Luxury Interior Design Secrets: How Nikki Levy Built One of South Florida's Top Design Firms

Transcript

Welcome And Guest Introduction

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.

TIffany Woolley 0:35

If you've ever walked into a home and instantly felt something but couldn't explain why, our next guest knows exactly how to create that magic. She's one of South Florida's most sought-after luxury interior designers, transforming homes into deeply personal, story-filled places. Please welcome the founder of Nikki Levy Interiors. Thank you for joining us.

SPEAKER_01 0:59

Thank you so much for having me. I'm very excited to be here.

Moving Countries And Starting Over

TIffany Woolley 1:03

So tell us a little bit of where Nikki Levy started and how you've come.

SPEAKER_01 1:09

So uh we moved here in 2010. I had a um six-year-old, a four-year-old, and a seven-week old. So we kind of rolled off that airplane and hit the ground running. I didn't even realize, I think, that I'd immigrated because I was so busy with the kids and setting up a life here. And from South Africa. From South Africa, Johannesburg. And so we just we launched right into living. We didn't, I didn't think backwards, I didn't think about my home in South Africa. I was fully integrated and immersed from the day we arrived. And when my um daughter was 18 months old, um, I don't think I could go for another cup of coffee with with you know mom groups. I, you know, I I I found myself um, I actually love and I still love the woman who I met there, but I was like, I now need to like get myself going. And my husband encouraged me to um begin the business, and I really was nervous too because the South African aesthetic was not at all like the American aesthetic, it was a totally different thing. Tell us about that. So South Africa um absorbs from Europe, okay, yeah, um, and the design there was exceptionally, exceptionally high level. And when I arrived here all those years ago, the design here, and I think it hadn't emerged yet. I think we're now at the forefront, actually. South Florida for me is the forefront of design. I agree. Along with New York.

Scott Woolley 2:47

What brought you to Florida South Florida?

SPEAKER_01 2:50

Um, if I was gonna move across the world, I did not want to move somewhere where the weather was gonna impact my life in a way that every time I left the the house with three kids, there was bundling them up. Yeah, I just we needed to make it easy. We had some family here. It was just a really, really good, a good move, and and we we've never regretted it.

Scott Woolley 3:13

That's a big life-changing decision to make a move like that.

SPEAKER_01 3:17

So we had to do it, we had really no option. Um at that point, South Africa had a lot of crime, and actually what made me decide like the like we have to do it, was that when I was describing to my two-year-old how if somebody came to the car with a gun, how he could unstrap himself, which seems so crazy. You're teaching a baby to unstrap themselves, so it didn't make sense. And so my husband and I really worked hard to um you know to move here. And actually, funnily enough, the week we were gonna put our papers in, we won the green card lottery. Wow. So that was kind of like his own. It would like to be. It was amazing. And so anyway, I we moved here, I started my business, and we've never looked back.

Scott Woolley 4:09

So were you in interior design there? Had you studied, or it was just a love that you So I've never studied it.

SPEAKER_01 4:15

I lived it though. My mom um came from a family with my grandfather, was a general contractor, my uncle was a general contractor, my mom would um renovate and design homes beautifully, and we moved around to you know, some you know, some homes we stayed in longer, and others she would rent and renovate and move. And so I literally lived interior design. In fact, my mom would take me when I was a little girl onto job sites. Right. I would hear the discussions about the engineering and about foundations and about all the lighting, placements, all but like the real in-depth um design. And I actually think that in a way I was an apprentice, and I think that is such a lost opportunity. It is an art, too. You know, these kids are are obviously so busy with all their extracurricular stuff, and but actually to like hang around apprenticeship, but but even if it's hanging around your parents' office and just absorbing what's going on there, or you know, whatever the case is, it's so important.

Scott Woolley 5:29

So you jump into a business that's brand new, where 16 years later, and you're running one of the most spectacular interior design firms in South Florida, your work is impeccable, you have a fantastic reputation. What was that like when you first started? Like getting your first job.

SPEAKER_01 5:47

So getting my first

First Clients And Pricing Reality

SPEAKER_01 5:49

job. So how that happened was I had walked into a tile store, it was a very strange thing. I walked into a tile store and I told a gentleman working there that I was an interior designer, which I had worked uh very minimally in South Africa, and he gave my name to a woman who hired me. And I mean he had never seen any of the work I had done. I had never, and there, from there, it was just word of mouth and it snowballed. And I've never ever had a point in my business where I haven't been busy, like full to capacity. Yeah, very lucky. I'm very lucky. So, what was that? Well, I don't think it's all luck.

Scott Woolley 6:30

I think there's some talent that's involved in it, too.

SPEAKER_01 6:33

Yeah, well, I would hope so, right. So, what was that first job? So that first job was for an um a wonderful, I actually bumped into her publics the other day. Um, a wonderful, wonderful client. There was a full renovation. Um that uh she worked for her. She was a very tiny woman, her husband was a very tall woman, a man. And he um and they kind of had lived there for a while, but it wasn't exactly what they wanted. So it was a full gut renovation. And I'll never forget that I was showing her tile and it was glass, like a thassos. You know, the thassos look glass tile. And she said the only reason she bought it was because she liked how I said glass, and that made me realize like I don't have to ditch who I am, you know. I lean into embrace it, I lean into everything.

TIffany Woolley 7:29

So that is amazing. So, what did it look like? Just finding sources and being in a new place. I mean, was it how did you dig deep in I firstly I never stopped working?

