so it's so like when I do
that, I have this like and I love to wear hats.
So it's sort of. Like, oh, it's somewhere on my
head. Under my hat.
You know, her other big one was know thyself.
(24:48):
And I mean, she embroidered it and it hung over the door as you
walked out. One door had know thyself.
The other door had an embroidered sign that said today
is a gift. And I cannot tell you how many
times I wanted to smack her withthe sign that said know thyself
when I would get angry about something and go to blame it on
someone and she'd say, Diane, know thyself.
(25:10):
Wow. Italian mother.
No. Irish and Lithuanian OH.
Wow, that's even more maybe. Maybe I was adopted.
I know. Interesting.
OK, so so you're transparent, but how does that work?
OK. So time everybody works.
Yeah, everybody works differently.
(25:30):
So it's always, you know, a freediscovery call to see if I'm the
right one and answer any questions.
And then it's what's the scope of work.
And then I, I do like probable budget, so to speak.
Give me the dream, the, you know, ideal.
Give me that. Here's my magic wand.
Go for it. And so I'll outline it and then
(25:51):
I'll give a probable cost budgetrange based on other projects.
And then what I'll do is I'll base it on my time for it as a
as a lump sum, as you know, figuring out the time, but I'll
also put if it exceeds the scopeof work.
This is what the hourly is. And then all the other
expenditures as far as purchasing go, I again, I'm very
(26:14):
transparent because there's trade only resources at like 200
lakhs D and DI don't do that Hidin bait and switch.
Here's the price wholesale and here's my fee on top of that.
You're getting discounted this percentage.
Why aren't I getting the whole discount?
Well, because I have to buy it, I have to do this, I have to do
(26:37):
that, blah, blah, blah, blah. So that's how the whole, yeah,
that's how the whole Misha got that's.
Interesting. Yeah, very interesting.
Now do you get hired by people that say, you know, I just want
you to I, I don't want you to add, I want you to subtract.
Oh, interesting. I wish.
No, no, never, because. Speaking with you, it seems like
(27:01):
that would be a big area of yourbusiness.
And I would think of growing area because you have there's an
older population. I mean, I'm, you know, mid
almost 65 and, you know, we've got, you know, kids around still
now, but they're leaving. So, so many things.
(27:22):
You look around and you say, youknow, how could this space be
different now that you don't have four people or five people
or. Oh yeah.
I mean for, you know, when they.Say I just want to.
Oh yeah, well, the whole empty nester model and such and I
think. That's a big business, oddly.
Enough. I haven't done any of that I'm.
Surprised. Because I'm surprised myself.
(27:42):
You're. How you're describing yourself.
Right, interesting. No, I, I haven't.
It's so funny because on my Instagram and all those other
things and I look at my demographic, it's always like,
you know, 30-40 fifty and I'm like what it where's, where's my
people? I'm not a people, probably.
It's this is where I, you walk into a house and you can't, you
(28:07):
know, present, not figure out how to modify it or change it or
tweak it or make it more comfortable.
I look at any business and I'm like, well, how could that
business get it, you know, be tweaked And, you know, knowing
you and you know what I read online and when you say really
your business stops at 50, because kind of like if I look
(28:28):
back at my life up until age 50,I was more in accumulation mode.
You know, I was adding things. I would see something and say,
oh, that would look great. Now that I'm 65 and I say, well,
let's say I live another 10 years, you know, maybe I live
another 20. Years more than that, deer well.
Whatever, you know, I I could die tomorrow, I could get it by
a taxi this afternoon. You know, I'm very fatalist like
(28:51):
in that way and it doesn't bother me.
That's not morbid in any way. But what I look at is, I think,
you know, what would my kids be like if all the stuff that was
here was here, right? Exactly you.
Know at any point, you know, andmaybe it's because, you know,
four years ago my mother died and a prior to my mother dying,
(29:12):
I'm very much like her. I, you know, there was not an
empty space in my mother's house.
My parents had no money but everyone thought we lived in a
museum. My mother would go buy furniture
and she would refinish her herself.
I remember being humiliated as akid when she would see something
on the side of the road and she always travelled with a metal
(29:34):
nail file. And.
She would say, Diane, I'm just pulling over a second to scrape
it to see if it's oak underneaththat paint.
