61: How to Create A True Client-Centric Design with Michael Mitchell

The Designer Within Podcast Episode 61: How to Create A True Client-Centric Design with Michael Mitchell

In this episode of the Designer Within podcast, host John McClain discusses the art of creating client-centric designs with Michael Mitchell. They explore Michael's approach to blending diverse styles, his extensive sourcing trips, and the importance of understanding clients' unique stories. 

Michael shares insights on managing client expectations, the power of intentional mix-and-match decor, and the value of transparency in the design process. The episode also highlights Michael's philanthropic efforts and his philosophy of giving back to the community. 

A must-listen for designers and homeowners alike, this episode is packed with practical advice and inspiring stories.

00:00 Introduction to Eclectic Design

00:40 Welcome to the Designer Within Podcast

01:59 Navigating Client Relationships

03:07 Los Angeles Wildfires: A Personal Note

06:20 Introducing Michael Mitchell

08:11 Michael Mitchell's Design Journey

14:28 The Art of Mixing Styles

16:16 Client-Centric Design Philosophy

18:20 Understanding Client Needs

29:30 Managing Client Expectations

31:54 Setting Expectations with Clients

32:41 Transparency in Client Communication

34:01 Handling Delays and Issues

38:26 Unique Sourcing and Design Philosophy

49:12 Philanthropy and Giving Back

57:46 Conclusion and Contact Information

For more information on Michael Mitchell:
Website: https://www.michaelmitchellinc.com/
Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/michaelmitchelldesigner/

🌟 For all things John: www.johnmcclain.co

📝 For more information on my online Courses & Coaching Program for Interior Designers, visit: https://designsuccessacademy.com/

📕 Order a signed copy of John's book: The Designer Within (or purchase anywhere books are sold!) https://buy.stripe.com/dR67vBgmo41j1PyfYZ

✅ JOIN OUR DESIGNER WITHIN CLUB for all of the latest news, updates, and freebies! https://designsuccessacademy.mykajabi.com/opt-in-2013c7b1-0088-45dd-937b-5d59b8bd5b01


