Speaker 1: Carola. She's the queen of talking. He was sown your man.
Speaker 1: She's only yes. Actually you got the snoop on on
Speaker 1: the ones to side. No one can do within clid,
Speaker 1: my Carola, Carolina, no one can do within clid. B
Speaker 1: Carola is timple Carola. Hey, y'all, welcome to Hyper Caroline Hobby.
Speaker 1: I am your host, Caroline Hobby. I know music, I
Speaker 1: know people, and I know the questions you want to ask,
Speaker 1: So let's get hyper heads up. These are adults having
Speaker 1: adult conversations, so there could be adult content. You guys.
Speaker 1: I'm super excited. I have April Tomlin joining me. This
Speaker 1: woman is the hottest interior does miner in Nashville. She
Speaker 1: designs every major star's house pretty much. I'm not even
Speaker 1: kidding you. From Jason Alden and Brittany his wife, to
Speaker 1: Thomas written Lauren, to Tyler Hubbard and his wife Hayley, Jesse,
Speaker 1: James Decker. She has done so many houses and I'm
Speaker 1: just scratching the surface. She is so fantastic. Her view
Speaker 1: on life is amazing. She's a new mom. She talks
Speaker 1: all about bouncing motherhood and a major career. She's awesome here.
Speaker 1: She is April Tomlin, Hey, April Tomlin. Hi, what's that girl? Oh?
Speaker 1: You know, not much, just mom and it out before
Speaker 1: I got here. It's about it mom and working, mom
Speaker 1: and working. Okay, so we were talking earlier, and you
Speaker 1: really are. You've been in every celebrity's bedroom. You're the
Speaker 1: celebrity interior designer to the stars, which is amazing. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's super kind. But I have been in quite a
Speaker 1: few bedrooms, even in Tyler and Haley Hubbard's from Florida, Georgia, Line,
Speaker 1: Thomas Rhett and Lauren. Uh, you did the Aldanes, Jason
Speaker 1: and Brittany, I know, you just did Jesse James Secker
Speaker 1: and her husband Eric, who's a New Titan. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you helped us do our house? Did I? Did I do?
Speaker 1: We gotta get into how you got into the celeb world,
Speaker 1: but I want to start off with a few questions.
Speaker 1: Rapid fire, perfect, go. So, in ten words are less?
Speaker 1: Describe your interior design style? Gosh that in ten words
Speaker 1: are less? That's really hard because I have a pretty
Speaker 1: eclectic but for me personally, so if you look at um,
Speaker 1: you know, Jason Aldane has a totally different style than uh,
Speaker 1: than Jesse James. Then they all have very different stuff
Speaker 1: to work with their personalities. For sure, yours, you know,
Speaker 1: you have a super eclectic style. You like woods and
Speaker 1: colors and things like that, which I'm not known for,
Speaker 1: but when a client asked for something, that's what we
Speaker 1: you know, we tend to do. But we do put
Speaker 1: we do do a little pushback. But I would say
Speaker 1: for me personally, I like pretty natural, organic, um, collected,
Speaker 1: just collected me. I'm collected like I like finding like
Speaker 1: old pieces and just mixing them into to a modern
Speaker 1: piece and then rustic. So if you like, my dream
Speaker 1: home would be a little rustic, a little collected, meaning
Speaker 1: like I might like a weird old lady's face above
Speaker 1: my bed, dude and my husband's and my husband would
Speaker 1: be like, why in the world is that old lady
Speaker 1: staring at me while I go to bed? But I
Speaker 1: love that sort of thing. But I also like really
Speaker 1: sleek and clean, like I don't like a lot of
Speaker 1: fuss and a lot of junks. So that's really weird
Speaker 1: when you say collected, because it's like simple collected. It
Speaker 1: can't just be stuff everywhere these collected as accents like
Speaker 1: a pieces, Yeah, collected, I'm usually like more in art
Speaker 1: form like a painting or a picture. Yeah yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: to seem old and like more of a modern space
Speaker 1: is what I like, or if it was me to
Speaker 1: put in like an older piece or currently above my
Speaker 1: bed is this um photograph of a bunch of unsmoking cigarettes.
Speaker 1: So that's amazing. So it's just weird odd things like
Speaker 1: that that I like. But then the rest of my
Speaker 1: bedroom is pretty like normal, you know. So that's how
Speaker 1: I would describe my personal aesthetic. But then when we
Speaker 1: meet with a client, obviously we're going to do whatever
Speaker 1: you know, they like, but we put our own flare on,
Speaker 1: on our own taste, you know, on it. To that question,
Speaker 1: I actually have a question to that, how do you
Speaker 1: emerge your vision with this your client's vision? Because what
Speaker 1: if the client's vision is tacky? So we vet out
Speaker 1: a little bit, So what does that mean? So we
Speaker 1: talked to the clients before, and we have a range
Speaker 1: you know of how like you go away from your
Speaker 1: comfort this yeah, and no matter who they are, you know,
Speaker 1: to be honest, like, of course we do have a
Speaker 1: pretty heavy, you know, celebrity clientelist, but no matter who
Speaker 1: you are, even if you you are Beyonce. She might
Speaker 1: be able to tell me to do something and I
Speaker 1: might just say okay, but out of the Oprah maybe.
