October 19, 2025 • 26 mins
House Whisper Listener Interview
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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 iHeartRadio app. This is
Dean Sharp, the house Whisperer, custom home builder, custom home designer,
and of course every weekend your guide to better understanding
that place where you live. What is our message, It's
(00:21):
very simple. Every home has a path forward. Once you
see it, everything changes. I kid you not, that is
the goal. Once you see the path forward, everything about
your home can change. And I'm here to help you
find it every week today on the show, a little
bit different show, a little more intimate show. I hope
(00:42):
you're in the mood for a little bit of an
intimate relationship today, because that's what is scheduled for today's show.
We get, as you could well imagine, a lot of
emails and you know, social media questions, just a lot
of input from listeners throughout the year, most of which,
(01:04):
of course questions your questions about what's going on with
your home. People who tried to call but couldn't get through,
and so they write me and they want their question
answered that way.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
So selfish, No, I'm just kidding.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
But we also get our fair share of listener questions
just about us and about the situation, like what is
this whole house whisper thing? And you know, I don't
spend a lot of time talking about me in that regard,
and which is very good, I think, but they pile up,
(01:41):
and so what we've decided to do last two or
three years is we just kind of gather them up
through the out the course of the year, and sometime
in the fall we will put together those questions that
are essentially a listener interview show. And that's what we
(02:01):
got going today. Tina, of course, is sitting here. I'm
going to introduce her early. Good morning, my friend, Good morning,
Tina's here, and she's going to play the role of
the listener proxy today and ask questions as we go
through the show. So the theme of the show today
is finding out a little bit more about what it
(02:24):
means to house whisper, some of the philosophies behind it,
some of the ideas behind it, and some stuff from
my own personal life. I hope that's of interest to
you people. You know, bug us to talk more about
that kind of thing, and I resist, but here it is.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Here.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
It is on the nineteenth, Yeah, the nineteenth of October,
it is that happens, don't cuss, don't cuss, you were
about to.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
You're like, where the how did that happen?
Speaker 1 (02:55):
So anyway, and also, of course, you know we'll be
going to the phones as well. Okay, so it won't
all be that, but I'm hoping that you will enjoy
that today on the show. As far as the phone goes,
here's the number eight three three two. Ask Dean eight
three three the numeral two. Ask Dean eight three three two.
(03:18):
Ask Dean. Whatever has you scratch in your head about
your home design, construction, DIY, landscape inside outside.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
You know, I got you.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
We'll put our heads together, we will get it figured out,
whether it is an architectural and design issue or construction issue.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
Both of the people.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
Who live in my brain are awake and ready and
happy to help you out along the way today and
we will do that. We'll do that near the middle
of the show, like we tend to do on the
Big Show. And for those of you who are listening
on the podcast, of course, you know it's probably not
live Sunday morning right now because you're listening on the podcast,
But whenever it is, I hope you're enjoying it, and
(03:58):
we will. We're gonna have a great show today. Okay,
sitting across the table from me, like I said, my
design partner, my better half, my best friend in all
the world, Tina is here. Welcome home, there you go.
Are you already? Are you ready? With a bevy of.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
Yes, We've pulled together some listener questions. They're fun. I'm
actually looking over them right now.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
Okay, well, you know what, we have it a little time.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
We can just dive in if you want, if you
if you want to get started, or should I make
the announcement about the haunted?
Speaker 4 (04:27):
Make the announcement and then we'll just jump in after.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
The Okay, So I got a gift for you. I
don't know if you were listened to yesterday's program or
the previous episode on the podcast. But but but we
got a little special thing coming up and just a
little over a week now. It is it, It is
just a little over a week now. Let me pull
it up here. I'm gonna find it here. Where the heck.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
Did it go? Mmmmmmmmmmm mmmm? I catch you off guard?
You did?
Speaker 1 (04:55):
You totally caught me off guard? Oh here it is?
Are you looking for some grown up Halloween fund this
Halloween season, then you should consider this. On Monday night,
October twenty seventh. That's just a is that a week?
That is that's a week from tonight, I mean a
(05:16):
week from tomorrow night. I hope you'll join Tena and
I for a private VIP house Whisper ghost tour of
the historic Kellogg House, which is a one hundred and
twenty seven year old, custom built Victorian mansion located on
the beautiful grounds of the Heritage Museum of Orange County.
(05:37):
Space is limited, but for about twenty lucky listeners. Your
evening starts with an hour long meet and greet with
me and Tea out on the steps of the mansion.
Talk about anything you want. We can just sit there
and talk and shoot the breeze. And then afterwards we
will enter the Kellogg House for a ninety minute tour
(05:58):
to explore I'm.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
Going to turn that on.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
That's enough to explore it's architecture, it's history, and its hauntings.
Because yeah, now this is not a this is not
a scary house thing. This is not like the people
aren't dressed up to jump out and grab you and scary.
It's not that it's not that this is a legitimate
house with legitimate haunted history to it, and we're just
(06:22):
gonna be having fun with it. Will we return alive?