SPEAKER_01 7:43

I I literally worked night and day, and I worked in the beginning for very little money, even though it felt like a lot of money in retrospect. I gave your time my time away. But I realized that as getting my toe into the door, that was probably the best decision I ever made. For sure. Because, you know, at one point I did a whole 5,000 square foot house for a $750 design fee. But that house brought me to to um the Oaks, where um Richmond, who was building in the Oaks, uh they were the developer, met me, and they just gave me client after client after client. So you you know, now we I'm like, you know, me Campbell, I don't get out of bed for X amount of money. But I have now we because I have the overheads and I have that part, though. But it's also it's I totally earn it. Right. My service is so different. Then I wasn't giving drawings. Right. I was like my service is now so high level, and our overheads are reflecting of that. Correct, there's there's a a reason why you're paying what you're paying versus when I was starting out and it was just me and no one else. Right.

Scott Woolley 9:02

And how was that when you started to have to add a team and add all of these different components? Okay, so um because I'm guessing you're probably learning a lot of this as I go as you go along.

SPEAKER_01 9:13

I'm learning everything as I go. Yeah. Um so when I my first um hire was Alyssa, who's still working for me nine years later. Wow. Um we just headed off from the second we met. Um, we are very, very close. Um on a personal and business level. So I I it's interesting because although we have like a real deep personal connection, it there's definitely a delineation between that and our business uh relationship, but it's I think one of the most important relationships I have. It's like a very she's a she's really an amazing person to have on the team.

Scott Woolley 10:00

Is she more an operations person? No, she's an incredible designer. Wow.

SPEAKER_01 10:04

She's an incredible designer. Every single designer in my studio is insanely talented. Wow. And it's taken us a long, long, long time to get here, 10 years to like build up this incredible team. And they all all of them started sort of straight out of college or like soon after college. And so, and it just so happened that they were the people who applied for the jobs and fit the bell, fit the bull. And so, but the lucky thing about that was that I was able to really train them. That they really do know exactly what I want, and they're very, very good at design, and they're very, very good at project management and the whole.

TIffany Woolley 10:52

So, how did you decide to set up your team as you were saying you were training them? Were you like delegating at that time? Like that this project would be one that you worked on, or do you work on them as a team?

Hiring A Team And Fixing Workflow

SPEAKER_01 11:05

So, um, so we have put a huge amount of effort as a group into making our company run well. And how we did that was we had some tough times, and what we did was we put a stop to the business, and for a solid week, we shut down. Did you really? And we said, okay, so this is what we do well. This is not great at the moment. What can we do to fix all these things? And we we went through line item by line item by line item, and we fixed. We we physically went in and made a process for every single thing we were not coping with, and it has changed my business.

TIffany Woolley 11:53

What what an I mean to wake up and actually do that is it's insane, and now we do it every year.

SPEAKER_01 11:59

One year we went on a cruise and did it. We've been um we what we one year we had um like every so usually uh it's themes every day. So we've had um we we've emptied out the office and we put mattresses in and we had a pajama party. I love it. It's really team building as well. Um we we really we work well as a team and we we want each other to succeed, and and so because of that, I think that um our business has flourished and our clients. I've had clients who are now in a fourth home, right, and they have seen the growth has has impacted the business. That's amazing.

Scott Woolley 12:43

Is your husband involved at all?

SPEAKER_01 12:45

Yes, I always say he's the levy of Nikki Levy in terrorists. Oh, I love that. So he is cute. He is the uh financial, you know, he's got a business degree, he's very, very astute, he's got the best um and very different advice to give me. We think a hundred percent differently. I am the accelerator and he is the brake. And so between us, we're driving kind of at a turkey a little bit.

Intuition, Data, And Kips Bay

Scott Woolley 13:17

So, what do you mean by accelerator?

SPEAKER_01 13:19

So, like I leave an intuition. I I have a gut feeling and I will go with that gut feeling. And I actually think that's what design is. I don't think you can learn to be a designer. You either can or you can't. And all that you can learn is to prop up your creativity and ability. So I will go and I will see something that totally appeals to me, and he will he will say, These are the concerns I have, and kind of lay them out for me.

Scott Woolley 13:52

So the concerns are what you're laying out, like the design of someone's home?

SPEAKER_01 13:56

No, no, nothing with design, it's all financial, contractual and financial. So running the business. Running the business. So for instance, I did Kips Bay twice, and he said to me, and you know, that's a huge time and money investment. Yeah, and he wanted me to be very certain that the amount of money we were spending we were going to get back. Now, you can't go into Kips Bay thinking you're gonna get a ton of jobs because it's not that, it's more of putting you on a different platform, a different level. Yeah. You're being exposed in a different way to the interior design community as well as publications and all of that. So, but the thing is, I just wanted to do it to see if I could.

unknown 14:41

I know.

SPEAKER_01 14:43

Well, you did a good job on that.

Scott Woolley 14:45

But he didn't want you to at first?

SPEAKER_01 14:47

No, no, he just wanted me to make sure that I thought it through clearly, and that the amount of time, energy, and finances we were putting into it was worth the effort.

TIffany Woolley 15:00

And how did you, because you said before you loved data, how did you like go through that and make that conclusion that it was worth it?

SPEAKER_01 15:10

Like you said, it's funny because I love data, love it. But I also love like listening to my little voice that tells me things. So that was not data driven, that was an emotional creative drive. So that I just knew that if I were to do something like this, I could go further in my career. Yes, it would put me in a different level. Now, some people do not, some people it does not make any difference. I know, and some people never see more than one or two photographs of a write-up in a magazine, and thank goodness, like our stuff has always been very well received, so we got a lot out of it.

