August 17, 2025 • 29 mins
On today’s episode of Home with Dean Sharp, Dean dives into the heart of the show’s mantra: design matters most. He shares 10 powerful reasons why great design is the key to creating a home that truly serves and inspires you. From understanding the difference between luxury and custom, to embracing the process of design for the best results, Dean unpacks the practical value behind every choice you make. Discover why your home is your most sacred space!
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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 The house Whisper,
Custom home Builder, Custom home Designer, and every week your
guide to better understanding that place where you live. Oh
we're going to get that done today, my friend. Oh,
(00:20):
we are today on the show Ten Reasons why design
matters Most. Of all the things that I have discussed
with you since the beginning of our fine little program here,
there is nothing more important from my perspective than this
(00:41):
very topic. I say it every week in one form
or another, that design matters most. It's in every piece
of advice I give, from fixing a leaky toilet to
a lessons in architecture. For you. It is the mantra
of this show because it's what I believe the average
homeowner understands the least but needs to understand the most.
(01:03):
And I'm not trying to turn you into a home designer.
That's not the goal. Nor am I trying, you know.
I'm It's like when I hand out advice on you know,
how to fix this in your house, or how to
fix that, or who to turn to or who to call,
or how to when I when I when I hand
out builder advice, I am not trying to turn you
into a builder. When I hand out designed advice, I'm
(01:23):
not trying to turn you into a designer. But I
am attempting to do something that is a pretty serious
heavy lift, I think, and that is uh. You all
understand the importance of builders in the process of transforming
your home, but the mainstream homeowner has yet to fully
(01:44):
embrace the idea that design and designers as a part
of your remodeling team, your transformation team, your new build team.
It's a little easier on the new build because you
usually have an architect that or somebody involved with that.
But on the transformation team, it is just not typical.
And I don't blame you. It's not your fault at
(02:07):
all in any way, shape or form, because you've not
been taught to do this. You know, none of us
have in terms of our culture. It's not a cultural norm.
I would love that to be the case. When that
becomes the case, I think maybe I can, you know,
(02:28):
you know, hang up my tool belt here and my
job will be done for you because and I can
just go back to just designing homes for private clients,
and I don't need to broadcast this message from this
pulpit any further, but until that day comes, I'm gonna
keep pushing it because it is such an important thing.
(02:49):
It is so very very important. Design is the key
to unlocking your home's potential. And we'll say it again
and again in one hundred different ways. But today I'm
going to give you ten very very valid, very practical,
very I hope, easy to understand reasons why design matters
(03:11):
most for the next steps that you take for your home.
So it's going to be a blast. We're going to
have some fun and I get to talk about one
of my all time, absolute favorite topics and perhaps the
first and foremost reason that I am behind this microphone
to discuss that with you to get that done. So
(03:32):
there you go, And of course we're going to take
your calls as we always do. The number to reach me,
by the way, and the callboard is open right now.
You can call in. Our call screener will tell you
everything you need to know. You can listen to the
show while you wait. We'll be going to calls in
the second hour, but you can call in now absolutely
(03:54):
eight three three two ask Dean is the number to
reach me at eight three the numeral two pep ask
Dean eight three three two ask Dean. It's just that easy.
Whatever you have got on your mind about your home,
whatever is got you scratching your head about your home, design, construction, diy,
(04:18):
stuff inside, stuff outside, decor hardescape, landscape. I got you.
From property line to property line, from the soil to
the sky. We are here to talk about your home,
and we're gonna put our heads together and get it
figured out. And as always with calls, you set the agenda. Okay,
I'm talking about a very specific thing today, but when
(04:39):
it comes to calls, you get to call me about
anything at all. Don't feel shy about changing the subject
of the show. That's not the point at all. Calls
are all about you and what's going on with you. Uh,
speaking of great things happening today, sitting across the table
from me as always my better half, my design partner,
(05:01):
my best friend on planet Earth and pretty much everywhere else.
I mean, I haven't been everywhere else other than planet Earth,
but I'm just going to assume that you will always
be my best friend, even uh, you know, places other
than planet Earth. But my best friend on planet Earth.
Tina is here. Of course, shut up, Dean just introduced Tina.
(05:22):
Tina's here. Welcome home, there you are. Hello, good morning,
Good morning. How's it going going? Well, it's beautiful today.
It is a beautiful day, it really is. We're headed
into a warm week in southern California. We're going to
creep up into the nineties. But you know what, August
has been pretty pretty nice, pretty tame, being mid August
and the eighties. Maybe we shouldn't say that out loud.
(05:44):
I tell you what we haven't done was we haven't
had our like week and a half a hundred degree weather.
Oh just wait, what do you got to say that?
Speaker 2 (05:53):
What do you have to say?
Speaker 3 (05:54):
You say, it's late August, early September, we get really warm,
so I'm assuming it's coming.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
One more reason and that that I'm pretty happy this morning. Toast.
Today's program, at least the morning part brought to you
by Toast. I have a crack wheat sour dough toast here.
I already have my protein this morning, so coffee and toast.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
The smell of toast toasting is can you hear that?
It's a phenomenal smells. No thanks, for that, I know.
