The Chaise Lounge Podcast

It's been a great few days here at the Design Bloggers Conference is Atlanta, GA. Thank you for everyone that stopped by to say hi! We are very grateful to all the amazing guests that were featured on The Chaise Lounge! See you at our next event at High Point Market.

Carla Aston, of Aston Design Studio, discovered The Chaise Lounge Podcast on a Facebook group and has been hooked ever since. The Woodlands, TX designer and blogger has built an online following as well. She started blogging 4 years ago and has grown using "evergreen" content. Carla's blog is very solution based with a focus on how to deal with kitchen and bath remodels.

Mitzi Beach is an interior designer/blogger from Wichita, KS. This is her 6th year at the DBC; the networking and face to face interaction brings her back every year. Mitzi has found her focus on the demographic change in needs and design for the baby boomer generation. Her website is a valuable resource for helping a large generation understand and live the lifestyle they want. Her book, "Boomer Smarts Boomer Powers", is available on Amazon.

Welcome to Day 2 of the Design Blogger Conference in Atlanta, GA. Nick May of The Chaise Lounge has another round of amazing guests!

Amanda Gates of Gates Interior Design talks about the difference of life and people in California and Nashville, TN. She runs her interior design business out of her home which is what a lot of highly successfully designers are starting to do. Amanda's design style is very green and Feng Shui. She is enjoying the southern grace design that Nashville has to offer.

Audra Wrightson, of Audra Interiors, is an interior designer that has just started diving into the blog world. She is hoping to mentor and educate via the online world. Her design style is very timeless and classic. Audra also started a company called Suite Dreams. It caters to designs for nursery, kids and teens as well as playrooms

Bruce Andrews Design is a luxury furnishing design brand. Bruce Andrews started the company with a line of chairs. The collection is expanding to ottomans, sofas, lights and fixtures. Everything is handcrafted and handmade. Each piece will be limited edition, only 100-170, of each. They are timeless, heritage pieces that are collector items.

Krystine Edwards is a realtor and interiors designer that will be starting on her own HGTV show called "Charleston Charm." It's a family show featuring both her sons as well as her contract husband. The pilot will air on Sunday March 20th at noon (check local listings) on HGTV. She is also featuring giveaways on her social media sites.

Lisa Rickert shares her love for furnishing with her new company Ave Homes. Ave Home is a specialty furnishing company based out of New Orleans. They currently feature 4 collects of vintage styled furniture. The main focus is furniture for the living room and dining room. Ave Home is a new company, started in January 2016 but already had a showroom in Las Vegas and will open another at High Point Marketplace.

The Chaise Lounge is LIVE! Nick May is at the Design Bloggers Conference in Atlanta, GA.

Adam Japko, the founder and creator, greeted us with talking about what the Design Bloggers Conference is all about. After 6 years, the conference keeps growing in size and culture. The blending of interior design, fashion, food, photography, etc work together to create an inspiring atmosphere. 80% of attendance is each year is new because of the constant growing and expanding of brands and blogging. The Design Bloggers Conference makes a difference with building an online brand for years to come!

Colleen Duffley is an amazing photographer that has shot everything from food to fashion to cars to interiors. She has shot all over the world with her company, Colleen Duffley Productions. She hosted a panel at the DBC on iPhone Photography which is tips and tricks of shooting professional photography on your iPhone. She will also be hosting webcasts on her website of more tips and tricks.

Jill McKenzie, of Steve McKenzie's, has been in the furnishing business for 4 years. They are a retail and "to the trade" showroom in Atlanta, GA. Along with having beautiful collections of home furnishing and fabric at their brick and mortar, they also provided all the furniture that The Chaise Lounge used at the DBC.

Laurel Bern is a blogger/designer with Laurel Bern Interiors. She is also very excited to announce her new line of paint which will feature 150 colors with Benjamin Moore. This was her forth year at the DBC and she keeps coming back for the amazing guests and the networking. She feels with blogging and website it's very important to remember that your site is mobile friendly and responsive.

Refined Haystack is a curated interior design network at a local level that is used for the general public. Sabrina Vodnik sat down with us and explained the design and propose of the engaging site. All the resources that are recommended to the audience are from designers. Resources can be from trade items and sites to unique little shops and everything in between.