Yes we will, of course we will, and it will
be super fun. The Kellogg House Ghost Tours brought to
us courtesy of Haunted Orange County, Southern California's original and
largest ghost tour company. You can go to Haunted OC
for more info on all the things that they do,
and brought to you by our very own Brand Guard Vents,
(06:44):
protecting homes from fire with the finest emberproof vents made
and you find them at brand Guardvents dot com. So
here's how it works. We're gonna run to a break,
but our call screener is ready, and as soon as
I say go, they first caller that we pick up
(07:04):
for the Haunted Ghost Tour we'll win two tickets to
the Haunted Ghost Tour on Monday night, October twenty seventh.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
Are you good? Are you good? You happy about that?
All right?
Speaker 4 (07:14):
Stat ready?
Speaker 1 (07:15):
Get ready and go the number to reach me eight
three three two. Ask Dean eight three three The numeral
to ask Dean. You are listening to Home with Dean
Sharp The house Whispering.
Speaker 5 (07:29):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
kf I am six forty.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
Thank you for joining us on the program today. Glad
to have you here. It is an honor and a
privilege as always. All right, as we said, oh and
we've got a winner. I'll announce the name in uh
just a smidge here as soon as Nicky gives me
that that winning.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
Name or names.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
Zah, we're gonna be don't worry about that, everybody. We're
gonna be given away those two tickets to that ghost
tour every hour today and so you've got two more
chances to win today and then every hour of every
show next weekend as well. So there you go, plenty
of chances to win. Just stay on the ball and
(08:19):
you could get through and you might be the one
limited seating. That's not us, that's just the fact that
there's only so many people who can move through this
mansion all at the same time on the tour.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
So there we go.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
Okay, Well, a very special kind of house Whisper program today. Tina,
my best buddy in the world, has compiled a year's
worth of listener questions. Of course, she's added some of
them out because no one gets to know the color
of my underwear.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
But she has compiled.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
A set of house Whister listener questions that she's gonna
throw at me today, and so I hope you enjoy it.
And with that, I will hand it over to you,
my dear.
Speaker 3 (09:03):
Okay, I'm just gonna just surprise you with whatever I
start with.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
That would be surprising indeed, since I don't have anything
in front of me.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
So there you go.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
Okay, let's just start with the basics here. So where
did the label house Whisper come from?
Speaker 2 (09:19):
The label house with That's a good way.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
It's a good way to kind of start. Yeah, that's
a good way of putting it too. It was a
nickname that came We did not sit down you and
I and say hey, let's start a design business and
call it house Whisper. The design business actually was Sharp Design,
and it was a the umbrella business over it because
(09:41):
it was a design business almost solely oriented toward you know,
the state level homes and moving along just fine, by
the way, but there was this thing that kept happening
because we don't live in an estate home by far.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
We live in a little cottage. Well, that's what we
call it.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
Little house, little house, and always have and always will
as far as I can imagine. Unless you know, I
get hit in a car accident, my brain goes haywire,
and then I decide to you know.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
Oh, you know what, we should live in a mansion too.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
So because of that, because of our love for just
you know, kind of mainstream life, Americana life, and living
our little life. A lot of friends, a lot of
family members, a lot of friends of friends and friends
of friends of friends who knew what I did would say,
oh to their friends, they would say, listen, I know
(10:37):
you're frustrated with your house.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
I know that you've had.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
Two architects and four builders out and everybody shrugs their
shoulders or give advice that just wasn't working. And you know,
some people were just on the edge of like, well,
all right, I'm going to live here, but I'm just
given up. I've surrendered to the idea that it's never
going to be nice. Or literally they're thinking, we're thinking
about moving or or adding on and doubling the size
(11:02):
of the house to make this thing work. And so
one of these friends would say to them, listen, you
don't do anything yet until you talk to my friend Dean,
and they're like, have I not told you how many
people have been out here, including designers, And they would say, no,
you just you just really you really should just let
my friend Dean take a look at it. I'll call
(11:24):
him and ask him if he'll take a look, because
he's kind of like a house whisperer. And that's where
that nickname came from. And they would say, you know,
those troubled animals, those that regular trainers can't train, those
troubled horses or the dogs or whatever. You know, everybody
knows what a horse whisperer is kind of and a
(11:46):
dog whisper, and so somebody came up with that name
along the way, and it kind of just stuck. It
kind of kept getting applied to us as we would
walk into a house and like I say here on
the show every week, find the path, we would find
the path. I'd stare at it long enough until we
(12:07):
find the path. And you know, maybe I think there
are other questions about what it actually house whispering does,
but no, I'm not actually whispering to the house. Okay,
it's not you know, well, we can get into that
if you want to go there. But the point is
staring at it long enough, being in it long enough,
asking enough of the right questions to find the path.
And then a lot of people are like, oh my god,
(12:30):
I can't believe. I can't believe we have new hope
for this house now. And and so it's stuck, and
it stuck so long that at some point we decided,
you know what, maybe we should just add it to
our to our brand, add it and so we you know,
so we went out and added it to our brand.
And for in large part us having done that is
why we ended up on the radio. Because of that,
(12:53):
not because of Sharp design, but because of the House
Whisper brand.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
And that's that's another story. You know what.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
We're up against the clock. We're going to take quick break.
When we come back, Tina's going to have more questions
for me. We are doing the House Whisper listener interview today.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
You're Home with Dean Sharp, the House Whisper.