TIffany Woolley 15:56

It's uh I know because it's something that we talk about here.

Scott Woolley 15:59

Well, she's wanted to do it, and I'm it's kind of the same thing. The time and energy are waiting for it. The energy and other things that we've got going on in life.

SPEAKER_01 16:08

Yeah, no, it it is a hugely expensive, yeah, huge that we realize. Big commitment.

TIffany Woolley 16:14

Huge, huge. So, what was that process like for you once you made that commitment to do it? Like, how was the design process?

SPEAKER_01 16:23

Did you already have it in your mind? The first one was at the tail end of COVID where everything had opened that month or so. That was a very difficult one. And actually, Alyssa handled a lot of the logistics of that one because I was handling the drama that was happening in the studio at that time because as you remember, COVID equal drama. Yeah. Um, then so the creative process was you sit down and you design, and you have like a week to design and you're doing it, and you don't have a client and you don't have anyone telling you yes or no, and you just go ahead and it's done. Right. Um I look back at what I did, and I do wish for both of them that I'd had more time because the second one we did, the second home we did, was the second largest um uh square footage that a designer had ever done in the history of Kipps Bay. It was enormous hallways and a s in a a stairwell, and the the the square footage that I had to cover was very, very I mean, it was beautiful. It turned out really so beautiful. Um, I believe it was Veranda who called it a mood ring because it changed colour as it was.

Scott Woolley 17:42

I think we saw it in Palm Beach across like but across from the water. Correct, yes. Yeah, we had seen that.

SPEAKER_01 17:48

So but yeah, it was beautiful.

Scott Woolley 17:50

Yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:51

But if I'd had more time, it would have been even more grand. Well, not grand, I think more edited. I got to, you know, because you're so worried and you're you're in it so quickly, it's almost like you can't see the word for the trees. And I I would have maybe, you know, but you there's always would have, could have, maybe, should have always. Always. And that's what people who are creative do. Correct. We're not accountants who have a balance sheet that balances.

TIffany Woolley 18:16

No, you know, we kind of at it ourselves along the way.

Client Boundaries And Saying No

TIffany Woolley 18:20

So, what do you find most rewarding about the process? Is it the client relationship? Is it winning the job, or is it the So I there are two things that I love.

SPEAKER_01 18:36

The very first thing is that it is one of those jobs where there's beginning, a middle, and an end. You you onboard a client who has a dream and you work and you see the realization of a dream. There aren't that many um opportunities in life, you know, and jobs and professions where you're allowed to do that. You know, you really see beginning, middle, and end. But I absolutely love the business side. You do? I love having a business. I it's like a big game. It's uh, you know, you're playing it, you're you're you're playing chess while somebody else is playing checkers, and you're you're trying to make sure. And the nice thing about this game is you want everyone to win, right? Which is also rare. Like you don't want anyone to fail because any failure within your purview is your failure too. So you're working to make sure your clients are winning, your vendors are winning, your team at the office is winning, and it's really a lot of fun.

TIffany Woolley 19:33

I know, and I always say we're surrounded by beauty. So I mean, it's just it's it's inspirational just in seeing new product and you know, being able to use those applications.

Scott Woolley 19:45

Have you had any clients that have had a dream and a direction, but you knew and felt that with what they wanted really wasn't right?

SPEAKER_01 19:54

Um how do you deal with that? Yes, uh, so we have had that, and you know what I what I say to clients is you pay me a lot of money to give me it's for for my opinion. I'm your expertise and my expertise, and you've paid me for that. So I'm gonna give it to you. I'm gonna tell you what I think. Ultimately, it is your home. Correct, and we will make it the best version of what you want, regardless of what I think and feel. Um, because beauty isn't packed up in a box, no, and it's in the eyes of the beholder, too. At the same time, it's a reflection on my business. So I I would never do anything that I thought was ugly. I would do something that I perhaps thought was inappropriate for how they live. Okay. Because that's their choice. If if they want that and they understand the pros and cons, let's go for it. I'm also very careful on the actual clients I do take on. Uh I've I the the red flags that we've experienced have helped me, you know, go down a certain path.

TIffany Woolley 21:06

So how do you say no politely, basically?

SPEAKER_01 21:08

Just we're still busy or we we probably say no eight or nine times a week. Wow. We get about I would say about 40 calls a month. So I'm saying no to almost everybody. Wow. So and some of them I'm saying no because their scope is not at all big enough. I'm saying no because they're not in an area that I I can accommodate them. I'm saying no because I don't have time. So I'm always saying no. So it's very easy to say no.

Scott Woolley 21:43

So are you trying to stay within an area like we do? So 'cause to spend a half hour, forty five minutes driving to a house, unless it's a it's hard for us if it enjoys the scope and exactly if the scope is large enough.

SPEAKER_01 21:57

Or if it's a client who built multiple homes with us. We're prepared to, you know. But it really is the scope. It's a j if it's a job that we have time for and that we want, that's great. But the amount of calls we get, and let's not care, like most of those calls of people saying, like, can you design my child's bedroom? You know, but it's still lovely that they would like to work with us. Of course. But and there's very, very few, I would say out of every hundred calls, there might be one that would be really something that was meaty that I would work on. You'll find the way. And you only have a limited capacity. You can't just say yes to it.

Scott Woolley 22:41

But but saying, I've always believed by saying no to people like that or c or potential clients is only building upon your brand because those people are going, she can't work with me. I can't get her.

