“This Interior Designer Says Your Home Is Controlling Your Life! Here’s How”

Your space is doing something to you, whether you’ve named it or not. We sit down with Gala Magrina, an award-winning holistic interior designer and the host of Going Beyond Spaces, to talk about the hidden ways a room can support your clarity or quietly drain your energy.

We get into the real mechanics of wellness interior design and design psychology: how ceiling height can nudge creativity or focus, why certain colors can overstimulate a home, and how sharp angles versus soft curves can change the way your body settles. Gala also shares what her client process looks like when the goal is more than a pretty Pinterest reveal, including the deeper intake questions that uncover what a client actually needs from their home over the next 5 to 10 years.

Then we zoom out to “luxury” and ask a tougher question: what if the most high-end choices are the ones that improve your health? We talk natural light, automated shades, circadian rhythm lighting, indoor air quality, low-VOC materials, and why adding scent through HVAC can backfire. We also touch on modern feng shui, the roots of Vastu, and simple at-home steps you can take right now, starting with decluttering in a way that actually sticks.

If you enjoyed this conversation, subscribe, share it with a design-loving friend, and leave a review so more people can find iDesign Lab. What’s one room you want to feel better in this week?

Transcript

Intro And Guest Setup

Voice Over 0:00

This is iDesign Lab, a podcast where creativity and curiosity meet style and design. Curator of interiors, furnishings, and lifestyles. Hosted by Tiffany Woolley, an interior designer and a style enthusiast, along with her serial entrepreneur husband Scott. iDesign Lab is your ultimate design podcast, where we explore the rich and vibrant world of design and its constant evolution in style and trends.

SPEAKER_00 0:26

Today, we're joined by Gala Magrigna, an award-winning holistic interior designer and thought leader who's redefining how we think about our spaces. As the founder of Gala Magrigna Design and host of Going Beyond Spaces, she blends design, wellness, and ancient practices like Feng Shui to create environments that support clarity, confidence, and overall well-being. Gala believes our spaces don't just reflect who we are, they actively shape who we become.

TIffany Woolley 1:00

Welcome to the iDesign Lab podcast. Today we are joined in studio by Gala Magrina, who is a fellow podcast host, but also interior designer who specializes in the holistic and wellness field. So we are so excited to have you in Florida. Thank you. As you come from New York. Thank you. And you're gonna tell us and introduce to the iDesign Lab listeners, tell us about yourself.

SPEAKER_03 1:30

Okay, thank you for having me. This is a great studio. Excited to be here. So, not a traditional interior designer via design school at all. I actually went to school for film and television. So when I get to do things like this, it's like a full circle moment. Uh I came in through fashion, uh being a window dresser. And that's a fun job. I know. That's a great job.

TIffany Woolley 1:52

I mean, such I love great job.

SPEAKER_03 1:54

And it was when I was in college, like for film and TV. Where was college? Uh so UCLA, and then I finished at NYU Film.

Scott Woolley 2:00

Okay. Yeah. So in LA.

SPEAKER_03 2:01

Yeah. And I needed to work while I was in college. And so I was a terrible salesperson. And then I saw somebody one day like decorating a display case, and I was like, What do you do? And he was like, I do visual merchandising. And I said, Well, what's that? And he goes, I make the store look pretty. And I said, That I can do. And so it's like a prop person in the movie business. Exactly. Yeah. So I started doing windows and stuff like that. And then typical, you start growing a career that you didn't ask to grow in. So my mind, I was doing all this freelance work on films and stuff like that. I wanted to be a director. I was working art department at the same time. And I just kept getting promoted in this uh Italian fashion company. And eventually I was US Creative Services Manager. Wow. Designing stores, designing their events, designing their showrooms.

TIffany Woolley 2:53

So it's really branding as well. Exactly.

SPEAKER_03 2:56

Yeah.

TIffany Woolley 2:57

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 2:58

And uh I was there for 12 years. And then you reach a point where you're like, I've learned everything I can learn. And I was like, all right, let me go out on my own. And I opened up a design and production agency, and we actually did a little bit of everything. So event design, store design, window design. Is this in Los Angeles? Uh new back in New York. Back in New York.

Scott Woolley 3:20

In the city or in the city. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 3:22

Um, and we had, you know, clients everywhere because it was, you know, marketing and events and everything. So I traveled a lot to Los Angeles. Um, we did events everywhere. And then what happened was as life kind of guides you to where you need to be.

TIffany Woolley 3:37

When you're open.

SPEAKER_03 3:38

Uh, that's right. And in tune. Uh-huh. Uh, you know, we would do somebody's pop-up. Um, and then they'd say, Hey, our pop-up came out so good. Can you design what we look like if we were a retail store?

Scott Woolley 3:50

So when you say pop-up, a pop-up store for some merchandise or retail or exactly. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 3:54

Yeah. Or, you know, you did our fashion showroom. Can you do my apartment in Tribeca? Sure.

TIffany Woolley 4:03

That's it.

SPEAKER_03 4:03

I mean, and then it was doing a bunch of those compared to producing, let's just say, live events for um Harper, Harper's Bazaar with this like high stress.

SPEAKER_02 4:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 4:16

And this sort of spiritual journey I went on where I learned meditation. I went to India. I started sort of practicing life in a more holistic fashion.

Scott Woolley 4:26

Did you go to India for that reason? Or was it? For meditation. Really? For meditation. What brought your thought, or you made you go that way?

SPEAKER_03 4:34

I've always been curious, a seeker, kind of. And I was reading Buddhism books at like 18. Unbelievable. And you know, you just get this itch for something. You feel like life isn't, there's more to life than how you're living it. Yeah, absolutely. Followed that. And I had always been curious about meditation, but it had never clicked for me.

TIffany Woolley 4:55

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_03 4:55

And I found this mantra-based meditation. Okay. Which is, you know, you close your eyes and they give you a mantra and you repeat it, repeat it, repeat it. And it kind of like tricks the brain into going to a place of no thought.

TIffany Woolley 5:09

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 5:09

And I sort of to relax yourself or center. I had this experience of no thought for the first time ever. And then pretty interesting. You really get in touch with like your true being, in a sense, by doing that. And so then I remember producing like one of our biggest events, like we projected onto the Empire State Building. There was helicopters. There was Kendall Jenner was right next to me. And I remember pulling off this feat and going to the back of house and being like, What am I doing with my life? This is just not aligned anymore. Oh, wow. And doing these interiors and created spaces for people to live and work in is so much more fulfilling.

TIffany Woolley 5:54

It is.

SPEAKER_03 5:55

And I so we just I started putting all our marketing dollars and really going after that. I worked with a coach in 2018 because running an event business and a creative agency is not the same as an interior. Totally wasn't. That's a big kind of risk. And you know, I always say the universe whispers before it screams and before it drags you. So it was whispering. I was paying attention.

TIffany Woolley 6:19

Yeah.

Meditation And The Pivot To Wellness

SPEAKER_03 6:19

The money was so good doing some of these other things that I couldn't fully say no to it, right? Right.

