156. Setting Goals for Your Ideal Home

Sandy Brudner is an Interior Designer. She started her own design studio, Sandy B Interiors, a referral based Interior Design Studio in Jerusalem. Sandy designs, plans, manages and styles spaces transforming them into beautiful and functional homes. Rebbetzin Bat-Chen Grossman is a marriage coach for women in business. Join them in talking about goals and marriage in designing your home. 

 Welcome to the Connected For Real podcast. I'm Rebbetzin Bat-Chen Grossman, a marriage coach for women in business. And my mission is to bring God's presence into your life, into your marriage and into your business. Let's get started. 

 And we are live,  welcome everyone to the connected for real podcast. I'm Revetan Batran Grossman. I'm a marriage coach for women in business. And I love that intersection where marriage and business and your life and God all come together. And today we are talking about goals and marriage and specifically the the goals that you have for your home and for your space and for the atmosphere in your home.

And today with me is Sandy and she's going to introduce herself and then we'll get right into it.  Thanks. So nice  to be here with you.  So my name is Sandy Brutner. I'm an interior designer and home stylist. I made Aliyah to Israel with my husband and six kids 18 years ago. My kids at the time were 2, 3, 4, 5, 9, and 11.

Today, Baruch Hashem, they range in age between 20 and 30. And we have three beautiful little granddaughters that we really enjoy. Shortly after arriving in Israel, I opened up a studio designing homes for English speaking.   Most of them live overseas, and we design, plan, manage the projects for our clients.

They're purchasing homes in new development projects  or secondhand homes. So we take care of everything for them. They don't speak the language. Our clients don't speak the language. They don't know the trades. They are not here physically to take care of all the details. So we do that all for them. 

That's amazing. I love that. So you've been doing that for 18 years.  I actually started approximately 16 years ago. Once we arrived in Israel I went to school here. I studied interior design here in Israel. And shortly after I opened up the studio. So it's been 16 years.  Oh my gosh, that's amazing.

So take me through the process of how a person can really make, you know, because if you're buying in a project, do you think, Oh, they probably thought everything through, like, why do I need a designer? Or, you know, if somebody already lived in a house, then it's already functional enough for you to move into.

Why would somebody want to hire an interior designer and really you know, take that leap?  Okay, so when our clients purchased in new development projects first of all, we start early on sometimes even before they purchased their homes. We go through their technical specifications, which is a listing of everything that is included within the apartment within the standard package apartment.

So we inform them and educate them as to what they're actually purchasing. It's in Hebrew. Difficult to understand. You can definitely Google that and get it translated, but we're giving them a summary of. All the different elements that are included in all the specifications that are included within the apartment.

Now,  purchasing a new development project. They're quite standard apartments. So we are there to make changes to the plan and incorporate. our client's needs into the apartment. Everybody has different needs. So it's a matter of communicating with the client, listening to our clients to hear what their needs are,  what their lifestyle is, what their vision for their apartment is, and then incorporating those details  into their finished apartment into possibly upgrading their apartment and into  the ambiance that they want to create within their apartment. 

Okay, cool. I love that.  So what are some practical tips about how, any one of our listeners, me, you, whoever is here can, find those specifications for themselves? Because it's really hard. A lot of times, You know what you like, maybe, or you see something on a magazine, you're like, Oh, that's nice, but it's not practical.

It's not for me or whatever it is.  How do we find what we like and what we desire before we even start to work with someone or to get to the actual results that we want?  So, like you mentioned just a second ago looking through magazines that's really important in understanding what it is that you like.

Just flipping through magazines, there's so much online now, Pinterest and so many different websites that you can look through. What catches your eye? It's what catches your eye that goes into us. So.  Looking through those magazines, looking through Pinterest, it's actually one of the first steps that I ask my clients to do.

 One of the first steps is for them to set, fill out a,  a questionnaire that I have. It's a lengthy questionnaire so that I can learn about them, their families, their personalities their loves and their hates. And the other step is to create a file, whether it's a hard file, just. By flipping through magazines or to create a Pinterest board and that's how sometimes you get to learn about yourself and what you like and what elements you want to incorporate into your house.

