December 28, 2025 • 31 mins
It’s the end of 2025! How has your year been? It’s time to turn a corner, and that’s a good thing. Today we’re talking 2026 trends!
What is a trend, according to Dean? Something like the color of the year, according to Pantone. Dean has no problem with that, but what he doesn’t like is when home decor is treated like disposable fashion that you change out every year or two.
In other news, home renovation shows like those you see on HDTV are seeing a sharp decline in viewership, so that’s why networks are bringing back the classic home shows we know and love.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
KFI AM six forty. You're listening to Dean Sharp the
House Whisper on demand on the iHeart Radio app. Welcome
to the third hour of our fine little program. Here.
I am Dean Sharp, the house Whisper, here to help
you better understand that place where you live and to
(00:21):
remind you that every home has a path forward. Once
you see it, that's when everything changes. You gotta find it.
You gotta find it, and it takes some work, take
some effort, take some creative thinking. It's not as easy
as just oh, maybe we should repaint the cabinets. Okay.
We want to take a holistic approach to your home.
(00:42):
Really see it for what it is, find the path,
and once you find the path, you jump on it
and you're like, I get this, I got this. It happens,
happens all the time. I can say that with confidence
to you. Why because I don't just spend time talking
on the radio. I am a real world custom home designer,
(01:04):
and we have clients, real clients, doing real things in
their real lives, and this is the path that we
show everyone. And by the time they find their path,
they know and they get in the flow and the
momentum I always say this about homes that good design
and bad design both have momentum. Unfortunately they both do.
(01:25):
They both snowball, and so bad design decisions is why
we got to cut it off. You got to tournique
tie that thing off. Stop it now, stop trying to
you know, put lipstick on the pig as it were
got to stop it. Sometimes you got to go back
and just correct big problems to get you back on
the path. Bad design decisions snowball. They just they beg
(01:48):
one after another after another, and then you know, you
get to a point where it almost feels hopeless. Good
design decisions work the same way, though, they begin to
pick up momentum, and by the time you get, you know,
just a little bit down the road, it's easier and
easier and easier to design the next thing. And eventually
the whole house is moving so smoothly in one cohesive direction.
(02:12):
It's virtually virtually designing itself. And that really happens. It
really really happens. I'll give you one good example. Let's
say you want to get lighting. You're going to get
some lamps or some new lights for your house, and
you do that. Clients asked me this right at the
beginning of a project, they're like, what kind of light
should I get? Because I was at the light store
(02:33):
and I got so confused. I was so overwhelmed. They've
got like ten thousand lights there, and I'm like, well,
the problem was, my friend, that you went to the
light store. Now, all right, it's not time to go
to the light store. We have other decisions to make
about the house, more significant decisions to make about the house.
And once we make a few of these other decisions,
when the time comes, we'll go to the light store.
(02:55):
Because once the house has already like, oh, it's this style,
and then that's the is in this one and this
is a continuait ah, Okay, Now we go to the
light store. We're looking for a very specific kind of light,
and that light doesn't matter that there are ten thousand
lamps there. We're only looking for a very specific kind,
(03:16):
which means they may have eight or ten to choose
from of what we're looking for. That's not overwhelming, not
at all. You see, the house is now designing itself anyway.
There you go, just a little bit of detail. Now
we're having conversation today, seeing that it's the last show
of twenty twenty five about trends and predictions. That's kind
(03:38):
of what I normally call it, a little bit different
angle this year because I'm wanted to show you, and
I did this in the beginning of the show, really
show you that trends are not the thing to follow.
They aren't. They're just flighty, they're fashionable. They're in one day,
they're out the next. If you embrace a trend, it's
going to be replaced by another trend. So you just
got to know that, all right. What I'm more interested
(04:01):
in you understanding is a deeper understanding of your home.
I want you to understand the movements that are happening
in the design and architectural world. These are not trends.
These are not silly decisions about, well, what's the color
of the year or what's the fabric pattern that's the
in this year versus last year? Who cares? I want
you to understand the real movements that are taking place.
(04:23):
And those movements are not being determined by internet influencers
who just are in a mood for animal prints this year. No, No,
the real movements are being determined by architects, by the
science of building. In other words, the science of home construction.
(04:46):
What every year we're finding more and more capability of
building how we build a house, and by the shifting
cultural trend of our culture, in other words, the way
we live our lives. And so it has come down
to this, the real overall current movement. It's not about
a singular new look. It's not about oh, what home
(05:07):
style is in now, Dean. No, they're all in. Anything
you want is in if you do it right. It's
not about that. It's about a fundamental shift toward homes
that are are you writing this down, because here they are.
Here are the three points again, homes that are more efficient,
more personalized, and more supportive of physical and mental health.
(05:28):
That is what's happening, for real. It's been moving in
this direction for years. It is really these things are
really starting to manifest themselves now on the forefront. This
is like a deep underground energy wave and this wave
is starting to become very, very apparent on the surface
of the water. Now, okay, these are the movements that
(05:49):
are taking place. So I want to give that practical
legs for you from now until the end of the
show and show you exactly how that's working out. First,
of all a term that you've heard me use in
the past, and it sounds of frufy and theoretical, but
it's not. Biophilic design. Biophilia is simply a love of nature,
(06:14):
love of life, a love of nature. Biophilic design is
a movement within the architecture and design community to recognize
that natural light and embracing nature around our homes, bringing
outdoors in to our homes, creates healthier homes and healthier
(06:37):
human beings. Period. So it is a science based approach.
It is not a trend, it's not a fad. It
is what we are learning and have learned more and
more about how human beings thrive in certain environments, how
we thrive, what makes us thrive, What makes a structure
(06:59):
that we live in of a healthier, psychologically healthier and
emotionally healthier and physically healthier place. It is being driven
by the science and design is now responding to it,
and it's called, in a nutshell, biophilic design. More natural light,
bringing the outdoors in, bringing vistas in, creating healthier homes.
