WEBVTT - Stand Up To Cancer with Bobby Berk 0:00:00.240 --> 0:00:02.679 Yeah, I've been prepping for like a couple of different 0:00:02.759 --> 0:00:07.360 roles recently, and my mind, my braining has been just 0:00:07.560 --> 0:00:11.480 full carrying around like multiple characters. You know, as an actor, 0:00:12.520 --> 0:00:15.319 your mental space is kind of your office like that. 0:00:15.320 --> 0:00:19.239 That's where we do the work, and it's so important 0:00:19.280 --> 0:00:23.759 that we keep our space uncluttered. And over my life, 0:00:23.840 --> 0:00:28.560 I've learned that my surroundings play a pretty big part 0:00:28.640 --> 0:00:31.320 in my own mental state. Have that is anybody out 0:00:31.320 --> 0:00:34.280 there noticed something similar? I mean, when your space is clear, 0:00:34.360 --> 0:00:35.440 your mind is clear. 0:00:35.680 --> 0:00:39.080 Today's guest, Bobby Burke, has dedicated his life to the 0:00:39.200 --> 0:00:43.400 art of interiors spaces while also championing an organization that 0:00:43.560 --> 0:00:46.400 stands up against one of the biggest killers of our time. 0:00:47.200 --> 0:00:58.360 So lean in. I'm glad you're here. Hey, everybody, I'm 0:00:58.400 --> 0:01:02.040 here today with Bobby Burke. Anybody call you Robert? 0:01:02.480 --> 0:01:06.559 No, well they try, but Bobby is actually my legal name. 0:01:06.720 --> 0:01:07.880 It is that's Robert. 0:01:08.080 --> 0:01:12.000 I am from Texas, so my name is Bobby James, 0:01:13.280 --> 0:01:14.000 not Robert. 0:01:14.120 --> 0:01:16.360 So it's always funny to me when I'll get a. 0:01:16.400 --> 0:01:18.520 Legal document sent over to me and they've just assumed 0:01:18.560 --> 0:01:20.119 and they put Robert on there, and I'm like. 0:01:20.080 --> 0:01:21.160 No, that's not my name. 0:01:22.040 --> 0:01:23.800 So it was never you were never Robert. 0:01:24.720 --> 0:01:25.640 I was never Robert. 0:01:25.760 --> 0:01:29.759 Yeah, that's everybody calls me Bobby except for Caramo, my cathmate, 0:01:29.840 --> 0:01:31.679 which is the only person that is allowed to call 0:01:31.720 --> 0:01:32.160 me Bob. 0:01:32.959 --> 0:01:38.800 I say, okay, yeah, it's funny. We I just ask 0:01:38.880 --> 0:01:41.960 about names. I don't really know why, but I think 0:01:41.959 --> 0:01:43.919 part of it is because I just don't like mine, 0:01:44.560 --> 0:01:48.600 and so I'm always curious how people feel about their 0:01:48.640 --> 0:01:51.560 own names. And I have this funny thing where, speaking 0:01:51.600 --> 0:01:55.240 of Bobby, like, I like the name keV, but much 0:01:55.280 --> 0:01:59.480 better than Kevin by the same token. I feel like 0:01:59.520 --> 0:02:02.240 people can Kevu a little too early, you know what 0:02:02.280 --> 0:02:04.520 I mean. Yeah, it's like are you having me already? 0:02:04.560 --> 0:02:07.200 Like like we literally like like literally you just took 0:02:07.280 --> 0:02:08.040 my order. Yeah. 0:02:08.240 --> 0:02:10.760 I was kind of like, I'll get an email where 0:02:10.760 --> 0:02:14.680 somebody calls me Bob and I'm like, what, No. And 0:02:14.720 --> 0:02:16.840 that's a triggering one because my mom, when I was little, 0:02:16.840 --> 0:02:18.600 people would call me Bob and She's like, don't call 0:02:18.680 --> 0:02:20.800 him Bob. That's an old man's name. And so that 0:02:20.960 --> 0:02:22.840 was ingrained in my mind, and so when I hear Bob, 0:02:22.840 --> 0:02:24.560 I think of an old man's name. But when I 0:02:24.600 --> 0:02:26.760 was little, I couldn't stand Bobby. I didn't like the name, 0:02:27.200 --> 0:02:29.600 so I tried to I tried to switch it up. 0:02:29.639 --> 0:02:30.560 My middle name is James. 