The Chris Voss Show - The Chris Voss Show Podcast – The Living Room Design Formula: Style Your Home Like a Pro, One Room at a Time by Amy Leah Barrickman

Episode Date: June 24, 2025

The Living Room Design Formula: Style Your Home Like a Pro, One Room at a Time by Amy Leah Barrickman Amazon.com Barrickmandesign.com Do you want to make your house feel like a home but aren’t sure how to put it together? If you want the look of a professionally-finished space without the designer, The Living Room Design Formula is your answer. In The Living Room Design Formula, professional design expert Amy Barrickman guides you step-by-step through creating a stunning and functional living space. With her simple and approachable formula developed over 15 years of practice, Amy makes interior design accessible to everyone. In this book, you will: Learn to formulate your design concept with confidence. Follow easy instructions to measure and lay out a functional floor plan. Create cohesive designs by compiling and refining your ideas. Discover where to invest and where to save on furniture, lighting, rugs, window treatments and more. Master clear tricks to arrange wall hangings and accessories in an artful, balanced way. By focusing on one room, you’ll be able to fully complete the space and gain the confidence to tackle future projects with ease. Get started with The Living Room Design Formula and begin making real progress today!About the author Amy Leah Barrickman graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Journalism from Pennsylvania State University. She is a wife, mother, interior designer and entrepreneur. She started her design business in 2010 and has been blessed with one problem: too many projects! Amy took to social media to help more people style and personalize their spaces. So many people enjoyed the tips and tricks posted @BarrickmanDesign that her videos caught the attention of QVC, where she now appears as an on-camera design expert. Amy’s mission has always been to leave every space more beautiful than she found it. She plans to continue this through her book series, social media presence and hopes to someday expand her work to include a foundation that supports the beautification of the city of Philadelphia.

You wanted the best. You've got the best podcast, the hottest podcast in the world. The Chris Voss Show, the preeminent podcast with guests so smart you may experience serious brain bleed. The CEOs, authors, thought leaders, visionaries and motivators. Get ready, get ready. Strap yourself in. Keep your hands, arms, and legs inside the vehicle at all times. Cause you're about to go on a monster education rollercoaster with your brain.

Now, here's your host, Chris Voss. Hi, folks, it's Voss. Hi, folks, it's Voss there for the Chris Voss Show. Looks like the, I got preempted by the Iron lady there. So we'll see if we can do her. Chris Voss Show. Sometimes she just wants to beat me to the punch and get her little thing in there. So welcome to the big show. As always, my friends, we certainly appreciate you guys coming by. If you prefer the show to your family, friends, and relatives, go to Goodreads.com,

Fortress Chris Voss, LinkedIn.com, Fortress Chris Voss, Chris Voss One, on the TikTok TikTok and all those crazy places on the internet. Opinions expressed by guests on the podcast are solely their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the host or the Chris Foss show. Some guests to the show may be advertising on the podcast, but it is not an endorsement or review of any kind. Today we have an amazing young woman on the show.

We're going to be talking to her about her books, her insights, and how she can help you furnish and style things better in your home. Her book is entitled The Living Room Design Formula, Style Your Home Like a Pro, One Room at a Time by Amy Berkman. She joins us on the show. We talk to us about her insights and all the stuff that she does and how you can design your home better. Because for some of you, you need all the help you can get. I've seen your homes. I'm a realtor, or I was a realtor one time. Amy graduated with a bachelor's degree in journalism

from Pennsylvania State University. She's a wife, mother, interior designer, and entrepreneur. She started her design business in 2010 and has been blessed with one problem, too many projects. Amy took to social media to help people style and personalize their spaces. So many people enjoy the tips and tricks posted on her brand, Berkman Design, that her videos caught the attention of QVC, where she now appears as a regular on-camera design expert.

Amy's mission has been to leave every space more beautiful than she found it. She plans to continue this through the series of her book and social media presence and hopes to someday expand her work, including a foundation that supports the beautification of the city of Philadelphia. Amy, welcome to the show. How are you? Amy Lutz Hello, Chris. Thanks for having me and thanks for calling me a young lady. And can I join in and the Christmas show? Hey, that was pretty good. That might be better than the soundbite. You nailed it. You got it. So we'll just use yours as the intro for me. It's a human as opposed to, I don't know

where we got that soundbite. I know actually it's off of Fiverr. She's a human as opposed to, I don't know where we got that sound bite. I know actually, it's off of Fiverr, she's a real opera singer. Oh, there we go. Well, I'm sure she's better than I am, though. It's turning into the opera show, basically. Amy, give us your dot coms. Where do you want people to find you on the interwebs? The best way to find me is go to Amazon and find the living room design formula. That is my book, which really is like having a one-on-one appointment with me. You're going to be able to walk through the interior design in your

home. But also you can check out barickmandesign.com. That is my website which has my portfolio. And one of the things that I do, as you mentioned, I appear on social media regularly. One of the things that I do, as you mentioned, I appear on social media regularly. One of the things that I have available there, it's through baricklivesign.com, or you could go to gallerywalltips.com, and you can download a free PDF, which has all the instructions to create a beautiful gallery wall in your home.