Speaker 1: But other than that, we've met them out and see
Speaker 1: if we match, you know, not to be rude. Yes,
Speaker 1: you've got to be a good match. It's a long process,
Speaker 1: you know, it's a long process. I mean furniture, just
Speaker 1: a one without the construction. I was on a construction
Speaker 1: site today this morning, and you know I'll complete that
Speaker 1: job next year. So I'll be working with this client
Speaker 1: the way through next year. So you've got to get
Speaker 1: along because you start at the beginning of the house
Speaker 1: building sometimes most of the time. So when is it
Speaker 1: usually clients that are building a home? No, not Yeah,
Speaker 1: a lot like this client. Um, she's she's actually in
Speaker 1: the music industry, but she is on the business side.
Speaker 1: She's a pretty powerful lady in that world. And uh,
Speaker 1: I've done her house before. She's actually how I got
Speaker 1: into celebrities. Are you serious? And now I'm on her
Speaker 1: third home for her. So yeah, we'll work together all year,
Speaker 1: and we work on from instruction all the way through
Speaker 1: to the very very end. Is how we like to work.
Speaker 1: But of course some people already have homes that are done,
Speaker 1: and we'll do small renovations to make to make it
Speaker 1: fit what they want and then um down to the
Speaker 1: simple like online design. We have a program where if
Speaker 1: you're just getting started, it was the best. Yes, it's
Speaker 1: for a person that wants to uh start with a
Speaker 1: good foundation but not blow their bank, right, but not
Speaker 1: blow the bank, and um, it's it's that's a really
Speaker 1: fun process for a lot of people just because they
Speaker 1: get a board with the drawings and the products and everything,
Speaker 1: and then they get to order at their own pace.
Speaker 1: And when this board is cool because it's so laid out.
Speaker 1: Basically you send a email over and there is a
Speaker 1: board of links with pictures and then the whole map
Speaker 1: of how the room should look. Yes, and you can
Speaker 1: click on all of it and just order it. It's
Speaker 1: just right there, already made. Yeah, it's like the best.
Speaker 1: It's pretty great. It's it's pretty great if I was
Speaker 1: if it was my first home, you know, and I
Speaker 1: didn't want and I was willing to put in the work,
Speaker 1: you know, totally. At a large reason why we're on
Speaker 1: projects from beginning to end um for celebrities is they're
Speaker 1: gone all the time, you know, and even my non
Speaker 1: celebrity clients. They're busy all the time because usually if
Speaker 1: you're hiring a designer full time, you you've made it
Speaker 1: somewhat in the world, and you're busy, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean, you do not have time. So I mean
Speaker 1: we even worried down to like, oh my gosh, they're
Speaker 1: they're getting home as the toilet paper on all the roles.
Speaker 1: I mean like literally they walk in and it they
Speaker 1: get to go live. My house looks horrible. I don't
Speaker 1: know that my house has toilet paper right now. I
Speaker 1: could not. You can't do it. They all the clients
Speaker 1: are taking care. They're taking care of paper is on
Speaker 1: the rule. My husband the other day said, can you
Speaker 1: just like not work for six months and get our
Speaker 1: house together? And I was just like that sounds awesome,
Speaker 1: but though that's not gonna happen. So who would be
Speaker 1: your dream celebrity client? Oh gosh, that is a great question,
Speaker 1: do you know what? I don't know? I mean, someone
Speaker 1: crazy like Madonna like that would be because um, in
Speaker 1: country music it's really heavily male dominated. We just got
Speaker 1: Kelsey Ballerini and she's a great, a great you know,
Speaker 1: new addition to to our process. That's amazing. Yeah, she's great.
Speaker 1: She's so fun and and she's young, and we've got
Speaker 1: a long road you know, hopefully ahead with her and
Speaker 1: we'll get to see that that process grow. Um and anyway,
Speaker 1: but Madonna, I don't have a lot of male clients
Speaker 1: because that they there's a lot of male country singers.
Speaker 1: We all know that there's not very many. You know,
Speaker 1: the women are starting to rise up, I'll say that.
Speaker 1: So I have a lot of men, So I would
Speaker 1: love a female. I would love to do. I'm known
Speaker 1: for a little more masculine. I would love to do
Speaker 1: super like kind of girly. Um, but I'm my style's
Speaker 1: edgy all the time. So I feel Madonna. I feel
Speaker 1: like Madonna would really like me. I think she would
Speaker 1: maybe not, maybe she would hate me, but I feel
Speaker 1: like that would be a really fun push yourself outside
Speaker 1: of the box. Yes, yes, actually today the content we
Speaker 1: had today, she's pretty edgy and and she said no
Speaker 1: black and white, no gray, none of it. And well,
Speaker 1: that's your specialty. It's kind of like what we do
Speaker 1: a lot of. She's a very clean Yeah. Yeah, So
Speaker 1: I was in the car with my team. I have
Speaker 1: three girls, that no black and white, no gray, No
Speaker 1: black and white, no gray. So I told the team
Speaker 1: they're concepting while I'm gone. I've already started the kick
Speaker 1: off of the concepting. But I showed them everything, and
Speaker 1: I said, this is the time you've got to push yourself.
Speaker 1: Don't show don't show me anything that's black or white
Speaker 1: or gray. And you know that that's hard because everybody,
Speaker 1: you know, production of furniture is usually in those colors,
Speaker 1: so it'll be really fun. So do you enjoy having
Speaker 1: boundaries like that that are that are like, okay, we're
Speaker 1: not doing black, white and gray? Do you like have
Speaker 1: to think outside? Because this client, I know what she's
Speaker 1: going for and I can see it, and you like
Speaker 1: her style, and so it's a match. Yes, it's not
Speaker 1: traditional or anything. She's not like saying, hey, do it
Speaker 1: traditional for me. She's saying, I want funky, I want
Speaker 1: over the top, you know what I mean. And I
Speaker 1: don't want a black or gray. And of course there's
Speaker 1: gonna be something like that. Yeah, yeah, but she she
Speaker 1: knows me well and she's saying, give me something different.