Connect With John!
YouTube
Instagram
Facebook
Tik Tok
LinkedIn

Transcript

If you look at my work, it's just huge influx of styles and understanding how to mix those things. It's about scale and it's also about taking things that shouldn't be in the same room and putting them there and knowing how to mix them so that they play off of each other. If you decorate that way and you collect things for your home that way.
You end up with things that you love for a lifetime. That's a lot of the thing that I try to do with my clients is influence them to buy that way. Like, I had a client that was just in Prague. It was really great because we were FaceTiming and she was like, Let me show you this box that I want to buy. I said, I don't care what it looks like.
You need to buy it. If you love it, you need to buy it. Hey y'all, you're listening to The Designer Within Podcast, episode number 61. Welcome to the Designer Within podcast. The podcast where creativity meets intention and great design in your home and life. Goes way beyond aesthetics. I'm your host, John McLean and interior designer, business advisor, and full believer in the power of intentional design to inspire a better way of living.
Whether you're a homeowner looking to elevate your space, a design professional striving to grow your business, or someone ready to create a more fulfilling life. This podcast is for you. We're here to explore the art of design, the business behind it, and the mindset that fuels it all. Because great design isn't just about what's on the outside.
It starts from within. So let's dive in and discover the designer within you. Hey everybody, welcome back to another episode of the designer within podcast. My name is John McClane. If you're just finding this podcast, and I'm so happy that you did. If you're a returning listener, Thank you so much for coming back.
As you know, I love talking and I love interviewing people who have lots to say. And today's episode is going to be a great episode for everyone. This is definitely an everyone edition. I'm passionate about being honest and transparent and so clear when working with clients. And I want you all to do the same.
And if you are a homeowner listening to this, just know that if you are looking Look for those qualities as well. Don't just look for someone who has beautiful work, and of course that's important and they need to align with you on that, but also you need to do some interviews with the designer that you're speaking with and considering working with to make sure that you two can work together and make sure that there is a synergy there.
You want to ensure that you are aligning yourself in this long term project with someone who understands you, who cares about you, and who is clear and honest in the way that they work with you. And on the flip side of that, you need to be clear and honest and respectful to your designer as well. So, you know, I've rebranded the podcast just a bit to Really give information out to everyone.
I want to have episodes for designers. I want to have episodes for homeowners and I want to have episodes for everyone. And today with Michael Mitchell, this truly is an episode for everyone. I'm going to tell you more about Michael in just a moment. But first, if you're listening to this in real time, we are in January of 2025.
I live in Los Angeles and you know, I know you all know that there have been horrific, horrific, Wildfires here. It's been a very scary time. We have had bags packed in our own homes to be ready to evacuate. We've seen fires so close over the hills, all around us, almost where we're located. It's almost a 360 view sometimes of the fires here.
And we're not out of the woods yet. As of this recording, if you're listening to this later, hopefully there has been lots of things done to rebuild and to, alleviate the situation. But at the moment, it's a very tense time in Los Angeles. And I just wanted to send my love, my heart, my compassion out to anyone who has endured a loss.
We were lucky we did not have to evacuate and our home is safe, but many trades, people that I worked with people on my team, other people who have had direct impacts, clients have lost homes that we have designed. It's just, um, It's just so, so sad to know that. And if you are a designer in Los Angeles, I'm sending out my heart to you as well, because there are going to be lots of needs for us down the road with people who are looking to rebuild and to repair their homes.
It's very devastating here. And again, if you've lost your home, If you've lost a loved one, I just sympathize with you so, so much. And it's just a very heartbreaking time. So be kind to anyone living in Los Angeles right now, because it is very difficult for all of us, even those of us who weren't directly impacted by fire in our lives, in our homes.
We were impacted because it's the city that we live in. So there's a very heavy cloud over the city figuratively and literally in Los Angeles now. And it's, um, it's a, it's a very heavy time here. So thank you all so much. Who've reached out on social media, checking on us, making sure we're okay. Thank you for all the sweet comments.
And again, if you are listening in real time, I am trying to keep my social media updated on my stories with lots of information on how you can donate. How you can help people right now. Luckily, the donations are going so well in LA. Everyone is just showing the best sides of themselves. And it's, it's emotional.
It's an emotional time. So I want to, again, thank you all for what you're doing. Thank you all for the love. And if, if you feel passionate about giving back to animal societies who are helping these poor, poor animals that are hurt, do that. If you're passionate about helping someone on a go fund me to rebuild their home.
Do that. If you're passionate about helping food banks, do that. Red Cross, right? Of course, that's another one. There are so many ways that you can give back and don't feel as if you're not able to help even if you're across the country or across the world. You most definitely can, and I will be sharing more things soon on what I'm doing within the design community and people that I'm trying to partner with now as well to, you know, help people to get back on their feet.
So thank you again for all the love and support and keep sending that love and support to Los Angeles and all the positive vibes and prayers and energy that you can. Now moving on to today's episode. Oh my goodness. I have Michael Mitchell on today again. It's an everyone edition This is an everyone episode There are so many informational parts to this that will help designers learn more things about how to operate their businesses But if you are a homeowner, I want you to really listen to how Michael The things that he does to understand the client's needs and put those needs before his own and to try to get into the minds of our homeowners and really try to understand what they're looking for, how they live in their homes, how they use their homes.
And how to design for them most efficiently. It's a really wonderful interview. And you'll see Michael is an open book, much like myself. But here's a little bit of Michael's bio. He founded his company, Michael Mitchell, in 2010. And it's evolved into a comprehensive design firm, offering, as he says, an immersive 360 degree experience.
From insightful design consultations to full home projects, with a commitment to sourcing the most intriguing pieces for clients, Michael consistently blends fresh with the unexpected. The firm's hallmark twisted traditional style, I love that, is an embodiment to their ability to execute timeless designs with a modern twist.
He's been recognized in countless magazines, traditional home, southern home, AG, to name a few. And also important to note, beyond his design expertise and unique artwork curation, Michael is deeply involved in the philanthropic efforts of his community in Charleston, and he enjoys working with various non profit organizations, which we're going to talk about that as well.
All righty, so if you are a homeowner, if you are a designer, if you are both of those things, which some of us are, Sit back, relax, and enjoy this fun, entertaining, and insightful interview with Michael Mitchell. Michael, welcome to the designer within podcast. Thank you for having me. The first of all, you and I were chit chatting away before we hit record here, which I loved, and then finally I said, okay, we have to hit the record button because there's some juicy nuggets in here, and I think you're not going to talk all day about everything.
But anyway, I want to thank you for being here. And then I just gave my professional quote unquote bio of you. But I always want to hear from the horse's mouth, how you got into design, how long you've been doing it, all that fun stuff. So tell me about this crazy, wonderful, exciting world of design and how you came to be inside of it.
Well, my story is probably not that different, but it's, it's also got some interest, interesting twists and turns. My mother had amazing style. Our homes were always beautiful. Mama traveled a lot. So there was always wonderful things from all over the place. And her mother, my grandmother, had a drapery and slip cover work room.
