Ep 091 Interior Design for the Exterior Space with Designer Susan Semmelmann

Episode Transcript
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(00:02):
Welcome to Luxury Outdoor LivingPodcast with Mike and Trey
Farley of Farley Pool Designs.
For over 40 years, we've helpedhomeowners turn their backyards
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(00:24):
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(00:45):
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(01:17):
Good afternoon everybody.
This is Mike Farley fromLuxury Outdoor Living Podcasts
hosted by Farley Pool Designs.
And me and Trey have aawesome guest here today.
Oh yeah.
And that, really, we're gonna takeyou on a journey from inside to
out and outside to end and lookat everything and how it works.
So welcome to the show today, Susan.

(01:37):
your bio is amazing and there's all kindsof things in here and I'd probably, if
I tried to read this, would butcher it.
So I'm just gonna ask you to tell theaudience a little bit about yourself.
tell everybody where you areand what your name is and Some
interesting things about you.
Okay.
Well, my name is Susan Ziman and Iam the founder of Cyman Interiors.

(01:58):
And we are located in FortWorth, but we service the whole
Dallas-Fort Worth area and out more.
we are really expanding our territoryacross Texas and then of course,
outta state depending on the buyer.
I launched my brand six years ago in 2019.
I have been in the interior design in theconstruction industry for quite some time.

(02:21):
when I launched my own brand six yearsago, I started with just a handful of
employees and we started in a very small10 by 10 little concrete room, it's kind
of the heartbeat of where it all started.
it was definitely a calling that I had.
I had a vision in 2017 and I reallyquestioned if it was a real vision

(02:43):
and, was what God was calling me to do?
we know today it was, but in 2019,I followed that call and it's
why we live by the motto, thespirit of living is in the giving.
I went out on my own and I didn'treally know what the future held.
I just knew I had a great passion forservicing and wanted to have fulfillment

(03:04):
in life and be able to be generousand do the things that I wanted to do.
I was about to be an empty nester,and so I said, alright, let's
go, let's be a radical creator.
And if I had one or two clients,that was gonna be great.
Well, God had a bigger story for me.
Totally.
So within the first 30 days, we gotour first job, and I remember walking

(03:27):
in my office and I told everyone,I'm like, I got my first check,
it's $1,200, and then I can pay you.
And so as we full throttled ahead, thatvery first year was a phenomenal year.
We ended up in about 30 days.
We already had 11 clients, andthen by the end of the year was 30.
Fast forward today, wehave about 30 employees.

(03:49):
I have three facilities, and weservice about a hundred jobs a year.
And so it's been a miraculous story andI love being a mission-driven messenger,
as they say sharing my hope and my faith.
It's definitely my testimony ofwhat rooted my passion for design.
And so that's where I am today.

(04:11):
So did you start in Fort Worthor were you somewhere else?
Actually, it was Decatur, Texas.
So now I've been servicingFort Worth for a long time.
I worked under a different companyname and when I went out on my own,
I had vision of being in Fort Worth,but we were actually in Decatur.
And so we had purchasedproperty on Vickery and that's

(04:32):
kind of where it started.
But actually it was my workroom wheremy lady sewed and we did manufacturing
there for drapery and bedding.
And my offices were all out of DecaturTexas, but we are fully in Fort Worth now.
Yeah, well, I know 'cause we wereright down the road in Denton.
So we are neighboring towns, the counties.
can you tell 'em what kindof facilities that you have?

(04:52):
'cause you have really somecool, you know, operations.
Other than just your design center.
Yeah, thank you very much.
So we built a 10,000 square footbeautiful showroom on Vickery.
It is absolutely gorgeous.
White marble floors, 60 chandeliers,and that's kind of the heartbeat of the
showroom of where we bring our clients in.
It is definitely a design centerand we call it a showroom.

(05:15):
We really don't move a product there.
We call it the Fort WorthDesign Studio, which is another
division of Seman Interiors.
It's a division to the publicas well as to the trade.
but we have the beautiful showroomthere where we're able to offer every
single line of furniture that there is.
We also carry all the major lightinglines and we're actually designing our

(05:36):
own lighting as we speak right now.
We have launched the SusanSimMan Couture collection.
And we have our own rugs now, wemanufacture our floral, obviously
drapery embedding we've done, butwe are now going all over the world
and we are milling our own fabrics.
So one of the inspirations for thatwas we wanted to create something

(05:58):
that had never been done before,and we're kind of known for that.
We like pushing that innovationand being that, as we say, radical
creators, but it's creating the unknown.
So my heart was to havean ethereal collection.
I wanted to do something thatreally resonated with nature.
Anything from God, it's a passion for me.

(06:20):
So we just launched our very own fabrics.
Tiger River.
The Tree of Life eternal Flame.
Unity.
There's a lot of different patternsthat are coming out and different
colors, but you're gonna be seeingthose everywhere in the world.
And we're very excited about that.
We also are designing ourown collection of lighting.
It's through a majorlighting manufacturer.

(06:42):
So we're real excited aboutthat introduction that's gonna
be coming out in two markets.
And then of course our own rug line.
And now we're currently workingwith a few manufacturers
developing our own furniture line.
That'll be the Susan ZimanCouture collection as well.
Wow, okay.
I didn't know all that.
So that's impressive.
And
next will be patio furniture.

(07:02):
Hey.
Yeah.
Well.
and that's the whole thing is, you know,inside to out has radically changed
over the last five years, I would say.
Even, the openness ofthe home to the outside.
We used to talk about, we had viewcorridors that you could look out.
'cause you had windows andyou had all these walls.
And today there's hardly any walls.

(07:23):
It's almost all windows.
And so the transformation from goingfrom inside to out is much more
seamless than it's ever been before.
Unless you go back to Swiss FamilyRobinson and the tree house.
But it's just so open.
And so I wanted to talk about how.
You can help people transition fromthe inside space to the outdoor space.

(07:44):
there's not a line thatyou stop at anymore.
It is all the same.
You know, I really lovethe play on words there.
When you talk about the inside out,it's bringing indoor, outdoor, but it's
actually bringing inside of you outside.
And so where do you find joy?
Where do you find life?
Where do you wanna make your memories?
Where do you entertain?
And in today's market, people are notreally focused as much as they were.

(08:09):
On the kitchens.
We're starting to do a lot of backkitchens now and things like that.
So the kitchen looks pretty right,but we're really focused on outdoors.
There are a lot of clients thatwill put their dollars more outdoor
than they will indoor becausethat's where they're gonna live.
It's where they wanna live.
Especially when you're raisingchildren or grandchildren or just
even entertaining with friends.

(08:31):
People wanna grill, they wanna be inthe pool, they wanna be in the hot tub.
You know, lots are evolving.
Water features.
How do they make you feel inside?
How does fire make you feel inside?
And so all of that, of course, you know,is coming from nature, which we love.
But we wanna really play onthat in our design process.
And so I love working with you'cause you're a phenomenal designer

(08:53):
that you see so far out of thebox, but it's what can we do that
really gives us the satisfaction?
Of being outdoor, as long as we canbe outdoor, because the minute you
go indoor, all of a sudden you feelconfinement and your day's kind of over.
You're like, I'm ready to wake up.
I wanna drink my coffee outside.

(09:14):
I wanna drink my wine at night outside.
I wanna drink my sparkling water.
It's where I wanna see mykids play or my grandkids.
So we're really focused on whatoutdoor living really looks like.
And it's so much more than just a patio.
Oh yeah.
there's a whole lifestylethat's out there.
And creating spaces for thatis, is what we find joy in.

(09:37):
and creating those memories for people inthose spaces is a really great situation.
so let me start with,it's not just a patio.
you have.
An outdoor space.
Most people, the first thingthey think of is furniture.
you know, where we're gonna gather andsit around and all those type of things.
How has furniture changed in the lastfive years that you can, let us know

(10:02):
some things to be open about, or, youknow, how a homeowner might research,
how, to have a nicely furnished space.
Well, there's a reason you'remaking furniture now 'cause there's
obviously something you didn'tsee out there that you wanted.
absolutely.
And it is one of the reasonswhy we do want to create our
own outdoor line as well.
However, there is more resourcesavailable today than there ever has been.

(10:25):
used to the word outdoor furniturewas more of, well, you know,
it looks like patio furniture.
And it wasn't really getting afull launch of a positive Outcome.
Now, outdoor furniture there'sa plethora of resources for it.
But one of the things that's reallycool is now you can pick your finishes.

