Showhouse Secrets Part II - The Showhouse Must Go On

The Install: Life & Design with Paloma and Caroline

Paloma and Caroline continue their candid exploration of designer showhouses in 'Showhouse Secrets Part II,' revealing the financial, logist

Key takeaways

• Designers often face six-figure expenses even with donated items due to labor, travel, and marketing costs.
• Success hinges on pre-planning, early vendor outreach, and leveraging existing relationships for sponsorships.

Main topics

• Budgeting for showhouse participation
• Vendor relationships and sponsorship strategies

Notable quotes

"You're going to want to ask for as many favors as you can, because even when you have all of that stuff donated... you are still making a six-figure investment."

Conclusion

While showhouse participation demands immense time, money, and emotional

Transcript preview

Speaker 1 (0:03) 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 (0:16) Hey Speaker 1 (0:16) guys, we're back. We are back with so much more to share about show houses. This is such a juicy, meaty subject. There's a lot to talk about, whether you are a design enthusiast who enjoys visiting show houses and seeing all the beautiful photos online, or if you're a designer who has done a show house or is thinking about doing a show house, we have broken it all down in this two-part series and we're picking up where we left off last time today. Speaker 2 (0:41) Yes. Coming up, we have Nazira lined up to come give us the tea on the New York Kips Bay house. That's right. Nazira is the director of special events Speaker 1 (0:52) for the Kips Bay Boys and Girls Club. And in other words, that means she is the head lady in charge of Kips Bay. She's the one that makes the show house happen. She gets it done. I mean, literally and figuratively, she's the one that makes it happen every year. So it's going to be... Wonderful to hear from her and also see what we can expect from the show house in its 51st year this year. Speaker 2 (1:18) Yeah. So something to look forward to as we roll into show house season. That's right. Well, Speaker 1 (1:24) let's dig right back in with one of the questions that people probably wonder about the most. Certainly one of the questions I get asked the most. I feel like now having done show houses enough times, I'll get. people reaching out when it's, you know, show house season and they'll say like, I'm thinking about doing this. What advice do you have for me? And one of the biggest pieces of advice is always that you have to really budget for it in terms of your bandwidth with your team. Like you really have to be able to be away and focused on this for a little while. But also there's a significant monetary investment. that you need to be prepared to make. In my experience, I feel like regardless of the size of the room and you could still have everything donated or borrowed, you are still going to be making a six-figure investment. And in the case of... Kips Bay. For most show houses, a lot of the onus is on the designer. Kips Bay, as you mentioned in our previous episode, you are entirely on your own as the designer. The show house is not sponsoring any of the labor or providing anything in terms of monetary compensation or resources, and you really have to go out there. and rely on the relationships that you've made in this industry to ask for favors. And you're going to want to ask for as many favors as you can, because even when you have all of that stuff, donated loans, or you're working with the official sponsors for the show house, you're going to be making that big investment between the labor, because the labor is always super expensive, travel, lodging for yourself and your team, outfits, marketing materials, like all the things. It adds up so quickly. Speaker 2 (3:07) Yeah. I'll say I've done it. I had a different experience the second time I did it. Speaker 1 (3:13) You know, a little bit wiser going into it a second time. Speaker 2 (3:17) I also had the luxury of having a, I mean, if we want to roll those costs in, a PR team that hooked me up with a potential sponsor. And that made all the difference. Once I decided to go down that road, that and being wiser, I think. One of the things, the first go-round, I had my wallpaper and my rugs, and I think that's it. Those are the only two things that I got donated. And those were significant costs. It certainly would have put me into, like, a different category for sure. But everything else, I paid for myself and all of the contractors and everything. The second go-round, I knew before. Like the day that I accepted, I sat down and I looked at who the vendors were, Speaker 1 (4:09) got Speaker 2 (4:10) my idea together. I figured out what I wanted from each of these vendors. And I emailed