SPEAKER_01 22:54

Yeah. Oh my God. And and it's funny because I've had people who I've um brought on who said, you know, my friend tried to get you, they couldn't get you. It's timing as well. It is true.

The 300-Page Onboarding Method

TIffany Woolley 23:07

Timing is everything. What is your process when you take on a new project, something that you're looking forward to want? I mean, is it's your intake, obviously, with the client is important. Yeah. But like, where do you start?

SPEAKER_01 23:22

So we actually I'm leaving here to go onboard a client. Um we have about a 300-page onboarding packet that is purely visual. It is almost no nothing really. And so we we we look at it, we we work through, we see what the client is attracted to, we see what the practicalities are that they love, and we work through that and ask them so many questions and ask them everything from allergies and disabilities to timelines to do they think velvet feels good on the hand, or are they adverse? Or just everything. Right.

Scott Woolley 24:09

You know, everything's 300 pages that you go through with the client together.

SPEAKER_01 24:13

Together, like just on your iPad.

Scott Woolley 24:15

So they've already signed an agreement or contract. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 24:18

We do nothing before that. Yeah.

TIffany Woolley 24:22

You learn that the hard way too, right? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:24

Well, you know, you you know why through the years. Exactly. No, we we we don't we don't start a thing without a contract. Right. And in fact, I don't even really give like people say, well, like how do I know that you'll be able to do this project? And they came to me. Right. I didn't come to them. Right. They found me because they liked something I did and they see my capabilities. So I'm not selling myself to them because um the our projects speak for themselves. What I'm explaining to them, which is I think in a way is a the sales is a byproduct of what I do, is I explain to them our process and what if they were to be on board it as a client, what they could expect from us. And that because it's not a sales pitch and it's more of a let us make sure that we're on the same page, it I think it does much better than trying to sell our business. Wow, very interesting.

TIffany Woolley 25:32

So once you've onboarded, do you start with like color schemes or do you go to floor plans? So once we've onboarded, we don't see them for six weeks.

SPEAKER_01 25:41

Six weeks. We design the whole house, we present the whole house to them, and sometimes it's longer and sometimes it's shorter. That would be for interiors only, and then we go from there. And we don't show it to them in increments because we discovered that the clients tend to hyperfocus when you show when you break a space down into increments and do rooms, and it takes so much longer, and the clients hyper-focus and they don't understand the vision. The vision, yeah. So if it was a new build, we would obviously first work alongside the architect, we would spatially plan it. Um, obviously, spatial planning is how you have to begin everything. But my assumption is from that point of it being spatially planned, you have to go directly into the design. And because we design in teams, um, it's a very collaborative, communicative process. And a few of us have sat in the onboarding and we all hear different things and pick up on different things. Amazing.

TIffany Woolley 26:43

So it's it's a much amazing.

SPEAKER_01 26:45

Yeah, it's it's a much more um deep exercise. It's not we're not we're not getting to know our clients on the surface, we're really getting to know them. Like we know intimacies, we know so many things. So it's so fascinating.

TIffany Woolley 27:03

So you said you work as the teams. It do you break it down into architectural furniture or just this team?

SPEAKER_01 27:11

So we work in teams of two or three, depending on the scope, and me. So I'm on every single project. You're on the project. And that's why everyone says it to me, can they work only with me? And I'm like, well, then you'll never ever ever ever get a house. Because quite frankly, my my my designers are so much more skilled at the computer getting things, you know, like that isn't my forte. Right, you know, so we all have our lanes, but no, so we work, we work and after analyzing workloads and seeing who at that moment has the best capacity to take on that particular part of the project. But because I find them all equally skilled, it doesn't really matter. And because we work in such a collaborative environment environment in a big pod, they're all, in fact, every single project is probably under the guise of every single designer.

TIffany Woolley 28:08

At least it's somewhere along the way.

SPEAKER_01 28:10

Because we're all, you know, there and helping and thinking and right. Oh, this would look great

Business Accountability In Design

SPEAKER_01 28:16

here.

Scott Woolley 28:16

So is it more difficult to be a great designer or a great business owner?

SPEAKER_01 28:20

It's more difficult. Okay, so this is a super question. So you cannot be a designer if you do not have talent. I agree, and it's you're born with that. You're born with that or you're not. So you but you also cannot be a designer if you do not have business acumen, or you cannot be a business owner if you do not have business acumen. So a designer can be a designer in a company where they are sheltered from all the business that goes on, the insurances, the legalities, the the um you know, overcare, the cash flow. If if if they are not um business people, they should not go out on their own. It is not worth it, and you expose yourself. Think of it in terms of this we are as responsible as bankers and stockbrokers in that we are taking people's finances and we are investing it. Yes, it isn't it is not it is not a joke, it is not a game, it is not playful. It is you can make or break somebody's life based on how you spend their money. So when you think of it in terms of that responsibility, if you are not equipped for it and you're thinking this is a part-time hobby, you need to stay out of the industry.

Scott Woolley 29:43

Yeah, well, there's so many hundreds of components associated, just if you think of all the items that are being purchased. Well, details need to come together, sizes, and quantities and yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:57

It's it's you know, well, when I work out that we specify from between the construction and our um our purchases. So the in other words, we specify every single element that goes into a house, and we specify from the construction perspective, and we specify every single element that we have purchased. We specify about 75 to 150 million dollars every 18 to 24 months. That's a lot. It's not a joke, it's not little, it's it's not nothing, right? And it's not for the faint of heart.

