Showhouse Secrets Part I - Breaking Down Costs and Benefits

The Install: Life & Design with Paloma and Caroline

Paloma and Caroline dive into the realities of designing for high-profile showhouses in this episode of The Install, discussing the financia

Key takeaways

• Designing for a showhouse can be a career-making opportunity with potential six-figure returns.
• A single powerful photograph can outweigh square footage in terms of influence and exposure.

Main topics

• Designing for showhouses
• Career impact of high-profile design projects

Notable quotes

"A single great photograph can matter more than square footage."

Conclusion

The episode sets the stage for deeper exploration of showhouse logisti

Transcript preview

Speaker 1 (0:04) Hi, and welcome to The Install. We're Paloma Contreras and Caroline Jadier, and this is where we talk about design, business, and the real life behind creative work. What's inspiring us, what's challenging us, and everything in between. Speaker 2 (0:17) Hey, Caroline, how are you? Hey, Paloma, Speaker 1 (0:20) I'm well. How are you? Doing well, thank you. Ready for this heat to be over. It is like 100, I think the air temperature is supposed to be 102 here today, and I am fully over it. Speaker 2 (0:32) Yeah, no, I get it. We, you know, what's lucky for us is like yesterday when I, in the middle of the day, when I had to run an errand and it was showing like 101, 102 in my car thermometer, which is not entirely accurate when my car sits in the sun, it's going to take a minute for it to. So that was after I'd been running around for a while. So who knows exactly what it was, but so it's getting really hot in the middle of Speaker 1 (0:59) the Speaker 2 (0:59) day, but in the mornings. For the past three mornings, we haven't had any humidity, and it's been in the low 70s. Wow. So it's Speaker 1 (1:09) been really great. And in fact, tennis yesterday, as Speaker 2 (1:12) I was leaving, it was starting to get really hot, but it was nice and fresh and completely doable. I'm a real nanny when it comes to heat and humidity and sports. I just like... No, thank you. Come out. I mean, I'll do it, but yeah, but I'm not going to try. Speaker 1 (1:32) Well, that sounds heavenly to be in the low 70s with no humidity. I don't know what that's like. I didn't say Speaker 2 (1:38) no. I just mean lower. Yeah. Lower than what we're accustomed to. Sure. It feels like you can actually breathe. Speaker 1 (1:45) Yeah, I mean, it would be a welcome relief for sure. Speaker 2 (1:48) Yeah, you can open the doors like... from our kitchen onto the patio. I'm like a real Nazi about that. I love them being open so everybody has gotten used to that. But when it's hot outside, all that heat goes upstairs and I've got to get ready. Speaker 1 (2:05) I can't get this makeup to dry when I'm Speaker 2 (2:09) sweating. Anyway, okay. Tell me, did you have a high and Speaker 1 (2:15) low this week? Well, my low... is that I feel like we've talked about this before at some point, but I feel like my Botox is wearing off faster. Speaker 2 (2:24) Yeah. Speaker 1 (2:25) Like really fast. Faster Speaker 2 (2:26) than? Speaker 1 (2:27) Like faster than before. Speaker 2 (2:29) I Speaker 1 (2:29) used to be able to go like a good four months. And now I feel like, trying to think back on when I did it, it might have, I can't remember if it was end of May, which would make sense then. Or if it was in June, it might have been June. And I feel like. It's worn off completely already, and we're in mid-August. You know what I think it is? What's that? I think it's Speaker 2 (2:49) have these cameras in front of us once a week and so we're much more cognizant of what's going on. And I think you project a lot of things, too. Not you, but one projects a lot of things onto their image of themselves, you know. But I'm coming up on, I am three months and a week. I've got three weeks to go before my appointment. appointment. And I ask myself every morning, am Speaker 1 (3:14) I going to Speaker 2 (3:17) Truthfully, I mean, again, I just need to take a picture two weeks after I get the Botox done and then take one again at three months and take one again at four months right before I do it and then really look at those and compare. I'm not sure. I Speaker 1 (3:33) mean, I can tell in my forehead because I feel like when I don't get a ton. I mean, I have a fairly conservative approach and I go to somebody who has a more natural touch, which I like, but I. can tell when it's worn off and like my you can see like in my forehead it's not as still as I like it to be you know I like there to be a little bit of movement I don't want to yeah frozen but I could die sport Speaker 2 (3:58) or Speaker 1 (3:58) d sport okay yeah just sport I Speaker 2 (4:01) do Speaker 1 (4:01) too and we've gone back and forth between is it just sport and juveau maybe don't know that one Speaker 2 (4:08) Or at least if Speaker 1 (4:09) they're using Speaker 2 (4:10) it, they haven't mentioned that they've switched it. Or maybe Juvo is a filler. Speaker 1 (4:12) Yeah. There's like two brands. Maybe it was Botox and Dysport and tried a different one and it wore off just as quickly. So I don't know. I don't know what it is. But my high is I discovered this delicious treat at Whole Foods called Culture Cup. It's in the ice cream aisle. I love ice cream. That's like my Speaker 2 (4:32) guilty pleasure. Speaker 1 (4:33) I'm not guilty, actually. I don't feel guilty about it. I love ice cream. Like that's just... the treat I would choose over and over again. But Speaker 2 (4:39) it's great because Speaker 1 (4:40) it's this like tiny little cup and the cup is lined with dark chocolate. And then there's ice cream inside, like a scoop of ice cream. And then there's dark chocolate layered on top. So it has like a hard shell, which is really nice. And it's like a probiotic ice cream, which is really interesting. And it has 10 grams of fiber and only 10 grams of sugar. 