(10:46):
Now you can pick your arms, your legs,your styled, you want to swivel, you
want to rock, you want to recline.
They have outdoor furniture now.
I mean, we're doing sectionals, fullyupholstered that we would not know was.
Any different than whatyou would have indoor.
Now regions has a lot to do withthis as well as weather temperatures.
And so we wanna be sensitive to that.

(11:07):
You know, obviously if you're ona lake, you're gonna, you know, or
especially in Texas we've got more dirtthan obviously places in Florida or
California when they're, you know, theycan eat on their travertine outside, you
know, it's just absolutely beautiful.
but we are able to offer justunbelievable fabric options as well.
So now patio furniture becomea term of a really positive

(11:31):
outlook to interior design.
And so I guess in exterior design, Iguess now I wouldn't be interior anymore.
Would it be exterior?
I like that.
Okay.
I'm an exterior designer.
You're a designer, so I'm just a designer.
Okay.
Interior, exterior, whatever.
But anyway, it's crazy.
and another thing is that, We are evenputting outdoor furniture, fabrics,

(11:52):
as they say, performance fabrics.
We're even doing those indoor, sowhen you say there's no threshold for
indoor outdoor, there really isn't.
Not to mention the materials now.
So we're very focused on leveling on thefoundation that when you open those a
lot of people do the sliding glass doorsand then a lot of people do the French
doors as well, or windows are great, butwe're really focused on that threshold

(12:15):
that when you cross that if it's not thesame material, it's at least the same
height, but that you really don't getthe feeling that you've walked outside.
You want the feeling that you're outside,inside with the doors open as well.
So there's a lot of things
I'm wondering when you're not matchingexactly, and you have some contrast
between the material inside andoutside, is there any like I don't

(12:36):
know, strategy you use with that?
Well, absolutely, because now to yourpoint, with a lot of the architectural
design, the outdoors is the focal point.
Mm-hmm.
And it's the feature, so youcan see the outdoors right
when you walk in the entrance.
And so you don't wanna have thisbeautiful aesthetic of all these.
Gorgeous furniture, interiorpieces, and look outdoor and go,
Ooh, wow, they just killed it withpurple, mustard, orange, whatever.

(12:59):
You know?
So in other words, we absolutelycompliment the outdoor through
the indoor for the mere fact thatyou can see it on the interiors.
Now, we do love the architectural phase sothat we can get involved with that early
on, because we wanna be very strategic asto where the furniture actually is placed.
One lifestyle is really important here.
How do you live?

(13:20):
but we're very aware and very cognizant.
We're very attention to the detail.
But we don't wanna see a diningtable on an interior with a dining
table on an exterior back to back.
you're laughing becauseyou see it a lot, right?
And so same with the sofas or thechairs or the conversation areas.
You'll see a conversation arearight there on the interior.

(13:42):
But then on the, out outside, theyreally didn't have another option.
And so if we can get involved in thearchitectural phase of the job, we like to
go ahead and lay all of that out upfront.
And then that way they getthe best of both worlds.
And we have time to actually design andchange and make sure that we're not being
repetitive or redundant in our layout.

(14:03):
So it's basically you're flowingfrom one room to the other.
You're not going inside to outside.
It is just, you know, likeyou're moving through a space.
so all the spaces compliment each other.
So one of the questions I was gonna askis when's it ideally, typically best for
a client to bring you into a project?
Our ideal situation is if we get todo it from the architectural phase.

(14:27):
If we're involved in the architecturalplans, then we're looking from the
inside out as well as the outside in.
And it's so much more for usthan just sticks and bricks.
We are really looking at a lot of detailsthat really we already see the outcome.
And we already know the outcomewhen we're doing that plan.

(14:47):
So we're very aware of, youknow, making sure that your
windows, are they placed properly?
Is the headboard wall, an area whereyou don't have to have windows?
Now sometimes there's an egresssituation and things like that that you
can't really get around based on yourlot in capacity and things like that.
But if we can, and we have an idealdesign layout, we wanna always be
looking from the inside out of whatthat looks in the finished product.

(15:10):
We go all the way down to lighting.
I mean, we're very particularabout lighting and artwork and
placements with things like that.
And so we don't wanna look down ahallway and see a door or a linen
cabinet or things like that, thattruly, you want it to be an event.
And to your point, even withoutdoor, it is an event.
And we don't look at one areain the house as if it serves

(15:34):
a greater than another area.
And one of the things that we do love whenwe're designing is we wanna be very acute.
I would say that I wanna knowexactly what that looks like coming
in from that angle as well asthat angle because it all matters.
So it's like there's justnot one area, but all areas.

(15:55):
So one thing that we do withthat as well on the outside is
we 3D model a lot of things.
Do you do that as well?
We in-house that service, it is justan incredible way to communicate our
clients now they wanna see the end result.
You know, it's kinda like a analogy ofwhen, you know, used to, nobody found
out if you were having a boy or a girl.

(16:15):
It was like the big reveal.
But now everyone goes and findsout it's kinda the same thing.
You just can't wait.
You gotta know what it looks like.
And so that's what we'redoing now in interior design.
We are literally showing themexactly what's gonna look
like our rendering capability.
You don't even know that it's a rendering.
I mean, you just don't even know.
So we've got a staff that does that.
And so lots of different plugins, lotsof different creative talents for that.

(16:39):
And I tell a lot of people thatare, you know, wanting to come
and find employment with us.
that's a critical factor there thatthey're saying, how could I, what
do I need to do to get the job?
But I tell all of them, I said,you need to learn how to do that.
'cause that's a really great skillset.
Yeah, 100%.
Is there something that, this probablygoes for both of y'all with the design
process you wish a homeowner wouldunderstand before they started with you.

(17:02):
Is there anything in particular?
There's a list of things.
Oh, I bet.
Where do you start?
I think the first thing is.
Knowing that it's not a perfect process.
I think that you just really can't controleverything, and so you'll get going and
what I love is working with clients.
We're strong communicators.

(17:23):
We've been doing this a long time,so we don't sugarcoat things, and
especially when it comes to budgets.
And so we wanna make sure that we'rereally transparent in our communication
of what their expectations are.
If they believe that they've got Xamount of dollars and that is their end
goal, is the budget, then the budgethas to control what the materials are.

(17:44):
Mm-hmm.
If their end goal is they want the bestresult they can from an aesthetic, and
they're open to increasing the budget,then they're probably going to get more.
Out of the experience, but youknow, obviously we have to be
respectful of dollars all the time.
And that's their call, not ours.
Mm-hmm.
But we wanna make sure that we aredelivering to them expectations because

(18:07):
what's happening, and especiallywith ai, is these fabulous things
are being created, but the end of theday, did that really fit your budget?
Was it really something that you could do?
Yeah.
And so I think that's just thatstrong communication upfront.
We're not a fit for everyone.
And we know this because we'rereally direct communicators.

(18:28):
one, we have a heart forservice and we love that.
And we love the people and welove the relationship, but we're
really experienced in what we do.
And so we're not gonna promise yousomething if we can't deliver it,
or we don't believe that it is adeliverable that's gonna happen.
Yeah, no.
It's funny that you bring up the ai, Ithink it was yesterday I was on Instagram
just scrolling reels, looking at whatwas popular, and there was this app that

(18:51):
popped up and you could take a picture ofyour backyard and it would like remodel
it with ai, but then it remodeled like itneighbor's house and change the, like the
house structure and everything like that.
It was, I thought it was hilarious.
no, it's so true.
So the goal here is bringingyou in as early as possible.
And so with the architecturaldevelopment, especially if someone's

(19:13):
doing a new home, it would be ideal.
And so many of our projects aswell, I mean, people are like, so
when are you gonna do that one?
And I'm like, well, we got brought in,it'll probably be about three years
before we start the construction.
'cause some of them, it's a long process.
But great thing is we got brought inat the beginning and so we can have.

(19:34):
Input on those type of things, and thenwe can collaborate with the whole team
and come up with an ideal solution.
Now do you do projectsthat aren't for new homes?
That are existing homes as well?
Yes, and I was gonna say that theideal situation would be to come in,
in the architectural phase, but wea lot of times are brought in after
they've chosen their builder and theconstruction even sometimes has already

(19:55):
started and they're like, okay, I didn'trealize this was gonna be as hard as
it is and I need an interior designer.
So.
Mm-hmm.
we're happy to jump in really at any time.
You know, we were just saying what aperfect world would be, but as long as
we can get those plans and be able to beon the front end, that also sets better
expectations as well for timelines.
Not being hired at the last minute andsaying, well, my builder needed all the

(20:19):
appliance and plumbing picked yesterday.
You know, can you getthis Monday kind of thing.
so there's that.
but definitely on the remodel, you know,that is very area specific I should say.
Because depending on where you are,there's a lot of older neighborhoods
in Dallas and Fort Worth as well.
and around that they're havingto bulldoze homes down and
rebuild or they're renovating.