Speaker 5 (13:10):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
Thanks for joining us on the program. We are conducting
our annual once a year. We only do this once
a year. Our house whisper listener interview. That means that
we've compiled a little bit more personal questions that y'all
have written in and sent us or asked us along
(13:37):
the way, and Tina is firing them off to me
today and we'll see what happens. We'll see, we'll see
if we have any listeners when this is all said
and done. Because I don't consider myself the most exciting
interview e interview e that would be the thing.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
But nevertheless, here we are, so fire away, bud.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
Okay, So we just mentioned earlier that where we talked
about where the house whispers came from. So now I
want to ask you, like, do you believe every house
has a unique personality or spirit? So I'm kind of
stepping away from the do you talk to houses or
do you whisper to houses because clearly you don't.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
Well I don't know if it's clear to everybody.
Speaker 3 (14:23):
Yeah, but I think this will This is a better
I think this is a better answer.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
Okay, So what No, what was the question? Does every house?
Speaker 3 (14:30):
Do you believe that every house has a unique personality?
So I guess you could kind of touch on your approach,
but do they have.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
Well, yeah in a sense. Okay, So again, just to clarify,
and I know, if like somebody just started listening to
the show today and we're giving away we're giving away
tickets to a haunted house tour and they're like, I
don't even believe in haunted I don't even believe in ghosts.
What is this guy any whispers to houses? And okay,
just leep? All right, the haunted house thing is just
(14:59):
f okay. Around here, we believe in fun. So that's
what that's about.
Speaker 4 (15:04):
It's fun. It's fun season all.
Speaker 3 (15:07):
It's yes, and it has to do with beautiful architects.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
Oh yeah, this is a gorgeous custom home from eighteen
ninety eight, built custom by I mean, there's a fascinating
story where we won't get into, but that's the whole point.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
Of going on the story. Yes you will, Yes you will. Okay.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
So does every house have its own unique personality and spirit? Well,
I want to I want to steer clear of the
word spirit. I don't believe. And here's the thing there.
I don't know if the guy is still over there,
but for a long time, there was a there was
a guy in the UK that took on the moniker
(15:47):
house whisper, and he would actually come in and and
actually like generationally cleanse homes and things. You know what
I'm saying? That kind of like almost a I don't
want to say an exorcist, but like a yeah, like
a spirit healer for the memories in a house. That's
not anything I do. Okay, So if we're just using
the term spirit or personality in the the loosest possible sense, sure,
(16:13):
what I prefer to say is that every home has
a distinct story and some or maybe I should even
say this, every home home should have a very distinct
story that it tells. And that's really what we're doing.
We're in the storytelling business. That's what a good architect
(16:36):
and or designer is all about. That's what creatives are
all about. We're all about telling those stories. And so
my concern as a designer coming into the home is
to really listen to the owners, really get to know
what they're about, really get to know how they want
(16:58):
to live in the house, how they do live the house,
how they you know, aspirationally would ultimately like the house
to improve. And everybody has their own ideas about that,
and I always listen very carefully to what those ideas are,
But mostly what I want to get to is the
why behind. You know, why we do this when we
get up in the morning in this house, and why
(17:18):
we do that in the evening and so on. And
I just want to make sure the house number one
is not in the way of what they're trying to do,
and that the house actually reflects their story, because what
I really believe in is not houses.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
I believe in people.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
I believe in people, and I believe in in this
This ancient I mean ancient since the beginning of our species.
Desire ingrain deep in human nature to live securely in
a safe abode. And a house is a house, but
when it melds with the life of its owners, then
(17:54):
it's a home. And so yeah, every house does have
some kind of story that it's telling. Poorly designed houses
or houses that have been abused design wise have trouble
telling that story. And it's a very fractured story. And
I wouldn't say it's a good story. It's a confused,
chaotic kind of story, at least on certain levels. And
(18:16):
what we want to do is we want to tell
that story better. And so yeah, of course every house
has a personality, not in the spiritual sense, but hopefully
the personality that the house radiates is simply kind of
a maybe an amplifier. The house becomes an amplifier of
the personalities of the people who are living within it.
Speaker 2 (18:38):
Okay, so it's you know, that's that's the thing. I
always use.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
The the metaphor of tailoring as a simple way to
talk about what custom really is, because a lot of
people think custom is luxury, and that's a whole other subject.
But I just want the house tailored to you so
that it really fits, and that's it. It turns out, well,
this is a you know, when I first got into design,
(19:03):
I kind of assumed that's what every designer did, that's
what all architects work on. And turns out it's not
all that common. Uh, you know, especially architects. You know,
there's a lot of schooling and you come out thinking
or being pushed for a long time find your find
you Well, you knew this as a as an art
(19:26):
student at Art Center in Pasadena, right for all those
years that you were there going to school, all of
your professors are pushing you find your style, find your look,
find your thing right, and you spend all that money
and all that time studying in school, and then you
get out and guess what you want to communicate your look.
And there's just a lot of designers who are who
(19:49):
are out there, and I take nothing off them for this.
And you know, if you can make your living by
kind of pushing your look out into the world, hey
good on you. But me, I'm far more interested in
getting under the skin of people who live in a
structure and finding out what look the structure should take
(20:12):
on because of who they are, not because of who
I am. So if I have a formula, it's more
it's not a formulaic look because we I mean, any style,
I love it. I mean even the more unfamiliar that
I am with a particular style, which there aren't many
of these days. But the more unfamiliar I am, the
better it is, as far as I'm concerned, because I
get to dive in and dig it up. So I
(20:34):
don't have a style that I'm pushing, but I do
have a process. And the process is, you know, figuring
out who you are. I guess, so yeah, house personality, yeah,
I not in these spirits. Again, I don't whisper to houses.