Because most people have kind of that empty wall that needs some style, and this is a simple project, usually pretty affordable, that you can take on. It has recommendations for exactly which frames to use, how to hang them, how to pick photos. So that's gallerywalltips.com. Check that out and get a free download there. I like how you have it where if you, on the website,

if you put in your email address for that layout guide, you press the button, instant gratification. So instant gratification. I like it. It makes you want to press the button. I'm just going to press it about 20 times. Yeah. But you know, I'm just coming here for my dopamine hit every day.

So now give us a foundation on what a gallery wall is. You know, I'm a straight dude, so I don't understand these concepts of furniture and interior design and stuff. Kirsten You know, even people who aren't interested in interior design, I've learned that they recognize it. My dad, for example, he didn't really understand why I was giving up the lucrative pharmaceutical sales job I had to pursue interior design. But let me tell you, he knows when a room looks good. Pete Slauson Oh, yeah. Anna Voelker He walks into a room and he's like, oh, this is a beautiful room. I'm like, well,

you do understand interior design then. So anyway, to answer your question, gallery wall, that could mean a lot of things to a lot of different people. Pete Slauson Okay. Anna Voelker But what I am laying out here is we all have a wall that is blank and just needs some love. So tell us about what's inside the book. Give us the 30,000 over here that you're talking about in there. The book is the living room design formula, as you said, and it's all about one room at a time. That's my personal design philosophy, because a lot of people, they move into a house and they kind of start finishing, they

start buying furniture for different rooms, and then they end up kind of living in not in partially finished spaces because it's exhausting and it's expensive. And you never really finish any single room. So that's what I am offering is if people take this approach of focusing just on one room at a time, the living room is a great place to start. Living room, family room, great room, whatever you want to call it, it's a great place to start. And if you focus on that one room and truly finish the whole thing, whether you're using

the furniture you already have or get a new furniture, it does not matter. We're going to walk through the entire process and we're going to go through all the steps that a designer would go through to create a really beautiful outcome. And by doing that, by going through the book and going through all those steps, what you're giving yourself is confidence

that you can design a room and you are stretching your budget because you're only focusing on one room at a time. And you're also getting, that's important, right? You're not breaking the bank, yeah. Well, because otherwise it feels like everything's expensive.

So if you just focus on one room, it's still going to be expensive, but now it doesn't feel quite as overwhelming. And then the other thing we get by doing one room at a time is we get approval of the people around us. Because look, I always say, I don't always say this, I say this when I'm with clients that are a couple,

there's the inevitable moment where they're bickering over the design choices. And I say, you know, I do couples counseling too. Pete Slauson Oh, wow. Anna Winkler I don't really, but the point is… Pete Slauson It seems like that should come with the job though, because… Anna Winkler Exactly. That's my point is a lot of it is working with the people who live in the space. So when one space is finished completely, we now have kind of the approval of the people around us and someone has to be the captain of that ship, right?

You can't have a 50-50 design of a room. So once you do it and you get that approval, now moving on to other rooms in your house, it goes a lot more smoothly. Well, you got, you can only have one cook in the kitchen, right? You can't have one cook. You can have a sous chef. Yeah. But you gotta have the head chef. You gotta have the head chef. That's, that's what I have in leadership. You know, the dual CEOs never work, you know, all these different variations you can take and do, never works out.

You know, you've got to have one person where people can, you know, can look at this person and be like, okay, well, they're the boss of everything, you know. They're the boss. Because, you know, otherwise if they're not, it's just chaos. It's just too many cooks in the kitchen. Absolutely. And that's how I start the book actually, is about you are the captain of this ship and take other people's advice with a grain of salt. Now I'm looking at some of your portfolio on your website. This is really beautiful. Wow. Thank you. I don't see any Ikea

featured here. What's up with that? I have a key all through my house. Look, Ikea has a place. There is nothing wrong with Ikea, but maybe those photos didn't make it to the portfolio. Yeah. They're probably, they're probably in the back somewhere. I have a page down far enough, maybe. They might be in the nursing room.

They go all the way to the bottom. Or the kids' rooms. Yeah. And, and I noticed with a lot of your, the layouts that I guess you've designed, I think you probably designed the, uh, the, the windows as well, maybe I noticed there's always a lot of light that's coming in from windows in a lot of your stuff.