0:02:30.560 --> 0:02:32.280 I tried to get people to call me James, and 0:02:32.360 --> 0:02:34.520 that never happened. And then I had the bright idea 0:02:35.000 --> 0:02:40.320 to go by BJ, which luckily, my mom, without explaining 0:02:40.360 --> 0:02:43.040 to me why I shouldn't go by BJ, talk me 0:02:43.080 --> 0:02:46.320 out of going by BJH, that's funny. 0:02:46.919 --> 0:02:49.720 That's funny. That's along the same lines as when I 0:02:49.800 --> 0:02:52.280 when my wife was pregnant and I told her that 0:02:52.480 --> 0:02:55.480 I thought Macon was a good name for our son, 0:02:56.200 --> 0:02:58.880 and she's like, Macon bake. 0:02:59.160 --> 0:03:01.120 No, that's make it Bacon. 0:03:01.240 --> 0:03:03.800 Oh, that'd be kind of fun, though, I mean not forever, 0:03:03.919 --> 0:03:04.720 but that would be fun. 0:03:04.760 --> 0:03:08.080 He would hate us forever. So now we have a goat. 0:03:08.160 --> 0:03:11.000 We have a goat named Macon. But but and he doesn't, 0:03:11.040 --> 0:03:12.960 he doesn't hate us. What part of Texas are you from? 0:03:13.440 --> 0:03:16.120 Originally from Houston or Alvin, Texas is a little a 0:03:16.120 --> 0:03:18.360 little suburb in the southern part of Houston, home of 0:03:18.400 --> 0:03:19.120 Nolan Ryan. 0:03:19.440 --> 0:03:20.799 That's the only thing it's famous for. 0:03:21.480 --> 0:03:26.200 Okay, Okay, I have a band and we we often 0:03:27.160 --> 0:03:29.440 play Texas. We're actually just on our way out there, 0:03:29.480 --> 0:03:33.600 doing four shows in Texas in about a week. And uh, 0:03:33.880 --> 0:03:37.240 it's it's always, it's always amazing. How long were did you? 0:03:37.400 --> 0:03:39.280 Did you spend most of your child out there? 0:03:39.560 --> 0:03:44.440 No, I we instantly moved to Missouri, but my hands 0:03:44.480 --> 0:03:47.040 and uncles, my grandparents, they were all in Texas, so 0:03:47.080 --> 0:03:48.600 I would I would spend my summers there. 0:03:48.880 --> 0:03:50.960 So I grew up between Missouri and Texas. 0:03:52.160 --> 0:03:54.280 Houston in the summer, there's a climate. 0:03:54.880 --> 0:03:57.040 Yeah, of all the times to go to Houston in 0:03:57.080 --> 0:03:58.480 summer was not the best time. 0:03:59.000 --> 0:04:01.720 Yeah, So what was it do you think that got 0:04:01.760 --> 0:04:07.200 you into uh, design and and and decorating and just 0:04:07.240 --> 0:04:09.600 tell me that path. I mean, it's it's well. First off, 0:04:09.680 --> 0:04:12.400 let me just say that it's so fun to talk 0:04:12.440 --> 0:04:16.640 to you because a lot of you know who I 0:04:16.720 --> 0:04:20.680 ended up speaking to and these podcasts are actors and 0:04:20.760 --> 0:04:25.240 musicians and not. I mean, we had a sort of 0:04:25.240 --> 0:04:27.680 out of the box episode where I was speaking to 0:04:27.760 --> 0:04:31.000 Deepak Chopra, But but it's mostly been kind of like people. 0:04:31.200 --> 0:04:33.520 I mean, I know that you are in the entertainment industry, 0:04:33.600 --> 0:04:36.560 but but you come to it from something that a 0:04:36.600 --> 0:04:39.120 lot of people would be surprised about, but it's it's 0:04:39.400 --> 0:04:42.000 one of my passions and one of my favorite kind 0:04:42.080 --> 0:04:50.800 of things and interests is design and architecture. And I 0:04:51.080 --> 0:04:53.559 it's not that I'm I'm good at it or really 0:04:53.600 --> 0:04:55.680 know much about it, but it's just been something that 0:04:55.720 --> 0:05:01.279 I've always kind of loved and I I I think 0:05:01.680 --> 0:05:03.880 probably if I wasn't an actor or a musician, I 0:05:03.920 --> 0:05:06.840 think that's probably what I would be doing. So so 0:05:06.880 --> 0:05:10.440 it's fun. So I'm curious from your standpoint, what kind 0:05:10.440 --> 0:05:11.400 of drew you to this. 0:05:12.680 --> 0:05:16.880 You know, what I was little, designed wasn't something I 0:05:16.960 --> 0:05:20.480 really thought of as like a career or a path. 0:05:20.680 --> 0:05:23.719 It was just something that I always kind of got. 0:05:23.880 --> 0:05:26.160 I remember when I was like five or six years old, 0:05:26.839 --> 0:05:30.120 my mom had decorated my bedroom and all red, like 0:05:30.320 --> 0:05:34.440 red curtains, red bedspread, red rug, red pillows, and I just, 0:05:34.640 --> 0:05:36.279 even as a little kid, I was like, this is 0:05:36.360 --> 0:05:39.120 not this is not this is not the plot, This 0:05:39.200 --> 0:05:42.479 is not relaxing to me. You know, this is giving 0:05:42.520 --> 0:05:44.600 me anxiety, even though you know, obviously I didn't even 0:05:44.600 --> 0:05:46.880 know what the word anxiety was back then, but I 0:05:47.000 --> 0:05:49.000 was just like, I need to do something different. 0:05:49.040 --> 0:05:50.440 So I, you know, I feel like I'm at the 0:05:50.520 --> 0:05:51.960 Mustang ranch or something. 0:05:52.240 --> 0:05:54.920 Yeah, my aunts and grandma would always send me, you know, 0:05:54.960 --> 0:05:57.000 these little twenty dollars checks for my birthday, and so 0:05:57.440 --> 0:05:59.800 I used up all my twenty dollars checks to get 0:06:00.200 --> 0:06:02.840 betting and new curtains, you know, as like a little kid. 0:06:03.240 --> 0:06:05.440 And I found this like dinosaur poster because I was 0:06:05.440 --> 0:06:08.479 assessed with dinosaurs that had all these blues and greens 0:06:08.480 --> 0:06:10.479 and yellows in it. And I kind of coordinated the 0:06:10.480 --> 0:06:12.919 pillows on the bed to this poster, and I just 0:06:13.520 --> 0:06:16.080 I knew it made me feel better. I knew the 0:06:16.120 --> 0:06:19.440 blue was more relaxing, you know. And again I couldn't 0:06:19.520 --> 0:06:21.640 articulate that as a child, I didn't know why. 0:06:22.120 --> 0:06:23.279 I just had a feeling. 0:06:23.400 --> 0:06:27.080 And so my whole life, I've understood the power of 0:06:27.360 --> 0:06:31.000 transforming your space can really transform your whole attitude. 0:06:31.000 --> 0:06:31.760 It could really. 0:06:31.520 --> 0:06:34.520 Transform your life. Honestly, you know, that's what I do 0:06:34.560 --> 0:06:37.320 all queer I had transformed people's lives by transforming their space. 0:06:37.880 --> 0:06:41.680 And throughout my teens, you know, I left home at fifteen, 0:06:41.760 --> 0:06:43.840 and at some points I was homeless, and so like 0:06:43.880 --> 0:06:48.240 the feeling of home was very important to me now, 0:06:48.279 --> 0:06:50.000 because for a while I didn't have a home, so 0:06:50.080 --> 0:06:51.120 that the feeling of. 0:06:51.080 --> 0:06:52.560 Safety, you know. 0:06:52.640 --> 0:06:55.840 And even when I was living in my car, you know, 0:06:56.080 --> 0:06:58.680 I always kept it organized and I would I would 0:06:58.760 --> 0:07:00.599 have betting in the back, and I would make the 0:07:00.640 --> 0:07:01.599 bed every day. 0:07:01.640 --> 0:07:01.800 You know. 0:07:01.839 --> 0:07:03.400 I wasn't one of those people that lived in their 0:07:03.400 --> 0:07:05.039 car that you could see that lived in their car. 0:07:05.960 --> 0:07:08.680 And when I finally got apartments, you know, I made 0:07:08.680 --> 0:07:11.240 sure that I really, even if it was stuff that 0:07:11.280 --> 0:07:13.360 I would find on the street, I would set up 0:07:13.400 --> 0:07:16.520 my home to or what made me feel comfortable and 0:07:16.560 --> 0:07:20.680 safe and secure. And you know, I I you know, 0:07:20.720 --> 0:07:22.920 I left home at fifteen, Like I said, I left 0:07:22.960 --> 0:07:25.520 high school at fifteen, so I didn't I don't have 0:07:25.560 --> 0:07:26.480 a formal education. 