TIffany Woolley 6:25

And one has to offset the other kind of thing. Probably.

SPEAKER_03 6:29

Yeah. And uh then 2020 happened. Right, COVID. As it did for it changed so many people's lives.

TIffany Woolley 6:35

And it's crazy. It really did. It was a good reset for the world if you opened up to it that way.

SPEAKER_03 6:41

Exactly. It really was. And I said, well, you know, events aren't happening now. And that was like a big driver of so what are you gonna do, gala? So I closed M Crown Productions and I officially launched Gala Magrina Design. And then that coincided with about 2018. I had gotten all these certifications in holistic design and feng shui, in well, certificate certified in well. I did um Parsons Healthy Materials, and then I began studying for uh Vastu, which is like an ancient Indian architecture sort of uh thing. And it all came full circle. And then it was like, okay, well, I'm doing, you know, residential and commercial interior design, but with this sort of holistic wellness twist, because that's what I think sort of I I've always felt how much our spaces affect us. And I think that we can leverage so many other things for them to support us in a much deeper way than they are.

Scott Woolley 7:42

So you're switching from events to basically residential and commercial interior design. You know, that that that alone is a big jump in risk and chance and doing so and great entrepreneurial aspect. But I think about what and how you're doing it from an holistic approach and so forth. I got involved with Tiffany with her interior design, I don't know, three or four years ago.

TIffany Woolley 8:07

Kind of COVID, but it feels like it was story.

Scott Woolley 8:13

And listening to her, getting clients, finding clients, clients coming to her. But you're going after or you're focused on a very unique sort of base of clients. Yes. Are there that many people out there looking for those types of services or understanding?

SPEAKER_03 8:33

Now it's coming. Now it's coming.

Scott Woolley 8:36

When you're saying, I was an early adopter.

SPEAKER_03 8:39

Well, so you're seeing a lot more. So let's just talk about wellness.

TIffany Woolley 8:44

Central and center, you know, people, every podcast I listen to almost has some sort of comes back to wellness, mental health, cleanse. Like, whether it be cleanse your home, cleanse your body, you're on a cleanse. Like there's they're all intertwined. It makes sense that it would come in.

Scott Woolley 9:02

So but you're decorating and designing people's homes and and commercial properties with a sense of this isn't just about the the place looking nice, it's about how it feels when you walk in and how you sit in the room.

SPEAKER_03 9:17

That's it.

Scott Woolley 9:17

Which I think is fascinating.

SPEAKER_03 9:19

Oh, yeah.

Scott Woolley 9:19

I mean, I'd like to for us to learn more about how do we sell or how do we present something like that to people because we we met some we did a podcast a few weeks ago with someone that would do similar. Okay. And afterwards, I went, I went home and I said to Tiffany, our living room where our kids practice and have all their instruments. Like I said, I don't feel good about this room.

SPEAKER_02 9:43

There you go.

Scott Woolley 9:43

And Tiffany said to me, What do you like about the room? And I said, Well, the first thing is that couch.

SPEAKER_02 9:47

Yeah, yeah, I don't like that either anymore.

Scott Woolley 9:49

The couch feels too like, I don't know, it's like wares on me. It's like too heavy, it's like too big. And I said, I think it affects me on how I feel about this room. Because when I walk into a family room. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 10:02

That's what I call energy dreams.

TIffany Woolley 10:04

Correct. They are. And I started to realize, and I said to her, how do we such a So tell us more about this? Energy dreams. That's I want to. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 10:13

So what the where where to begin? Let's see.

Scott Woolley 10:15

What Because before you start, I just want to say that most everyone spends so much time in their home.

SPEAKER_03 10:22

90% of their time is in business.

Scott Woolley 10:25

And I don't think people ever really think about it, but if you for every person listening to this podcast, when they go home tonight or they're in their house and they stop listening, they should kind of reassess how they feel about Yes.

TIffany Woolley 10:39

Well, and how does that process get recognized? Like well, how do they get to you and then your where does your focus take the project?

How Space Shapes Health And Mood

SPEAKER_03 10:47

Sure, sure. So there's a couple things. So the first thing that I want to say is like spaces have a tremendous impact on us, right? Uh the Global Wellness Institute has uh this quote that's actually got me started on this journey. So let's start with with that. And that is that our studies show that our homes, communities, and environments directly affect our daily motivations, behaviors, and lifestyle. And those in turn determine 80 to 90 percent of our health outcomes.

TIffany Woolley 11:19

Well, if you think about history, yeah, I mean, that's how everybody evolved was through these little communities and communes, and everybody helped each other and they grew things, and everybody had a role. Yes. And their role was facilitated and made up.

SPEAKER_03 11:31

Gathering, like absolutely. And so, you know, great, modernization happened. We now have buildings with HVAC and you know, all these wonderful things, but we we lost an aspect of it, right? So uh, you know, I'm gonna give just basic examples that listeners can connect with.

TIffany Woolley 11:49

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 11:50

As a designer working with an architect, let's just say I'm designing an office space and it's a creative agency. If I raise the ceilings and do taller ceilings, that influences big picture and creative thinking. Right, right. Right? I agree with you on that. If I lower them, it's for very focused sort of task work precision. That's so good, yeah. Right?

TIffany Woolley 12:15

Makes sense.

SPEAKER_03 12:16

One example. Yeah. Second example, color. If I do bright colors, reds, yellows, oranges, I am gonna energize the room. Maybe I don't want to do that in a dining room where there's alcohol and in-laws.

unknown 12:33

Right?

SPEAKER_03 12:34

Yeah. Or in a bedroom. Or what do we see the most? We see children's kids' rooms, kids that have the most energy. I have a four-year-old.

SPEAKER_02 12:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 12:43

And we fill them with bright colors and bright things when calming colors and a calming palette actually soothes and brings the energy down. So the color that I paint a room can affect how people subtly feel in that room. I'll give you a third example. Uh angles versus curves. Yeah. So angles, right? We we grew up when like if you go back to caveman times, we grew up in nature and connected to nature, right? Angles in nature represent danger. So we think of thorns and curves. Right, right? It activates the, I think it's the amygdala, the fear center in our brain, and it's like, you know, watch out, right? So subtle spikes in cortisol, probably. Yeah. That we're not even, you know, tuned into.

TIffany Woolley 13:34

Right.

SPEAKER_03 13:35

Curves is associated with the feminine.

TIffany Woolley 13:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 13:38

It's round, it's inviting, it's soft. Yeah. So even the shapes of the furniture that I use are subtly affecting how you feel. Now I've just named three separate things. Right.

TIffany Woolley 13:51

And they're also intentional.

SPEAKER_03 13:52

There's so many more. And when I combine them together, it's like interior design on steroids.

TIffany Woolley 13:59

It really is. It's like completely a different perspective.

SPEAKER_03 14:01

It takes intention into that intentionality to the nth degree. And to your point, now everybody's so focused on wellness and they're talking about sleep and diet and exercise. But in that conversation, they're not talking about interiors and that architecture.