(07:23):
Now that's one. If I have time, I'll go a
little deeper into that, but I want to make sure
I get all the way through the list. When we
come back, I want to talk about minimalism. This is
another movement now. It's not what you think. It's really
not what you think. It's not about getting rid of
all your stuff. It's not about being stark. It's not
(07:46):
about an empty room with one uncomfortable wooden stool. That's
how minimalism has really been portrayed in the past. This
is a very, very different approach. I will explain my
approach to it when we return your Home with Dean
Sharp the house Whisper.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI Am six forty.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
Here to help you take your home to the next level,
like we do every week. Thanks for joining us on
the program. I'm having a conversation about twenty twenty six
and the years that follow here at the last broadcast
of ours for this year twenty twenty five. This would
be a time when you know you'll see it all
over social media, all over the internet. You'll see all
(08:31):
sorts of trends and predictions. And like I said earlier
too many times now in the show, I don't do
the trendy thing. We are always cutting edge and relevant
with all of our designs. But you don't get that
way by just doing the trendy thing, because that's just
silly kind of commercialized stuff. What I want you to
(08:52):
be able to do is tap into and follow the
movements that are happening, not the trends, not the fads,
but the movements that are happening in the design and
the architectural community. And that's what we're talking about right now.
One of them is, well, let me again summarize the
movements that are happening that have been rising up, swelling
(09:13):
up for several years now and are really now taking
shape and form more efficient homes, more personalized homes, more
supportive of physical and mental health homes. That's the movement.
In summary. Now, I had mentioned biophilic design. That's one
way in which we give this thing legs. That's bringing
more natural light in and anything we can do to
(09:36):
a home to bring the outdoors in and create a
healthier home because of the science that we are now
understanding of how humans thrive in structures. A second thing
is minimalism. Now said before the break, don't jump to
conclusions here because minimalism typically gets a bad rap because
(09:57):
you get this kind of a spartan darkness to it.
And you're like, I don't want a minimalist I don't
want to live in a minimalist house, because you know,
I like things, and I do want to live in
an empty room, you know, with a burlap shirt and
an uncomfortable stool and a little candle in the No,
we're not talking about a monastic experience of minimalism or
(10:19):
a vow of poverty. I think maybe even minimalism in
one sense is not the right word to use, although
it does apply. But here is my definition of minimalism,
the kind of minimalism that I would wish every one
of my clients and that I wish you would embrace
in regards to your home design. It's what I would
(10:42):
call what some people call warm minimalism, but what I
like to call essential storytelling. Okay, So the minimalism that
I'm looking for is this. It's the kind of editing
that takes place in any great story to get to
the essential story. So when I talk about minimalism as
(11:05):
a design trend for homes, I would say it's not
even a trend or a movement. I would call it
a fundamental design principle for a well designed home. What
I'm talking about is the minimal amount of things that
you need in a room or in a space in
(11:26):
order to efficiently and effectively communicate the story that you
want to tell. So you have a story that you
want to tell, and you're going to need some things,
focal points, elements, props, you know, all that kind of stuff.
You need language, Like if you're writing a book, you're
going to tell a story. We need sentences and paragraphs
(11:46):
and chapters, right, But first drafts of this they're always
heavier than they need to be. They always need to
be edited down. And what I want is the minimal
amount of things, not one thing too many, in a room,
in order to tell the story that you want to tell.
(12:08):
Because alongside the storytelling of a space is the spaciousness
and the breatheability of a space, and the clarity, the
mental clarity and the emotional clarity of a space. And
that requires that we have enough stuff and not one
thing too many. That's the minimalism I'm talking about. Think
(12:30):
of it as essential storytelling. It's not starkness. It's about
clean lines with warmth from textures and anything that you
need in that space, that doesn't go so far as
to clutter the space and distract you from the focal
points and the moods that are being set in that space.
(12:53):
Now that means some spaces will have more things in
them than others. That's entirely fine and acceptable. And this
is not me preaching to you that you should own
less stuff. That's not what I'm talking I'm simply talking
about the design of a space, and you can extrapolate
from that all that you want. I'm talking about the
design of a space. Essential storytelling. We have all, and
(13:16):
I think this is maybe a good metaphor, we have
all watched a movie that was long, and we walked
out of and we thought, you know what, that was
a long movie. But not a minute went by that
I was bored. Man, it just carried me along. That's
essential storytelling. It's not about the length of the show, right.
(13:37):
I've watched a movie that was an hour and fifteen
minutes and wanted to leave fifteen minutes after it started.
But we've also all watched a long movie and walked
out of the theater and thought to ourselves, you know what,
that thing could have been easily half as long as
it was, and it still would have hit all of
its marks and it wouldn't have bored me. That's what
I'm talking about. Your space. How many things can you
(13:59):
tell take out of it without damaging the story, actually
refining it and making it better? All right, More on
this on the other side of the break your Home
with Dean Sharp, the House Whisperer.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
Thanks for joining us on the show today. Here the
final show of twenty twenty five. Next when we speak,
it will be next year. I'll talk to you next year.
How's that You don't have to wait a year? Though,
just a few days. It's going to happen for us.
We're talking about trends. Oh actually, I'm not talking about trends.
(14:40):
I'm intentionally telling you I don't want to talk about trends.
But we are talking about movements, real things that are
happening that will last in the world of architecture and design.
We've hit a few of them now, biophilic design. I
just got done kind of hitting you up with this
new idea that I want you to get in your
head about minimum not stark extremes. I don't want you
(15:03):
to get rid of all your stuff, but I want
you to become a really good editor of the stories
that you tell in your home, in every space, in
every room. And I'll tell you right now, most people,
most people. All right, this is a generalization, but in
my experience it's true. Most people have too many things
(15:25):
on display. I don't care if you own those things,
put them in storage somewhere. But in terms of optimal design,
optimal design for a room, too many things, too many
scenes in the movie, some things could have got cut,
some camera angles should have been edited. Too many words
in the book, some things could have been edited. So
(15:45):
the minimalism that I'm talking about is not an empty room.
The minimalism is coming to understand and refining. Distilling again,
maybe that's a really good term to use. Distilling the
essence of the story that we are going to tell
in this room, and having in that space exactly the
(16:08):
right number of things to tell that story, and not
a single thing more. That's the essential storytelling minimalism that
I'm talking about. When we say minimalism, this is absolutely
of movement in architecture and design. It has taken us
maybe the entire history of architecture and design to actually
(16:31):
put it into these words. But it is now swelling
up and becoming a visible thing. And for the future
of your home and for the quality of its design.