Kristine Yes. Very important. Very important. There's a whole chapter about window treatments. And the traditional idea about window treatments, I know this has probably not been on your radar, I'm guessing, Chris, but the traditional window treatment- Pete My business partner used to put foil over the windows because he hated the light. So he's always trying to block it out. You probably don't recommend that, but well for look, every room has a purpose. So I'm not saying I probably would never put foil on, but I, there are plenty of times

where we have to use light filtering or light blocking window treatments. And we talk about that in the book. But the traditional idea was that curtains or window treatments covered the windows. And really the more modern ideas that they frame the windows. If you need them to function, that's great. But when most of the time we want them open, we want to let that sunshine in, we want lots of good light. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I noticed everything's there's a lot of bright brightness, whiteness and stuff. Do you do any, uh, like goth sort of setups where you have like just black walls

and black furniture? You know, that's a really good question. So I, like you're laughing, but I'm taking you 100% serious here because it's really about the client. 100% seriously here because it's really about the client. So I, my job as I see it is to filter what the client wants through my eye and show them all the options. So if a client came to me and said, I want a goth room, I want black, I would take that on. I would love that to this day. It has not happened, but I have done media rooms in dark colors. And I actually like to do dark colors in powder rooms, because you're only in there

for a few minutes. And you can create a mood, right? You can have a, you can make a really cool mood. Say in dining rooms, too. Dining rooms are great for dark colors because we're usually in there at night and it makes the walls kind of recede and it can be a great, it can be a great look, but it all depends on you, whoever the space is for. Yeah. And how much depression you're suffering from. No, I'm just kidding. Some people like different flavors. What can you say? I think, I think Mick Jagger likes to paint it black I hear. So he likes things. I mean, Mick Jagger, he can do no wrong. I say

You know, I don't know if I have the moves like Mick Jagger, but maybe the design like Mick Jagger Well, you know what they say you you you you don't get what you want. You get what you need. So It's the Rolling Stones podcast reference So how did you is this your first book and how did you tell us your story of life? It's the Rolling Stones podcast reference. So we show. Absolutely. Here we go. So how did you, is this your first book and how did you tell us your story of life? How did you go through this journey and get good at this stuff and start sharing with other people? Yeah, this is my first book.

I started out, this was not my career of, this was not my proposed career. Initially, I wanted to be an actress my whole life. And went to New York and went on auditions and then I realized I needed to pay rent. So I got a job in the pharmaceutical sales industry and that was lucrative, but I did not love it. I missed being creative. So I found this outlet where I was able to be creative and still do sales and make money and started my own business in 2010. It took off pretty quickly to the point where I realized I was getting a lot of people I just wasn't able to help and I wanted to help everyone.

So I started putting together these ideas. I thought, you know, every time I meet with a new client, I'm kind of going through the same process. The outcome is always different, but I'm taking the same steps. And there's no reason why other people couldn't follow those steps to create their own outcome. There are a lot of people who want the look of a design space of a professional space, but they they don't want to hire a designer. It might be because of money. It might be for other reasons. So that's how I came up with the concept. I shopped around some editors and at first they wanted me to do the whole house, but I was like, no, it has to be one room. Whole

house is too intimidating for even a designer. So I finally found the right fit and we are starting with the living room design formula and it will be a series to go through all the rooms of your house so that you're able to bite it off in those little chunks and get that confidence and design a space on your own without needing a professional designer. So you can read the book and of course you do consulting and coaching for all this sort of stuff and designing, I guess they hire you to come in and say, make this place look like a hospitable place to live in. There are people-

Right, not a hospital, but a hospitable place. A hospitable, yeah. I kind of flogged that a little. At first I thought you were going to say hospital. That's a design I haven't had yet. That's what I'm looking for. I'm 57, I need a hospital layout. That way I can just get the doctors, I'm 57. I need a

hospital layout that way I can just get doctors come to me and uh, you know, to the IVs or whatever the, whatever, you know, fall is falling off this week. Give me some light green balls, some curtains. I'm 57. It falls off. The arm fell off this morning and I just duct tape it back. Oh my gosh. Good job. It's fun. That's good. That's just being, you know, resourceful. Getting old. Yeah. It just comes to the territory. Enjoy your youth folks.

Where, where's now, do you, do you, uh, do you believe that a house should have like a whole, I don't know if motif is the right word cause they failed English, but should have a whole theme motif of the same style or Or do you kind of think that there should be like, each room should have its own little voice, maybe? That is definitely a focus of my work. And I think each room should have its own voice, but they must go together. These voices must join and create a chorus. So when I'm working on a home with a client, we're always kind of join one room to the next. And we're making choices so that the things you see, I'm always thinking about our line of vision.

If I can see an open door, well, that room has to be really cohesive. But if the room's all the way down the hall, I have a lot more flexibility. I can be a lot, I can play a lot more there. So sometimes it's the color palette. Sometimes it's the overall style, everything has to speak to one another. But at the end of the day, it's all about the client, it's all about you, whoever we're designing the home for. So if you like it, it often will all feel cohesive because it's what you choose.