them even before anything got started and asked to reserve those particular things that I needed for my room. I also, you know, I was the one who said, because I had... developed a small relationship with Casa Branca in Palm Beach, which is a great, I was doing Palm Beach and I pitched them like, hey, what do you think about? doing a room where I use all your furniture, your antiques, and all of your fabrics, and almost like a showroom for you. And then you can take this back to your showroom and use it afterwards. So it's not a thrown away investment, which they thankfully. bought into that. Well, Speaker 1 (4:59) that's mutually beneficial. Speaker 2 (5:00) Exactly. Exactly. And, you know, if you have somebody and you're considering doing this, a brand that you work with a lot, I'll tell you the first go around, no, but I pitched a lot of people and most people said no. Speaker 1 (5:15) Thank you. Well, I will say it helps. It helps to go to the people that you have relationships with. And obviously, the more established you are, the easier that is. And then also. I think you were smart in Palm Beach to work with Casablanca because they have a beautiful showroom there. They're there. There's an interest for them to loan things to you. Like in New York, when I did the New York show house, it was so easy to get things in New York. I mean, I was going into like top tier showrooms like Gerald Bland, where I'd never bought anything from him in 2019. Speaker 1 (5:47) And he so graciously agreed to loan things to me because they knew and understood, you know, all of these people knew and understood the power of Kips Bay and the coverage that it would get. In both of those cities, the community, Speaker 2 (6:02) the design community, bends over backwards to get anything of theirs into those houses. Right. So you really need only ask. And I don't think that's the case in Dallas. No, Speaker 1 (6:14) it wasn't my experience either. I don't think I, I don't think we sourced a single thing locally in Dallas. And that might be in part for me being from Houston that I don't shop in Dallas because we have what we need here and we're, you know. close to one another. So I'm not going to Dallas to source. So I didn't feel right going into somebody's showroom and asking to borrow something if I had no relationship with them. And I just don't think that there's a buy-in to Kips Bay in Dallas and on the level that there is in New York or Palm Beach on the community, like design community level, you know? Yeah. Speaker 2 (6:50) I mean, Gretchen and I went almost door to door looking for antiques and things like that. Nick Brock, bless his heart. So nice. And was basically threw open his doors. That's so nice. And Jan showers there. Speaker 1 (7:07) She offered a lot of stuff. Yeah. And she's so involved. Speaker 2 (7:10) Yes. But maybe a different kind of aesthetic. So, but outside of that, most everybody was like, no, we don't, we don't do anything. I mean, like, you know, so that. That was very challenging. Also, it was only the second year when I was there. But I did find that there were so many people in Palm Beach pitching, like, we want something in your room. What can we offer you? Which is anybody that does that kind of stuff, you're going to need all the help that you can get. So you should sit down and look through their inventory and see what they could loan you. Speaker 1 (7:48) You know, and I'm thinking about this. in the context of our conversation earlier about different types of show houses on the previous episode. And obviously, you know, Kips Bay is like the grand dame of the show houses and it's the most established. It's been around for 51 years. It's the most recognized. So I think it's the one that people aspire to the most. But it's also the one where it's going to be the most difficult because it's the most expensive. You're responsible for the most amount of things. It's also a very quick turnaround. Speaker 1 (8:17) So perhaps if you're listening to this and you're considering doing it, it wouldn't be a bad idea to do a regional show house like the one that you mentioned in Atlanta, the Southeastern Design Show House, where there's a contractor baked in that is going to cover the cost of the labor. Or I've been working on the Southern Living Idea House for the last year, and there's a builder involved. And so the builder is doing all of the work, and that is huge. And then we brought in, you know, all of our own. sponsors who helped with wallpapers and fabrics and textiles, rugs, all those things, lighting. The caveat for that one is it's so big and so corporate. It's a big corporate thing that they do every year. And there's a lot of huge corporate sponsors. And so. you might have to like work in 3M strips in a space