This is something again. It's based in the science of
human nature, focal points and spaces being uncluttered clear. A
(16:53):
clear uncluttered space is a clear, uncluttered mind. They are
equivalent to each each other. They make people happier, they
make people breathe better. They are simply a million reasons
why we want to encourage that kind of warm, essential storytelling. Minimalism,
(17:14):
not starkness, not spartanness, not a monastic vow of poverty,
but simply good storytelling without any extra fluff. Get to
the story. Get to the story. Okay. What else will
continue to be a movement of obviously goes without saying
tech integration. Okay, Now, I hope that we are through
(17:39):
all the fluff and huff of smart home, smart home,
smart home stuff. You know, some manufacturers of electronics are
still not past that. They're still trying to sell you
on things that are just superfluous. Okay. I love Samsung,
some divisions of Samsung. I love their frame TV fantastic.
(18:01):
I love some of their other products. I have no
use for a refrigerator that plays videos on it and
that kind of stuff. It's just like, okay, there's a
point in which you just got to say no. So
picking and choosing the technology that really really works, that
really works. So smart home tech is becoming seamlessly built
(18:24):
into homes. Does not have to be out front, It
does not have to be visible. It just needs to
truly be smart, not just tricky or cool or oh
guess what we can do with a computer now. No,
it just needs to be smart, which means it makes
sense and it doesn't bog you down with another ten
(18:45):
things that you have to master. It. Actually, a smart
home relieves you of the burden of certain things. Okay, like,
for instance, my smart irrigation system that by itself, because
it watches weather reports, shut down and paused all watering
on my property for days and days and days because
(19:06):
of this recent rainstorm we just had in southern California.
All Right, I didn't have to go around and shut
anything off. It did it all by itself. That's smart.
That saves me trouble. There you go. So tech integration
is clearly a thing that continues to happen, and it
is not all just doesn't. None of it has to
look modern. None of it has to look modern. I
(19:26):
was turning some clients on who have a turn a
century house to push button switches, which are very, very,
you know, evoke a lot of nostalgia. These clicky push
button light switches, which are brand new, passing every current
electrical code and have inside them all the brilliant guts
of twenty first century technology, and on the surface they
(19:49):
looked like they were made, you know, in nineteen oh six.
That's the kind of stuff I'm talking about. It's all possible.
And then in terms of movement, and you've already heard
me say this, Yes, lots of revivals. Every style counts,
every style is a go. Okay, modern farmhouse great, fine.
(20:11):
A lot of people are sick of it. If you
are great, if you love it, great, Okay. No judgments
about any form of true architecture from me. You like craftsmen,
let's do craftsmen. You like modern farmhouse, let's do that.
You like Mediterranean, let's do that. You want a Victorian
home that can integrate all of these hybrid things in
(20:33):
the twenty first century. Let's do it. Let's explore everything,
every best style of nostalgia, and let's adapt it to
life in the twenty first century so that you live
your best life inside those stories. Okay. Essentially, future styles
aren't just about esthetics, but also about the responsibility for
(20:57):
the human lives in them. The comfort, smart living, the
blending of new tech with timeless natural designs. That's how
it's going to work, and that's how it's beginning to work.
And it's even taking over new home builds of tracked builders,
happening more and more and more. Okay, real world lifestyle
changes are reshaping footprints of homes, they're reshaping rooflines. Okay,
(21:23):
so these movements in architecture right now, they're having a
significant effect on things because it's healthier living, it's more
flexible use. So let me just touch on a couple
more real quick. We've talked about indoor outdoor floor plans
built around natural light, and we're seeing what we call
(21:44):
in the design world daylight architecture. What is daylight architecture? Well,
think about this. Instead of designing a home with the
walls and the rooms and everything, and then figuring out
window placement almost kind of as an afterthought. There is
a whole movement in architecture now to position the house
on the property, take a look at its cardinal positioning
(22:09):
to the sunrise, the sunset, the traveling of the sun
across the sky, so on and so forth, and then
figure out where are we putting all the windows, where
do we want all the light coming in, and then
building the walls to accommodate them. That is brilliant and
it is called daylight architecture, and it is taking over
more and more of our design thought space because it's right. Okay,
(22:34):
natural light is a quality of life feature that every
home should have in it, and so we're designing for
light first and then adapting windows, walls and styles to
those things. Okay, we're designing smaller footprints of homes. We're
eliminating dead square footage. We're scaling homes more efficiently. Okay,
(22:55):
you're going to see more rectangular or L shaped footprints
that reduce framing complexity in homes. You're gonna see a
reduction of oversized two story foyers because it's a volume
waste in a house. Hallways are getting shortened, sometimes they're
getting eliminated. I don't. I'm not a pro. I'm not
(23:16):
in favor of eliminating hallways because I think they're important
transitional spaces, but they certainly don't need to be wastes
of space. I want the hallway to get you from
point A to point B and not take up so
much room in the house. Primary suites are positioned to
reduce noise transfer, and a lot of single story or
what we should call main level living happening in a
(23:40):
design thinking about aging in place. These are all the
movements that are taking place, all right. A couple more
thoughts on that and some closing thoughts for you right
after the break your Home with Dean Sharp the House Whisper.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (24:02):
Here to remind you that every home deserves great design.
And that's what I'm here for, to help you take
your home from where it is to where it could be.
We do this every week, and I'm glad that you
are here. Here we are in the final segment of
the show. Last minute thoughts about these movements that I've
been talking about. I just want to get a couple
(24:22):
more in here. I knew I was going to get
through my whole list, But I'm glad that we've covered
what we have so far. But real movements, not trends,
not flighty things, real movements. Let's see what we were
talking about daylight. I talked about simplified footprints on houses,
the rise of the one story house again or even
in a two story setting, main level living, in other words,
(24:44):
at least having a possibility of the primary suite downstairs
so that aging in place, which is a permanent, long
term thing now. And multi family living, you know, adas,
those kinds of setups, including guest spaces and and all
(25:09):
of that kind of stuff. Ad Us did I say, Adas?