Yeah, yeah. And, you know, but I do like houses that seem to have like kind of, I mean, when you say there's a flow, right? There's a, you know, they kind of have the different personalities and stuff. I've always, you know, I'm a businessman and I'm a, I'm just logic and reason. I don't have any artistic abilities. Um, I don't, I don't think so. No. Uh, and people, the audience like, no no he doesn't, after 16 years we know this. And so my businesses, my offices are always stark and just white and sometimes my employees will be like,

can we paint this place? I'm like, no, I like it. I like the deadness feel of my office. I get to feel cold and empty. It's like my soul. And, but I've always admired people like yourself that can, they can look at a space and they can come up with these beautiful options

and they can see into it. What you're feeling on, a lot, years ago I bought, I think the question I was setting up for you was, where's a good place to buy, where's the best place you feel to buy good furniture? And should you buy the type of furniture that will last forever? I bought my furniture for basically a lifetime. I bought a lot of Bernhard Henron.

Nicole Sarris Bernhard's one of my favorites. Pete Slauson I'm still paying it off now 30 years later. Nicole Sarris Yeah. Pete Slauson But I gotta tell you, man, that furniture survived all my moves, it survived all my stuff. Nicole Sarris Absolutely. Pete Slauson That shit is like a tank and it still just looks beautiful as the day I bought it. What are your thoughts on some of those different

things? Yeah. Well, first of all, I'd like to say that your office is being all white. It's clearly your taste, right? You want it that way. Better we need a better DEI program. So I don't know. That's about, I like to say that, you know, every room has a function and if you need an all white space to function, then that works for you. But in terms of furniture, you bring up a great debate in my field because what we've seen,

even since I started 15 years ago is we have seen the markets have changed what is available to us for furniture. So even 15 years ago, furniture, a lot, a lot of it was made in the US. And over the time, it has changed quite a bit because we have companies like Wayfair and I'm not knocking Wayfair by the way, I love Wayfair, I would like to say there is a place for almost all the manufacturers, but we do have companies like Wayfair sourcing these things that are coming from overseas, and they're doing it at a price. Sometimes I look at the prices and I think I could not even ship a Bernhard sofa for the price that they're selling a regular sofa on Wayfair. So the price becomes so compelling that it's hard for homeowners and designers to even look at the really expensive stuff sometimes because these prices are so good, it makes it almost impossible to sell.

That's why I always buy IKEA. IKEA's got a place. It's got a place. So look, this is what I have to say. Yeah, they have and they have a they have a higher end line that I actually think is good looking. Do they really know? They do.

It's called I think the Stockholm line. So that's what happened last time I toured Stockholm Pete Slauson Stockholm syndrome. Pete Slauson I couldn't find my way out. I was trapped. Pete Slauson That's true. Pete Slauson I finally just slept there for a week and eventually found the door. Pete Slauson Well, you get to like, and you're like, this is great. Why don't I come here all the time? I feel so great. And then by the end, you're like, get me out of here. Pete Slauson That's probably how you missed the high end IKEA stuff. Yeah.

Pete Slauson And I just bought an ice cream cone. I don't know how this happened. I lived off those Swedish meatballs that are made with horse. Oh, they're good. They are good. You know, that was a great outing with my kids when they were little. We would go get those meatballs and then they'd have to be there while I worked. To answer your question.

That's a good dual use strategy there. Stop being resourceful. But so, to answer your question, it really depends on what you're looking to achieve. So of course, if you can invest in furniture, even now, even as it's been more challenging to source that really good furniture, you are going to get a better result if you invest in it.

And the pieces that we use every day, it makes a lot of sense to invest in them because you will be able to use them for a really long time. And if they do get, if they, upholstered furniture starts to look yucky, you can re upholster it. Now re upholstery costs almost as much as new furniture, excuse me, as new furniture, but what you get is a much better piece. You get a piece of furniture that is much higher quality than the new stuff. So if you can invest, absolutely do. And I tell everyone, look, not everyone can buy that high end furniture, but everyone can shop at a high end furniture

store. And by doing that, you're getting a lot of information about what you like. And you might be surprised. The pricing might not be as crazy as you think it is. You might be able to invest. So yes, I always say invest, but there are spaces where I don't have clients invest. Sometimes we're working on a playroom and we know there's going to be a juice box and a lollipop on that sofa and it's going to be replaced in five years. So sure, sometimes it's IKEA, sometimes it's, you know, the furniture that comes in two

days. But yeah, if you can invest in the good stuff, it takes a long time, it costs more money, but it is totally worth it. Pete What is your political stance on shabby chic as a fashion for a home? Lauren Shabby chic, Chris, we're going way back with shabby chic. That is like that you're talking like late nineties with shabby chic. I think they're still using it in California. I think they're still using it in California. I'm sure.