But the smell of toast.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
Yeah, just fill the dead air eating this toast.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
The smell of coffee and the smell both pretty fun.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
It is a wonderful way to uh you know, because
it's like, you know, it's like rebaking the bread again,
you know, kd of that vibe. All right, hang on
and now I got a drink by coffee. Okay, there
we go. We're set, We're ready. Uh, it's going to
be a great show today. There is more stuff on
(06:59):
the way. You are listening to Home with Dean Sharp
the house Whistle.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
I wasn't sure if we were back because I'm still
eating toast, still toast. Today's show brought to you by
Trader Joe's Cracked wheat sourdough toast. You can't buy toast
at Trader Joe's, I don't think, but you can buy
cracked wheat sour dough bread and then turn it into toast.
I just wanted to be clear in case I was
giving a product endorsement and people are like I went
(07:30):
to Traders and I did not find cracked wheat, sourdough toast. No,
it comes in the bread form there, and then you
toast it yourself with a toaster or something some heat
producing device. Okay, hey, thanks for joining us on the
program today. Yes, yes, I'm in a quirky mood. Okay,
(07:52):
We're all gonna be fine. Uh. Today on the program
we are talking about the ten ten reason, not the
ten reasons. I could give you one hundred reasons why
design matters most, but we're talking about ten of them
that I've set aside for you because I really want
you to understand this and I want to just understand
(08:14):
the practical value of it. And as I said before
the break, this is something that is not in the
normal mainstream home owner vocabulary. Now let me explain that
just for a second, just so you understand what it
is i'm talking about. I'm not saying that the idea
of hey, having a good design is not in your vocabulary. Okay,
I'm not insulting your taste. What do you think we're idiots, Dean.
(08:36):
Of course it should be a good design. Now I'm
talking about how we go about getting the good design. Okay, Normally,
our culture, we've in culturated a process for the mainstream
homeowner that is actually different than the process for the
let's say luxury or a state homeowner. And they're like, well,
(08:59):
that's probably a good idea, because I am not a
luxury or a state homeowner. No, it's not a good idea.
It's not a good because the same rules should apply
to everybody across the board. So here, you know, as
a designer who has spent most of his career in
the luxury and the state market, I can tell you
how it works. It works like this. Let's say you're
(09:19):
sitting around in your luxury a state home, you know,
aka your mansion up on the hill behind the big gates,
and you're thinking, well, I'm getting kind of bored with
my twelve thousand square feet as it is. I'd like
to redo this. I'd like to redo that. Okay, So
what's your next move? Well, because you've been inculturated into
(09:43):
that culture, your next move is the correct move, which
is you pick up the phone and you call me.
You call an architectural designer, or an architect or an
interior designer or a decorator or whoever it is that
needs to you tell the story for whatever scope of work.
(10:04):
That you're doing. But you call the creative. You pick
up the phone and you call the creative, You call
the storyteller, you call the designer. I'm just using the
word designer as an umbrella term for all of these
different specific kinds of designers, from architectural all the way
down to decor and decorating. Okay, you call the designer,
(10:25):
and you meet with your designers and you hammer out
the ideas and you work it through and you get
a picture of this new story that's going to be told.
And then then and only then do you turn, Now
that that story has been written, do you turn and
call the contractors to execute that story. That's the way
(10:51):
it works, by the way, that's the way it works.
And that's how it works in the movies. Okay, very
few I'm going to say, the zero movie and television
productions I ever think. Okay, well, we have an idea,
we want to do a show. Let's hire on our
(11:12):
technical crew who are gonna get it done. The camera people,
the lighting people, you know, et cetera, et cetera, and
we'll get them together and ask them their advice about
what kind of story should we should tell. That's not
the way that works, and it doesn't. It's it's it's
not a diss to all of these highly trained, highly
(11:33):
skilled professionals. It is simply the reality that they're not
in the storytelling business in the sense of generating the story. So,
you know, you got a producer who's like, you know,
we should do this, we should do a film about this,
and you know, maybe you go out and hire a writer,
(11:53):
or maybe you're just a writer who has already written
a story for a movie or a TV show and
you're trying to pitch it in front of producers. But
the point is, as soon as the story is written
and picked up and approved and edited and re edited
(12:14):
and ready to rock and roll, then now that we've
got a story, do we turn around and we hire
the people who are going to make that story, you know,
become a reality in the real world, everything from the
actors all the way down to the makeup people and
the hair stylists and the you know, the production managers
and the caterers and everything. Okay, this is missing from
(12:38):
the mainstream middle class homeowner because what you've been told
to do is, let's say this, you want to remodel
your kitchen, So what do you think You look to
your partner and you're like, we should remodel this kitchen. Okay,
let's do that. Let's call a kitchen contractor. Okay, Hey,
(13:00):
how did we jump to contractor so quickly? Because that's
what we've been taught. You want to remodel your home,
we better call a great contractor. All right, so you
understand what I'm saying. Aha, all right, now, just sit
and think and percolate on that for a few minutes,
and when we return, we're going to break that egg
(13:21):
wide open, because you know what to make an omelet,
you got to break some eggs. That's what I've been told.
Or toast, Now coast doesn't apply. All right. Your Home
with Dean Sharp, the House Whisper.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
Here to help you transform your ordinary house into an
extraordinary home. We do that every week here with you
on the program, especially today, especially today, because how do
we transform an ordinary house into an extraordinary home? We
learn less than one and that is design matters most.
(13:57):
And here on the show today, I'm giving you ten
reason why, just explaining it. My goal is to convince you,
step by step along the way how important this is
to the process and something that you're not used to.
