December 8, 2024 • 32 mins
Dean continues with the secrets of "ish" with a part two. As he shares the secret of pulling off various décor styles from different time periods but still looks beautiful. Dean says that getting rid of extra clutter will help people focus on the main points of a decorated home. Dean talks about all-year décor in the real world with eclectic design. Dean says starting with a foundation of color and the importance of having a color-wheel application. Plus, Dean suggests having a physical color analyzer by NIX as it is a variety of sensors
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
KFI AM six forty. You're listening to Dean Sharp The
House Whisper on demand on the iHeart Radio app. Hey,
welcome home. I'm Dean Sharp the House Whisper. I design
custom homes, I build custom homes, and I'm your guide
to turning your place that you'll live from something ordinary
(00:23):
into something truly extraordinary. Today on the show, Part two,
Part two of a two part series that we are
calling The Secrets of Ish.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Now, what the heck is that? Well, of course you
need to go back and listen to part one just
to catch up, because there was a lot of good
stuff shared on yesterday's program as well. But to bring
you back up to speed, ish Ish is just a
way that Tina and I like to describe real eclectic decor. Okay,
(00:58):
the fact that most people in the real world, In fact,
I would say all people in the real world don't
live in some magazine spread pure air quotes pure decor environment,
right like you've seen one pure theme like you see
on a Pinterest board, or you know, like I said,
a design magazine spread. Those things they look great, but
(01:22):
they aren't where all of us live. All of us
live in the real world, and the real world is
full of all sorts of other things that come into
our lives, things that mean a lot to you, things
that have a lot of deep meaning and sentimentality and attachment,
but don't necessarily fit one particular decor, even your primary decor.
(01:45):
So the question is how do we pull off real
beautiful interior home decor and when it's not pure, Well,
that's the secrets of ish and the idea being well,
I have a modern home. Well, it's modern ish. I've
got an arts and crafts kind of you know, craftsman
(02:08):
bungalow home. Well, in the real world, it's arts and
crafts ish, it's Victorian ish, it's ranch ish, it's farmhouse ish.
You get what I'm saying. The ish is where we thrive.
The ish is where we find out the difference between
a decor that fails and one that is capable of
(02:29):
embracing sources from different time periods, from different styles and
still looks beautiful. And that really is what we would
call eclectic design. It's not chaotic, it's not cluttered, but
it doesn't all have to come from one pure source
in order for a room or a space or a
(02:52):
home to be stunning. Stunningly fantastic. So that's where we're at,
and there are rules. There are rules. We'll get to
that in just a bit. Right now, though, I want
to introduce you to our fantastic team. Elmer is on
the board. Good morning, Elmer, Good morning Dean. Producer Richie
(03:13):
standing by. Oh my gosh, he's already taking calls. The
board is open. Let me give you the number for
those of you who are late to the program. Here
just a few seconds in eight three three to ask Dean,
Well you guys are you guys are hungry for answers
this morning? Eight three three two, ask Dean eight three
(03:36):
to three the numeral to ask Dean. It doesn't matter
that there are already calls on the board, because you know,
we select calls at random, so you got as much
a chance of getting on the air as anybody else,
even if you call now A three three two, ask Dean.
I'll be going to the phones as I do throughout
the show. You can give us a call. Richie will
tell you everything you need to know. Pop you into
(03:57):
the queue. Producer Richie's standing by. II Leen Gonzalez, my
buddy at the news desk. Good morning, I Lenk good morning, sunshine.
How are you doing? I always left when you call
me sunshine? Are you so bright and cheery? I don't
feel it. I don't feel that way at all at all.
I was talking last night. I was at a thing
(04:18):
with Stefan Steffouche, who is uh Tim Conway's aboard op,
and he's like just staring at me. He's like, you know,
I just don't get to see you enough, and I'm
staring at your face. The sound of your voice is
coming out of your mouth, and I just think, like
everywhere you go, everything you say just sounds so comforting
(04:41):
and so well rounded. I'm like, you have clearly not
spent time at my house, my friend, We'll ask your
wife about that. Yeah, well Tina, you know, Tina's gonna
support stuff. Fush actually in that one, But I wasn't
sure though. I wasn't sure if if he was, I
think he, I mean, I know he was trying to
compliment me, but I'm like, really, I mean, there's no
edge to my voice at all. I am I just
(05:03):
like am I just forever trapped in like a TV
weather man's body? Is that it? It just that's all
It's gonna be, just gonna be like, hello, good morning. Anyway, Eileen,
I'm so glad. It's always great to work with you.
Glad that you're here with us this morning. Eileen's going
to take care of all of our news this morning.
Sitting across the table from me. The one who will
(05:26):
tell you the truth. She she will tell you the truth.
One of the nicest human beings on the planet. And
I only say one of the nicest because you know
I haven't met everybody else. Well, no, that's true. You
aren't actually that nice, but wonderful and honest as the day.
So whatever Tina tells you about me, actually that's actually
(05:48):
the truth because one of the reasons why I was
so attracted to her and on day one was just
I've never met a person who is more honest, sometimes
too honest. Sometimes, you know, our family would say that
that Tina has no inner monologue.
Speaker 3 (06:13):
None, I've gotten better you have. It's not saying everything,
not saying everything you're feeling immediately. Yeah, But you know what,
I treasure that. I treasure it because if somebody like
Tina in your life, you should treasure them, even though
sometimes it can be a little tough at moments, just
to hear exactly what somebody's thinking unedited.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
But yeah, exactly right. But that's the point. There really
is no elephant in the room with Tina. You see that.
You see how I did that. That's professional radio right there. Yeah, No,
there really isn't an elephant in the room with you,
because I know exactly where I stay. I know when
you're upset with me. And uh and because as you're
(07:00):
so honest, when you're like, hey, like you I can
I trust it, I trust it, you know, right, the
hard edge sometimes of honest people, you know, the the upside,
the massive upside, is that you can trust them when
they tell you that you are a good person. There
(07:21):
you go, they're not blown smoke. Tina does not blow smoke.
I do not. No, she does not. And now what
what what are you saying? Just say it? It's time
for the news. Okay, all right, Joall, We're going to
dive into the secrets of ish and eclectic decor right after.