like, or like Sarah, the year she did it, she had to design a space around like Purina dog food, you know, because they're Speaker 2 (9:14) a Speaker 1 (9:14) corporate sponsor and they're paying a million dollars to the magazine. And so you've got to, so there's a give and take with those sponsorships. Like, you know, sometimes if you can pick the people you're partnering with. And choose from a nice array that the show houses may be partnering with. Wonderful. But then sometimes you may not have to pay as much out of pocket, but that also comes at a cost. Speaker 2 (9:37) Yeah. Well, that's the thing. Even with Kips Bay, there's always a good lineup of sponsors. It ebbs and flows. Nobody does it every year without exception. So you never know. It's Speaker 1 (9:48) a Speaker 2 (9:48) little bit like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're going to get. The best thing that Nazira said this when we started the first time, and I didn't think about it until it was too late. But the second time, I for sure paid attention, like, what can I get from wherever? But I'll also say there are some sponsors. Like, I remember my stone sponsor out in Dallas, and I had to do a sink, and I wanted a stone countertop, and we could only use these two people, okay? Literally everybody in the house had their stone donated to them by one of these two stone sponsors. Did they donate mine? No. What? Both of them, like, the guy who was in charge was like, no, we don't do that. I was like, well, Nazira told me that you would be. And he was like, yeah, I talked to the owner and he said, no, we're not going to do yours. And Speaker 1 (10:42) I was like, okay, thank you. I mean, couldn't have been ruder. I won't say who it is, but. Speaker 2 (10:47) Rude, rude, rude, rude, rude. Was it just too small for them? I guess I just wasn't known enough or what have you. Maybe it was too small. But I feel like you can't do that. But it was very rude. And I know who those people are. And you don't think that I would go out of my way to make sure that there was no way Speaker 1 (11:02) in hell on any project I would ever use them again? Well, Speaker 2 (11:05) now Speaker 1 (11:05) you have projects in Dallas you have since then. So, yeah, you're not using them. It's like, Speaker 2 (11:09) oh, honey, don't. even walk in the door of that store because that guy was so rude. Right. Speaker 1 (11:16) And Speaker 2 (11:16) then the other people were like, sure, we'll help you, but we'll just give you a 25 % discount, but you are going to have to pay for it. So anyway, you know, don't people, if you're out there and that happens to you, you know what? It happens to many of us. I won't say, oh, I'm sure it happened to you, but it sure Speaker 1 (11:34) happened to me. Well, I mean, you just have to, you just have to. you know, lean into what makes the most sense for you, I Speaker 2 (11:44) suppose. You know, if it's something that's really perfect, Speaker 1 (11:47) yeah, you can either keep it moving and find somebody else or if it's just the perfect piece and you have budgeted for it, then you just appreciate the discount. But you can pull a pretty woman. Speaker 2 (12:03) Big mistake. That's right. Big mistake. Big mistake. Huge. Yes. Huge. Speaker 1 (12:07) Vendor loans and partnerships all work. differently. As you said, you know, each year, each show house typically has some sponsors attached to it, a lighting sponsor, probably plumbing sponsor, rugs, you know, different things. If you're lucky, they'll have a drapery sponsor because that's a huge ticket item. So all of those things you have to factor. What's that? Speaker 2 (12:32) Yeah. Speaker 1 (12:33) Well, I'm not saying it's the best quality work, but it's one less thing that you have to pay for. Yes. But yeah, they all work sort of differently. Every company is different. Some people are extremely generous and they will donate and you can keep it. afterwards. That's very rare. In most cases, they're giving you a very steep discount, you know, on top of the trade discount. And then my favorite is when things are just on loan and we can use them for the duration of the show house. And then afterwards, we pack them up and they go back. And in those scenarios, we're usually just responsible for paying the shipping. Speaker 2 (13:10) That's right, which is really great. Return shipping. If they're shipping, yes. The return shipping. Shipping. Correct. And, you know, my second show house literally with it, and I styled this baby up to the nines. I mean, the only things that came back with me are like the Pixie Six, the Sterling Silver Accoutrement that I bought, and the Pink Telephone. Everything else was borrowed and was sent back. So I didn't have to pay for it. Speaker 1 (13:37) The other thing