Just a quick side note here if your home needs
some personal house Whisper attention, you're like, I love that
(14:18):
show and I get a lot of great advice from Dean,
But what I really need is him and Tina standing
here staring at our problem, because I don't think I
don't think he realizes how big our problem is. Okay,
it's not a problem that can happen. By the way,
you can book an in home design console. Just go
to house Whisper or dot Design for more info. So
(14:39):
there you go. All right, all right, So before the break,
I was telling you that it's just not enculturated into
mainstream American home owning, into the home improvement industry to
pick up the phone when it's time to transform your
house and call the creatives. We accept it. That's the
(15:00):
way it happens in other art forms, the way it happens.
It's how TVs TVs. It's how TV shows and movies
get made. It's how books are written. Obviously, the creative
is the person starting up writing the book. But even
those stories, by the way, need editing. Ask any author
(15:20):
if they, any author anywhere, were the best selling book,
if they wrote that book and then just handed it
to the publisher, and the publisher just just you know,
sent it to the printer without editing, without an editor,
doesn't happen. It doesn't happen. Why because even the best stories,
(15:42):
even the finest books, even masterpiece, need editing. So whether
or not you consider yourself a creative type, and you're like, well,
I mean, I get what he's saying, but I'm not
sure I need to hire a designer as part of
our process because you know, I got a pretty good
sense of this. Yeah. Hey, I'm not there to critique
your methodology for transforming your home or remodeling your home,
(16:06):
but I will tell you this, even if you are
the quote unquote designer for your remodel, just please please
understand this is just wisdom from the rest of the
world that even the best of books need editors to
come in. In other words, a second pair of eyes
(16:26):
at least to come in who actually know, not just
the family member who's patting you on the back saying yeah,
it's a pretty good IDEA second pair of eyes who
know and understand design as well, if not better than
you to say, yeah, yeah, love what you're doing here. Uh,
you might want to tweak that editing fierce merciless but
(16:49):
loving editing along the way. So every story needs writing
and every book needs editing. This is reason number one,
and it is the greatest lesson to learn for the
mainstream American homeowner to incorporate design into what we're doing.
By the way, it's a side note here. You're paying
(17:10):
for this anyway on some level. You'll pay for it
in poor design if you don't have a designer involved,
you'll pay for it. If you hire a design build
contractor and you're just leaning on your contractors to do
the design work for you, and they're like, hey, we'll
handle the design, and I get it. There are, in fact,
(17:30):
some really talented contractors in terms of their ability to
do design work. Okay, But if that's the case, you're
already paying for it. Believe me, it's built in to
the cost of the contract that part. Okay. So my
point is this, you can break that out, that unknown cost,
(17:51):
break that out and handle it yourself. You can hire
an independent designer, independent of the contractor who you know.
I tend to lean in that direction, not just because
I am one, No, I tend it because I want
your designer, not vested, not to have any vested interests
in the materials that go into the project or the
processes that go into the project, because they are more
(18:13):
or less profitable for the builder along the way. I
want your designer to just suggest clean, you know, unvested
commentary on how the design can go, that you can
accept or reject or adopt to whatever degree that you want.
Does that make sense, okay? Reason number two because home
is the most sacred place on earth. Yeah, all right, Dean.
(18:40):
You're saying this live on a Sunday morning. People are
at church and now you are being a heretic and
I'm not. I'm not sacred. It's a great word. It
means set apart. There is no more important place on
the planet, not even the sanctuary, the church down the street.
(19:02):
Because this place your home. This is ground zero, the
innermost holy of holies of your life. This is where
life happens. This is where all of those moments, This
is where families are raised. This is where you come
and retreat from the world at the end of a
crazy day or a crazy week. This is where you
(19:24):
find yourself again. And it, by the way, because of
the significance of a residence to the human experience. And
that's why as an architectural designer, I decided not to
head off in the direction of office buildings or public
structures or any which are totally viable. And I'm so
(19:46):
happy that there are brilliant, talented architects doing great things
from stadiums to libraries. To know all of the public
spaces that we inhabit, but I was fascinated and always
have been. And maybe part of it, sure, maybe part
of it's because I didn't have the best home life
growing up. Maybe I'm still trying to fill that hole.
(20:08):
I'm I'm willing to lay on the couch. You can
analyze me all you want, but I'm just telling you
home most important place on planet Earth. If you're a
human being, that is a sacred, set apart place and
doesn't matter. I'm not saying that if you're religious or not,
it is set apart. It's those things you know, whether
you're an agnostic or an atheist, or whether you don't
(20:30):
consider yourself anything at all, there are things in your
life that are sacred. There are rituals that are sacred.
Whether it's the getting up in the morning, pouring the
coffee and sitting next to the fire, whether it is
coming home at the end of the day and sitting
in that one comfy chair and just spacing out for
whatever the case may be. These are sacred acts that
(20:50):
repeat again and again. They are your safe place. They
are that special place that makes sense. So reason number
two why design matters most because home is the most
sacred place on earth. And perhaps the greatest quote on
architecture that I have ever encountered, at least it's in
(21:11):
my top five by a non architect, actually, Winston Churchill
said this. He said, famously, we shape our buildings, and
thereafter they shape us. The buildings that we live in,
they tell us how to move. They tell us, by
their walls and their structures and their flow and their pathways,
(21:33):
how to get We're going to get from point A
to point B, and then they give us an experience,
or they don't. Along the way. The buildings that we
live in, the spaces that we inhabit, that we build
for ourselves, we shape them. But then every day after that, subtly, subconsciously,
quite often very consciously. They keep shaping us, they keep
(21:54):
moving us. They have this effect on us. You would
never think of, well, some people would. I am not
of the opinion that if you were setting out to
build a cathedral or a sanctuary, that you would just
kind of throw it together, no big deal, you know,
playing Jane. No, because there's a certain experience to be
had here, and the same is true with your home.