Speaker 1: And and you know, when you do it every single day,
Speaker 1: just like anybody's business, anybody anybody that works anywhere, because
Speaker 1: I used to have an office job as well. And
Speaker 1: when you go in that environment or any environment, you
Speaker 1: want to shake it up, you want to change. I
Speaker 1: feel the same way, you know. So that's exciting, it is.
Speaker 1: It gets really exciting when I hear projects like that.
Speaker 1: So and then when people ask for exactly what I do,
Speaker 1: of course they're going to get a good product because
Speaker 1: I know exactly. You know, it's easy to navigate for
Speaker 1: me at this point, you know, So what is your
Speaker 1: nightmare color palette? And like design palette if you had to,
Speaker 1: you walk into a room and you're like, I'm in
Speaker 1: hell what does that look like? Um? I don't know,
Speaker 1: you know, like anything, I don't know except seeing good
Speaker 1: with that too, anything that's like, uh, that royal blue color,
Speaker 1: Like I've seen a lot of This whole room is
Speaker 1: royal blue, right, yeah, basically were and this is time
Speaker 1: in hell y. Yeah, there's a lot of green and
Speaker 1: purple and blue. Yeah, this is a set, Thank the Lord.
Speaker 1: Where do you gather your inspiration for designing? Where did
Speaker 1: you learn how to design? So that's a really interesting story. So, um,
Speaker 1: I was raised with a single mom and we just
Speaker 1: we barely had a pot to pean. We really did
Speaker 1: not have much. Was it just you and your mom
Speaker 1: and my brother? Okay, yes, and so we my dad
Speaker 1: left very early on. And my mom's just the sweetest.
Speaker 1: I mean, she just there, could not be a better woman.
Speaker 1: So she did real estate. She ran my father's plumbing company,
Speaker 1: and she had her contractor's license and was building homes
Speaker 1: when I was a kid. So when she didn't have
Speaker 1: we didn't have money for babysitters, so we would just
Speaker 1: kind of have to go with her everywhere. So I
Speaker 1: would have to go on her listings and I would
Speaker 1: just be sitting there and I think I was. She says,
Speaker 1: I was like eight or nine, and I would start
Speaker 1: moving furniture around, like you knew where you wanted to go? Yes,
Speaker 1: I knew, you know I did. And then one day
Speaker 1: she actually came in. We were at home, unsupervised, because
Speaker 1: that's when you do what your boor and you don't
Speaker 1: have any money for babysitters. Probably a lot of good thing.
Speaker 1: I can't imagine leaveen everly, but I was left and
Speaker 1: we she got home and me and my brother had
Speaker 1: painted like half of her room as high as we
Speaker 1: could reach. And we were like eight or nine years old,
Speaker 1: so I was always doing things like that. So, um, yeah,
Speaker 1: I've always I think it was just that, you know,
Speaker 1: I would be embarrassed when people would come over because
Speaker 1: we just didn't have a lot like of stuff on
Speaker 1: the walls. It just didn't feel homey to me. It
Speaker 1: just didn't. And and it's you know, she did the
Speaker 1: best that she could. But so I really have a
Speaker 1: passion when people kind in that they feel like they're
Speaker 1: at home. You know, people don't. It's not a materialistic job.
Speaker 1: It's not as materialistic as you would think because you know,
Speaker 1: feeling letting your having a space, Like when I think
Speaker 1: of my space for my daughter, you know, the thing,
Speaker 1: I wanted to feel safe, right I wanted to feel
Speaker 1: like it's hers. I wanted to always feel like she
Speaker 1: can come back, you know what I mean. And I
Speaker 1: wanted to have pieces that aren't that aren't going to
Speaker 1: be thrown away, Like I wanted to have pieces that
Speaker 1: she remembers, you know. And so it's very hard hard
Speaker 1: to design in a way that's going to kind of last.
Speaker 1: M gould be cool right now. So I really try
Speaker 1: to do both of those things. Um, but yeah, so
Speaker 1: that's it wasn't like a materialistic wanting to get into design.
Speaker 1: It was like probably more of like a insecurity or
Speaker 1: a need or and then just start growing different mom. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: for sure doing that. Yeah, and you know, I think
Speaker 1: design comes naturally people. Um, obviously I'm trained, but we
Speaker 1: did you go to school to learn? Yeah? And so
Speaker 1: but with I have my one of my main designers
Speaker 1: is not and we interviewed a lot of people and
Speaker 1: she was the best. She has it and um, and
Speaker 1: I think I get a lot of direct messages about
Speaker 1: how people can get in. And I would always encourage
Speaker 1: everybody to go to school and that Yeah, even if
Speaker 1: you don't get a degree, you need to at least
Speaker 1: go to some classes because a lot like this morning alone,
Speaker 1: I've been on the phone with electricians and plumbers and
Speaker 1: you really need to know the house and like you
Speaker 1: can't really. I'm heavily insured because when we do renovations, obviously,
Speaker 1: you you need to be able to do those renovations
Speaker 1: with confidence and know what you're doing. You don't want
Speaker 1: to get into someone's house and and interrupt their their
Speaker 1: way of life, and I've seen that happen. Um, but
Speaker 1: I do feel like aesthetics are natural thing. Um, it
Speaker 1: really is hard to teach. Either have it or you don't. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think I think so. Again, like I've never hired
Speaker 1: and like carried someone that was a bad designer through
Speaker 1: my process. But um, you know, like I said, my
Speaker 1: main girl, she doesn't have a degree and she's she's
Speaker 1: a and she never went to one class. But she
Speaker 1: did build her own home before from from the ground
Speaker 1: she learned, she kind of had. She learned, she really did.