140 calories a cup. The strawberry flavor is delicious. I've tried strawberry and mint chocolate chip and the strawberry was like really, really good. And both Margo and I like it. And it's got, I don't really know too much about this, but it's A2 dairy. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. That's the kind of milk Speaker 2 (5:14) we Speaker 1 (5:15) used for a long time. Okay. So anyhow, I mean, I guess like a healthier ice cream treat. And in this heat, it's nice to have a little frosty treat Speaker 2 (5:24) every now and then. I think that A2 works for people that are somewhat lactose intolerant. Without removing the lactose, it's like a different cow or something like that. Oh, wow. Produces the A2 milk and lactose intolerant people can tolerate it better. Then something like that. I've gotten close. I've gotten close. I don't have that exactly right, but it's somewhere along those lines. Yeah. So I started getting that a long time ago. But, you know, we're back to full fat dairy. I don't know if you are. We Speaker 1 (5:57) don't do full fat. I mean, like ice cream and things like that. Yes. For my Greek yogurt, I do the, is it the 2 %? The 2%. And then. We do 2 % milk, but you do whole milk? Back to whole milk. They say taking the fat out of it is like the wrong thing to do. It's kind of like, oh, I just don't like the texture. It's too thick for me. Speaker 2 (6:18) It's almost like, it's kind of like a butter and oil with bread. Like that's supposed to be like the fat and the carbohydrate or whatever is supposed to be actually better for you than one or the other alone or second. Speaker 1 (6:34) Yeah, that makes sense. I Speaker 2 (6:35) only pick up on it enough to be dangerous with this information. Speaker 1 (6:40) If you're going to have an apple as a snack, that's good. But if you're having an apple with some peanut butter, that's an even better snack because you're balancing it with healthy fat. Speaker 2 (6:50) Right. Something about the macros. And like the worst thing America ever did was do the skim milk thing because now you're just really. getting the sugar and the fat isn't there to like balance that sugar in some way in your system or something like that. I don't know. Anyway, so we're back to full fat. And I gotta say, I love it. I'm delighted. I Speaker 1 (7:12) will have like on occasion, if Fabian picks up coffee for us on the weekends and we get a latte, if I'm ordering it myself, I'll get like 2 % milk, but he'll get the full fat and I drink it and it's delicious. But yeah, Speaker 2 (7:26) you Speaker 1 (7:27) know. Speaker 2 (7:28) Yeah. When I get a cappuccino, I'm full fat. Full fat. And I'm completely off of almond milk, oat milk. Yeah, same. Any of that stuff. It's all processed. Yeah, Speaker 1 (7:38) chemicals. Speaker 2 (7:40) Chemicals, for sure. Agreed. So Speaker 1 (7:41) what is your high and low? Okay, I've got two hair-related highs and lows. Speaker 2 (7:46) Lows is, we were talking about it, still growing this hair out. This right here is going to be the death of me. This. A little bend. Just all of this stringiness, I won't cut it because it needs to grow. And I've had the bottom of my hair cut a million times, and I feel like somebody's pranking me and coming in in the middle of the night and, like, pulling this out and, like, cutting it frequently because it feels like it's not growing. Anyway, having my hair short was great. I loved it. And if length were the only issue, you know, I would. My hair would probably be three or four inches longer than it is right now if I hadn't been continually cutting it. So that's fine. It's right before the end. I was getting frustrated with it. And my hairdresser, who I love, my ride or die, went in and like chopped a bunch of hair out of it to tame it. That makes any sense? And it's like, that's what all this is. Anyway, it's frustrating. So I spend more time on my hair. than I should. Although I busted out the hot rollers Speaker 1 (8:55) this morning and that may be the way that I'm going. It's a lot quicker. I'm Speaker 2 (8:58) in a race to spend less time in the bathroom when I'm in a hurry and hot rollers may just be the ticket. I may just have to roll with a hot roller or a slick back button. I may be heading to a slick back button. That may be what I'm doing for the next like six months. Okay, but my high, so that is my perennial annoyance is not just this week, but every week. is my hair. But my high is a good one. Okay. I have another product and this one is a life changer. The other one was, is great. It was fabulous. I used it this morning. It's life changing. But this little baby right here, the Tarte Dab and Go, are you going gray? Speaker 1 (9:40) No, not Speaker 2 (9:41) yet. Lucky you. Okay. Well, for all the rest Speaker 1 (9:44) of us girls Speaker 2 (9:44) out here who are, okay. I have used many different root cover things from the sprays to the powders to make it in between. I get my hair colored every five weeks. And then towards the end, those grays start popping out. You know, as your hair grows, you can start to see them, particularly around the hairline. It is very hard, particularly to treat like right here as you get older. You know, this is. But you can't just spray that spray on the side of your head without having all this brown stuff. So it's been really hard. But they have perfected it. They finally perfected it. So it's got this little sponge on the end. I don't know if you can see that. And all of the stuff is in the inside of it. So when you twist it in there, it gets it on there. And you can just very easily dab Speaker 1 (10:34) it. Speaker 2 (10:35) I keep it in the console of my car. Speaker 2 (10:39) pop a quick look in the mirror before I pop out. Is it like a Speaker 1 (10:43) powder? Like, does it have Speaker 2 (10:44) a Speaker 1 (10:44) dry consistency or is it wet? It is like a powder. I mean, I don't know if you can see that. I just Speaker 2 (10:49) dabbed it on my, and now I'm going to get that on my