0:07:26.560 --> 0:07:27.960 And design it's something I've kind. 0:07:27.800 --> 0:07:31.920 Of self taught myself, but I've always been. 0:07:31.880 --> 0:07:32.520 Drawn to it. 0:07:32.560 --> 0:07:34.000 And so I was lucky enough that, you know, I 0:07:34.080 --> 0:07:36.600 ended up working in retail stores and the retail management, 0:07:36.600 --> 0:07:40.760 and then I got I started working at retail furniture stores, 0:07:40.800 --> 0:07:42.760 and which is how I kind of got into the 0:07:42.800 --> 0:07:46.400 furniture industry. And then I started I started my own 0:07:46.760 --> 0:07:50.920 retail company. I first started selling furniture online on Bobby 0:07:50.960 --> 0:07:53.280 Burke dot com. I worked for a company called Portico 0:07:53.600 --> 0:07:56.480 in New York, and I had built their e commerce 0:07:56.520 --> 0:07:59.880 division and one day, unfortunately they went bankrupt and I'm like, well, crap, 0:08:00.000 --> 0:08:00.320 what am I. 0:08:00.320 --> 0:08:00.720 Going to do? 0:08:00.760 --> 0:08:03.000 And so I come to the database I had built 0:08:03.040 --> 0:08:05.320 for them. I put it on Bobby burg home dot 0:08:05.360 --> 0:08:07.160 com and I'm like, maybe I'll sell itself or two 0:08:07.160 --> 0:08:08.320 while I look for another job. 0:08:08.960 --> 0:08:09.960 But it did well. 0:08:10.040 --> 0:08:13.760 I was one of the first online retailer selling furniture online. 0:08:13.840 --> 0:08:17.120 I stopped on the website just in preparation for this, 0:08:17.200 --> 0:08:20.840 and it's really it's pretty impressive. I mean it's very impressive, 0:08:20.880 --> 0:08:23.360 you know, I thank you. There's so much, so much. 0:08:23.400 --> 0:08:26.760 It's really it's what's much more than design. If anybody's 0:08:26.760 --> 0:08:28.440 never been on there, it's kind of like a lifestyle. 0:08:28.480 --> 0:08:30.040 I mean, I saw you have some you had a 0:08:30.120 --> 0:08:33.079 thing with a cattlebell, workout or something like that. 0:08:33.800 --> 0:08:37.480 Yeah, it's all about lifestyle and living healthy, not just 0:08:37.520 --> 0:08:40.960 with design, but with food, with fitness, with travel, with 0:08:41.000 --> 0:08:44.160 all kinds of things. But then after the website it 0:08:44.200 --> 0:08:46.480 did really well. So I opened up my own stores 0:08:46.480 --> 0:08:48.280 and I had stores in New York and Miami and 0:08:48.320 --> 0:08:51.440 Atlanta and LA and they were all retail furniture and 0:08:51.520 --> 0:08:54.760 accessories and home decor, and I would help my customers 0:08:54.800 --> 0:08:57.079 pick out stuff for their houses and help design their houses. 0:08:57.120 --> 0:08:59.920 And then I realized that that was way more fun 0:09:00.040 --> 0:09:01.880 and I had way more passion to do that than 0:09:01.920 --> 0:09:05.160 I did running a retail company. So I opened up 0:09:05.160 --> 0:09:08.320 a design division and that started being quite successful. So 0:09:08.480 --> 0:09:12.200 as that gained more traction, I started closing stores as 0:09:12.280 --> 0:09:12.960 leases were. 0:09:12.880 --> 0:09:14.560 Up and solely focused on design. 0:09:15.000 --> 0:09:17.680 And then where I came along two years later, and oh. 0:09:17.559 --> 0:09:18.320 That's where I am at. 0:09:18.679 --> 0:09:21.320 Okay, so you had so you had like brick and 0:09:21.360 --> 0:09:23.600 mortar retail stores and you close them up. Yeah, but 0:09:23.640 --> 0:09:25.040 you held on to the website. 