Barbara Viteri, creator of Designerlebrity™, talks about producing and hosting this year’s event for the Interior Design Society National Conference in Dallas, TX. She will be moderating a panel called "Building a Breakthrough Brand" with selected guests, Nina Magon, Jennifer Wagner Schmidt and Nick May of The Chaise Lounge Podcast!

Barbara explains how Designerlebrity™ is quickly becoming a pop culture style community fascinated by interior design and transforming into a brand. Her very first concept to create a talk show featuring celebrity interior designers and interviewing them like Hollywood celebrities was picked up immediately by The Design Network. Designerlebrity™ Talk with Barbara Viteri made its debut Fall of 2014. She also became the Interior Design Editor for The Typical Female Magazine and is now focusing on building the Designerlebrity™ brand for public consumption.

Nisi Berryman began NIBA Home,  a to-the-trade and retail showroom, eleven years ago in the Miami Design District. The Mississippi native and LSU graduate was drawn to New York, where her art history and design background drew her to furniture and the decorative arts.  She worked closely with furniture designers in New York, notably Dakota Jackson, before moving to Miami where she served as City Editor of Metropolitan Home Magazine. NIBA Home was launched to provide unique, vintage and exclusive accessories, and later added furniture, lighting and fine art.

Though most of her business is in a brick and mortar setting, she also sells on Dering Hall (a high-end site that features products, designers and architects) and is active on social media. Currently NIBA Home sells 25% accessories, 25 % lighting and 50% furniture and art.

Patricia Davis Brown is a Florida designer  that has been in design for 30 years now. She realized from a very young age that she was meant to be a designer before she even knew she could make a profession out of it. She started her own high end kitchen and bath in 1992. She was very successful though she closed her doors in 2010 to move her business to her home. She then decided to go digital with her design. Patricia wanted to share her ideas and designs with people all over the world so she started the below sites.

professionalkitchenandbath.com allows for consumers to send pictures of their space along with measurements. At that time Patricia and her team will discuss the goals of the space and continue through the preliminary design process. Once there is a firm footprint you allow for the lighting design and then comes the order. There are several packages which you can purchase to have Patricia digitally design your space. Most of this business is done via Skype

pdbhomestore.com is Patricia’s e-commerce site which provides products for home furnishings

digthisdesign.net is Patricia’s blog where she receives sponsored posts and discusses all things design from how to wear a swimsuit for you to do it yourselves. She has received tremendous support for this site and this has allowed her to grow her business substantially.

Patricia believes being digital is very important to grow your business.

Phyllis Harbinger brings another amazing topic to discuss on today's show. Probably one of the most important parts of your business that can also be considered taboo to talk about. She wants you to throw that idea out the window and get down to talking about fee structure and charging for your value. There is no right way to charge for your value but there are ideas and ways to figure out the best way for you to charge based on location, services, business success, etc. Don't be afraid to step outside your comfort zone and ask mentors or even other designers that do similar services what they charge.

At Design Concepts Interiors, Phyllis is more likely to charged based on the design services and creative processes rather than the product sales. She prefers having her clients pay the vendors directly. Normally her design fees are based on square footage as opposed to an hourly fee.

Liza, vice president of industry marketing, from Houzz is joining us to discuss the best way for you to marketing yourself using the Houzz tool. Houzz was founded by a husband and wife team as a tool that people could you from inspiration, it has since grown to a site that customers can use to find professionals, social media and to order products.

Once you are on Houzz you can explore areas such as idea books (which can be shared or kept private and used with just one client), blogs, inspiration, "Find A Pro" and many more. You can become the "Pro" by staying active, reviews, community involvement, etc. Houzz can be a great tool to start and grow your business.

There isn't a project that leaves Michael Wolk Design Associates without Michael Wolk  personally approving it. He has always been a hands on designer that turns discussions into creations. Stemming from an early love of art, the Brooklyn born Michael Wolk attended  Pratt Institute where he graduated with an Industrial Design degree with honors. In college he started designing and building custom furniture as well as designing interiors for lofts. His design and furniture journey brought him to Florida where in 1984, after working for other companies and personally traveling the world; he chose to call Florida home. Focusing mainly on residential and hospitality design - the company has continued to grow.