Speaker 4 (07:43):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI A M six forty.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
Hey, whether you're home for you is a condo, a cottage,
a castle, It makes no difference. The rules are the same.
The principles are the same, and I am here to
help you take it to the next level. That's what
we're all about here on the show. By the way,
in a bit we're going to be going to the phones.
Here's the number again, eight three three two. Ask Dean,
(08:11):
eight three three the numeral two, Ask Dean. And when
it comes to calls, did I say this already? When
it comes to calls? No matter what I'm talking about
on the show, you set the agenda. Anything that you've
got on your mind regarding your home, anything that's got
you scratching your head, design, construction, DIY questions, whatever the
(08:31):
case may be. We'll put our heads together. We'll figure
it out, I promise. All right, let's dive back into
the secrets of eclectic home design. My favorite way is
a little review from yesterday, very quick to describe eclectic design.
My favorite way is a symphony of diversity, because it
(08:52):
really is. You think about a symphony orchestra, all these
different instruments, very very very different instruments emitting very very
different sounds, and yet we can draw them together. Those
who know what they're doing draw them together into one
beautiful melody. And that's what we want out of eclectic design,
and so the way to master that is really to
(09:14):
master those secrets of ish, the ishness of your theme,
farmhouse ish, craftsman ish, whatever the ish may be. Nobody
lives in a ruthlessly consistent magazine spread. It just doesn't happen,
and they're so easily thwarted. I shared this yesterday. I'll
share it with you again just to jumpstart our conversation.
(09:37):
Imagine a stunningly sophisticated kitchen right in some magazine spread.
You can bring that kitchen to its knees by just
taking a refrigerator magnet and putting your kindergartener's coloring project
up on the fridge boom. Real world has struck, and
now it's no longer magazine quality spread. Right. You're like, okay,
(09:59):
I get it. That's the idea, right, How can we
have a beautiful home and live in the real world
at the same time. And I'm letting you off the
hook that somehow, because you live in the real world,
you'll never have a beautiful home like that. Not true,
not true. But we have to move away from that
magazine concept into real, actual design and decor principles for
(10:25):
your home. And if you follow the rules and you
put the effort in, then you know what you're gonna
be rewarded. It's gonna be gorgeous. Okay, No, it's not
necessarily easy, and you want to make sure. Let me
also say this, when you're looking for rules and you
(10:45):
go online looking for rules, which you know, I just
did a little search this week, I'm like, you know what,
how readily available is this kind of advice? Anyway, I'm
gonna make you feel better that you're listening right now,
because it's not very readily available you can find if
you search like rules for eclectic to core, you will
find a gabillion websites advising you quote unquote, but just beware,
(11:12):
make sure when you're looking for rules that you don't
end up just getting suggestions. And that's where they almost
all go. Right. They start out with, well, we're gonna
explain eclectic design to you, and here's how you can
master it. And the next thing you know, it's like,
add some plants, add greenery, what like okay, wait, what
if greenery is not in my plant? Now you're just
(11:32):
giving me suggestions again. Now you're just showing me a
photograph again. Okay, instead of helping me understand it. It
reminds me of the if you're old enough to remember,
you remember the Tutsi roll owl, right, Remember that commercial
is so iconic, right, And it's like how many lips
does it take to get to the center of a
(11:54):
Tutsi pop? And then they finally bring it to the
wise owl and he licks it three times and any
and crunches it and he's like three, the answer is three.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
Well, no, it's not.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
So Just beware, just beware that when you go for
advice on principles, that you don't end up just getting
advice on what to do. Okay, I'm trying not to
do that here today with you now. Yesterday we talked
about starting with a neutral canvas, keeping your walls bright
and neutral, letting your floor ground your collection, uniting color
(12:30):
and texture. Yesterday's program we talked about the eighty twenty rule.
And also I wrapped up yesterday's program with embracing negative space. Okay,
if you're going to have diverse design elements in a
single space, you got to give them some room. Eclectic
(12:54):
design is not clutter. Not clutter, okay, it's not chaos.
Negative space powerful, powerful tool for drawing attention to things
and giving them some space from each other and letting
them breathe as well, so embracing negative space and what
really that just comes down to, you know, not too
(13:14):
much not too much stuff. Okay. It's an ongoing problem
that we all struggle with because we go out in
the world and things, stuff just attaches itself to us
and it ends up coming home with us. Don't have
too much stuff if you really want a stunning space.
And I'll tell you why. It's not just a matter
of opinion or preference on my part. Everything that I
(13:37):
tell you design wise here on the program is based.
I like to think that it's based in human nature,
human physiology, and human ergonomics, because that's what design and
architecture is. It's for human beings. If we were mole people,
I would be giving you different kinds of advice, okay,
but we're not. We're human beings. We are that species.
(13:59):
And when it comes to clutter, when it comes to
a lot of things, you had to understand that the
human mind and the human eye vision, we're kind of
lazy when it comes to that, so meaning that it's
a lot of processing power gets taken up and I
don't want to say lazy. I say the brain is efficient.
Let's just call it that. It can't do more than,
(14:21):
you know, one hundred things all at once consciously. So
when you walk into a really cluttered space, some people think, oh,
I've just put so many things in this room that
it's just a wonderland for people to feast their eyes upon,
and they'll spend all this time looking at it. No, no,
they won't. When you walk into a room with a
(14:41):
lot of stuff to look at, the most common human
physiological and psychological reaction is don't look at any of it.
You just don't look at any of It's just too much.
It's too much. Okay. So if you really really want
people to see the decor of your space, you got
(15:04):
to get rid of stuff so that we can focus focus,
I mean, really see the things that you want to see,
the things that are most important. Okay. All right, Now,
our next step in the rules and the guides is
to start. And this is following that eighty twenty rule,
(15:24):
which I'll review when we come back, but it's to
start with a foundation, a foundational theme. Whatever that may
be the ishness, right, the modern ish, or you're going
to go arts and craftsh or Victorian whatever that is.