0:09:25.400 --> 0:09:29.000 Yeah. Yeah, the website is an editorial website. Now we 0:09:29.040 --> 0:09:30.560 actually don't sell anything on our web. 0:09:30.559 --> 0:09:33.240 Oh okay, Oh yeah, there's no connection. How do you 0:09:33.280 --> 0:09:35.560 make the choices for like what you steer people to? 0:09:35.679 --> 0:09:36.960 I mean there has to be some kind of a 0:09:36.960 --> 0:09:38.040 connection there though. 0:09:38.320 --> 0:09:40.520 If it looks good. Yeah, And I mean I also 0:09:40.559 --> 0:09:43.000 do have my own collections that I've designed, but I 0:09:43.480 --> 0:09:46.280 don't really actually, I think you can buy my rugs 0:09:46.320 --> 0:09:49.360 and maybe like my wallpaper on the website, that's it. 0:09:49.440 --> 0:09:52.160 And even that, honestly, I'm trying to get away from 0:09:52.200 --> 0:09:55.480 I just like my retail partners to handle that. And 0:09:55.640 --> 0:09:57.560 my website. I like to just be a place that 0:09:57.600 --> 0:10:01.400 you can come and find beautiful things, and if we 0:10:01.520 --> 0:10:03.520 use a product from somebody else, we link to it 0:10:03.559 --> 0:10:04.480 so you can find it. 0:10:04.920 --> 0:10:07.120 Yeah, and it seems like you have all kinds of 0:10:07.160 --> 0:10:09.839 like price points on there. It's not like super super 0:10:09.920 --> 0:10:10.760 high end necessary. 0:10:10.880 --> 0:10:15.160 Yeah, you know, I've always tried to make my brand accessible. 0:10:15.600 --> 0:10:16.920 You know, from the moment I. 0:10:16.880 --> 0:10:20.040 Had my stores and A because I think design should 0:10:20.040 --> 0:10:22.960 be for everybody, and B I opened. 0:10:22.800 --> 0:10:23.880 Up my first store. 0:10:25.200 --> 0:10:28.400 November two thousand and seven, and then, of course or January, 0:10:28.600 --> 0:10:31.599 I think February two thousand and eight, the whole economy 0:10:31.720 --> 0:10:35.280 crashed and collapsed and bear Stearn's Clothes and I had 0:10:35.280 --> 0:10:35.600 to make. 0:10:35.520 --> 0:10:37.800 A quick decision on where my brand was going. 0:10:37.720 --> 0:10:39.400 To go, if it was going to go super high end, 0:10:39.480 --> 0:10:41.720 if it was going to be accessible, and I decided 0:10:41.920 --> 0:10:44.040 I wanted it to be accessible, and I've stayed true 0:10:44.040 --> 0:10:50.120 to them. 0:10:50.760 --> 0:10:52.160 I want to lean in a little bit to this 0:10:52.360 --> 0:10:58.440 idea of the emotional connection that people have to their 0:10:58.480 --> 0:11:01.719 living spaces because they don't think that it's like necessarily 0:11:03.120 --> 0:11:08.600 spoken about all that often. I mean, I I mean, 0:11:08.760 --> 0:11:11.320 because I think a lot of people would look at 0:11:11.480 --> 0:11:15.480 something like the furniture, Uh, you know, you knew that 0:11:15.520 --> 0:11:18.360 you didn't want red walls, right, A lot of people 0:11:18.400 --> 0:11:21.160 would say, I don't know, the red walls are finding me. 0:11:21.280 --> 0:11:24.160 I think about my brother who actually was him and 0:11:24.200 --> 0:11:27.160 his wife were actually on Queer Eye many many years ago, uh. 0:11:27.440 --> 0:11:28.880 The straight Guy. 0:11:29.160 --> 0:11:33.120 Yeah, original show. They did their their their apartment in 0:11:33.280 --> 0:11:35.400 New York, came and did their apartment. I was actually 0:11:35.440 --> 0:11:37.559 on the episode myself. I mean, I you know, showed 0:11:37.640 --> 0:11:40.240 up when the during the big reveal and the whole thing. 