Scott Woolley 14:18

So are most of your clients who are coming to you have this philosophy? Or are they coming to you for interior design? For the education of it. Or are they coming for interior design and you're bringing them to another level of how to really enjoy that home?

SPEAKER_03 14:30

So I would say when I first started, let's not count 2020, 2021. Yeah, it was a lot of educating and people just wanted cool, nice stuff. Stuff. Because we have a cool aesthetic, right? Yeah. I would say in the last two years, I'm seeking you out because I love the way you're talking about interior design and I want to know more. And I'm really connecting with, you know, we have a methodology with 12 different points. Somebody might say, you know, I have an autoimmune disease and I really love that you're into healthy materials. Or another person is like, I have anxiety and I love that you're designing, you know, for to sort of like help with that. So I'm we're be that's what I'm saying, we're beginning to see it. Like the the wellness industry, I think, is one of the fastest growing industries right now. And wellness real estate within the within all of the categories is one of the biggest growing. Really? So I feel like I'm I'm an early adopter, but I'm I'm like in a good place right now where as people are becoming more aware, we're well positioned in that market.

Scott Woolley 15:32

So some of the things that you just said about how a person they may have anxiety or whatever. Yeah. Are you like being their shrink when you first met them? I feel like that's okay.

SPEAKER_03 15:46

But to learn a little bit more about them and how you can help them. That's a great question. So I I tell clients that our design kickoff meeting is gonna be part creative brainstorm session. So, yes, I want to hear if you like wallpaper, what colors you like, the typical questions related to design. We established the design direction. I had hero images. Yeah. And then I'm like, this is the first date, but only I'm getting to know you well. And I'm gonna ask you, you know, I send a questionnaire ahead of time.

Scott Woolley 16:14

You do, okay.

SPEAKER_03 16:15

Because some people come to us, they know what they've signed up for, but I'm asking questions of like, did you feel safe in your childhood home? You know, how did it, you know, do you suffer from anxiety? You know, what do you want more of in your life? Uh, what do you want the next 10 years to look like? I'm not asking typical questions. You know what I mean? And so I'm I really want to get I want to see things in them that they don't even see for themselves. So that then I can design in a way that's almost like a giant surprise for them and that that helps elevate them in a sense, you know, in one aspect of their life.

TIffany Woolley 17:01

What I like I everything you're saying just resonates so much with me. Do you ever have like difficulty delivering when it's like, can you fit it in this time frame and this type of bud like how does all that correlate in?

SPEAKER_03 17:17

Absolutely. So budget, you know, it's probably very similar to how you establish your budgets, like that's what vendors I use. You know, yeah. Yeah. I'll I'll be like, hey, what furniture do you have now? You know? What are we incorporating? Exactly. And then I I kind of roughly know the price per square footage and I know the amount, what the clay costs that I need to work with at this point, because I've done enough projects. I think one aspect of what you really what you said is really important, and that's the time. So we have a process, and we need to abide by that process because that allows for discovery reflection. You know, I'm thinking about your project when I'm in the shower. Right. Some of my best ideas come after I meditate. I need time to do that. Yeah, you do. When you rush it, um, and so much about our modern societies, about speed.

TIffany Woolley 18:09

That's what I ask the question for because it's something that I feel like you lose something.

SPEAKER_03 18:13

Yeah. And I understand that you may want to get in to throw your Christmas party. Right. But I'm doing a disservice to you if I say yes to that. I know. Because I'm gonna go to the easiest selection and I'm I'm not gonna take the time to really sort of breathe you in and breathe the project and let it marinate and let things develop. Now, that said, I came from a live events background. We are very process-oriented and very efficient, and I always say the journey needs to be as beautiful for you as the final product. So I balance those two. But like if a client's like, I want, you know, by this day, I I say no to that. And I also learned by fire. So many times I've said yes because we needed the project, I needed to pay the bills. Like, let's get real too.

TIffany Woolley 19:03

How do you feel? Yeah. And it bit me in the butt.

SPEAKER_03 19:05

It just bit me in the butt. So we don't do that anymore. And and and if I say to a client, you know what, I'm gonna do you a disservice if I agree to your timeline, they usually get it. They usually understand it. I like Yeah.

TIffany Woolley 19:17

I like that. Yeah. I need to tackle that a little bit better. It's hard. It is hard.

SPEAKER_03 19:22

You have a team and you have bills to pay, and you, you know, you need the income.

Client Discovery Beyond Style

TIffany Woolley 19:26

Yeah. And the process does take time. And as you said, you're thinking of it when you're in the shower, you think of it when you're I'm like, I can't put an hourly time on this. This is an evolution, it's a growth. And I'm taking you in on the weekends it's so true. Yeah. It is 100% true. Yeah. So we discussed like a little bit of the psychology and how and how things can be calm versus chaotic. Is that like one of the more important aspects of the wellness?

SPEAKER_03 19:58

Yeah. It's identi well. Because the world's crazy. Yeah. Totally. Uh it's moving at light fast speed. Yeah. Um, I think most people.

TIffany Woolley 20:08

Like we're taking in so much so much stimuli.

SPEAKER_03 20:11

Yeah. And I think people are operating, you know, before stress served us very well. Let's go back to caveman times, right? You saw a tiger, your cortisol levels spiked, it gave you the ability to focus, to maybe run faster, get away from the danger. But I feel like now a lot of us are in that constant state of stress and survival, right? And and we've normalized that. And it's not normal. And so I do think that home now has to be many different things. And one of them is sanctuary, this place of refuge, not just shelter, but a place that can sort of hold you and reset you to get you back into the world better. I think a well-designed holistic home can do that.

TIffany Woolley 20:59

And when you're saying well-design and holistics, it's like it's like I'm thinking too, like just when you're in your own home and like things need taken care of and tending too. I mean, those can be things that are annoying and put you on edge.

SPEAKER_03 21:18

Like how a thousand percent. So that's like the chaos, right? And like that crack on the wall that I see every morning when I walk in my door and I go, oh, I gotta do something about that. And I start my day off thinking I'm less than because I have not tackled that in three months. That's an energy drain. Yeah. At the most basic level, let's talk about like rep everything sort of functioning and being repaired and everything like that. You know, that that can be an energy drain in an object. Totally.

TIffany Woolley 21:46

And I feel like, you know, we talked for a second when we first met coming in that I'm like, people don't realize what they get comfortable with. And that's and you obviously I tell my kids all the time get uncomfortable with being I mean, get comfortable with being uncomfortable. Because that's where the growth happens.

SPEAKER_02 22:03

A thousand percent.

TIffany Woolley 22:04

And you know, we do part of our job is to create beautiful spaces and pretty pictures. But there's a lot of uncomfortable moments to get to that beauty.