Ad Us? That's what I meant to say, adah ADUs,
Accessory dwelling units, these kinds of things, separate entrances, all
of these kinds of things. Multifunctional flex rooms are a
reality now in current designs. In other words, we're looking
for and I think COVID brought this on, but I
(25:31):
think it's here to stay. We're looking for rooms that
can flex into you know, it can be a spare
bedroom or an office and and find its way and
giving priority to the thing that it gets used for
most Most of you understand this that now it's a
very real architectural movement and design movement to make kitchens
as the architectural anchor of a home, not just a
(25:54):
room off to the side or wherever, but really being
fully at the at the court corner, the cornerstone of
most interior space, kind of wrapping itself around the kitchen,
because that's just how we live. That's the cultural trend
visibly minimalized garages, meaning that we take a two guar
(26:15):
garage and we actually break it into two doors, not
just one door, but two doors, so that we can
reduce the scale of its appearance on the front of
the house. And sometimes in new builds now we're starting
to design two garage bays at opposite ends of the house.
It's just as easy to do that as it is
to put one garage all together. So lots of options
(26:36):
there when it comes to that. And then just making
more wonderful luxury layouts in smaller footprints. Homes between fourteen
hundred and two thousand square feet are getting architectural features
now that traditionally we're reserved for larger homes, and that's great,
all right, That's about as far as I can go
(26:56):
with that today. I want to leave you with a
I want to answer this question, why do most people
not have extraordinary homes? Okay? And I know there are
folks whose lives are not been toward home, and for
whom any warm bed and a roof that doesn't leak
is just fine. So not to lump everyone in the
same pile. Okay, So maybe the better question is why
(27:17):
do most people who want to live in an extraordinary
home not live in an extraordinary home? And it's you know,
it's more than just I can't afford it, And I
get it. I'm as budget sensitive as you are, I
truly am. But I've seen far too many extremely modest, inexpensive,
truly extraordinary homes where creativity has conquered cost to believe
(27:40):
that cost is just the biggest reason, the biggest reason
from my experience, And I know I'm treading on to
sensitive ground here, so please believe I say this with
all empathy and compassion and without judgment. But from where
I am standing, the biggest reason why most people who
would love to live in an extraordinary home actually don't
(28:01):
live in an extraordinary home is courage or rather the
antithesis of courage, fear to have an extraordinary home. We
have to make some moves that are extra ordinary, that
go beyond ordinary, and that requires courage. Words like extraordinary
and exceptional mean unusual, uncommon, rare, beyond the norm, out
(28:26):
of the ordinary, which all sounds rather exciting when it's
not you who's being asked to stand out, when it's
not your reputation or your tastes exposed for everybody to
see in judge, or your hard earned money on the line.
I get it. Being exceptional an extraordinary requires risks, and
let's be honest, we wouldn't call them risks if there
(28:48):
wasn't a chance of failure. So the longing to be
exceptional is real, and the fear of failing is just
as real. And there are a lot of things attached
to that fear. Fear of wasting your money, fear of change,
perhaps the biggest and strangest fear of all, the fear
of what might happen if I let go of all
(29:10):
my excuses for not becoming my fullest, most honest, most
authentic me. Excuses are a shield that we build from
our fears. They're a slow poison they're fatal. My high
school football coach helped me see this a long time ago,
he said, in the kindest, most encouraging way possible, but
with deadly seriousness in his eyes. He says, Dean, I
(29:33):
know you have been through a lot. Take my advice, though,
and never let the reasons your life has been difficult
become excuses for not doing everything you can to live.
There are always reasons for everything. There are reasons, but
there are no excuses. And then he said the second
thing that I'll never forget. I know you're afraid. It's
(29:55):
okay to be afraid. If you weren't afraid, you wouldn't
be smart. But you don't have to get rid of
your fear in order to be courageous. Courage is not
the absence of fear. Courage is simply the understanding that
some things in your life are more important than your fears. So, yeah,
(30:15):
because of those fears, because of excuses, most people who
want to live in an extraordinary house won't. I don't
want that to be you, not because I have this
thing about houses, but because I have this thing about
wanting people to live their own extraordinary life. It doesn't
mean you'll be rich or famous or make it into
the history books. It just means you'll be you, and
(30:36):
you the real, healed, healthy, imperfect but authentic. You are
exactly what the world needs. Most importantly, you're exactly what
you need. It's your life, so live it. So this
is my wish for you in twenty twenty six. It's
your life.
Speaker 2 (30:54):
Live it.
Speaker 1 (30:55):
Find the thing that's most important and more important than
your fears, and then leave your excuses behind and get
busy building yourself a beautiful life. Happy twenty twenty six.
We'll see you next year, right back here next weekend.
This has been Home with Dean Sharp, the House Whisper.
(31:16):
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 iHeart Radio app. Welcome
to the third hour of our fine little program. Here.
I am Dean Sharp, the house Whisper, here to help
you better understand that place where you live and to
(00:21):
remind you that every home has a path forward. Once
you see it, that's when everything changes. You gotta find it.
You gotta find it, and it takes some work, take
some effort, take some creative thinking. It's not as easy
as just oh, maybe we should repaint the cabinets. Okay.
We want to take a holistic approach to your home.
(00:42):
Really see it for what it is, find the path,
and once you find the path, you jump on it
and you're like, I get this, I got this. It happens,
happens all the time. I can say that with confidence
to you. Why because I don't just spend time talking
on the radio. I am a real world custom home designer,
(01:04):
and we have clients, real clients, doing real things in
their real lives, and this is the path that we
show everyone. And by the time they find their path,
they know and they get in the flow and the
momentum I always say this about homes that good design
and bad design both have momentum. Unfortunately they both do.
(01:25):
They both snowball, and so bad design decisions is why
we got to cut it off. You got to tournique
tie that thing off. Stop it now, stop trying to
you know, put lipstick on the pig as it were
got to stop it. Sometimes you got to go back
and just correct big problems to get you back on
the path. Bad design decisions snowball. They just they beg
(01:48):
one after another after another, and then you know, you
get to a point where it almost feels hopeless. Good
design decisions work the same way, though, they begin to
pick up momentum, and by the time you get, you know,
just a little bit down the road, it's easier and
easier and easier to design the next thing. And eventually
the whole house is moving so smoothly in one cohesive direction.