That's an overarching theme, but in a particular space, in
a particular room, we're going to start with a foundation,
a foundational color, a foundational pattern, a foundational texture, or
(15:50):
maybe all three kind of working together. And that's going
to be our eighty percent in that room that everything
else will work to integrate with as we go along.
So we're going to start with the foundation. I'll explain
that right after.
Speaker 4 (16:04):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
Dean Sharp the house whisper here with you this morning,
how you're doing. I'm so glad that you're with us.
It's a beautiful autumn morning here, holiday kind of weekend
morning here in southern California. A little warmer than I
would like it to be personally, because you know, I
like winter. I like it. I know we're not at
(16:32):
winter yet, but I like cold weather. I don't want
to dig through ten feet of snow every morning, don't
get me wrong, but I would like it colder out there.
But anyway, it's a lovely weekend, and I hope wherever
you are you are safe and warm. And comfy and
filled with the beauty of the holidays, and I'm glad
(16:52):
that you're here with us. We are talking about decor today.
We're talking about not Christmas decor, not holiday decor, but
just year round decor for your home and tackling one
of the most difficult concepts to master in decor, and
that is how do you handle establishing a really strong
(17:14):
theme of the decor that you want and live in
the real world at the same time, because other things
come in. And that's what we call eclectic design. Right now,
there are some levels of eclectic design that are just hey,
I just want to throw one hundred things together from
different sources. Okay, that's not really in my thinking. Again,
(17:35):
the real world where we all live. What eclectic design
is really all about. What eclecticism is about is the
idea that you know, we're diverse people and so a
lot of things come into our lives that aren't necessarily
themed with our decor, but they still mean things to us.
And so how do you do that, how do you
(17:55):
bring it all together? That's the true art of eclectic
decore mastery. So I want to get back to the list,
where did I leave off By the way, oh, starting
with a foundation, a foundational color or pattern or texture,
or maybe all of the above. And what I mean
by that is I got to get to Tina, our
(18:18):
decore master on here. But Tina will have a vision
for a room. She'll be like, you know what, I
would like to do something in a smoky you know,
gray blue for a color theme. I think that would
just so work with this end of the house, this
particular room, taken into account what we see out the
windows and so on, and she just wants to cool
(18:41):
this place down. And she's like, I want to add
a little bit of this kind of a hard area
here with a lot of walls. I want to add
some texture, something that is soft and kind of flowy
and texture. And then maybe this secondary tone will be
something off white along with the gray blue. And there
(19:03):
we are. That's what she'd like to see, you know,
in this space. That's what we call a know, kind
of a foundational color, pattern and texture. And then from
that the question is how can we get And this
is to review what I did in the previous program,
the eighty twenty rule and the eighty twenty rules essentially this,
(19:25):
if you can get eighty percent of the stuff in
a space working along that foundational pattern texture color. Tina's
nodding her head here. If you can get eighty percent
of it working along that flow, then you can drop
in expertly. Drop in the other twenty percent can be
completely diverse and coming from different places without destroying the flow.
(19:52):
Now you still have to do it skillfully. But the
point is, that's what we mean by a foundational texture.
The eighty of the eighty twenty the eighty percent of
the room. So a lot of you struggle though with
this idea of like, all right, now here we go
talking about colors. I have no taste when it comes
to colors, Dean. I don't know what to do with colors.
(20:15):
I've seen designers do things with colors that I would
never dream of in a thousand years. And I get you,
I feel you, I get it, and believe me, I'm
not trying to turn you into a designer or a
decorator in the sense that you know, I'm not trying
to work myself out of a job. Here for big
(20:37):
jobs and for really amazing results. It's always a good
idea to bring a creative into the situation. But there's
a lot you can do a lot of research, you
can do a lot of thinking, you can do up front.
This is the time if you struggle with color and
you just feel yourself falling short of what you would
(20:58):
call color matching and complementary color mastery, this is the
time like no other that you need a color wheel. Okay,
you need a color I'm just gonna say to every
responsible homeowner who wants to have a beautiful home and
you want to do your initial dreaming about what's possible,
(21:20):
you need a color wheel. A color wheel is a tool.
It's just it's like saying, listen, if you're going to
take care of your home, you know, you should probably
have a hammer and a screwdriver in the drawer. Okay.
If you're gonna physically, utility wise take care of a home,
you should have some tools in the drawer. Well, if
you're going to take care of your home esthetically, okay,
(21:41):
in terms of design and decore, you should have a
couple of tools in the drawer. I'm going to talk
to you about two tools, specifically, one the color wheel. Now,
there are physical color wheels. You can go down to
your local art supply store or your craft store, a
place like Michael's or Hobby Lobby or Joeanne Fabric. You know,
(22:03):
you can go down to places like that and they've
got color wheels. And a color wheel is a wheel
that has the entire spectrum of visible light color on it,
and it has usually a second usually in disc form
like a circle, and then it has secondary viewer windows
that when you spin it around, you can see, ah,
(22:24):
based on this color that I really love, what are
the complementary colors? What are the colors that sit right
next to it? What are the colors that are opposing
on the opposite side of the spectrum. And there are
various ways. They are quadratic, there are triune, there are
dualistic ways of looking at color combinations, and suddenly you'll
(22:46):
see it. You're like, oh my gosh, that green actually
goes really well with that shade of blue. Yeah, that's
what the color wheel will do for you. We'll open
your eyes to these color combination possible. So, yes, you
can still go get a physical disc if that's your thing,
but I will tell you this right now. You can
(23:08):
attain your color wheel by the time we get done
with the next break. Because the color wheel that TENA
and I carry with us at all times. Is just
an app. It's an app on your phone. If you
go to your app store wherever you get the apps
for your phone and just put in color wheel, you
know what will be confusing, Like thirty of them will
(23:28):
come up, Okay, the vast majority of them totally free,
and you will see you will see. Now, granted, we're
not using the color wheel to pick a very, very
specific color because the way it emits on your phone
(23:49):
it is it's a kind of light that we call
emissive light, meaning that the phone screen creates a projection
of light out. That is not the same as picking
a color for your sofa, which is reflective light. Your
sofa doesn't glow at least I hope it doesn't glow.