No, but now they call it boho chic. Is that what it is? Boho chic? Totally. That is what they call it. It's just like, let's find, you know, not hobo. I was going with not hobo. Now, is that the same as shabby? See?

Cause I like to, my designer friends like yourself, I like to tease them. I'm like, when are you going to come out with some shaggy sheet shabby chic stuff and like, shut up, stop it. It's like when you go to a bar and there's a bar band, you always yell play free bird and they're like, you're annoying. That's what I do to my designer friends. I tell Shabby Chic jokes. Don't say that. Don't insult us. I actually had a gal pal one time. I went through her house and she loves Shabby Chic

and like the piano was fucking white. Like everything was white. You felt like you were in a cloud. You're like, this is weird. I don't know. Use chalk paint on everything. Oh dude. Everything was white. you felt like you were in a cloud. You're like, this is weird. I don't know. Am I going to step up? Use chalk paint on everything. Oh, dude. Sheep. Everything was white. It's like... You know what? White is... White, it works. It does. It keeps things light and bright. So especially if you have maybe a not so beautiful piece of furniture, you slap a coat of paint on that and it can work really well, especially in a nursery and a playroom

and these spaces that change so frequently. That's where I encourage people to go after that kind of shabby chic look, even not the whole look, but like, yeah, take an old piece of furniture. That's a great place to do it. That's a great place to save some cash. Yeah. I have one friend that she does that in Irvine. She goes to Goodwill and finds stuff and then she's like really good at re salvaging stuff, you know, like you talked about repulsing and different things. And, you know, but it's interesting the eye that you folks have this talent that you have to be able to look at these spaces and, you know, dream up these wonderful things that I, I,

I just couldn't ever dream. I mean, in a million years, I could, I could try and design one of these rooms and it would just would never happen because I just don't have that talent. And so it's good. Chris, it would happen if you simply follow the living room design formula. Oh, that's right. I need to read the book. Good plug. All you need to do is read the book and you. No, I'm ordering and now from Amazon. Think about, okay, if you had a house and you were like, I'm going to build a deck,

right? You wouldn't just go build a deck. You wouldn't just go to Home Depot and buy some wood. You understand that you need maybe a frame and steps, but you would follow a process. You would get instructions. Maybe you'd use chat GPT. I don't know, but you would follow a process. You would get instructions. Maybe you'd use chat GPT. I don't know. But you would follow a framework.

But for some reason, when we move into a house, we think, oh, well, we just know what furniture should be like and about what, where it should go. But if you use a guide, you actually can create that professional outcome. So that's why we have the living room design formula available so that people can do it on their own. It's not as challenging as it seems, but you do have to follow the steps to get the best outcome.

There are steps involved here. There are steps involved, but they're good steps. They're fun. You would like it, Chris. You would like it. You should try it. I will read the book so I can learn how to design stuff better.

Cause I have very expensive furniture. I mean, I spent, what was it, 30 grand back in the day for all my Bernhard and Henry and down. I mean, I got a lot of stuff. I love that you invested. I had a custom. And you know, there were, when women would come into my house on dates and stuff, I'd be like, this is the living room you'd be moving into. You either like this furniture or we have to break up because I'm not buying your furniture. I just spent 30 grand on this shit. This is in the nineties. I'm like, I'm not, this is lifetime furniture here. So either you love my look and taste or-

Or you're out. Get out. The next guy. I'm home with the Dustys. But you know, I mean, I bought some really nice stuff, so they pretty much loved it, but that probably would have changed anyway. But you know how that goes. Let's see, how can someone start designing their room on their own? Well, number one, we've established by your book or- Right, obviously. Where's a good starting point? Burn everything and throw it out the window, burn everything first?

Yep. Start from scratch. No, actually, no, especially if you have furniture that you like and even more so if you invested in it. So someone like you, Chris, I would say the first thing you need to do is understand the needs of your space. You already know how you use your space. You know it better than anyone. So understand the needs, make sure you know what you want to achieve. Do you want to have people over? Do you want to just lay on that sofa and watch TV? Figure out what is most important to you. And then we're going to map the space.

