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Design With Heart: Elaine Schneider on Process, Vision Boards, and Personal Spaces · 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.
• 0:16
  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.
• 0:25
  Voice over: Today on the iDesign Lab, we're joined by Elaine Schneider, head designer and owner of Echo Environments.
• 0:31
  Voice over: With over 30 years of experience, Elaine has built a reputation for creating spaces that not only look beautiful, but feel deeply personal, reflecting the people who live in them.
• 0:41
  Voice over: Known for her rare balance of creativity and process, she invites clients into the journey, turning their stories and goals into functional, inspiring environments.
• 0:51
  Voice over: Visionary, balanced, and intuitive, Elaine truly embodies the art of design with heart.
• 0:58
  Tiffany Woolley: Welcome to the iDesign Lab Podcast.
• 1:00
  Tiffany Woolley: Today we're going to take you to the West Coast, where we are joined by Elaine Schneider, head designer and owner of Echo Environments.
• 1:10
  Tiffany Woolley: So welcome Elaine to the podcast.
• 1:14
  Tiffany Woolley: Thank you so much for having me.
• 1:17
  Tiffany Woolley: I really appreciate it.
• 1:18
  Tiffany Woolley: So we like to begin with a little bit of an introduction.
• 1:22
  Tiffany Woolley: So tell us a little about yourself.
• 1:40
  Elaine Schneider: I am uh let's see, I I started my career essentially in Seattle.
• 1:46
  Elaine Schneider: Oh wow.
• 1:47
  Elaine Schneider: It was yeah, it's uh and I was a commercial on the commercial side in uh retail interior architectural design.
• 1:57
  Elaine Schneider: So I worked with a firm that I designed Nordstrom stores.
• 2:01
  Elaine Schneider: Okay, how fun.
• 2:03
  Elaine Schneider: Yeah, I I um did that for a few years.
• 2:08
  Elaine Schneider: We were the architecture firm that did all the Nordstroms at the time.
• 2:12
  Elaine Schneider: So I started uh doing a series of Nordstroms and then ended up uh getting the responsibility of doing the flagship store in Seattle, which was I've actually been there.
• 2:24
  Elaine Schneider: Yeah, yeah, it's big.
• 2:26
  Elaine Schneider: It's like six levels.
• 2:27
  Elaine Schneider: Right.
• 2:28
  Elaine Schneider: It used to be an old uh Frederick and Nelson building, uh department store.
• 2:35
  Elaine Schneider: So it had a lot of design challenges.
• 2:38
  Elaine Schneider: The floor plates were smaller, the columns were uh much more abundant than a typical Nordstrom, and they were huge.
• 2:46
  Elaine Schneider: So we had all kinds of challenges in the design of having to instead of design between the columns, all the columns had to be a retail design element.
• 2:59
  Elaine Schneider: So I did that.
• 3:00
  Elaine Schneider: And then um after that I became part of the retail prototypes um studio, which is basically where a national retailer would come to us and say, We have a new brand.
• 3:16
  Elaine Schneider: We want to create a new retail environment, and we would be responsible for designing the whole concept, everything from the store environment to what the staff wore to fun.
• 3:35
  Tiffany Woolley: I love all that layering of detail.
• 3:37
  Elaine Schneider: It's really fun.
• 3:38
  Elaine Schneider: It was it was it was uh big and encompassing.
• 3:43
  Elaine Schneider: So that's what we did, and then their retail architecture firms would do what we called the rollout.
• 3:49
  Tiffany Woolley: So that's kind of my background.
• 3:52
  Tiffany Woolley: So where did you decide to are to move into residential interiors?
• 3:59
  Elaine Schneider: Yeah, I um so we moved my family, uh we moved from Seattle to San Diego just for kind of be closer to family, and I continued to work and the weather for the firm in Seattle, but it was so much travel.
• 4:16
  Elaine Schneider: Um, and my kids were little, so I uh just pivoted on a whip, really said, you know, San Diego is not the place for retail designs, so I I decided to um shift into high-end residential, but really on a wing in the prayer with no no contacts in California, no, no, I had done some uh residential work for the retail executives I had worked for.
• 4:48
  Elaine Schneider: Okay.
• 4:49
  Elaine Schneider: Kind of I had a period of my uh working my own business in Seattle, so um, you know, I was being asked often to come help with their homes.
• 5:00
  Elaine Schneider: So that's how I got into that, and I just crossed my fingers and decided to go into retail.
• 5:06
  Scott Woolley: Well, you have a very successful firm.
• 5:08
  Elaine Schneider: I mean a residential, sorry.
• 5:10
  Scott Woolley: You have a very successful firm now.
• 5:12
  Scott Woolley: What what was your first client like?
• 5:14
  Scott Woolley: How did you get your first client in residential?
• 5:16
  Tiffany Woolley: Especially in a new city.
• 5:20
  Elaine Schneider: Yeah, I kind of miraculous really.
• 5:23
  Elaine Schneider: I had um when I had my own firm in Seattle briefly, I also did um some corporate work.
• 5:33
  Elaine Schneider: And there's a developer in Seattle called Kleise Properties.
• 5:38
  Elaine Schneider: Okay.
• 5:39
  Elaine Schneider: I think at one point they um they own 13 continuous city blocks of Seattle.