And it's a way for me at when I'm working with my clients to understand visually what it is  that they like because somebody might say that they. verbally say that they like, for example the color blue,  but there's so many different variations of blue. It's for them to be able to put it on a Pinterest board.

This is the blue that I like. Visually, I'm able to understand. And to know that we're both on the same page. So a client might also tell me that they want a modern home. So what, what does that mean to you? Because for you, a modern home might be different than it is  for me. So it's  that vision board is really important. 

Oh, that's such a good point. And you know, I'm just thinking for a person who's sitting there going,  I'm so far from buying the home or designing the home or actually hiring someone that I just don't feel like there's any point in looking into it. And I want to say, yes, there is. Pinterest  is free, you know, and all you have to do is start collecting my dream home or my dream design ideas or what I like and what I hate.

I love that you added what I hate. I never thought about that, but it's actually easier to find what you hate than what you love. And. really points you in the right direction when you get clear on what you don't like. So I really love that you're saying that cause that's, if that's step one and that's free, then that's accessible to anyone and it will get you that much closer to then having clarity.

About, oh, what do I need to do? Sometimes the upgrades that you need to make are so minute that you think they're this gigantic project and really they're not.  I actually just on the topic of vision boards, I actually got together with friends in our neighborhood a few weeks ago and we created a a vision board  for the year.

So a Pinterest board is very much like the same thing. You know, in our vision boards where we're dreaming about what we want our year to look like. We're dreaming about different aspects of our life, family life, financial aspects. We're also maybe incorporating, if we want a new home, we're incorporating that new home into that vision board.

So.  A Pinterest board  is, you know it's its own chapter within that vision board. So, you know, even if you're not ready to buy it yet or to acquire it yet, start dreaming about it. If that's what you want, then you know, if it's a large dining room  for your family and your guests, or if it's You know, something specific for your master bedroom incorporated  into that vision board, into that Pinterest board, and that becomes your vision board for your home. 

And you know, I just have to say about vision boards, you guys, anytime I sit down and actually get really, really clear on what I want, And I have created vision boards in the past where it, I thought it would take,  you know, if, if ever it would take me all year to reach and in the end  I think I  checked off, you know?

'cause the person who we did vision boards a while back, she said, when you actually achieve something, put the date on it. Right. I put the date on every single thing on that vision board before Hanukkah. It was, we did it in Tishray and it was like three months later and I finished the entire thing and I was shocked. 

How did that happen? And this year I didn't actually make a vision board, but I set a goal for myself to plan the entire podcast for the year. And I.  Guys, I am booked out.  And it blows my mind because I thought it was impossible. I thought what a crazy goal, but it's once you tell your brain where we're going, it's like putting in the GPS, your brain knows where to go.

It just does. And we can't forget that God is guiding it all. So it's just extremely helpful for us to get really clear on what we want, because if it is God's will.  does align. We are open to hearing the guidance and then we just sort of follow that. And it's just an amazing opportunity for us to really connect and have that relationship.

So I love that, that we're getting really clear of what we want because that is step one of the call method.  Now let's talk about how this affects your marriage.  So our homes, I always say that our homes are the foundation of our lives. It's the place that we feel safe and secure and the place that nurtures us.

We want to feel energized. And rejuvenated and full of energy when we start our days, and we want to feel welcomed and nurtured when we end our days. So our homes definitely contribute to our well being and definitely contribute to our family life  our marriages interactions that we have with, with friends, with neighbors.

I definitely feel, especially since I've always known it for, for so long, since I started in the business  and prior, but I think it really, really hit home during Corona when we were all in our homes and that's when, I think we just all felt it  so strongly. I remember at the time there were so many people during Corona who wanted to, you know, fix up their homes  and renovate and just make it a, an enjoyable and aesthetically pleasing area and space to live in. 

Yeah.  The atmosphere in your home is definitely affected by the physical space, right? Just like what we wear and, you know, what we eat and how we take care of our body affects our soul and how we function in the world. It's so, so similar. So, What are some things that we should look out for in our environment that really make the biggest difference?