Now if you already have great furniture, we're still going to map the space, but you're using the dimensions of the furniture you already have to create the ideal layout. That's going to be our second step. And then third is we're going to dive into the design. So we're going to use some inspiration photos. We're going to go online. We're going to go on Pinterest, maybe use some magazines, catalogs, use those photos to kind of create that compass from what is exciting to you. And once you have that idea of this, I like these rooms and we narrow it down, you're going to be able to filter everything you buy

through that compass. So you know, you might see something that you like, but you're like, that does not fit in what I've already established as my direction. So you won't buy it. And you're going to be focused just on the things that definitely will work in your desired outcome. Now, with, how do you design a room when you have messy kids, pets, partners? I mean, there's

that famous line in the Super Tramp song where, well, I think some part of the furniture, you know, so you've got that. Maybe you have to design a room for them. Maybe that's what they call those things, the manscape. So how do you make that work? And you know, one thing that, one challenge that the folks have, especially with younger kids is sometimes they buy like cheap furniture because, you know, they know it's going to get banged up and, you know, covered in food and everything else, pretty much like me on any Friday night. So how do you, what's your advice for people like that? I've worked with mostly families since I started my business. So I've done a lot of furniture

that kids are going to get their dirty paws all over and dogs and all the things, people who have friends that like to drink wine, you know, all the things. Oh yeah. But so in that first step where we're identifying what we need, that's when we're going to be really clear about that. And there are so many great options for that durability piece. We have a lot of high performance fabrics are available on sofas. And that's a place where it's really worth investing to get something where the liquids just feed off of it and it will last so long. As you said your burn her furniture you've had how long? 30? Probably 30 years 20. Yeah I mean that is such a testament to what good furniture can do

for you. Almost 30 years. Yeah if you are able to invest in that, even with kids, it's still going to be worth it because it will hold up. But again, you might sit down and look at your plan and realize, okay, I only have X amount of dollars to spend, but I really want this to look great for the next five years. And then that's where we go to the cheaper stuff and knowing that it won't last quite as long and that's where we go to the cheaper stuff and knowing that it won't last quite as long and that's okay. Pete Slauson Yeah. One thing that I have that has lasted

really well in spite of all the dings and whatever is an Italian marble coffee table. And this thing takes three people to move it. It's like, I think it's like four by four or something. Kirsten You're room sounds amazing. Pete Slauson It's from Italy. Kirsten You don't have good taste, but it sounds like four by four or something. But it's from- Your room sounds amazing. It's from Italy. That you don't have good taste, but it sounds like you have fantastic taste.

I do, I'm actually really stuck up. But yeah, I mean, I would have bought, I would have bought Ralph Lauren back then, but it's, you know, it was even more expensive than the Bernhardt. Yeah, oh. It can still be very expensive. But wait, do you just need a gallery wall? Is that what you need?

You need things on the wall? Cause it sounds like your room is gorgeous. Yeah, I don't, do you just need a gallery wall? Is that what you need? You need things on the wall? Because it sounds like your room is gorgeous. Pete Slauson Yeah, I don't, I'm just not a wall person, put stuff on the wall person. Well, actually, I lied. I actually have this beautiful Paris painting and I think I have some other paintings. Oh yeah, I do. I actually, yeah. Anna Voelker Oh! Pete Slauson I have some other paintings. They're all in storage right now because I'm between two places. But yeah, actually, I have some other paintings.

Anna Voelker You've been lying to me this whole time about not having good taste. I mean, I know I have good taste, but I just, I don't have them up on a house yet. But yeah, I do actually do have pictures. I forgot about them because they've been in the thing. But yeah, I have some beautiful pictures that I spent a whole lot of money on. Probably need to revisit that one of these days. But yeah, I just, I was just like, I'm just buying stuff and this is it. I'm buying stuff that's gonna last me a lifetime. And it sounds like what you did, which is what I encourage people to do in the book and what I encourage clients to do is we need to go to what you love because trends and

styles of course, I'm not decorating in a vacuum. Obviously, we need to think about them. But if you love something, if you are so excited when you see that Paris beautiful piece of art and you feel good about it, that is so valuable in your space. That actually changes the way you feel in your life. If you feel good when you walk down the stairs and you look at something that makes you think of something beautiful, that is a mental health bonus. And that's what I want people to go after because that's how I feel when I finish this space. I feel so good. I feel exhilarated and I want more people to be able to do that on their own. They don't need to hire an interior designer. They can still get that feeling of like,

MySpace looks great, and it makes you feel like your life is together. Yeah. I mean, and it's funny, the Bernhart that I have, now Bernhart makes these cheaper versions of them, that they're just so cheap, it's not even funny, but they still look like mine, kind of, but I can tell. And it's really funny.

The linen. Well, I have to say, in defense of Bernhard, which is one of my favorite brands, they have a really, they do have a good manufacturing program. Now, this is not to debate that it has changed over the last 30 years, because they all have, but it is one of the brands that I consider to be great. And every time I place a Bernhard piece in a client's house, they're always happy. I've never had an issue. Their sofas are so comfortable. That is one of my top. Yeah, I had a two sofa in an Ottoman that was all white from them. And I think I picked out the... No, I don't think I picked on that one. I didn't pick out the coloring, but my dogs eventually ruined it. So I finally had to sell it because I got tired of cleaning it.