Speaker 1: And now as far as like Nashville obviously has the
Speaker 1: most cranes in the sky, it's hard to get permits here,
Speaker 1: it's hard to do work here. Um, she knows codes
Speaker 1: and everything. So she Yeah, she ended her own little school.
Speaker 1: Yeah she did. She did, So you at least have
Speaker 1: to you know, start there. Um. But I tell everybody
Speaker 1: how I got actually started is did you just start
Speaker 1: off with your own business because you're only thirty five
Speaker 1: and you're running a writhing business? Yea, So um, Actually,
Speaker 1: the I don't think she would care that I said this,
Speaker 1: But her name is Mary Hilliard. She is the house
Speaker 1: that I'm doing that I've been talking about. She's the
Speaker 1: one that's clients. But She's also was a mentor tour
Speaker 1: very early on because she owns her own very successful business.
Speaker 1: And I remember I was leaving my full time job
Speaker 1: and I called her and I was already doing Jason's
Speaker 1: house and she was the ones like, you got you
Speaker 1: cannot do a four hour work week and this on
Speaker 1: the side. And I called her. I was like, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna be working like some furniture story and I don't
Speaker 1: want to, and she's like, no, you won't. So I
Speaker 1: think I think it's every everybody that starts own thing.
Speaker 1: It's a huge risk. It is. Did you start your
Speaker 1: own thing right at the beginning, or did you already
Speaker 1: have some houses under your belt? Oh? I had houses
Speaker 1: under my belt. Were you with another company originally? Yes,
Speaker 1: And I was doing like a bunch of set design
Speaker 1: stuff and design for them, but I had a salary,
Speaker 1: you know, and that's secure and yeah, and then they're like,
Speaker 1: let me dive it into the world. I would work
Speaker 1: to like oh my gosh, like two am, like thank god.
Speaker 1: Those clients would let me stay in their house because
Speaker 1: they were gone or whatever, and I would work throughout
Speaker 1: the night, and then one day it became I had
Speaker 1: already brought on that first designer that I have mentioned
Speaker 1: previously within the company you're working with, Yes, and we
Speaker 1: would meet, sorry for the company I was working for before,
Speaker 1: but we would meet on my lunch break. Oh so
Speaker 1: you were already kind of secretly starting your other one.
Speaker 1: Oy Okay, yes, hey, you gotta get gotta do it,
Speaker 1: and so sorry about that. But we would meet on
Speaker 1: our on our on my lunch break and talk about
Speaker 1: the you know what clients we had going on or whatever.
Speaker 1: And then finally one day I was just like, I
Speaker 1: just have to quit. I have done enough work. But
Speaker 1: you know, since you've heard my story and kind of
Speaker 1: where I come from, it's hard to walk away from
Speaker 1: a salary thing. I mean, my mom was like, are
Speaker 1: you crazy? It feels that feels crazy, yes, because I
Speaker 1: had no fallbacks, Like there's nobody to help me out
Speaker 1: if I didn't make it, Like literally, you're sinking or swimming,
Speaker 1: sinking or swimming, and that's like a legit. They would
Speaker 1: be me getting my car, driving back to Memphis and
Speaker 1: living with my mom. That would be my backup play. Okay,
Speaker 1: so luckily it went Opite killed it. But how do
Speaker 1: you feel in that moment where you quit your job.
Speaker 1: You have this nice pay salary job. You know, it's
Speaker 1: probably very respectful, you could stay there forever. How does
Speaker 1: it feel in that moment where you're like, Okay, I'm
Speaker 1: going to jump and take this leap of faith? To me,
Speaker 1: that's like really going for your calling, like pursuing it
Speaker 1: with your full heart. And you're like, okay, I'm like
Speaker 1: flying out over It felt like this ledge and I
Speaker 1: pray to God I got a parachute, Like what does
Speaker 1: that feel like? Can you remember that? Yeah? Oh no, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I know I do. I cried the whole way home.
Speaker 1: I was just like, there's just you know there. How
Speaker 1: did you know it was time? Because I was so overworked.
Speaker 1: I was so overworked and I wasn't doing anything justice,
Speaker 1: you know, I wasn't. It wasn't fair to my employer obviously,
Speaker 1: and and it also it wasn't fair to the clients.
Speaker 1: Like I knew that I could be faster, more efficient. Um,
Speaker 1: the design is still the same, right, But there there
Speaker 1: is a method to an interior design business. I mean,
Speaker 1: we we have a process and that process works, and
Speaker 1: it's not just about flying into your house and saying
Speaker 1: what is the process. So if it's a regular client.
Speaker 1: We you know, we have our first initial meeting where
Speaker 1: we walk their home or whatever. We do not shop
Speaker 1: with clients. It's not something that we do. Some people
Speaker 1: do it that probably take there's probably a lot of
Speaker 1: wasted time. It's quite better for you to talk to them,
Speaker 1: get their vision. We fully then you send ideas. Yes,
Speaker 1: we fully concept. They come into our office and we
Speaker 1: do full presentations with all of our samplings and they
Speaker 1: say yes and everything. We always give them time. We
Speaker 1: always give them time to We never asked for any responses.