So I grew up in the country out on John's Island. It's about 35, 45 minutes from downtown Charleston. Mamaw's work room was just on the other side of the property, as was her house. And we grew up 300 yards away. Backed up on the water. And so I grew up around this kind of stuff and I mean, I, I always like to tell people this 'cause I think it's a funny little tidbit.
When I was six years old, I got a sewing machine that year for Christmas and I got a gun. 'cause my grandmother believed that everybody needed to be diverse and we should be able to do it all. That's how I was raised. My parents were divorced when I was very young. My mother remarried my stepfather, my wonderful stepfather, who's raised us.
He and Mama have been married for 42 years, so quite a while. My dad remarried also, and my stepmother was a fascinating person. Both her and my mother have passed away, but that's My stepmother was incredibly fascinating. Her mother was Hungarian. Her father was American and she grew up in, in India, in Lahore, India.
Her father worked for the U S embassy. So having these influences of these really powerful women in my life, mama was just grace and style and just everything epitome of Southern taste, blue willow dishes and proper floral arrangements. And polished silver. And then contrast, I had my stepmother who loved beaded things and we had all these interesting pots and pottery and brass and all these great things from all over the Middle East and essentially Europe.
So I grew up with a lot of different cultural experiences and getting to see things through different eyes. And because of that, I spent a lot of my childhood shopping with mama. I grew up on a lot of land. If Michael didn't want to work in the yard for nine hours on a Saturday, he needed to make sure he was in the right seat of that station when I get headed to town with her.
We spent a lot of time, you know, grew up going to estate jewelry sales and collecting art and all of those things just really influenced me and influenced the way that I would live my life later. And I think we can get into that as we go further in sourcing and things like that. But that's how I got into this.
I was that boy in college that I'd show up at your house with my sewing machine, I'd make you drapes, reupholster your chairs, and decorate your home. I can't even believe I was telling somebody the other day, I only charged 25 an hour back then. But then I was remembering, wait a minute, minimum wage was 105, I was rich.
You literally had no choice but to get into this industry, it sounds to me. It was a part of who you were, and I think Looking back on our childhoods, I don't know that we always see that this is going to lead to something bigger and better and successful career down the road. But now when you're in it, you don't see that.
But looking back, I do think that we see these Huge parallels between what we had growing up and what influenced us. And you chose to be a part of, you chose to go with your mom shopping and you chose to watch all of these things happening around you and be a part of that. And I think that it does instill in us this, the foundational part of who we are.
And it sounds like it's never left you since you did that as a kid. I mean, I knew what a camel stool was when I was eight years old. I mean, I was fortunate to have all of these influences too. I love hearing. Everyone's story on their own, because we can perceive what we see from your website and from your beautiful work.
But it's always wonderful to hear the really true story, because to me, the story is what makes someone's business interesting themselves, interesting more so than just trying to cater to the mass population. Well, I also grew up in Charleston, South Carolina, which I always say I'm not from South Carolina.
I'm from Charleston. Cause it's a very different thing. My family's been here for 16 generations. I mean, we've been around for a minute. Right. We forget that Charleston was always a port city. The reason that we had culture here from the very beginning is because we had people that were seeking religious freedom.
We have a big influx of French Huguenots. There's all these different religions. The oldest synagogue in the country is literally two blocks from my house. So having all this influence from Detroit routes, even back into the 17th and the 18th century, we have Italian architecture here. We have Spanish influences.
We have all of these different things going on right here in this tiny little town that is so full of knowledge, a wealth of knowledge. And influences from all over the place, which is pretty incredible. It is. And I think the, the, the moral of that story is you can be influenced by your little Microcosm that you live in at home, right?
But then also you're in this city where it's also influencing you sometimes directly and sometimes indirectly. And now you're seeing all of that kind of come to fruition. So as you're growing up and as you're being influenced by the city and your family and so forth, you start to, of course, whether you knew it or not, you were developing a style, a design aesthetic of your own, which I think is so great.
And because a lot of people, a lot of designers, I should say, still struggle with finding their niche, finding something that makes them different. Then everyone else. And as I said in the intro, you call yours twisted traditional style, which I love that. I love all things about that. That just, that says it all.
That really sums it up. Now, years ago, I mean, people love it. I never could control what's going to come out of my mouth. I don't know what's next. I mean, I said that probably 14 or 15 years ago in an article, and it just really became a punchline for us. It really is who I am. So I know that you grew up with the traditional part of that, but where did the twisted part come in?
First of all, what do you mean by twisted traditional? And then when did the twisted part start to find its way into your design style? Well, so I think there's a, there are people doing this now, whereas I was using abstract art over a traditional sideboard, the pair of lamps made out of ginger jars, I was doing that 25 years ago.
That's where it came into play. I've always had this real mix. of doing things. I mean, if you look at my work, it's just huge influx of styles and understanding how to mix those things. It's about scale and it's also about just taking things that shouldn't be in the same room. And putting them there and knowing how to mix them so that they play off of each other in my drawing room.
And I live in an 1840s big brick single downtown and in my drawing room alone. I've got the giant armoire. That was handmade in Africa and it is right next to a. Camelback sofa that's by Baker that has more of a Fridge Deco twist. It's got a chocolate cut velvet on it. And in front of that is the Laverne coffee table.
And then also in that room, there's a tortoiseshell game table from the seventies that's flanked by a pair. Of Louis the 14th chairs that I have restored and had them painted and put this really cool chevron fabric on them. I mean, so everything in my house is mixed. I'm a big believer in that. If you pick up the smallest thing in my house, It is beautiful by itself.
Think that if you decorate that way and you collect things for your home, that way you end up with things that you love for a lifetime. That's a lot of the thing that I try to do with my clients is influence them to buy that way. And when I say that, I mean, I'll tell them, I mean, like I had a client, it was just in Prague.
I was in France shopping actually for her new build while she was there. So it was really great because we were FaceTiming and she was like, let me show you this box that I want to buy. I said, I don't care what it looks like. You need to buy it. If you love it, you need to buy it. I'll tell you where it needs to go when you get home, but just buy the things you love.
I'm a master at mixing things. And again, that also relates back all the way back to my childhood. I've just always had that and the ability to mix pattern and scale and those things. They just, they make sense in my brain. And I don't know if it's necessarily something that can be learned. I think it's just, it's instinctive or you have it or you don't.
First of all, that you just casually said in my drawing room, as if we all have a drawing room, but me coming from Georgia, I know exactly what you're speaking about, but the, but I think that it's just, you just said that so casually, yes, in my drawing room, but also the way that you visually We're describing your space.
It's almost as if we didn't even need a photograph of it to understand what you were describing, which I think sounds to me to be an inherent part of just the way that you work. Right? You said everything has to be special. Everything has to light up the person who's in the room, right? They bought it for a reason they wanted in their space.
But what just hit me was you just said that you gave your clients permission to purchase things and then you will find a way. To mix it into the design. So you're not being this overlord of looking over things and making sure that they're buying exactly what you need for the space. You're giving them some, is it part blind?