0:11:41.200 --> 0:11:44.360 And he's not a guy that really he will say 0:11:44.520 --> 0:11:47.640 like he doesn't. He claims that he just doesn't see 0:11:47.720 --> 0:11:52.240 stuff like he'll he would never walk into a place 0:11:52.600 --> 0:11:55.480 and say, uh, I don't like the way this this 0:11:55.800 --> 0:12:01.120 looks necessarily you know he he he Uh. That's his 0:12:01.200 --> 0:12:03.320 own kind of assessment of him. But I do think 0:12:03.400 --> 0:12:07.120 that he has a really a really good eye actually, 0:12:07.520 --> 0:12:10.040 and I think that I guess my question is, if 0:12:10.080 --> 0:12:16.040 you're not somebody that considers yourself, you know, sensitive to 0:12:16.440 --> 0:12:22.520 your surroundings. How do you talk somebody into the idea 0:12:22.640 --> 0:12:27.480 that whatever the furniture, whatever their their you know, overall 0:12:27.800 --> 0:12:30.199 space is like is going to give them some kind 0:12:30.200 --> 0:12:33.200 of internal peace or or happiness. Because I think a 0:12:33.200 --> 0:12:34.840 lot of people would go, I don't care. You know, 0:12:34.880 --> 0:12:36.679 I'm happy in a motel sex. 0:12:38.200 --> 0:12:40.160 I think there are there are those people who just 0:12:40.320 --> 0:12:43.520 who think that, and and you know, from one hand 0:12:43.520 --> 0:12:46.720 they might be right, but I think on another hand, 0:12:46.880 --> 0:12:51.360 they don't realize just how much your your surroundings can 0:12:51.400 --> 0:12:55.560 affect you. And you know, for example, like a clutter 0:12:55.640 --> 0:12:57.920 and chaos around you, like they'd be like, oh, it 0:12:57.960 --> 0:13:03.560 doesn't bother me. Subconsciously it does. You know, chaos around 0:13:03.640 --> 0:13:05.840 you really does create chaos in your mind, and you 0:13:05.880 --> 0:13:08.120 may not realize that that might be one of the 0:13:08.160 --> 0:13:10.600 reasons why you're getting anxiety or you're stressed out. But 0:13:11.400 --> 0:13:13.400 you know, when you finally do deal with that clutter 0:13:13.440 --> 0:13:15.560 and you organize everything, you kind of take a breath 0:13:15.600 --> 0:13:19.760 and you're like, Okay, wow, I thought that didn't affect me, 0:13:19.840 --> 0:13:22.560 but god, I do feel that there's a weight. 0:13:22.400 --> 0:13:25.679 Lifted off my shoulder. So yes, there's absolutely those people 0:13:25.679 --> 0:13:27.920 that are like, ah, that doesn't bother me. I don't care. 0:13:27.960 --> 0:13:29.400 You know, my husband was the same way. 0:13:29.480 --> 0:13:31.559 You know, for years, We've been together for twenty years, 0:13:31.559 --> 0:13:34.199 and I used to always be able to do whatever 0:13:34.240 --> 0:13:35.920 I wanted at the home because he just didn't care. 0:13:35.960 --> 0:13:37.760 It didn't bother him. 0:13:37.760 --> 0:13:41.000 But over the years, having watched me transform our spaces 0:13:41.240 --> 0:13:44.080 and having seen how it has changed the way he 0:13:44.120 --> 0:13:47.360 feels about the space and changed his outlook and changed 0:13:47.800 --> 0:13:52.000 stress levels. Now, unfortunately for me, now he has opinions, 0:13:53.000 --> 0:13:55.200 and now I don't just get to do whatever I want. 0:13:55.240 --> 0:13:56.720 He wants to be a part of everything we do 0:13:56.760 --> 0:13:57.360 in our homes. 0:13:57.640 --> 0:13:58.000 That's all. 0:13:58.520 --> 0:14:01.640 So I think once people will kind of experience some 0:14:01.720 --> 0:14:05.320 type of transformation, then they're like, oh, this is better. 0:14:05.520 --> 0:14:07.200 I thought I was fine and I thought it was good, 0:14:07.200 --> 0:14:09.120 But you're you're right, this did. 0:14:09.000 --> 0:14:11.160 Have an effect on me that I did not think 0:14:11.240 --> 0:14:11.680 it would. 