(24:09):
If it does, then you should return it immediately because
it has been exposed to some form of dangerous radiation.
But your sofa doesn't glow. It reflects light natural light
that's in the room. But your screen does glow. So
we're not talking about using a color wheel app to
specifically nail down the ultimate detail of that color that
(24:32):
you want in the room. But we are talking about
the value of a color wheel for the sake of
finding the themed colors that you're going to be looking for.
That's all I mean. It takes five minutes of spinning
it around, checking it out until something clicks with you
and you're like, ooh, you should try that, should try
(24:54):
this with that and that with that. You know, get
what I'm saying? All right? Color it's an important thing.
We're going to be talking about patterns as well in
just a bit, but the color wheel is really important. Now,
how do we get more specific with color? H There's
a device that if you're serious about this, I am
(25:14):
going to encourage you to acquire. It's called the Nicks
Nix Mini. We're going to talk about it right after.
Speaker 4 (25:24):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (25:32):
Dean Sharp, the House Whisper, Welcome home, Thanks for joining
us on the program today. We are talking about really
getting your head and your hands around the idea of
how to do eclectic design, which eclectic decor design, which
I think, realistically eclectic is a word that belongs to
(25:57):
every single real world design because as pure as you
would like your decor to be in terms of a theme,
there's always going to be in the real world things
other things integrated into it. How do you do that
well without it messing you up along the way. You
can't get much great advice on this online. I will
(26:17):
tell you that right now. And don't look to TV
for it either, because they're just showing you stuff when
they're not trying to entertain you. And no, I don't
have a big issua. Yeah, well yeah, I have a
big issue with HGT I do. I just think it's
a wasted opportunity to do really good things in an
(26:39):
entertaining way. Anyway, stay with me. That's my point, because
what I'm trying to do here is actually really for real,
give you some solid advice on how to get this
done for your home. I'm not just showing you pretty
pictures of other people's places and saying, well, you could
(26:59):
do this, like what about my life? Okay, so there
you go. Now, where I left you before we went
to the news was with a product that I well,
a couple of tools. Number one, the color Wheel app
that you can find a gabillion of online for your phone.
(27:22):
When it comes to design and decor, you should have
some tools in the tool drawer, just like you've got
when it comes to the physical aspect of maintaining your house,
Like you got a hammer and a screwdriver and some
nails and some screws and stuff, right, you should have
a couple of tools. A color wheel is the way
that you take a color challenged person and show them
(27:48):
all the different possible combinations. So you dial up your
favorite color and you'll see how other colors work with it,
against it, complement it in a hundred different ways. The
color Wheel app is perfect for that. You don't have
to have it a disc, physical disc. You can have
one on your phone. But I was saying, when it
comes to color matching, exact color matching, there's another tool
(28:11):
out there now. The color wheel app is free. So
that's a free gift with purchase, okay, or no purchase necessary.
This one you're gonna have to buy. But I tell
you this, every single client that we do a significant
design job for, I encourage them to acquire this for theirselves.
Why well, Dean has one, of course, Dean and Tina
(28:31):
have one. But we are collaborating with you and we
want you to have this kind of empowerment in your
own life. All Right, It's gonna cost you ninety bucks
right now, okay, and you're gonna have to find it
worth it. And by the way, this is for the
for the decor person in your family and your life.
This is a great holiday gift and a stocking stuffer
(28:55):
as well. But here it is the Knicks Nix Nick
Mini three. Okay. Nix is a company. You can find
them at nissensor dot com. All right. They make a
lot of different sensors for different purposes, and some of
them are very expensive. But I'll tell you what. The
one that you need, the one that Tina and I
(29:17):
carry around that fits the bill. And this is I
mean wizardry. This is wizardry in your hand. The Knicks
Mini three. What is it? It is a pocket sized,
portable color analyzer, all right. And when I say pocket
sized and portable, I mean it's the size of a
(29:38):
golf ball, maybe the size of a pingpong ball. It
has its own battery charged up USBC. And what do
you do. It comes with an app that goes on
your phone. You connect via Bluetooth wirelessly with your phone
and you pull out this Nix and you simply press
it against anything. Okay, if you want to paint the
(30:04):
wall of your kid's room one feature wall to match
the color of their hamster. All right, then all you
have to do is pull out the knicks and press
it against the fur of the hamster. I'm not kidding you.
Tina is like shaking her head. She's like, that's a
ridiculous example. But tell me, tell me, Tina that it
(30:25):
isn't true. Tell me it's not true. It is true.
You press this against the fur of the hamster, and instantly,
literally instantly, you will have an entire color profile of
exactly what color that fur is. Now you can use it.
Can you tell I'm a little excited about this because
it's a really great tool for people. You can I'm
(30:45):
trying to enable people. Okay, stop laughing. It is. It's
a great tool. It can you can set it up
to give you, you know, web based colors, Hex colors,
Pan tone colors, CMYK RGB. But even better for most homeowners,
(31:06):
there's a screen that you will go to in the
app where you select your favorite brand of paint. And
I'm talking you know, are you a Sherwin Williams person,
a Done Edwards person. No, of course not. You're a
Benjamin Moore person, right, like me. So you select Benjamin Moore.
You set that in the app, and then when you
scan something with the knicks, it literally brings up the
(31:27):
top three Benjamin Moore colors code name everything that matches
the color that you just scan. Now, if you don't
believe what I'm saying, here's the thing. During the last break,
we just did a little video right here in the
studio with I've got my knicks in my hands right now.
So where'd we post it? Tina, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.
(31:51):
There you go, all three home with Dean. You can
go there right now and check it out. We're going
to go to a break. Eileen's going to give us
some news, and then you can go and find the
little video that we just posted in which I take
this nix and I think I color analyze the little
jacket that I'm wearing right now, and you'll see it
(32:12):
happen live in front of your eyes. You got to
go check it out, and then once you see it,
you should share it with all of your friends. So
that's there sitting on our social media Instagram, Facebook, and
TikTok right now. And when we come back, you know
what it's time to go to the phones your home.
Dean Sharp the House Whisper on KFI.
Speaker 1 (32:29):
This has been Home with Dean Sharp, the House Whisper.