(22:17):
It deserves good design. Why because you deserve good design
in your life bottom line? All right, more, when we
return your Home with Dean Sharp the house Whisper.
Speaker 2 (22:29):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six.
Speaker 1 (22:34):
Forty every week, that design matters most today, especially because
that's exactly what we're talking about on today's episode. Today's program.
I'm giving you ten reasons why design matters most for
your home so that you understand not just in theory. Yeah,
of course I want it to look nice and be
(22:56):
designed well, Dean, No, I mean bringing it into practical
reality that design and designers should be a part of
your construction budget, of your remodel budget, of the process,
which is something that mainstream homeowners have not been taught
to do. You're paying for it anyway, one way or
(23:18):
the other, you're going to be paying for it. And
the point is there's nothing that's going to maximize the
process better for you in the end. Okay, So, and
we'll get to a little bit more of this along
the way. By the way, right after this next break,
we're taking a break from Design matters Most, and we're
going to the phones. We've got some calls on the board,
but there's still room for you. The number to reach
(23:40):
me eight three three two. Ask Dean A three to
three the numeral two, and then you just spell out
ask Dean eight three three two. Ask Dean. Whatever's got
you scratching your head about your home? Design, construction, DIY,
whatever the case. We don't have to talk about design
matters most. We can talk about anything that has you
pressing the button of like, oh, I got to solve
(24:03):
this problem. I don't know what to do about your home.
So anything at all, from design to construction and everything
in between that's coming up right after the next break. Okay,
back to it. Reason number three that design matters most
because custom is different from luxury, and custom is always better.
(24:27):
H What does he mean by that? Well, it may
be news to you. You may have kind of sensed
this along the way but never really consciously thought of it.
But I just want to make it very clear. Luxury
and custom two very very different things, completely separate categories.
They don't have to have anything to do with each other. Okay.
(24:48):
Luxury simply means this when it comes to a home,
A luxury home has a certain kind of understood quantity
or level of amenities in it. Right. I could give you,
you know, the list of twenty things that should be
typically found in every quote unquote luxury home, whether that
(25:11):
home was ever custom built for somebody or not. The
fact is, if you have these amenities and in certain
circumstances in regards to this home, you call it a
luxury home. Okay, luxury as opposed to non luxury. Okay,
luxury not The opposite of luxury would be I don't know, impoverished,
(25:32):
I'm sure empty, spartan. No, none of that actually applies.
We all know a luxury home has certain features and
amenities to it. That's what that is. And there are
a ton these days of spec built you know, which
is just code for tracked luxury homes that weren't built
(25:55):
for anybody that haven't been customized to anyone. Now, luxury
sometimes masks itself as custom because it's like, oh, look
how nice this amenity would treat me. But that doesn't
make it a custom home, Okay. And the encouragement here
is simply this custom is, in my opinion, the ultimate luxury,
(26:17):
even though it doesn't fall in the same category as luxury.
Custom simply means tailored, tailored to you. I like to
give a clothing metaphor for this. I think generally it works.
If you were to imagine going to some high end shop,
retail shop for clothing, and here is you know, whether
you're a man or a woman, here you find hanging
(26:37):
on the rack this this amazing I don't know, shall
we call it silk, maybe something like that shirt or blouse.
And you look at the price tag and you're like, oh,
it's like a major label kind of a thing, and
you know it costs ten thousand dollars. All right, craziness.
Have any of us ever been I had? Personally? Please no,
(27:00):
I've never been in that situation. But I've heard I
watched the movie Pretty Woman. I heard it, I saw
it happen. Uh, so yeah, those places exist. You go
in and you know, you, even though it's ten grand,
you're buying off the rack. That shirt or blouse wasn't
made for you. It was just kind of made for
(27:23):
hopefully you wish sort of, and you have to go
and try it on to see how does it fit?
Does it work for my body type? And you know
a lot of the times no it doesn't. So here's
the thing I give you right out of the gate,
the choice. Let's say, I give you the choice between
this very very expensive material and this major brand name,
(27:46):
and it's gonna cost you, you know, let's say, five
thousand dollars for this, or we're gonna take a bolt.
We're gonna go on down to Joe Anne Fabric and
we're gonna take a bolt of just humble material. Maybe
it's just cotton, maybe it's cotton, nit or linen. We're
gonna take a bolt of fabric and inexpensive bolt of fabric,
(28:06):
and we're gonna take it to a tailor who's gonna
measure you up one side and down the other all
around in a fantastic tailor, and we're gonna have a
shirt or a blouse tailored to you, far far, far
less expensive a fraction and a very humble material. My
(28:28):
guess is very simply this. You're gonna bypass the five
thousand dollars shirt and this is gonna become your new
favorite shirt. Why it's not luxury, but it's custom. Do
you understand what I'm saying? A custom home could be
made out of paper or plastic or platinum. It doesn't
(28:49):
matter the difference whether the amenities are luxurious or the
level of the quality of the materials. Custom means fit
to you. And that's what makes all the difference, all right,
design matters most. We'll return to this conversation, but when
we come back at the top of the hour, we're
going to the phones. Your Home with Dean Sharp, the
(29:09):
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 demand on the iHeartRadio app.