Speaker 1: Actually we ask for no responses um. And then they're
Speaker 1: able to go home, talk to whoever they need to
Speaker 1: talk to, think about it. Um. And then we always
Speaker 1: just ask them to kind of circle what they like
Speaker 1: and and you know, we can tell kind of what
Speaker 1: we've hit the mark on and what we've missed the
Speaker 1: mark on. And uh, once we've agreed established on what
Speaker 1: we're gonna do. If there's renovations involved, we start there.
Speaker 1: If it's just furniture planning, UM, we have a whole
Speaker 1: ordering process. We have the way a way that we
Speaker 1: order a place that it's sent installed period of time
Speaker 1: like and it's all scheduled and um, and so they
Speaker 1: kind of know what's going to happen exactly down to
Speaker 1: the day basically, and it usually stays on schedule. We
Speaker 1: we are pretty well known first day and on schedule
Speaker 1: because I'm can be a little bit of a bit
Speaker 1: when it comes to that. She's just being just running
Speaker 1: a business. Yeah, well, you want it done when it's
Speaker 1: supposed to be done. Yeah. And and you know, design
Speaker 1: and construction can be really loose. It can be really loose.
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, we built a garage. Is supposedly done
Speaker 1: in three months. It was done eight months. Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean that's just kind of and I hate that
Speaker 1: because you know, really we do set realistic expectation though,
Speaker 1: I would say that that's key. That's how we stay
Speaker 1: on top. We never like if a clock comes to me,
Speaker 1: like I want this done in two months, and like,
Speaker 1: find somebody else it's not happening. That's awesome. You're honest
Speaker 1: and upfront about what you can deliver. I could deliver
Speaker 1: something it's not going to be good, and you're gonna
Speaker 1: call me back and like, you know, a couple of
Speaker 1: months and you know, have problems here and there, and
Speaker 1: because you know, experience teaches you that too. So but yeah,
Speaker 1: so we have a pretty pretty thorough process. And sometimes
Speaker 1: I still look at Keaton, who is She's not good
Speaker 1: designor girl I was telling you about. But she's like
Speaker 1: my right hand she if you want to know something's
Speaker 1: going on in your job, every client knows to not
Speaker 1: call me to call and Keaton, Um, I'll every once
Speaker 1: in a while be like, you know, what does our
Speaker 1: waiting lists look like? And um, it's that poor kid
Speaker 1: coming out of me like I'm about to be rama
Speaker 1: noodles or something. But um, she's like, would you chill
Speaker 1: out because you want to make sure there's a nice
Speaker 1: waiting Yeah. Do people still want to do this? Like
Speaker 1: so um? So yeah. So she's just like April, you're fine,
Speaker 1: Like it's fine, We've got clients for days. Just breathe
Speaker 1: and relax and um. So what's great is now that
Speaker 1: I have a daughter. Um, she quickly has become way
Speaker 1: more important than work for me. How is that being
Speaker 1: a career woman and a mother? What tell me about
Speaker 1: that balance? I love it? I love how do you
Speaker 1: make it balanced? So? Um, at the beginning, my mom
Speaker 1: was what to watch her, and she ended up developing
Speaker 1: ramatori authritis, and so now she just kind of comes
Speaker 1: as is. But we are actually surrounded with people that
Speaker 1: watch our kids that are family. Um, it's not my
Speaker 1: sister in law. It's like my sister in law, sister
Speaker 1: in law, she watches her. That's awesome. I'm not gonna
Speaker 1: lie to the lady that cleans my house, who's like
Speaker 1: my family. She watches her sometimes awesome, But she's like
Speaker 1: in the hands of people that genuinely love her, love her.
Speaker 1: So I'm able too. But you know, I have friends
Speaker 1: and they go and their kids go to daycare, and
Speaker 1: and I mean it's just single moms. I just I
Speaker 1: am working moms. I just I have it very easy.
Speaker 1: I have a very great support. I have great support. Um,
Speaker 1: I work. We have a whole big office in my home,
Speaker 1: so you work from home, watch her child there, but
Speaker 1: you're there. I try not to go down because she
Speaker 1: obviously wants her mom before anybody else. And it really
Speaker 1: creates this like like the person that's watching her is like, really, seriously,
Speaker 1: get out of here, because now I'm left with the
Speaker 1: baggage when you when you scream, yeah, And so I
Speaker 1: try to really, you know, just work. But you know
Speaker 1: what Rachel's oh is like a huge I love her?
Speaker 1: Is that one of your inspirations? Yeah, lover her? And
Speaker 1: I I've I read her book Gosh when I was
Speaker 1: in my younger twenties, and you learn from that book, Well,
Speaker 1: I learned a lot about fashion because it was all
Speaker 1: about fashion. But then, you know, I watched the whole
Speaker 1: show when she was trying to considering getting pregnant, and
Speaker 1: you know, all these different kinds of things, and I
Speaker 1: read some statements that she said, you know, years later,
Speaker 1: and she just said, I am so much more efficient,
Speaker 1: And that's what happened since because you can't just lollygag
Speaker 1: and like what would take ten minutes and an hour
Speaker 1: to do it? You have to do it in the ten.
Speaker 1: So you know, our office vibs have changed to Smith
Speaker 1: because you know, he used chitty chat a little bit more.
Speaker 1: And and now it is like, you know, nine to five,
Speaker 1: I'm walking out that door at five, So we got
Speaker 1: to get everything done by then, and we do, we
Speaker 1: get it done. Of course, I've hired more people and
Speaker 1: things like that, which is made I'm so glad I'll
Speaker 1: waited a little bit later to get pregnant. But um,
Speaker 1: and have a baby. But yeah, it's it's efficiency you
Speaker 1: as a mom. Like I'm actually think to myself, sometimes
Speaker 1: I do all that. I'm pretty sure I did. I'm
Speaker 1: pretty sure I did that. I was as kind of yeah,
Speaker 1: that's about it. But you know what, I think that
Speaker 1: every woman that works or doesn't work, I take Thursdays off.