The growth of Michael Wolk Design Associates has a lot to do with the style in which the company markets itself.  With everyone on social media, Michael feels you need to be more in tune with your marketing in order to increase market share. The studio used to rely on paid print ads but now they find publicity a better venue for building the brand, both in print and online. And of course a large portion of Michael's business is 'word of mouth' (roughly 80% is referral/client relationship based). Michael believes that marketing and networking is farming not hunting, you plant the seeds and help it grow before you are able to see the returns.

If you would like to hear more episodes, please visit us on iTunes or on our website at TheChaiseLoungePodcast.com

The most common questions we get asked here at The Chaise Lounge are when is it right to start my own business, what do I need to do first, who do I hire first, etc. On today's show, Jo Rabaut address those questions. After graduating from college in Michigan, Jo worked for other firms for 12 years before opening the doors of Rabaut Designs in 1989 in Atlanta, GA. Rebaut design does a full spectrum of design, everything for a frat house to store front to commercial rebuilds to brand new lofts.

She has learned a lot in the 25 years that Rabaut Designs has been open. She prefers her firm small so it's a more intimate environment with her team. Currently she has 4 designers on staff. She focusing on fulfilling her staffs wants so they are able to grow and become better designers. She understands that people need to be free to create but also to have a life outside of work. Jo feels that when you "hit the design wall" you need to recharge and find a new event to attend to remind yourself why do design. She understands  the art of interior design in a bit of a juggling act so she enjoys educating and leading her team.

Our sponsor Design Manager is your best answer for all your back-office needs.  It will help you with your accounting, paperwork, and logistics.  There are a lot of things to track in your business, don’t leave it up to Word docs and spreadsheets.   If you give DM a try, please let them know you heard about them in The Lounge.

If you would like to hear more episodes, please visit us on iTunes or on our website at TheChaiseLoungePodcast.com

A big first today in The Chaise Lounge, an in-studio interview with an amazing Denver designer! Kristen Terjesen is originally from Minnesota but now is proud to call Colorado home. She attended CSU where she fell in love with the art of design. After graduation she took a set design job in Florida with HSN. Her two years there taught her so much about the business of design. Kristen relocated back to Colorado and opened her own firm, Studio 10, in 2008. She worked out of her home for two years before expanding her brand by opening a studio and hiring her first designer.

Kristen and her team continue to grow Studio 10 by building client relationships. They have a Client Relations/Business Development position that focusing on being a liaison between the designers and clients. The team understands that a design project, no matter the size, can be stressful. Dealing with money, time, decisions, etc can be very difficult. Brooke, the client relations director, helps ease the process. They are improving other processes by transparent billing and bill with different models for the ease of the client. Studio 10 tries to offer an enjoyable design experience for everyone.

 If you would like to hear more episodes, please visit us on iTunes or on our website at TheChaiseLoungePodcast.com

Super exciting show today. First up, the founder of the Designer Bloggers Conference and the Home Design Digital Marketing Summit, Adam Japko.

Adam started the conference as way for design bloggers and interior designers to learn and use digital content creators and to collaborate and connect. It has grown hugely since the start in 2011 where they sold out with 230 people. This year the conference will include workshops, blog clinic, speakers and an expo floor filled with brands, manufacturers and suppliers. Plus much much more. While the Design Bloggers Conference has a strong focus on blogs, websites, and social media marketing, the Home Design Digital Marketing Summit helps attendees with the widening range of approaches available to design marketers for online selling and branding.

Tickets are still available for the event which starts on March 6th in Atlanta, Georgia.

The Chaise Lounge will be there and we looking forward to see meeting you!

Phyllis Harbinger, starts her first monthly segment with The Chaise Lounge, talking about Toxic Clients. We’ve all had them. We talk about them all: the bully, the know-it-all, the victim, chronic complainer, the passive aggressive and the controller. Most importantly Phyllis talks about how to recognize, what to do and how to respond.

Here are a few “What To Do” tips:

-Maintain a calm cool voice

-Stay professional and be confident

-Document everything

Also LEARN. Learning from a toxic client will help your business and communication within your company and with your clients. Learn to say "No thank you" to a client. It's okay not to take every job if you feel like it could be a toxic situation for you.