(02:12):
It's virtually virtually designing itself. And that really happens. It
really really happens. I'll give you one good example. Let's
say you want to get lighting. You're going to get
some lamps or some new lights for your house, and
you do that. Clients asked me this right at the
beginning of a project, they're like, what kind of light
should I get? Because I was at the light store
(02:33):
and I got so confused. I was so overwhelmed. They've
got like ten thousand lights there, and I'm like, well,
the problem was, my friend, that you went to the
light store. Now, all right, it's not time to go
to the light store. We have other decisions to make
about the house, more significant decisions to make about the house.
And once we make a few of these other decisions,
when the time comes, we'll go to the light store.
(02:55):
Because once the house has already like, oh, it's this style,
and then that's the is in this one and this
is a continuait ah, Okay, Now we go to the
light store. We're looking for a very specific kind of light,
and that light doesn't matter that there are ten thousand
lamps there. We're only looking for a very specific kind,
(03:16):
which means they may have eight or ten to choose
from of what we're looking for. That's not overwhelming, not
at all. You see, the house is now designing itself anyway.
There you go, just a little bit of detail. Now
we're having conversation today, seeing that it's the last show
of twenty twenty five about trends and predictions. That's kind
(03:38):
of what I normally call it, a little bit different
angle this year because I'm wanted to show you, and
I did this in the beginning of the show, really
show you that trends are not the thing to follow.
They aren't. They're just flighty, they're fashionable. They're in one day,
they're out the next. If you embrace a trend, it's
going to be replaced by another trend. So you just
got to know that, all right. What I'm more interested
(04:01):
in you understanding is a deeper understanding of your home.
I want you to understand the movements that are happening
in the design and architectural world. These are not trends.
These are not silly decisions about, well, what's the color
of the year or what's the fabric pattern that's the
in this year versus last year? Who cares? I want
you to understand the real movements that are taking place.
(04:23):
And those movements are not being determined by internet influencers
who just are in a mood for animal prints this year. No, No,
the real movements are being determined by architects, by the
science of building. In other words, the science of home construction.
(04:46):
What every year we're finding more and more capability of
building how we build a house, and by the shifting
cultural trend of our culture, in other words, the way
we live our lives. And so it has come down
to this, the real overall current movement. It's not about
a singular new look. It's not about oh, what home
(05:07):
style is in now, Dean. No, they're all in. Anything
you want is in if you do it right. It's
not about that. It's about a fundamental shift toward homes
that are are you writing this down, because here they are.
Here are the three points again, homes that are more efficient,
more personalized, and more supportive of physical and mental health.
(05:28):
That is what's happening, for real. It's been moving in
this direction for years. It is really these things are
really starting to manifest themselves now on the forefront. This
is like a deep underground energy wave and this wave
is starting to become very, very apparent on the surface
of the water. Now, okay, these are the movements that
(05:49):
are taking place. So I want to give that practical
legs for you from now until the end of the
show and show you exactly how that's working out. First,
of all a term that you've heard me use in
the past, and it sounds of frufy and theoretical, but
it's not. Biophilic design. Biophilia is simply a love of nature,
(06:14):
love of life, a love of nature. Biophilic design is
a movement within the architecture and design community to recognize
that natural light and embracing nature around our homes, bringing
outdoors in to our homes, creates healthier homes and healthier
(06:37):
human beings. Period. So it is a science based approach.
It is not a trend, it's not a fad. It
is what we are learning and have learned more and
more about how human beings thrive in certain environments, how
we thrive, what makes us thrive, What makes a structure
(06:59):
that we live in of a healthier, psychologically healthier and
emotionally healthier and physically healthier place. It is being driven
by the science and design is now responding to it,
and it's called, in a nutshell, biophilic design. More natural light,
bringing the outdoors in, bringing vistas in, creating healthier homes.
(07:23):
Now that's one. If I have time, I'll go a
little deeper into that, but I want to make sure
I get all the way through the list. When we
come back, I want to talk about minimalism. This is
another movement now. It's not what you think. It's really
not what you think. It's not about getting rid of
all your stuff. It's not about being stark. It's not
(07:46):
about an empty room with one uncomfortable wooden stool. That's
how minimalism has really been portrayed in the past. This
is a very, very different approach. I will explain my
approach to it when we return your Home with Dean
Sharp the house Whisper.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI Am six forty.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
Here to help you take your home to the next level,
like we do every week. Thanks for joining us on
the program. I'm having a conversation about twenty twenty six
and the years that follow here at the last broadcast
of ours for this year twenty twenty five. This would
be a time when you know you'll see it all
over social media, all over the internet. You'll see all
(08:31):
sorts of trends and predictions. And like I said earlier
too many times now in the show, I don't do
the trendy thing. We are always cutting edge and relevant
with all of our designs. But you don't get that
way by just doing the trendy thing, because that's just
silly kind of commercialized stuff. What I want you to
(08:52):
be able to do is tap into and follow the
movements that are happening, not the trends, not the fads,
but the movements that are happening in the design and
the architectural community. And that's what we're talking about right now.
One of them is, well, let me again summarize the
movements that are happening that have been rising up, swelling
(09:13):
up for several years now and are really now taking
shape and form more efficient homes, more personalized homes, more
supportive of physical and mental health homes. That's the movement.
In summary. Now, I had mentioned biophilic design. That's one
way in which we give this thing legs. That's bringing
more natural light in and anything we can do to
(09:36):
a home to bring the outdoors in and create a
healthier home because of the science that we are now
understanding of how humans thrive in structures. A second thing
is minimalism. Now said before the break, don't jump to
conclusions here because minimalism typically gets a bad rap because
(09:57):
you get this kind of a spartan darkness to it.
And you're like, I don't want a minimalist I don't
want to live in a minimalist house, because you know,
I like things, and I do want to live in
an empty room, you know, with a burlap shirt and
an uncomfortable stool and a little candle in the No,
we're not talking about a monastic experience of minimalism or
(10:19):
a vow of poverty. I think maybe even minimalism in
one sense is not the right word to use, although
it does apply. But here is my definition of minimalism,
the kind of minimalism that I would wish every one
of my clients and that I wish you would embrace
in regards to your home design. It's what I would
(10:42):
call what some people call warm minimalism, but what I
like to call essential storytelling. Okay, So the minimalism that
I'm looking for is this. It's the kind of editing
that takes place in any great story to get to
the essential story. So when I talk about minimalism as
(11:05):
a design trend for homes, I would say it's not
even a trend or a movement. I would call it
a fundamental design principle for a well designed home. What
I'm talking about is the minimal amount of things that
you need in a room or in a space in
(11:26):
order to efficiently and effectively communicate the story that you
want to tell. So you have a story that you
want to tell, and you're going to need some things,
focal points, elements, props, you know, all that kind of stuff.