They do talk to me though. But what that means
is that a house has things to communicate if you
(20:58):
look at it architecturally, if you look at it structurally,
if you and and I think one of the things
that where people have been failed by designers that they've
brought out in the past, uh is the designer doesn't
look long enough and hard enough until you actually see it.
Speaker 3 (21:14):
And I think also too, and often this happens when
we go to consults and talk with different clients. But
when you walk into a house and they talk about
having other people come and see it, they they it's
(21:36):
like the tail wags the dog, and so like they say,
I really hate my kitchen.
Speaker 4 (21:40):
I want to do something different kitchen.
Speaker 3 (21:42):
So instead of looking at the overall design of the
house and the flow of the house and and maybe
what's really bothering them, they say, Okay, we can.
Speaker 4 (21:51):
We can, we can redo your kids.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
Yeah, yeah, we say that all the time. The tail
wags the dog. You know, like you, you are convinced
that you need a bigger kitchen. So when the design
shows up, that's what you say, I need a bigger kitchen.
And way too many designers just say okay and go
without actually saying, but do you right or.
Speaker 3 (22:11):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (22:11):
And I'm not challenging that. I'm not challenging. I'm not
saying that somebody's wrong about that. I'm simply making sure
that they're right about it. That's all. You know what,
We got to go to break. We'll come back and
do some more of this. It is the House Whisper
listener interview. You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp. The
House Whisper.
Speaker 5 (22:32):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
Six forty, here to tell you that every home deserves
great design, including yours, especially yours, especially your home. Of
course it does. Your life deserves great design, Your home
deserves great design. That's what we're here to help you
do every single week. We're going to be coming to
the phones in just a bit actually, after this next break.
(22:58):
So if you've got a question of your home, whatever's
got you scratching your head, give me a call eight
three three two. Ask Dean eight three to three. The
numeral two Ask Dean. That's the number to reach me.
Anything you want to talk about. I'll tell you what
we're talking about today. We hardly ever do this once
a year. We gather together some of the more personal
listener questions that come in, and you know, Tina thought
(23:20):
it would be a good idea. You can blame her
if today's show sucks. No, I don't blame her, blame
her for nothing. But anyway, Tina is here as she
always is, and she is kind of acting as a
proxy for listener questions on the more personal side of things.
We gather them together so we don't spread them out
(23:42):
throughout the year. And today is the day, so it
is the House Whisper listener interview and back to you,
my dear.
Speaker 3 (23:49):
Okay, what is what are the biggest and the smallest houses.
Speaker 4 (23:54):
You ever worked on?
Speaker 2 (23:56):
Complete?
Speaker 4 (23:58):
Maybe just square footage, I'm assume.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
Yeah, biggest house thirty two thousand, four hundred and sixty
seven square feet.
Speaker 4 (24:07):
That's very specific.
Speaker 1 (24:08):
Well, you know what, that's a four year project. You
don't forget, you know, take when you invest that much
time into something that goes that long. You remember I
might have been wrong about the last number there forty
two and yeah maybe it was six.
Speaker 4 (24:24):
We'll forgive you. On those little square feet, the.
Speaker 1 (24:27):
Smallest, the smallest that I would say, you know, it's well,
there are quite a few.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
I mean, we've designed eight us.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
I think technically the smallest complete one is about just
a little over four hundred square feet.
Speaker 2 (24:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:42):
Yeah, so four hundred square feet thirty two thousand square feet.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
There you go.
Speaker 4 (24:45):
Okay, here's a fun one. Do you remember the first
house you ever worked on? Obviously?
Speaker 1 (24:49):
Oh heck, yeah, yeah, oh heck. It was very memorable.
It was one of those I don't know if you
want to call it fate or kismet or whatever, but
I was a young framing apprentice. I just got a
job with this framing company, not knowing where. I didn't
even know. I mean, I was fortunate and happy that
they hired me. I didn't know what they did where.
(25:13):
Turns out they only build, you know, luxury estates. They
you know, for general contractors who were in developing those
kinds of things. So the very first house that I
ever worked on as a construction worker professionally was Kareem
Abdul Jabbar's house in bel Air. It was the late eighties.
(25:33):
Kareem's house had burnt down. I don't know if everybody,
if you followed Kareem back in the day, you would
know this. His house burnt down in bel Air and
so so it was a big news story back then.
And he bought another property on Stone Canyon in bell
Air and that house was being built when I so,
(25:54):
I carried plywood for days. This was long before they
put a tool bag on me or trusted me with
a hammer. I carried plywood for days at Kareem's house.
That was quite an experience and my career just kind
of took off from there, and I never actually left
the high end zone from design as well, And so
it was a very fortunate It was a very fortunate movie.
(26:15):
I had no idea the significance of getting hooked up
with that company at that time, but there you go.
Speaker 2 (26:22):
All right, we're up against a break.