(20:40):
And so we love renovating.
I mean, it's always fun to see change.
We really push the envelopebecause we don't believe that
you have to be restricted.
And I know that you are restrictedin a remodel versus a new build.
But we really try to push thatenvelope to try to get the
ultimate result out of that.
I'm wondering, do you design morewith emotion first or like how it

(21:03):
should feel, or do you think that thefunction of the layout comes first?
Like what's your designphilosophy a little bit?
Absolutely.
The emotion of it.
Okay, perfect.
So, yes you know, we pride ourselveson that we wanna design the unknown.
And so the only way you can designthe unknown is to make sure you're
continually doing something different.
And so the only way you can do somethingdifferent is to really be creative and get

(21:25):
out of the box and you gotta go and yougotta, you gotta find that in your head.
We are not really goodat finding concepts.
A lot of our clients will say,well, can you give me like an idea,
like concepts of what you see?
Mm-hmm.
I'm like.
I can, but that's someone else's work.
We wanna make sure we're doingsomething that's different

(21:47):
that hasn't been done before.
So it's up here.
Yeah, it's unique.
Unique.
It's
not a template.
Exactly.
Which is why we are glad wehave the rendering capability.
Because we are able to create thatand then show them for the first time.
Okay.
Wow.
That was something thatwas really, really cool.
how do you go about gettingthose resources or knowing
those resources are available?
I know when I first started.

(22:08):
I used to go up to Barnes and Noblesand flip through magazines 'cause
I couldn't afford to buy 'em all.
And my wife would belike, what are you doing?
And I'm like, I'm justtrying to see things.
'Cause the more stuff that'sin my head, the more creative I
can be and pull all these thingstogether and create something.
how do you and your teamget that information?
Well, that is just aGod-given talent, you know?

(22:29):
You gotta be able to see it.
Well, yes.
and so, you know, when you comeon with Siman Interiors, you know,
we've got really, really hard.
And so one of the things is you'vegotta be able to think outside that box.
You've gotta be able to see it.
You've gotta be able to be creative andcome up with something that's different.
And so it's just about designing.
get your pen and paper out and startcharting, start doing something.

(22:52):
Materials are something that I love.
I think it's really funny, but I'llgo into somewhere and they're like,
oh my gosh, the fireplace lady's here.
And so I didn't know I wasknown as a fireplace lady.
Yeah.
But apparently I'm knownas a fireplace lady.
And so I like that.
But anyway, people would say, how did youput a countertop material on a fireplace?

(23:14):
And so that was kind of a joke about it.
'cause apparently I saidthat on a. Interview.
I said, oh, I put countertopmaterial on a fireplace.
I'm like, instead of saying, well,no, you put slab on a fireplace.
I'm like, okay, well, youknow, I'm from buoy, so whatcha
supposed to say there anyway.
But it was funny.
So yeah, so it's just making sure thatyou're creating something that you
see here and able to communicate it.
So we do a really thorough job.

(23:36):
We obviously have everyone on mydesign firm, for the most part in
the design department does cad.
And so we're able to cad it out,put all the dimensions there, and
that way we're the liaison for theclient to the builder to be able to
communicate and he can execute toget it done without a big stress.
Now we love working with the buildersbecause a lot of times we'll design

(23:57):
something and we just wanna make surethat the wall can support it the way the
ceiling, we do a lot of ceiling details.
We love lighting and thingslike that in multiples.
And so we just gotta make surethat in the framing stage it's
done properly for us to be able tosupport what we're about to innovate.
So do you guys go to market to look at allkinds of different fabrics and that type

(24:17):
of situation, new stuff that's coming out?
We do.
So the fabric market istwice a year and we do that.
there's international ones thatwe've been to that we love.
Once again, fabric is verysimilar to everything else.
you're only as good as your lastresource or what's available.
Even though there are more thingsavailable on patio furniture,

(24:38):
there's not necessarily alwaysthat much more available on
interior and especially fabrics.
The fabric industry is a cycle.
But that's one of the reasons whywe started creating our own fabrics
is because we wanted to createsomething that isn't out there.
I'm curious about howyou yourself learned.
'cause obviously if you come.
And you get a job with you and you havethis nice headquarters now, and you

(24:58):
probably have a bunch of materials thereand everything like that, but instead
of like going from every show floor inthe city, or maybe that's what you did,
how did you learn all the materials?
Because you can, the materials arewhat goes on top of the puzzle pieces
and you might think they work, butif you don't have the right material.
That puzzle piece is gonnago somewhere else, so
that is so true.
So years ago, my husband and Iso I graduated from TCU mm-hmm.

(25:23):
And I had an education degree andI wanted to be a school teacher.
My parents were both schoolteachers in the system for 42 years.
My dad was a high school football coach,and my mom was a special ed teacher.
And so that was all I really knew.
I did Student teaching.
And I realized very quickly, I'm like,I don't know, but I know one thing.
I respect teachers more than anybodycould ever in the whole world.

(25:45):
Oh yeah.
And my heart for them and my prayerfor them is that it will be one of
the highest income paid jobs somedaybecause they deserve it with all
the hard work that they have to do.
And so anyway, I'm a bigadvocate for educators of what
they endure in today's world.
But I knew very quickly I'm like,okay, I am gonna expand my territory.
So I did and became a flightattendant for American Airlines,

(26:06):
and I got based in New York.
That's cool.
and so that's kind of whereI flew three years there.
Flew back to Dallas.
I met my husband, we got marriedand he had this aspiration
that he wanted to be a builder.
And he's like, I've always likedthat, and it wasn't my idea.
I was like, okay.
so anyway, he wanted to do that, butthen he kept his full-time job in

(26:26):
healthcare where he would fly everySunday night out to Florida and fly back.
Every Thursday we had three littletoddler children and it was me.
I was the one that was meeting thestaking and the slab guy and laying
the rebar and the framer and tile.
And I'm like, wait, thiswas your aspiration.
I'm the one doing it.

(26:46):
And so anyway, that's kinda how it allstarted and that creative abilities
of just a school of hard knocks there.
Yeah.
But being able to putall the pieces together.
That's cool.
It's like an unconventional way ofgetting your feet into the industry.
Yes.
when you did that, there's a lot ofprocesses that people learn and like,
oh, this is how you're gonna do things,you know, but you don't think about why.
Was there any situation where yourealized, I can do this differently than

(27:10):
others that are already in the industry?
Absolutely.
So when we were building homes on areally small scale, I was helping people
that would ask me if I would help them.
Do their cabinets orpick their countertops.
And again, I didn't haveexperience in that area.
I just had a knack for it, or I didn'treally even think I had a knack for it.
they were saying that, they werelike, you need to help me with that.

(27:30):
So we'd put it all together andit just came very naturally.
And I had moved a lot.
And my dad, being a small town,football coach, we moved a lot.
So my experience in design at avery early age, was getting to
recreate my room every time we moved.
Mm-hmm.
And so as he was a school teacher inthe summers, we would go camping every

(27:52):
summer and we would travel all across usand we would look at beautiful estates.
He would, you know, pay our little ticketto get us in the door and we would go tour
these gorgeous, just beautiful estates andmentions and everything from city to city.
So I would look at that as a child all theway up through high school and just dream.

(28:13):
Wow, this is amazing.
I knew I would never livethat way, but they do.
You know, these arekings and queens, right?
and so I think that's kind of wherethat inspiration started of being
able to dream big at a very early age.
And then as I got started on my ownand doing it, it just seemed to fall
into place very naturally for me.
And what I love more than anything iswhen clients will say, don't judge me.

(28:39):
Don't look at my house, don't do that.
And I'm like, absolutely.
You wouldn't need meif you were good at it.
So I think everyone has their own knackand there's a calling for everyone.
So, you know, I'm a big supporter of thecommunity of everyone in interior design
because I think you're doing it becauseyou know you've got something to offer

(29:00):
someone and something that you can giveto someone that's unique in your own way.
And you didn't mention it inyour bio, but you give a lot.
I'm just gonna plug this in here.
So you do a lot of charitywork, a lot of Cinon design gave
away over a million dollars.
Wow.
You know, in the last several years, Iknow we're working together on, the St.