Like the thing that you say, if you're going to do one thing, this is going to really move the needle for you.  Okay, so I think for that, everybody will have their own what's most important to them. Personally for myself, I find that having an organized and decluttered space is so important. In general, that's the first thing that I recommend when you're going to be revamping and renovating a space is to declutter.

You might have, You know, two, three meters worth of closet filled with clothes, whatever it is. And then once you declutter,  you realize that you don't even need all that space because you've taken out the things that you don't need. I usually say if you haven't used it in a year, you won't need it. 

When you need it in another two, three years, buy new, you know there's give it away. You can throw it. There's so many different things that you could do with with different things in order to do collateral repurposing.   So that's my first suggestion.

And then it's a matter of what inspires you? Is it a specific color? Is it a specific texture? Is it a specific idea, sometimes a quote.  I normally like to pick a concept and then go from there. And pull elements and colors  and different things that inspire me from that concept and incorporate it into the home. 

Cool. So can you give me an idea of a concept and how we can really pull from it? So that I can get more  clear on what that means. Okay, so for a home that I completed not long ago a client of mine sent me a picture that looked a bit like a farm. It looked, it was a, it was a picture of a farmhouse and its color was blue.

It's, you know, one of these farmhouses that you find, in the U. S. So  that is actually the concept  that I went with. And I incorporated different elements. From this image that he sent me. He was out on vacation in a different city. I don't remember where it was and he sent me.

 Do you think we can hang this on one of the walls? And I said, sure,  but  this was like at the very beginning when we just started designing his place. But so I took that image and I used that image as my springboard. And from that image,  we used a lot of wood materials.

We did a barn. We incorporated barn door into the, into the apartment. We incorporated a, an accent wall behind his bed. It was because of that. And we also used a lot of blue in the apartment. It was because of that image that I was able to pull different elements from that  to be creative and also to make it a home that's unique to him. 

That no other home that I design is gonna look like that home because I've taken something that spoke to him.  Art speaks to us in general, touches the soul. So I took something that touched his soul and that touched him from the inside and I drew from that.  Oh, I love that.  One of the things that comes up for me anytime I talk about interior design is the fact that  there's a lot of things that are really beautiful, but they're just not practical.

And especially now that I'm expecting my number eight, you know, it's like as decluttered and minimalist as I can get. I will never have less than 10 pairs of shoes all over the house, right? Because each person needs at least one pair. And of course they don't end in one pair. Everybody has one pair of this and one pair of that and same with coats and same with hats and same with, you know, so everything is multiplied and you feel like there's just a ton of everything. 

How do you bring in the practicality and the aesthetics together? Because I find that  a lot of the things that I find on Pinterest are just so beautiful and minimalist because, you know, all they have is two kids, like, thank you, but not really practical. So that's one of my biggest things that always comes up is like, ah, if only they knew. 

So here in Israel, places are smaller than what we're used to. I'm originally from Toronto, Canada, but from Toronto, America places, I found here that  my place is definitely smaller than what I had there. And in general, I think that's the case. So it's definitely important to be practical.

So whereas we may take, for example a console that is just a tabletop console here.  I like to maximize space. And so I would use maybe a console that has different, you know, drawers down to the floor. Whereas the, you know, beautiful console that we see on Pinterest might just, you know, be the legs and a beautiful tabletop here.

I'm thinking, okay,  we need to maximize space. We need that storage space. So I'm going,  to, go all the way down to the floor  with drawers or incorporate a few drawers into that, whatever it is the same type of idea in bathrooms.

I need to maximize the space that for storage and bathrooms incorporate the drawers, incorporate the shelving. Yeah, it might be, you know, more beautiful to just like have a tabletop  with a sink on top, but we need to maximize the space. So that's a couple of things. different areas where we're maximizing space. 

Yeah, I love that. Maximize your space, people.  It's definitely where it's at.  Wow. Okay. What other great tips do you have for us?  So let's talk about a master bedroom because we are talking a little bit about marriage. So a master bedroom is a shared space between a husband and wife. So it's important to communicate between  the husband and spouse to know what each of them wants to incorporate into the room.