But no, I've got like a beautiful Bernhard ten-seater dining table. I basically designed my house to be a CEO where I could throw CEO type parties and stuff. And so- Oh my gosh, Chris. ... paper, linen. Like you would just die if you saw the pieces that I have that they don't make anymore in Bernhardt. I'm sure of it.

And then you were talking about the feeling part of it. I love sitting at this table because it's so beautiful and the inlays and the design of it, the legs. And then my Bernhardt bed is like, it's like a king's bed. It has this huge masculine sort of entity. But the beautiful part is it has like different parts. So you've got posts, you can either have posts where they're just standardized posts, where you can have the canopy or you can just have a round part.

And so, you know, probably with, you know, some of the things you've talked about where you can have variants and you can change stuff, you can still have great furniture and then you can work around it or build around it. Absolutely. Well, and I love what you said about how you designed your space to be like a CEO. Now, I don't know where you were in your career at that point, but my feeling is there are a lot of people who maybe they know they want that role, whether it's CEO or something else, it doesn't need to be CEO. But if you know the life you want to live, and you design your space with that in mind, you are creating it for yourself, right? Like you are building

that for yourself. And it sounds like now 30 years later, you still feel that. Yeah, still get that energy. That is what is so valuable. You know, I think a lot of people kind of discount interior design. They're like, it's, you know, and I get it. It is just furniture. I'm always like, I'm not, there are no design emergencies, but it does really change the way you feel and live your life when it's done right. And that's something that's hard for people to get to that right. There is no right in design, but when it's done thoughtfully, it's hard for someone to get you on their own. So use your resources to really create a space that makes you feel good. And you

will, that will just grow in your life. Well, it has kept me single all my life, because every time it comes over, I'm like, do you like the furniture or the road, hit the streets, hit the bricks? You know, now I'm at the age where I'm like, honey, you keep your house, I'll keep mine and we'll just visit each other. I mean, look, I adore my husband, but that does not sound so bad. We've been married 18 years and together much longer. And I love him so much. But yeah, I wouldn't mind if he lived right next door. I like, I, I have often joke like a few times when I've had women live with me, I've been like, you know, I'm just going to get a house in the back. So I can go back there and game and I can be a slob and I can have my own

toilet and I can just do whatever I want. And like, you're not allowed in there at all because you'll try and clean stuff. You know, right. like, you're not allowed in there at all because you'll try and clean stuff, you know. Lauren Ruffin Chris, that's good design. In every house we've ever had, I make sure my husband has a closet that I can't see and an office that I can't see. And, you know, that's where all the stuff goes. And that's fine. That works for him. It works for me. Everybody's happy. That's design right there.

Pete Slauson I think you need to do a couples counseling book on furniture. You know, you mentioned at the beginning of the show about how you do a lot of psychological or marriage counseling going on with people and, you know. Beth Dombkowski We'll go all the way down after I get through all the rooms, I'll get to couples counseling. Pete Slauson You know, I have a lot of husbands that, you know, they'll have that discussion with me and I'm like, you don't understand, you're always wrong. So

it's her nest. She's got to be able to make it comfortable for her. You're just an accessory. So I don't even know why you're involved in this planning process. She's still going to do what she wants. So just give up. Just let her do what she wants and make yourself happy. You know, I don't know why- Get her this book so that she does it through that. Yeah, get her the book. Get her the living and design formula. I've lived all my life, Stingy, and somehow I know more about women than married guys. I don't know what that's about, but maybe that's why I'm still single. So how much money does it cost to redesign, to design a living room or family room?

Ooh. So if I ever meet that woman who says to me, Chris, if you want to be with me, you got to get rid of some of this Bernhard crap and upgrade to Ralph Lauren or something. I don't know. Well, I don't know. I mean, if she doesn't appreciate that Bernhard furniture, maybe she's the one that's got to go. But I could understand if she wants to work around it and create a new space with some beautiful rug and awesome art and whatever. That's a million dollar question, Chris.

And sometimes it's a million dollars. Yeah. For the wife or for the new girlfriend wife or for the future? For everyone. No, I'm just kidding. I've seen that movie in divorce. Yeah. Look, if you're tackling a room,

there's obviously some level of investment. You're not getting away with under $1,000. If you're tackling a room, there's obviously some level of investment. You're not getting away with under $1,000. You're putting some money into it. But it doesn't always have to be expensive, and it really comes down to your needs. Now I have kids that are 10 and 13, and when they were little, I obviously wasn't investing nearly as much. You know, I could put together a room for myself if I already had some furniture, maybe

I could put together a room for $5,000. But now I'm in a stage of life where, you know, they're getting older and I want the good stuff and I want the stuff that really looks great and is going to last a really long time. So I want to invest. I work with clients that spend $50,000 on one room. You don't have to do that to get a great outcome. So I want to invest. I work with clients that spend $50,000 on one room. You don't have to do that to get a great outcome.