0:14:12.280 --> 0:14:16.240 Yeah, yeah, I mean I also think that I don't 0:14:16.280 --> 0:14:18.920 know how you feel, but have you noticed with either 0:14:19.000 --> 0:14:21.160 with clients or or with people that you know or 0:14:21.240 --> 0:14:26.320 friends or whatever, that over time, your your needs in 0:14:26.400 --> 0:14:29.720 terms of things like clutter, actually sort of change. Like 0:14:29.800 --> 0:14:33.240 I've gotten to the point where I just I want 0:14:33.360 --> 0:14:36.760 less and less stuff like like like, I got so 0:14:36.840 --> 0:14:39.400 much stuff in my head. There's you know, the hard 0:14:39.480 --> 0:14:46.240 drive is so overloaded right now with junk and and 0:14:46.240 --> 0:14:49.240 and you know, work in the world and everything that 0:14:49.280 --> 0:14:51.600 when I'm I mean, you never know it from my background, 0:14:51.600 --> 0:14:53.360 but I've just happened to be I just have to 0:14:53.400 --> 0:14:54.800 be in the room. It just has a ton of 0:14:54.840 --> 0:14:58.640 shit in it. But but but yeah, I I I 0:14:59.520 --> 0:15:01.880 feel like and I think my wife has sort of 0:15:02.160 --> 0:15:07.040 gotten there too. You know, when we first met, I 0:15:07.080 --> 0:15:10.960 started out as a super messy person. I was, you know, 0:15:11.160 --> 0:15:13.880 I would just throw towels on the floor and you know, 0:15:13.920 --> 0:15:15.840 the whole thing. When I was, you know, a young 0:15:16.040 --> 0:15:19.600 single guy, and I lived in a complete shithole, was 0:15:20.600 --> 0:15:23.760 roach infested and and you know, ate out of a pot. 0:15:23.800 --> 0:15:27.960 I mean it was it was bad. And I thought 0:15:28.080 --> 0:15:30.720 maybe I would always be like that, And but I 0:15:30.800 --> 0:15:33.320 really have transformed a lot. And when I met her, 0:15:34.360 --> 0:15:37.360 she was pretty messy too. And now boy, she's like 0:15:38.000 --> 0:15:41.080 she's worse than me. I mean, she just wants things, 0:15:41.520 --> 0:15:44.480 you know, nice, and once things are, once things are nice, 0:15:44.520 --> 0:15:45.640 that's when she can breathe. 0:15:46.240 --> 0:15:47.600 Yeah, I think it goes back to what we were 0:15:47.600 --> 0:15:49.640 just scerring about that. You know, your brother was like, oh, 0:15:49.680 --> 0:15:52.360 it doesn't bother me. I don't see things, and back 0:15:52.400 --> 0:15:55.600 then you did neither. But over time you evolved to 0:15:55.640 --> 0:15:58.280 see that, Oh, when I pick up after myself, when 0:15:58.320 --> 0:16:01.840 I keep things less cluttered, it makes a huge difference 0:16:01.840 --> 0:16:04.640 for me mentally, you know, because there's so much going 0:16:04.680 --> 0:16:06.840 on in our minds, especially in our industry, we have 0:16:06.960 --> 0:16:09.760 so many things that we're thinking about that we can't 0:16:09.840 --> 0:16:11.760 have that chaos around you. So I think it is 0:16:11.800 --> 0:16:15.240 something that as a person you have evolved to realize 0:16:15.240 --> 0:16:18.720 that the space around you has a huge effect on 0:16:18.760 --> 0:16:20.120 what's going on inside your head. 0:16:20.720 --> 0:16:23.960 And I know you're must take up a lot of 0:16:24.000 --> 0:16:27.720 time doing queer Eye, but do you still have time 0:16:27.800 --> 0:16:30.880 for individual clients? Are you still working with people in 0:16:30.880 --> 0:16:31.560 that capacity? 0:16:31.640 --> 0:16:34.720 So I still have a full time design firm. So 0:16:34.920 --> 0:16:38.640 I think in twenty twenty three we did sixty homes. 0:16:38.800 --> 0:16:42.040 Oh my god, sixty homes in one year. Yeah, wow, 0:16:42.120 --> 0:16:43.840 how do you have time for that? I mean, I 0:16:43.880 --> 0:16:45.800 have an amazing team. Wow. 0:16:46.160 --> 0:16:48.120 You know, most of the people that have worked for 0:16:48.120 --> 0:16:52.200 me have been with me for years and years. You know, 0:16:52.240 --> 0:16:54.200 it's people that started out designing you know, my big 0:16:54.240 --> 0:16:56.600 guy that runs my design firm. He started out as 0:16:56.640 --> 0:16:58.920 my one single employee and my one assistant when I 0:16:58.960 --> 0:17:01.440 had my design firm and grown with me. So yeah, 0:17:01.440 --> 0:17:04.159 I have a really great team. I still oversee it 0:17:04.200 --> 0:17:06.720 as a creative head, but not like the day to 0:17:06.800 --> 0:17:08.120 day installs and stuff. 