Obviously there's going to be the bed itself. It should  be very comfortable. It should have a very comfortable mattress and pillows comfort that  will rejuvenate them so that they can start the day  inspired and with new energies. But there's a lot of beautiful aesthetics that can be added to a room.

A lot of textures that can be added in, in the bed frame, in the bedding. In curtains just having  the room that envelopes you in comfort and  in beauty adds calmness and it makes it a welcoming place that you enjoy walking into.  Hmm. I love that. So actually using the planning period as a place to communicate what each person finds is most important to them.

That's a great point.  That's a really great point. I can already tell you that if I sit down with my husband and I'm like, what's your ideal bedroom? He'll be like, I don't care. Just make it practical, you know I just need to have a bed and to know that I  don't need to walk over things to get to it, right?

He's extremely practical and very not  interested in like fluff. And also I think he would want light colored walls cause right now we have an accent wall that's dark behind our bed and it makes him crazy.  So I actually find that in some projects, some of the projects that I have with clients my main contact  is the wife.

And in some of the projects the main contact is the husband, which is interesting. And in some of the projects, the truth is that they're both very involved, which is, which is also nice. And the truth is, it's also a learning experience for me. But I'm always intrigued  by who takes the lead in the projects  and how they incorporate what the spouse wants  into what we're doing. 

Yeah, I love that. So let's talk about when spouses don't really agree on the necessity of having a designer. Like, You're good with this. Why do you need to hire someone? You know, you're designing enough or  you have a good taste. Why are we paying someone else to do some of this, you know, work when you could be doing it yourself? 

Okay. So I'll bring up an example. I actually had an an initial consultation  with a couple. Today, they made Aliyah a number of months ago and they went out and purchased. Their furniture and different things in their home, but they're still feeling like the home isn't warm for them is in a place that they enjoy spending time in.

So they asked me to come for a consultation to give them ideas. And  as soon as I walked in, first of all, the bones of the apartment are beautiful. It has a lot of character, but the furnishings are not complete.  They could not put the, their finger on what it is that it was missing.

But as soon as I walked in, I saw that it was not a place that welcomes you. So we're going to be adding a lot of textiles. Curtains, pillows, area rugs we're going to be adding closets because they don't have sufficient closets in order to store all their things. So  even to the point where they were thinking of getting rid of the couches that they recently purchased and, to see where we can go  with it.

I told them that we didn't need to do that. That we can use the couches that they just bought not long ago and we'll work around it in order to make a beautiful home. But other reasons that somebody May hire interior designer is that  in the long run, if you think about the scenario  with my client today is we're saving money.

They purchased couches, they purchased armchairs, they purchased dining room tables, but  they didn't coordinate all the aspects together. So, if they were to have to buy again now, in the long run, we're saving them money. We're also designing a cohesive space, a space that's going to be cohesive and welcoming for them so that When they walk in, they feel enveloped and they feel welcomed.

We also know the trades. We know the people  that we're dealing with. We have experience with them. So we know that,  that they're going to do a good job, that they're going to come back. When they say that they're going to come, they're going to deliver when they say they're going to deliver.

These are all perks that you get when you're dealing with an interior designer.  Right, you have all the connections that a regular person doesn't have if they're doing it for the first time. Yeah, it's, you know, I have a friend who said she became the interior designer for her mom because her mom made Aliyah and she's the one who speaks Hebrew and she's the one with the car, so she's running around all these places picking tiles and picking things and trying to figure it all out herself.

And as designy as she is, she says, it's the first time I'm ever doing this. So  she was just feeling extremely overwhelmed. by all of the mistakes she has to make along the way just to learn what she needs to learn. And you can save all of that hassle by just getting someone who's made all the mistakes for you. 

You know, my father always said, learn from other people's mistakes so that you don't have to make them yourself. So I feel like here you're basically paying someone To borrow their experience so that you don't have to have all of those experiences that aren't really serving your process. Yes, they're teaching you a lot along the way, but it's not necessarily what you want to be spending your time and money on right now.