Sometimes I give people assignments to do don't go rogue. I mean, this same girl has sent me a picture of something and I'm said, if you do not put that back, I will put it in a dumpster. We have that relationship. The biggest thing and I've been collecting photography for years to, to put a book together.
One of the things I want to say about that is. Things are different for each house to house. I can be working on a very modern house that I might layer in some Asian antiques with some abstract art. Maybe there's some photography and that's how I develop layers in a more traditional home. We can go all over the place.
The biggest part of doing this job. And mixing all of these things is I spent a lot of time with my client. I ask a million questions. I've been like that since I was a little boy. I'm not making up a backstory. I don't want to pretend to know what's going on in your brain. You need to tell me it's not my story.
My house tells my story, but when I walk a client through a house after an install, I want them to understand these pieces and parts in the story that we've been weaving together is their story. And that's why when my clients come home and they walk into their space for the first time, it's them. It's not me.
I'm the guiding hand to keep it professional. I'm the guiding hand to make it perfect. I'm the guiding hand to help you work those layers. That's a new construction. And I decided I want this house to look like it was built in the 1880s, or that's what we're going for. I make that house feel evolved. It doesn't look like it just happened, but I'm still weaving their story.
Not my story. Collecting things for them. I just finished this massive farmhouse in the Northeast and I bought most of the antiques for that house without them seeing them because either I was in Europe or I was at an antiques fair or wherever I was and I had to buy it that minute, but I have a sideboard in their entrance hall and this gentleman is a hunter and I too, I'm.
Pretty diverse. There's not a lot that I can't do. So we've had lots of conversations about hunting in Africa or hunting in Scotland or whatever. And I knew she'd love it. That wasn't even a question, but it had these giant Rams heads on them. This was a sideboard from the 1860s. It told everybody's story.
I think it's important for everybody to be able to look at it and go, Oh my God, that's so cool. So listening, asking lots of questions is so important. You've been collecting pottery for the last 20 years. Well, it's not going to go in your house. I'm going to figure out how to help tell their story and weave it in.
I want to get into the nitty gritty of that. I think that is something that a lot of designers also fail to do or fail to do correctly is find out who their clients are and find out their story, find out their likes, their dislikes, because I think sometimes we're excited and I was guilty of this early on in the process.
I would just say, okay, yes. You've signed the agreement. Now let's go, let's just get started. You can't do that. You can't pass everything just to get to the install without knowing who your client is, what you're shopping for. What are some of the questions that you might ask a potential client or one that you have just signed with, who is getting ready to start making design decisions in their home and things that you're going to start selecting for them.
Like what might be some of the things that help you figure out? Yes, I know them now. Well, if they've got an existing town, we walk through that, right? And I always say to people, what are your negotiables and what are your non negotiables? It doesn't matter if it's bare lamps, if it's just painting, whatever it is.
Once you get that, you know, I'll start asking questions. Tell me about this painting. Where were you in your life when you bought it? What does it mean to you? Where does that need to go? Is this a star piece? Is it going to go in a hall? And I'll ask a lot of questions about the way people live. I had a client once who, she was a celebrity.
I've had a few of them over the years. This woman was in the movies and she was like, she said, I mean, you never seem to be impressed by who I am. And I said, so and so, I'm here to make your house pretty and give you a space that you can live in. I don't care what you do for work. I care how you live. And seriously, that is what our jobs are about.
How do you live? Who sits around your dining room table? How often do you use it? Are you somebody that's like me? Dinner is an event. Can you come to my house? I, we serve a little more European style. There's like candles already lit on the table. The charcuterie goes on the table. I want the event to happen at the table.
I want you to sit there for three hours, however long, and that's how we're all going to connect. Are you somebody that's got, I don't know, a piano in the other room? Is that important? Are y'all standing around singing? Or is this just torture for your child to learn to play? I mean, whatever it is, you got to ask questions.
I mean, I'm working on a house right now, and the lady's here for her presentation. And I ask questions like, who are you entertaining in your living room? Her three children are gone. She's a widow. Who are you entertaining in your room? Well, she has book club. She has Bible study in her living room. She has game nights in her living room.
Right. So what did I just hear? I need a lot of chairs. Okay, your dining room is adjacent to this. We're going to maximize the seating. Oh, your mother's 90 years old. We're going to make sure there's a chair in this room that she's comfortable in when she comes to visit you. Something that is up higher, that has a firmer seat that she can get out of.
We don't want to make our visitors feel uncomfortable. How do you live in this space? Is it game night? Are you playing bridge? Is it happening in the dining room or is it going to happen on this coffee table? If you're having your book club and I'm setting your room up where it's literally going to sit six people, but there's an opening year to the music room and an opening year to the dining room, well we just put six new chairs in the dining room.
You can gather those around and now you can host 12 women if you'd like to. And the dining room that you keep telling me you're not using, I just got rid of all your really traditional chairs. And I'm putting in a white painted chair with a different kind of fabric on it. We're going to tone that down because you shouldn't have rooms in your house that she don't use.
I want everybody to use their whole house. We shouldn't have spaces that we're not, like I said, not using. This lady at the back of her house, she's this little skinny sunroom off the kitchen. I'm knocking out the damn walls. I just found her a monastery table. That's a 18th century monastery table. It's 10 and a half feet long.
34 inches wide. And I bought that on my trip to Europe because dad will now see her three grand boys, two of them have fiancees and there'll be grandchildren on the way. The dining room only seat six. This room is actually going to seat 12 and it's more casual and it overlooks her backyard. I always ask ladies this, are you barefoot or are you high heels in your house?
My drawing room, you know what happens in that room? Every single morning, Michael's in there sitting Indian style, laptop in his lap. Yeah. Checking his emails. That happens at 6 a. m. sharp. And that's where I have my coffee in the morning. And when I come home, that's also where I go to do my follow up stuff.
Cause at the back of my house, we have a big garden room and our dogs are back there and my partner's in the kitchen cooking. And this is where we do that stuff. I've made sure that we use every room. We need to function in our homes. It's all so true. And so good. It sounds to me. That you are listening to your client, you're asking them questions, but you're also scratching below the surface and hearing more than what they're actually telling you.
Because I don't think clients even know 100 percent always what they're telling us. They may think that this is it, but then you're hearing something else totally different. Did you always have that knack? Because I think, again, a lot of us are afraid to ask those questions that will lead to a solution to what they're needing.
And also, I think it comes with a comfort level. It comes with a comfort level. Of I know what I'm doing. I've been in this industry for a long time. I've I've experienced this. I know what's going to work best for you. I've shopped here. I've looked at this. I've tried this out for newer designers who may not have that though.
How do you suggest that they get more comfortable in speaking with their clients or anyone who's having trouble with that, because again, I feel like it's a problem and our industry is not really understanding our clients truly. Well, I think there's two problems here. First of all, I mean, I've got an engineer designer and she's wonderful, but what I'm having to teach her is they didn't hire us to do a house for you.
It's not, we're not working for you. Okay. There's nothing on that table out front right now for this eight rooms in this lady's house that we are showing that I would ever take home. It doesn't mean that I don't love them for her. It doesn't mean they're not right for her. I'm not decorating this space for me.