(29:23):
Jude House.
that is a special calling of yours isyou love to give to people, don't you?
I love to give.
You cannot out give the giver.
I'll just tell you that right now.
there's not a greater reward inlife than to be able to give.
And what it brings back is just theamount of fulfillment that you give when
you know you're helping somebody else.

(29:44):
We always say we wanna be a teamof helping others help others.
And the more you give, the more you giveback in a sense of just not monetary.
there's no price on what you geton the way that you feel when you
can help somebody else succeed.
And so we are very philanthropic.
I do love that the spiritof living is in the giving.
It was definitely rooted from that.
My husband had bone cancer in 2010.

(30:06):
To this date, he's still theonly survivor in the world.
And when you've gone through somethinglike that, it is life changing.
But when you're here on earth in a veryshort time that we are, the one thing that
you can do in the whole time that you'rehere is wake up every single day, breathe,
take a breath, know where you came from,and know you gotta give everything you

(30:28):
have back because you want that legacy inlife to know that you made an impact in
the world when the time that you're here.
Amen to that.
Mm-hmm.
We should have done that as the closing.
That was beautiful.
We've got some more good stuff coming up.
So
We are gonna take a break here for asecond and get into outdoor living.

(30:49):
So with outdoor living, we like togo to barbecue bits here we're gonna
share some information of everythingthat you may want to consider in
your outdoor living space as far asfeatures, especially for the kitchen.
Hope you enjoy this.

(36:58):
So I hope you enjoyed the barbecuebits that we just featured today, and
we'll have more coming up next week.
If there's something in particular thatyou're interested for, let us know and
we'll get back into the episode now.
outside, one of the thingsthat I know that you're known
for interior wise is artwork.

(37:19):
And that is something that I thinkis so underdone in the outside space.
Is taking art outside.
What's your thoughts on that?
I mean, nature's art
and so I, I'll
go there.
Yeah.
Oh my goodness.
I mean I love the landscaping designersbecause it's basically, it is art that

(37:42):
you're doing with God's creation andhow just creative can you get with that.
So I love that, as far as realart goes, it is temperature areas.
It all really depends on what'sreally gonna sustain on that.
But you can do a lot of architecturaldetails though, as long as materials are.
Weathered materials that canhandle moisture, humidity,

(38:05):
light, things like that.
There's a lot of great thingsthat you can do with it.
I've been asked recently to do a lotmore exterior stone in ways that are
more than just stucco brick and rock.
And so it's really making surethat are we pushing innovation?
Can we get really creative?

(38:26):
So we just designed a home that wewere able to put a natural stone
and cut it all on the exterior, andit just turned absolutely gorgeous.
So I also believe that that isartwork in itself to be able to
put that on the exterior as well.
What if someone has you on ateam and you're going to be

(38:47):
involved with the project?
What all can you helpwith on the outside space?
I mean, what would youlike to be involved in?
we talked about furniture, butbeyond that, where would you
like to help them in a system andcan collaborate in that process?
That is a great question.
It's really more of where I'm needed.
I love all aspects of design,interior, exterior, and all over.

(39:13):
I really will say that one of the thingsthat I've learned in my career is we
can't be all things all the time, andI really defer to the professionals.
And so it's someone like yourself,I mean, I don't know of better and.
would not come to you and try toone up a pool design over here.
I would love to collaborate with you.

(39:34):
I would love to bring innovation andthought processes, and we've done that.
Yeah.
Which has been fun.
But I really think that it's one ofthose things that you defer to the
people that are really good at, theydo, just like your team you have someone
that's strong in operations becausethey're, they're just born for it.
You have someone that's strong in design.
You have someone that's strong in sales,someone that's strong in marketing,

(39:55):
someone that's strong in finance,and so go to, to the professionals
to get the best of what they do.
I am a facilitator.
To make sure that I amgiving my client the best.
So if it's an area that they'll say,you know, can you help me with my pool?
Well, sure I can, but I knowsomeone to call or can you

(40:16):
help me with my landscaping?
But I'm always there for anyinnovation that they need me to do.
I think the one thing our strong suitis, is the fact that we do have an
eye for a lot of different things,but that comes from experience.
That's not something thatyou develop overnight.
That's something that you develop becauseyou've seen it for a really long time.

(40:37):
Yeah.
I've seen in several different meetingsthat we've been in and we've worked
with different interior designersthat have been brought from the, the
homeowner and usually the interiordesigner is relatively the closest person
to the homeowner, I think throughoutthe process, if it's a good one.
And you were asking, I think theinsight of interior designers sometimes.
Could even theoretically altermaybe some of the architectural

(40:58):
plans on how the homeowner feels.
So, have you worked with the homeownerand maybe the pool changed a little bit
or the architecture changed a little bitjust because it's like a team effort.
You know, the collaboration,
you're gonna get me in trouble.
Yes we do that all the time based on, youknow, we've got some architects that they
know our capabilities and we absolutelyhave the capabilities to do that.

(41:21):
We have a architect on staff as well,and again, we're very trained Here.
So we're able to take architecturalplans, red line, move walls, do
ceiling details do all those things.
Again, we try to reallycollaborate that way.
Yeah.
We wanna make sure that we're for thegreater good of all partnerships involved.
But to answer your question.
Anything that's on the interior sideof the home that we're not reinventing

(41:47):
wheels structurally is super easy forus in the capacity that we have and the
capabilities that we don't seem to getourselves as much in trouble with that.
But we can go in as long as thereis you know, areas for like the
roofing system, you know, joistsand, things like that that we can do.
Ceiling details, you know, a lot oftimes we're restricted and there's a

(42:11):
plate on it that we have a stoppingpoint and we can't go any further.
We'll have to drop ceilings ifthey want other details and they're
like, gosh, I wish I would've hadyou in my architectural phase.
Mm-hmm.
Which is why we say that.
But yes, we don't love playing walls,so we'll go in a house and we will
find a way to be creative on anythingthat you will let us be creative on.
Yeah.
Within boundaries, of course.
Yeah.
But.
But to answer your question, yes,we have that capability of of being

(42:34):
able to do pretty much anything.
Well, at the end of the day, we're allprofessionals try to help that customer.
It's their journey.
And I think if there's a good idea,usually when you have a lot of
people that collaborate really wellwith each other, they're like, eh.
It doesn't matter who it came from.
That's right.
They're gonna like it.
Yeah.
Exactly.
And we are all about partnerships.
We love collaboration.
There's no ego here.
If it's your idea, we wantpeople to know it's your idea.

(42:55):
We love that.
One of the things that we'resuper proud of in our partnerships
is our vendor relationships.
We want people to knowwhere the product came from.
love that.
Elevating people is somethingthat is super huge in the industry
because helping others help others.
But if you can showcase and share yourresources with other people, it is only

(43:17):
going to make the outcome better allthe way around because it just brings
in more people to the pie to be ableto be a part of the whole process.
And true craftsmen are so,so proud of their work.
And so it's really great whenyou have a team of people.
That you work with and you can honor them.
And what they put into it,I think is always is great.

(43:40):
And sometimes what's so hard issome of them never see the end
result of what they helped create.
They do a critical part of it,but they don't understand it.
And so over my career,I've tried to get to know.
Who some of these people areand share with them later on,
Hey, here's the end result.
You know, when we did a photoshoot, here's what it looks like.
it helps.
Some of 'em are now on social media too.

(44:02):
And so they get to see stuff andthey're like, wow, that's amazing.
'cause I remember when I did thatone piece, you know, and now we
see how it all goes together.
But, you know, it's great whenyou have a great team of people.
It is.
And we love vendor spotlights for thatyou know, the heartbeat of the home.
Like you said, there's a lot of thingsthat go into the home that are not seen.
And so we want those peopleto be able to get that plug.

(44:25):
one of the things, we justfinished the dream home for the
Fort Worth Magazine dream Home.
And I told every one of my employees,I said, I know y'all don't all like
being on video, and I understandthat, but I want to get you on our
stories because I want everyone toknow what was it about this home.
That was your favorite part, whetherit was installing drapery, installing

(44:48):
art, moving furniture, buildingfloral, making the drapery or the
pillows or you know, getting the rugs.
But to your point, it'severyone that brought that
together to get that end result.
Yeah.
is there any details, this is forboth of y'all that y'all love y'all go
crazy about, but maybe the homeownerstypically overlook, like it's not the

(45:11):
biggest shiniest thing in the store.
Oh, lots of projects are aboutall the little details That,
make a collaborative whole.
But just, I can't thinkof anything specific.
but I'm sure you can.
Well, one of the areas that Ireally like is the framing stage.
Okay.
And I know that people are sensitiveto budget and there's always the
change orders or things like that.