Tune into the live broadcast on KFI AM six forty
every Saturday morning from six to eight Pacific time and
every Sunday morning from nine to noon Pacific time, or
anytime on demand on the iHeart Radio app
KFI AM six forty. You're listening to Dean Sharp The
House Whisper on demand on the iHeart Radio app. Hey,
welcome home. I'm Dean Sharp the House Whisper. I design
custom homes, I build custom homes, and I'm your guide
to turning your place that you'll live from something ordinary
(00:23):
into something truly extraordinary. Today on the show, Part two,
Part two of a two part series that we are
calling The Secrets of Ish.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Now, what the heck is that? Well, of course you
need to go back and listen to part one just
to catch up, because there was a lot of good
stuff shared on yesterday's program as well. But to bring
you back up to speed, ish Ish is just a
way that Tina and I like to describe real eclectic decor. Okay,
(00:58):
the fact that most people in the real world, In fact,
I would say all people in the real world don't
live in some magazine spread pure air quotes pure decor environment,
right like you've seen one pure theme like you see
on a Pinterest board, or you know, like I said,
a design magazine spread. Those things they look great, but
(01:22):
they aren't where all of us live. All of us
live in the real world, and the real world is
full of all sorts of other things that come into
our lives, things that mean a lot to you, things
that have a lot of deep meaning and sentimentality and attachment,
but don't necessarily fit one particular decor, even your primary decor.
(01:45):
So the question is how do we pull off real
beautiful interior home decor and when it's not pure, Well,
that's the secrets of ish and the idea being well,
I have a modern home. Well, it's modern ish. I've
got an arts and crafts kind of you know, craftsman
(02:08):
bungalow home. Well, in the real world, it's arts and
crafts ish, it's Victorian ish, it's ranch ish, it's farmhouse ish.
You get what I'm saying. The ish is where we thrive.
The ish is where we find out the difference between
a decor that fails and one that is capable of
(02:29):
embracing sources from different time periods, from different styles and
still looks beautiful. And that really is what we would
call eclectic design. It's not chaotic, it's not cluttered, but
it doesn't all have to come from one pure source
in order for a room or a space or a
(02:52):
home to be stunning. Stunningly fantastic. So that's where we're at,
and there are rules. There are rules. We'll get to
that in just a bit. Right now, though, I want
to introduce you to our fantastic team. Elmer is on
the board. Good morning, Elmer, Good morning Dean. Producer Richie
(03:13):
standing by. Oh my gosh, he's already taking calls. The
board is open. Let me give you the number for
those of you who are late to the program. Here
just a few seconds in eight three three to ask Dean,
Well you guys are you guys are hungry for answers
this morning? Eight three three two, ask Dean eight three
(03:36):
to three the numeral to ask Dean. It doesn't matter
that there are already calls on the board, because you know,
we select calls at random, so you got as much
a chance of getting on the air as anybody else,
even if you call now A three three two, ask Dean.
I'll be going to the phones as I do throughout
the show. You can give us a call. Richie will
tell you everything you need to know. Pop you into
(03:57):
the queue. Producer Richie's standing by. II Leen Gonzalez, my
buddy at the news desk. Good morning, I Lenk good morning, sunshine.
How are you doing? I always left when you call
me sunshine? Are you so bright and cheery? I don't
feel it. I don't feel that way at all at all.
I was talking last night. I was at a thing
(04:18):
with Stefan Steffouche, who is uh Tim Conway's aboard op,
and he's like just staring at me. He's like, you know,
I just don't get to see you enough, and I'm
staring at your face. The sound of your voice is
coming out of your mouth, and I just think, like
everywhere you go, everything you say just sounds so comforting
(04:41):
and so well rounded. I'm like, you have clearly not
spent time at my house, my friend, We'll ask your
wife about that. Yeah, well Tina, you know, Tina's gonna
support stuff. Fush actually in that one, But I wasn't
sure though. I wasn't sure if if he was, I
think he, I mean, I know he was trying to
compliment me, but I'm like, really, I mean, there's no
edge to my voice at all. I am I just
(05:03):
like am I just forever trapped in like a TV
weather man's body? Is that it? It just that's all
It's gonna be, just gonna be like, hello, good morning. Anyway, Eileen,
I'm so glad. It's always great to work with you.
Glad that you're here with us this morning. Eileen's going
to take care of all of our news this morning.
Sitting across the table from me. The one who will
(05:26):
tell you the truth. She she will tell you the truth.
One of the nicest human beings on the planet. And
I only say one of the nicest because you know
I haven't met everybody else. Well, no, that's true. You
aren't actually that nice, but wonderful and honest as the day.
So whatever Tina tells you about me, actually that's actually
(05:48):
the truth because one of the reasons why I was
so attracted to her and on day one was just
I've never met a person who is more honest, sometimes
too honest. Sometimes, you know, our family would say that
that Tina has no inner monologue.
Speaker 3 (06:13):
None, I've gotten better you have. It's not saying everything,
not saying everything you're feeling immediately. Yeah, But you know what,
I treasure that. I treasure it because if somebody like
Tina in your life, you should treasure them, even though
sometimes it can be a little tough at moments, just
to hear exactly what somebody's thinking unedited.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
But yeah, exactly right. But that's the point. There really
is no elephant in the room with Tina. You see that.
You see how I did that. That's professional radio right there. Yeah, No,
there really isn't an elephant in the room with you,
because I know exactly where I stay. I know when
you're upset with me. And uh and because as you're
(07:00):
so honest, when you're like, hey, like you I can
I trust it, I trust it, you know, right, the
hard edge sometimes of honest people, you know, the the upside,
the massive upside, is that you can trust them when
they tell you that you are a good person. There
(07:21):
you go, they're not blown smoke. Tina does not blow smoke.
I do not. No, she does not. And now what
what what are you saying? Just say it? It's time
for the news. Okay, all right, Joall, We're going to
dive into the secrets of ish and eclectic decor right after.
Speaker 4 (07:43):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI A M six forty.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
Hey, whether you're home for you is a condo, a cottage,
a castle, It makes no difference. The rules are the same.