Wow. Somebody from school is going to
see me. They're going to know we're
garbage pickers. You know, it was like, oh, it
was more than my ego could handle as a kid.
(29:54):
And yet she would find that piece.
She was not hesitate to walk up to someone's door.
You know, I saw you had that piece in your garbage for a
week, You know? Do you mind traumatizing?
For you but. I ended up doing the same thing
to our kids when they were little and I would give them a
dollar and say we're going, we're going to go treasure
hunting today. Because years ago I bought Alice
(30:16):
Cooper's mansion up in Copique, New York.
And it was this huge old mansion.
I got it at a great buy and, butit was empty and it was big.
You know, it was like over 10,000 square feet and it had
nothing in it. And I was relatively new in my
business. And so I'm like, shoot, I now
that I bought this place for a song, I don't have the money to.
(30:41):
And you're like Ma. Once I pay the oil bill, I'm
feeling broke and I didn't keep it that long because once the
tax bill came in for the second year in a row, I'm like OK, one
thing is buying a mansion, the other is maintaining a.
Mansion, absolutely, but. I would say on Saturday mornings
to our kids, at first it was ourdaughter.
You know, I've got a dollar for you.
(31:03):
We're going to go treasure hunting and we'd go out to all
the yard sales and find all these treasures.
Wow, wonderful. And she'd come back with the
dollar because everyone was like, oh, she's so cute.
I just gave it to her. But you know, that's how we
furnished for years. And now I think, Oh my gosh,
there's just a lot here. It's got sentimental value.
(31:24):
But so I was saying when my mother died, a year, about two
years before my mother died, shegot back down to Florida and
there had her humidifier had broken.
So there was mold everywhere. Oh.
God, then you have to throw everything out.
That's what she did. So when I had gone down to see
her house a few months later, I'm like, I didn't even
recognize that the walls were white.
(31:45):
You know, I'm like, wow, there'snothing on the walls.
There's no things. I mean she would get the old
post office boxes and fill all the slots with little things
like it was really cool. So very shocking to see it
empty. But that's what I'm I like.
When she died, I remember thinking I'm kind of glad my
(32:06):
mother got rid of everything because what would I have done
with it? I mean, I have 5 brothers and
sisters, but I pretty much handled the getting rid of
everything, you know, so as you get older.
So that was kind of a long mini monologue in the middle of your
interview. But you never know how these are
going to go Kim. But she, you know, it really, I
(32:29):
look at you and your business and your capabilities and I
think I could see you as a someone who really built a whole
new branch of your business on curating.
Let me curate your environment for your 60s.
(32:50):
You know, I have a girlfriend who just moved out of one
apartment and moved in a 2 bedroom apartment because she's
single and, you know, has had a humongous business over the
years. But she is single and she's
like, you know, if I ended up needing a an aide, I can't have
(33:11):
them in my one bedroom. So I'm going to switch, you
know, I'm going to switch up my super high rise.
You know that I know I can sell for X and I'll go into a lesser
expensive apartment, but I'll have two bedrooms.
But then it's I'm going to redo everything.
I'm going to get rid of all thispart of my life.
Right, No, absolutely. It's like hitting the the reef.
That's an interesting idea. I mean, I just last year I was
(33:34):
asked a really dear client of mine passed away, a developer.
And it was one of my, I always say one of my favorite projects.
But it was a amazing triplex in the West Village.
And we fitted it out with just amazing furniture and stuff.
And his wife is like, Kim, my kids don't want anything.
(33:56):
Yeah, I was shocked. I'm like, are you kidding?
There's an Andy Warhol print offthe wall.
I would be coveting that. And so it was.
It was really hard to take the contents of that house and then
sell it, auction and help her, you know, deacquisition and
stuff. And it was emotionally really
(34:18):
difficult for me because I had put my heart into collaborating
with them to do it and then to dismantle it.
So I think that's why I did a lot of internal work after that
experience because it's important for me to find the joy
every day to be intentional withreally improving people's lives.
(34:39):
But I'll think about that. I mean that's there are
different. Phases of life.
Oh. Yeah.
You know, there are so many different phases and you know, I
as as Josh who's our engineer here, could tell you I often
talk about death because I I does it.
Maybe it'll bother me the day it's happening, but or maybe you
(35:01):
won't know doesn't or maybe I won't know.
