Latest / The iDesign Lab Podcast / Why Custom Drapery Can Make or Break a Room | Leslie Excell Reveals the Secrets of Luxury Window Treatments

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Why Custom Drapery Can Make or Break a Room | Leslie Excell Reveals the Secrets of Luxury Window Treatments · The iDesign Lab Podcast

• 0:00
  Voice Over: This is iDesign Lab, a podcast where creativity and curiosity meet style and design.
• 0:06
  Voice Over: Curator of interiors, furnishings, and lifestyles.
• 0:09
  Voice Over: Hosted by Tiffany Woolley, an interior designer and a style enthusiast, along with her serial entrepreneur husband Scott.
• 0:17
  Voice Over: iDesign Lab is your ultimate design podcast, where we explore the rich and vibrant world of design and its constant evolution in style and trends.
• 0:38
  TIffany Woolley: Leslie is someone who proves that great design is about so much more than what you see.
• 0:44
  TIffany Woolley: It's about craftsmanship, relationships, and passion.
• 0:48
  TIffany Woolley: Leslie Excel started her career in a drapery workroom and built that experience into Excel and Design Group, a nationally recognized custom workroom celebrating a big year, 20 years of excellence.
• 1:02
  TIffany Woolley: She's a designer, an entrepreneur, a mentor, a leader.
• 1:06
  TIffany Woolley: And today we're gonna go behind the scenes to hear the story of how she built it all.
• 1:12
  TIffany Woolley: Welcome, Leslie.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_01: Hi Tiffany, thank you so much.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_01: That was beautiful.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 1:17
  TIffany Woolley: Such a long overdue to have you on the podcast today.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_01: It sure is, and I'm so happy to be here.
• 1:23
  TIffany Woolley: I know.
• 1:23
  TIffany Woolley: So we go back at least 20 years.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_01: More than 20 years.
• 1:29
  TIffany Woolley: So more than 20 years.
• 1:30
  TIffany Woolley: So let's start at the beginning.
• 1:32
  TIffany Woolley: How you jumped into the design business.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_01: So again, thank you, Tiffany and Scott, for having me here today.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so the start of my career was me literally working next door to a drapery workroom.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_01: I used to work next door to Valerie, who owned a drapery workroom.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_01: And I used to think to myself, oh, she's so cute.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_01: I wonder what she does.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_01: And I found out that she owned the business, and that was like my aha moment of wow, women can own businesses, right?
• 2:00
  Scott Woolley: If you think about what were you doing next door?
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_01: I was working at a company doing um servicing of copyright, like copy machines, typewriters.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_01: If I'm not dating myself back here, but yeah, and I ended up leaving um because I wanted to pursue my degree at that time, was veterinarian school.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_01: Oh my gosh, total 360.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_01: Total 360.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_01: And so I left and I Valerie asked the guy and said, What happened to the girl that used to work for you?
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_01: And he said, Oh, she doesn't work here.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_01: And she asked for my number, called me up, and said, I need an assistant.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_01: Are you interested?
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_01: And at that time, I had my son at 19 years old.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_01: Um, well, I was 19 when she called me.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_01: I was 18 when I had him, so I was super young, and she offered me more money, and I thought it was such a great um opportunity.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_01: So I went and I, you know, literally helped her grow that business for 10 years.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_01: I was working alongside her.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um Is this Valerie Ross?
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, it is.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_01: Valerie Ross.
• 2:57
  Scott Woolley: Dave Ross, my husband, who's a good friend.
• 2:59
  TIffany Woolley: Yes, yes.
• 3:02
  TIffany Woolley: They did the window treatments in our home.
• 3:05
  TIffany Woolley: Yes, we did.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_01: I was working with her at that time when we did your window treatments 100%.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_01: And so Valerie taught me everything, and I still am very dear friends with her today.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_01: I love her so much.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_01: Um, we actually are overdue for meeting as well, getting together.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, so I was her right hand and I would go to all the projects with her.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_01: I completely shifted my major and changed it to interior design.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_01: I went to the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_01: I did the residential design program, and then I switched it to my bachelor's program when I did my the bachelor's from there, too.
• 3:37
  Scott Woolley: At what point did you realize that that's the career you wanted to take on?
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_01: You know, uh growing up, I was always um as a young girl, I always was very feminine and I always loved getting dressed up and you know, playing with costumes, all kinds of things.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_01: But you know, back then our parents would say, you need to be a doctor or a lawyer, you know, whatever.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_01: And I just didn't think I could pursue a career in fashion.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_01: And I didn't really know design when I was younger.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_01: Like we had verticals and cafe curtains in our home, you know, and so it was not a world that I was exposed to.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_01: And so when I walked into Valerie's workroom and saw what draperies can do and what it could be, I it just was a light bulb for me where it still fit because obviously fashion and design work well together, hand in hand.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_01: So I thought this is it.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_01: And so I completely changed my major and pursued that.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_01: And I worked with Valerie for almost 10 years before I left to pursue design.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_01: Like that was really my sole purpose was to pursue design.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_01: I went to work, if you remember, the interiors group in Boca.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, and they would do a lot of model merchandising at that time, and so I went and worked there.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then my father got sick and he was in the hospital, and we would have to go and see him every day.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_01: And so, and I was in my thesis at the art institute.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_01: So I had to give up something.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_01: And at that time, their workroom was not doing well where the guy was sick or something.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_01: So she said, Why don't you help me with my window treatments?
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_01: And so I said I would love that.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_01: So I quit the interiors group, but yet we still formed a partnership, and that's kind of how Excel and Design was pretty much born because um I saw the need and that I had um the experience.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_01: And then I never went after Valerie's clients.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_01: I started really with Ross Schuster, if you're here in Boca.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_01: She was like my first big designer that put me on the map.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_01: And from there, it just spearheaded.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_01: And here we are 20 years later, celebrating.
• 5:33
  Scott Woolley: How did it feel becoming your own boss and starting your own?
• 5:37
  Scott Woolley: Was it were you nervous?
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, it's interesting because I never really saw it that way at first.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_01: And I remember um going through my old office when I was moving and looking, um, like cleaning out papers and things like that.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_01: And I found an old college essay.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_01: And on the college essay, I had written that I wanted to be um have my own business before I was 30, and I was 29 when I started my business.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_01: Unbelievable.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_01: I am always got chills.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_01: I know I'm a huge believer of the mindset and journaling and really believing in yourself and and not even knowing that you're, you know, carving that path for yourself.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_01: So, and I think it was when I met Valerie and had that aha moment that she, you know, women can own businesses.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_01: My mother has been an entrepreneur my whole life too.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_01: She's an accountant, and she's always been independent, an immigrant from Ecuador.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and she's was the first woman in our family to go to college.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, there was a lot of that.
• 6:34
  TIffany Woolley: You had women trailblazers.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_01: I had women trailblazers, yes.
• 6:38
  TIffany Woolley: So, what was that first step in creating Excel and Design?
• 6:42
  TIffany Woolley: I mean, I love that your last name was able to like kind of Yes, for sure.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_01: No, my mom actually formed the corporation for me because she's an accountant.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't have anything to do with that.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_01: Don't ask me about finances.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_01: No, but I am getting better at that.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_01: Like a lot better.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but you know, I just really just saw a need that people would ask me questions about window treatments, and I had been doing it for so long already.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_01: And I, you know, went to school for the interior design.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_01: So I started understanding the floor plans and, you know, and it just was natural for me, honestly.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_01: And I just loved it so much.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_01: And so then I just started pursuing um designers that I didn't know, and I would network.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_01: I'm a networking queen.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_01: I love to go and you know, meet new people and and collaborate and see what needs you you may have and how we can, you know, work together.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_01: And so I worked from home for the first five years of my business.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um, my son helped me a little bit at that time while he was in school.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_01: And then um after that, I got my first um bay and my seamstress came with me.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_01: And so we were now a real workroom because before, you know, she was literally working out of her garage, you know.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_01: And so then it just spearheaded from there.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_01: Before you know it, I needed to hire another, you know, um, seamstress.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_01: And now I have four.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_01: Dana was my first employee who is my office manager, and she's been with me for 11 years.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and we have a team of 12 now, um, with some of our contractor installers and my employees, full staff.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_01: So it's been really a great, great run.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_01: I love it a lot.
• 8:17
  Scott Woolley: So I've always known you, always thought of you as like a fantastic salesperson.
• 8:22
  Scott Woolley: I've always no, but I I I've always I always think like, well, she's a really good salesperson.