• 5:50
  Elaine Schneider: Um so they're Kleiss Properties, they were a developer and they needed help.
• 5:57
  Elaine Schneider: They before, yeah, before they kind of struck it big, they ended up uh making a deal with Amazon up there.
• 6:04
  Elaine Schneider: But we I was part of designing their high-rise tower and then the corporate floors for them.
• 6:11
  Elaine Schneider: They had one one main floor that was the Kleiss properties officers.
• 6:17
  Elaine Schneider: So I um got to know Al Kleis, is was the CEO, and through that relationship, he asked me to design his home in Seattle.
• 6:32
  Elaine Schneider: So I worked on that.
• 6:33
  Elaine Schneider: Um, it was more of a remodel.
• 6:35
  Elaine Schneider: And then when I decided to start my own business, I literally created like 500 sort of marketing postcards, and I think I sent 10 out.
• 6:48
  Elaine Schneider: One was to Al Kleis, and he called me like three days later, and he's like, uh, Elaine, you're in California.
• 6:56
  Elaine Schneider: I'm like, yeah, I'm in California now.
• 6:58
  Elaine Schneider: He said, Do you want to design my house in Palm Desert, which is in a community called Bighorn, uh-huh, which is beautiful, stunning golf resort.
• 7:11
  Elaine Schneider: And um be honest, I I'm horrible at marketing, I don't do any, and all of my projects kind of started from that one relationship.
• 7:23
  Tiffany Woolley: But what a wonderful start.
• 7:26
  Elaine Schneider: Crazy.
• 7:27
  Elaine Schneider: It's crazy.
• 7:28
  Tiffany Woolley: Someone is watching out for me for sure.
• 7:30
  Tiffany Woolley: That is amazing.
• 7:31
  Tiffany Woolley: It's word of mouth.
• 7:32
  Tiffany Woolley: I mean, that's pretty much how we are too.
• 7:35
  Tiffany Woolley: And I feel like that is such a huge part of the design industry, you know, is the word of mouth.
• 7:44
  Tiffany Woolley: It's it's funny how now through social media and all this other, it's hard marketing.
• 7:50
  Tiffany Woolley: You know, I started when you are kind of in that same time, and it, you know, marketing wasn't my strong suit either.
• 7:59
  Tiffany Woolley: But it takes just that one client that really can change everything.
• 8:04
  Elaine Schneider: It sure does.
• 8:05
  Elaine Schneider: Yeah, you're right.
• 8:07
  Scott Woolley: Was it tough transitioning from the retail to residential?
• 8:15
  Elaine Schneider: That was my biggest fear.
• 8:16
  Elaine Schneider: I was scared, I to be totally honest with you, I was really scared of residential.
• 8:22
  Elaine Schneider: Um I was scared because I was worried about the clientele, if I'm being totally honest.
• 8:34
  Tiffany Woolley: Um with an individual or corporate's not as emotional as far as the people attached to the project.
• 8:47
  Tiffany Woolley: And you know, in residential, it's you know, there's just so much more connection and emotion.
• 8:55
  Tiffany Woolley: It's so true.
• 8:57
  Elaine Schneider: Yeah, yeah.
• 8:58
  Elaine Schneider: So I I was I I was really afraid of that.
• 9:01
  Elaine Schneider: I was um I was used to working with mostly men and mostly businessmen who understand uh would and this is a generalization, of course, but they, you know, it's typically CEOs and who were very um regimented in making decisions and um following a process.
• 9:28
  Elaine Schneider: And so I I was scared and I and I have to say it's been the most shocking and pleasant surprise of of going into residential.
• 9:40
  Elaine Schneider: And and it is more emotional, it is more personal, but I think that's been the gift of the world.
• 9:47
  Elaine Schneider: That's where it's more rewarding.
• 9:49
  Elaine Schneider: It's it's personal.
• 9:52
  Elaine Schneider: You're yeah, I have goosebumps just saying this, but it um you're making an impact in people's daily experiences and lives and how they interact with their family.
• 10:03
  Elaine Schneider: I have goosebumps all over.
• 10:04
  Tiffany Woolley: I know, I love that.
• 10:05
  Tiffany Woolley: Yeah, I love that.
• 10:06
  Tiffany Woolley: I say that so many times during my own presentations.
• 10:09
  Tiffany Woolley: I'm like, this is just why I love what I do.
• 10:11
  Tiffany Woolley: It's like to see it come together and how everything can be just so meant to be for each place and each client and each, you know, space.
• 10:21
  Tiffany Woolley: So, how do you begin your project?
• 10:25
  Tiffany Woolley: So when a new client comes to the table, like you just said, he, you know, it was more of a renovation project.
• 10:34
  Tiffany Woolley: Like what do you do you collaborate with the client through mood images or how do you start to set the tone for your vision for the project?
• 10:44
  Elaine Schneider: I um, well, you kind of said it right there.
• 10:48
  Elaine Schneider: The first step of absolutely every project, whether it is a remodel or a ground up new construction, uh to create a vision board.
• 10:59
  Elaine Schneider: And this is a very collaborative project.
• 11:03
  Elaine Schneider: And it's you know, I always say we're not creating uh my vision board.
• 11:08
  Elaine Schneider: I'm just helping the client articulate their vision.