Speaker 1: Hard to stay in my life, hard to stay with,
Speaker 1: hard to stay in my life. It's it's way hard.
Speaker 1: It is like having a child all day. It's so exhausting, right, Yeah,
Speaker 1: And so I challenged myself off. Yeah, I really wanted
Speaker 1: some uninterrupted time. I don't take phone calls. You can
Speaker 1: ask my clients. But I have great balance that you've
Speaker 1: worked into your life. And so I have Thursdays with Everly,
Speaker 1: and of course the weekends my personal life, I have none. Um,
Speaker 1: it's just Everly in work and my husband right now.
Speaker 1: But yeah, with Everly on Thursdays, it's obviously amazing. But
Speaker 1: you are a mother, you know what I'm it is
Speaker 1: the hardest thing because they I mean they sleep and
Speaker 1: then they play and they're on the top. Yeah, we're
Speaker 1: on the floor playing like and I'm thinking, I've got
Speaker 1: to be more creative in that day than I ever
Speaker 1: do doing anyone time, because it's like, oh my gosh,
Speaker 1: what are we gonna do next? Because they need they
Speaker 1: need constant simulation. Oh yeah, all of my clients right
Speaker 1: now are pregnant and they're all like, how about how
Speaker 1: all this crap. I'm like, you don't. You can try.
Speaker 1: I'll give you two months and then we'll read, we'll rediscuss.
Speaker 1: I've got three jumpers in my living room and that's
Speaker 1: so something that you should not say as a mom,
Speaker 1: because you don't jumping kids and jumpers all the time.
Speaker 1: But I don't let me clarify, I do not stick
Speaker 1: my child in a jumper all day long. But she
Speaker 1: likes different ones and now she likes to hold onto
Speaker 1: the edges and like explore in between the three. So
Speaker 1: they're just literally like in my living room with with
Speaker 1: the toys, and I'm like, welcome to my home, come on,
Speaker 1: And I love it. It's babies are us in here?
Speaker 1: It is I'm telling you, everyone I know is having babies.
Speaker 1: It's baby season. And I love you because you have
Speaker 1: found a balance where you still have your career, your marriage,
Speaker 1: everything and a child. And I think that is absolutely incredible.
Speaker 1: To see a woman doing that. Thank you, because it's
Speaker 1: hard hard. It's hard. It might be harder to being
Speaker 1: a say, at home mom, but it's also it's also
Speaker 1: hard to work and be away from your kids. And
Speaker 1: you know, I just don't you have a lot of guilt,
Speaker 1: you have all these different It's a real thing. It's
Speaker 1: a real thing, and it's not everything right. I always
Speaker 1: tell myself, I'm like, good lord, my mom worked three jobs.
Speaker 1: We had nothing, and I love her more than I mean.
Speaker 1: She is just right on up there with everyly and
Speaker 1: my husband. They're all in the same line for me.
Speaker 1: And she did not stay home with me. She did
Speaker 1: not call on me, she did not baby me. She couldn't,
Speaker 1: you know. And so I think about my daughter and
Speaker 1: the and the privileged life that I live of honestly,
Speaker 1: and I think, you know, it doesn't matter. It doesn't
Speaker 1: matter if you're working, it doesn't matter if you're saying
Speaker 1: at ho, I'm like your kid. If you love them,
Speaker 1: they're gonna love you right back, and they're not gonna remember.
Speaker 1: And so anytime I'm gone for you know, eight hours
Speaker 1: or in the day or whatever, I just say to myself,
Speaker 1: she's not even she is gonna one day I appreciate this,
Speaker 1: and she's gonna appreciate that you worked hard and you
Speaker 1: had a passion and you follow through and maybe she
Speaker 1: wants to be a designer and how that would be
Speaker 1: pretty business together. My other designer just had a little girl,
Speaker 1: and we always talked about We're like, what if my
Speaker 1: daughter's name is Everly and her daughter's name is Serena,
Speaker 1: And we're like, what if Everley and Serena, like one
Speaker 1: day took this over, I'd be out and I'd be
Speaker 1: in the Caribbean, and oh would that not be heaven?
Speaker 1: I always tell my husband, He's like, what are you
Speaker 1: ever thinking about quitting? And I'm like, yeah, when Everley
Speaker 1: tooks over all, that's perfect? So you love it? Like
Speaker 1: do you love this to be yourself? I? UM? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think so. I need um again. I think because
Speaker 1: of where I come from, like I need two. I
Speaker 1: don't know how to say this without sounding like I
Speaker 1: need therapy, but I don't need therapy. I love therapy,
Speaker 1: but yeah, I lived in therapy. I like to know
Speaker 1: that I'm contributing. Do you know what I mean? Totally? Like,
Speaker 1: did you know you're able to? Yeah? I like to say, hey, honey,
Speaker 1: I'm getting this light for our dining room, and then
Speaker 1: that's the end of the story because I'm getting this
Speaker 1: light for our our dining room. You know, I don't.