TIffany Woolley 30:36

Right. Well, that's amazing, right? What an accomplishment. So, with as you're building the business and you've had different types of clientele, do you ever like where people want to change the way you're working mid, you know, you're in it already, you know, that you're in the agreements, you're in, and they're like all of a sudden their budget changes, or you know, things like that.

SPEAKER_01 31:01

So I I'll put it to you this way: we are working on a project that is actually going to be beautiful, and I've thoroughly enjoyed working on that the client kind of forewarned me that this was gonna be different to how we normally work because she wanted to be very, very involved. Involved which I actually I have enjoyed. Yes. But I've learned that I don't think I can do this again, not because it isn't fun, right, but because the time that it takes doesn't measure up to what we get out of the project, and ultimately you have to, you know, execute things at a certain speed, and and you know, so so it it taught me a lesson. I dabbled my toe in in seeing how not working within a process works, and now I remember why I have a process. But I'm having a lot of fun, fun, yeah.

Scott Woolley 31:56

But there are there are the times you get the client that midstream changes and some are difficult to work with because of whatever situations they've got going on.

SPEAKER_01 32:08

What I realize we have had clients who have had divorces and things like that, which we were not privy to. So we've seen the highs and lows of that. Uh, we designed a home for a family where I think the wife knew that she was not going to be living in that home.

TIffany Woolley 32:32

Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_01 32:33

So she, you know, she she behaved in in a way that actually she was nothing but lovely. Right. Very like distant and kind of arm's length. We've had um, you know, so it was hard to get like what they wanted. And in fact, she moved out very soon, you know. She anyway, so there was that, and then there were we've had clients who have had financial difficulties in the middle. Okay. The thing is, is that as much as this is about money, it's also about people. And like, and if you're not gonna be compassionate and see that somebody doesn't want to be in financial difficulty, no, I don't know. And somebody doesn't want to have an unhappy marriage, and somebody it you you've gotta try and remember it's not about you, it's about them. And and try and remember that if the behavior changes as much as you can protect yourself by telling yourself this is what's going on in their life, and nothing to do with me, but it's very hard. I mean, it's we're very sensitive people. It's true.

South Florida Style Evolution

TIffany Woolley 33:39

What do you think has changed so much since your career started 12 years ago or so here, like as far as design?

SPEAKER_01 33:47

Like I mean, you it's not even the same place. Uh I mean, so when I arrived here, it was northern northerners came down bringing their northern designs down, not realizing that you design for your climate, actually. Right. You know, the reason why uh the the islands have such casual linens and breezy is because visually you don't want to feel even more stifled and hot than you already are. The northerners um came here and they they brought all their heaviness, and I think and we were I think one of the first to to start like pushing for more contemporary, more airy design. And now I would say that that's what is uh and the level of design. I mean, there are so many good designers around, they are fantastic like when when I I have the most incredible friends who are so fantastically talented and so wonderful of what and you you can't you can't even compare like the old school to the new school, and you shouldn't have to because everyone has their lane and their clients, but I'm super super impressed by what's going on. It's incredible.

TIffany Woolley 35:10

I know it is an interesting time, and I talk about the industry itself a lot on the podcast too, of how there really is enough to go around, and it is a positive industry where people do cheerlead each other, very supportive. It's um and there's still so much growth.

SPEAKER_01 35:28

Well, we're just lucky to be here because uh Florida has grown so much where other countr uh other states have depleted, you know, the populations have been depleted, um, and uh financially Florida is doing so well, so we're s we're just we're surrounded the right place at the right time. I agree. So we're gonna continue. Yes, and I think it's going to continue. I I I agree, and I and I think that that that we're all so lucky to be here, and there's enough work for everyone. Um I speak to my friends who are up north and um or even on the west coast, and they're struggling more than us. Um and I I'm sad for them because um you don't want anyone to ever struggle, obviously. Uh I just all I can say is that I hope that things pick up on their side, and I hope that in California they can start rebuilding all the home. Right? I mean, there'll be so much growth there with the colours. So much growth and construction-wise and design creativity.

TIffany Woolley 36:37

It'll be an explosion of good stuff there. That's so true.

SPEAKER_01 36:43

So as we talk about South Florida and, you know, real estate and homes, do you prefer like a new construction or do you like do you have a or like the I hate to say I call like cookie cutter style neighborhoods where you know they're not cheap homes, but you're you know, you don't you have some certain limitations and so we we work on very, very few um development homes because we have a minimum and we are not inexpensive. Say that we're not inexpensive. We we we charge what we produce, you know. Right. But at the same time, I'm thinking that um my favorite thing um choked out. Um my favorite thing is a new construction, which is like which is like blank canvas, which is wonderful, but actually I really do love the puzzle of a renovation. So do I. I think it's so fun to like move around the space and see what you can do now. Interesting, we're working on a const uh renovation now that the renovation before we we we gave them a couple of layouts and we spoke to the architect and we basically determined that for all that we were doing it was going to cost the same as a new build. We've had that too. So we actually and that was interesting and a really interesting situation because then we had to really have heart-to-hearts with our client and say what is important to you. And they had to pick and choose because they didn't want to build a new home. They were currently building another new home in another state, they didn't want to build another new home, yeah. And so they had to pick and choose what was important to them, and now it's our job to make it the best version of that compromise that it can be. Uh-huh. And I think in the end it won't be a compromise because it's gonna be so beautiful and it will feel so fresh and new to them. But that's why I say it's it's our responsibility to worry about finances, you know, for sure. And and unfortunately, like a lot of it doesn't rest on us. No, it rests on the general con a general contractor and architect could say, oh no, this is not gonna be that expensive, and it could turn into something that we have no control over, right? So that that sense of responsibility, we can only do so much, but ultimately we're not executing. Correct.