So first of all, put your own opinions aside. Oh, I love this lamp. We all do this. Fabric rep will come in. Oh my God, look at this textile. The next girl that walks in the door is getting this. Well, maybe she didn't even want it. You're not even listening enough to her to realize that she doesn't want it.
And if you push her and push her on this, guess what? She ain't going to be happy with her drapes. Guess what else is going to happen? Now it's going to snowball and she's just start picking apart her room because you aren't listening. Now guess what? Now she's telling all her friends you didn't listen to her because you didn't ask questions.
So I think that the professionalism is the polish that we can bring to a space, right? That, that being able to collect things and see it all together. That's what we bring to it. Don't overly try to inflict your taste on people. I think that's a huge mistake. I think what you just said is great, but I think my follow up would be, so yes, you're designing for them.
Do you have a weeding out process to someone who comes to you with a completely different design genre that you don't even enjoy designing, and then you still make it adaptable to them? Do you allow someone to come in with a totally out of left field design idea or just a style that you've never done before?
How do you navigate those waters? Oh, okay. I'm a Gemini and I'm pretty easily adaptable to different things. And I think that the challenges and the way we grow are through uncomfortable, uncomfortable situations and coming up with solutions for things that she might not want to. Somebody who's got some hideous dining table that they absolutely love.
I mean, I'm not in love with this girl's dining table and it's fine. She loves it. Well, it's the only thing I have to work with in this room. I found, I found a beautiful chinoiserie wallpaper to go with it. I already found really pretty chairs to go with that. The heart's been selected. Her diner and table is going to look fantastic in the room because I have worked with her.
The situation in order to get it there and still get to the end result, but I know she's going to love because the other parts and pieces that I'm saying that I'm going to do to this room. Don't really go to this. Put this feet of Meyer table, but it's the heart of the mix. And if somebody wants you to do something that you really shouldn't do, I've said to people before, if you want to do this.
Don't you tell anybody I helped you. Don't put my name on that. Not doing it. Somebody comes to your house, for God's sake, shut that door and tell them I wasn't here. I did the rest of it. Usually they'll go, wow, he feels strongly enough about that. Maybe I should reconsider. Because at the end of the day, too, don't forget that they asked us for help.
If they thought they could do it by themselves, they wouldn't ask for help. I tell my clients this all the time. I've never sat up in the dentist chair and said, Oh my God, you're doing it wrong. That's the same reason I got a CPA doing my taxes. I can't do that either. People are asking us for help, but you have to responsibly help them.
And the way to do that is to ask questions. And then you also take your expertise and you didn't like that table, but you said, Oh, I can make this work by bringing in this wall covering and this chair fabric and this whatever. And then all of that suddenly elevates. This piece that you weren't in love with before, but now you're like, Oh, it's great.
But yes, we've all had those things where we're like, Oh, dear God, I have to do that in this space. What am I going to do? I tell my clients, if you love it, then you go for it. We're going to make it work in your house. You know how to accessorize and you know how to bring in the layers. It can make it work.
You can. So I'm hearing also client experience is really big for you. And I know you have a 360 degree design experience that you bring for your clients. And I'm hearing a lot of getting to know the client, understanding their needs, even anticipating them before they might even know what they are. But how do you manage expectations throughout the process?
So someone's calling you and you begin the process of working with them. Are you very clear and transparent and direct with your clients when it comes to say, here's how we operate. Here's how the process is going to go from start to finish, like from Phone call to install. Tell me how you manage that whole line expectation journey.
We have a pretty tight contract that we work off of. Okay. Uh, my operations manager handles all of that and he handles all of the billing. See, the billing is never done by me. Smart and it's very important to separate the two. I've always said I'm not your banker. I'm your designer and I don't want to be your banker.
Okay. So you have to do that. 1st and foremost is a couple of things that I say before we even go through the contract. 1. you can yell at me 1 time 1 time the end of that conversation. We'll have a follow up. Okay. You go crazy on one of my girls just one time and I will fire you and I will not finish your home.
You will get everything, but that's that. We're going to have respect in this office or we're not going to do it. And I tell them this, I am leaving part of myself in your home and I don't want to give that gift to people that are not nice. That that part of it is important to me. The other thing I say is I'm not saving anybody's life.
I've never ran across a tarmac with a kidney in a cooler. Okay. If you don't have your drapes on Thanksgiving morning, you just need to tell your friends I'm getting new drapes. Yay. What we're doing is beautiful and it's part of the process. And. Yes, we're in a hurry to get it done for you. And yes, we'll do everything we can, but we also need to enjoy the process.
And part of that sometimes is layering. I have a client of mine. She said this to me years ago, Claire said to me, I like it when we do things because, and she wanted everything to come in as it came in. Of course, I like to do the reveal because it's just easier. Okay. But with her. The dining room rug came in and the dining room chairs got reupholstered.
I want those. Now my drapes are ready. I want those now. Now I go back in and I have to accessorize. What that does though is, I mean, it runs up her design time because I'm running back and forth to the house, but that's the way she likes to work. She said to me, it's like eating a course meal. I like getting a little bit, a little bit more.
We got to be respectful to those things. I mean, and that was a local job. Now I'm getting ready to start a mountain house in Montana. Ain't getting a course meal. It's all coming in. I'm gonna fly there, we're gonna put it all together. I'm gonna have a follow up with some little touch and finishes. And we're gonna be done and dusted, but that's an old client of mine, and it's the 3rd project we've done for them.
And, but you gotta have these conversations to set expectations with people. I mean, but I think it's important to remind people that we're not saving lives. We're just make your house pretty. I think people get anxious and upset about things that are just not necessary. Exactly. I've been there, done that.
I've done it with myself. I've had many internal conversations. I've fought with myself many times about this, and this is the best way. Trust me that I think that's really cool that you do that. I also, I'm very transparent too, like almost default, but I like operating that way. I always say, I want to lay my head on my pillow at night, knowing that I said, Everything honestly and truthfully to the clients during the entire process.
And I never have to wonder if they're going to misunderstand something or get confused about something because we told them. I like to do that in the beginning as well. And then remind them as we go along, Oh no, we talked about this. Do you do that right? Head on from the get go. As you said, I know you have those.
Things that you mentioned before, but I find during that phase, they're still excited about the house and they're ready to get going. They're really excited about the process. You have to agree to anything. Yes. The drama doesn't happen until later. Yes. One thing I want to say is you just got to be really transparent with people.
I don't know why I keep making it about draperies or upholstery, but okay. We order a fabric, okay. And it's high end, whatever. And we've got it. It's sitting at the furniture manufacturers for two months. Now it's our turn to get in line and they enroll it. And there's a problem. What do we do? First of all, you call the manufacturer and you say, do you have any more of this textile in this dialogue?
Let me send you the pictures of what the problems are and handle that service order part first. Now, manufacturer says, Oh my God, we're not getting any more of this in for four weeks. Well, it's my turn at the upholsterers now. Fine. From that moment, when you find out there's going to be a delay, you immediately call the client.