KFI AM six forty. You're listening to Dean Sharp, The
house Whisper on demand on the iHeartRadio app The house Whisper,
Custom home Builder, Custom home Designer, and every week your
guide to better understanding that place where you live. Oh
we're going to get that done today, my friend. Oh,
(00:20):
we are today on the show Ten Reasons why design
matters Most. Of all the things that I have discussed
with you since the beginning of our fine little program here,
there is nothing more important from my perspective than this
(00:41):
very topic. I say it every week in one form
or another, that design matters most. It's in every piece
of advice I give, from fixing a leaky toilet to
a lessons in architecture. For you. It is the mantra
of this show because it's what I believe the average
homeowner understands the least but needs to understand the most.
(01:03):
And I'm not trying to turn you into a home designer.
That's not the goal. Nor am I trying, you know.
I'm It's like when I hand out advice on you know,
how to fix this in your house, or how to
fix that, or who to turn to or who to call,
or how to when I when I when I hand
out builder advice, I am not trying to turn you
into a builder. When I hand out designed advice, I'm
(01:23):
not trying to turn you into a designer. But I
am attempting to do something that is a pretty serious
heavy lift, I think, and that is uh. You all
understand the importance of builders in the process of transforming
your home, but the mainstream homeowner has yet to fully
(01:44):
embrace the idea that design and designers as a part
of your remodeling team, your transformation team, your new build team.
It's a little easier on the new build because you
usually have an architect that or somebody involved with that.
But on the transformation team, it is just not typical.
And I don't blame you. It's not your fault at
(02:07):
all in any way, shape or form, because you've not
been taught to do this. You know, none of us
have in terms of our culture. It's not a cultural norm.
I would love that to be the case. When that
becomes the case, I think maybe I can, you know,
(02:28):
you know, hang up my tool belt here and my
job will be done for you because and I can
just go back to just designing homes for private clients,
and I don't need to broadcast this message from this
pulpit any further, but until that day comes, I'm gonna
keep pushing it because it is such an important thing.
(02:49):
It is so very very important. Design is the key
to unlocking your home's potential. And we'll say it again
and again in one hundred different ways. But today I'm
going to give you ten very very valid, very practical,
very I hope, easy to understand reasons why design matters
(03:11):
most for the next steps that you take for your home.
So it's going to be a blast. We're going to
have some fun and I get to talk about one
of my all time, absolute favorite topics and perhaps the
first and foremost reason that I am behind this microphone
to discuss that with you to get that done. So
(03:32):
there you go, And of course we're going to take
your calls as we always do. The number to reach me,
by the way, and the callboard is open right now.
You can call in. Our call screener will tell you
everything you need to know. You can listen to the
show while you wait. We'll be going to calls in
the second hour, but you can call in now absolutely
(03:54):
eight three three two ask Dean is the number to
reach me at eight three the numeral two pep ask
Dean eight three three two ask Dean. It's just that easy.
Whatever you have got on your mind about your home,
whatever is got you scratching your head about your home, design, construction, diy,
(04:18):
stuff inside, stuff outside, decor hardescape, landscape. I got you.
From property line to property line, from the soil to
the sky. We are here to talk about your home,
and we're gonna put our heads together and get it
figured out. And as always with calls, you set the agenda. Okay,
I'm talking about a very specific thing today, but when
(04:39):
it comes to calls, you get to call me about
anything at all. Don't feel shy about changing the subject
of the show. That's not the point at all. Calls
are all about you and what's going on with you. Uh,
speaking of great things happening today, sitting across the table
from me as always my better half, my design partner,
(05:01):
my best friend on planet Earth and pretty much everywhere else.
I mean, I haven't been everywhere else other than planet Earth,
but I'm just going to assume that you will always
be my best friend, even uh, you know, places other
than planet Earth. But my best friend on planet Earth.
Tina is here. Of course, shut up, Dean just introduced Tina.
(05:22):
Tina's here. Welcome home, there you are. Hello, good morning,
Good morning. How's it going going? Well, it's beautiful today.
It is a beautiful day, it really is. We're headed
into a warm week in southern California. We're going to
creep up into the nineties. But you know what, August
has been pretty pretty nice, pretty tame, being mid August
and the eighties. Maybe we shouldn't say that out loud.
(05:44):
I tell you what we haven't done was we haven't
had our like week and a half a hundred degree weather.
Oh just wait, what do you got to say that?
Speaker 2 (05:53):
What do you have to say?
Speaker 3 (05:54):
You say, it's late August, early September, we get really warm,
so I'm assuming it's coming.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
One more reason and that that I'm pretty happy this morning. Toast.
Today's program, at least the morning part brought to you
by Toast. I have a crack wheat sour dough toast here.
I already have my protein this morning, so coffee and toast.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
The smell of toast toasting is can you hear that?
It's a phenomenal smells. No thanks, for that, I know.
But the smell of toast.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
Yeah, just fill the dead air eating this toast.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
The smell of coffee and the smell both pretty fun.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
It is a wonderful way to uh you know, because
it's like, you know, it's like rebaking the bread again,
you know, kd of that vibe. All right, hang on
and now I got a drink by coffee. Okay, there
we go. We're set, We're ready. Uh, it's going to
be a great show today. There is more stuff on
(06:59):
the way. You are listening to Home with Dean Sharp
the house Whistle.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
I wasn't sure if we were back because I'm still
eating toast, still toast. Today's show brought to you by
Trader Joe's Cracked wheat sourdough toast. You can't buy toast
at Trader Joe's, I don't think, but you can buy
cracked wheat sour dough bread and then turn it into toast.
