The Art of Branding

Join professional interior designers Melissa Guerra, Melody Smith, and Timm Dolley as they discuss the pitfalls that design school and your mentors never taught you. As the old expression goes, "You don't know what you don't know," and this episode is full of stories about design projects that started off strong only to end up in ugly disputes between the homeowner and contractor and/or a host of other problems that most designers never get to see - and hopefully never will! Think you have what it takes to be an interior designer? Think those staged photos on Instagram are anything like real life? Think again. The reality of the design business is way more complicated than you can imagine. Get ready to laugh and learn, and let's start Surviving Design!

Music Credit: AudioRezout

Join professional interior designers Melissa Guerra, Melody Smith, and Timm Dolley as they discuss how the rules have changed when it comes to being in a client's home alone. Cameras, microphones, and other technologies are slowly seeping in, and even when you think you're alone, someone may be watching! Laugh and learn with us about the industry as we share true stories about installations, messy jobsites, subcontractors who leave their "results" in clients' bathrooms, and other mishaps that happen to the best of us!

Music Credit: Audiorezout

Join professional interior designers Melissa Guerra, Melody Smith, and Timm Dolley as they take you behind the scenes in the design industry. This episode is all about receiving and delivery nightmares. 

Just when you thought you were safe! The client approved the design. You've placed your purchase orders, and - as fate would have it - you're fighting with your receiving warehouse or the showroom you purchased from because the item arrived damaged. Whose fault is it? What do you do? And, more importantly, how do you rectify it? 

Laugh and learn with us, and let's start Surviving Design!

Music Credit: Audiorezout

Join professional interior designers Melissa Guerra, Melody Smith, and Timm Dolley as we explain the WHY behind hiring an interior designer. In a world full of social media fake experts and design-build companies that are more concerned about their bottom line than making you happy in your own home, the construction and planning process can be a heavy burden for the end user. On the other hand, interior designers and architects can sometimes be off-putting and pretentious, which - let's face it - isn't exactly a great marketing strategy! Let us demystify the industry for you and explain the good, the bad, and the ugly behind hiring a design professional for your next project. Laugh and learn with us, and let's start Surviving Design!

Music Credit: Audiorezout

Join professional interior designers Melissa Guerra, Melody Smith, and Timm Dolley as they discuss a huge elephant in the room in the design industry: Boundaries! Sick of your clients texting you at all hours of the night and day? Sick of working nonstop and feeling like you're getting nowhere? Sick of contractors asking for things last minute that you either weren't prepared for or sent them months ago? Yeah, us too. It's a complicated industry, but we're in it to win it! Laugh and learn with us, and let's start Surviving Design!

Music Credit: StockAudios

Join professional interior designers Melissa Guerra, Melody Smith, and Timm Dolley as they discuss the various hazards of the interior design profession and why good education or experience is a must if you are going to tackle this monster of an industry! From life safety issues to poor material choices, an interior designer's impact on the project could very well mean a matter of life and death for their clients. Anyone who has been in the industry for a long time knows that each project has its unique set of problems, and it's up to their interior designer to solve those problems as beautifully and as safely as possible! Get ready to laugh and learn, and let's start Surviving Design... literally!

Music Credit: Stock Audios

Join professional interior designers Melissa Guerra, Melody Smith, and Timm Dolley in this special edition Halloween episode: Client Horror Stories Vol. II. Just when you thought it was safe to do your job, these client horror stories will chill you and tickle your funny bone! Enjoy these thrilling, classic tales of intrigue, frustration, shade, and utter horror as we discuss the scariest part of being an interior designer: THE CLIENTS! Muahahahahahaha!!! It's all in good fun. We all have some amazing clients under our belts (and we know you do too), but trust us, we've seen it all, and these stories are not for the faint of heart!

Music Credit: 
- Audiorezout: Halloween Fun
- Small Life Form: What's Your Real Name?
- Haunted Corpse: The Haunted House
- Loyalty Freak Music: The Graveyard

Join professional interior designers Melissa Guerra, Melody Smith, and Timm Dolley as they discuss their most recent trip to High Point, NC for the 2023 market. From discussions with vendors to current trends in the design industry, you won't want to miss this episode. We have you covered on the organic modern look, the return of the 1980s in rattan-wrapped furniture, and a sneak peek at what may be an upcoming trend: Modern gothic! Laugh and learn with us about the interior design industry and join us in Surviving Design!

Music Credit: StockAudios

Join professional interior designers Melissa Guerra, Timm Dolley, and Melody Smith as they discuss how good vendor relationships can impact your business (and your sanity). Trust us. We have plenty of war stories, and we have made many mistakes over the years by either trusting someone to get the job done correctly only to find ourselves scrambling to try and resolve an issue that could have been avoided. You think you know all there is to know about interior design? Think again! Laugh and learn with us, and join us in Surviving Design!

Music Credit: StockAudios

Join professional interior designers Melissa Guerra, Melody Smith, and Timm Dolley as the discuss the gritty details of the interior design world! In this episode, we discuss client responsibilities and how they can impact the overall aesthetic - and experience - during the design process! From simple things, like providing inspiration, to more complex problems, like actually reading their contract, clients can have a positive or negative impact on the outcome of the project! The tea is piping hot. Come get a sip, and join us in Surviving Design!

Music Credit: StockAudios