Speaker 1 (26:23):
When we come back, we're gonna take some calls and
then we'll get back to the House Whisper Interview. You
are Home with Dean Sharp, the House Whisper. 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
(26:45):
demand on the iHeartRadio app
KFI AM six forty. You're listening to Dean Sharp, the
house Whisper on demand on the iHeartRadio app. This is
Dean Sharp, the house Whisperer, custom home builder, custom home designer,
and of course every weekend your guide to better understanding
that place where you live. What is our message, It's
(00:21):
very simple. Every home has a path forward. Once you
see it, everything changes. I kid you not, that is
the goal. Once you see the path forward, everything about
your home can change. And I'm here to help you
find it every week today on the show, a little
bit different show, a little more intimate show. I hope
(00:42):
you're in the mood for a little bit of an
intimate relationship today, because that's what is scheduled for today's show.
We get, as you could well imagine, a lot of
emails and you know, social media questions, just a lot
of input from listeners throughout the year, most of which,
(01:04):
of course questions your questions about what's going on with
your home. People who tried to call but couldn't get through,
and so they write me and they want their question
answered that way.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
So selfish, No, I'm just kidding.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
But we also get our fair share of listener questions
just about us and about the situation, like what is
this whole house whisper thing? And you know, I don't
spend a lot of time talking about me in that regard,
and which is very good, I think, but they pile up,
(01:41):
and so what we've decided to do last two or
three years is we just kind of gather them up
through the out the course of the year, and sometime
in the fall we will put together those questions that
are essentially a listener interview show. And that's what we
(02:01):
got going today. Tina, of course, is sitting here. I'm
going to introduce her early. Good morning, my friend, Good morning,
Tina's here, and she's going to play the role of
the listener proxy today and ask questions as we go
through the show. So the theme of the show today
is finding out a little bit more about what it
(02:24):
means to house whisper, some of the philosophies behind it,
some of the ideas behind it, and some stuff from
my own personal life. I hope that's of interest to
you people. You know, bug us to talk more about
that kind of thing, and I resist, but here it is.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Here.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
It is on the nineteenth, Yeah, the nineteenth of October,
it is that happens, don't cuss, don't cuss, you were
about to.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
You're like, where the how did that happen?
Speaker 1 (02:55):
So anyway, and also, of course, you know we'll be
going to the phones as well. Okay, so it won't
all be that, but I'm hoping that you will enjoy
that today on the show. As far as the phone goes,
here's the number eight three three two. Ask Dean eight
three three the numeral two. Ask Dean eight three three two.
(03:18):
Ask Dean. Whatever has you scratch in your head about
your home design, construction, DIY, landscape inside outside.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
You know, I got you.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
We'll put our heads together, we will get it figured out,
whether it is an architectural and design issue or construction issue.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
Both of the people.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
Who live in my brain are awake and ready and
happy to help you out along the way today and
we will do that. We'll do that near the middle
of the show, like we tend to do on the
Big Show. And for those of you who are listening
on the podcast, of course, you know it's probably not
live Sunday morning right now because you're listening on the podcast,
But whenever it is, I hope you're enjoying it, and
(03:58):
we will. We're gonna have a great show today. Okay,
sitting across the table from me, like I said, my
design partner, my better half, my best friend in all
the world, Tina is here. Welcome home, there you go.
Are you already? Are you ready? With a bevy of.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
Yes, We've pulled together some listener questions. They're fun. I'm
actually looking over them right now.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
Okay, well, you know what, we have it a little time.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
We can just dive in if you want, if you
if you want to get started, or should I make
the announcement about the haunted?
Speaker 4 (04:27):
Make the announcement and then we'll just jump in after.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
The Okay, So I got a gift for you. I
don't know if you were listened to yesterday's program or
the previous episode on the podcast. But but but we
got a little special thing coming up and just a
little over a week now. It is it, It is
just a little over a week now. Let me pull
it up here. I'm gonna find it here. Where the heck.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
Did it go? Mmmmmmmmmmm mmmm? I catch you off guard?
You did?
Speaker 1 (04:55):
You totally caught me off guard? Oh here it is?
Are you looking for some grown up Halloween fund this
Halloween season, then you should consider this. On Monday night,
October twenty seventh. That's just a is that a week?
That is that's a week from tonight, I mean a
(05:16):
week from tomorrow night. I hope you'll join Tena and
I for a private VIP house Whisper ghost tour of
the historic Kellogg House, which is a one hundred and
twenty seven year old, custom built Victorian mansion located on
the beautiful grounds of the Heritage Museum of Orange County.
(05:37):
Space is limited, but for about twenty lucky listeners. Your
evening starts with an hour long meet and greet with
me and Tea out on the steps of the mansion.
Talk about anything you want. We can just sit there
and talk and shoot the breeze. And then afterwards we
will enter the Kellogg House for a ninety minute tour
(05:58):
to explore I'm.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
Going to turn that on.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
That's enough to explore it's architecture, it's history, and its hauntings.
Because yeah, now this is not a this is not
a scary house thing. This is not like the people
aren't dressed up to jump out and grab you and scary.
It's not that it's not that this is a legitimate
house with legitimate haunted history to it, and we're just
(06:22):
gonna be having fun with it. Will we return alive?