You don't wait. You don't try to figure it out. You don't BS about, Oh, the upholstery company's backed up. Don't lie about anything. We have nothing to hide. Problems happen and they occur. Now, if you're terrified your client's going to get upset, too bad. We've all been in trouble. Everybody's been in trouble.
So you got to pick up the phone and you got to say, Hey, there's a problem with this textile. It's backed up for four weeks. I really think we should wait because you're going to be happy with it in the long run and remind people we wait for less time than we live with it. So if it takes four months and you're going to keep it for 10 years.
Hi, why would we settle? But if they say, no, I don't want to wait when you've already called them, you should have three backups to show them. You need to have a solution. Here's what's happening. Here's the delay. If you don't want to wait, I picked up three backups. I'm going to send you those, or we can meet right now to talk about it.
And if you still want to wait on the one that's the original, which I would still suggest, then that's what we'll do. But I need it to be your decision. You've taken it away from you. Now, guess what? Now we get to do like this. 'cause we were a good boy and we were transparent about it. I want people to write this down exactly what Michael just said.
Rewind this and listen to it. I 1000% agree with you with all of that. It's just so much easier to be honest and tell the truth about a situation. But the caveat is, as you said, have those backup options. Okay, yes, this isn't as planned, but here is what I can offer you. Or here is another solution that will get you a similar result.
Never take a problem without a solution and never be so reactive that you get off the phone and go, Oh my God, Oh God, what am I going to do if you take a deep breath, step back for a second, come back with every problem with a solution. And as you said, we're not curing cancer here. We're literally just letting you know that the fabric is late.
And we can still work with that or we can go this other route, whatever you choose. But I think also when we start spinning these stories and like making it sound better than what it really is, then we're having to think about what we actually said, whereas if you just say the flipping truth, then you never have to wonder what you said, because all you said was what had happened.
I talk about the women in my family a lot because there were the strong influences on me. I mean, I come from very strong women. My grandmother always said to us, I remember that she told me this when I was six years old, and I have never done it since. Tell one lie, tell three more to cover that up. You got to tell two more to cover that up.
And somewhere along the way, you've already lost your credibility. Nobody believes anything you have to say. So in our family, I don't lie. And my mother would say, I'm not having that conversation with you. If it was something that was really none of your business, or she might say it's none of your business.
I don't lie. I'll tell somebody I'm not talking about this. Not a client. I mean, we're not talking about the same thing, but we're talking about integrity and that's all there is to it. If they can't trust you, something's wrong. We have keys to people's houses, y'all. I know it's out of the bed. These ladies sleep on.
Yeah, I'm the same way. And I tell them that from the get go, from the consultation, I tell clients like I'm going to at some point see your bra and panties that you've just taken off and thrown on the floor the night before. I'm going to see that. I'm going to be all up in your space. So let's. At a clear, transparent, honest relationship now, and then we have nothing to worry about.
And present it this way, I always say this to clients. We're not responsible for the fact that the fabric was bad or the upholsterers backed up or whatever. They don't have the legs for the sofa and they're stuck in a shipment in the middle of the ocean because something's going on. We're not responsible for that, y'all.
What we're responsible for is conveying what's going on. And having a solution for it, the solution really requires a reselect sometimes, or you have to be ready to say, I built a whole room on this fabric. It ties it all together. We need to wait because I know you will be happier in the long run. Yeah, that's what they're paying us for.
Yeah, God has decisions. That's it. It's as simple as that. And then this industry of people pleasing, where all we think about is making the client happy, no matter what, I think that is sometimes the downfall. Force feed the client false information that's never going to get the solution to the problem.
Whereas if we had just been honest from the get go, none of this would have ever been happening. So I want to pivot a minute and talk about sourcing because I love the way that you have your twisted traditional. I think that's great. And I, and I agree with you that you'd started it for a long time ago.
Now, a lot of people are on that bandwagon of doing that, but what I love about it is it's not the same. Home ever again, ever again, right? That's wonderful versus all of the, if you scroll Instagram, sometimes it's like cookie cutter cookie is the same design over and over because they're just basically copying what the mass media is putting out there to the world.
When you're designing for clients and coming up with this twisted traditional style, you're not just finding those things at a showroom filled with brand new pieces, as you said, you're going. All over the place to find this. So talk to me about how that started. And I know it sounds like it was part of your history as a child, but when did you realize, Oh, I need to bring this to my clients too.
And then where do you find these things for people? And how important is that? It's super important. I mean, we do custom home interiors. I don't use the same pair of Lance 32 times. Yeah. I have rules about things. Fabric twice in town twice out of town and then it goes off the shelf. Okay. Okay, that that annoys me.
It annoys me when I go. There's a designer here that that had this yellow and white Buffalo check. I have to climb through. I'm sorry. I had 3 clients that had the same Buffalo check in their house because she did it all at the same time. That's not a custom home interior. Sorry, kid. So I'm not redundant with my stuff.
I want to make sure I say that, but not necessarily not sourcing from the same vendor, just that's the pattern of style, all the color, all of those things. Right. That's what you're saying. So I get a high point. I have a big showroom. I have a 12, 000 square foot store, you know, and in it, we sell a lot of different things, everything you need for your home.
I mean, we sell Italian hardwood floors. I'm the Pharaoh and ball dealer for the state. We've got a wallpaper section. I've got 13 lines of upholstery and I have a full service rug gallery. In my rug gallery, I've got about 3000 rugs in the store. And. I have a partner in my rug business and he's got 25 more thousand rugs in his warehouse.
So we're a plethora of resources here. I will go to High Point. I will be there for six glorious nights and five long days because I have to go to all of my manufacturers. I never sell anything I haven't sat in. It's a big rule of mine. It's not comfortable. I'm not going to do it. I am six foot tall. I will find somebody that is four foot nothing.
I'll find another guy that's six six and I'll say, I like this chair. Could you please both sit in it? Because I want to make sure it fits everybody. Because that's important. Our homes need to be comfortable. So in High Point, I have tons and tons of appointments that I go to. I'm always looking for small vendors.
Handcrafted is a big deal. And I'm not talking about some hokey basket. I mean, like some potter, or maybe it's a pillow line. That's got all these beautiful details and maybe has some buckles or something on it. And all of that's being hand stitched somewhere in a small workshop. Those things are important.
Original art is everything. You want me to do your rental beach house? We'll order prints for it. Sure. I'm not telling you I won't do it. I mean, my firm's done Airbnbs and all sorts of things, but we don't stock that stuff. It's not what I shed. I show a lot of pottery and things, like I said, that have the hand touch.
We've got Belgian linens in here. Somebody was hand weaving it somewhere. I travel. As we said, I've been to Salone in Italy. I did that a few years ago. It's probably time for me to go back. And if you don't know what that is, it's an international show. It's about 32 pavilions and each one is the size of the Javits Center in New York.
There are things that are applicable for us. There are things that are not applicable for us. But what you do have is you have incredible inspiration from everywhere. I don't care if it's in Vegas or if it's in Orlando. If you don't do that at least every other year, you are missing out. There's cabinet hardware that's going to be shown there.
The new appliances are going to be shown there. I found a woodturner there that makes bolsters and posts and things, and we've been ordering them to send them to our furniture manufacturer, a handcrafted guy to build tables out of. Walk through life with your eyes wide open. That's what I always say. You don't know where you're going to see that inspiration.