• 8:28
  Scott Woolley: But on the other side, you're running a business and running a workroom.
• 8:31
  Scott Woolley: I mean, how involved are you in the workroom?
• 8:34
  Scott Woolley: Because for me, I think of you as just a person who's out there pounding the pavement and talking and making everyone happy and excited.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean, I think that the because of, like I mentioned with the the feminine side of me, loving design and just growing to love it so much and just getting it gives me a design creative outlet.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and so I I consider myself as a design partner where I understand what you're looking for in a job.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that's the difference.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_01: It's like really trying to hone in on what your aesthetic is for that particular project and then what you know fabrics you're selecting to where I'm not afraid to say, hey Tiffany, do you think maybe it might look better doing this, you know?
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um, or maybe we should add interlining so that it gives it a fuller look, or you know, things like that.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_01: And so that allows me the creative side in the workroom, too.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_01: For example, yesterday we were doing a cornice for a nursery and it was like a scallop design on the bottom.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm working with the seamtress, and I'm like, well, they gave us an inspiration photo, which it probably was a four-foot window when this is more like an eight-foot window.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_01: So I said, no, let's adjust this measurement.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_01: So it allows me to be creative there, knowing what the designer's looking for before I even send that template off, like a photo of that template for her approval, because ultimately they trust me.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_01: And I'd say majority of my clients come to me, they're loyal with me, only because they know that I understand what they're looking for and how to execute it, whether, and I don't need to bother them all the time about it.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's like I know what they're looking for.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_01: There's a trust, yeah.
• 10:13
  TIffany Woolley: There is a trust, and I feel like so much about design, we talk about it often, is a collaborative experience between obviously the designer and the client, but also the designer and all of our vendors and our design partners, as you said.
• 10:28
  TIffany Woolley: And I do believe that you bring such a collaborative experience.
• 10:32
  TIffany Woolley: You there is a trust in a level of detail that you bring to the table.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_01: I think the level of detail is probably the number one um thing.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_01: And I I always try to instill that to my team.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um, when it's like we have to think about your needs before you even know, you know, that you are gonna want that type of thing and try to stay on top of the communication.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_01: That's what an amazing design partner brings to the table.
• 10:59
  TIffany Woolley: Because I always say often, all the time, we're clients are hiring a professional and then we're sourcing a group of professionals because collaboratively, you know, a great group of professionals brings a great end result.
• 11:13
  TIffany Woolley: So I definitely know for sure that you bring that to the right.
• 11:16
  Scott Woolley: So you're designing, fabricating, making custom, beautiful window treatments, drapery for huge, wonderful, magnificent homes to average homes.
• 11:29
  Scott Woolley: What's is there one thing that most people don't think about or understand in what you do that's um probably that uh it the the behind the scenes on what it takes to manufacture, right?
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_01: You have these like uh the industrial sewing machines, you know, a needle breaks, you have to get the mechanic to come in, or you know, the fabrics, like that's probably a big huge thing is the fabrics, you know.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um I don't it's nice to see a beautiful fabric, but if you're not really honing in on the content and the use that you're gonna use it for, we can get a sheer uh drapery, and then the designer decides, oh, I think I need to blackout line that.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_01: Well, maybe we should pick a contrast liner that's gonna go in between that, but then it's changing the look, right?
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_01: So it's really understanding and really calling me in also on the beginning of a project, too, because you have paint, flooring, lighting, window treatments, you have the whole aspect of the project, right?
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_01: You can't really physically remember every single thing.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_01: And that's the reason why you hire a trade like myself to help you give you the best results for your client, right?
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_01: And so that's the time and the opportunity that um you can discuss all of those things.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_01: And fabric is really probably one of them.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_01: Even the railroading, right?
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_01: Like there's so many double width fabrics.
• 12:49
  Scott Woolley: So what do you mean well railroading?
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_01: So railroading, so you get double width fabrics.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_01: Like fabrics usually are 54 or 60 wide, right?
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_01: Then they have double widths because they want it 102, 108, 118, 126, because they want seamless draperies, right?
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_01: So what nobody here, all not nobody, but a lot of people forget is that we have massive tall ceilings, right?
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_01: Florida is exceptional in that.
• 13:15
  Scott Woolley: So it's a 22-foot tall ceiling, right?
• 13:18
  Scott Woolley: And the windows are 20 feet wide.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_01: And so what you do is you take that wide good of 126, and instead of it running up and down, you turn it sideways and it runs horizontally across the whole width.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_01: So you don't have any seams across the whole glass area.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_01: However, my 126 is my max without having a horizontal seam on it, right?
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_01: And nobody, I mean, sometimes people are accepting, or you might add a banding, you know, to the drapery or something for that um height difference.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_01: But those are the things that sometimes we forget about.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_01: And that's important because if you see something in a book, which by the way, any fabric uh mail companies that are listening to this, you guys should not show the fabrics in your books that show because they'll show a stripe and it looks like a vertical stripe, but it's a 126 wide.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_01: So most designers think, oh, like they're not thinking about the height in the ceiling, but it's shown railroaded and it shows it on the back of the um sample, right?
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_01: So that's something that the designer should take notice too.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but it's get confusing for them, right?
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_01: So if you see a stripe there and you're thinking, and that's how you're selling it to your customer, and then we get it, and then I'm reaching out to you and say, Hey, Tiffany, it's gonna be a horizontal stripe.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_01: Are you okay with that?
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_01: No, I don't want it like that, you know?
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_01: So um, those are some of the things.
• 14:38
  Scott Woolley: So do you have a project that you would say is the craziest, most unusual design that well, I just finished it out?
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I just finished one actually.
• 14:46
  Scott Woolley: Um I would think you probably have, but had a few.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, we have some really interesting ones.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so one of them we just finished was a bedroom in Miami for a home.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_01: And the designer wanted the room to feel like a tented room.
• 15:01
  TIffany Woolley: I love that.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_01: And but there was these fun soffits around the perimeter of the room.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_01: So there's always something, right?
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_01: And so she wanted it, so instead of upholstering it, she wanted to have more of a gathered, flowy look.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_01: So we made um rod pocket valves.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_01: So I took the height and the depth of the soffit, I gave the overall height.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_01: So let's say the overall height was 12 and the depth was nine.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_01: So I added that up and we added a few more inches, and we added raw pocket top and bottom, and we installed it on the ceiling, and we installed it underneath the soffit so that the whole soffit was covered as kind of disappeared.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_01: And the so it hides the soffition, yeah.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_01: It hide the soffit, and then we had the draperies all around the room to where it looked like it was part of it because it wasn't like a vaulted ceiling, you know, so to speak.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_01: So that was one, and then another one was a hotel in Naples.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_01: They had a huge exit sign that you can't get away from, and we had these massive draperies in a ballroom.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_01: And so I said, Well, why don't we just do a cutout and we'll do that clear shower liner?
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_01: And we did a cutout um on the drapery, so and with that clear liner on it, so that when the drape was closed, you still saw the exit sign.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so it's just again, I'm I'm very resourceful.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_01: So anytime that you have a challenge, I'm up for the challenge.
• 16:19
  Scott Woolley: Well, I'll tell you my little drapery story, I think is really cool.
• 16:23
  Scott Woolley: Uh-huh.
• 16:23
  Scott Woolley: I don't know.
• 16:24
  Scott Woolley: Have you ever been to Graceland?
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_01: No.
• 16:26
  Scott Woolley: Elvis's home.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_01: I have not.
• 16:27
  Scott Woolley: So Elvis' home, downstairs, he has his billiard room.
• 16:32
  Scott Woolley: And how do we explain it, Tiffany?
• 16:33
  TIffany Woolley: And I'm drawing a blind right now, but if he actually works in the really high-end designer.
• 16:39
  Scott Woolley: The entire room is all drapery, but it all starts from the center of the room.
• 16:44
  Scott Woolley: The drapery comes like a it's like a button in the mid.
• 16:47
  Scott Woolley: It's wild print.
• 16:49
  Scott Woolley: And it's billiard.
• 16:51
  Scott Woolley: It's pulled back to all the w walls, but then it's twisted, kind of like like it's moving.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_01: Oh.
• 16:58
  Scott Woolley: And then it comes down the walls.
• 17:00
  Scott Woolley: It's the coolest thing.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_01: Well, you're gonna have to take me there.
• 17:04
  Scott Woolley: When you walk in, just the feel and the vibe because of the fabric on the walls and on the ceiling.