• 11:13
  Elaine Schneider: Uh-huh.
• 11:13
  Elaine Schneider: So we have kind of this, kind of this charade, not charade, but more of a questionnaire interview session.
• 11:24
  Elaine Schneider: I ask them to bring images of spaces they like.
• 11:30
  Elaine Schneider: Um I asked them for I typically ask them to come up with five to seven words of what embodies the space, um kind of more emotionally.
• 11:46
  Elaine Schneider: Right.
• 11:46
  Elaine Schneider: And and this is really how we started retail projects, right?
• 11:51
  Elaine Schneider: Because retail projects are all about understanding uh the retailer's brand and what they stand for.
• 11:59
  Elaine Schneider: So like in like a vision board for a Nordstrom would be uh would in would um in terms of words would would include customer service and ease of access and um uh you know just uh light and welcoming and things like that, for example, because that that reflects their brand.
• 12:26
  Elaine Schneider: They wanted everything in their store to be, you know, you could see the exit from everywhere.
• 12:31
  Elaine Schneider: There was a place to sit for the husband shopping with their wife.
• 12:34
  Elaine Schneider: It was you could visualize the outfit.
• 12:37
  Elaine Schneider: So I just took that retail approach and applied it to residential, but instead of reflecting a retailer's brand, I'm now reflecting uh an individual or a couple's personality.
• 12:52
  Elaine Schneider: And so that's I asked them to bring images and words that reflect that.
• 12:57
  Tiffany Woolley: And how long does that process, you know, in the beginning, getting acquainted take for you or for a typical project?
• 13:06
  Elaine Schneider: I think it depends where the project is and if there's traveling involved, but I would say one to two weeks of you know, a few meetings.
• 13:15
  Elaine Schneider: So the client brings imagery and the words, and we talk and you know, I do some digging like what is it about this image that really speaks to you?
• 13:26
  Elaine Schneider: And it might be, you know, a color of a chair as opposed to the interior architecture.
• 13:31
  Elaine Schneider: So I really try to drill down on what it is that they're liking or speaks to them.
• 13:38
  Elaine Schneider: Yeah.
• 13:39
  Elaine Schneider: And then from that, I if there's imagery missing, I I do the research on that and pull it all together in a vision board and with the words, and then that creates, I call it, sort of the roadmap for the rest of the project.
• 13:58
  Elaine Schneider: Okay.
• 13:59
  Tiffany Woolley: So your approach is very intuitive, and you know, your clients say Elaine just gets it, but there really is a process to you arriving to just getting it.
• 14:10
  Tiffany Woolley: Tell us a little bit about that approach in curating your vision board and what that it's you know, details.
• 14:21
  Elaine Schneider: Well, I I um there is definitely a process, I would say.
• 14:25
  Elaine Schneider: I'm I'm I'm a very process-driven designer, uh just given my retail um architectural background, and it really um the process is really in trying to understand my clients and who they are from a personality standpoint, and I would never want it to be uh uh design a home where clients walk in and say, Oh, that's so so-and-so designer's home.
• 14:56
  Elaine Schneider: It's not my home, it's their home.
• 14:58
  Elaine Schneider: So I'm really, really focused on um interviewing, understanding, and understanding what sets them apart from their neighbors or their friends.
• 15:11
  Elaine Schneider: Um so that's I think that's what leads to she just gets it.
• 15:18
  Elaine Schneider: I think she gets it because she asks a whole lot of questions.
• 15:23
  Scott Woolley: So, in talking about you know the fact that listening is part of a great design, your company it's is called Echo Environments.
• 15:33
  Scott Woolley: Who how did you come up with the name?
• 15:34
  Scott Woolley: Or what does the name have a meaning that kind of reflects that?
• 15:38
  Elaine Schneider: Yeah.
• 15:39
  Scott Woolley: Tell us about it.
• 15:40
  Elaine Schneider: I'm so glad you you uh you um noticed that.
• 15:44
  Elaine Schneider: It's because echo, because I want my clients' home to echo who they are.
• 15:50
  Elaine Schneider: Oh, I love that too.
• 15:52
  Elaine Schneider: So it's just uh it's a reflection of who they are.
• 15:56
  Elaine Schneider: I guess I could have called it reflection.
• 15:58
  Elaine Schneider: Echo I like echo.
• 16:00
  Elaine Schneider: But yeah, echo design.
• 16:02
  Elaine Schneider: It's uh but unfortunately a lot of people kind of confuse it with eco as opposed to echo, but that's that's the intent that I am always echoing my client's um personality brand.
• 16:18
  Elaine Schneider: Let's call it a an individual's brand or individual's plural brand.
• 16:23
  Elaine Schneider: And and the more people uh inhabit the home and the the more complex it gets.
• 16:32
  Tiffany Woolley: So as you've you know grown with echo environments and what that branding represents as far as echoing the vision for your clients, and you have such a great process on how you start a project, how do you carry that through to the end?
• 16:51
  Tiffany Woolley: Like what is your day-to-day process look like for projects?
• 16:57
  Elaine Schneider: Well, it um well it you know, there are key phases in the project.
• 17:02
  Elaine Schneider: Right.
• 17:03
  Elaine Schneider: Um, but I I would say the the vision board is always kind of front and center what we create.