The principles are the same, and I am here to
help you take it to the next level. That's what
we're all about here on the show. By the way,
in a bit we're going to be going to the phones.
Here's the number again, eight three three two. Ask Dean,
(08:11):
eight three three the numeral two, Ask Dean. And when
it comes to calls, did I say this already? When
it comes to calls? No matter what I'm talking about
on the show, you set the agenda. Anything that you've
got on your mind regarding your home, anything that's got
you scratching your head, design, construction, DIY questions, whatever the
(08:31):
case may be. We'll put our heads together. We'll figure
it out, I promise. All right, let's dive back into
the secrets of eclectic home design. My favorite way is
a little review from yesterday, very quick to describe eclectic design.
My favorite way is a symphony of diversity, because it
(08:52):
really is. You think about a symphony orchestra, all these
different instruments, very very very different instruments emitting very very
different sounds, and yet we can draw them together. Those
who know what they're doing draw them together into one
beautiful melody. And that's what we want out of eclectic design,
and so the way to master that is really to
(09:14):
master those secrets of ish, the ishness of your theme,
farmhouse ish, craftsman ish, whatever the ish may be. Nobody
lives in a ruthlessly consistent magazine spread. It just doesn't happen,
and they're so easily thwarted. I shared this yesterday. I'll
share it with you again just to jumpstart our conversation.
(09:37):
Imagine a stunningly sophisticated kitchen right in some magazine spread.
You can bring that kitchen to its knees by just
taking a refrigerator magnet and putting your kindergartener's coloring project
up on the fridge boom. Real world has struck, and
now it's no longer magazine quality spread. Right. You're like, okay,
(09:59):
I get it. That's the idea, right, How can we
have a beautiful home and live in the real world
at the same time. And I'm letting you off the
hook that somehow, because you live in the real world,
you'll never have a beautiful home like that. Not true,
not true. But we have to move away from that
magazine concept into real, actual design and decor principles for
(10:25):
your home. And if you follow the rules and you
put the effort in, then you know what you're gonna
be rewarded. It's gonna be gorgeous. Okay, No, it's not
necessarily easy, and you want to make sure. Let me
also say this, when you're looking for rules and you
(10:45):
go online looking for rules, which you know, I just
did a little search this week, I'm like, you know what,
how readily available is this kind of advice? Anyway, I'm
gonna make you feel better that you're listening right now,
because it's not very readily available you can find if
you search like rules for eclectic to core, you will
find a gabillion websites advising you quote unquote, but just beware,
(11:12):
make sure when you're looking for rules that you don't
end up just getting suggestions. And that's where they almost
all go. Right. They start out with, well, we're gonna
explain eclectic design to you, and here's how you can
master it. And the next thing you know, it's like,
add some plants, add greenery, what like okay, wait, what
if greenery is not in my plant? Now you're just
(11:32):
giving me suggestions again. Now you're just showing me a
photograph again. Okay, instead of helping me understand it. It
reminds me of the if you're old enough to remember,
you remember the Tutsi roll owl, right, Remember that commercial
is so iconic, right, And it's like how many lips
does it take to get to the center of a
(11:54):
Tutsi pop? And then they finally bring it to the
wise owl and he licks it three times and any
and crunches it and he's like three, the answer is three.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
Well, no, it's not.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
So Just beware, just beware that when you go for
advice on principles, that you don't end up just getting
advice on what to do. Okay, I'm trying not to
do that here today with you now. Yesterday we talked
about starting with a neutral canvas, keeping your walls bright
and neutral, letting your floor ground your collection, uniting color
(12:30):
and texture. Yesterday's program we talked about the eighty twenty rule.
And also I wrapped up yesterday's program with embracing negative space. Okay,
if you're going to have diverse design elements in a
single space, you got to give them some room. Eclectic
(12:54):
design is not clutter. Not clutter, okay, it's not chaos.
Negative space powerful, powerful tool for drawing attention to things
and giving them some space from each other and letting
them breathe as well, so embracing negative space and what
really that just comes down to, you know, not too
(13:14):
much not too much stuff. Okay. It's an ongoing problem
that we all struggle with because we go out in
the world and things, stuff just attaches itself to us
and it ends up coming home with us. Don't have
too much stuff if you really want a stunning space.
And I'll tell you why. It's not just a matter
of opinion or preference on my part. Everything that I
(13:37):
tell you design wise here on the program is based.
I like to think that it's based in human nature,
human physiology, and human ergonomics, because that's what design and
architecture is. It's for human beings. If we were mole people,
I would be giving you different kinds of advice, okay,
but we're not. We're human beings. We are that species.
(13:59):
And when it comes to clutter, when it comes to
a lot of things, you had to understand that the
human mind and the human eye vision, we're kind of
lazy when it comes to that, so meaning that it's
a lot of processing power gets taken up and I
don't want to say lazy. I say the brain is efficient.
Let's just call it that. It can't do more than,
(14:21):
you know, one hundred things all at once consciously. So
when you walk into a really cluttered space, some people think, oh,
I've just put so many things in this room that
it's just a wonderland for people to feast their eyes upon,
and they'll spend all this time looking at it. No, no,
they won't. When you walk into a room with a
(14:41):
lot of stuff to look at, the most common human
physiological and psychological reaction is don't look at any of it.
You just don't look at any of It's just too much.
It's too much. Okay. So if you really really want
people to see the decor of your space, you got
(15:04):
to get rid of stuff so that we can focus focus,
I mean, really see the things that you want to see,
the things that are most important. Okay. All right, Now,
our next step in the rules and the guides is
to start. And this is following that eighty twenty rule,
(15:24):
which I'll review when we come back, but it's to
start with a foundation, a foundational theme. Whatever that may
be the ishness, right, the modern ish, or you're going
to go arts and craftsh or Victorian whatever that is.
That's an overarching theme, but in a particular space, in
a particular room, we're going to start with a foundation,
a foundational color, a foundational pattern, a foundational texture, or
(15:50):
maybe all three kind of working together. And that's going
to be our eighty percent in that room that everything
else will work to integrate with as we go along.
So we're going to start with the foundation. I'll explain
that right after.