Scott Woolley 39:29

So do you try to team up with general contractors on projects or try to use like we do?

TIffany Woolley 39:35

Yeah.

Scott Woolley 39:36

When we get involved in a project, we prefer to be able to do that.

TIffany Woolley 39:38

We prefer using our own teams, but I I have uh so funny.

SPEAKER_01 39:44

I always think about liability. I realize that a general contractor is only as good as they are working with you in that moment, and then you can have six brilliant jobs, and then the seventh is a disaster, and it's petrifying to me. So I always tell the the um client, I will work with anyone you tell me to work with, anyone because I don't want to be responsible for a business that I cannot control. Right, it scares me too much. So I'll give them names, and it still somehow becomes my problem.

TIffany Woolley 40:23

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 40:24

But I will give them names and the contract is between them and the client, a gen general contractor and the client, and they have the option to interview as many as they want or as few as they want. Yep. And I I just don't want it to be my problem. Correct.

TIffany Woolley 40:41

We kind of get those same.

Scott Woolley 40:43

But we would prefer to try to align with someone or let the homeowner and someone that we've got a good feeling we know about.

SPEAKER_01 40:52

Exactly. Like I'll give them names, but I'm not I I cannot vouch for anyone who isn't under my purview.

Scott Woolley 41:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 41:02

And you know, that that's why somehow when a vendor who you have um you have suggested, even though in your contract it said that that their work is not your liability, right? It does become your problem.

TIffany Woolley 41:19

Well, and I feel like whenever there's somebody that can the blame, you know, it just kind of goes in a circle.

SPEAKER_01 41:24

And that's why the the designer's always the one left holding the bag. It's it's true.

TIffany Woolley 41:29

I know we kind of have to like come in and make it all okay at the end. Yes.

Scott Woolley 41:36

Because the contract is not following everything.

SPEAKER_01 41:40

No, no. It's a this is a tough, tough industry.

Mentoring, Trends, And Rest

SPEAKER_01 41:45

It is. You know, um, I had uh a summary immersive uh a couple of weeks ago where I one morning, I don't know what possessed me. I woke up and I decided that I was gonna put on Instagram that I was gonna have a week where teenagers could come and be immersed in the interior design industry. So cool. Yes, but I don't know what I was thinking. I don't think I was thinking about it.

Scott Woolley 42:07

So it's like little mini internships, yes.

SPEAKER_01 42:10

But no, actually, no, it was more like a an immersive, like we made them so anyway. So we had an overwhelming response, and we we had five in some of them came to stay in bokeh from out of state, and one of them was on um well it was was online because they couldn't control virtual correct, and um we made them set up their little businesses and we gave them clients and had to design logos and the whole spiel, and they designed each a space. But what one thing I kept on saying to them over and over and over again is this industry, you like it's you have to know how wonderful it is and how how inspiring it is, but you also have to know it's not a forgiving industry. You have to learn to be tough, you have to learn that you know, to look out for red flags, to question people, to to look deeper than what you originally see. And I was like, I want to shake them like go into it with open eyes. You know, you you just have these things that happen that are so overwhelming and so giant compared to what you think of as interior design.

Scott Woolley 43:23

So if someone wanted to jump into interior design, what would be the first thing you would tell them?

SPEAKER_01 43:29

Are you talented? Make sure you're talented.

TIffany Woolley 43:32

I know, and it's funny. Through the years, I've had some great support staff who are so fabulous as far as like getting things done and connecting dots, but you could send them to the design center and they couldn't come back with one proper fabric. Like, and it was so like how many people can be so wonderful but just miss it.

SPEAKER_01 43:51

Yeah, no, you that's the first thing. If you're not talented, there are so many uh uh design, interior design adjacent careers that you can find. But don't you know don't become that mediocre interior designer who will never you know excel. And then the second thing I would tell them is um this is also a financial game, and you're gonna be responsible for budgets and proposals and deliveries, and it's not all there's almost no glamour in it.

TIffany Woolley 44:22

No, I know the glamour is it's very fine.

SPEAKER_01 44:25

And but the third thing I would tell them if you love it, you'll never ever ever want to do anything else. You'll you'll wake up and jump out of bed no matter how bad your day was the day before, because it's just an exciting career.

TIffany Woolley 44:37

That's true, and it's evolving, you know, it's not stagnant, it's it's ever changing. It's there's just so much interesting things and growth opportunity. What do you feel about trend and people falling in, you know, to trends or so obviously we're all we're all designing now with curves and we're all designing now with whatever we design.

SPEAKER_01 45:03

And the thing that I I think is is that it's nice to have a nod to a trend. But if it's something that has appealed to you in the past and will appeal to you in the future, if if you're designing to a trend, just because it's a trend, you're making a mistake. So then do it, and if you want to do that, do it in throwaways in fabrics or a paint color or whatnot. But don't don't design into a trend. I also think that the trends that are the so-called trends that are happening now are are becoming classics. For example, bouquet was a trend, now it's just part of your fabric repertoire. Yes, it hasn't gone out, it hasn't gone in, it just is uh another textured fabric. So it's not like it fell by the wayside. It just a good point, actually, the way you said that. I like that. Whereas um curves, I think, um are classic. They really are, you know, not the way Boca did curves 20 years ago, where it was a thin door, but a big grand art that has an architrave in wood is stunning now and it's stunning in 15 years and 100 years, and it was stunning when they did it in castles 500 years ago. 500 years ago, right? You know, so um certain I I think that things certain things will remain classic and certain things are trendy, and I I don't know. I don't I I don't believe in jumping on any bandwagon. No, me too.