• 17:10
  Scott Woolley: It has this kind of really comfortable feel.
• 17:14
  Scott Woolley: And playing like built when Elvis would play building.
• 17:18
  TIffany Woolley: Right.
• 17:18
  TIffany Woolley: The billiard or something.
• 17:20
  Scott Woolley: Yeah, but it's so cool the way in which whoever did the drapery.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_01: There's so many ways of doing things.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_01: Another one that you'd mentioned, um, it brought uh a memory for me.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_01: There was another project where the designer wanted to really showcase the chandelier, um, and she wanted, and it was for a theater.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_01: So she designed an upholstered um ceiling, but because the chandelier was in the center, what we did is we had a template made on the floor, and then we had the contractor cut out the wood in a circular diameter because she wanted it to be circular like the chandelier, and we had it dry fitted on the job, and then we took the pieces of wood and we took it back to our shop to upholster it, and we had all kinds of nail heads, and she had different, two different tones on the um velvet, and then we reinstalled the upholstered panels um and with the chandelier in the middle of it.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_01: So there really are, it's really the sky is the limit with the design.
• 18:16
  TIffany Woolley: The sky is the limit, and as like he was mentioning with the upholstery.
• 18:19
  TIffany Woolley: I, you know, being now over 20 years together in this industry, design has evolved so much.
• 18:27
  TIffany Woolley: I feel like when I first started, we were doing such heavy draperies, a lot of upholstered cornices, balances, heavier fabrics, and then we've watched design trend changed into these airier silhouettes and cleaner.
• 18:45
  TIffany Woolley: Do you see the trend changing again?
• 18:47
  TIffany Woolley: I do.
• 18:48
  TIffany Woolley: I do.
• 18:48
  TIffany Woolley: Actually, I do.
• 18:49
  TIffany Woolley: I see it kind of coming back.
• 18:51
  TIffany Woolley: I do too.
• 18:51
  TIffany Woolley: And I'm kind of excited about it, actually.
• 18:54
  TIffany Woolley: Like I'm excited about trims again and all that layers.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's still, I would still say that it's light as far as um color.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, maybe the color and things like that and the texture, but but I a ton of trims come into our workroom, um, a lot of custom pillows, um, even some bedding now.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_01: So I feel like the bedding maybe is going to be coming back too.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, there was still, we still have a lot of the high-end customers that it's still a norm.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but I feel like a lot more people are getting um interested in that.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_01: And then also valances.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_01: I it again clean.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_01: The kick pleat valances really haven't gone away, but I am doing a lot more cornices.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_01: In fact, um, we have swags that we just finished last year for a penthouse in Meisner, where you know how they have the vaulted ceilings on the penthouse floor.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_01: And so we did, we had to follow the ceiling line and we still did a beautiful, huge swag, and it was massive because that I think the ceiling there was maybe 20, 18, 20 feet.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and so we did a massive swag there too.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_01: So it just depends.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_01: I do feel like elaborate draperies are coming back.
• 20:04
  Scott Woolley: So you two keep using the word workroom.
• 20:08
  Scott Woolley: I think of workroom as a that's where all the work is being done, like the shop.
• 20:13
  Scott Woolley: But you do drapery, like like I'm I'm trying to figure out what is your business really like?
• 20:21
  Scott Woolley: What do you really call the business?
• 20:22
  Scott Woolley: It's not just uh window treatments, it's not just drapery, it's not just so it is well known from designers as drapery workrooms.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm glad that you're asking me this question because how I see it.
• 20:33
  Scott Woolley: Because from from a person listening to this podcast, there's so many things that you bring to a home that I don't think everyone realizes how much you can bring to a home and change it.
• 20:45
  Scott Woolley: And I and I'm gonna use a reference, is one of our daughters, our youngest daughter, Tiffany decorated the room, and I gotta be a year, two years.
• 20:55
  Scott Woolley: She kept on saying, We need drapes, we need drapes.
• 20:57
  Scott Woolley: I said, the room is fine.
• 20:58
  Scott Woolley: We've spend enough money on the room.
• 21:00
  Scott Woolley: The room is fine.
• 21:01
  TIffany Woolley: The room is still the only one.
• 21:02
  Scott Woolley: Oh my god, she gave me she was nonstop every day.
• 21:06
  Scott Woolley: Need drapes, need drapes, need drapes.
• 21:08
  Scott Woolley: I'm like, whatever, okay.
• 21:10
  Scott Woolley: But when the drapes went up, I thought to myself, what a difference.
• 21:14
  Scott Woolley: Oh my god, the whole room completely, not just the look, but the sound and the feel of the room when you walked in.
• 21:20
  Scott Woolley: Yes, the the hollow, empty feeling changed to a warmer room.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, 100%.
• 21:28
  Scott Woolley: I don't think that people realize what you're bringing to a home really as a finishing touch that people really need to be thinking more about.
• 21:39
  Scott Woolley: Yeah.
• 21:40
  TIffany Woolley: Interlining is something you said in the intro, like in the very beginning.
• 21:43
  TIffany Woolley: And I learned that myself from Valerie.
• 21:46
  TIffany Woolley: And I mean, I haven't done it in years because nobody wants to pay for it in our project scope right now.
• 21:53
  TIffany Woolley: But to me, it's such a necessary.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and again, it depends on the fabric, because you know you don't need If it's a heavier weight fabric.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_01: But yes, for sure, draperies are like the jewels that we wear, right?
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_01: Like when you are getting dressed, it's the finishing touch.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_01: And it does for um help, like it helps with sound, it helps with um light filtering.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_01: It helped.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, who doesn't like to have uh you know blackout shades or motorized or motorized shades that'll raise during the sunrise for you to wake you up rather than.
• 22:29
  Scott Woolley: And you don't need motorized shades with electric because they have battery-operated ones.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, although I do recommend doing the electric if you can get electric in there.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but yeah, I mean the so the the reason the reason why I do what I do want to share is that drapery workroom has always been the name.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_01: And I would like to change that because I think a lot of um people when they hear workroom, they have no clue what that is.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_01: They don't know what you do.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_01: And then I also feel like some designers, not you, you've always been amazing to me and you've always been great clients and friends.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_01: But sometimes a lot of designers will think of you as their peon kind of thing rather than a partner, right?
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_01: And ult ultimately, it's like we really are truly design partners.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_01: And so I like to say that it's a fabrication studio.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_01: I like that, right?
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_01: Isn't it much better?
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_01: Much better.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_01: And if I say fabrication studio, you're automatically thinking of manufacturing, you're thinking of something creative and craft, custom, custom, right?
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_01: And so we can also put luxury because it's for high-end homes.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_01: It could be for any home.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_01: It doesn't have to be luxury, but a drapery fabrication studio.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_01: Um, or but yes, like we can provide bedding, we do upholstery, we do um draperies, cornices, valances, pillows, you know, all those kinds of things.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, wall treatments with fabric.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_01: Love all that.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_01: And we serviced a trade of interior designers.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_01: I will say when I first started the company, I would take on any job because I was, you know, just getting out there and trying to build my own business.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_01: But Valerie paid the wave the way for me on servicing the trade.
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_01: And it is really such a big difference, especially with the knowledge and expertise that I bring.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_01: I don't need to hustle the way I used to, right?
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's like you know, and the same with you, like you know that your design aesthetic, you know every design aesthetic and what any what you can bring to a client, and you understand all the construction parts of the project, and they're trusting you for that, right?
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_01: Without a doubt.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_01: You don't have to sell yourself.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_01: They're coming to you because they know that you understand construction and design, right?
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_01: That's how my partners feel about me, where they can trust that I'm gonna take care of the window treatments.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_01: And nowadays with these massive homes, you have to consider the where the lighting is, where the AC grill is, what the depth is of the of the shade, I mean, of the the doors or the windows, right?
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_01: Especially if a client is very particular.
• 25:00
  TIffany Woolley: It's definitely not the best friend of like drapery work.
• 25:03
  TIffany Woolley: No, you know, it's it definitely takes a lot of game in there.
• 25:06
  TIffany Woolley: You gotta have good game, really, to navigate.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_01: And that's why it's good to get together with the architect as well from the beginning too.
• 25:14
  TIffany Woolley: In those cases, it is very simple.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_01: Because you want to ask those questions.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_01: You know, if your client is very particular about certain things, I don't think they're gonna like a head rail sticking out two inches from a door frame and seeing that, or seeing a plug plugged into an outlet.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_01: Like, how are we gonna hide that, right?