SPEAKER_03 22:15

A thousand percent. So a thousand percent. And I and I think too, I want to go back to this point about how we get comfortable in our spaces. So one of the beautiful things about us as humans is that we adapt, right? We're we're built to sort of adapt. And I think a lot of the times if you're in a space that you're unhappy with, whether it's for economic reasons or because you, you know, many people feel overwhelmed. I don't know how to paint, I don't know what to do. So let me just inherit, you know, my family's furniture. And even though I hate it, at least I have something, right? And you know, in Central Park or the horse carriages, how they put the blinders on the horses so they can't see. I feel like this starts to happen a lot when we walk into our office spaces or our homes day after day after day after day. And at the same time, the environment is still having an impact on us. And so I think if you can, you know, go like this. I uh one of the tips that I tell people is if you've been away from your office or your home, like on holiday or whatever, and you've been like a week out of it. When you walk back into the space, I want you to ask, I want you to look around and A, like be like, how do I feel in here? Does anything bother me? What would I change if I had all the money in the world?

SPEAKER_04 23:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 23:38

And that can give you a pretty good clue, like if that space is a reflection of you, if it's supporting you or if it's draining you.

Scott Woolley 23:47

Don't you think everybody has something to complain about their space for?

SPEAKER_03 23:52

Not I don't think so. I think if it's been uh two things. I think one, if you're visually and creatively inclined and you're able to put a room together. I have friends that aren't designers per se, but they can put a room together nicely and it feels harmonious to them, and they're in touch with themselves. So they're choosing things that spark joy. That so like it doesn't have to be so intellectual. Like, what sparks joy for you, you know? And then yes, it kind of has to go to the same party or design style, or it can look kind of crazy, but like very simple things of you know, what sparks joy, and then we know that bringing like plants in and biophilic elements boosts your mood and lowers your cortisol. We know that natural light boosts mood. So, say, you know, home of a non-designer that has those three elements, that's already gonna feel good. Do you know what I mean? But I would say to your point, that's probably a minor percentage of the population because I think the majority get overwhelmed. They want a beautiful space, they want a space that that supports them, but they're like, oh my God, I love all these things, but when they put them together, they don't look good. Well, I say that all the time. You know what I mean?

TIffany Woolley 25:10

You can love a lot of things, but it doesn't mean they're all gonna work together.

SPEAKER_03 25:13

And I think that's really where people get stuck and overwhelmed. Yeah. Yeah.

Scott Woolley 25:17

So how how do you work with like a new client and you go to their house for the first or second time and you realize, okay, there's a number of things that people want to keep, but you realize that it doesn't work. Yeah. Or it's probably draining.

SPEAKER_03 25:31

It's probably how do you So I tread lightly because I want to honor, you know, they might have sentimental value or, you know, whatever. I tread lightly. I, you know, there's some designers that are a quick hard hand, and there's some that are just a soft guide. I'm definitely a soft guide because I acknowledge that people are emotionally attached to their spaces. And when we get into them, even though they've hired and they've paid us, there can still be some barriers that go up. I'm sure you've felt that before. For sure. And so I tread lightly and I just invite, I say, you know, these what helps me a lot actually is choosing what I call hero images for a project. So me and the client walk out of that first meeting with five to ten images that's gonna guide the design. So anytime we they deviate from that, for instance, if they want to keep these two armchairs because they love them, has to offset something. I'll show I'll show them, hey, this is the this is where we're going. And does that look like this goes to this? Right. And they answer their own question. No, it doesn't. Okay, let's say goodbye, let's say thank you, let's say goodbye, let's donate it. Because I'm all about sustainability and that that saying that one person's garbage might be another person's treasure. Let's thank it, let's send it along, and let's get something that supports the version of you that is here right now and where you want to go in the next five to ten years. Because the space has to evolve with the person too.

Scott Woolley 27:04

Well, if you think about it, like when I was mentioning a few weeks ago when we went home and I didn't like the couch and whatnot, and I said to Tiffany, I said, There's a whole bunch of stuff here that if we put it in a box and put it in the garage or put it down the curb, I wouldn't even care. And it would probably make me happier because it'd be maybe less, I don't know if it's less cluttered, yeah, or just feel like less cluttered, probably. Or feel like there's more room. Like I can breathe. I can get like the air is better.

SPEAKER_03 27:34

It's how simple is that now? Yeah.

TIffany Woolley 27:36

I know.

SPEAKER_03 27:37

How simple? And it's because you, you know, you had those blinders on, you had that conversation, you walked in with the blinders off, and you were really able to in that second tune in to like, okay, how is this really making me feel? Yeah, you know?

Timelines, Stress, And Energy Drains

TIffany Woolley 27:50

So these feelings and the emotions to deal with interior design, how do you interject them in a design intent aesthetic? Like, you know, there was a time, I I'm using this like especially in South Florida. Yeah. In like the late 90s, everything was like over-the-top Mediterranean, super dark colors, lots of golden fake stone, you know, it was kind of like over the top. And we're like trying to, like I always say, I'm trying to like declutter, de-gloop, you know, everything. And then there was also another time where, like, I don't know, sometime in the early 2000s, that some of these architects just started putting angles in the craziest places, and these bedrooms have like nine angles. I said, I feel like all I'm doing is cleaning things up, just squaring things up again. And then again, now we're in this, you know, my kids call the microwave houses where they're just boxes, all white walls, super clean, which there's an appreciation for, but I also feel it's very sterile. There's not a lot of life there, you know, and windows in very stark angles. Like it's so how can we, or how what's the process of translating all that into such, you know, I like architectural digest worthy homes?

SPEAKER_03 29:11

Or where you can breathe, where you feel I think, yeah, I think, you know, for me, like I think we have to look at how we've defined luxury interior design in the past. Like when I think of luxury interior design, I think of massive homes, lots of ornate details, um sort of materiality for the sake of almost showing off. Of course. You know what I mean?

TIffany Woolley 29:39

Like I think artistic, yeah. Very curative.

SPEAKER_03 29:42

Yes, like um museum, like right. And yes, and but I think if we evolve from there, I'll walk, you know, let me just walk you through, let's put it into like really simple terms of like what luxury feels like to me and what that could look like. I think a home that is not too big and not too small, where every single room is being used. Because I've worked with clients that have these massive homes, and you walk by these rooms that nobody's been in for a year, and you can feel the energy in there is off.

SPEAKER_02 30:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 30:15

That's an energy drain in your home. I don't care if it's a$20 million home, that's an energy drain in your home. Yeah. Right? And a resource stream, and if you think about it. So I think a home that's not too big and not too small. I think a home that reflects who you are and not necessarily that you're trying to show off for whoever comes over. I think there's a lot of that in luxury interior design. And so then it's not a reflection of self. You're doing it for somebody else if you think about it. Three, uh, access lots of natural light. I would probably throw in some Hunter Douglas blinds that are automated so that every window, like it goes up, and you get, you know, if you're in a home with a lot of windows, a lot of the times you can't get to opening the blinds, so it ends up being dark all day. So electric. So waking up to those automated blinds, I would put in a circadian rhythm uh lighting system that's changing color temperature with the sun throughout the day so that the my circadian rhythms, I'm perfectly in tune with the sun and it's talking to my body and then.