• 17:10
  Tiffany Woolley: Go back to it a lot.
• 17:12
  Elaine Schneider: Go back.
• 17:13
  Elaine Schneider: Yeah, we go back all the time because um, you know, if it's a word like um let's say loungy was one of my client words, and they pick uh a furniture or material that doesn't feel particularly loungy or welcoming or shape, you know, I use that as a way of keeping us on.
• 17:41
  Elaine Schneider: Like your words were your gauge.
• 17:44
  Elaine Schneider: Exactly.
• 17:46
  Elaine Schneider: The words are the goal.
• 17:47
  Elaine Schneider: And if you I love that if you if you steer away, it's okay to steer away every once in a while, but I just want it to be a conscious steering.
• 17:57
  Tiffany Woolley: Right, not a so how it's really cool, Chair.
• 18:01
  Tiffany Woolley: How big of a role does architecture play for you in your development of the design?
• 18:08
  Tiffany Woolley: Is that like a 50-50 or is that you know 30-70, or is that like your primary focus?
• 18:17
  Elaine Schneider: Yeah, my my my goal or my in the projects that I love to take on are really interior architectural design projects.
• 18:28
  Elaine Schneider: So there's nothing I love more than to come into a a ground-up home or um something that's a major renovation that we're doing some dutting.
• 18:40
  Elaine Schneider: And um, so I would say on a typical project, the percentage of time spent on interior architectural drawings uh or coming up with uh I will call it the three-dimensional interior drawings is probably oh, probably easily 70% of the time.
• 19:03
  Elaine Schneider: And then the remaining 30% is maybe 60 if you count in just that the meetings take probably 10%, but you know, the the rest is selecting of materials and uh developing palettes and then um uh you know, plumbing fixtures, appliances, uh, and then I basically the way I work is I I get the contractors everything they need, and then once that is underway, more or less, then we shift to I always say that's the fun shift to the fun part.
• 19:45
  Elaine Schneider: Shift to the furniture.
• 19:48
  Elaine Schneider: Um and and I mean I to me, I gotta say, I the fun colour of it.
• 19:54
  Elaine Schneider: I I I love the interior architectural design.
• 19:57
  Elaine Schneider: It's and I love I love developing the spaces in three dimensions.
• 20:03
  Elaine Schneider: So I I um and I like the furniture part, but I like more, you know, designing custom furniture than researching something that's already out there, I would say.
• 20:14
  Scott Woolley: So I'm guessing that you prefer and would rather be doing all of the design and architectural before an actual architect gets involved kind of stamping things that's being handed off to an architect to stamp it.
• 20:30
  Elaine Schneider: Well, I think what's worked well, because I, you know, I love working with fabulous architects, is when um it is when the architect is really handling more the shell of the architecture and the upfront permitting, and then I come in to um you know kind of wreck their day on really shift some spaces around and refine the space planning and really look at spaces from the standpoint of how would you flow through this space and how would the furniture be laid out and what is your focal wall.
• 21:10
  Elaine Schneider: Um so I think um that's what I love is is to work with an architect to develop the big picture and and then start to dive in, and then I kind of take it through the casework development and mill work and all of that kind of stuff.
• 21:32
  Tiffany Woolley: So knowing how detailed this business is, and as you just mentioned, you know, so many of the points that you have to hit throughout a project, what does your team look like and how did you go about building that team?
• 21:48
  Elaine Schneider: Yeah, I I have a really small team.
• 21:50
  Elaine Schneider: It's uh it's myself.
• 21:52
  Elaine Schneider: Um I have two other, I would say, um more interior architectural driven people.
• 22:03
  Elaine Schneider: One who does amazing sketches, um, and another who does 3D modeling.
• 22:11
  Tiffany Woolley: Yeah.
• 22:12
  Elaine Schneider: And then I have a senior um stylist who is amazing um with kind of because we do everything from creating the vision to clients move in and they're ready to use their home.
• 22:28
  Elaine Schneider: I I would say the the stylist is really key.
• 22:32
  Elaine Schneider: So she comes in and we basically at the end of a project, you know, a sizable project, we we kind of live at the house for a week and get it all ready.
• 22:42
  Elaine Schneider: So the furniture is delivered and the styling happens, um, and all the finishing touches, and and then we do the big reveal at the end.
• 22:52
  Elaine Schneider: It's really fun.
• 22:53
  Elaine Schneider: Exciting.
• 22:54
  Elaine Schneider: Yeah, I would say typically a team, I have a team of about four to five people, and it fluctuates a little bit.
• 23:00
  Tiffany Woolley: And you mentioned 3D, you know, drawings and modeling.
• 23:05
  Tiffany Woolley: We it's become a huge part about what we do every day here at in our studio.
• 23:12
  Tiffany Woolley: How do you when do you infuse the 3D drawings into your process?
• 23:18
  Tiffany Woolley: Like do you use those mainly for yourself or do you use those to present the vision to the client as well?
• 23:25
  Elaine Schneider: Um it uh we use it to convey to the client something that's hard for them to understand uh with plans and elevations only.
• 23:39
  Scott Woolley: Most people are most people aren't visual.
• 23:41
  Scott Woolley: It's what really helps them from a visual standpoint.
• 23:44
  Tiffany Woolley: Right.