I go to Europe once a year to buy containers, and I'm going to start doing it twice. I just came back and I bought two container loads of furniture, and there's a good bit for a house I'm doing in Nantucket. There's another house I'm doing here on Daniel Island. I bought Art Deco, Italian Deco pieces for her.
I was buying French and Italian antiques for this other one. The Nantucket house, I was getting mostly wood pieces. So it had some marquetry in it, and some of it was a little more plain. But literally going place after place, if y'all saw what was in those containers, you'd be like, did the same person buy this?
But if you saw my store, you would understand it. They're Asian antiques. I bought Portuguese pottery. I've got all sorts of different things coming. I'm working in Dallas. I'm combing that Dallas design district. I did a ranch in Santa Rosa last year, which is about an hour and a half above San Francisco.
I was all over that San Francisco design district. I found pottery and all sorts of things for a beach house I was actually doing in the Northeast. You never know where you're going to see inspiration. Don't think, Oh, I go to New York and I go to the DNT or I go to a Haydack. You're seeing a different perspective.
Your eyes are going to open in a different way. I've been to the Miami Antiques Show. I've been to the Mid Century Antiques Show out in Palm Springs. You have to color outside of your own bubble. We talk about all of these things all the time and culturally and how we learn. Well, you can't learn in your own backyard.
Got to get on a plane. You got to get in a car. And that's what's important. I've been going to that for 25 years now. When I walk around my showroom, I know the lady that designed the sofa. I know the person that designed that textile. I can tell you why she did this and why she didn't do that. Why the ferrules are brass and they should never be nickel.
You've got to learn these stories and you can't get them unless you're in front of these artisans either to learn them. We're selling stories. It's. Yes, we're creating a nest for people to live in and at this level, it's not a sofa. That's good information for new designers, but also good as a reminder for others is don't get complacent with the same brands and the same pieces and the same fabrics.
Look outside of the box and think about new things. And as designers, that inspiration can strike you anywhere. I saw a shadow of a tree once when the light was coming through. I'm like, Oh my God, that's beautiful. would be an amazing fabric. You have no idea where inspiration is going to strike you, but as you said, stay open to those things.
I took a picture of a tile story in a vestibule going into a pub on Portobello Road in London that is a child's nursery. That's his colors. You don't know where you're gonna get it. It's true. I remember I was in Paris and I was at a restaurant. I just love this light fixture. And then I said, how can I bring that back?
I know when I sold the light fixture, it was, you know, hundreds of years old, but my client was building a house totally different style, but we redesigned a custom fixture with the feeling of that fixture. And she loved knowing where I was inspired and where I found it and how I was going to bring that into her house.
And now she tells her guests and visitors like, Oh yeah, John, this in paris and he redes based upon what he saw wi But yeah, I think that is I love that you actually I want to know what I'm s because at the end of the but we also are salespeop to our clients and we hav Did our research that we are an authority figure that we know what we're talking about.
And I want to be really clear. I mean, I design high and low. Everything in the house doesn't have to be expensive. No. This uber level of specialness. I mean, this house I was just talking about. I get that monastery table for her. I'm putting 12 forehand shares around it, of which are getting shipped immediately to my upholsterer because they're hundreds of dollars at wholesale.
I'm going to recover the back, but a performance fabric on the bottom, because nobody can teach your children how to live with manners or even wash their hands anymore. So please don't get me going on that when I need. 12 chairs to go around on table. I needed the chairs to cost like 400 a piece, not three grand.
I want her to feel, I want my client to feel like, not only am I telling you, you need to do this thing because it's amazing. And this piece is what is going to speak in that room. An 18th century monastery table from Italy. I need. Cool. The block print fabric on the back, which is not real block print.
Cause as we all know, we can print that stuff. Now we're doing a block print on the back, but his chairs will end up being 1200 bucks a piece. And I'm not coming at her saying, okay, I need 40, 000 to do this room. Instead, it's going to be more like. 18 to 20. Mm-hmm . And that's seat 10 to 12. But what it's going to look like though, Michael, is at the end of the day, those chairs are going to look like high end or that they were chosen specifically and designed specifically for them because you are discerning.
I saw that you could take the frame of that chair, change the fabric. And it would be perfect for the space. And I think I agree with you too. I love a high low and I love when people can't tell the difference between what was high and what was low in a space. That's always a fun challenge to have. And I've pushed my cart through last minute shopping for accessories that we've all done it.
Let's, I know we say we don't, but we all do. We push that cart through those retail stores, grabbing things that we need for last minute accessories. You probably don't have to, because you have a retail store, but for those of us who don't, I've assembled things in my little cart and had people walk up and say, Did you find that in this store?
I said, yes, every bit of this came from this store because it's all about finding the things that work and having the eye to know that this works perfectly with that in whatever way. It's our superpower as designers. I think most people don't realize what a superpower it truly is to be able to mix those pieces.
And again, look, I got this table. I really did buy it with this woman in mind. So when her friends are sitting around that table and they're like, Oh my God, this table is so cool. Tell me about it. And she says, well, it came from a monastery in Italy and my designer found it. And he bought it without me being able to see it.
Cause I was six hours ahead of everybody. The one client that I need a lot of support. that for she was in Prague, which made it really nice because we could face time, but either has to be trusting. You also have to have the confidence. to be able to do it. And I guess part of that though, is I've got confidence too, because guess what?
If they don't like it, I'll just throw it in my store. I don't care. I mean, I bought five dining tables while I was gone. Well, that's the beauty of having a retail store. If I know a lot of people, I've, I had one in the past too, and I agree with you. It's so easy to say, well, if they don't buy it, I'm just going to put it in my store.
But for others who don't have that, of course. I'm, I would want to get the client's somewhat approval unless you have full carte blanche to purchase. Yeah, but I agree with you. It's nice having that. Now, before we wrap up today, I want to talk about your philanthropic efforts that you do. I know that's a big part of your business and a big part of what makes your business your own specific business for you.
Tell me about why giving back is important to you and then also the ways that you do give back. I think that when we're blessed, we have a responsibility to help other people. The charities that I pick are all things that mean something to me. I don't do it for recognition. I do it because I want to. I happen to have a large home and I've got a big store, so I can host parties all the time.
So I do a lot of that. Drayton Hall, if you're not familiar with what Drayton Hall is, the finest example of Pleiadian architecture. in our country, and it is a home that was built in the 17th century. It's pretty nuts. And I think that preservation aspect and growing up here, of course, preservation is important to me.
Um, and I think the education of preservation is important also. For people to understand why we do these things, how we live the way that we do. And we as Southerners entertain differently and there are different standards that we hold to in other parts of the country, good or bad or ugly. They just are so preservation.
is important to me. Our symphony orchestra is important to me. We're a major metropolitan city and we have to have a symphony orchestra. We just do and they're changing some of their programming and they're trying to bring in some younger folks, which they need to. I mean, you can't, your audience can't just die.
We've got to have people that are in their thirties and forties that are wanting to experience and experience the hearts. So that's important to me. The Gibbs Museum of Art is also really important to me. As a child, I went there every summer for art camp. I love what they do. I love that we have an art museum that is as old as it is.