I just wanted to be clear in case I was
giving a product endorsement and people are like I went
(07:30):
to Traders and I did not find cracked wheat, sourdough toast. No,
it comes in the bread form there, and then you
toast it yourself with a toaster or something some heat
producing device. Okay, hey, thanks for joining us on the
program today. Yes, yes, I'm in a quirky mood. Okay,
(07:52):
We're all gonna be fine. Uh. Today on the program
we are talking about the ten ten reason, not the
ten reasons. I could give you one hundred reasons why
design matters most, but we're talking about ten of them
that I've set aside for you because I really want
you to understand this and I want to just understand
(08:14):
the practical value of it. And as I said before
the break, this is something that is not in the
normal mainstream home owner vocabulary. Now let me explain that
just for a second, just so you understand what it
is i'm talking about. I'm not saying that the idea
of hey, having a good design is not in your vocabulary. Okay,
I'm not insulting your taste. What do you think we're idiots, Dean.
(08:36):
Of course it should be a good design. Now I'm
talking about how we go about getting the good design. Okay, Normally,
our culture, we've in culturated a process for the mainstream
homeowner that is actually different than the process for the
let's say luxury or a state homeowner. And they're like, well,
(08:59):
that's probably a good idea, because I am not a
luxury or a state homeowner. No, it's not a good idea.
It's not a good because the same rules should apply
to everybody across the board. So here, you know, as
a designer who has spent most of his career in
the luxury and the state market, I can tell you
how it works. It works like this. Let's say you're
(09:19):
sitting around in your luxury a state home, you know,
aka your mansion up on the hill behind the big gates,
and you're thinking, well, I'm getting kind of bored with
my twelve thousand square feet as it is. I'd like
to redo this. I'd like to redo that. Okay, So
what's your next move? Well, because you've been inculturated into
(09:43):
that culture, your next move is the correct move, which
is you pick up the phone and you call me.
You call an architectural designer, or an architect or an
interior designer or a decorator or whoever it is that
needs to you tell the story for whatever scope of work.
(10:04):
That you're doing. But you call the creative. You pick
up the phone and you call the creative, You call
the storyteller, you call the designer. I'm just using the
word designer as an umbrella term for all of these
different specific kinds of designers, from architectural all the way
down to decor and decorating. Okay, you call the designer,
(10:25):
and you meet with your designers and you hammer out
the ideas and you work it through and you get
a picture of this new story that's going to be told.
And then then and only then do you turn, Now
that that story has been written, do you turn and
call the contractors to execute that story. That's the way
(10:51):
it works, by the way, that's the way it works.
And that's how it works in the movies. Okay, very
few I'm going to say, the zero movie and television
productions I ever think. Okay, well, we have an idea,
we want to do a show. Let's hire on our
(11:12):
technical crew who are gonna get it done. The camera people,
the lighting people, you know, et cetera, et cetera, and
we'll get them together and ask them their advice about
what kind of story should we should tell. That's not
the way that works, and it doesn't. It's it's it's
not a diss to all of these highly trained, highly
(11:33):
skilled professionals. It is simply the reality that they're not
in the storytelling business in the sense of generating the story. So,
you know, you got a producer who's like, you know,
we should do this, we should do a film about this,
and you know, maybe you go out and hire a writer,
(11:53):
or maybe you're just a writer who has already written
a story for a movie or a TV show and
you're trying to pitch it in front of producers. But
the point is, as soon as the story is written
and picked up and approved and edited and re edited
(12:14):
and ready to rock and roll, then now that we've
got a story, do we turn around and we hire
the people who are going to make that story, you know,
become a reality in the real world, everything from the
actors all the way down to the makeup people and
the hair stylists and the you know, the production managers
and the caterers and everything. Okay, this is missing from
(12:38):
the mainstream middle class homeowner because what you've been told
to do is, let's say this, you want to remodel
your kitchen, So what do you think You look to
your partner and you're like, we should remodel this kitchen. Okay,
let's do that. Let's call a kitchen contractor. Okay, Hey,
(13:00):
how did we jump to contractor so quickly? Because that's
what we've been taught. You want to remodel your home,
we better call a great contractor. All right, so you
understand what I'm saying. Aha, all right, now, just sit
and think and percolate on that for a few minutes,
and when we return, we're going to break that egg
(13:21):
wide open, because you know what to make an omelet,
you got to break some eggs. That's what I've been told.
Or toast, Now coast doesn't apply. All right. Your Home
with Dean Sharp, the House Whisper.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
Here to help you transform your ordinary house into an
extraordinary home. We do that every week here with you
on the program, especially today, especially today, because how do
we transform an ordinary house into an extraordinary home? We
learn less than one and that is design matters most.
(13:57):
And here on the show today, I'm giving you ten
reason why, just explaining it. My goal is to convince you,
step by step along the way how important this is
to the process and something that you're not used to.