• 23:45
  Tiffany Woolley: So for us it's a really yeah, it's a huge part of conveying the vision.
• 23:53
  Elaine Schneider: Yeah.
• 23:54
  Elaine Schneider: I mean, we do we do do it for ourselves, for example, this project um that we're working on in Sag Harbor, uh, we're doing a theater on a basement level, and it is an extremely complicated space because it, you know, it has a lot of components, wood panels that meet up with fabric panels that meet up with cabinetry, that meet up with molding.
• 24:18
  Elaine Schneider: And it's uh that one we will do as much to uh flush out the details ourselves and communicate those details to the client and the contractor.
• 24:31
  Elaine Schneider: But other other ones, like in this same house, we um created this very intricate new post, and there was no way to arrive at a design for the new post that the client could understand and visualize without the 3D modeling.
• 24:53
  Elaine Schneider: So that's how we use it.
• 24:54
  Scott Woolley: So you you just mentioned SAG Harbor on l out on Long Island?
• 24:58
  Scott Woolley: So you're you're you're traveling or you and you're doing a lot of work in in some cases, I guess, remotely.
• 25:06
  Elaine Schneider: And across the country.
• 25:07
  Elaine Schneider: Right.
• 25:09
  Elaine Schneider: Right.
• 25:11
  Elaine Schneider: It's just um like I I think I mentioned at the outset, I I don't do any marketing really.
• 25:19
  Elaine Schneider: Uh it's all word of mouth.
• 25:22
  Elaine Schneider: And this particular client, I had originally met her parents in Palm Desert in Bighorn because they had a home there.
• 25:32
  Elaine Schneider: And then when she did her house in Greenwich Village, she was having issues with her existing designer.
• 25:40
  Elaine Schneider: And so her mom introduced me to her.
• 25:43
  Elaine Schneider: So I did her Greenwich Village house, and now I'm working on her Sag Harbor um sort of more vacation home.
• 25:53
  Elaine Schneider: So it's, you know, back to the word of mouth, it's it's phenomenal.
• 25:58
  Elaine Schneider: Great projects.
• 26:01
  Tiffany Woolley: You must enjoy that too.
• 26:03
  Tiffany Woolley: So how often for the projects that are literally across the country for you, how often do you have to actually go to the site?
• 26:20
  Elaine Schneider: You know, probably once every two to three months.
• 26:23
  Elaine Schneider: I think we're going on two years with this project.
• 26:26
  Elaine Schneider: It is so intricate and so complex.
• 26:28
  Elaine Schneider: But um, but I would say in the last nine months, I I go once a month.
• 26:33
  Elaine Schneider: And I dunno there for um, you know, uh two days to travel, two days to be on site, basically.
• 26:41
  Elaine Schneider: Because it is it's not easy to get to.
• 26:43
  Tiffany Woolley: Oh, to that part of the world, right?
• 26:45
  Tiffany Woolley: Yeah, a lot of literally planes and uh it's one of our favorite places to go.
• 26:52
  Elaine Schneider: It's beautiful.
• 26:53
  Elaine Schneider: It's uh oh, it's sort of so charming and and so different.
• 26:58
  Elaine Schneider: I I think that's one I things I enjoy the most because my all my projects are so incredibly different.
• 27:06
  Elaine Schneider: Um, from super contemporary to this is a historic home that we're really transforming a lot on the inside anyway.
• 27:17
  Elaine Schneider: It's I love the variety.
• 27:20
  Scott Woolley: So historic home.
• 27:21
  Scott Woolley: We've we've done quite a few historic homes.
• 27:24
  Scott Woolley: Has does is the city involved in terms of from an architectural historic, you know, it typically for what we've dealt with, it slows the whole process down tremendously.
• 27:37
  Scott Woolley: Yeah, I think that's kind of dealt with the same thing, correct?
• 27:42
  Elaine Schneider: Yeah, same thing.
• 27:42
  Elaine Schneider: We have the architectural review board who um has to approve everything that we do on the outside.
• 27:50
  Scott Woolley: Right.
• 27:50
  Elaine Schneider: You know, it just uh yeah, it it makes things it makes a complex project even more complex in terms of the code.
• 27:58
  Scott Woolley: We just finished a project where the city had involvement in the interior of the home as well.
• 28:04
  Scott Woolley: Oh, really?
• 28:05
  Scott Woolley: So they were extremely they were extremely involved in keeping the integrity and you know and the style and the look to a degree in the interior of the home as well.
• 28:19
  Tiffany Woolley: Which I tend to appreciate because I just feel like those are the homes that we all, when you travel and you know, as you see our country or abroad, it's just those charming character, you know, places that they're the they are what add so much.
• 28:36
  Tiffany Woolley: So I'm grateful for not only the board, you know, designers like yourself and even the clients who are willing to take on that challenge and lead time.
• 28:46
  Tiffany Woolley: I'm grateful that you know people appreciate it.
• 28:50
  Scott Woolley: So you so you've had the you've had the you know a unique opportunity starting in retail and working with some, I'll say, iconic retail brands.
• 29:00
  Speaker 3: I mean, Nordstroms is amazing.
• 29:01
  Scott Woolley: Yeah, with Nordstroms and others that, you know, from a design standpoint.
