Let’s talk a little bit more about the clients that you got to work with, and the details of their homes. As you said, Anthony Anderson, Melissa Rivers, Wilmer Valderrama, these are big names. I’d love to know what some of those behind-the-scenes details were like. What it was like working with them as clients, and how did that transfer to the camera as well? [Are there] any designs that stand out to you.
It was a little bit of a learning curve. This is how I work. I’m a little bit of a bull in a china shop. I come in hot and strong and this is what we’re going to do. I feel like some people have to get used to that. I’m extremely direct. It’s a little off putting at first, but it serves me and works for me.
Anthony Anderson came from a situation where he had a contractor, he had what was supposed to be a one-year budget, a one-year timeframe for the remodel, [and it had] been three. He was very frustrated with contractors, subcontractors, bad experiences, and didn’t really have too much trust in people. When I came in, initially he’s like, “Well, I don’t know. I don’t…” I came through for him, and as I came through, he trusted me.
Now, he’s hired me. I still work for him, but I had to prove myself to him. With a lot of these celebrities, they didn’t know what to expect, and then I work directly with them. It’s not like one of these situations [where they say], “We want this,” [and it turns into,] “Okay, come back in four months.” They were with me. They were picking things out. We were shopping together. We were working together. There were no surprises.
With such an extensive remodel, such an extensive budget, I would imagine that they would want to walk that process with you.
Yes, and then some people even came to the table with more money, to do more work.
I was thinking about what it would be like to work with such high-profile clients. I’m sure that they all, as you said, have such a specific way of working, and such a specific design style as well. I’d love for you to speak to that, the actual design element that was in your work.
The celebrities that we worked with are actors and musicians, so these are creative people. It’s very different. I’ve worked for attorneys, and doctors, and when you’re working with these actors, and these musicians, they’re very creative, they’re artists. I found a lot of them much more involved and invested in the renovations and the remodels than my non-celebrity clients.
That was a fun process, because it was more collaborative than what I’m used to. I’ve learned things. They would point to things that I wouldn’t normally pick for myself and I thought, “Okay, let’s see if that would work,” and it did. It really was a fun, creative process for me. When you have eight celebrities, I thought for sure, I’m going to fight with some people. I’m sure there’s going to be an unhappy ending… but ironically, surprisingly, we all got along pretty well. Did we have some disagreements? Yes, but everyone, in the end, was happy.