(45:32):
But when you walk through a home, onceit's framed, now we can see on the plans.
Mm-hmm.
But when you're walking through in theframing stage, you see such opportunity,
you're like, okay, we could do this inthat wall, or we could do that in that
ceiling, or just take it next level.
And so that is an area that isprobably one of my very favorite

(45:52):
areas of construction is the framingstage, because there is just endless
opportunity to be creative at that time.
Again, you know, it's one of thosethings of, well, I thought my
framing was gonna be this, but.
Now it's this because youjust opened your room.
Yeah.
Well the cool thing is they canpicture their house at that point.
Mm-hmm.

(46:12):
Versus I mean, there's some people you canshow 'em as many 3D models and 3D modeling
is tremendous help for a lot of people.
But when you walk it and now you'rein the space itself, it's different.
that's at the point they can, I think,first understand what's actually going
on and how all this goes together.

(46:33):
And so, yeah, that's a great timeto interject and help people with
their visions that they can'tclearly understand before then.
Well, and another area for us is a lotof times people feel like there's a
process to construction that you've gottastart with X, Y, and Z and build all
the way up to your interior furnishings.
It's actually the opposite for us,and we can't stress this enough.

(46:57):
They're like, well, I'm notready for my furnishing yet.
And I'm like, you can't go buy the copyand paste cookie cutter outfit here
because you're gonna miss the floor plug.
You've gotta know exactlywhat you're doing up front so
that that outcome is perfect.
And here's a great examplethat just happened.
So the client, they said,let's just do that later.

(47:17):
Let's get the constructionpart done first.
And then what happened is shefell in love with the sofa.
She had to have the sofa, and weshowed her on the plans and we're
like, it's too close to your fireplace.
Had we been involved and you wanted that,we could have moved that back just six
inches and she would've had enough room.
And so those are the thingsthat we know that upfront,
and we can't stress it enough.

(47:39):
But can't make a horse drink waterthat they're not ready to drink.
Right?
So anyway, it is part of theprocess that we definitely wanna
stress upfront that we are a whole.
Process, not just an A to Zas it comes along process.
Oh yeah.
'cause even outdoor furniture, the sizeof some pieces versus, I mean, there's

(48:01):
a tremendous size variation today.
It used to be they were all basically thesame exact size and now you've got pieces
that are extremely large and you havesome that are extremely sleek and modern.
And so you can't plug just a standardthing in there and have it all work.
it's amazing to me.
People all the time are like.
Really is this coming down to six inchesand we've got all this space out here that

(48:24):
we worked, all these different things.
And I'm like, yeah, it this iscritical for us to understand and
for us to make this all flow wellis yes, it is six inches here.
and well,
and exactly.
And you know that even with, when wewere the patio furniture that was sitting
around the fire pit and those turf linesgoing through and I'm like, we gotta take
that little turf out because the chairsare, they've gotta set it a certain way.

(48:45):
I mean, just with theoverprocessing that went into that.
Oh yeah.
And I am laughing when you said that too.
'cause I thought that'swhat you're about to say.
But it's so true.
It's like every detail matters.
Mm-hmm.
People see the end result and theythink it just went together easy.
But there's a lot of math in there.
Make it all work and I'll hasto add up to the right number.
so we've had a couple interiordesigners actually pick the fire

(49:06):
pit when it's a portable unit.
'cause there's a lot of 'em nowthat are like really nice looking.
Is there any like, I don't know, outdoorliving furniture in general that you,
I. Think is amazing that it's verytrendy or modern or that you would like
to plug or just talk about in general?
Not necessarily.
I carry all the major lines.
Okay.
You do.
So I like 'em all.
They all are gonna service somethingdifferent and that's why you have variety.

(49:29):
So, in other words, someonemay love, the wood features.
Someone may love more fabric, someonemay love iron, someone may love wicker.
Someone may love rotan.
I mean, there's a lot of differentthings that go into play we love
the look of those portable fire pitsthat for serving as coffee tables.
Mm-hmm.
They just don't put out though the heat.

(49:51):
The heat, yeah.
It's strictly just aesthetics.
So as long as they are in an area thatthey're wanting just ambiance and not
really wanting the heat those are great.
You can also plumb them withpropane as well, so that you don't
have to, fill it up and stuff.
but we're probably more gonna lean onthe natural fire pits even if they're

(50:13):
gas, because we wanna feel the heat.
When you're outside,
when you're trying to set up centerpieces,something that catches your eye and
brings your eye when you walk throughthe door, besides like a fire pit, what
else is there that you're working with?
Well, we love any type of wall feature.
So we believe that wall featuresare just absolutely art of
the home and we love them.

(50:35):
People think of wall features as afireplace area, or a bar for entertaining.
We love those too, but we lovejust treating a wall in itself as
an actual architecture feature.
So we're doing a couple of homes rightnow in Dallas, and they let us just go.
They said, that's cool.
Do whatever you wanna do.

(50:55):
And we absolutely cannot wait to shootthese homes because they are just,
we put a lot of LED light in them.
But just the magic that's coming behindthat aesthetic design on the wall,
because it really makes it more in Texas,we have a lot of homes that are large.
What ends up happening is, toyour point, there's a lot of

(51:19):
window, but then sometimes on theinterior, there's too much drywall.
And so what do you do with thatand how do you warm that up?
And so art can only fill so much.
And so by bringing in those architecturaldetails and making it a focal point,
you're able to soften that look andmake it more aesthetically cohesive.
Hmm.

(51:39):
Do you do those outside as well?
Sure.
Yeah.
Love to.
Okay.
I'm wondering, When I think ofchallenges, I think that's a place where
it's an opportunity to be successful.
So I'm wondering, was there a storyyou could share with us where it was
like, one of the hardest things todeal with what are we gonna do here?
And then at the end of the day,it was probably one of the best
parts of the house or design.

(52:00):
Yes.
there was a situation that and this isvery, very common now, especially more
in the modern homes, but not takinginto account where the AC units go and
some of that when you get yourself intotrouble a little bit on not really having
the capacity to place those properly.
And so we were doing a home and we walkedin and there was really no place to

(52:25):
put it, but in the corner of the room.
And so they were going to have to frameout basically this jet out like a closet.
And it's like I walkedin and I'm like, mm, no.
That is not gonna work.
And so what do we do?
And the homeowner's just looking like, ohmy goodness, like am I stuck with this?
And the answer is no,we're not stuck with it.

(52:46):
So what we ended up doing waswe flanked it on the other
side of the room, identical.
And then in the interior ofthat inset, we created this
masterpiece of a bar area basically.
And so now, when you walk in, noone would even have known that
that's where that was going on
So That's cool.
Mm-hmm.

(53:07):
One of the things is secondary structures.
Outdoor living spaces havetremendously, increased in numbers.
I see some homes now that havemore square footage on their back
porch than is the size of my house.
people are truly living outside andthey want, you know, full kitchens

(53:28):
and bathrooms and, they can havetheir kids and grandkids gravitate to.
And just to live outside, like asmall, well, it's a small home.
in the middle of this huge garden space.
So you get involved withhelping design the interior of
all those and make that flow.
Do you, do you usually treat it asa separate space or is it kind of a

(53:50):
continuation of the existing home?
really, it's all on what thehomeowner wants it to be.
A lot of times we'll do guest homesand they join to the main home, but
they want that to be a different vibe.
Something completelydifferent if a guest came.
And so that's a place for them toget creative and play with color,

(54:11):
where they might have been fearful ofplaying with color on the interior.
They're willing to do it on outside asfar as the outdoor kitchen goes and areas
like that we're really playing into theclients that travel, they love the resort.
they will go to a place and they'llhave an experience and that typically
is what inspires them to want toexecute something for their home.