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_01: So it's really a great plan to think about all of those avenues prior to construction or even during construction, right?
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_01: That's the time to call me.
• 25:40
  TIffany Woolley: And it's funny because even just on a recent project now, you know, the client brought in an A V team separate to me.
• 25:47
  TIffany Woolley: We kind of worked together, but they've hired him.
• 25:49
  TIffany Woolley: And it was like, oh, well, we're doing the drapery.
• 25:52
  TIffany Woolley: And I'm like, how does that make sense?
• 25:54
  TIffany Woolley: Make it make sense.
• 25:56
  TIffany Woolley: I said, you're gonna bring you're gonna spend double the amount of money then, because what an A V person's trying to do is sell their motors into their into their network and system.
• 26:07
  TIffany Woolley: I said, but and they're like, oh, and you can just go look through their books, and I'm like, but that's like I feel like so much of what we have to do is educate people along the way as well.
• 26:19
  TIffany Woolley: And you know, I always said to them, I said, you really need to consider that because you can't build the drapery until you've built your design of your room.
• 26:29
  TIffany Woolley: Right.
• 26:30
  TIffany Woolley: And we're still in the process of that, where you know, the A V team is like, well, just come pick through our book.
• 26:36
  TIffany Woolley: I was like, you're gonna do drapery double then, you know.
• 26:39
  TIffany Woolley: So there is so I'm also all the time kind of preaching, like, I'm not a huge fan of designing in isolation.
• 26:46
  TIffany Woolley: Like it really is a network.
• 26:48
  TIffany Woolley: You build your team of network, who's gonna pull together, who's your lead, which is your designer, the architecture group, but you really have to build a group from there.
• 26:59
  TIffany Woolley: I'm like, because otherwise you just don't end up with a cohesive.
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_01: No, because then everybody starts pointing fingers.
• 27:05
  TIffany Woolley: Well, and that's which would also ends up coming to the table.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_01: So I will say when you mentioned the A V companies, I actually like to think of A V companies for me as a partner as well.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_01: Because ultimately I don't do integration and I don't do the home automation when it comes to the system and security, right?
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_01: So, yes, 100%.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_01: If you are doing a project and you there's an A V company that the builder has that you're working with to do the system, the lighting system, and all of that, then I then would like to get pulled in.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_01: So I just had this meeting, it was even on Zoom, it doesn't have to per se, because if the house is being built, it's not there yet.
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_01: And we were reviewing the floor plans.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_01: And when we were reviewing the floor plans, that I was discussing with the A V company, well, which direction is the drape going to stack, right?
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_01: These are things that the A V company is not considering, right?
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_01: And they're not thinking about.
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_01: And so I like to think of them as my partners as well.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_01: And they're grateful because they'll just order a track center opening, and it's like, well, you had 20 inches of wall space on one side and you have zero on the other.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_01: That drape is not going to meet in the middle.
• 28:06
  Scott Woolley: And where's the handles for the doors?
• 28:08
  Scott Woolley: Which way are they going?
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, that so I think it's just there's enough business for everybody here.
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_01: And we just have to think of each other as partners.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_01: I love that.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_01: I really and I think it's important.
• 28:20
  TIffany Woolley: Yeah.
• 28:21
  TIffany Woolley: That's super important.
• 28:22
  TIffany Woolley: And even for the end users, I mean, we're all partners, you know, it's really not a hierarchy, it's really a collaboration.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_01: And then, you know, clients may think that they're going to get a less expensive price by working directly with their own A B person or whatever.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_01: And that there may be some truth to that, but at the end of the day, if they're not thinking about the stack and they're not collaborating with the designer or the window treatment company, then we have to go back and do change orders and that adds up.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_01: So why not do it right from the beginning?
• 28:53
  TIffany Woolley: Correct.
• 28:53
  TIffany Woolley: I know I say that repeatedly too when they when you do end up with those challenges.
• 28:59
  TIffany Woolley: So, what would you like?
• 29:01
  TIffany Woolley: We just talked a little bit about your workroom.
• 29:03
  TIffany Woolley: What does that setup look like every day?
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_01: So, so I have my office manager that I mentioned, Dana, that's been with me for 11 years.
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_01: So she is there every day at the office.
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_01: So if you ever need something in regards to the quotes, she manages all of that.
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_01: But typically I go out and meet with the designers, I go and do my rough measurements so that it would get synced automatically to my office.
• 29:28
  SPEAKER_01: Dana does the quoting.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_01: I make note of the fabric, I take pictures of what the material is, I take pictures of the windows with the measurements, um, and I specify whether you want, you know, decorative rods or if it's shades, you know, all of the information that would be needed to put into the quote.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_01: Once it's approved, then we send our installer to do final measurements.
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_01: Because sometimes when you're on the job, it's not really ready.
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_01: You're you're gonna do renovation, things like that.
• 29:55
  SPEAKER_01: So it's not I find that it's it's enough to order the fabric.
• 29:59
  TIffany Woolley: It's enough to order the fabric.
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_01: We start the process, and then once we have final measurements, you and you ship your fabrics to our workroom, then I process all the work orders for production.
• 30:11
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then in production, we have a supervisor, my lead supervisor seamstress, um, and then we have our other seamstresses, and then she divvies out the the scope, depending on the project, um, to whichever seamstress that's going to, whether it's a Roman shade.
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_01: I have one seamstress that does all of our Romans and our valances and cornices.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_01: Um, my supervisor does most of our bedding, and then we have two other girls that do most of our drapery panels.
• 30:35
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so it just depends on that scope.
• 30:37
  SPEAKER_01: And then we see we have a full system in our warehouse where we hang all of our draperies and treatments so we can do inspections before they go, see how they lay.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_01: I might send you a picture and say, you know, hey, this is not laying great.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um, do you want to add a lining to it?
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_01: Or, you know, so those kinds of things that allows us to um recognize it at that moment uh versus on the job site to work.
• 31:02
  Scott Woolley: So there's a lot of details involved in what you're doing.
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 31:05
  Scott Woolley: And how difficult is it to when you want to add someone to your staff?
• 31:10
  Scott Woolley: Is there a particular trait that you're looking for that a person has?
• 31:13
  Scott Woolley: Because I would think it would be difficult to find people that know that your craft.
• 31:20
  Scott Woolley: Yeah, so it's not like they're just readily available all over.
• 31:24
  Scott Woolley: You probably are doing a lot of training and teaching.
• 31:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, yes, definitely a lot of training.
• 31:29
  SPEAKER_01: In fact, I have someone for the last year been working with me, updating all of our processes.
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I didn't start formalizing my processes until 10 years into my business.
• 31:39
  SPEAKER_01: I am an alumni of the 10,000 Small Businesses program from that was funded by Goldman Sachs.
• 31:45
  SPEAKER_01: And that is where I thought, oh, I have my business.
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_01: I've been in business for 10 years.
• 31:50
  SPEAKER_01: And I had, it was like I was starting my business over again.
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_01: So I that's when I started documenting all my processes.
• 31:57
  SPEAKER_01: And now for this last year, we have been updating.
• 32:00
  SPEAKER_01: We have now transferred our project management to Monday.com, which integrates with all of our Outlook and Microsoft.
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and so our processes are very streamlined and we've updated them.
• 32:11
  SPEAKER_01: We're working on workflows right now so that our next hires will have the proper training.
• 32:16
  SPEAKER_01: But with the seamtresses, it is um a craft.
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_01: It's art.
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_01: It's an art and it's a talent.
• 32:23
  SPEAKER_01: It's a dying art and talent.
• 32:25
  SPEAKER_01: And so we have been talking about um, you know, the training part, especially my supervisor.
• 32:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um, she's, you know, seasoned and she's going to be working less.
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_01: She's only doing like three days a week.
• 32:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I thought we really should start doing videos with her because she's got 40 years, uh, 50 years of sewing experience that you're just not going to find anywhere.
• 32:49
  SPEAKER_01: And so I'm in the process of discussing that.
• 32:52
  SPEAKER_01: In fact, now that I'm here, I probably should talk to you about doing that, the video series.
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but I want to do some videos with her because she has such great input, like on velvet and how to manage, you know, uh how the stitching goes.
• 33:04
  SPEAKER_01: And the crazy thing is, is and my girlfriends laugh at me because I have there's five of us, we all own uh drapery workrooms, and we started a mastermind about three years ago.