Because that is not something that a lot of cities came up with until the 20th century. And we've had one since the, the late 18th, early 19th century, we've had an art museum. It's a fine structure of architecture as well as housing that collection. And I pay for my nieces to go every year to art camp because they need to experience that culture also.
Again, can't just live in our own backyard. Cancer is a big deal to me. My grandmother had a mastectomy when she was young. She was told she was only going to live six more months. And she looked the doctor in the eye and said, I'm not going anywhere. I've got things to do. And she lived in there 24 years.
My mother was hypervigilant about her health. And still on August 25th, she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer and she was. Gone February the 16th. It's a, it's a silent killer. So I've been really focused on raising a lot of money for MUSC. Here are Medical University of South Carolina. They need money for their research.
And I think that it's important to not only look at things. And write checks, but to participate our homeless shelter here. I was just talking to my partner about this last night. You need to gather a crew again and go down there and cook. I like to do that on the weekends every now and then it's important to help and to get back our shelters about hand up, not hand out.
And those are two very different things. And if you know what I mean, when I say that hand up, we're helping people get on their feet. Our shelter has attorneys and educators volunteering their time. There are doctors that are volunteering their time. There's a huge problem with mental health issues in the homeless community, but there are also battered women that are running in the middle of the night with their children and they need a place to go.
And we, we have a responsibility to help these girls get jobs, to help them get placed in an apartment. So when I'm collecting Use furniture out of people's homes. That's where it's going. It's going to go help these women set up a home and a household. So whatever means something to you, dive deeper into it.
Don't just write a check. The symphony, they have their donor concerts happen right here in this building. I close it. Five o'clock at night. It happens sometimes from five to eight, and um, that's something that's happening downstairs. They're, they're all sitting around on all of the furniture and just listening to beautiful chamber music right here in the store.
We can all participate however we can. My home, we've been on tour many times for different fill and fiber reasons, and the garden tours. Whatever it is, I mean, our architectural school, I donated my backyard, the garden, they were doing plaster molds for people all over town, just so they could learn how to make plaster mold medallions.
It's a neat thing. It's a tangible thing. It's something that you can leave with and now appreciate the arts that are happening right here in our city. Find what's important to you. And get back, I mean, puppy adoptions in the store on the weekends before where I've literally just had the animal shelter, bring 16 dogs.
We block off the windows. Sometimes the people that are coming to look at the puppies are not actually our customers and they're not even going to buy anything. I don't care. It's about help. It's not about leading back to that point of sale. It's about having the space to be responsible and to help and having the time to do it.
The time means making the time to do it. Making the time. Right. We're all important, right? Yeah. Everybody's so important. I'm so important. I'm so busy. Well, I am busy. I'm not too busy to take a moment to breathe and take that moment to help. My grandmother that I talk about that I love so much. She had 312 in her checking account the day she died.
I mean, luckily mother had means to take care of her, but there are people out there that don't have that. You don't have that help during COVID. One of the big things that I was pushing for is our own Ryan White program here, which is also one of the charities that I support people that are living with HIV.
They might need a ride to the doctor. They might need food. They might just need a heating blanket. You can reach out and try to help in a lot of ways. A lot of ways I'm hearing you say, find something, as you said, is that you're passionate about, and it doesn't have to be, I mean, you're very heavily involved, which I just applaud you so much on that.
That's wonderful. You don't have to have 20 things that you're a part of to make you feel fulfilled and to give back. There could be one or two that are just substantial enough that resonate with you from, as you said, from your family or from your past or from your history. So that's something that you can be passionate about is key.
And I think the other part of that is too. You touched on it, uh, of course you said it doesn't matter if someone, you know, buys anything from the store when they're there. I agree with that totally, but I do think on a subconscious level, you're building and building relationships with people when you are being philanthropic.
Right. And, and, and clients, I know subconsciously a client can say, Oh yeah, I saw Michael, he had this in his store or I saw that he was a part of the symphony orchestra, whatever the event. So I think that those things do go a long way in your clients learning that trust that you talked about earlier. Do you agree with that?
I do agree with that. That it's not a reason. No, I know that there's an arts program out on one of the barrier islands. And we're talking about children that have. No money. Their parents are, they might be working in fields. There's a group of women that have started this arts program on this barrier island.
And I've had my artists come in here and we've laid out 18 canvases. I've got a table at the front of my store. That's on the second level. It's 24 feet long and it's six feet wide and it's black marble and it's beautiful. But. You know, I also can throw 18 kids around that doing an art project. And for them to get to come into a place like this, that's full of all these beautiful, magical things, and coming from these impoverished backgrounds, and getting to have an artist who they can see their work on the wall, spending time with them.
You had no idea what that might have done to that child. That child may go on to be some big bougie artist that ends up in a museum one day. And that's not my goal. My goal is to inspire them that there's more to life. And I've had the privilege of getting to travel and being able to do the things that I've been able to do.
And I know that it's a gift. I'm not entitled to get to do it. Yeah. But my present is to give some of that back. Yeah. You're humbly planting those seeds of growth in these. People, kids, whomever that can lead to other things, as you said, and maybe they didn't have the blessings of a great childhood or even now, maybe their life now isn't as, uh, you know, fortunate and privileged as a lot of us are, and I think that it's just so great to plant those seeds of growth in them to allow them to see things outside of where they are.
So kudos to you for that. I encourage everyone to Get involved in any way, big or small. It'll just, it's all the warm and fuzzies that you ever want to have. Truly it is. So I think that's great. And thank you for doing all of that. I think we could talk all day, but thank you for. Your honesty, you were being so transparent about how you started, how you run your business, what you do to make it successful.
It's an inspiration, I know, to everyone listening. Again, whether they are a new designer or whether they've been into it for a while, thank you for that. Tell everyone where they can find out more about you, connect with you and your company and all the things that you have going on. Well, I'm rebranding as Michael Mitchell.
We're going back to me and Michael Mitchell. My Instagram handle is Michael Mitchell designer store is Michael Mitchell Charleston and yeah, our website is Michael Mitchell Inc. That's how you can find me. Here at Charleston, I'm at 414 King street. I love to tell people I'm the largest independent retailer on the peninsula.
I've got a 12, 000 square foot showroom and we sell everything from Italian hardwood floors to paint to light fixtures. I do it all. We do dishes, towels, and whatever anybody needs. We'll get it for you. You know, learn to source, learn to source. Yeah, that's great. Well, I know everyone who has visited Charleston has probably been to your store.
If you've not, if you're planning to go to Charleston. Go buy and see it. So Michael, thank you again for being here today. We really appreciate it. Thank you. Thanks for having me. Thanks for tuning in to the designer within podcast. I hope you found today's episode inspiring and full of actionable ideas to help you design a better home, a thriving career, or simply a more intentional life.
For more tips, resources, and free downloads to support the design of your home or the design of your career, head on over to johnmcclain. co. That's johnmcclain. co. And remember, to make big changes on the outside, you need to start within. Until next time, I'm John McClain, stay creative and stay inspired.