Scott Woolley 46:37

So do you travel continually, like looking to grow your creative mind?

SPEAKER_01 46:42

And so we do travel a lot. In fact, this year's been way too much. Uh uh, it's just been a lot, but we do we we travel a lot, and um is it to absorb ideas to absorb ideas? Yes, that that is 100% one thing, but it's also because creative people cannot work with tired minds. I know you have to be open and clear and rested, and which is why I have in my contract that my designers are not to be contacted on the weekends or after five. Good for you. That's amazing. I love it. They will get back to you on a Monday morning, and that's because that they the quality of work is so exceptional when they've had downtime, and you're so you're you're actually like really giving them an opportunity to be a better designer for the client. Right, to doing it for the client.

TIffany Woolley 47:44

Yeah, I mean, and that's how it should be. I mean, in general, you want everybody at their best.

SPEAKER_01 47:51

But I think traveling also helps you really separate.

TIffany Woolley 47:56

So, as a mom, how do you juggle all of this?

SPEAKER_01 48:01

So I'll tell you something so sad. My daughter got her licensing car this week, and for the first time in 22 years, so I've got three kids. I woke up this morning and I didn't have an agenda, and I didn't so it's I didn't realize that every day I've woken up for 22 years, and somewhere in the back of my head I was like planning a day for my kids. I didn't even realize I did that until this morning, and I first thing I woke up and I was like, what are the and then I was like, I don't have to get her anywhere, I don't have to make sure somebody else can and I didn't realize I've been doing that all these years. Wow. And now for the first time this morning, I didn't have to do it, and I felt sad.

TIffany Woolley 48:42

I know. Well, we're kind of in that same boat. Ours are our youngest are gonna be 17 next week. So, you know, they're they're mobile, I say. Now they're on their own. It's but how do you balance like your time with them and family time and the hours? I love how you just said that, like in your contract, because I feel like for us, we don't have that shut off, which no, no one, no one calls me over the weekend.

SPEAKER_01 49:12

No one. I do not get one text or call ever on a weekend. Amazing, and we do not get any calls or texts in the evening, and we do get emails and we deal with them on Monday, and I think our clients are just trained. It's amazing.

TIffany Woolley 49:26

So the one thing we're gonna take away from this podcast today, because I'm a believer in what you're saying, and I'm having the hardest I'm a people pleaser by nature, so I immediately like, oh my god, I gotta text, I gotta answer it now.

SPEAKER_01 49:40

Let me tell you.

Scott Woolley 49:40

But I'm telling her, we're on we're on vacation, we're on this, this is the weekend. They can wait till Monday.

SPEAKER_01 49:45

So exactly. So the problem with that is that I did it for so many years, and I had to do it while I was building my business. I had to. Yeah. The problem is that you give so much of yourself away and you become depleted. You're giving out, but nothing's coming back, and you're depleting yourself. So if you can you if you can explain to them, because everything we do is for our clients, if you can explain to them the reason I need the downtime, is because I need to be able to on Monday come and tackle a design for you that is gonna blow you away. And if I have been stressed the whole weekend and I have not had any rest the whole weekend, and I have felt guilty because I haven't spent time with my family the whole weekend, you're gonna get 60% and not 100% of me on Monday.

TIffany Woolley 50:36

You're doing a that's a beautiful explanation, actually. I love that.

SPEAKER_01 50:40

So that's yeah, everything we do is

Product Lines, A Book, Next Steps

SPEAKER_01 50:44

for our clients.

TIffany Woolley 50:44

So, what is next for Nikki Levy interiors? So I've been designing um a whole lot of product lines. I saw with Abner Henry, that's such a beautiful collaboration.

SPEAKER_01 50:57

And their products are exceptional. Exceptional, heritage, incredible, absolutely flawless the way they do things. I know, and it's a family-rian operation, and it's and it's just lovely, you know, they're Amish, so they have like an amazing heritage, but yet somehow they've integrated incredible technology into their company. So it's an amazing collaboration. I've got a rug line with Ruggle Up. I've got um, what else do I do pottery every Sunday, all Sunday? Um amazing. So I have some pieces that people purchase or we give them to clients and things.

TIffany Woolley 51:37

And do you do that at home?

SPEAKER_01 51:38

No, I got a studio. Do you go to a studio? Mm-hmm. What else do I do? What else does Nikilee Interiors do? I've got a tile line that just launched in Las Vegas um at coverings. Um and do you go to all the events as well? Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. I do I've written the book. No way. Yeah. That is hopefully going to be published sooner rather than later. And what is the book about the business of interior design. Amazing.

TIffany Woolley 52:07

We'll have to come back again when you're promoting your book. I want to hear about that.

SPEAKER_01 52:11

Yes, I would love that. So I'm very busy. I just did the summer immersive with the kids. We have we work with 120,000 square feet at a time in our business. So we're always busy. There's always stuff happening. And I'm going to Italy um to the Antique Fair and Palmer in um September. Um, oh, and I'm also gonna be speaking at the um the inaugural Northeastern Design Conference, which is also discussing the business of design. It's gonna be an incredible event. It's very small, but it's designed to be. And where is that? That's gonna be in Hoboka, New Jersey. Okay, and that is something that actually, if you want to really immerse, it's three days of real nitty-gritty business discussions of interior design. Like contracts, contracts and how to charge, percentages, like like if you if you are a business owner and you have questions, wherever you are in the country, this is where I would go because I think it's going to be fully about the business and how to get get better at what we do.