You need language, Like if you're writing a book, you're
going to tell a story. We need sentences and paragraphs
(11:46):
and chapters, right, But first drafts of this they're always
heavier than they need to be. They always need to
be edited down. And what I want is the minimal
amount of things, not one thing too many, in a room,
in order to tell the story that you want to tell.
(12:08):
Because alongside the storytelling of a space is the spaciousness
and the breatheability of a space, and the clarity, the
mental clarity and the emotional clarity of a space. And
that requires that we have enough stuff and not one
thing too many. That's the minimalism I'm talking about. Think
(12:30):
of it as essential storytelling. It's not starkness. It's about
clean lines with warmth from textures and anything that you
need in that space, that doesn't go so far as
to clutter the space and distract you from the focal
points and the moods that are being set in that space.
(12:53):
Now that means some spaces will have more things in
them than others. That's entirely fine and acceptable. And this
is not me preaching to you that you should own
less stuff. That's not what I'm talking I'm simply talking
about the design of a space, and you can extrapolate
from that all that you want. I'm talking about the
design of a space. Essential storytelling. We have all, and
(13:16):
I think this is maybe a good metaphor, we have
all watched a movie that was long, and we walked
out of and we thought, you know what, that was
a long movie. But not a minute went by that
I was bored. Man, it just carried me along. That's
essential storytelling. It's not about the length of the show, right.
(13:37):
I've watched a movie that was an hour and fifteen
minutes and wanted to leave fifteen minutes after it started.
But we've also all watched a long movie and walked
out of the theater and thought to ourselves, you know what,
that thing could have been easily half as long as
it was, and it still would have hit all of
its marks and it wouldn't have bored me. That's what
I'm talking about. Your space. How many things can you
(13:59):
tell take out of it without damaging the story, actually
refining it and making it better? All right, More on
this on the other side of the break your Home
with Dean Sharp, the House Whisperer.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
Thanks for joining us on the show today. Here the
final show of twenty twenty five. Next when we speak,
it will be next year. I'll talk to you next year.
How's that You don't have to wait a year? Though,
just a few days. It's going to happen for us.
We're talking about trends. Oh actually, I'm not talking about trends.
(14:40):
I'm intentionally telling you I don't want to talk about trends.
But we are talking about movements, real things that are
happening that will last in the world of architecture and design.
We've hit a few of them now, biophilic design. I
just got done kind of hitting you up with this
new idea that I want you to get in your
head about minimum not stark extremes. I don't want you
(15:03):
to get rid of all your stuff, but I want
you to become a really good editor of the stories
that you tell in your home, in every space, in
every room. And I'll tell you right now, most people,
most people. All right, this is a generalization, but in
my experience it's true. Most people have too many things
(15:25):
on display. I don't care if you own those things,
put them in storage somewhere. But in terms of optimal design,
optimal design for a room, too many things, too many
scenes in the movie, some things could have got cut,
some camera angles should have been edited. Too many words
in the book, some things could have been edited. So
(15:45):
the minimalism that I'm talking about is not an empty room.
The minimalism is coming to understand and refining. Distilling again,
maybe that's a really good term to use. Distilling the
essence of the story that we are going to tell
in this room, and having in that space exactly the
(16:08):
right number of things to tell that story, and not
a single thing more. That's the essential storytelling minimalism that
I'm talking about. When we say minimalism, this is absolutely
of movement in architecture and design. It has taken us
maybe the entire history of architecture and design to actually
(16:31):
put it into these words. But it is now swelling
up and becoming a visible thing. And for the future
of your home and for the quality of its design.
This is something again. It's based in the science of
human nature, focal points and spaces being uncluttered clear. A
(16:53):
clear uncluttered space is a clear, uncluttered mind. They are
equivalent to each each other. They make people happier, they
make people breathe better. They are simply a million reasons
why we want to encourage that kind of warm, essential storytelling. Minimalism,
(17:14):
not starkness, not spartanness, not a monastic vow of poverty,
but simply good storytelling without any extra fluff. Get to
the story. Get to the story. Okay. What else will
continue to be a movement of obviously goes without saying
tech integration. Okay, Now, I hope that we are through
(17:39):
all the fluff and huff of smart home, smart home,
smart home stuff. You know, some manufacturers of electronics are
still not past that. They're still trying to sell you
on things that are just superfluous. Okay. I love Samsung,
some divisions of Samsung. I love their frame TV fantastic.
(18:01):
I love some of their other products. I have no
use for a refrigerator that plays videos on it and
that kind of stuff. It's just like, okay, there's a
point in which you just got to say no. So
picking and choosing the technology that really really works, that
really works. So smart home tech is becoming seamlessly built
(18:24):
into homes. Does not have to be out front, It
does not have to be visible. It just needs to
truly be smart, not just tricky or cool or oh
guess what we can do with a computer now. No,
it just needs to be smart, which means it makes
sense and it doesn't bog you down with another ten
(18:45):
things that you have to master. It. Actually, a smart
home relieves you of the burden of certain things. Okay, like,
for instance, my smart irrigation system that by itself, because
it watches weather reports, shut down and paused all watering
on my property for days and days and days because
(19:06):
of this recent rainstorm we just had in southern California.
All Right, I didn't have to go around and shut
anything off. It did it all by itself. That's smart.
That saves me trouble. There you go. So tech integration
is clearly a thing that continues to happen, and it
is not all just doesn't. None of it has to
look modern. None of it has to look modern. I
(19:26):
was turning some clients on who have a turn a
century house to push button switches, which are very, very,
you know, evoke a lot of nostalgia. These clicky push
button light switches, which are brand new, passing every current
electrical code and have inside them all the brilliant guts
of twenty first century technology, and on the surface they
(19:49):
looked like they were made, you know, in nineteen oh six.
That's the kind of stuff I'm talking about. It's all possible.