If you do that, you will get a great outcome most of the time. I just want to move, let's just move into one of those model homes. You know, the model homes when you go touring for homes. I just, I always liked the model home. And then I, anytime I've seen the model home and I see my home, I'm like, I like that model home better.

Like, give me that one. Well, cause in the model home, they do all the extras. They put in all the molding, they have all the high end fixtures, and then you have to do it yourself. But so basically the answer is spend more, Chris. I have the mold part of the molding. So I've got that. Oh, there you go. Mold is fun. That's a fun thing to deal with. Sometimes. It's a nice fungi. Yeah, that's very common, especially on the stucco homes. So the answer to your question is you can work with a huge range of budgets. And in the book, I'll plug it again, the Living Room Design Formula, your budget is not...

It doesn't matter what your budget is, because we're going through the process and you get to choose for yourself. It's like choose your own adventure books, remember those? Yeah. Like it's like that. So it's like, okay, I want to spend more on my sofa here. Maybe I'm gonna save on the light fixture. Or I am obsessed with this light fixture, I must have it.

I'm going all in. You get to choose. So yeah, you're going to have to make some sort of an investment, but depending on your situation, depending on the size of your room, it does not matter. There are a wide range of budgets that you can use to get a great outcome. People can watch your Instagram, your TikTok and stuff. We've had a lot of designers from TikTok and stuff on the show, whether it's clothing or, you know, dressing up, all that

sort of good stuff. TikTok has been kind of a great place for that, hasn't it? TikTok has been awesome. It's been really good to me. That's where I kind of got my presence on social media. My sister actually challenged me. She was like, you just need to post one video per day for a month. And so I did it. And I think we're almost through the month and I texted her and I was like. And I think we're almost through the month and I texted her and I was like, am I supposed to respond to all these comments? And she's like, yeah,

it's really good to respond for engagement. And I was like, there are like 4,500. It was a video that went viral, which was great. And that was how I was able to reach out to a lot of people. And I have a lot of content on TikTok, on Instagram, and really YouTube has been a big one because I have some longer form videos where I really talk about, you know, buying a sofa and all the things you should be looking for and what steps you should go through. So check me out there at Barickman

Design, which is hard to spell, B-A-R-R-I-C-K-M-A-N, design. So give us a final pitch on people that are in your book, how they can reach out to you for consultation, coaching, advice, design, etc., etc. Anna Slauson Yeah. So, please do check it out on Amazon, the Living Room Design Formula. It's a great starting off point for anyone, really. No matter where you are in your home design process, you can apply these techniques and get that outcome. And then on social media, like I said, at Barickman

Design, that's a great way to connect with me. I put a lot of content there. And I also am developing more tools to help people with their designs. So I'm still working on exactly what those look like. But there may be kind of a course where you'll get a little bit of one-on-one time with me and we can go through your design step by step. And I'm also putting together some kind of packages with some tools that are really useful for designing your space. So stay tuned at Barickman Design or barickmandesign.com. You can find those things in all the new developments. Well, it's been fun to have you on

and talk about all the good stuff and giving people some ideas on how they can do stuff better. Like I say, I think she had a book on psychology for how to get the husband to leave you alone and let you do what you want with your nest. You know what, that's chapter one. That is chapter one. I'm not even kidding.

There is a chapter about that. Seriously, it's in there. The husband, it could be the husband who designs. I've worked with a few clients where the husband takes the leads. But usually it's the wife, let's be honest. Yeah, I mean, I was a realtor for six years. And you know that the woman is, it's her kitchen, it's her bathrooms.

It's, the man's just kind of there to pay for it all. 98% of the time, that's the way it is. But I have had a couple where it's been the guy. Hey, that's, you know, the man's just kind of there to pay for it all. So. Amy Kasselmann 98% of the time, that's the way it is. But I have had a couple where it's been the guy and hey, that's great. They know who they are. Pete Slauson Well, thank you very much for coming to the show. We really appreciate it, Amy. Amy Kasselmann Absolutely, my pleasure.

Thank you so much for having me. It was fun. Pete Slauson Thank you. And thanks, Doron, for tuning in, folks. Order of the Book, wherever fine books are sold. You definitely want to take and do that. Give me the title of the book again, Amy, off the top because I've lost track of it here. Amy Quinton The Living Room Design Formula.

Pete Slauson Out on Amazon or wherever fine books are sold or up today, folks. Thanks so much for tuning in. Go to Goodreads.com, Forchess, Chris Foss, LinkedIn.com, Forchess, Chris Foss, Chris Foss 1 on the TikTokity and all those crazy places on the internet. Be good to each other, stay safe, we'll see you next time. There we go.