  Hey, before we continue the episode, I want to ask you something. Are you ready to get answers from God directly? Feel more in love with your husband and more supported than ever? Run the business of your dreams without having to sacrifice any other part of your life? That is exactly what my one on one private coaching is for and I want to invite you, just you and me, for a free deep dive discovery call.

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Now back to the show. 

  We're also reducing stress. And we're normally doing that running around for our clients. And you can concentrate what you're, what you're good at. We're doing what we're good at and you can concentrate where you're good at.  Right. I love that. I love that. I'll give you an example of what happened when we were designing our home.

I had a friend who came in who was an interior designer. She's just incredible. She walked in just to like, you know, I want to see your house. I'm so excited. Whatever. She walked in and said, You don't have any lighting above the sinks. Like why is there no lighting? What do you think? Your light is behind you and you're going to be standing between the lettuce and the light and your shadow is going to be shadowing the lettuce.

You're not going to be able to see anything.  And it was so perfect that she walked in right then and noticed that because we ended up adding lighting. And yes, we had to pay a little bit more money to drill in the ceiling and do the whole thing, but it's so worth it. Cause now I have light above my sinks.

This is like so nice in the kitchen. But then after that, I hired her to come back and tell me about different little details that I was missing because I just never did it before. So she made decisions about, you know, positioning the sink a certain way in the bathroom so that there's more space or, you know, moving things around, doing things right.

 On the first drive so that we don't have to, sort of pay a price to redo it or fix it later  as designers.  I know that I've spoken to other colleagues about this. We walk into a home and we're just like our eyes are moving around seeing you know,  what mistakes.  or what, you know,  what ideas can we take and incorporate them and what inspires us or   yeah.

So let's talk about some of these mistakes. What mistakes do you see that people make when they're not using a designer?  So actually this apartment that I walked into earlier today. This is not something that my clients did. They, it was, it was already there when they purchased their home. And honestly, I don't know whether  the original owners use designer or not, but the toilet was not the right distance. It was supposed to be from the wall. So they're very, you know, squished up to the wall. In its positioning. I would say another area is mistakes, electrical points  not having enough electrical points or not having them in the right location.

Lighting, like you mentioned. Having the right lighting, having  the position of the, the lighting  in the right location.  Having things centered, for example, an air conditioning vent when we're planning the location of the air conditioning vent, when we're planning a home, we're able to see,  personally myself, I'm able to see it in 3D.

All the different aspects of it without actually seeing it on paper. I'm able to visualize it. So I'm able to see where different elements are supposed to go. Their location in connection to other things within the home. One example is the air conditioning event. I find in general, whether homeowners or builders, they're not able Centering them properly.

So these are things that I'm able to see visually just in my mind's eye in order to plan them out properly.  Yeah, and you can probably imagine where a person would be sitting because you're already designing like, you know, the character positioning and all that stuff where they would want the vent to be.

Pointing, you know, or not pointing.  Well, there's specific areas where it can point or  where we can plan air conditioning from it's all centralized. It's not that you could put air conditioning on one side of the house and then put it on another side.  It has to all connect  with the main unit.

But yes, we're thinking about.  Where the room is located, how it's located in order to get the proper airflow.  Yeah. I love that.  Okay. So we're talking about goals and specifically when a person has goals for what they want their house to look like and what they want their house to feel like, and you know, you're all excited about this project that you're going into.

 It feels like sometimes it's never ending and there isn't ever a time when you could check off like, Oh, I've reached the goal, right? Because we're always redoing or always adding and always, you know, sort of tweaking and always, you know,  we're in life, we're in journey, we're constantly, you know, updating and upgrading and whatever.

How do we reach a point where we actually get tangible results? and feel like we have achieved our goal, even though we're still living in it and, you know, running it and things like that, but just that feeling of closure.  So having a plan in mind  is very important. It's having that plan That  leads you to the destination.

So if we have a plan this is where all the, you know, different rooms of the house are going to be, this is the furniture that we're going to be incorporating into our house. These are the elements that we're going to be incorporating. These are the colors that we're going to be incorporating.