And then in terms of movement, and you've already heard
me say this, Yes, lots of revivals. Every style counts,
every style is a go. Okay, modern farmhouse great, fine.
(20:11):
A lot of people are sick of it. If you
are great, if you love it, great, Okay. No judgments
about any form of true architecture from me. You like craftsmen,
let's do craftsmen. You like modern farmhouse, let's do that.
You like Mediterranean, let's do that. You want a Victorian
home that can integrate all of these hybrid things in
(20:33):
the twenty first century. Let's do it. Let's explore everything,
every best style of nostalgia, and let's adapt it to
life in the twenty first century so that you live
your best life inside those stories. Okay. Essentially, future styles
aren't just about esthetics, but also about the responsibility for
(20:57):
the human lives in them. The comfort, smart living, the
blending of new tech with timeless natural designs. That's how
it's going to work, and that's how it's beginning to work.
And it's even taking over new home builds of tracked builders,
happening more and more and more. Okay, real world lifestyle
changes are reshaping footprints of homes, they're reshaping rooflines. Okay,
(21:23):
so these movements in architecture right now, they're having a
significant effect on things because it's healthier living, it's more
flexible use. So let me just touch on a couple
more real quick. We've talked about indoor outdoor floor plans
built around natural light, and we're seeing what we call
(21:44):
in the design world daylight architecture. What is daylight architecture? Well,
think about this. Instead of designing a home with the
walls and the rooms and everything, and then figuring out
window placement almost kind of as an afterthought. There is
a whole movement in architecture now to position the house
on the property, take a look at its cardinal positioning
(22:09):
to the sunrise, the sunset, the traveling of the sun
across the sky, so on and so forth, and then
figure out where are we putting all the windows, where
do we want all the light coming in, and then
building the walls to accommodate them. That is brilliant and
it is called daylight architecture, and it is taking over
more and more of our design thought space because it's right. Okay,
(22:34):
natural light is a quality of life feature that every
home should have in it, and so we're designing for
light first and then adapting windows, walls and styles to
those things. Okay, we're designing smaller footprints of homes. We're
eliminating dead square footage. We're scaling homes more efficiently. Okay,
(22:55):
you're going to see more rectangular or L shaped footprints
that reduce framing complexity in homes. You're gonna see a
reduction of oversized two story foyers because it's a volume
waste in a house. Hallways are getting shortened, sometimes they're
getting eliminated. I don't. I'm not a pro. I'm not
(23:16):
in favor of eliminating hallways because I think they're important
transitional spaces, but they certainly don't need to be wastes
of space. I want the hallway to get you from
point A to point B and not take up so
much room in the house. Primary suites are positioned to
reduce noise transfer, and a lot of single story or
what we should call main level living happening in a
(23:40):
design thinking about aging in place. These are all the
movements that are taking place, all right. A couple more
thoughts on that and some closing thoughts for you right
after the break your Home with Dean Sharp the House Whisper.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (24:02):
Here to remind you that every home deserves great design.
And that's what I'm here for, to help you take
your home from where it is to where it could be.
We do this every week, and I'm glad that you
are here. Here we are in the final segment of
the show. Last minute thoughts about these movements that I've
been talking about. I just want to get a couple
(24:22):
more in here. I knew I was going to get
through my whole list, But I'm glad that we've covered
what we have so far. But real movements, not trends,
not flighty things, real movements. Let's see what we were
talking about daylight. I talked about simplified footprints on houses,
the rise of the one story house again or even
in a two story setting, main level living, in other words,
(24:44):
at least having a possibility of the primary suite downstairs
so that aging in place, which is a permanent, long
term thing now. And multi family living, you know, adas,
those kinds of setups, including guest spaces and and all
(25:09):
of that kind of stuff. Ad Us did I say, Adas?
Ad Us? That's what I meant to say, adah ADUs,
Accessory dwelling units, these kinds of things, separate entrances, all
of these kinds of things. Multifunctional flex rooms are a
reality now in current designs. In other words, we're looking
for and I think COVID brought this on, but I
(25:31):
think it's here to stay. We're looking for rooms that
can flex into you know, it can be a spare
bedroom or an office and and find its way and
giving priority to the thing that it gets used for
most Most of you understand this that now it's a
very real architectural movement and design movement to make kitchens
as the architectural anchor of a home, not just a
(25:54):
room off to the side or wherever, but really being
fully at the at the court corner, the cornerstone of
most interior space, kind of wrapping itself around the kitchen,
because that's just how we live. That's the cultural trend
visibly minimalized garages, meaning that we take a two guar
(26:15):
garage and we actually break it into two doors, not
just one door, but two doors, so that we can
reduce the scale of its appearance on the front of
the house. And sometimes in new builds now we're starting
to design two garage bays at opposite ends of the house.
It's just as easy to do that as it is
to put one garage all together. So lots of options
(26:36):
there when it comes to that. And then just making
more wonderful luxury layouts in smaller footprints. Homes between fourteen
hundred and two thousand square feet are getting architectural features
now that traditionally we're reserved for larger homes, and that's great,
all right, That's about as far as I can go
(26:56):
with that today. I want to leave you with a
I want to answer this question, why do most people
not have extraordinary homes? Okay? And I know there are
folks whose lives are not been toward home, and for
whom any warm bed and a roof that doesn't leak
is just fine. So not to lump everyone in the
same pile. Okay, So maybe the better question is why
(27:17):
do most people who want to live in an extraordinary
home not live in an extraordinary home? And it's you know,
it's more than just I can't afford it, And I
get it. I'm as budget sensitive as you are, I
truly am. But I've seen far too many extremely modest, inexpensive,
truly extraordinary homes where creativity has conquered cost to believe
(27:40):
that cost is just the biggest reason, the biggest reason
from my experience, And I know I'm treading on to
sensitive ground here, so please believe I say this with
all empathy and compassion and without judgment. But from where
I am standing, the biggest reason why most people who
would love to live in an extraordinary home actually don't
(28:01):
live in an extraordinary home is courage or rather the
antithesis of courage, fear to have an extraordinary home. We
have to make some moves that are extra ordinary, that
go beyond ordinary, and that requires courage. Words like extraordinary
and exceptional mean unusual, uncommon, rare, beyond the norm, out
(28:26):
of the ordinary, which all sounds rather exciting when it's
not you who's being asked to stand out, when it's
not your reputation or your tastes exposed for everybody to
see in judge, or your hard earned money on the line.