Just a quick side note here if your home needs
some personal house Whisper attention, you're like, I love that
(14:18):
show and I get a lot of great advice from Dean,
But what I really need is him and Tina standing
here staring at our problem, because I don't think I
don't think he realizes how big our problem is. Okay,
it's not a problem that can happen. By the way,
you can book an in home design console. Just go
to house Whisper or dot Design for more info. So
(14:39):
there you go. All right, all right, So before the break,
I was telling you that it's just not enculturated into
mainstream American home owning, into the home improvement industry to
pick up the phone when it's time to transform your
house and call the creatives. We accept it. That's the
(15:00):
way it happens in other art forms, the way it happens.
It's how TVs TVs. It's how TV shows and movies
get made. It's how books are written. Obviously, the creative
is the person starting up writing the book. But even
those stories, by the way, need editing. Ask any author
(15:20):
if they, any author anywhere, were the best selling book,
if they wrote that book and then just handed it
to the publisher, and the publisher just just you know,
sent it to the printer without editing, without an editor,
doesn't happen. It doesn't happen. Why because even the best stories,
(15:42):
even the finest books, even masterpiece, need editing. So whether
or not you consider yourself a creative type, and you're like, well,
I mean, I get what he's saying, but I'm not
sure I need to hire a designer as part of
our process because you know, I got a pretty good
sense of this. Yeah. Hey, I'm not there to critique
your methodology for transforming your home or remodeling your home,
(16:06):
but I will tell you this, even if you are
the quote unquote designer for your remodel, just please please
understand this is just wisdom from the rest of the
world that even the best of books need editors to
come in. In other words, a second pair of eyes
(16:26):
at least to come in who actually know, not just
the family member who's patting you on the back saying yeah,
it's a pretty good IDEA second pair of eyes who
know and understand design as well, if not better than
you to say, yeah, yeah, love what you're doing here. Uh,
you might want to tweak that editing fierce merciless but
(16:49):
loving editing along the way. So every story needs writing
and every book needs editing. This is reason number one,
and it is the greatest lesson to learn for the
mainstream American homeowner to incorporate design into what we're doing.
By the way, it's a side note here. You're paying
(17:10):
for this anyway on some level. You'll pay for it
in poor design if you don't have a designer involved,
you'll pay for it. If you hire a design build
contractor and you're just leaning on your contractors to do
the design work for you, and they're like, hey, we'll
handle the design, and I get it. There are, in fact,
(17:30):
some really talented contractors in terms of their ability to
do design work. Okay, But if that's the case, you're
already paying for it. Believe me, it's built in to
the cost of the contract that part. Okay. So my
point is this, you can break that out, that unknown cost,
(17:51):
break that out and handle it yourself. You can hire
an independent designer, independent of the contractor who you know.
I tend to lean in that direction, not just because
I am one, No, I tend it because I want
your designer, not vested, not to have any vested interests
in the materials that go into the project or the
processes that go into the project, because they are more
(18:13):
or less profitable for the builder along the way. I
want your designer to just suggest clean, you know, unvested
commentary on how the design can go, that you can
accept or reject or adopt to whatever degree that you want.
Does that make sense, okay? Reason number two because home
is the most sacred place on earth. Yeah, all right, Dean.
(18:40):
You're saying this live on a Sunday morning. People are
at church and now you are being a heretic and
I'm not. I'm not sacred. It's a great word. It
means set apart. There is no more important place on
the planet, not even the sanctuary, the church down the street.
(19:02):
Because this place your home. This is ground zero, the
innermost holy of holies of your life. This is where
life happens. This is where all of those moments, This
is where families are raised. This is where you come
and retreat from the world at the end of a
crazy day or a crazy week. This is where you
(19:24):
find yourself again. And it, by the way, because of
the significance of a residence to the human experience. And
that's why as an architectural designer, I decided not to
head off in the direction of office buildings or public
structures or any which are totally viable. And I'm so
(19:46):
happy that there are brilliant, talented architects doing great things
from stadiums to libraries. To know all of the public
spaces that we inhabit, but I was fascinated and always
have been. And maybe part of it, sure, maybe part
of it's because I didn't have the best home life
growing up. Maybe I'm still trying to fill that hole.
(20:08):
I'm I'm willing to lay on the couch. You can
analyze me all you want, but I'm just telling you
home most important place on planet Earth. If you're a
human being, that is a sacred, set apart place and
doesn't matter. I'm not saying that if you're religious or not,
it is set apart. It's those things you know, whether
you're an agnostic or an atheist, or whether you don't
(20:30):
consider yourself anything at all, there are things in your
life that are sacred. There are rituals that are sacred.
Whether it's the getting up in the morning, pouring the
coffee and sitting next to the fire, whether it is
coming home at the end of the day and sitting
in that one comfy chair and just spacing out for
whatever the case may be. These are sacred acts that
(20:50):
repeat again and again. They are your safe place. They
are that special place that makes sense. So reason number
two why design matters most because home is the most
sacred place on earth. And perhaps the greatest quote on
architecture that I have ever encountered, at least it's in
(21:11):
my top five by a non architect, actually, Winston Churchill
said this. He said, famously, we shape our buildings, and
thereafter they shape us. The buildings that we live in,
they tell us how to move. They tell us, by
their walls and their structures and their flow and their pathways,
(21:33):
how to get We're going to get from point A
to point B, and then they give us an experience,
or they don't. Along the way. The buildings that we
live in, the spaces that we inhabit, that we build
for ourselves, we shape them. But then every day after that, subtly, subconsciously,
quite often very consciously. They keep shaping us, they keep
(21:54):
moving us. They have this effect on us. You would
never think of, well, some people would. I am not
of the opinion that if you were setting out to
build a cathedral or a sanctuary, that you would just
kind of throw it together, no big deal, you know,
playing Jane. No, because there's a certain experience to be
had here, and the same is true with your home.