Scott Woolley 31:16

Wait, wait, so explain that a little bit more. So circadian, so the sun changing like the Kelvin in the Yes.

SPEAKER_03 31:22

So what happens, like when we draw the sun as little kids, we draw it as this like yellow thing. Right. But actually, as the sun rises, it has a hue, it's and it is color temperature, so it's more of like a pinkish-orangish. Right. And then around Tinium, it's like this bluish light.

SPEAKER_02 31:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 31:39

And then in the evening, it goes down. Never even ever thought of that. So the blue, the the yellowish, pinkish in the morning and at the end of the day is connected, sort of tells our body and our hormones and our circadian system to sort of sort of get sleepy, calm down. And then when it goes to blue light at around 10 a.m. until like 3 p.m., that's our active productive state. And that blue light sort of wakes you up until it comes back down again.

Scott Woolley 32:11

So it goes to like a bright, bright, bright blue.

SPEAKER_03 32:14

It's a blue. It's a blue. It's like when you use, I think like 4,000 or 5,000, you do that like in a laundry room because you want to be, you know. Yep. So the the sun is doing that throughout the day, and that is connect, it's we take that in and it's signaling to our bodies, right? So if I'm indoors, if I could have a circadian lighting system, that's luxury. That's luxury to me, right? Because it's a it's a health thing, as is the natural light. Then I'm gonna put in the the best air, right? Because we also know good oxygen can also wake you or bring you down. I am not an engineer, but like an HVAC system that is either new or been cleaned after construction. Let's start there. Yeah. Or like a filters and exactly. Yes, like sort of top of the line. Very boring stuff. Right.

Scott Woolley 33:03

Yeah, we're we're out of house right now that the client wants it in all of their ACs. We're putting that in.

SPEAKER_03 33:09

Yeah. And then I'm going to probably do some furniture. If I'm going to think about what rooms I want to be active in and what rooms I want to be calming in. And I'm going to design for that. So I'll probably do some sharper angles, some brighter colors, and maybe a gym or a work from home space. But I'm going to make sure that my bedroom, things are rounded, there's a lot of textures. Um, this the beaut, the beauty of this um circadium lighting system from Lutron is that at the end of the day, it starts bringing, you know, bringing the lights down like to a dimming thing to sort of like make you sleepy in the evening. And it kind of puts you into like a good sleep mode. So it's affecting your sleep, right?

Scott Woolley 33:52

That's taking lighting to a whole nother level, though.

SPEAKER_03 33:54

It's in but we can't.

Scott Woolley 33:55

But we in our house, yeah, we we use Lutron, but we have settings.

TIffany Woolley 33:59

Yes.

Scott Woolley 34:00

So when we have when we have guests and friends, we don't do it on a daily basis. Well, no, no, no, but when but but when we have friends or we entertain or people coming over, we got a setting in the house and it changes the light in all of the rooms.

SPEAKER_03 34:14

And it's a mood and it's a vibe, right?

Scott Woolley 34:16

Like put a movie on or watch the TV. We hit the Yes.

TIffany Woolley 34:20

And I am a big lighting person, but I've never like broken it down in my mind that way.

Scott Woolley 34:26

No, we're very much into the lighting.

SPEAKER_03 34:28

Well, and and what you're creating too there is variable lighting, which we talk a lot about a lot about in interior design. And if you think about it, in that's replicating nature. Nature does not have overhead recessed lights with the same color temperature that doesn't change throughout the day. Like you walk outside, there's light being filtered through a tree. The sun is going in and out of the clouds. Like, you know what I mean? So you're recreating that in the home. And and a lot of what I'm talking about is you're really kind of like indoors, but you're kind of recreating what nature does naturally. And that's like what I talk about, like this disconnection. You know?

Scott Woolley 35:05

I mean, we just said just um Saturday, we had people over for dinner, a barbecue in the backyard. How our pool, you know, turn the light on the pool, because it's LED, we can all different colors.

SPEAKER_02 35:18

Yeah.

Scott Woolley 35:18

But depending on what we're doing, we had a nice dinner party. So I put on like a an aqua blue, like but if we're like, you know, pool party or something, I'm putting on like a a red or a yellow, right? Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 35:31

I put the colors on based on what what's going on. Instinctively, that's the thing. We're all this is all this is all inside of it. Yeah.

TIffany Woolley 35:39

Somebody's just breaking it.

SPEAKER_03 35:41

I'm just breaking it down and and it almost like it's a remembering of going back and things that are not vibrant in the feeling and totally.

Scott Woolley 35:49

Yeah.

TIffany Woolley 35:49

So I know you have your podcast going beyond spaces. Is it driven towards kind of teaching these practices and giving people tools to implement them?

SPEAKER_03 36:01

Yes, it's that it's breaking down like the 12 different steps in my methodology, but it's also having guests on to, you know, like talk about classical feng shui versus modern feng shui. I have another feng shui question. Okay, yeah.

TIffany Woolley 36:14

Okay. No, yeah.

Scott Woolley 36:15

Wait, wait, wait, but what do you mean by classical?

SPEAKER_03 36:16

That's what I mean.

TIffany Woolley 36:17

Like it's not a one size fits all.

SPEAKER_03 36:19

No. And and you know, what's the difference? Like So the thing is with these ancient practices like feng shui and Vastu, if you are practicing them in the true, true traditional form, A, I think it's impossible to do that because it happened so long ago that every time you pass on knowledge, it gets diluted.

TIffany Woolley 36:41

It's like the game that you teach the kindergartners telephone. Like, I know.

SPEAKER_03 36:46

So I like to start there because some people like write or die by feng shui. And I'm like, well, let's really talk about the fact that like what what have you learned and what have you received of a knowledge that happened 6,000 years ago first, you know? Like, so I'm a bit of a purist. Um secondly, I do think though that one way to look at it is some of the best aspects of these ancient practices do survive and sort of get passed on and everything. So if you look at some of these classical practices, feng shui and vastu, which predates feng shui, it's very much connected to sort of the land, what's around it, the energy of the land, what directions we're facing. Yeah, that was so important about the measurements of things, so true and the qualities they bring in.

Scott Woolley 37:40

You're bringing up the land and stuff. I just have to say that there's a new television series it's on, it's called The Madison.

SPEAKER_03 37:46

Okay.

Scott Woolley 37:47

You should watch it.

SPEAKER_03 37:48

Okay. It's a Taylor Sheridan show.

Scott Woolley 37:50

We've been like addicted to it. Okay. Kurt Russell and and um Michelle Pfeiffer. Okay. It's so magnificently shot and done, but it's all about the connection of us and where we are, and Kurt Russell played. They're you know, a wealthy couple in New York, Manhattan. Oh my gosh, that's amazing. Yeah, fabulous to define what you were. And the two. And the energy that when he was.

TIffany Woolley 38:16

He would leave he had like a ranch that he built with his brother, and he would go like twice a year for two weeks.