Once we've ticked off all those different, you know elements, colors, points. You've reached the destination.  You do reach a destination by the end of it. Our homes are constantly changing, like you say. And sometimes we might change things up in different seasons. But at the end of the day, you are reaching your destination.

And even if you decide to change something up, to add something you're, you're reaching  your destination.  I think that this is a place where you can really see the difference between having a designer and not having one. Because when you're doing everything yourself, you're like, okay, you know, we painted the walls, we put up the pictures, or whatever it was, right.

And we did this, that, the other, but there's still the styling to do, or there's still whatever, like for me, took me a year to fill the picture frames that I hung.  Like I hung the picture frames without pictures because I was going to print the pictures and then life happened. And one time somebody walked into the house and said, are you kidding?

There's still the fake picture of like the happy family on your wall. Like this isn't you. And I felt so embarrassed. Like I'm still in the process. Okay. Like I haven't finished And that, you know, being in progress all the time is draining because what it reminds you it's in your face, literally in your face, that you are not finished and that there is something that you're not, you know, like almost like no, no, no, no, no, you are a failure, you know, and you got this far and you just can't finish it yourself because there's so much to do.

So having a professional whose job it is to just  Most of the time, you'll have a lot more luck with that  because it's just so towards the end of our projects,  we have a punch list that we go through and it's a matter of, yes, getting through  that punch list, calling in the trades that have to fix something or complete something.

So we know when we have all our ticks checked. We know we've reached completion and that's always an exciting time.  That's really cool. How do you celebrate it with your clients?  So  I celebrate it  by being at the apartment when my clients arrive and just seeing, their happy faces and their excitement when they walk into their home.

I usually have a platter of fruit they're waiting for them and their refrigerator stocked. So  that's the way  I celebrate with them.  I love that. I love that.  Does it ever happen that you design a home that people are still living in?   Years ago I designed a home that my clients were living in.

It was a small renovation. So  if I remember correctly, we did tiling and bathrooms. So our clients had to live, you know,  parts of the home while, you know, some of the tiling was being done and they couldn't use one of the bathrooms, but we cannot do a full renovation with the clients living there.

They have to move out.  There's no other way about it. If you're doing one room. It's one thing, but to do a full renovation, you, you must move out.  Right. I hear that. I hear that.  It's not enjoyable. It's more difficult for the contractor, for us, and it's not enjoyable to you to, you know, to the owner. 

Right.  Okay, cool. So  this is just so fascinating because.  You know, we all have these dreams and ideas and things and whatever.  And how many of our listeners are just sitting there watching and being like, I wish, you know, I wish. But it's so unattainable that you just wonder to yourself, 

like, why are you even bothering to listen to this podcast episode? It's so far fetched from where I am now.  And I think that's what I want to address right now is being willing to want. Being willing to desire, even if you think that it's too far from where you are right now, just believing that it's possible because that's really the only way it's going to  become reality.

Like if you stop it before it even allows itself to be, then you're the one who is not letting it be.  Would you, do you have to end?  I would say it's,  it's. Connecting to a sham and the same way we pray and ask for different things. It's a matter of connecting to a sham where this is concerned and and asking  and the sham listens and answers our prayers and if that's something that you want, if that's something that's important to you and that's, what's gonna help you to serve him easier  than, than you ask. 

I love that.  And you know, I was we have an episode with my father.  Oh, he's so cute.  And he said, you have to realize that everything you have, you need, everything you need, you have. So anything past that is your wants. And we're, you know, we are  expected to want things so that we reach for more than just what we need, you know, so that we can do more in the world so that we can become more than just default. 

And so once you realize that you're like everything I need, I have, you know, and what I have right now is fine. It's perfect. I'm not complaining.  And I'm allowed to want more. Yeah. Right? They don't have to contradict.  So I love that you say, turn to God, bring him into the situation. Say, I want to serve you, you know, in a higher level and a better way in a way that I can, you know, maybe welcome more people in or create an atmosphere for my children and my marriage to really thrive.

And, you know, whatever it is that you want,  be willing to desire, be willing to want it. Because that's the step, that leads to all this. And that led to  the step that you were saying about brainstorming and collecting ideas and Pinterest and whatever. really just allowing yourself to dream and don't go down the rabbit hole and be there all day, you know, collecting pictures.