I get it. Being exceptional an extraordinary requires risks, and
let's be honest, we wouldn't call them risks if there
(28:48):
wasn't a chance of failure. So the longing to be
exceptional is real, and the fear of failing is just
as real. And there are a lot of things attached
to that fear. Fear of wasting your money, fear of change,
perhaps the biggest and strangest fear of all, the fear
of what might happen if I let go of all
(29:10):
my excuses for not becoming my fullest, most honest, most
authentic me. Excuses are a shield that we build from
our fears. They're a slow poison they're fatal. My high
school football coach helped me see this a long time ago,
he said, in the kindest, most encouraging way possible, but
with deadly seriousness in his eyes. He says, Dean, I
(29:33):
know you have been through a lot. Take my advice, though,
and never let the reasons your life has been difficult
become excuses for not doing everything you can to live.
There are always reasons for everything. There are reasons, but
there are no excuses. And then he said the second
thing that I'll never forget. I know you're afraid. It's
(29:55):
okay to be afraid. If you weren't afraid, you wouldn't
be smart. But you don't have to get rid of
your fear in order to be courageous. Courage is not
the absence of fear. Courage is simply the understanding that
some things in your life are more important than your fears. So, yeah,
(30:15):
because of those fears, because of excuses, most people who
want to live in an extraordinary house won't. I don't
want that to be you, not because I have this
thing about houses, but because I have this thing about
wanting people to live their own extraordinary life. It doesn't
mean you'll be rich or famous or make it into
the history books. It just means you'll be you, and
(30:36):
you the real, healed, healthy, imperfect but authentic. You are
exactly what the world needs. Most importantly, you're exactly what
you need. It's your life, so live it. So this
is my wish for you in twenty twenty six. It's
your life.
Speaker 2 (30:54):
Live it.
Speaker 1 (30:55):
Find the thing that's most important and more important than
your fears, and then leave your excuses behind and get
busy building yourself a beautiful life. Happy twenty twenty six.
We'll see you next year, right back here next weekend.
This has been Home with Dean Sharp, the House Whisper.
(31:16):
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.
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The Burden
The Burden is a documentary series that takes listeners into the hidden places where justice is done (and undone). It dives deep into the lives of heroes and villains. And it focuses a spotlight on those who triumph even when the odds are against them. Season 5 - The Burden: Death & Deceit in Alliance On April Fools Day 1999, 26-year-old Yvonne Layne was found murdered in her Alliance, Ohio home. David Thorne, her ex-boyfriend and father of one of her children, was instantly a suspect. Another young man admitted to the murder, and David breathed a sigh of relief, until the confessed murderer fingered David; “He paid me to do it.” David was sentenced to life without parole. Two decades later, Pulitzer winner and podcast host, Maggie Freleng (Bone Valley Season 3: Graves County, Wrongful Conviction, Suave) launched a “live” investigation into David's conviction alongside Jason Baldwin (himself wrongfully convicted as a member of the West Memphis Three). Maggie had come to believe that the entire investigation of David was botched by the tiny local police department, or worse, covered up the real killer. Was Maggie correct? Was David’s claim of innocence credible? In Death and Deceit in Alliance, Maggie recounts the case that launched her career, and ultimately, “broke” her.” The results will shock the listener and reduce Maggie to tears and self-doubt. This is not your typical wrongful conviction story. In fact, it turns the genre on its head. It asks the question: What if our champions are foolish? Season 4 - The Burden: Get the Money and Run “Trying to murder my father, this was the thing that put me on the path.” That’s Joe Loya and that path was bank robbery. Bank, bank, bank, bank, bank. In season 4 of The Burden: Get the Money and Run, we hear from Joe who was once the most prolific bank robber in Southern California, and beyond. He used disguises, body doubles, proxies. He leaped over counters, grabbed the money and ran. Even as the FBI was closing in. It was a showdown between a daring bank robber, and a patient FBI agent. Joe was no ordinary bank robber. He was bright, articulate, charismatic, and driven by a dark rage that he summoned up at will. In seven episodes, Joe tells all: the what, the how… and the why. Including why he tried to murder his father. Season 3 - The Burden: Avenger Miriam Lewin is one of Argentina’s leading journalists today. At 19 years old, she was kidnapped off the streets of Buenos Aires for her political activism and thrown into a concentration camp. Thousands of her fellow inmates were executed, tossed alive from a cargo plane into the ocean. Miriam, along with a handful of others, will survive the camp. Then as a journalist, she will wage a decades long campaign to bring her tormentors to justice. Avenger is about one woman’s triumphant battle against unbelievable odds to survive torture, claim justice for the crimes done against her and others like her, and change the future of her country. Season 2 - The Burden: Empire on Blood Empire on Blood is set in the Bronx, NY, in the early 90s, when two young drug dealers ruled an intersection known as “The Corner on Blood.” The boss, Calvin Buari, lived large. He and a protege swore they would build an empire on blood. Then the relationship frayed and the protege accused Calvin of a double homicide which he claimed he didn’t do. But did he? Award-winning journalist Steve Fishman spent seven years to answer that question. This is the story of one man’s last chance to overturn his life sentence. He may prevail, but someone’s gotta pay. The Burden: Empire on Blood is the director’s cut of the true crime classic which reached #1 on the charts when it was first released half a dozen years ago. Season 1 - The Burden In the 1990s, Detective Louis N. Scarcella was legendary. In a city overrun by violent crime, he cracked the toughest cases and put away the worst criminals. “The Hulk” was his nickname. Then the story changed. Scarcella ran into a group of convicted murderers who all say they are innocent. They turned themselves into jailhouse-lawyers and in prison founded a lway firm. When they realized Scarcella helped put many of them away, they set their sights on taking him down. And with the help of a NY Times reporter they have a chance. For years, Scarcella insisted he did nothing wrong. But that’s all he’d say. Until we tracked Scarcella to a sauna in a Russian bathhouse, where he started to talk..and talk and talk. “The guilty have gone free,” he whispered. And then agreed to take us into the belly of the beast. Welcome to The Burden.