• 33:15
  SPEAKER_01: And so one's from Boston, um, one's from Philly, and two are from Georgia.
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_01: And we talk about, you know, everything in our business, revenue, we're completely vulnerable.
• 33:26
  SPEAKER_01: And the one of the girls laughs because I don't sew a thing.
• 33:29
  TIffany Woolley: And that's funny.
• 33:31
  TIffany Woolley: I do that.
• 33:32
  TIffany Woolley: I love that.
• 33:33
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, well, I just got into the business.
• 33:35
  SPEAKER_01: I know what it's supposed to look like, you know, but it I am getting more in tune with that too.
• 33:40
  SPEAKER_01: That's what this mastermind has been great for because it's really making me think, like, oh yeah, how does that get sewn on, you know?
• 33:47
  SPEAKER_01: Or or how does that line up?
• 33:49
  SPEAKER_01: Stand up straight.
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, right.
• 33:51
  SPEAKER_01: It doesn't happen miraculously, you know.
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but I do rely on my supervisor, you know, uh, to do that.
• 33:57
  SPEAKER_01: So, so yes, I do want to do some more uh video series and things like that to try to have some training.
• 34:05
  SPEAKER_01: So when we do need to hire more seamstresses, um, because it is a custom, you know, talent and craft.
• 34:12
  SPEAKER_01: And although there are massive machines out there that can make them, it's not the same.
• 34:17
  SPEAKER_01: Right, you know.
• 34:18
  TIffany Woolley: So what is something that happened that I'm like when I like you walk in and I see a beautiful finished room, what is it that people don't realize that went into those details to create that beautiful room regarding drapery?
• 34:37
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it could be us matching the thread to the fabric, you know, or the placement of the fringe.
• 34:45
  SPEAKER_01: Like I'll send pictures.
• 34:46
  SPEAKER_01: Like if you want a trim, you know, and I always say we're not order takers.
• 34:51
  SPEAKER_01: Like we literally are collaborative and partners.
• 34:55
  SPEAKER_01: So if you send me a trim and say you wanted a lead edge, and I see the trim, and I'm like kind of setting it on the lead edge and insetting it a little bit, I'm like, you know, this might look pretty.
• 35:04
  SPEAKER_01: And so I'll send you a picture and I'll say, Tiffany, what do you think about insetting it a half inch, you know, or something?
• 35:09
  SPEAKER_01: And you'll say, I love it, you know?
• 35:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um, or you know, the different style pleats.
• 35:14
  SPEAKER_01: Like you might say you want a pinch pleat, and I might say, Well, this fabric is really thick.
• 35:20
  SPEAKER_01: Can we do a two-fold pleat instead of a three-fold pleat?
• 35:23
  SPEAKER_01: It looks more structured versus the three-fold, it just looks like bunched, and I'll show you a picture to show that.
• 35:29
  SPEAKER_01: So no one's ever gonna look at that stuff, no one's ever gonna notice that stuff, right?
• 35:33
  SPEAKER_01: Or pattern matching, too.
• 35:35
  SPEAKER_01: Like that's just that is such a big thing.
• 35:37
  TIffany Woolley: I mean, and the repeats and how all that works out.
• 35:41
  Scott Woolley: So your business you do is mainly just to the trade?
• 35:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, all to the trade.
• 35:47
  SPEAKER_01: All to the trade.
• 35:48
  Scott Woolley: So a consumer who hears about you or someone listening to this podcast and sees, finds where your workroom is and shows up, you're not necessarily gonna work.
• 35:58
  SPEAKER_01: We would first I would vet them to see if it's even worth my designer clients' time.
• 36:03
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 36:03
  SPEAKER_01: But I would say, we couldn't help you, but I have great designers that I can refer you to and I would give them the information.
• 36:10
  SPEAKER_01: Now, there are times that you know, Tiffany might say, Hey, I did this whole house and they want to change it to a nursery and we're gonna change the window treatments, and I've just got so much on my plate.
• 36:20
  SPEAKER_01: Can you just, you know, handle the drapery?
• 36:21
  SPEAKER_01: She just wants to change the drapery.
• 36:23
  SPEAKER_01: I have designers that come to me and do that, and I'm happy to do that because it's on behalf of you, right?
• 36:29
  SPEAKER_01: But otherwise, if someone were just to show up at our workroom or call, we don't um service.
• 36:34
  SPEAKER_01: We only service the trade.
• 36:36
  Scott Woolley: So you were talking we were talking a few minutes ago, and you mentioned about railroading and and the size of drapes and and and the fabric and so forth.
• 36:46
  Scott Woolley: So you ever have clients, trade designers that provide you with fabric materials, you look at it and go and say to yourselves, this doesn't make sense, this doesn't work, this isn't gonna come out right.
• 37:02
  Scott Woolley: No, does this person know what they're doing?
• 37:04
  SPEAKER_01: Well because I I wonder, like Yeah, no, like I'd say again, like use most of my clients um do call me from the beginning and then we kind of review the projects and the scope.
• 37:15
  SPEAKER_01: And I don't I I'm not afraid to say, are you sure you want it this way?
• 37:19
  SPEAKER_01: And then they'll explain, well, it's because of this, you know, if it's something that I don't have to do.
• 37:23
  Scott Woolley: Do you ever have one someone that or that gives you things where uh you know that this is No, because I usually know what it is before it comes.
• 37:32
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, but I will say like it could be this beautiful pattern with a line on it or something, right?
• 37:39
  SPEAKER_01: That's blue and orange, and then you're sending me red trim or something, and the girls might be like, This is ugly.
• 37:45
  SPEAKER_01: And I'll be like, you have to understand that you're not seeing the whole design.
• 37:50
  SPEAKER_01: We have to wait.
• 37:51
  SPEAKER_01: So I've learned quickly not to judge uh when I see fabrics coming in because you really just don't know until you see the whole thing come together, because that red is from the red leather chair in the office that's gonna bring it out, or you know, like there's some kind of rhyme and reason to it, and it's just really difficult to really understand that always.
• 38:11
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it's more about the textures or the feel or things like that, but not per se a design like color or anything that I would um question.
• 38:21
  SPEAKER_01: So interesting.
• 38:23
  TIffany Woolley: What's something that your team has taught you over the years?
• 38:27
  TIffany Woolley: Patience.
• 38:31
  SPEAKER_01: I love that.
• 38:32
  SPEAKER_01: Patience, yes.
• 38:33
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I having a team, there's so many personalities, so many opinions, um, so many um suggestions and things on how Especially when you're in a creative business, which you are.
• 38:47
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 38:47
  Scott Woolley: And you've got a lot of people who are creative that are what they're doing.
• 38:51
  SPEAKER_01: And I want to inspire them to give ideas, you know, and and to show me, like, you know, I wrote up an order this way and they come to me, well, this fabric, and my supervisor does that a lot.
• 39:02
  SPEAKER_01: Like, this fabric is not laying right.
• 39:04
  SPEAKER_01: Can I do a single hem instead of a double hem?
• 39:07
  SPEAKER_01: I said, yes.
• 39:07
  SPEAKER_01: I don't even ask the designers because at the end of the day, they're trusting me, right?
• 39:11
  SPEAKER_01: So we just make those decisions right there.
• 39:14
  SPEAKER_01: And and I inspire them to do that.
• 39:16
  SPEAKER_01: But the patience comes with because especially when you have a bigger team, it's just that they want, you know, your time and they want to discuss certain things with you all the time.
• 39:26
  SPEAKER_01: And so, what I'm also working on, not only to update my processes and the training and all that and the workflows, but I'm also trying to be more of the CEO rather than the operator.
• 39:36
  SPEAKER_01: And so I'm working on that right now, too.
• 39:39
  Scott Woolley: So you mentioned earlier you your son had worked.
• 39:42
  Scott Woolley: Does he still work?
• 39:43
  SPEAKER_01: He does actually.
• 39:44
  SPEAKER_01: So he worked when I was when he was younger, he would help me around the house.
• 39:48
  SPEAKER_01: And then he ended up working for one of our vendors and learning how to make shades, roller shades, things like that.
• 39:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then COVID happened.
• 39:58
  SPEAKER_01: So he got furlough, and so I said, come with me.
• 40:01
  SPEAKER_01: And so that's when he started with us, and he's just celebrated six years with us.
• 40:04
  Scott Woolley: So, how does that feel?
• 40:06
  SPEAKER_01: It's amazing.
• 40:07
  SPEAKER_01: Today's his birthday, by the way.