Yes we will, of course we will, and it will
be super fun. The Kellogg House Ghost Tours brought to
us courtesy of Haunted Orange County, Southern California's original and
largest ghost tour company. You can go to Haunted OC
for more info on all the things that they do,
and brought to you by our very own Brand Guard Vents,
(06:44):
protecting homes from fire with the finest emberproof vents made
and you find them at brand Guardvents dot com. So
here's how it works. We're gonna run to a break,
but our call screener is ready, and as soon as
I say go, they first caller that we pick up
(07:04):
for the Haunted Ghost Tour we'll win two tickets to
the Haunted Ghost Tour on Monday night, October twenty seventh.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
Are you good? Are you good? You happy about that?
All right?
Speaker 4 (07:14):
Stat ready?
Speaker 1 (07:15):
Get ready and go the number to reach me eight
three three two. Ask Dean eight three three The numeral
to ask Dean. You are listening to Home with Dean
Sharp The house Whispering.
Speaker 5 (07:29):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
kf I am six forty.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
Thank you for joining us on the program today. Glad
to have you here. It is an honor and a
privilege as always. All right, as we said, oh and
we've got a winner. I'll announce the name in uh
just a smidge here as soon as Nicky gives me
that that winning.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
Name or names.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
Zah, we're gonna be don't worry about that, everybody. We're
gonna be given away those two tickets to that ghost
tour every hour today and so you've got two more
chances to win today and then every hour of every
show next weekend as well. So there you go, plenty
of chances to win. Just stay on the ball and
(08:19):
you could get through and you might be the one
limited seating. That's not us, that's just the fact that
there's only so many people who can move through this
mansion all at the same time on the tour.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
So there we go.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
Okay, Well, a very special kind of house Whisper program today. Tina,
my best buddy in the world, has compiled a year's
worth of listener questions. Of course, she's added some of
them out because no one gets to know the color
of my underwear.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
But she has compiled.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
A set of house Whister listener questions that she's gonna
throw at me today, and so I hope you enjoy it.
And with that, I will hand it over to you,
my dear.
Speaker 3 (09:03):
Okay, I'm just gonna just surprise you with whatever I
start with.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
That would be surprising indeed, since I don't have anything
in front of me.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
So there you go.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
Okay, let's just start with the basics here. So where
did the label house Whisper come from?
Speaker 2 (09:19):
The label house with That's a good way.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
It's a good way to kind of start. Yeah, that's
a good way of putting it too. It was a
nickname that came We did not sit down you and
I and say hey, let's start a design business and
call it house Whisper. The design business actually was Sharp Design,
and it was a the umbrella business over it because
(09:41):
it was a design business almost solely oriented toward you know,
the state level homes and moving along just fine, by
the way, but there was this thing that kept happening
because we don't live in an estate home by far.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
We live in a little cottage. Well, that's what we
call it.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
Little house, little house, and always have and always will
as far as I can imagine. Unless you know, I
get hit in a car accident, my brain goes haywire,
and then I decide to you know.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
Oh, you know what, we should live in a mansion too.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
So because of that, because of our love for just
you know, kind of mainstream life, Americana life, and living
our little life. A lot of friends, a lot of
family members, a lot of friends of friends and friends
of friends of friends who knew what I did would say,
oh to their friends, they would say, listen, I know
(10:37):
you're frustrated with your house.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
I know that you've had.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
Two architects and four builders out and everybody shrugs their
shoulders or give advice that just wasn't working. And you know,
some people were just on the edge of like, well,
all right, I'm going to live here, but I'm just
given up. I've surrendered to the idea that it's never
going to be nice. Or literally they're thinking, we're thinking
about moving or or adding on and doubling the size
(11:02):
of the house to make this thing work. And so
one of these friends would say to them, listen, you
don't do anything yet until you talk to my friend Dean,
and they're like, have I not told you how many
people have been out here, including designers, And they would say, no,
you just you just really you really should just let
my friend Dean take a look at it. I'll call
(11:24):
him and ask him if he'll take a look, because
he's kind of like a house whisperer. And that's where
that nickname came from. And they would say, you know,
those troubled animals, those that regular trainers can't train, those
troubled horses or the dogs or whatever. You know, everybody
knows what a horse whisperer is kind of and a
(11:46):
dog whisper, and so somebody came up with that name
along the way, and it kind of just stuck. It
kind of kept getting applied to us as we would
walk into a house and like I say here on
the show every week, find the path, we would find
the path. I'd stare at it long enough until we
(12:07):
find the path. And you know, maybe I think there
are other questions about what it actually house whispering does,
but no, I'm not actually whispering to the house. Okay,
it's not you know, well, we can get into that
if you want to go there. But the point is
staring at it long enough, being in it long enough,
asking enough of the right questions to find the path.
And then a lot of people are like, oh my god,
(12:30):
I can't believe. I can't believe we have new hope
for this house now. And and so it's stuck, and
it stuck so long that at some point we decided,
you know what, maybe we should just add it to
our to our brand, add it and so we you know,
so we went out and added it to our brand.
And for in large part us having done that is
why we ended up on the radio. Because of that,
(12:53):
not because of Sharp design, but because of the House
Whisper brand.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
And that's that's another story. You know what.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
We're up against the clock. We're going to take quick break.
When we come back, Tina's going to have more questions
for me. We are doing the House Whisper listener interview today.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
You're Home with Dean Sharp, the House Whisper.