0:17:08.880 --> 0:17:14.160 Well, let's say somebody didn't have the dough for a 0:17:14.200 --> 0:17:18.600 decorator but felt that they wanted to in some way 0:17:19.280 --> 0:17:22.359 transform their home, and they're, you know, working with a budget, 0:17:22.359 --> 0:17:25.320 and you know the whole thing. I mean, I think 0:17:25.359 --> 0:17:27.320 a lot of people would say, well, I just really 0:17:27.359 --> 0:17:30.520 don't know where to start. I don't like, you know, 0:17:30.600 --> 0:17:32.840 do I move the couch or you know, whatever it is. 0:17:33.000 --> 0:17:35.480 How would you what would you recommend to somebody that 0:17:35.560 --> 0:17:37.400 wanted to explore that. 0:17:38.119 --> 0:17:40.919 I mean, I would always start with getting rid of 0:17:41.000 --> 0:17:46.200 things and organizing, you know, I think pers yeah, perbs. 0:17:46.240 --> 0:17:49.320 You know, often the issue with your room is that 0:17:49.320 --> 0:17:50.080 there's this too. 0:17:50.000 --> 0:17:51.480 Much stuff, you know. 0:17:51.680 --> 0:17:55.120 And I mean I can't speak for everyone, because I'm 0:17:55.160 --> 0:17:57.719 sure there are those people out there that might thrive 0:17:58.840 --> 0:18:02.320 in chaos, you know, I just don't meet those people 0:18:02.400 --> 0:18:05.960 very often. I might meet those people who think they 0:18:06.000 --> 0:18:09.960 do and then when the chaos is fixed, they realize, 0:18:10.080 --> 0:18:13.800 oh no, I was just making excuses to allow myself 0:18:13.800 --> 0:18:15.840 to live in this, but now I realize this is better. 0:18:16.160 --> 0:18:18.720 So I would first recommend purging, you know, getting rid 0:18:18.720 --> 0:18:21.560 of the stuff that you're just not making you happy. That's, 0:18:21.600 --> 0:18:23.960 you know, as Ariconder would say, is not sparking joy 0:18:24.400 --> 0:18:26.679 because you might realize that you don't need to go 0:18:26.720 --> 0:18:29.840 out and spend money. You fix the space by getting 0:18:29.880 --> 0:18:32.919 rid of the stuff you had that wasn't working. So 0:18:33.080 --> 0:18:36.000 first do some purging, you know, do some organization, but 0:18:36.119 --> 0:18:38.760 start out small. You know, oftentimes people will try to 0:18:38.800 --> 0:18:41.280 bite off more they can chew. You know, they'll be like, Okay, 0:18:41.320 --> 0:18:44.359 my garage is a disaster. There's stuff everywhere, there's stuff 0:18:44.359 --> 0:18:46.960 stacked to the ceiling. I'm going to try to organize 0:18:47.000 --> 0:18:50.000 my garage today. Well that's a little too much. And 0:18:50.040 --> 0:18:52.399 then you get you don't do it. You stop, you know, 0:18:52.640 --> 0:18:56.080 thirty minutes into it, and you didn't get discouraged, and 0:18:56.160 --> 0:18:56.680 you don't. 0:18:56.480 --> 0:18:57.240 Try anything else. 0:18:57.440 --> 0:18:59.760 But if you start with your joke drawer, everybody's got 0:18:59.800 --> 0:19:01.919 to try it. He's got that drawer that has all 0:19:01.960 --> 0:19:03.920 a crap in it, that just comes from everywhere. 0:19:04.040 --> 0:19:04.640 Start with that. 0:19:05.040 --> 0:19:06.919 If you get accomplished that, then you're like, you get 0:19:06.920 --> 0:19:10.479 those little endorphins of accomplishment. You're like you can tackle, 0:19:10.520 --> 0:19:12.359