Scott Woolley 38:23

With his to sit with hanging out with his brother. Okay. And she never went. And then he he died. Well, I don't know if it ruined it. But and then she goes and starts. She goes and she realizes.

TIffany Woolley 38:32

I have like goosebumps talking about it. But this is all about it.

Scott Woolley 38:35

And it's just it's so well done. But it but everything you're saying, yeah, anyone who you go watch that series, you're gonna feel like, oh my God, how important it is.

SPEAKER_03 38:44

Yes.

Scott Woolley 38:45

Where we are, what's how we what we breathe, what we're seeing. Yes, what we're touching.

SPEAKER_03 38:49

We didn't even get into healthy materials as the truest luxury in a healthy home.

TIffany Woolley 38:53

It's it's true. It is true. And and that series is a great kind of a segue because we do so much for wellness and what we take, what we eat, it's so mind-blowing it's that we're having that we're just starting to tackle the home. Because you people who are like, oh, that sofa is like$12,000, but it's like they'll go buy a handbag or a pair of shoes, right? You know, that's in the tens of that. Like, yeah. So it's so mind-blowing to me that something, it's almost like we're left to re-educate or to that's our job. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 39:31

And and, you know, going back, we were talking a little bit about like interior design school and all of that, like a lot of this isn't even being taught there. And that's what's so mind-blowing to me. Like, don't you think approaching interior design in this way elevates what we do so much more? Absolutely. So, why isn't everybody looking at it and being trained this way and educated this way in it?

Scott Woolley 39:56

I feel it's like almost like I said earlier, how how do we try to figure out how do we bring this into our business? Yes, yeah. Because it's so important. You're designing people's homes and and how happy they are, but putting more emphasis into you know, the holistic and how it feels versus just how it looks.

SPEAKER_03 40:16

That's the surface, that's important. There's something called neuroaesthetics.

TIffany Woolley 40:19

We know that beauty and art we want to live in beautifully curated spaces. You know, like something is more intentional. Yes. And like you just said, too, the luxury. I mean, the show happens to have one of the most magnificent apartments that's like, you know, highlighted there in Manhattan. In Manhattan. So it's very well appointed and detailed and textures and stuff like that. But I feel like we need to be putting that on the forefront of luxury, but it has to have purpose.

SPEAKER_03 40:52

It has to have, yeah, this intention. That's what I'm saying. It like you can be intentional and it can still be beautiful.

TIffany Woolley 40:57

Yeah.

Wellness Luxury From Light To Air

SPEAKER_03 40:58

You can still spend, you know, I don't, you know, million on a piece of art. If that art sparks joy or it reminds you of something, or, you know, and you put it in your foyer where you're gonna see it every day. And it it does like that. You know what it's fantastic. You know, you've just elevated that. It's not only beautiful, but it's serving a purpose. It's gonna make you better or, you know, help you feel more positive, whatever it is.

TIffany Woolley 41:22

Right, versus putting it just where it might look good. Whatever.

SPEAKER_03 41:25

Or buying it because your collector said, Well, this artist is gonna be famous in ten years.

TIffany Woolley 41:29

Yeah.

Scott Woolley 41:30

Well, worse than that, which I see is clients that say to Tiffany, and I uh just pick me up five or six pieces you think that will look great in the house. And I say to I I hear that, and I say to her like later that evening or whatever, I don't understand that person. You're picking up five or six pieces of art for them. Yeah, they don't really care. They're gonna look at it every day for probably as long as they live in this house. And for me, I look at everything as in our house, there's a meaning behind everything. Like we bought that piece because of this reason. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 42:02

Or we were on vacation and it reminds me of when we were all together.

TIffany Woolley 42:08

You know, doing um things so the can have more value than a Picasso, you know.

SPEAKER_03 42:15

Yeah.

TIffany Woolley 42:15

It's your version of that.

SPEAKER_03 42:17

Exactly. Yeah. Yeah.

TIffany Woolley 42:18

You know, so you we touched a little bit on the feng shui, and I'm not familiar with Vastu. Okay. So, and you say that's predates a different area?

SPEAKER_03 42:29

So it's India. Okay. And um And feng shui's China. China, exactly. Uh I I didn't finish the the modern versus classical feng shui, but it it it that was really just about how things have dropped off and now it's practiced like in a more modern way that really, in a lot of ways, has nothing to do how it traditionally was, you know, with compass, with directions and all of that. And so uh I I I always like to say when I say, oh, I'm certified in feng shui, I like to clarify that it's modern feng shui, you know, and to honor that I'm not practicing it classically. Um, and unfortunately, I only had this realization after the fact. And so had I could I go back and do I have the time to go back, I will go back and study the more classical form. And Vastu is what made me realize that. Where do you learn? You the there's there's teacher, no, there's teachers online, you know, online live courses. Um, there's there's teachers in New York, um, all over the place. Um if for your show notes, I can put recommendations of where all these certifications are if that's helpful for you and people can find it. But to answer your question, Vastu was really uh practice. This is really cool. It's kind of out there, so let's go on a journey. Um to create temples in India. And the idea was if structural temples or like temples and body temples temples to go and and and and worship at. Right. And the idea was if you chose the proper land, if it was oriented in the proper direction, if it had these uh special measurements, hiati measurements, um, if certain functions, well that that's when it transferred to home. So it started with temples, but now I'm I'm gonna move to then they started building realizing okay, we can build homes like this. Um it it it's it started with their concept of how the physical world came to be. So how energy turned into matter. Some people will call it the big boom. Some people, you know, that are religious will say that the world came about in a in a different way, but essentially the moment that energy turns into matter and and organisms start to build, and then the world starts to build and all of that. So essentially it's taking that process and building a home in a very similar manner. Wow. And the idea is that then when you're inside of this temple or these walls and you've enclosed energy in a certain intentional way, it resonates with the divine, and therefore you benefit from that because you're in inside a structure that's doing that. So that's Vas too. And I and I think to practice it in a true, true way, I don't know if that can be done in modern society.

TIffany Woolley 45:29

Well, and I was just gonna ask that too, because I feel like through history, you do, like in architectural, you do realize people, well, if if they're in line with a lot of these philosophies, they did create cities with those intentions. They created, I mean, throughout history. Totally. Totally. We definitely have lost that in our more mass consumption world.

SPEAKER_03 45:52

And when you think of, you know, developers putting 30 condos up on this strip next to the highway, considering the last thing.

TIffany Woolley 45:59

Yeah, they're not considering.

SPEAKER_03 46:00

It's cheap land, it's cheap materials, it's how fast can I get this up? That housing is gonna have a different feel and vibration than something.

TIffany Woolley 46:10

That's like a sicker society, honestly. Do you know? And a lot.

Scott Woolley 46:14

We know someone who built a house with all that sort. And like the whole thing, huge home created on the ocean. Yeah, it was every aspect of it was built about with like with ancient practice.

SPEAKER_03 46:30

Oh yeah.

Scott Woolley 46:30

It was actually he actually had he brought 200 Balinesian car uh like craftsmen to when the house was hand-carved, it was made with no nails, no screws, it was all tongue and grooves.