(54:34):
They'll say, I saw thishere, or I saw this here.
Now what's hard about a lot of thatis these resorts are, you know, very.
Elaborate.
And so it's, finding that balance of howdoes that flow right with the main home.
but the outdoor living, you know, thecourtyards have become so popular now.
And so what does that look like from,there's the C shape or U-shape homes

(54:57):
now they're putting where it's afull, like all the way around where
the guest home is on the back walllooking back into the main home.
And so I do think there has tobe some uniformity and something
that brings in a cohesive look.
So it's not just such a shock factor.
But I definitely think there's areas thatyou can play with and find a different

(55:18):
creative mindset to that so that theyhave a place that they can go and enjoy.
I'm curious some of the homeownersthat we're designing pools for,
they'll have like speakeasies orlounges, you know, cigar lounges
and stuff like that in their homes.
Have you ever designed that kind ofspace and like what kind of mentality?
Because like obviously for like a lotof men, they need a place to go and just

(55:38):
like speakeasy, you know, speak quietlywith her friends and stuff like that.
So how does designing aspace like that work for you?
Oh, we love that.
it's like, bring it.
Yeah.
You know, so those are fun.
I mean, everyone loves that.
'cause that gives you anopportunity to cross that threshold
and do something different.
Mm-hmm.
With cause And so those are great.

(55:58):
You know, they used tocall them the man cave.
Yeah.
And now, that's the bar, the speakeasyor the game room or the golf simulator
or the car simulator or just areas thatare very specific to someone's lifestyle.
Mm-hmm.
And so we love doing thatand, you know, really pushing
innovation there and doing that.

(56:19):
How does that process work?
So do you like just figure out, likethey'll probably like come to you
with the idea, like, this is whyI want this room to be, but how do
you figure out what goes around it?
You know what I mean?
it's new construction, thenyou're not restricted so you
can do anything you wanna do.
Yeah.
We did a remodel in Preston Hollow.
That was just one of the best speakeasiesto date because it was a French home.

(56:39):
It was all white paneling, and youwalked in and the homeowner, he's like,
I'm nervous because I'm scared thatwe're not gonna be able to pull it off.
Like it's gonna be a shock factor.
And it ended up being the best room inthe house, and we did black and gold
and mirrors and just the furnitureand it actually made the home.
But when you walked in, it it didnot feel that it was out of place.

(57:03):
And so it just, you got thevibe of, okay, I'm here.
He's ready to entertain,it's gonna be fun.
And all of his friends and familycould come over and enjoy that.
That's awesome.
You just mentioned aparticular style of home.
So one of the things Forgot to ask youearlier, do you have a particular style
that you would say is your style or doyou like to change with the architecture

(57:27):
of the home and do different styles?
I mean, how does Susan Sim work?
I love this question.
I get asked that a lot actually.
And we do not have a style.
We have an aesthetic.
tend to lean on a cleaner look.
We want it to be cohesive, wealways say our style is your style.
And the reason why we say that isbecause we really work hard at.

(57:50):
Pulling and extracting you out of the job.
We want to get into your lifestyle,your head, what do you see for yourself?
And it's not our home.
It'll never be our home.
It's your home.
So we work very, very hard at makingsure that we execute your vision.
And so we always sayour style is your style.

(58:10):
And we wanna always bring that.
I don't ever wanna be locked in.
It's really, really funny.
But you know, generationallywe go through a lot of trends.
And so I was locked in one time inmy life of, well, you can't do modern
because all you do is old world.
And that was the lookfor many, many years.
And now I've got people thatwill say, well, I don't know

(58:32):
if you can do traditional.
And I'm like, are you kidding me?
At my age, I promise youI can do traditional.
And so, yes, but now it's the opposite.
And so it really just kind of depends.
So what we're really workingon portfolio wise right now is.
we select our clients in the factthat we wanna make sure, one, it's
a perfect partnership when we workwith a client, but really diversing

(58:54):
that portfolio because I want you tolook at our portfolio and go, wow.
I mean, they've donethis, and this and this.
And it's just not aconsistent, redundant look.
It's something differentevery single time.
That's the fun.
That's the fun.
that's how I feel.
I mean, I know other designersthat have a very distinctive style.

(59:16):
You can look at their work andbe like, that's their work.
I just recognize it.
But to me the challenge wasalways to come up with what's
the most fun for the homeowner.
And that way my job is never boring.
'Cause every day is gonna be differentand we get to create different
things and in different spaces.
And that's the.
Yeah, I think it's interestinghow you said you bring the,

(59:37):
the style out of the homeowner.
'Cause I'm sure there's probablya homeowner out there that thinks
they're a certain style and theyhave a certain style home and then
you work with them and you find outthat that's not their style at all.
So how do you, are therecertain styles that if that
happens, they still go together?
Well, like with interior, like if you'reable to, you know, hopefully they don't
have to like, sell their house, youknow, and buy another house or something.

(59:59):
Well, I will say no.
Okay.
Not with us.
Okay.
Because we're gonna giveyou all the visuals.
there won't be an error.
There won't be a mistake.
We're gonna make sure thatyou know exactly what you're
getting before you get it.
I was thinking
like new construction.
I was thinking more like after the fact.
After the fact.
Okay.
So just like coming in andremodeling their home, like they
don't understand whatthey actually wanted.

(01:00:20):
And then it's.
Once y'all talk, you actually, theyactually, oh, this is completely
different than what I expected.
They always love it.
They always love it.
They're like, this isbetter than I expected.
I'm sure what happens is they bringthat out in the early process of
I've had people sit down and saysomething, but as we talk to them,
what they said wasn't really what theywanted, but they couldn't express it.

(01:00:44):
Yeah.
And so what happens is as you talkwith them, as you were saying, you
understand what they're trying to express.
So when you design it, and I'm surethis has happened numerous times for you
as you sit down and you put somethingtogether, it wasn't what they said.
Verbally, but it was what theyintended and couldn't communicate.
And then that you show it to 'emand they're like, oh my gosh.

(01:01:06):
How did you come up with that?
Exactly?
Well, the most overused termsare modern transitional organic.
Oh, yeah.
And so, you know, when someonesays, well, I want a transitional
home, there's 50,000 views on that.
Yeah,
right.
Modern.
I'm modern.
And then you're like, you're not modern,you know, but anyway, but it's good.

(01:01:27):
And that's what, that's what'sfun about it though, because.
You just don't wanna be a staplethat does the same thing over
and over and say, this is modern.
If they wanna believe they're modernand you give them what they want with a
style, and that's how they see it, great.
Let them, it's their home.
Let them call it whateverthey wanna call it.

(01:01:49):
It's their home.
you can label it whatever, but yeah.
Oh, if it fits you and Yes, and we gotit, then we're in the perfect place.
Yeah.
it's a process, right?
It's a process.
Yeah.
So is there something that you think.
People overlook when they're lookingat their outdoor space that they
should make sure that they think about.

(01:02:09):
I think people overlook the.
Capacity of their outdoor space.
They want a dining table, theywant sofas, they want chairs.
They want an area to sit by the fire pit.
They want bar stools.
And we take a cleaner aesthetic hereand we wanna maximize how many people

(01:02:31):
that they would like to have out there.
But you don't want it tolook like a furniture store.
Mm-hmm.
And so you want it to be beautifuland a place that you wanna go.
So I do think that a lot of peoplethink they have more room than they
actually do, even in large spaces.
You'd be surprised.
They're like, gosh, I thought this wasso big and I was gonna get so much.

(01:02:53):
And so we found that alot in game rooms too.
They're like, well, I wannashuffleboard, I want a pool table.
I want a card table.
I'm like, you get one.
But, you know, so I think that'swhere it's really good being on the
architectural side of that, is beingable to convey to them what exactly
they're gonna get before they finalize.
Yeah.
One of the things we talk to people aboutall the time is, what's your average size

(01:03:16):
gathering is because we want to understandwho they're entertaining, and how they're
gonna entertain in this space and thenumber of people that they're going to
have so we can create the space properly.
Because otherwise you endup with, not enough space.
So one of the things that I think iscritical when we design the outdoor

(01:03:37):
space is in today's yard, a lot of timesthere's not enough room for everything.
And so you're trying to juggle all thesethings, and if you take into consideration
their spaces that they need for furniture.
Then what you have left, you create thepool in that space, then it all fits.
But you have to understandall that on the front end.

(01:03:58):
And if you do, then later on they'relike, I can't believe we got all
these things into this space.
Because it's not a big space to beginwith, but if you understand their
priorities and then create thoseenvironments, then fill everything
else in with water, then it endsup usually working out pretty good.
It does.
So you gotta understand howthey're gonna live first.

(01:04:21):
So I'm sure you guys talk topeople extensively about that.
Well, we do, and you know this betterthan anyone, but, it's all about the
depth of that slab and that material.
So you may have a walkwayand they're like, well, I
saw in the walkway over here.
I thought I would put a, pair of chairs.
I thought it'd be reallycool to look out in the pool.