Speaker 4 (16:04):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
Dean Sharp the house whisper here with you this morning,
how you're doing. I'm so glad that you're with us.
It's a beautiful autumn morning here, holiday kind of weekend
morning here in southern California. A little warmer than I
would like it to be personally, because you know, I
like winter. I like it. I know we're not at
(16:32):
winter yet, but I like cold weather. I don't want
to dig through ten feet of snow every morning, don't
get me wrong, but I would like it colder out there.
But anyway, it's a lovely weekend, and I hope wherever
you are you are safe and warm. And comfy and
filled with the beauty of the holidays, and I'm glad
(16:52):
that you're here with us. We are talking about decor today.
We're talking about not Christmas decor, not holiday decor, but
just year round decor for your home and tackling one
of the most difficult concepts to master in decor, and
that is how do you handle establishing a really strong
(17:14):
theme of the decor that you want and live in
the real world at the same time, because other things
come in. And that's what we call eclectic design. Right now,
there are some levels of eclectic design that are just hey,
I just want to throw one hundred things together from
different sources. Okay, that's not really in my thinking. Again,
(17:35):
the real world where we all live. What eclectic design
is really all about. What eclecticism is about is the
idea that you know, we're diverse people and so a
lot of things come into our lives that aren't necessarily
themed with our decor, but they still mean things to us.
And so how do you do that, how do you
(17:55):
bring it all together? That's the true art of eclectic
decore mastery. So I want to get back to the list,
where did I leave off By the way, oh, starting
with a foundation, a foundational color or pattern or texture,
or maybe all of the above. And what I mean
by that is I got to get to Tina, our
(18:18):
decore master on here. But Tina will have a vision
for a room. She'll be like, you know what, I
would like to do something in a smoky you know,
gray blue for a color theme. I think that would
just so work with this end of the house, this
particular room, taken into account what we see out the
windows and so on, and she just wants to cool
(18:41):
this place down. And she's like, I want to add
a little bit of this kind of a hard area
here with a lot of walls. I want to add
some texture, something that is soft and kind of flowy
and texture. And then maybe this secondary tone will be
something off white along with the gray blue. And there
(19:03):
we are. That's what she'd like to see, you know,
in this space. That's what we call a know, kind
of a foundational color, pattern and texture. And then from
that the question is how can we get And this
is to review what I did in the previous program,
the eighty twenty rule and the eighty twenty rules essentially this,
(19:25):
if you can get eighty percent of the stuff in
a space working along that foundational pattern texture color. Tina's
nodding her head here. If you can get eighty percent
of it working along that flow, then you can drop
in expertly. Drop in the other twenty percent can be
completely diverse and coming from different places without destroying the flow.
(19:52):
Now you still have to do it skillfully. But the
point is, that's what we mean by a foundational texture.
The eighty of the eighty twenty the eighty percent of
the room. So a lot of you struggle though with
this idea of like, all right, now here we go
talking about colors. I have no taste when it comes
to colors, Dean. I don't know what to do with colors.
(20:15):
I've seen designers do things with colors that I would
never dream of in a thousand years. And I get you,
I feel you, I get it, and believe me, I'm
not trying to turn you into a designer or a
decorator in the sense that you know, I'm not trying
to work myself out of a job. Here for big
(20:37):
jobs and for really amazing results. It's always a good
idea to bring a creative into the situation. But there's
a lot you can do a lot of research, you
can do a lot of thinking, you can do up front.
This is the time if you struggle with color and
you just feel yourself falling short of what you would
(20:58):
call color matching and complementary color mastery, this is the
time like no other that you need a color wheel. Okay,
you need a color I'm just gonna say to every
responsible homeowner who wants to have a beautiful home and
you want to do your initial dreaming about what's possible,
(21:20):
you need a color wheel. A color wheel is a tool.
It's just it's like saying, listen, if you're going to
take care of your home, you know, you should probably
have a hammer and a screwdriver in the drawer. Okay.
If you're gonna physically, utility wise take care of a home,
you should have some tools in the drawer. Well, if
you're going to take care of your home esthetically, okay,
(21:41):
in terms of design and decore, you should have a
couple of tools in the drawer. I'm going to talk
to you about two tools, specifically, one the color wheel. Now,
there are physical color wheels. You can go down to
your local art supply store or your craft store, a
place like Michael's or Hobby Lobby or Joeanne Fabric. You know,
(22:03):
you can go down to places like that and they've
got color wheels. And a color wheel is a wheel
that has the entire spectrum of visible light color on it,
and it has usually a second usually in disc form
like a circle, and then it has secondary viewer windows
that when you spin it around, you can see, ah,
(22:24):
based on this color that I really love, what are
the complementary colors? What are the colors that sit right
next to it? What are the colors that are opposing
on the opposite side of the spectrum. And there are
various ways. They are quadratic, there are triune, there are
dualistic ways of looking at color combinations, and suddenly you'll
(22:46):
see it. You're like, oh my gosh, that green actually
goes really well with that shade of blue. Yeah, that's
what the color wheel will do for you. We'll open
your eyes to these color combination possible. So, yes, you
can still go get a physical disc if that's your thing,
but I will tell you this right now. You can
(23:08):
attain your color wheel by the time we get done
with the next break. Because the color wheel that TENA
and I carry with us at all times. Is just
an app. It's an app on your phone. If you
go to your app store wherever you get the apps
for your phone and just put in color wheel, you
know what will be confusing, Like thirty of them will
(23:28):
come up, Okay, the vast majority of them totally free,
and you will see you will see. Now, granted, we're
not using the color wheel to pick a very, very
specific color because the way it emits on your phone
(23:49):
it is it's a kind of light that we call
emissive light, meaning that the phone screen creates a projection
of light out. That is not the same as picking
a color for your sofa, which is reflective light. Your
sofa doesn't glow at least I hope it doesn't glow.
(24:09):
If it does, then you should return it immediately because
it has been exposed to some form of dangerous radiation.
But your sofa doesn't glow. It reflects light natural light
that's in the room. But your screen does glow. So
we're not talking about using a color wheel app to
specifically nail down the ultimate detail of that color that
(24:32):
you want in the room. But we are talking about
the value of a color wheel for the sake of
finding the themed colors that you're going to be looking for.