• 29:05
  Scott Woolley: Is there any you know big lessons or things that you learned in that process that you've carried along and brought and that you still or use in the the residential design side?
• 29:19
  Elaine Schneider: Well, uh I think what I learned the most from the you know the working on the Nordstroms or the retail prototypes is a is um kind of a bulletproof process of A happens before B happens before C, and and it's um it's just uh it it works, and there's a reason it works.
• 29:43
  Elaine Schneider: And there's um there's a paper trail that goes with decisions, and it's it's very it's a very I I I I I've had people say that I'm equally left brained and right brained, and I think that's true.
• 29:58
  Elaine Schneider: There is There is a very creative side, but there is a very um I would call it a mathematical process driven side.
• 30:09
  Elaine Schneider: And I think the biggest lesson is if you deviate from that process, y you get in trouble.
• 30:18
  Elaine Schneider: Bad things happen.
• 30:19
  Elaine Schneider: Things fall through the cracks.
• 30:21
  Elaine Schneider: Um there's confusion.
• 30:24
  Elaine Schneider: So I'm I I will never deviate from a process.
• 30:31
  Elaine Schneider: It's not that it can't be consolidated and each phase can't get shorter.
• 30:36
  Elaine Schneider: Um and you can massage it, but the core process has to be there for every project, or else it, you know, things won't come out like the vision gord.
• 30:48
  Tiffany Woolley: Right.
• 30:48
  Tiffany Woolley: And I see like that process probably has a lot to do with managing client expectations and you know, your confidence level managing those expectations when you, you know, have those processes in place.
• 31:04
  Tiffany Woolley: Do you follow, do you have those processes like bullet point it?
• 31:08
  Tiffany Woolley: Like how do you actually manage those systems?
• 31:13
  Tiffany Woolley: Do you have spreadsheets in place existing like your in-house an app, a piece of software?
• 31:20
  Scott Woolley: Right, yeah.
• 31:21
  Tiffany Woolley: I'm like curious.
• 31:24
  Elaine Schneider: Yeah, no, I think um, well, it's just it no, it's not a spreadsheet.
• 31:29
  Elaine Schneider: It's just um if you even look on my my website, I bullet point the different phases.
• 31:36
  Elaine Schneider: Um but I I think it's more ingrained in in my head and my my teen's head of we gotta do this and then we gotta do this.
• 31:48
  Elaine Schneider: So the way we follow the process is to just be very open and communicative with the client to say, okay, before we shift to this, we need decisions on this because that is gonna affect things.
• 32:02
  Elaine Schneider: So it's um it's just kind of ingrained in what we do.
• 32:07
  Elaine Schneider: It's um and I I think the the big picture is to focus first and foremost on what the contractor needs to build the house, and the construction schedule sort of dictates what comes first.
• 32:25
  Elaine Schneider: So um so yeah, that's just how we work and how we move forward and make sure we stay on track.
• 32:33
  Elaine Schneider: But I think the the thing that's the most complicated is is the documentation of decisions when things are changing constantly.
• 32:44
  Elaine Schneider: I think that's that's um the you know kind of what I'm saying.
• 32:50
  Tiffany Woolley: That's the big challenge.
• 32:52
  Tiffany Woolley: I feel like that's probably the challenge.
• 32:54
  Scott Woolley: That's also helping manage clients' expectations as well.
• 32:58
  Elaine Schneider: Right.
• 32:59
  Elaine Schneider: Right.
• 33:00
  Elaine Schneider: So I think, you know, if I ever try to, because of things are taking long, to speed up the schedule and bypass some documentation of stats, that's that's never that's never a good solution for anyone, although it seems it might be helping the project to pick up the pace and let's go, this is move on to the next thing.
• 33:24
  Elaine Schneider: You have to always pause and say, okay, what do we decide?
• 33:27
  Elaine Schneider: And let's make sure this is all the drawings are caught up to this, and then let's move on to the next phase.
• 33:34
  Elaine Schneider: Exactly.
• 33:36
  Scott Woolley: Where where do you draw inspiration from these days in terms of new ideas and thoughts?
• 33:42
  Scott Woolley: Is it art, travel, and nature?
• 33:48
  Elaine Schneider: Yeah.
• 33:49
  Elaine Schneider: Um I I mean, travel to a degree.
• 33:53
  Elaine Schneider: I love to travel and I I see new things every time I travel.
• 33:57
  Elaine Schneider: I actually got married last year, but we just went on our honeymoon this year.
• 34:02
  Elaine Schneider: And um the we went to to really explored Rome for the first time and went through the Vatican museums and um especially when you're working on a historic home that has layers of layers and layers of detail and mill work and stone detailing at fireplaces, you go there and you're just like in awe of the floors and blown over the layering.
• 34:31
  Elaine Schneider: So so some from there, but really I draw inspiration from um my clients' vision.
• 34:41
  Elaine Schneider: What is it they're trying to do from their imagery?
• 34:44
  Elaine Schneider: And that that sets the starting point of how I do my research and where I get my inspiration for the project, if that makes sense.
• 34:58
  Tiffany Woolley: How many projects do you allow yourself to be involved with at one time?
• 35:05
  Elaine Schneider: Oh, it um I I'm a small team.
• 35:09
  Elaine Schneider: Right.