(01:04:41):
And you look at it and you'relike, mm, no, you got a walkway.
Because when you put those chairsthere, you're now getting in the
grass to get back on the walkwaybecause you didn't plan accordingly.
Or another big mistake that we see peoplemake is they don't have enough depth to
be able to get their furniture the waythey want it fully undercover, to be

(01:05:01):
able to see the tv, if they have a TVoutside or a fireplace or how it's done.
And so the patio space is an areathat people will pull back on.
They're like, okay, I think I could shavethat back three feet and I'd be fine.
I'm gonna, I'm gonna save some money.
Here i's not the area.
to save, push that back out.
We have a threshold of how deepwe really want something to be

(01:05:24):
for the area, and it's large.
Mm-hmm.
Because you want it to be ableto encompass an entertaining
space all the way around.
And just the square footageof the roof isn't the space
you're gonna be able to use.
Like, I think it was two days ago, itwas raining at night and I was underneath
the patio with my fiance's family andhalf the patio you can't be on because

(01:05:44):
the rain's coming in diagonally, so.
Exactly.
Yeah.
Well, and quite honestly, it'scheaper to make that porch big
enough then later on have to addadditional structures later on.
Mm-hmm.
And I tell people all the time, by allmeans, if the builder you're working
with will allow you to push this outand make this bigger, make it bigger
because life that you'll live here,I mean that's very well invested.

(01:06:10):
Space because it's heavily used andit's gotten a lot better over the
last 10, 15 years than it used to be.
'cause people always used to havethese little bitty porches or no porch
whatsoever before nine 11 seemed like.
But that outdoor livingspace that you can live in.
Yes.
the more comfortable it is andthe bigger it is, the better that

(01:06:30):
you're gonna enjoy the space.
Do you have a lot of people thatdo you get into details like even
with the lighting in that space?
Because I know that you do some amazingstuff inside the house and I think that
lighting's probably the most underratedthing that people could do outside.

(01:06:50):
You know, versus just, oh, I just putsome can lights in my ceiling here.
I mean, you can do somereally cool stuff, I imagine.
I love lighting.
I think lighting is just what bringsin all the ambiance of everything.
And so obviously the more lightingyou have, the more of a feeling you're
going to get, especially with allthe innovation that's out there with

(01:07:12):
lighting and the lighting controlsystems today to be able to say, this
is what it looks like in the morning.
This is what it looks like in the evening.
This is what it looks like when all thelights are off, when your art is up.
It's just crazy the innovationon lighting and so outdoor
lighting, people are afraid of it.
And I think that it's just rightthere on the cusp right now that

(01:07:34):
we're getting a breakthrough.
You're gonna be seeing a wholelot more of it over the next
decade than you've ever seen.
Oh, 100% more people are wantingto be outside since 2020.
That's been prevalent.
But a lot of people are realizingthat, hey, I like being outside
and it's nighttime now andI still wanna be out here.
Like, I still want to enjoy thesky and everything like that.

(01:07:55):
So that there's a lot of people thinkingthat way and there's got start buying it.
Yeah.
I agree with you.
This is a person that likes tobe outside every single night.
So I love outdoors.
Yeah.
But I know there's a lotmore people like me too.
So I'm wondering if, 'cause we goto shows all the time and that shows
are always teaching about trends andpeople always wanna know what the
new trends are and stuff like that.
working with your customers, do youthink people are chasing trends or just

(01:08:18):
comfortable chasing what they like?
I think people do chase trends.
For sure.
Because if you're in thehome market, you're looking,
yeah.
You're seeing what's out there doesn'tmean you like what's out there.
Doesn't mean that it resonates with you.
And that is great because we're notpeople that preach to the trends.
we say, you need to get what you like.
This is your home.

(01:08:39):
We will push you though on innovation.
So in other words, if something's trendingtoday, will it be trending tomorrow?
And we're usually ahead of the game.
So because we do fabrics and we're heavilyin the fabric industry and manufacturing,
we see about three years ahead ofwhat's about to happen in the market.
So we already know well in advance,two to three years in advance

(01:09:02):
before it ever hits the floor.
For people, including a lot ofinterior designers, to be able to say
for the first time, oh, I saw that.
And so we're seeing ahead.
And so we kind of know what'scoming down the pipeline,
which is really, really cool.
I don't believe that you can ever notdo a timeless look because everything

(01:09:24):
at some point will become a time.
Yeah.
And so we hear a lot of times that peoplesay, well, I just want it to be timeless.
I'm like, it can be less timeless.
It's still gonna be a time.
Yeah.
You know, you just have
different innovations.
Yes, exactly.
Those times might change, but That's
right.
That's right.
Still time.
Exactly.
It's still gonna be a time Istill, you know, you can tell when

(01:09:46):
someone built their home and whatera they built it in, you know?
And so it's just people, they wannamake sure that you don't do that,
but there's really no way arounddoing that because even if you don't,
and you satisfy that moment for thesecond 10 years from now, you're
gonna look back and go, that's dated.
It's reality.
Yeah.
well, I mean, just look at all thethings that have changed within both

(01:10:09):
our industries in the last 20 years.
I mean, it's radically different.
it is not the same.
Design world that we were living.
Well, just like you said, a designer now.
not just an interior designer.
you're not just picking, paint colorsand furniture inside the house.
I mean, your career and what youdo has changed radically as well as

(01:10:32):
mine has over the last, 15 years.
And that's the fun of why we do thepodcast 'cause we're trying to bring all
these different sources of informationto people so they're aware of it and
they have a good process to go through.
So if, if someone is not in Dallas-FortWorth and they don't know how to
start and find a good interiordesigner to work with, there's certain

(01:10:56):
things that they should think aboutwhen they're looking for somebody.
I think it definitely hasto be a personal connection.
I think this person is someonethat you wanna work with.
I think it's someone that you're reallygetting in the weeds with the designer
because you have to be able to trusthim or her with honestly, your life.

(01:11:18):
This is how I live.
This is where things go.
This is what means something to me.
This is what doesn't.
And so you almost become very vulnerablein a way of being able to share.
And so I think it's something that ifyou have a personal connection with that
person and you start there, I think thatis probably the most important thing.

(01:11:40):
With past that.
Now it needs to be about the creativity.
Are you able to execute my vision?
Are you able to bring exactly what Iwant for the investment that I wanna pay?
I think that's the second thing.
and then the last thing is, are they.
Capable of working a process ina way that resonates with you.

(01:12:05):
So we're all very differentand we're wired very different.
I love profiles.
I love all the personal assessmentsand stuff because if you're working
with a person that's highly impatient,then that is a different dynamic of
someone that's got a lot of patience.
Or if you're working with someonethat is fixated on the dollar,

(01:12:27):
then that is someone different thatsays, Hey, show me some options.
and I'll decide at that point.
So I really think it just comesdown to making sure you're a perfect
fit for the client before reallygoing into lot of investment.
So I always say that Ilike to do a consultation.
Because I wanna make sure, asmuch as you're a good fit for

(01:12:50):
me, I'm a good fit for you.
and this is gonna work togetherbecause at the end of the day, your
referral means everything to me.
So I spend two to three years per client.
This is someone that youreally, really get to know.
It's a journey.
It's a journey.
And I need your referral.
You know, that's just it.
Mm-hmm.
So I don't wanna work this hardfor me not to be able to have a

(01:13:15):
relationship with you that you believedin me so much and I performed to
the level that I said I would do.
And I was everything that I saidI could do to be able to do that.
Great information.
that's really helpful for a homeowneras they go through this journey.
'cause I think there's so many peoplethat don't know how to start and
where to go, and those are great.

(01:13:36):
Great advice.
Mm. When I think about lived in spaces,I think that texture sometimes will
carry heavy lifting on some materials.
And I'm wondering, do you findyourself maybe playing with texture
more than colors these days?
Or are you, I don't know.
How do you feel about that?
Well, there's no boundaries there.
Okay.
So we texture is everything.

(01:13:58):
Mm-hmm.
I mean, we love texture.
You can take a monochromatic paletteand have 50 different textures in
it, you know, and it's like, andpeople will feel something from that.
Yeah.
They're like, wow, thatis like really leveled up.
And it's all the texturingand the layering that you do.
And so that's really good.
And then it comes backto color, you know, too.
So there's, that's boundless.

(01:14:19):
Okay.
in the adventure of interior design, oneof the things I was curious, if you give
us some advice, we have a section calledTrue Crime of something that happened
to somebody and it was like, wow, Idon't want this to happen to people.
So, here's how you mightlook at your journey.
So you make sure that doesn't happen.
Can you think of a storythat fits into that?