(22:17):
It deserves good design. Why because you deserve good design
in your life bottom line? All right, more, when we
return your Home with Dean Sharp the house Whisper.
Speaker 2 (22:29):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six.
Speaker 1 (22:34):
Forty every week, that design matters most today, especially because
that's exactly what we're talking about on today's episode. Today's program.
I'm giving you ten reasons why design matters most for
your home so that you understand not just in theory. Yeah,
of course I want it to look nice and be
(22:56):
designed well, Dean, No, I mean bringing it into practical
reality that design and designers should be a part of
your construction budget, of your remodel budget, of the process,
which is something that mainstream homeowners have not been taught
to do. You're paying for it anyway, one way or
(23:18):
the other, you're going to be paying for it. And
the point is there's nothing that's going to maximize the
process better for you in the end. Okay, So, and
we'll get to a little bit more of this along
the way. By the way, right after this next break,
we're taking a break from Design matters Most, and we're
going to the phones. We've got some calls on the board,
but there's still room for you. The number to reach
(23:40):
me eight three three two. Ask Dean A three to
three the numeral two, and then you just spell out
ask Dean eight three three two. Ask Dean. Whatever's got
you scratching your head about your home? Design, construction, DIY,
whatever the case. We don't have to talk about design
matters most. We can talk about anything that has you
pressing the button of like, oh, I got to solve
(24:03):
this problem. I don't know what to do about your home.
So anything at all, from design to construction and everything
in between that's coming up right after the next break. Okay,
back to it. Reason number three that design matters most
because custom is different from luxury, and custom is always better.
(24:27):
H What does he mean by that? Well, it may
be news to you. You may have kind of sensed
this along the way but never really consciously thought of it.
But I just want to make it very clear. Luxury
and custom two very very different things, completely separate categories.
They don't have to have anything to do with each other. Okay.
(24:48):
Luxury simply means this when it comes to a home,
A luxury home has a certain kind of understood quantity
or level of amenities in it. Right. I could give you,
you know, the list of twenty things that should be
typically found in every quote unquote luxury home, whether that
(25:11):
home was ever custom built for somebody or not. The
fact is, if you have these amenities and in certain
circumstances in regards to this home, you call it a
luxury home. Okay, luxury as opposed to non luxury. Okay,
luxury not The opposite of luxury would be I don't know, impoverished,
(25:32):
I'm sure empty, spartan. No, none of that actually applies.
We all know a luxury home has certain features and
amenities to it. That's what that is. And there are
a ton these days of spec built you know, which
is just code for tracked luxury homes that weren't built
(25:55):
for anybody that haven't been customized to anyone. Now, luxury
sometimes masks itself as custom because it's like, oh, look
how nice this amenity would treat me. But that doesn't
make it a custom home, Okay. And the encouragement here
is simply this custom is, in my opinion, the ultimate luxury,
(26:17):
even though it doesn't fall in the same category as luxury.
Custom simply means tailored, tailored to you. I like to
give a clothing metaphor for this. I think generally it works.
If you were to imagine going to some high end shop,
retail shop for clothing, and here is you know, whether
you're a man or a woman, here you find hanging
(26:37):
on the rack this this amazing I don't know, shall
we call it silk, maybe something like that shirt or blouse.
And you look at the price tag and you're like, oh,
it's like a major label kind of a thing, and
you know it costs ten thousand dollars. All right, craziness.
Have any of us ever been I had? Personally? Please no,
(27:00):
I've never been in that situation. But I've heard I
watched the movie Pretty Woman. I heard it, I saw
it happen. Uh, so yeah, those places exist. You go
in and you know, you, even though it's ten grand,
you're buying off the rack. That shirt or blouse wasn't
made for you. It was just kind of made for
(27:23):
hopefully you wish sort of, and you have to go
and try it on to see how does it fit?
Does it work for my body type? And you know
a lot of the times no it doesn't. So here's
the thing I give you right out of the gate,
the choice. Let's say, I give you the choice between
this very very expensive material and this major brand name,
(27:46):
and it's gonna cost you, you know, let's say, five
thousand dollars for this, or we're gonna take a bolt.
We're gonna go on down to Joe Anne Fabric and
we're gonna take a bolt of just humble material. Maybe
it's just cotton, maybe it's cotton, nit or linen. We're
gonna take a bolt of fabric and inexpensive bolt of fabric,
(28:06):
and we're gonna take it to a tailor who's gonna
measure you up one side and down the other all
around in a fantastic tailor, and we're gonna have a
shirt or a blouse tailored to you, far far, far
less expensive a fraction and a very humble material. My
(28:28):
guess is very simply this. You're gonna bypass the five
thousand dollars shirt and this is gonna become your new
favorite shirt. Why it's not luxury, but it's custom. Do
you understand what I'm saying? A custom home could be
made out of paper or plastic or platinum. It doesn't
(28:49):
matter the difference whether the amenities are luxurious or the
level of the quality of the materials. Custom means fit
to you. And that's what makes all the difference, all right,
design matters most. We'll return to this conversation, but when
we come back at the top of the hour, we're
going to the phones. Your Home with Dean Sharp, the
(29:09):
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 demand on the iHeartRadio app.
Home with Dean Sharp News
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