But I really look at it as such an essential part of
understanding life. Yes.
And if you acknowledge that, youknow, there is that time when
you know you're not going to be here and you have all these
things that you've collected andit's not to be morbid, but do
your kids want them? There are articles every day in
(35:21):
the newspaper. The kids are saying, don't leave
me your house either. You know they didn't.
Want it and? And part of that is expense.
It's different lifestyles, it's commuting, It's are we moving
more urban or can we live some place because of the Internet,
you know, and what are the things we want?
I mean, I know when our kids were little, you know, they had
(35:43):
toys, but I couldn't wait to getrid of every single plastic toy
that was in or anything plastic like get it out of here.
Especially now, I mean, there isthis whole thing about even
Ziploc. There's some class action suit
with Ziploc bags. You can't put food or it's like,
what else? My goodness.
Yeah, we're going to get rid of Ziploc bags.
(36:05):
We're going to get rid of the bags at the grocery store and
then we're going to get these like plastic bags that we're
going to use that the handles fall off and they're even harder
to decompose because they're notthey're supposed to last.
It's ridiculous it. Is it's truly insane.
But OK, so you said most of yourclients tend to be under 50.
(36:27):
How do you think someone in their first home versus their
second or third home or apartment views what you do
differently? Oh, completely differently.
I think that's so interesting. Like, you know, now you're
making me do a little self reflection.
(36:48):
Like am I avoiding that kind of working in that way because I'm
in that demographic myself? And I am, you know, have the
same challenges because I am a little bit of a book obsessed
woman and there's more books in my house than the New York
Public Library. But you know, I, I think when I,
(37:08):
I love working with younger people because there's just the,
it's a blank slate, so to speak.And if I could and always, you
know, how long are you going to live here is always the first
question. Interesting question.
How long? Are you going to live here is
the most pivotal question. Because invariably if you're
(37:31):
going to move, then every choicewe make, I think design wise
needs to be spatially efficient,easy to, to move, you know,
modular in some capacity. So if you want to add to it
later to have it be more functional, you would do that.
So to me, it's like a more interesting, because to me it's
all design problems, isn't it? It's spatial problems, it's
(37:53):
color, it's aesthetics. So it's the, it's the figuring
out the design part is always what I love.
That's exciting to me, you know?That is, it's such an
interesting question to say how long are you going to live here?
Because I don't. I've moved a lot.
God, you've. Moved a tremendous a lot.
And I think every place I went into, I thought though this is
(38:15):
it, you know, but for whatever reason I ended up moving or you
know how. Are your kids with all those
different moves? You know, there were there were
times that I think they didn't love it.
And there were times they said, you know, how could, you know,
we don't have a stable home? I said, well, you have a stable
(38:40):
family. Yeah.
And families move. Like look at what the military
does. Exactly my.
Sister and her husband, who you know, is a retired Vice Admiral,
their kids went to 18 different schools.
Oh, yeah. So that's a very different kind
of move. Like a lot of my moves.
I mean, I didn't get married till I was 40, you know, or the
(39:01):
marriage I have these children with and.
And. So a lot of the moves were prior
and then moves with my our children.
Yeah, there were probably 5 so significant.
And then homes that we bought assecond homes, you know, maybe we
(39:22):
loved Pennsylvania for a while, then decided, no, we have
friends moving into Connecticut,Let's go move to northwest
Connecticut. And then it was, no, you know,
let's try seeing what the beach would be like for a while.
Interesting SO. When it came to second homes,
moving all over the place and. You did them all yourself.
You never asked. Wow.
(39:42):
Interesting. And you loved everyone that you
liked what you did. Yeah.
And all extremely different Brava.
I mean, that's what I say. It's like self empowerment.
It's, you know, I think that's wonderful, but.
I'm fascinated, you know, I've always been fascinated with the
idea of having someone help you with that process, right?
(40:03):
I mean, in many, many ways, if anything, probably it's now is
the first time in my life I'm thinking about.
I just don't know if I could do this myself to try to figure
out. Interesting.
Yeah, Yeah. The releasing process.
Yeah, see, but for me now at this part of my life, the
meditation parts really essential and I needed to be
(40:26):
part of it. So with that insight that you've
given me, which I appreciate greatly, I'm going to think
about that. I'm going to think about is that
a better way for me to serve? And I mean, I, I did another
project recently where the woman's husband was quite ill
and I had to make his bedroom ADA and have him come back from
(40:47):
the hospital. And that's.