• 35:09
  Elaine Schneider: I'm a very so you can say no to projects.
• 35:12
  Elaine Schneider: I find that hard on my end.
• 35:14
  Elaine Schneider: Yeah, it's just there's only so much I can take on.
• 35:19
  Elaine Schneider: So uh I would say at any one time I'm doing one to two bigger projects and three to four small projects.
• 35:31
  Elaine Schneider: But I would call a big project um like an 8,000 square foot home.
• 35:36
  Elaine Schneider: I do a lot of those in Palm Desert.
• 35:38
  Elaine Schneider: So um bigger projects, you know, I really one, maybe two, um, is all you can do just because of how demanding they are.
• 35:51
  Tiffany Woolley: Right, and how detailed and you know, they are moving targets to a degree as well.
• 35:57
  Elaine Schneider: They sure are.
• 36:00
  Scott Woolley: Are there are there any current design trends that excite you or you're fascinated by or love?
• 36:06
  Elaine Schneider: You know, I um at a might may sound like blasphemy, but I don't I don't follow trends.
• 36:16
  Elaine Schneider: I I really don't look to see what's current or what's hot because I am so incredibly focused on realizing my client's vision.
• 36:32
  Elaine Schneider: So in doing the research for my client's vision, it's not that I don't come across trends and that they don't infiltrate the work.
• 36:44
  Elaine Schneider: I did a house in Palm Desert and Loungy was one of their words, and all the furniture we did there was very organic and curvilinear.
• 36:54
  Elaine Schneider: And then um another thing that was really key to that project was the the husband wanted secret doors and hidden rooms.
• 37:03
  Elaine Schneider: So fun.
• 37:04
  Elaine Schneider: We had this very textured wood wall in their master bedroom, and you couldn't see it, but there was this touch latch door that opened up to his office.
• 37:14
  Elaine Schneider: So that all brings trends in of things that are going on in the design world, but I I didn't bring that to them.
• 37:25
  Elaine Schneider: They said we wanted loungy, and then I really started exploring the very organic furniture, I would say.
• 37:32
  Elaine Schneider: Right.
• 37:33
  Tiffany Woolley: Do you visit markets or shows or go to you know Maison Object or any of these, you know, historically, you know, designer designer idea.
• 37:54
  Elaine Schneider: Yeah.
• 37:55
  Elaine Schneider: Well, I went to High Point for the first time.
• 37:57
  Elaine Schneider: Um this last year.
• 38:00
  Elaine Schneider: Scott too.
• 38:02
  Scott Woolley: My first time.
• 38:02
  Elaine Schneider: Yeah, it was it was so like mind-blowing.
• 38:06
  Elaine Schneider: Right?
• 38:07
  Elaine Schneider: It is absolutely it was so I I need to do more of that.
• 38:12
  Elaine Schneider: Again, I am I'm so busy.
• 38:14
  Tiffany Woolley: That's what happens with us too, is you do get so busy and so consumed with you know the everyday and the projects.
• 38:22
  Tiffany Woolley: But when you do go to attend these, you know, design-centered events, like you realize there is so much out there.
• 38:31
  Elaine Schneider: Yeah.
• 38:31
  Elaine Schneider: Yeah, it was um, it was it was more as a reaction of okay, this is a very historic home and a very traditional home, and I need to get to understand and know more of these vendors that provide this kind of stuff.
• 38:47
  Elaine Schneider: So again, it's always sort of project-driven that I that I go and I explore.
• 38:53
  Elaine Schneider: Um, but I love it.
• 38:54
  Elaine Schneider: It was uh it was fascinating.
• 38:56
  Elaine Schneider: It was overwhelming and fascinating, and I can't wait to go again.
• 39:01
  Tiffany Woolley: What was like one of your highlights from Market?
• 39:05
  Elaine Schneider: Um I think it's like the quirky little vendors.
• 39:12
  Elaine Schneider: Like I went into this tiny little showroom of this company that um that it specializes in all things brass.
• 39:21
  Elaine Schneider: So they did these amazing custom brass bedrooms.
• 39:25
  Tiffany Woolley: They did brass bar stools.
• 39:27
  Tiffany Woolley: I'm looking for uh source.
• 39:30
  Elaine Schneider: Oh, I yeah, they may I don't remember seeing bar stools, but they could make anything and they did this incredible brass shelving and more architectural brass components.
• 39:41
  Elaine Schneider: So, so things like of course I like to learn about and see and discover um um things that I'm looking for, like very highly detailed furniture uh that have more of a traditional bent to them, or um I also loved this one.
• 40:04
  Elaine Schneider: I think it was a Jeffica Charles fabric showroom, but she the way she put the fabrics and the trim and all the the tufting and the buttons on the furniture pieces, I thought that's just really inspiring to see things like that.
• 40:22
  Elaine Schneider: So so I like I like the unique is too broad a category, but uh the unexpected.
• 40:31
  Elaine Schneider: I like finding the unexpected stuff.
• 40:33
  Tiffany Woolley: And you have to dig because the bigger places too much.
• 40:37
  Scott Woolley: I I went for the first time last November with Tiffany.
• 40:40
  Scott Woolley: We went for the I don't know, four or five days, and we were flying back, and I said to her, I said, There's like four clients right now that you need to bring each one here for a day or two because their level of you could do so much of the shopping and select, you know, and because you've got some clients that want to sit on things before they buy it.