TIffany Woolley 46:44

Have you been in the home? Yeah. Oh, yeah.

Scott Woolley 46:46

How did it feel?

TIffany Woolley 46:47

Very I mean, to like it.

SPEAKER_03 46:50

It was a little over the top.

Scott Woolley 46:52

Over the top.

TIffany Woolley 46:53

Yeah.

Scott Woolley 46:53

Like the the house had, I forget how many, it was like six million hand-carved shingles out of like this wood. And the shingles were like this big. Okay. Um, but uh it was all tongue and groove, the entire house. The bedrooms had um, what were they called?

TIffany Woolley 47:12

Those like bay beds. They were like uh the Maharaja like a bed inside of the medium dense type of thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Scott Woolley 47:22

You got inside and closed the doors in the bed.

SPEAKER_03 47:26

I think you know, what one of the other things I talk about a lot and sort of like one of the tenets in my methodology is this less is more. So go back to what you just said about choosing a piece of art from a street vendor, but maybe it was on vacation with your family. Yeah. For me, like all of that ornateness and everything, I can I can revel in it. I like to look at it and appreciate it, but I that's not to me what like holds me and supports me in my home, you know? And so for me, less is more is like being really intentional about the things that are important to you. Um so for me, it would be like that natural lighting, you know, um soft textures, round curves, a lot of plants, you know, um, and and art that sparks joy and that has memories to me. Um and and so it's not this sort of, I don't know, maybe you would say it's like extravagant, but to me they feel like very simple, but like meaningful, intentional things for me. That's what makes me feel rich.

SPEAKER_04 48:27

I love that.

SPEAKER_03 48:27

You know, and it's and it's less is more. Yeah, but it's good, like the yummy things, what I really love. Yeah. If that makes sense. Totally, you know, and maybe this person really loved Balinese wood structures, and that's what sparked joy for them, you know.

TIffany Woolley 48:42

Which is true. And I'm sure it did at that time and during that period. Yeah, there were a lot of unique things. And I wish I, even in the experience of going to the house, thought of how it made me feel, honestly. Like even just approaching these projects, like with a feeling versus such a design. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 49:02

It's such a simple question that people can just start asking themselves how does this office make me feel? How does this home make me feel?

TIffany Woolley 49:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 49:09

How does my mother-in-law's home make me feel?

Scott Woolley 49:12

You know, like I don't hear clients ever ask these questions.

SPEAKER_03 49:16

No, that to her point, it's our job as you know, designers to educate so much of the conversation, too, even around sustainability and healthy materials, is like it's our job to know this. Like, if it's hard for us to wrap our heads around it, imagine our clients. We really have to educate and be the guides if we want to change this industry and sort of elevate what we're doing. Yeah.

Feng Shui And Vastu In Real Life

TIffany Woolley 49:40

With purpose and intention, besides just the pretty. Exactly. And and I've had a few conversations in the last few weeks that I feel like with possible clients and clients that I've realized the shift coming through these conversations. So I really appreciate that you have this opportunity to talk to us and our audience and share these principles. So where do so you practice them mainly in your own business. Yes. And then you also share online and through your podcast. Yeah. So where can people hear your podcast?

SPEAKER_03 50:17

Thank you. Yes, it's Going Beyond Spaces with Gala. Uh, season three will come out this year.

TIffany Woolley 50:23

Oh, that's so cool.

SPEAKER_03 50:24

I just do it like an audio documentary. Okay, because it was too much pressure to do it like once a month. Okay. And so it's like five or six episodes, they get dropped at once. Uh, I have to binge listen.

TIffany Woolley 50:35

You can binge listen.

SPEAKER_03 50:37

And then kind of how your podcast is, um, by calling it Going Beyond Spaces, I can kind of like expand what I talk about. So one of my best friends is like a holistic coach, and I had her on to talk about ways in which interior designers might trigger their clients without knowing it. Ooh, I like that. So it helps designers kind of go deeper in how they work and how they live. And she came up with like six different ways, and it's just mind-blowing to me. So it's also tr trying to help interior designers kind of slow down and go a little deeper. Because I think when you can slow down and go deeper in yourself, then you can also practice in this way. Because it requires a little more thought and intention and slowing down. And the faster we go, the more disconnected we are.

TIffany Woolley 51:27

Well, and it is a business of details. It is. And those the devil's in those details. Exactly. I mean, it's it's so finite. Exactly. You know, what we get.

Scott Woolley 51:37

Do you go to high point to market? Yes. Have you ever thought of looking into being like a keynote speaker talking about the subject matter for I have.

SPEAKER_03 51:46

I think it would be I it can you talk to them? Because I had a meeting with the person that books um the keynote speakers. He said to me, Well, typically it's a celebrity that does that. And I said, Okay. But this year there's somebody, uh I think this guy's name is Mike from Science and Design, is actually gonna talk and have a big talk there. So I'm hoping that's gonna lead the way because I do a lot of public speaking. Uh-huh.

TIffany Woolley 52:16

You do a lot of brand, not necessarily, I don't know for sure, but if I'm saying this right, collaborating's huge, but I know like you go to a lot of events regarding the industry itself. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're very involved. And I've done public speak talks for business. Do other vendors, like companies, ever like even think of doing like Hunter Douglas, for example, or Benjamin Moore. I mean adding this philosophy.

SPEAKER_03 52:41

I've done talks with Benjamin Moore, I've done talks for like a lot of brands and stuff like that. Um, and everybody's very into it. And afterwards, interior designers come up to me and be like, it's like I turned a switch on that was already there. Like, oh my God, like I love this.

Scott Woolley 52:59

Yeah. Yeah.

TIffany Woolley 53:00

From a color standpoint, talking about colors and because you've been lately, I've been using a lot of faro and ball paint, which are like they definitely the colors are have this less intensity. I can't explain it. And there is a level of just calm that brings even though it's a bright color. Even with truly the pigment, the intensity. I'm like, who knew?

SPEAKER_03 53:31

Like I've recently gotten into portola paints, the Roman clay finish.

TIffany Woolley 53:36

I have all there.

SPEAKER_03 53:37

And that's a vibe too. Like I'm like bedroom, meditation room, like everything in Roman clay. Uh but yeah.

Scott Woolley 53:44

And are their names fit what you're saying?

SPEAKER_03 53:46

Portola paints is yeah, that's the brand.

Scott Woolley 53:49

Um but do the names resonate with He's thinking the name of the color, right?

SPEAKER_03 53:57

Uh I don't know if I don't think so. No. No. Also, paint like paint colors, I feel like somebody just like smoked weed and like started. They're like, they're so funny. I could do like a whole meme about it. They could.

TIffany Woolley 54:09

Oh my god, that's so funny. Because I have people who'll be like, well, I like the name of that, so we'll paint it that color. Like, no, it's not.