All business that's a. Halt Yeah, So and I like
variety. I mean, that's why I chose this
profession because it's every job is different.
Everything is like, there's no rinse and repeat in my in my
life. So and it's challenging and it's
rewarding. I mean, you're, you're making
(41:08):
someone's life, you know, different and joyful.
And, and I love like when, when,when usually especially like a
young client comes in and sees their apartment for the first
time. I do like the Oprah moment where
we open the door and they, you know, all of that and and just
build up that excitement for them, you know, having their
first apartment, one of the. Things I think is always
(41:28):
interesting is because I've moved a lot and invested in
places and then sold them or moved in them.
I spend a lot of time looking atplaces, looking at, you know,
could I imagine living here or what does this house look like
or what's this apartment lookinglike?
Do I want to move again? Because part of why I move is
(41:48):
partly A decluttering thing, forces me to get rid of
everything. But I've been in the space we're
in almost 10 years. You can't.
Bear painting the one you're in.We'll just move.
No, I just seem to add to it, you know, but I'm looking at a
move sometime in the next year or so.
But one of the things that fascinates me is when people
(42:09):
talk about, you know, the color of the year, silver, silver
knobs are in or gold knobs are in.
The other day my husband was watching something was so
hilarious. It was an in an episode for
Better Call Saul. And they're in some, they're in
(42:31):
some like abandoned mansion, which is hilarious, very modern
for the time period that that show takes place during, I
guess, which is the 70s or 80s. But the hilarious thing, he
goes, Oh my God, Diane, look at this.
And there's a bathroom scene. And it has this bathroom faucet
(42:51):
that was in this house we boughtone time.
Oh. Stop it and one.
Day one of the bathroom faucet. It was a double sink and one of
the bathroom faucets stopped working and we had to replace
it. And my husband finds it online
and it's like $4000 to replace this.
(43:13):
So we're, we're looking at this show.
It's bringing back trauma because I'm like, in my life, I
would never have spent $4000 if I was the one building out that
bathroom, but it just happened to be in the bathroom when we
got it. So what do you have to say to
the trends of oh, gold golden brass are in this year or
silver's in this year? Because you look at an old movie
(43:37):
and they're so dated by whateversomebody thought was the style,
Well, for whatever reason. So my mantra is to create
timeless design. What I consider those are
moments in time. So if somebody is likely, I want
all my fixtures to be black. I want the I want the shower
(43:59):
head, I want this, I want I wanteverything I go as.
And you know, I like black. I said moment in time.
No stainless. It's a classic.
There's classics. I mean, you could walk into a
Frank Lloyd Wright design and itfeels contemporary.
You could walk into an Eames showroom, you go to design
(44:20):
within reach and you know, not like you have to be, you know,
loving mid century modern, you know, ad nauseam, not not at
all, but classic. I also love French period.
I love beautiful molding. I love you know, that's that's
not a moment in time. That's classic design.
(44:40):
There's a difference. You.
Know it's so funny, you really trigger another memory.
I'm bringing up all this drama. Oh my.
Gosh, no. A place we rented in Northwest
Connecticut on Lake Warrimog that you know, people call
Goldman Sachs N we rented this house, but I used to prep people
before they would come visit. I'm like, listen, yeah, we have
(45:01):
a three-year rental on this house.
It's right on the lake. It's spectacular.
It was really big house had six bedrooms, but it had the orange
bathroom. I mean, I have never seen an
orange toilet or sink in my life.
I don't think it had the red bathroom.
It had the red sink, the red toilet and the red tub.
I'm like Oh my gosh if this place ever comes up for sale I'm
(45:22):
buying it and keeping the color.Just I change everything else
but I got to save these fixturesbecause they are hilarious.
It had a Navy blue bathroom thathad the Navy blue tiles in the
shower, the Navy blue sink, the Navy.
Everything in the room was the same color.
No, just. It was just like the shock
(45:43):
portion of of. I mean, I can't imagine it.
Was hilarious. The throne.
Being orange in any orange in any universe.
Dayglo orange, the like, you know, kind of like a burnt
orange, but like vibrant orange.Wow.