TIffany Woolley 53:19

That's so interesting. How do you prefer to work? Obviously, it sounds like you've got quite the well-oiled agreement, but is it based more on a percentage with your data?

SPEAKER_01 53:30

I have um I have a cost per square foot for my engagement fee, and then I have a percentage on top of what I um what my cost is. Right.

Scott Woolley 53:41

It's the same with what we do.

SPEAKER_01 53:43

It's kind of like I feel like an industry stance. It seems to be there. There's a couple of ways that I've discussed with people doing it. For me, it's cut and dried. I don't want to worry about hours.

TIffany Woolley 53:53

I agree. Hours, and you can't quantify your time in the shower when you came up with that perfect idea.

SPEAKER_01 53:59

That's exactly what I say. Like, do you know how many times I've woken up in the middle of the night, like dreaming about your house?

Scott Woolley 54:04

Tiffany.

TIffany Woolley 54:05

You you scroll at some point and you see something and you can put two and two together.

SPEAKER_01 54:10

It's no, and I always say if you were gonna pay me for my time, you'll be paying me millions because I somehow can have 27 thoughts going at once. Right. You know, more more our more thoughts than hours in the day.

Scott Woolley 54:23

So you've done hundreds of homes. What still excites you?

SPEAKER_01 54:28

That's it everything.

Scott Woolley 54:32

Like everything, like every time every house is like your first house.

SPEAKER_01 54:36

Yes, and every single time we onboard a new client and now we're doing modern Moroccan. I've never done modern Moroccan before. That's the freaking coolest thing in the world. Yeah, I've never so fine. Every client who's so excited by what we do, every time we do a price, we we create a process that impacts us in a huge way. Like what isn't a love? And every problem we have, I know in my head that in a month's time it's not going to be a problem. It's actually gonna be part of our solution bank. So it's just like everything is so fun. I I don't know, even problems are okay. I agree.

Scott Woolley 55:12

Fill in the blank. A home without, what is it? A home without doesn't feel complete. Yeah, what is it?

SPEAKER_01 55:22

A home without doesn't feel complete. That's for me a dog, but that doesn't help. That's a good answer. I love that. Do you have a dog? I have two dogs, and they're my favorite people in the world. Yeah, um obsessed with them. But actually, a home without so the I was okay, I don't I'm not gonna fill in the blank, but I'm gonna tell you this. I was uh driving here and I was listening to um who was it? Celine Dion, and I never listened to this, and Giuliana Bitrelli. Oh, the prayer. I love that song, and it was interesting to me because there are highs and lows, and there are crescendos, and there are a total mix of pitches and tones and languages, and it's just like somebody took every single note in the history of humanity and put it in a bottle and shook it up and let it free, and it's incredible to listen to. And I think that if a home without design abandon isn't a home, in other words, a home that is so stagnant and so structured and so in line and so cold is not a home. You you need highs and lows, and you need human error, and you need mistakes, and you need texture, and you because the quirks are actually what makes special, they are, they are what sets it up. And the mistakes that I'm talking about are not mistakes that are actual mistakes. They're like oh my goodness. I never realized that if while we were designing, we put the the this texture here, it would just bring everything alive, and and it does. So, yeah. I couldn't agree with that.

Scott Woolley 57:08

Okay, another another interesting question. If you could design the home of a famous person alive or past, who would it be and why?

SPEAKER_01 57:19

I love that question.

Scott Woolley 57:22

Who would be that one person you would love to have or would it can it be a fictional character? Either, yeah, absolutely. See, like I have a person, I've met so many people because I've come from the entertainment industry. There's one person for me I wish that I had met. Like there's just only one person.

SPEAKER_01 57:43

So Elvis.

Scott Woolley 57:45

Yes, I wish I had spent a day with Elvis.

SPEAKER_01 57:48

That's funny. Uh we we met one of Elvis's girlfriends, who's now very El.

Scott Woolley 57:52

Yeah, would you?

SPEAKER_01 57:53

Um so who would I have? So I would have loved to have gone into the era of Great Gatsby and done, you know, uh on one East Egg or West Egg, not sure which egg I would want, but I I would want to do one of those homes that was so overwhelmingly debaucherously luxurious and over the top, and where more was more, and that actually like bad taste became good taste, and where where it had so much um to say and so much personality that it was disgusting but really good.

TIffany Woolley 58:30

It was so good all at the same time, correct, correct.

SPEAKER_01 58:34

Something like that I would love to have done, and on the other hand, I would love to do some Bedouin's tent in the middle of the desert that was so beautiful and so like earthy and sandy and serene and mobile just throwing wash into the wind. And I almost imagine the desert winds fluttering. You know, so there's such extreme, and where I land is probably every day, somewhere right in

Closing Thanks And Where To Learn More

SPEAKER_01 59:02

between.

TIffany Woolley 59:02

Oh, well, I love that. And what a great way to wrap up. Thank you so much, Nikki Levy, for joining us on the iDesign Lab podcast.

Scott Woolley 59:11

We will continue to watch your success.

TIffany Woolley 59:13

Yeah, your pleasure.

SPEAKER_01 59:15

Oh, thank you so much. I'm so glad you invited me. I hope that um I hope that we do do this again. Absolutely.

TIffany Woolley 59:22

We will stay in touch and thank you for listening to the iDesign Lab podcast.

Voice Over 59:30

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.