Speaker 1: I don't. I don't want to want to ask and
Speaker 1: um and he would give freely, absolutely, But I like
Speaker 1: to be in a position where I just don't. I
Speaker 1: can provide, I can find for myself. And again that's
Speaker 1: where I come from. That's what I saw, So you know,
Speaker 1: I think that's great. Therapist, hit me up. I probably
Speaker 1: need to talk to that. But I found some and
Speaker 1: I do and I wouldn't probably do any job and
Speaker 1: sacrifice my time with my child if I didn't have to,
Speaker 1: to be honest, but this is something that I just don't. Actually,
Speaker 1: one of the conversations that my husband and I had was, yes,
Speaker 1: I could totally quit think about how much money I
Speaker 1: would spend in our health if I was here all
Speaker 1: day looking at everything, like best I'm looking at our
Speaker 1: house is totally best that I'm looking at other people's
Speaker 1: talent getting paid for it because I can see something
Speaker 1: that I love and I'm like, that should go there
Speaker 1: versus this should come come with me. And he's like
Speaker 1: great point. April. I was like, yeah, that's so I'm
Speaker 1: saving a lot of money. I said, the money I'm
Speaker 1: bringing in, I'm saving as a whole whole lot of money.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I love that. Okay, so we're gonna wrap
Speaker 1: up before I do that. What's your best experience, Like
Speaker 1: you're like, the best experience you had designing a house
Speaker 1: and the worst experience? Do you have any of that
Speaker 1: come to mind? Um gosh, like one that just set
Speaker 1: you on fire? Like happiness? Yeah, so I've had. Actually
Speaker 1: they're kind of all in the tie and they all
Speaker 1: have the same exact denominator, which is a client that
Speaker 1: trusts the vision and that we're your best. Just let
Speaker 1: up the reins. The clients that are the happiness, the happiest,
Speaker 1: and the experiences that I've had were I'm the have
Speaker 1: everybody is the happiest is when they don't quite get it,
Speaker 1: you know, like it's your home, I get it, Like
Speaker 1: I would want to know everything that was going I
Speaker 1: would want to know down to the candle, what what
Speaker 1: I'm paying for, what was coming into my house. The
Speaker 1: best experience, though, are when people and it's usually on
Speaker 1: their second home, third home, when they're like you go,
Speaker 1: I trust you and then and they mean it and
Speaker 1: they don't ask any questions and then they come home
Speaker 1: or they go through the experience and it's kind of
Speaker 1: it is a lot more flawless. And so that would
Speaker 1: you not gonna say fluid with your vision. It doesn't
Speaker 1: get like little child blocks like chap chopped up. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think it really chops up. It's a flow experience.
Speaker 1: For that's what I tell everybody. Your house should honestly
Speaker 1: from the time you walk through the front to the back. Um,
Speaker 1: it should feel it. Yeah, it should. You should feel
Speaker 1: like you're going through it. That's some of the most
Speaker 1: impressive homes to me is when you walk from the
Speaker 1: front to back and every room is different, but every
Speaker 1: room is the same, you know what I mean. You
Speaker 1: feel like you're in the same home, but every rooms
Speaker 1: so different, and that there's a creative element something that
Speaker 1: you know you haven't seen before that's not like the
Speaker 1: number one pin on Pinterest. And so those are my
Speaker 1: those are my favorites. And there's a couple that that
Speaker 1: have that that that's happened for um. My worst um
Speaker 1: is when the team like so you know you've got
Speaker 1: contractors architects, designers and then all your subs and you know,
Speaker 1: you have to work as a team. And I just
Speaker 1: got off this one job man, and it was it
Speaker 1: was a disaster because the contractor was not from Nashville,
Speaker 1: so that's they were hired out from somewhere else and
Speaker 1: they came on and it was just it was just
Speaker 1: it was bad, and there was a lot There was
Speaker 1: a lot of money to work together. It wasn't that.
Speaker 1: There's a lot that goes into it. Um, a lot
Speaker 1: of things that were happening that shouldn't have been happening.
Speaker 1: And you know, there's a lot of rules when you
Speaker 1: when you're designing and you're building, and those rules are
Speaker 1: re unbroken. And of course I've been with a client
Speaker 1: for a long time and so I was the one
Speaker 1: that has to bring all that to light. And those
Speaker 1: are really hard conversations that that contractor is no longer
Speaker 1: on the job and we're continuing but um with another contractor.
Speaker 1: But it was pretty It made me sick to my
Speaker 1: stomach some of the conversations. You know, when things go
Speaker 1: wrong in a house, it cast, it can cost tens
Speaker 1: of thousands of dollars, and those conversations when you see
Speaker 1: it happening or you're even a part of it, or
Speaker 1: whatever is going on their gut wrenching, like you can
Speaker 1: lose sleep at night because it's you know, you rip
Speaker 1: out things and there's mold everywhere, you know, and and
Speaker 1: you and you can tell people that up front, but
Speaker 1: then it's like you never have excited about it or
Speaker 1: probably in a good mood about it, right right, and
Speaker 1: and you know, and I just had this door that
Speaker 1: got made and it was supposed to beautiful and it's not.
Speaker 1: And it's so expensive. But you know, the great thing
Speaker 1: is when you establish your company, you do have money
Speaker 1: to move and so obviously I eat that cost because
Speaker 1: I'm in charge. But it's to get that phone call.
Speaker 1: And thank god, it's just a door. I mean, I've
Speaker 1: seen it be whole rooms, not for me but for
Speaker 1: other people, and you know it was just adorabill eat
Speaker 1: it will change it or whatever, but those are It's
Speaker 1: just as a business owner, you have to have a
Speaker 1: lot of conversations a lot of different people. You're yelling
Speaker 1: at one person over here from the door, and then
Speaker 1: you're having to eat crow over here and and totally
Speaker 1: take the blame because you know, I didn't make the door.