That's crazy. And of.
Course, it had the green countertops and the mustard
refrigerator. I'm feeling a little like.
(46:04):
Nauseous right now it was. Like this outtake from the 1970s
and the shag carpet that we had replaced.
I'm like, OK, I'm renting in thefirst three years.
How? Did I replace the carpet?
Throughout the house, but those snapshots in time as you talk
about some are hilarious. Absolutely.
But actually a lot of them are people like bad taste.
(46:27):
There's a whole movement of embracing bad taste.
I mean, there's a whole, there'sa whole aesthetic of that.
There's a whole book about that.It's people that love like very
eccentric kind of design. I mean, it's all I.
Did love the red, Yeah. I mean, it was classic.
Kids got tuk tubs in there. But but think about like,
because I study all the chakras and the and the meaning now it's
(46:50):
pretty profound that it's a red tub because red is your base of
your body. That's your foundation.
So to be that's actually really interesting.
I think there's going to be a new trend movement, not a moment
in time, but of red tubs. I kind of loving that.
But the orange toilet? No that.
Was weird. I.
(47:10):
Say no. Yeah, the orange toilet, the
orange toilet and the orange sink were like Oh my God, I.
Hope you have pictures. I want to see pictures of this.
No, I wonder if I do. I don't know.
I don't know. I'm usually the one taking the
picture. That's what my kids will say.
Mom, we don't have any pictures of you from this time period.
I'm like, because I was the one behind the camera, the one
(47:33):
remembering that picture moment where we needed to take your
picture 100 times. Treasuring you in that moment.
Oh my gosh, time goes too fast on these podcasts.
It. Does so.
What would be your parting wordsonly for this episode of the
design take away you would want somebody to think about before
(47:58):
they enter any designing experience?
What are the most important things somebody should consider?
Number one is always the choice of where your home is and how
long you're going to be there #2be really clear on how you live
(48:19):
in the home. Is it just you?
If it's your partner that you'reIn Sync and with your children,
you're In Sync. It's all about the conversation.
It's not about picking out a single thing, it's about being
in alignment with everybody in terms of what they prefer.
And then also very important to me is creative expression, not
(48:43):
just to go with what you see on the Internet or in the magazine.
It's OK if you love it, but OK, maybe just that sofa, maybe that
chair, but not that whole ensemble room, all done with no
expression. I mean, how many, how many
magazines look so the same. It's just, and now there, it's
(49:08):
the maximalist trend, so to speak, where it's more and more
and more and then it's like a little too much.
So yeah, with pattern, yes, it'sreally, it's swinging because
doesn't it have to? It's like anything else.
It's the stock market. It's the level of the hems of
your dress, right? All influenced by that aren't,
isn't it? So, yeah.
(49:30):
So I would say, you know, that'sreally, it's the communication,
it's the planning, it's the intention and to be really kind
with yourself. If you make a mistake,
basically, you know, go back, beforgiving and be flexible and
test things out. Don't think I'm just going to
finish it all. No, you.
(49:51):
It's layering. It's like, let me add this sofa.
Oh, you know, I love that sofa, but you know, I'm not sure about
those chairs. So let me just wait and see.
And I'm a big proponent of vintage, of buying it auctions
because I get such better quality.
The wood is real wood. And then I love upholstery.
(50:12):
I love window tree, I love all of that layering.
So it's, you know, to consider all that and not just to be like
everybody, everybody else. It's your, your container is the
expression of who and what you love.
So why not, you know, elevate itto the highest level?
(50:33):
That's a great closing, Kim. Oh, good.
Thank you so much for joining meSO.
Much fun. It went way too fast it.
Does it does so fast? Well, I have been speaking with
Kim Depole who can help you curate your home.
She is really fabulous. She's shared tons of great ideas
in this podcast, so there'll be all kinds of contact information
(50:54):
for her below in the descriptor here.
So please do check her out and stay in touch with her.
I'm Diane Grisello. This has been the silver
disobedience perception dynamicspodcast we're recording here in
Manhattan Center, which is always a treat and a treasure.
And Kim, thank you so much for joining you.
It's. Incredible, I.
(51:15):
Really appreciate it and thank you for the beautiful flower.
Enjoy, enjoy. OK, Take care everybody.
Please hit subscribe.
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