Speaker 5 (13:10):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
Thanks for joining us on the program. We are conducting
our annual once a year. We only do this once
a year. Our house whisper listener interview. That means that
we've compiled a little bit more personal questions that y'all
have written in and sent us or asked us along
(13:37):
the way, and Tina is firing them off to me
today and we'll see what happens. We'll see, we'll see
if we have any listeners when this is all said
and done. Because I don't consider myself the most exciting
interview e interview e that would be the thing.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
But nevertheless, here we are, so fire away, bud.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
Okay, So we just mentioned earlier that where we talked
about where the house whispers came from. So now I
want to ask you, like, do you believe every house
has a unique personality or spirit? So I'm kind of
stepping away from the do you talk to houses or
do you whisper to houses because clearly you don't.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
Well I don't know if it's clear to everybody.
Speaker 3 (14:23):
Yeah, but I think this will This is a better
I think this is a better answer.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
Okay, So what No, what was the question? Does every house?
Speaker 3 (14:30):
Do you believe that every house has a unique personality?
So I guess you could kind of touch on your approach,
but do they have.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
Well, yeah in a sense. Okay, So again, just to clarify,
and I know, if like somebody just started listening to
the show today and we're giving away we're giving away
tickets to a haunted house tour and they're like, I
don't even believe in haunted I don't even believe in ghosts.
What is this guy any whispers to houses? And okay,
just leep? All right, the haunted house thing is just
(14:59):
f okay. Around here, we believe in fun. So that's
what that's about.
Speaker 4 (15:04):
It's fun. It's fun season all.
Speaker 3 (15:07):
It's yes, and it has to do with beautiful architects.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
Oh yeah, this is a gorgeous custom home from eighteen
ninety eight, built custom by I mean, there's a fascinating
story where we won't get into, but that's the whole point.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
Of going on the story. Yes you will, Yes you will. Okay.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
So does every house have its own unique personality and spirit? Well,
I want to I want to steer clear of the
word spirit. I don't believe. And here's the thing there.
I don't know if the guy is still over there,
but for a long time, there was a there was
a guy in the UK that took on the moniker
(15:47):
house whisper, and he would actually come in and and
actually like generationally cleanse homes and things. You know what
I'm saying? That kind of like almost a I don't
want to say an exorcist, but like a yeah, like
a spirit healer for the memories in a house. That's
not anything I do. Okay, So if we're just using
the term spirit or personality in the the loosest possible sense, sure,
(16:13):
what I prefer to say is that every home has
a distinct story and some or maybe I should even
say this, every home home should have a very distinct
story that it tells. And that's really what we're doing.
We're in the storytelling business. That's what a good architect
(16:36):
and or designer is all about. That's what creatives are
all about. We're all about telling those stories. And so
my concern as a designer coming into the home is
to really listen to the owners, really get to know
what they're about, really get to know how they want
(16:58):
to live in the house, how they do live the house,
how they you know, aspirationally would ultimately like the house
to improve. And everybody has their own ideas about that,
and I always listen very carefully to what those ideas are,
But mostly what I want to get to is the
why behind. You know, why we do this when we
get up in the morning in this house, and why
(17:18):
we do that in the evening and so on. And
I just want to make sure the house number one
is not in the way of what they're trying to do,
and that the house actually reflects their story, because what
I really believe in is not houses.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
I believe in people.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
I believe in people, and I believe in in this
This ancient I mean ancient since the beginning of our species.
Desire ingrain deep in human nature to live securely in
a safe abode. And a house is a house, but
when it melds with the life of its owners, then
(17:54):
it's a home. And so yeah, every house does have
some kind of story that it's telling. Poorly designed houses
or houses that have been abused design wise have trouble
telling that story. And it's a very fractured story. And
I wouldn't say it's a good story. It's a confused,
chaotic kind of story, at least on certain levels. And
(18:16):
what we want to do is we want to tell
that story better. And so yeah, of course every house
has a personality, not in the spiritual sense, but hopefully
the personality that the house radiates is simply kind of
a maybe an amplifier. The house becomes an amplifier of
the personalities of the people who are living within it.
Speaker 2 (18:38):
Okay, so it's you know, that's that's the thing. I
always use.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
The the metaphor of tailoring as a simple way to
talk about what custom really is, because a lot of
people think custom is luxury, and that's a whole other subject.
But I just want the house tailored to you so
that it really fits, and that's it. It turns out, well,
this is a you know, when I first got into design,
(19:03):
I kind of assumed that's what every designer did, that's
what all architects work on. And turns out it's not
all that common. Uh, you know, especially architects. You know,
there's a lot of schooling and you come out thinking
or being pushed for a long time find your find
you Well, you knew this as a as an art
(19:26):
student at Art Center in Pasadena, right for all those
years that you were there going to school, all of
your professors are pushing you find your style, find your look,
find your thing right, and you spend all that money
and all that time studying in school, and then you
get out and guess what you want to communicate your look.
And there's just a lot of designers who are who
(19:49):
are out there, and I take nothing off them for this.
And you know, if you can make your living by
kind of pushing your look out into the world, hey
good on you. But me, I'm far more interested in
getting under the skin of people who live in a
structure and finding out what look the structure should take
(20:12):
on because of who they are, not because of who
I am. So if I have a formula, it's more
it's not a formulaic look because we I mean, any style,
I love it. I mean even the more unfamiliar that
I am with a particular style, which there aren't many
of these days. But the more unfamiliar I am, the
better it is, as far as I'm concerned, because I
get to dive in and dig it up. So I
(20:34):
don't have a style that I'm pushing, but I do
have a process. And the process is, you know, figuring
out who you are. I guess, so yeah, house personality, yeah,
I not in these spirits. Again, I don't whisper to houses.