But if you are anywhere already, you know, taking a break or sitting down to do something, put a timer for 15 minutes, you know, if you're just relaxing or whatever, and allow yourself to dream because that, signals to your brain, That this is where we're going and it allows you to get there.  Yeah.

It's the same idea with you know, writing down our goals.  Whether you do it weekly, daily,  or monthly. It's seeing those, it's writing down those goals, it's seeing them materialize and ticking them off. And this, and this can be one of them too.  Yeah, I love that. Well, I'm excited about announcing my intentions.

I intend to, get  some sort of upgrade with the home. I'm just waiting to see what that is. But I'm super excited about it. So, I'll update you guys when it actually happens. I'll definitely make sure to tell you. But it's.  Yeah, it's, you know, it's  in dream state.

That's almost there. Like we're really close. I just haven't solidified it yet. 

That's right.  Write it down. Make it make part of your goal list. Yes. I'm going to write it down.  I've already collected a bunch of different pictures on Pinterest, I'm actually ahead. So I'll go back and look at them and I think it, It's going to spark some new ideas of, you know, what else I want.

 This is exciting.  And I know, I know I love color. How do you deal with people who tell you, I don't want color. I don't want any color in the house. Like  I'm not a color person. But sometimes textures and.  you know, some color is layers, layers. You can use even the same color, just different fabrics, layer, different tones.

If somebody doesn't like color, sometimes we just put a little accent of color,  but just even taking the same color and layering the same color in different tones makes a big impact.  I love that. I love it.  And I also want to bring here, allowing yourself to be yourself. and not comparing and not expecting yourself to be different.

A lot of people are like, I should be a minimalist or I should like  when everything is out of sight, blah, blah, blah. It's like, no, you should not. You should be yourself. Right?  Really give yourself permission to love what you love and to hate what you hate and to not make it mean anything. It's just about you loving your space and letting it fuel you and not drain you. I think that's really  the way to wrap it all up is let yourself get to know yourself and let yourself be yourself.  And you're the one that's going to be living there. So it doesn't matter what your neighbor has or what your neighbor suggests.

You need to be happy with the space. You're the one that's going to be enjoying it.  Yes. Yes. And I would even go farther than saying neighbor. Sometimes there's like milkman. I can think of all the guilt that,  we have sometimes when a mother or mother in law says something, you know, and then you're like, Oh, but then, every time she comes, he's going to mention it or whatever.

It's like, yeah, but she comes what, like how often and you live here, what, you know, like every day, all the time. So get rid of the guilt and the shame and all the stories about how it should be and just love your space.  Yes,  that's the way to do it. How can people find you? How can they work with you?  So you can contact me  by email or through my website at sandybeinteriors.

com. I'm on Instagram sandypinteriors. com.  That's amazing. And we're going to make sure to link all that below. So you don't have a problem. You'll find it right away. Thank you  so much for being with us. This was such a pleasure. And it also sparked a little bit of ideas for me. It's like, yes, I need to go back to that Pinterest board that I neglected.

And I want to start collecting, you know,  collecting more. Specific ideas, like now that I left it for a while, I can go back and really  see  what resonates more, you know, what really sparks me. And, and I like that you said, sometimes you start to see a pattern or you start to see something that really speaks to you.

And then you pull from there. So I love that. I'm going to go back and see if I can start playing.  Share it with me  when it's ready. Yeah. Oh, I will. I'm excited about that. Okay, cool. Wow.  Thank you so much for listening. Thank you so much for being here with us. Make sure to come back again next week for another amazing episode and don't forget to be connected for real.

 And that's it! Thank you for listening to the very end. I would love if you can leave a review and subscribe to the podcast. Those are things that tell the algorithm this is a good podcast and make sure to suggest it to others. Wouldn't it be amazing if more people became more connected for real?  And now take a moment and think of someone who might benefit from this episode. 

Can you share it with them?  I am Robinson Bat chen Grossman from  connectedforreal. com. Thank you so much for listening and don't forget you can be connected for real.