(01:14:39):
The one that comes to mind actuallyis my own personal lake house.
We had just completed it and we wereso excited about it we were there
with some friends and it wasn'tquite finished, but it was the 4th
of July weekend, and we were thereat the lake and he said, I smell gas.

(01:15:01):
And I'm like, gosh, I do too.
And I went over to my grill and Ipushed the button and I ignited it and.
It was on, and it had been onprobably for 24 hours, maybe 48 hours.
Oh, God.
Uh, The subcontractors had turned it onand, and unfortunately it was by mistake.

(01:15:22):
it completely exploded.
The countertops blew up.
I was very fortunate.
we had a a grill cover on it.
The grill cover hit my face and itflew me six feet over the rock wall.
And I was burned.
all my legs were burned, and we wentto the emergency room and I, I got
gauze and wrapped for three weeks andeverything turned out, thank the Lord.

(01:15:45):
Okay?
But it's something that I nevereven thought that I should pay such
attention to Designing outdoors isto make sure that cannot happen,
because had it been a 2-year-old.
Hitting the button, youknow, things like that.
Everything turned out okay.
We obviously ended up havingto completely redo all of it

(01:16:08):
because everything was blown up.
I mean, the ice maker flew outand the sink and the plumbing
and I mean, It was destroyed.
So
I'm just curious from a technicalstandpoint, I'm getting nerdy here, but
was it propane or was it natural gas?
I assumed it was propane, but you have a
propane tank at the lake.
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
So that's one thing.
Ventilation's a big deal.
Especially with propane.

(01:16:29):
'cause propane, when it getsturned on, it settles, yeah.
So it's sitting underneath thatcabinet versus to have been
natural gas, it probably would'vedissipated up through the air.
So it's always something that youwant to be really careful about.
But man, I'm glad you turned out.
I mean, definitely.
So, yeah, that's scary.
Make sure you, get lots of ventsin your fire pits, because we've

(01:16:50):
had that happen with fire pits too.
Mm-hmm.
well we have
a lock on it now, soit's not even possible.
Like, you gotta unlock it toeven be able to turn it on.
Turn
it on.
So, yeah.
At the end of the podcast, we usually gothrough a couple just fun questions just
to get to know you a little bit better.
I am wondering what your favorite food,your favorite book and movie would be?
I.
Awesome.

(01:17:10):
Wow.
Well, my favorite food I'ma foodie and I love it all.
my dad would always say, youeat everything on your plate.
'cause there's peoplestarving in Ethiopia.
you'll be more cultured.
Well, trust me, I am verycultured because I like all foods.
Really it just favorites.
I mean, goodness, I don'teven know where you start.

(01:17:31):
seafood, Mexican sushi Chinese.
I love it all.
Steak, I love it.
Favorite.
Book is a hundred percent fromEd Mullet the Power of One More.
There's always one more in you to do.
You know, you can go onemore mile, one more minute.
There's one more prayer, there's onemore grace, there's one more giving,
there's one more of everything.

(01:17:51):
And that's just a very powerful book.
and I love him.
I listen to his podcast almostevery day as an entrepreneur.
But I love that book and so itreally resonates with me of where
I am today in my life and thejourney that I'm on right now.
And so there's always one more designjob in us and one more creative thing
and one more prayer for somebody.

(01:18:12):
So I love that.
My favorite movie isBraveheart, I love it.
I mean, I'm a diehardthere for Braveheart.
I'm definitely an overcomer and, youknow, I always pull for the underdog and
I wanna see the success and people riseand the victory at the end of the day.
And so it's always a good movie for me.
And, you know, even on a smallerscale movie, a low budget

(01:18:35):
film, but facing the Giants.
So I always love that movie.
You know, it's like he's crawlingdown to the finish line and that
coach is saying, just keep going.
Keep going.
And he can't see.
He can't see, he can't see.
And he keeps going.
He keeps going, he wakes up and hegoes, you are there the whole time.
And it's like, and that'swhat I love about life, is
you're there the whole time.
So if you're gonna travel for fun andor inspiration, where do you want to go?

(01:18:59):
Well, I love to go.
I mean, obviously Italy,Europe, beautiful.
Fabulous.
I dream of having a home in Cabo someday.
I think Cabo is just magic for us.
My husband and I have beenthere multiple times and it's
definitely our favorite place.
The waters are beautiful.
I know it's become avery highly desired area.
So things cost moretoday than they used to.

(01:19:22):
But we love that.
we're big into travel and we love takingour family every year on vacation.
and really, you know, that's kind ofour gift to them is to be able to go
and have them see the world and seethings that maybe they didn't have.
And as we have new people enteringour family my daughter's getting
married, my oldest daughterjust got married two years ago.

(01:19:43):
so we just love expanding that familyand being able to give in areas
of sharing that so very open towherever the next place leaves me.
I know giving is somethingthat's close to your heart.
do you have something that's comingup that you want to talk about
that's gonna be a fun project.
I know you're doing the Fort Worth dreamHome right now, although by the time

(01:20:05):
this comes out it will be completed.
So I didn't know if you hadsomething else that's coming up
that you might want to talk about.
Yes, that's actually on tour right now.
We're doing the St. June home,which that's gonna be so fun.
Just being able to be a part ofsomething so great like that.
Our goal was to raise over a milliondollars, I believe, and with five homes.
And so I think we'll probably masterthat, but that's gonna be great.

(01:20:28):
It's got five amazing buildersand five incredible designers
and so we're really excited aboutgetting to collaborate with that.
Something that's, I'm getting to do thatis just really exciting for me is to be
the lead designer for national Angels.
And so it's headquartered out of Austin.
They just got funding aftermany, many years of prayer.

(01:20:50):
And so I was at that gala this yearwhere there was quite a contribution
that came through for that and justGod's anointed blessing on that.
And so getting to do that and whatAustin Angels is for people that don't
know, or National Angels for peopledon't know, it's in 17 cities now
and it is headquartered in Austin.
It's Austin Angels, but these arechildren that are in foster care.

(01:21:12):
And it's something that I wanna bringawareness to because it's something
I didn't have awareness about.
Adoption is something that we allknow about or have heard about
or have a friend that has beenadopted or family member or someone.
But after the age of two, it's very,very hard to get these kids adopted.

(01:21:33):
And so bringing them into families.
And so once they hit 18,they're on their own.
And unfortunately, these.
Situations that they're in.
Too many children in foster caretoday are living in situations
that are not desirable or idealfor a healthy environment.
So I love being able to contribute to thatfull gratis of being able to do something

(01:21:56):
of that magnitude and be a part of that.
So I'm very excited about that.
That's amazing.
People wanna reach you.
How do they reach you?
Absolutely.
Well, I'm definitely on the internet,so Google me siman interiors.com.
We have a contact form, you can go thereand it actually comes right into my inbox.
and so someone will get right back toyou, follow us on Susan Ziman Interiors

(01:22:19):
and then Ziman Interiors on Facebookor on Pinterest or on LinkedIn.
Www.simaninteriors.com website.
And then my email, my phonenumber, it's all published.
And so people say that all the time.
I'm like, are you sure?
I'm like, yeah, I want the call.
I wanna get the call.
Well, hopefully they call.
Alright.
I hope they do.
Well, thank
you again so much.
Thank you for being on here today.

(01:22:40):
I think you've shared a lot ofinformation that'll be really
helpful for people to be a resource,to have a great journey for them.
Well, that's great.
I'm very honored and thank youboth for having me on the show.
You have an awesome day.
Thank you.
This show is all about helping you becomea better buyer, a better pool owner,
and hopefully you're gonna find someinsights into how to enjoy your pool even

(01:23:04):
more so how to help your friends, yourfamily, anybody looking to buy a pool in
the future or that want to remodel theirbackyard, add an outdoor fireplace, fire
pit, add an outdoor kitchen area, addsome shade cells, or whatever else it is.
We wanna be that resource for you and, andthat's the end goal here, and we promise.
That there's gonna bea ton of information.

(01:23:25):
We'll try to go through it, youknow, as relatively quickly, but
also slow so people can understand.
But the intent of the show, thereason Mike and I are doing this
is because we just got a lot inour heads and we wanna share it.
So we hope to see youhere every single week.
Thanks for listening.
I.

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Ep 091 Interior Design for the Exterior Space with Designer Susan Semmelmann

Stuff You Should Know