• 40:08
  SPEAKER_01: Happy birthday, Carlos.
• 40:09
  SPEAKER_01: Happy birthday, Carlos.
• 40:11
  SPEAKER_01: Carl, yes, and so he um has been great.
• 40:15
  SPEAKER_01: He um is our project coordinator, he uh is going out on all our installs, and we have other installers that he partners with as well.
• 40:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so usually majority of our jobs we send out to installers, even if it's not needed, it's just you know, with these high rises, and it's just so much easier for them.
• 40:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um and it's more productive for the clients, too, where you're not having to be there two days or three days in a row.
• 40:38
  SPEAKER_01: We try to send, you know, multiple installers.
• 40:41
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, he's our project coordinator and manages those installs, and he also manages our warehouse.
• 40:46
  SPEAKER_01: So any um items that come in, you know, he checks the hardware, makes sure that you know he it's gonna fit and that's the size we need and that sort of thing.
• 40:54
  SPEAKER_01: So he's really is that something that you had hoped would happen or just I actually didn't ru think about it that like at that point, you know, um, until he started um being interested.
• 41:06
  SPEAKER_01: And then that's when I said, well, I can't hire you not having an experience.
• 41:11
  SPEAKER_01: And that's when I connected him with one of my vendors.
• 41:14
  SPEAKER_01: And after he worked with them for over a year, and and it just the the way that the situation happens with COVID and stuff, it was the right time.
• 41:22
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and so that's when I brought him in, and then other installers that I've been working with started taking him on as a helper and he was learning, and now he's running his own jobs, um, and then also, you know, at the same time partnering with our other installers as well.
• 41:36
  SPEAKER_01: So he does all that.
• 41:37
  SPEAKER_01: It's just really it's it's a blessing.
• 41:39
  SPEAKER_01: Like we went on a job to Fisher Island actually the other day last week, and it was just fun to be with him, you know, enjoying the job.
• 41:46
  SPEAKER_01: We went to the new Ritz-Carlton building in Palm Beach, and we're wearing hard hats, and I probably drive him crazy because I'm like, let's take a selfie, and you know, I get some mom.
• 41:56
  SPEAKER_01: And it's funny because he'll call me Leslie in the workroom.
• 41:59
  SPEAKER_01: He doesn't call me mom.
• 42:00
  TIffany Woolley: That's so cute.
• 42:01
  TIffany Woolley: Yeah, that's professional.
• 42:03
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, he wants to be professional and I get it, and he should, so it's nice.
• 42:06
  TIffany Woolley: So it really is 20 years in a real family operation, and you're building a legacy.
• 42:13
  TIffany Woolley: Tell us about that.
• 42:14
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, I am.
• 42:16
  SPEAKER_01: It's just it's really special.
• 42:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I like my office manager, like I told you, has been with me for so long.
• 42:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I when I started, my mom, who's my accountant, like she was, she's she is an accountant, helped me form my corporation.
• 42:32
  SPEAKER_01: You know, she helps me review my taxes for my CFO.
• 42:36
  SPEAKER_01: She helps me realize those questions.
• 42:38
  SPEAKER_01: So I have my mom and then I have my son alongside me every day.
• 42:42
  SPEAKER_01: My workroom supervisor, she's worked with me when I used to work at Valerie's.
• 42:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um, she has been with me probably four years now because she retired and then came back out of retirement because she was tired of being at home.
• 42:54
  SPEAKER_01: Bored.
• 42:55
  SPEAKER_01: Bored.
• 42:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um and so she's working with me now.
• 42:58
  SPEAKER_01: And also one of my installers, actually, I've known for 20 years, has been working with me for over 10.
• 43:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and so it's really in the family.
• 43:07
  SPEAKER_01: Even my supervisor's brother, um, her, he comes into our office and helps within the warehouse and the girls because those draperies are so heavy.
• 43:17
  SPEAKER_01: So he'll help them, you know, move it from the table to the to the machine, anything that helps with the garbage, like whatever, you know, that the office needs, he just does it.
• 43:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um, or he'll go out and assist some of the installers as well, um, depending on the scope of the project.
• 43:32
  SPEAKER_01: And his wife is one of our seamstresses.
• 43:34
  SPEAKER_01: So, really, it's a whole family dynamic there.
• 43:37
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I consider them my extension of my family too, because I've known them for so long.
• 43:42
  SPEAKER_01: And they've known Carlos since he was a baby, you know.
• 43:44
  TIffany Woolley: It's just amazing.
• 43:45
  SPEAKER_01: So it's been, yeah, a really great ride, and I'm proud of Excel and Design, and I am excited about the future.
• 43:53
  TIffany Woolley: So, what does the future look like?
• 43:55
  SPEAKER_01: What are you do you have goals in place to grow or?
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, I do.
• 44:01
  SPEAKER_01: Well, because, like you mentioned, Scott, that I love the sales part, which is true.
• 44:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but because I'm trying to it shows.
• 44:09
  Scott Woolley: You it you are really good at it.
• 44:12
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 44:12
  Scott Woolley: I mean, I do because I I have a wonderful personality when it comes to the drive of our human interaction.
• 44:18
  SPEAKER_01: I really do, and balancing ideas and and and especially with design.
• 44:23
  SPEAKER_01: And so for me, it's it's I do want to be more the CEO and really work more um on my larger clients that I've been working with for so long.
• 44:34
  SPEAKER_01: But I I think it's time that I get someone to help me with the sales um because I'm probably at my cap.
• 44:41
  SPEAKER_01: Well, that's good.
• 44:42
  Scott Woolley: Yeah, but I think one of the things that I've always recognized with you is the positive nature, how everything that you do and how you approach everything.
• 44:50
  Scott Woolley: And it's very it's warm and it's rewarding and it's a good feeling from a standpoint from the other person because you're always so positive, and no matter what the situation or whatever the problem may be, you're overcoming it with positivity.
• 45:06
  Scott Woolley: And I'll I'll use it.
• 45:07
  Scott Woolley: We have a, I won't say who, but we have a vendor, not in in drapery or anything.
• 45:14
  Scott Woolley: And I was just with them two days ago, and we have this problem, and we got a problem here, and this is the client's standing there, and every other word is a problem, right?
• 45:23
  Scott Woolley: And he's the salesperson for this this company.
• 45:26
  Scott Woolley: And I I stood there saying to myself, like, why keep saying problem?
• 45:31
  Scott Woolley: Right.
• 45:32
  Scott Woolley: There's always a solution.
• 45:34
  Voice Over: There's always a solution.
• 45:34
  Scott Woolley: But you solutions, you know, just the way in which it's like second nature to you.
• 45:39
  SPEAKER_01: I just I well, first of all, my mom is that way.
• 45:42
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I was raised Catholic and she's um still prays and with the rosary every day.
• 45:48
  SPEAKER_01: Um I'm not religious, but I am very spiritual.
• 45:52
  SPEAKER_01: And that's something that I've been working on for many, many years.
• 45:55
  SPEAKER_01: And I meditate on a regular, it's a non-negotiable for me.
• 45:59
  SPEAKER_01: It really sets the tone for me.
• 46:01
  SPEAKER_01: And I truly, truly believe that what you focus on, um, you attract.
• 46:07
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, right.
• 46:07
  SPEAKER_01: It's a big circle.
• 46:08
  SPEAKER_01: It's a big circle.
• 46:09
  SPEAKER_01: So if you're gonna focus on the problem all the time, you're gonna keep getting problems, right?
• 46:14
  SPEAKER_01: If you focus on, yeah, there's problems, but guess what?
• 46:18
  SPEAKER_01: There's always a solution.
• 46:19
  SPEAKER_01: You're there's always going to be a way to get out of that problem.
• 46:24
  SPEAKER_01: And I truly believe that.
• 46:25
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that a lot in our industry do need a little bit more um practice on that, more self-awareness, more um patience, more kindness.
• 46:39
  SPEAKER_01: Um, because at the end of the day, if you're just gonna focus on the problem and talk about the problem all the time, are they doing it for your best interest or are they doing it for theirs, right?
• 46:49
  SPEAKER_01: And it really, in the in our world, we should be serving, right?
• 46:55
  SPEAKER_01: That's for me, that's a huge goal for me is I want to serve my clients in any way to make your life easier.
• 47:02
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that that is something that is a lost um art.
• 47:06
  SPEAKER_01: It is.
• 47:07
  SPEAKER_01: And a lot of people could really use that.