Healthy Materials Plus Paint Choices

SPEAKER_03 54:14

It also gets the most bizarre names ever. Uh and then you know, the other thing I love I personally love Benjamin Benjamin more because of all their colors, but I love that they have a low VOC paint and echo spec and regal. But there's this other brand, they don't have that many colors or f or finishes, but it is the healthiest paint on the market. It does like it, like ends up purifying the air. Whoa. And it's called Alchemists, and that's A-L-K-E-M-I-S. So check them out.

TIffany Woolley 54:43

That's really like for for it's no, it's the only paint on the market that they can say no VOC, which is because it's like anything in every industry, like even now, like the makeup, everybody's wanting the pure exactly. You know, everything's like now we're going to let's dilute it all back to you just mentioned air, which is something we really haven't spoken about.

Scott Woolley 55:03

So going into a home or going into a business, and Tiffany's into this, how the air feels and smells.

SPEAKER_03 55:09

Yes, yes, yes. How important is that? And it's up there with light, absolutely.

TIffany Woolley 55:15

And it's boring, but it's what do you think of all those companies doing those air conditioning like attachment systems that put the smell into the home?

SPEAKER_03 55:24

So that would be considered a toxin. Right. That would be a toxin. Yep. Um considered a toxin. Toxin. Because it's a scent. Bad. It's a scent. I would think. You know? It's a scent. So if I had an air monitor and I was monitoring that air, you would probably see spikes in probably VO, I imagine VOCs. Right?

Scott Woolley 55:51

So from a function or an holistic perspective. It's really not a great. No. Yeah.

TIffany Woolley 55:58

And is there a way to do something like that in a holistic way?

SPEAKER_03 56:03

So like if you're in because I have a client who won't even burn candles. That's well, and they're there's they're technically right. You know what I mean? Uh because that's creating CO2.

SPEAKER_04 56:13

I think CO2 in the case. That we breathe? Yeah, that we breathe in. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 56:20

Right. Right. Everything just go back to nature. Um eucalyptus branches. Eucalyptus at the bottom of your shower.

TIffany Woolley 56:28

Yeah, we've done that.

SPEAKER_03 56:29

You just have to, it's it's really simple.

TIffany Woolley 56:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 56:32

You know, uh, but we are so disconnected that it's like it's like eating healthy. Eating healthy, if you break it down, is really simple. Yeah. But it's hard to do to spend the time to go to the farmer's market and get the ingredients. And you know what I mean? Because we move in a quick in a quick world. So true. Slowing down is such a big part of it. Yeah. To doing life better. Right.

TIffany Woolley 56:56

And this is just another aspect to doing life better. Yes, exactly. Doing it in your own.

Scott Woolley 57:00

So, what advice would you give to a person that's about to start interior decorating? Okay. But before they start, how to think about their house or what they can do right now to their house to get it.

SPEAKER_03 57:13

So I think the first would be that simple assessment. Like go away, come back, take the blinders off, ask yourself, how does it feel? You know, what do I like? What do I not? Let's do it today.

Scott Woolley 57:24

No, no, well, if you think of it, we just we were away, we we went away a couple of weeks ago. We were gone for two weeks to London. We came back, came back to the office here. Yeah. The office. And I said to her, This place is a crab house. There you go.

SPEAKER_03 57:37

You didn't say that covering in today. Well, because it's a behind the scenes.

Scott Woolley 57:43

They had a couple of vendors come in and they were cleaning out all the different, you know, the library and the fabric books and stuff. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it wasn't, I like everything pull-forward and pristine and looking nice and neat.

SPEAKER_03 57:53

I understand that.

Scott Woolley 57:54

And the carpet things will, you know, it's like today, it's kind of like I come in and like, I don't feel like settled.

SPEAKER_03 58:03

Well, so I think, you know, that test, I would say the biggest culprit that people deal with and that bogs them down would probably be clutter to your point. And uh the easiest way to tackle that is to start small, like a closet in a small room. And I think people knowing that clutter is not only physical belongings, but it's tied to like it emotionally can sort of hold you down and it can take up space where new opportunities can arrive. So I think yeah, they they even have studies like working in a cluttered environment, what it does to your brain. So I think if people can connect, okay, if I take an afternoon, instead of going to the beach, I'm gonna clear out this closet, which sounds really boring, but it has all of these benefits. Yeah, and I'm not gonna stop until I finish this one project because people get overwhelmed and then they like do a little here and a little there, a little there, and then they look back and you don't see a change. But if you can finish one closet, the beauty of it is A, as you're working, your it your mind is focused, so you stop thinking about your problems. So that's like one benefit. Yeah. Second one, you're like actualizing a space so it better supports you. You're getting rid of things. Using positive exactly, where and creative space for new things to come into your life. And then third, when you're finished, you get to look at it and you go, I think. There's such a pride, you know. Like I know. That's it. It's like that's where people can start.

Scott Woolley 59:40

Yeah. Flutter is the biggest. I always had philosophy and businessman in my production company. Touch a piece of paper once and don't touch it again. So you get that paper, whatever it is, do it. Throw it at it. No, get rid of it. And I think Whatever needs to be done, get it done. Because I would go around people's offices, and if they have the same piles of crap or you know they haven't gotten anything done, right? I would come in with a garbage pillow.

Decluttering Tips And Closing Links

SPEAKER_03 1:00:06

You didn't do it for a reason, or else it would have been like crossed off. And I think this also goes back to like less is more. You know, we're in a society that consumes a lot, there's a lot of consumption. Um, when you're feeling down, it's very easy to go out and go shopping. We've all done that before. But then those things just end up, you know, taking up space or, you know, like weighing us down. And so truly, I think another aspect of luxury is is living with less, but like really intentional. And that's a hard thing to do. Even like I that knows so much about this, even I'm trying to do that, like on a bad day, like not go shopping, you know, to like get a get rid of something instead. Yeah. Uh so it's hard. It's hard when society is showing you a different picture. Right. You know, that we're fighting against you're based in New York, your business.

Scott Woolley 1:00:58

Based in New York. Do you do business outside of New York? Do you travel around the country or where clients?

SPEAKER_03 1:01:03

That event background essentially allowed us to like operate anywhere. Amazing. Right now, the majority of our clients are in the tri-state area. Uh, but I would, you know, love to do a project in Miami or Florida or a wellness store.

Scott Woolley 1:01:17

So someone who was looking to reach out to you after hearing about you and hearing you, but how how it's the best way for the website?

SPEAKER_03 1:01:23

Yeah, so our website, gala-magrinadesign.com on Instagram at gala magrina design. And if you want to listen a little bit more on my podcast, it's Going Beyond Spaces with Gala.

TIffany Woolley 1:01:35

Well, thank you so much. What a fun conversation today. Thank you guys. So interesting.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:41

You guys had some great questions, and I I appreciate it.

TIffany Woolley 1:01:44

I could keep going and picking my way up.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:47

Thanks for being here.

Voice Over 1:01:49

You're welcome. Thank you for having me. iDesign Labs Podcast is an SW Group production in association with the Five Star and TW Interiors. To learn more about iDesign Lab or TW Interiors, please visit TWinteriors.com.