That's all I mean. It takes five minutes of spinning
it around, checking it out until something clicks with you
and you're like, ooh, you should try that, should try
(24:54):
this with that and that with that. You know, get
what I'm saying? All right? Color it's an important thing.
We're going to be talking about patterns as well in
just a bit, but the color wheel is really important. Now,
how do we get more specific with color? H There's
a device that if you're serious about this, I am
(25:14):
going to encourage you to acquire. It's called the Nicks
Nix Mini. We're going to talk about it right after.
Speaker 4 (25:24):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (25:32):
Dean Sharp, the House Whisper, Welcome home, Thanks for joining
us on the program today. We are talking about really
getting your head and your hands around the idea of
how to do eclectic design, which eclectic decor design, which
I think, realistically eclectic is a word that belongs to
(25:57):
every single real world design because as pure as you
would like your decor to be in terms of a theme,
there's always going to be in the real world things
other things integrated into it. How do you do that
well without it messing you up along the way. You
can't get much great advice on this online. I will
(26:17):
tell you that right now. And don't look to TV
for it either, because they're just showing you stuff when
they're not trying to entertain you. And no, I don't
have a big issua. Yeah, well yeah, I have a
big issue with HGT I do. I just think it's
a wasted opportunity to do really good things in an
(26:39):
entertaining way. Anyway, stay with me. That's my point, because
what I'm trying to do here is actually really for real,
give you some solid advice on how to get this
done for your home. I'm not just showing you pretty
pictures of other people's places and saying, well, you could
(26:59):
do this, like what about my life? Okay, so there
you go. Now, where I left you before we went
to the news was with a product that I well,
a couple of tools. Number one, the color Wheel app
that you can find a gabillion of online for your phone.
(27:22):
When it comes to design and decor, you should have
some tools in the tool drawer, just like you've got
when it comes to the physical aspect of maintaining your house,
Like you got a hammer and a screwdriver and some
nails and some screws and stuff, right, you should have
a couple of tools. A color wheel is the way
that you take a color challenged person and show them
(27:48):
all the different possible combinations. So you dial up your
favorite color and you'll see how other colors work with it,
against it, complement it in a hundred different ways. The
color Wheel app is perfect for that. You don't have
to have it a disc, physical disc. You can have
one on your phone. But I was saying, when it
comes to color matching, exact color matching, there's another tool
(28:11):
out there now. The color wheel app is free. So
that's a free gift with purchase, okay, or no purchase necessary.
This one you're gonna have to buy. But I tell
you this, every single client that we do a significant
design job for, I encourage them to acquire this for theirselves.
Why well, Dean has one, of course, Dean and Tina
(28:31):
have one. But we are collaborating with you and we
want you to have this kind of empowerment in your
own life. All Right, It's gonna cost you ninety bucks
right now, okay, and you're gonna have to find it
worth it. And by the way, this is for the
for the decor person in your family and your life.
This is a great holiday gift and a stocking stuffer
(28:55):
as well. But here it is the Knicks Nix Nick
Mini three. Okay. Nix is a company. You can find
them at nissensor dot com. All right. They make a
lot of different sensors for different purposes, and some of
them are very expensive. But I'll tell you what. The
one that you need, the one that Tina and I
(29:17):
carry around that fits the bill. And this is I
mean wizardry. This is wizardry in your hand. The Knicks
Mini three. What is it? It is a pocket sized,
portable color analyzer, all right. And when I say pocket
sized and portable, I mean it's the size of a
(29:38):
golf ball, maybe the size of a pingpong ball. It
has its own battery charged up USBC. And what do
you do. It comes with an app that goes on
your phone. You connect via Bluetooth wirelessly with your phone
and you pull out this Nix and you simply press
it against anything. Okay, if you want to paint the
(30:04):
wall of your kid's room one feature wall to match
the color of their hamster. All right, then all you
have to do is pull out the knicks and press
it against the fur of the hamster. I'm not kidding you.
Tina is like shaking her head. She's like, that's a
ridiculous example. But tell me, tell me, Tina that it
(30:25):
isn't true. Tell me it's not true. It is true.
You press this against the fur of the hamster, and instantly,
literally instantly, you will have an entire color profile of
exactly what color that fur is. Now you can use it.
Can you tell I'm a little excited about this because
it's a really great tool for people. You can I'm
(30:45):
trying to enable people. Okay, stop laughing. It is. It's
a great tool. It can you can set it up
to give you, you know, web based colors, Hex colors,
Pan tone colors, CMYK RGB. But even better for most homeowners,
(31:06):
there's a screen that you will go to in the
app where you select your favorite brand of paint. And
I'm talking you know, are you a Sherwin Williams person,
a Done Edwards person. No, of course not. You're a
Benjamin Moore person, right, like me. So you select Benjamin Moore.
You set that in the app, and then when you
scan something with the knicks, it literally brings up the
(31:27):
top three Benjamin Moore colors code name everything that matches
the color that you just scan. Now, if you don't
believe what I'm saying, here's the thing. During the last break,
we just did a little video right here in the
studio with I've got my knicks in my hands right now.
So where'd we post it? Tina, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.
(31:51):
There you go, all three home with Dean. You can
go there right now and check it out. We're going
to go to a break. Eileen's going to give us
some news, and then you can go and find the
little video that we just posted in which I take
this nix and I think I color analyze the little
jacket that I'm wearing right now, and you'll see it
(32:12):
happen live in front of your eyes. You got to
go check it out, and then once you see it,
you should share it with all of your friends. So
that's there sitting on our social media Instagram, Facebook, and
TikTok right now. And when we come back, you know
what it's time to go to the phones your home.
Dean Sharp the House Whisper on KFI.
Speaker 1 (32:29):
This has been Home with Dean Sharp, the House Whisper.
Tune into the live broadcast on KFI AM six forty
every Saturday morning from six to eight Pacific time and
every Sunday morning from nine to noon Pacific time, or
anytime on demand on the iHeart Radio app
Home with Dean Sharp News
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