• 47:11
  SPEAKER_01: In the next generation, especially, unfortunately.
• 47:14
  SPEAKER_01: For sure.
• 47:15
  SPEAKER_01: Mm-hmm.
• 47:15
  SPEAKER_01: And so whether it's um there uh what started my routine was it's um, I forget his name.
• 47:23
  SPEAKER_01: The book is called Miracle Morning.
• 47:26
  SPEAKER_01: And he talks about getting up an hour before you normally get up.
• 47:30
  SPEAKER_01: So I let's say I get up at seven, I need to get up at six, so I can do 20 minutes of meditation, um, 20 minutes of exercise, and then maybe 10 minutes of reading and 10 minutes of journaling.
• 47:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and so I started doing that many years ago.
• 47:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I also B.
• 47:46
  SPEAKER_01: Pila, who's a big interior designer in Miami high-end, um, she started a um a call on Sundays after COVID started called Sacred Soulful Sunday.
• 47:56
  SPEAKER_01: Her aesthetic is um wanting to design um sacred spaces so that people can live inspired lives.
• 48:03
  SPEAKER_01: And so she started this um, I don't want to say podcast, but she has a YouTube channel.
• 48:08
  SPEAKER_01: It's called Sacred Soulful Sunday, and it talks about the 16 universal laws and like the law of one and law of attraction and all of those things where we're all energy, right?
• 48:19
  SPEAKER_01: And it really hones in on the being the self-aware and and the kindness and love for yourself first and then to others, right?
• 48:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and so I think that that is something that really I wish and hope that people would slow down, um, get off autopilot, um, get off their phones, including me.
• 48:40
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, too, we're all guilty.
• 48:42
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we all we are all guilty.
• 48:43
  SPEAKER_01: It's just a practice, right?
• 48:45
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 48:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um, taking the time and meditation doesn't have to be sitting in a quiet room.
• 48:49
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it could be you walking on the beach um or you spinning, you know, whatever your um habits may be, form that quiet time to where you're not listening to music per se or anything, it's just being listening to inside.
• 49:05
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you know, to yourself.
• 49:07
  SPEAKER_01: So and and then that's when you're gonna hear more of yourself because we always are wanting and seeking validation from everybody else.
• 49:16
  SPEAKER_01: And I and again, I'm guilty too, where it's like you're not sure, so you want to bounce ideas and ask people things.
• 49:22
  SPEAKER_01: But ultimately, if you just sat in quiet and you ask yourself something that you're pondering or you're not sure about, it comes in within you, and you would be surprised on how much more shows up for you when you are giving yourself more of that quiet time.
• 49:39
  SPEAKER_01: Because if we're on autopilot, you're not gonna hear it, you know.
• 49:42
  TIffany Woolley: So, where did this mentoring, networking component that you know you start dove into, like where this philosophy and you know, implementation, what was it that brought you to that?
• 49:54
  SPEAKER_01: I think it was because I was, you know, I've always been spiritual and I was raised, you know, with uh a very spiritual mother.
• 50:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then when I got went through my divorce, I was trying like Catholic, like I it wasn't really for me going to Catholic church.
• 50:08
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I wasn't understanding a lot of the um services.
• 50:11
  SPEAKER_01: And so then I tried Christian.
• 50:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then that didn't really resonate with me.
• 50:16
  SPEAKER_01: And then when I met B.
• 50:17
  SPEAKER_01: Pila, I met her at the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses program.
• 50:22
  SPEAKER_01: We were partnered in our cohort, and we just became fast friends.
• 50:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and we're still dear friends today.
• 50:31
  SPEAKER_01: And so something, someone of her friends had asked a question about something, and she's like, you know, that's so good.
• 50:36
  SPEAKER_01: And she was giving her wisdom, and she suggested to do this um call.
• 50:41
  SPEAKER_01: And so we started getting on this call, and it just really I started practicing it, you know, and starting being more intentional with my life.
• 50:50
  SPEAKER_01: And just for example, I my word, I pick a word every year, right?
• 50:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um, instead of a resolution, if you will, I pick a word for the year.
• 50:59
  SPEAKER_01: My year, my word for the the year last year was build.
• 51:02
  SPEAKER_01: I wanted to build like better relationships.
• 51:05
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I wanted to build, you know, uh a bigger business.
• 51:09
  SPEAKER_01: You know, like it's like a kind of a lot of those things, uh, build a better me, right?
• 51:13
  SPEAKER_01: All of that stuff.
• 51:14
  SPEAKER_01: And then um my partner, my life partner and I, Fernando, we wanted to buy a place.
• 51:19
  SPEAKER_01: And so we ended up buying a condo.
• 51:22
  SPEAKER_01: And fast forward, I'm like, oh my God, we literally are building because I had found that there was asbestos in the apartment.
• 51:28
  SPEAKER_01: He's a little bit of a hypochondriac, so he was like, we're not gonna put a drop ceiling.
• 51:34
  SPEAKER_01: You're how are you gonna we're not gonna we're gonna put the drop ceiling and it's gonna contain the asbestos you're saying, but yet you wear organic deodorant and you know, and things like that, like that doesn't make any sense.
• 51:44
  SPEAKER_01: So we ended up demoing the entire apartment.
• 51:47
  SPEAKER_01: And so I ended up building my home.
• 51:50
  SPEAKER_01: And so we really can, if we're intentional, we can design our lives the way we want them.
• 51:55
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that that works hand in hand.
• 51:57
  SPEAKER_01: And unless you've slowed down and think about what you truly want and that you're clear, if you're not clear, then you're gonna run into different obstacles and different um challenges, if you will, and stuff.
• 52:11
  SPEAKER_01: And you're not gonna know how to overcome those, right?
• 52:14
  SPEAKER_01: And so I think that for me, when I started doing those calls and then I started really working on myself, I've had coaches too.
• 52:23
  SPEAKER_01: You know, there's so many coaches, business coaches or yeah, both business coaches and life coaches.
• 52:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I've had both, and they're tremendously helpful.
• 52:33
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it keeps you accountable, it reminds you of things, it helps you understand some different perspectives when it comes to life and life decisions, therapy.
• 52:43
  SPEAKER_01: You know, who hasn't done therapy or tried therapy?
• 52:45
  SPEAKER_01: Not always is it for someone, but that helps too.
• 52:49
  SPEAKER_01: So it's just really again, it's like going on an airplane and they tell you to put on your oxygen mask first, right?
• 52:56
  SPEAKER_01: It's literally that.
• 52:58
  SPEAKER_01: It's you want to be take care of have self-care and you need to take care of yourself so that you can help and serve others.
• 53:05
  SPEAKER_01: And so I just found that when I started on that journey, just more and more good was happening.
• 53:12
  SPEAKER_01: And the days that were bad weren't that bad, you know, like it's like it you realize, yeah, it's not that serious.
• 53:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, not that big a deal.
• 53:20
  SPEAKER_01: Not that big of a deal.
• 53:21
  SPEAKER_01: And honestly, you start to think about there's a lot of suffering out there, and so something that you feel, and not to take away that pain that you may be going through, but someone else is going through even more, a lot worse, right?
• 53:36
  TIffany Woolley: So that's such a I mean, it's such a full circle.
• 53:39
  TIffany Woolley: Like you really have you really put yourself out there in all those ways for networking and receiving.
• 53:48
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, no, for sure.
• 53:49
  SPEAKER_01: I do love networking.
• 53:52
  TIffany Woolley: I love meeting new people.
• 53:53
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's great.
• 53:54
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 53:55
  TIffany Woolley: So as we wrap up, I forgot one question about drapery that I wanted to kind of touch for listeners regarding design.
• 54:03
  TIffany Woolley: We never talked about hardware.
• 54:06
  TIffany Woolley: Yes.
• 54:06
  TIffany Woolley: Like how important is hardware?
• 54:10
  SPEAKER_01: So important.
• 54:11
  SPEAKER_01: Um, my favorite when it comes to hardware is doing a track with a fascia on the front of it because you can get it with a cord or um baton draw rather than rod with rings.
• 54:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um, not to say that the rod and rings aren't pretty, they're beautiful, and we do them a lot.
• 54:31
  SPEAKER_01: What happens is when, especially in Florida, we have so many large windows.
• 54:37
  SPEAKER_01: And so when you have these big, huge doors and massive um openings, and you have, let's say, a 200-inch wall-to-wall and you want to do a drapery, doing rod and rings, you need to do bypass brackets, bypass rings if you're just doing the rod and rings, right?