They do talk to me though. But what that means
is that a house has things to communicate if you
(20:58):
look at it architecturally, if you look at it structurally,
if you and and I think one of the things
that where people have been failed by designers that they've
brought out in the past, uh is the designer doesn't
look long enough and hard enough until you actually see it.
Speaker 3 (21:14):
And I think also too, and often this happens when
we go to consults and talk with different clients. But
when you walk into a house and they talk about
having other people come and see it, they they it's
(21:36):
like the tail wags the dog, and so like they say,
I really hate my kitchen.
Speaker 4 (21:40):
I want to do something different kitchen.
Speaker 3 (21:42):
So instead of looking at the overall design of the
house and the flow of the house and and maybe
what's really bothering them, they say, Okay, we can.
Speaker 4 (21:51):
We can, we can redo your kids.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
Yeah, yeah, we say that all the time. The tail
wags the dog. You know, like you, you are convinced
that you need a bigger kitchen. So when the design
shows up, that's what you say, I need a bigger kitchen.
And way too many designers just say okay and go
without actually saying, but do you right or.
Speaker 3 (22:11):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (22:11):
And I'm not challenging that. I'm not challenging. I'm not
saying that somebody's wrong about that. I'm simply making sure
that they're right about it. That's all. You know what,
We got to go to break. We'll come back and
do some more of this. It is the House Whisper
listener interview. You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp. The
House Whisper.
Speaker 5 (22:32):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
Six forty, here to tell you that every home deserves
great design, including yours, especially yours, especially your home. Of
course it does. Your life deserves great design, Your home
deserves great design. That's what we're here to help you
do every single week. We're going to be coming to
the phones in just a bit actually, after this next break.
(22:58):
So if you've got a question of your home, whatever's
got you scratching your head, give me a call eight
three three two. Ask Dean eight three to three. The
numeral two Ask Dean. That's the number to reach me.
Anything you want to talk about. I'll tell you what
we're talking about today. We hardly ever do this once
a year. We gather together some of the more personal
listener questions that come in, and you know, Tina thought
(23:20):
it would be a good idea. You can blame her
if today's show sucks. No, I don't blame her, blame
her for nothing. But anyway, Tina is here as she
always is, and she is kind of acting as a
proxy for listener questions on the more personal side of things.
We gather them together so we don't spread them out
(23:42):
throughout the year. And today is the day, so it
is the House Whisper listener interview and back to you,
my dear.
Speaker 3 (23:49):
Okay, what is what are the biggest and the smallest houses.
Speaker 4 (23:54):
You ever worked on?
Speaker 2 (23:56):
Complete?
Speaker 4 (23:58):
Maybe just square footage, I'm assume.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
Yeah, biggest house thirty two thousand, four hundred and sixty
seven square feet.
Speaker 4 (24:07):
That's very specific.
Speaker 1 (24:08):
Well, you know what, that's a four year project. You
don't forget, you know, take when you invest that much
time into something that goes that long. You remember I
might have been wrong about the last number there forty
two and yeah maybe it was six.
Speaker 4 (24:24):
We'll forgive you. On those little square feet, the.
Speaker 1 (24:27):
Smallest, the smallest that I would say, you know, it's well,
there are quite a few.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
I mean, we've designed eight us.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
I think technically the smallest complete one is about just
a little over four hundred square feet.
Speaker 2 (24:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:42):
Yeah, so four hundred square feet thirty two thousand square feet.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
There you go.
Speaker 4 (24:45):
Okay, here's a fun one. Do you remember the first
house you ever worked on? Obviously?
Speaker 1 (24:49):
Oh heck, yeah, yeah, oh heck. It was very memorable.
It was one of those I don't know if you
want to call it fate or kismet or whatever, but
I was a young framing apprentice. I just got a
job with this framing company, not knowing where. I didn't
even know. I mean, I was fortunate and happy that
they hired me. I didn't know what they did where.
(25:13):
Turns out they only build, you know, luxury estates. They
you know, for general contractors who were in developing those
kinds of things. So the very first house that I
ever worked on as a construction worker professionally was Kareem
Abdul Jabbar's house in bel Air. It was the late eighties.
(25:33):
Kareem's house had burnt down. I don't know if everybody,
if you followed Kareem back in the day, you would
know this. His house burnt down in bel Air and
so so it was a big news story back then.
And he bought another property on Stone Canyon in bell
Air and that house was being built when I so,
(25:54):
I carried plywood for days. This was long before they
put a tool bag on me or trusted me with
a hammer. I carried plywood for days at Kareem's house.
That was quite an experience and my career just kind
of took off from there, and I never actually left
the high end zone from design as well, And so
it was a very fortunate It was a very fortunate movie.
(26:15):
I had no idea the significance of getting hooked up
with that company at that time, but there you go.
Speaker 2 (26:22):
All right, we're up against a break.
Speaker 1 (26:23):
When we come back, we're gonna take some calls and
then we'll get back to the House Whisper Interview. You
are Home with Dean Sharp, the House Whisper. 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
(26:45):
demand on the iHeartRadio app
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