• 41:02
  Elaine Schneider: You know, absolutely, yeah.
• 41:04
  Elaine Schneider: And well, and but you have to pre-shop, right, for every client because otherwise you're just gonna handy deer in the headlights.
• 41:14
  Scott Woolley: Yeah, there's so much there.
• 41:15
  Elaine Schneider: I did that.
• 41:16
  Elaine Schneider: I they're they're not open uh to the public, you know, during that high point.
• 41:20
  Elaine Schneider: So yeah, it was fun.
• 41:22
  Elaine Schneider: We had a good time.
• 41:23
  Elaine Schneider: She uh yeah, our client that we're working with in Sag Harbor, we went together.
• 41:30
  Elaine Schneider: We made her an Echo Environments employee.
• 41:33
  Tiffany Woolley: That is so I bet it was fun for her to see too.
• 41:36
  Tiffany Woolley: It it just it inspires a lot.
• 41:39
  Tiffany Woolley: Yeah, it's nice to touch and feel and and see it live.
• 41:44
  Tiffany Woolley: So lastly, kind of diving into where do you see the legacy of echo environments and do you have any anything new on the horizon?
• 41:57
  Elaine Schneider: Um, you know, I I'm trying to be more forward thinking.
• 42:02
  Elaine Schneider: Um but um especially in the the marketing side of things, I'm trying to get out of my comfort zone and um prepare more of a a roadshow.
• 42:20
  Elaine Schneider: I think I think my happy place and my niche is working with builders who do very complex or high-end or more involved homes.
• 42:35
  Elaine Schneider: So I think the the future really lies more in you know developing the relations relationships not just with the clients but with contractors who are like-minded and what they want to deliver for the client.
• 42:52
  Elaine Schneider: Um so that's one thought, but but as I said, you know, and I think you guys experience it too, you just get so busy in the day-to-day and resolving what's on the plate today, putting out the existing tires.
• 43:08
  Elaine Schneider: You know, it is it becomes so hard to be um kind of visionary to create your own vision board.
• 43:17
  Elaine Schneider: Right, isn't it?
• 43:18
  Tiffany Woolley: I mean, that's well said, it's true.
• 43:20
  Tiffany Woolley: Especially in this world we live in, you know, where social media has such a presence, and especially in our business of being interior designers, you know, it is very visual, so it's a kind of a good marriage between social media and design work.
• 43:37
  Tiffany Woolley: Do you know put an emphasis on what you put out there for social media?
• 43:46
  Elaine Schneider: Not enough.
• 43:46
  Elaine Schneider: I haven't.
• 43:47
  Elaine Schneider: You know, I I uh I think I I'm so incredibly comfortable working one-on-one with clients.
• 43:57
  Elaine Schneider: That's my happy place.
• 43:59
  Elaine Schneider: But in terms of reaching out to the broader public, um is it's my weakness and I have to work on it.
• 44:07
  Elaine Schneider: So I'm trying to, and I'm trying to develop more of that presence.
• 44:11
  Elaine Schneider: Um, but I I I'm locally behind in doing that.
• 44:16
  Scott Woolley: But but you have something I hope the word of mouth can be.
• 44:19
  Scott Woolley: Which is something that doesn't that I think every interior designer you know aspires to have is the word of mouth um consistency and reputation, because that just says so much about your work and you know, and the continuance of clients, especially clients coming back to you for other homes.
• 44:45
  Elaine Schneider: Yeah, I'm very, very blessed and uh I appreciate I appreciate the the following and the loyalty and um and I really appreciate just these people trusting me and allowing me into their personal lives because I think I said at the outset that that's been the biggest surprise of residential design is is the relationships I've built and the people I've gotten to know and the impact I've been able to have on their lives and their families' lives.
• 45:22
  Elaine Schneider: So I I am crossing my fingers that it continues because if it's dependent on my social media skills.
• 45:31
  Scott Woolley: Well, based on your work, based on your work in and the the homes that you have done, we we know that it will continue because your work is outstanding.
• 45:41
  Scott Woolley: Absolutely beautiful work.
• 45:44
  Scott Woolley: You know, anyone anyone listening should should visit and see your site and see some of your work.
• 45:50
  Scott Woolley: What's the the correct URL for your website?
• 45:54
  Elaine Schneider: It's www.echoenvironmentsplural.com.
• 46:02
  Tiffany Woolley: Well, thank you so much for joining us today on the iDesign Lab podcast from San Diego.
• 46:08
  Tiffany Woolley: And we did have a little bit of like a couple glitches, meaning with technology, but our conversation was inspiring, and we're grateful for having the time today together.
• 46:21
  Scott Woolley: Thank you.
• 46:22
  Elaine Schneider: Well, thank you so much for having me.
• 46:23
  Elaine Schneider: It was an absolute uh pleasure to get to know you two a little bit, and I would love to hopefully we'll see you at Market.
• 46:31
  Tiffany Woolley: I know, we definitely will stay in contact and hope to see you on this side of on this coast.
• 46:39
  Elaine Schneider: That would be great.
• 46:40
  Elaine Schneider: Thank you so much.
• 46:42
  Voice over: Thanks for having me.com.