• 54:55
  SPEAKER_01: Which those, in my opinion, get become very cumbersome, especially if you're gonna operate the drapery on a regular basis, versus if you have a track with the fascia where it's still giving the decorative component, you can operate it with a baton or cord, right?
• 55:09
  SPEAKER_01: The other thing is that um we don't work with designers that are ordering their own hardware.
• 55:16
  SPEAKER_01: No, I don't think designers should order.
• 55:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, I agree with that statement.
• 55:20
  SPEAKER_01: There are there is one that I still allow them to send me the hardware, but I specify it.
• 55:26
  SPEAKER_01: And that's only because she's grandfathered it.
• 55:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I I just go with it, right?
• 55:31
  SPEAKER_01: But I don't like new clients or new designers, I don't allow it because what happens is they just order telescoping rods, for example, you know, which is a no-no when it comes to operable functioning draperies.
• 55:43
  SPEAKER_01: It's just not because then they're gonna complain about the lengths, right?
• 55:46
  SPEAKER_01: Because you have two different diameter poles that are telescoping each other.
• 55:49
  SPEAKER_01: And so this drape might hit the floor and this one's gonna be off the floor, and then now it's your fault, right?
• 55:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so yeah, so the hardware is super important.
• 55:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it's important to know the number of rings because it depends on the size of the drapery and how many pleats that you're gonna have on the drape.
• 56:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and so yeah, all of that is very important.
• 56:08
  TIffany Woolley: I feel like when I first started, it was like so much, like we used all that heavy decorative hardware and they weren't as draperies.
• 56:16
  TIffany Woolley: I feel like were operable behind the scenes, and that, you know, it was a more drapery was like the frame of the window, and there was always like a recessed, like a honeycomb or some sort of shade, where now the drapery's integrated into the the actual, you know, what am I trying to say?
• 56:38
  TIffany Woolley: Pocket, like behind a pocket.
• 56:39
  TIffany Woolley: It's not like we actually use the drapery, that's what we're using every day as the functionality.
• 56:44
  TIffany Woolley: Yeah, it's the functionality.
• 56:45
  TIffany Woolley: I just couldn't think of that word.
• 56:47
  TIffany Woolley: The functionality part.
• 56:48
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 56:49
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so instead of having like a shade and a drapery, you are doing just draperies as the functionality.
• 56:55
  SPEAKER_01: So you close the drape if you want privacy or the yes, the gamut.
• 56:59
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, or shears too, because then it allows you to have the blackouts open and the blackout drapes open, and then you have shears behind so it can still filter the light and still give some form of privacy.
• 57:09
  TIffany Woolley: So all that beautiful, heavy, curved and carved hardware.
• 57:13
  TIffany Woolley: Do you think that will come back into play?
• 57:16
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
• 57:18
  SPEAKER_01: I feel like even if we do heavier draperies, I feel like the hardware is not the focus.
• 57:25
  SPEAKER_01: And I don't know that designers want it to be the focus anymore.
• 57:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 57:28
  SPEAKER_01: It's more streamlined, you know, like an inch um rods or an inch and a half.
• 57:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's really an inch and a half is probably the biggest that I go with.
• 57:36
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then majority of uh designers too may design pockets, you know, so where they don't want to see it, or there's now recess tracks, like they recess it into the ceiling where you're not even seeing that.
• 57:49
  SPEAKER_01: All you're seeing is just drapery, you're not even seeing any hardware, which is so beautiful, very beautiful and clean, very clean lined look.
• 57:56
  SPEAKER_01: So it just depends on the aesthetic for sure.
• 57:58
  TIffany Woolley: So it's like a re-intro reinvention a little bit.
• 58:01
  Scott Woolley: So if you could sit with yourself 20 years ago, as you're going into your 20th year, what would you say to yourself that you'd do differently?
• 58:11
  Scott Woolley: Is there anything?
• 58:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um, probably that I would have hired a another salesperson, like an assistant a long time ago.
• 58:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and my friends, my my drapery workroom friends that um I told you guys about have been telling me for a couple of years, when are you gonna hire someone to help you with sales?
• 58:32
  SPEAKER_01: I think I've always had this thing where it's like I I that's my job that I love so much that I was that I was afraid, you know, that I that I would not be able to go out on the jobs and things like that.
• 58:45
  Scott Woolley: And but you're that you're the personality of your company.
• 58:48
  Scott Woolley: You know, yeah.
• 58:49
  Scott Woolley: We asked you, it's gotta be 10 months ago in High Point when we ran into you about we'd love to have you on a guest uh on the podcast here.
• 58:57
  Scott Woolley: Yes, you know, for Tiffany and I, one of the reasons why we asked you wasn't necessarily because of drapes and whatnot.
• 59:03
  Scott Woolley: It was really because we both look at you your personality, and you're a force in South Florida in the interior design world.
• 59:10
  TIffany Woolley: Thank you.
• 59:10
  Scott Woolley: Yes, and you have made a huge difference to a lot of people's lives in their homes and the work that you have done.
• 59:18
  SPEAKER_01: That's that's really the whole reason why I do what I do, because that right there means so much.
• 59:24
  SPEAKER_01: So thank you so much for saying that.
• 59:26
  SPEAKER_01: I have built so many beautiful relationships, not only in business, but we they've they're really dear friends of mine.
• 59:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, and I've known you, Tiffany, when you used to work for another design firm before you started your own company.
• 59:40
  SPEAKER_01: And how long have you had your business for now?
• 59:42
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, it's like 24 years, right?
• 59:43
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, because you started yours before I started mine.
• 59:46
  SPEAKER_01: So I've known so it's just beautiful to see all of us evolve and become grown up.
• 59:52
  TIffany Woolley: I know, are we?
• 59:55
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, at least still trying to establish that, right?
• 59:58
  SPEAKER_01: No, but um, it's really just been a wonderful journey.
• 1:00:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I'm so grateful to Valerie because I learned everything from her.
• 1:00:06
  SPEAKER_01: She is such a beautiful soul, and I love her so much.
• 1:00:10
  SPEAKER_01: And so I'm just really grateful for our industry.
• 1:00:13
  SPEAKER_01: It's a very, very special industry, and I love it.
• 1:00:17
  SPEAKER_01: And I know that everybody that's in it loves it that much, too.
• 1:00:21
  TIffany Woolley: And there is so much growth in this industry too.
• 1:00:24
  TIffany Woolley: Definitely.
• 1:00:24
  TIffany Woolley: I feel like that's you know, I say it a lot.
• 1:00:26
  TIffany Woolley: It's kind of was untapped 20 years ago.
• 1:00:30
  TIffany Woolley: Right.
• 1:00:30
  TIffany Woolley: 25 years ago.
• 1:00:31
  TIffany Woolley: It wasn't, it wasn't a very big industry.
• 1:00:35
  TIffany Woolley: No, no, yeah, it's definitely grown so much.
• 1:00:38
  SPEAKER_01: And it's it's fun to be a part of its evolution.
• 1:00:41
  SPEAKER_01: Definitely is.
• 1:00:42
  SPEAKER_01: It's definitely part uh fun to be part of it and to see the growth in it and to see our growth in it, right?
• 1:00:50
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and so it's definitely rewarding.
• 1:00:52
  SPEAKER_01: And thank you guys again for having me.
• 1:00:54
  Scott Woolley: And we're very happy.
• 1:00:55
  SPEAKER_01: And I look forward to doing it again.
• 1:00:57
  SPEAKER_01: Me too.
• 1:00:57
  SPEAKER_01: We should do this weekly.
• 1:00:58
  TIffany Woolley: I know, as I say, we'll do a we'll do a high point wrap-up one for sure.
• 1:01:03
  TIffany Woolley: Definitely.
• 1:01:03
  TIffany Woolley: I I will see you guys in high point.
• 1:01:05
  TIffany Woolley: Yes.
• 1:01:06
  TIffany Woolley: Thank you so much for joining us on the iDesign Lab podcast.
• 1:01:10
  TIffany Woolley: We'll wrap up there.
• 1:01:12
  TIffany Woolley: Thank you.
• 1:01:13
  TIffany Woolley: Thank you for listening to the i Design Lab podcast.
• 1:01:17
  Voice Over: iDesign Labs Podcast is an SW group production in association with the five star and TW Interiors.
• 1:01:24
  Voice Over: To learn more about iDesign Lab or TW Interiors, please visit TWinteriors.com.