Speaker 1: I as soon as I saw it, I brought it.
Speaker 1: You know, I've fixed it, but I still am responsible.
Speaker 1: And so those are some super hard conversations. Some of
Speaker 1: the clients, like Thomas Rhet and Lauren Rett and they're
Speaker 1: they're Aikins there. There's such solid people and because they
Speaker 1: go and they you know, see other third world countries
Speaker 1: for the easiest people, because they're just so loving in
Speaker 1: their heart. They know how they just know what's important
Speaker 1: and what's not and um, and I did will his
Speaker 1: room and um because they stopt the propos little was
Speaker 1: it from Haiti? Yeah? Yeah, And so you know she
Speaker 1: could she gave you just did it as a gift.
Speaker 1: But I did her room, and you know, she just
Speaker 1: me and she was just like, you know, these are
Speaker 1: the things that I want to you know, I want
Speaker 1: to be a part of it. But you do you
Speaker 1: and and and we did and they loved it. And
Speaker 1: so she gets it that it's just you know, no stress.
Speaker 1: You know, she came home a couple of things weren't done.
Speaker 1: She's like, you know, I look, I can sleep in
Speaker 1: my bed for a while if she has to, you know.
Speaker 1: So it's just it's the perspective is great because of
Speaker 1: what they see and where they go and travel and stuff.
Speaker 1: Just having a good perspective about what. Really we all
Speaker 1: lose it. We all lose perspective. You want a great house.
Speaker 1: At the end of the day. We're not dying of
Speaker 1: cancer here right Luckily, you know, with where I come
Speaker 1: from and everything, I still have that family. I didn't
Speaker 1: lose them, and so they're the sweetest people ever. But
Speaker 1: I gained perspective very quickly because you know, they don't
Speaker 1: have everything and they never will, and and so I'm always,
Speaker 1: you know, very reminded that not all of us get
Speaker 1: to live with designers and you know, people that they
Speaker 1: hired to do their house, to do their houses, and
Speaker 1: so it's good to to have that. And if you
Speaker 1: don't have it, go find it. I agree, you know. Okay,
Speaker 1: So the last question, after everything you've lived through, all
Speaker 1: that you've done, accomplished, everyone that you've seen and worked with,
Speaker 1: leave your light. So leave some inspiration of how you
Speaker 1: have been inspired or how you would like to inspire people.
Speaker 1: You know, it's gonna sound really weird, but I live
Speaker 1: pretty simply as far as um. Some people find it
Speaker 1: so fascinating when they walk into my closet because I
Speaker 1: just don't have a lot of clothes because if I'm
Speaker 1: not wearing them and I see anybody, I just give
Speaker 1: them all away. And you could ask any friend of
Speaker 1: mine they're like, do you can I borrow something? I'm like,
Speaker 1: you could, There's not a lot here. Um And so
Speaker 1: I would say that that that is um is is
Speaker 1: something that I always try to remember because in the
Speaker 1: world of interior design it can be super materialistic, and
Speaker 1: you know, you can get caught up in things that
Speaker 1: are just really don't really just don't matter. So I
Speaker 1: always um what I try to do in reality, like
Speaker 1: not some big slogan, because I don't remember slogans, but
Speaker 1: in reality, like I always just kind of look around
Speaker 1: and whether it's my housekeeper or whether it is someone
Speaker 1: else's or I have friends that are teachers who have
Speaker 1: four underprivileged schools, and uh, and I'll just go through
Speaker 1: my closet and go through my life and just take
Speaker 1: all of the crap and just send it away, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean. I don't need a tax trite
Speaker 1: off for it. I don't have to give it to
Speaker 1: something where I'm gonna receive something, it's just I just
Speaker 1: give it away. And and I'm saying it now because
Speaker 1: you asked, but I would say the other most important
Speaker 1: thing is to do it quietly. You know what I
Speaker 1: mean is to do things a little more quietly, because um,
Speaker 1: that's I just feel like that's how you receive your
Speaker 1: rewards in heaven is to do things quietly, and so
Speaker 1: you don't have to be a known philanthropist to be
Speaker 1: able to, you know, give give things away. And another
Speaker 1: pet paint that I have as far as giving things
Speaker 1: away is when I hear people say I will not
Speaker 1: give that homeless person money because he's probably gonna drink.
Speaker 1: I literally want to die every time I hear that,
Speaker 1: because it's not really any of our business. And if
Speaker 1: they do, you know what, I would probably drink every
Speaker 1: day too if that was my position in life, right,
Speaker 1: And you know, it's my responsibility to give, it's not
Speaker 1: my responsibility to assign how they use it. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: So April Tomlin, Sat, April Tomlin, it's not true. You ship.
Speaker 1: You're amazing. Thank you so much. Thanks for having me,
Speaker 1: Thanks for having me. I appreciate it, I appreciate thanks
Speaker 1: for your time, and I have sonsy. I know you
Speaker 1: love that interview. How inspiring is April? She is the best.
Speaker 1: You guys, get excited. I have YouTube sensations Megan and
Speaker 1: Liz joining me next week. These two girls are not
Speaker 1: I think they're not even twenty five yet. They have
Speaker 1: their own clothing line, they have their own brand on YouTube.
Speaker 1: They are killing it. A new single out called Habit.
Speaker 1: The way they have navigated this YouTube world blows my
Speaker 1: mind and we talk all about it. You will not
Speaker 1: want to miss them. They have over a million subscribers
Speaker 1: on YouTube. What They're incredible. We'll see you next week.
Speaker 1: Don't forget to subscribe.