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Joey: So I'm here with Dustyn Keller of Keller Design.
Dustyn: Keller Design, now curated by Keller Design which is a furniture and decor store.
Joey: And you guys, when did you open that up?
Dustyn: Through. We're at the end of our fourth week.
Joey: Congratulations.
Dustyn: Thank you.
Joey: And you're located?
Dustyn: At the corner of Market in Tehama, right there on the most visible spot in Redding.
Joey: Have you been here? Have you been to Redding for a long time?
Dustyn: Yeah.
Joey: Okay. So you know what that used to be for years and years. Right.
Dustyn: Kenpo karate.
Joey: Kenpo Karate. Scott Halsey's Kenpo Karate.
Dustyn: Yeah.
Joey: They've changed that out quite a bit. Modified that building a little bit because it was a little, it was a little old school and now it looks really nice. You got all glass and.
Dustyn: You know, it was the old Temple Hotel. So I rent the basement space too, which is the old whiskey cellar.
Joey: Oh, really?
Dustyn: Old Temple Hotel.
Joey: We're talking prohibition, whiskey cellar, or.
Dustyn: Yeah.
Joey: Very nice. What is it? Is it still a whiskey cellar right now?
Dustyn: Well, it could be.
Joey: Yeah. There you go.
Dustyn: Right now it stores my stuff, but it could be.
Joey: So four weeks in, you've had your design, interior design company for much longer than that.
Dustyn: Yeah. Well, five years here in Redding. I did do a hiatus and, took my family to Montana for five years and started Keller Staging Company. And so I staged homes for real estate for about.
Joey: In Montana or here?
Dustyn: In Montana.
Joey: Okay.
Dustyn: Yeah. What years would that have been?
Dustyn: 2003 to 2008-ish. Came back when the market crashed and everything during the recession. And nobody was spending money on, luxury items anymore.
Joey: What'd you think of Montana?
Dustyn: It was cold. It was very cold and it was gorgeous like picturesque gorgeous.
Joey: In the summer.
Dustyn: In the summer, and even in the winter, but you just didn't want to get outta your house or your car to look out the window. It was wonderful.
Joey: I grew up in Alaska.
Dustyn: Oh.
Joey: And, I've spent some time in Maine and they're, what I found is those places that are super buried in snow in the winter turn out to be the most gorgeous summers.
Dustyn: Gorgeous. But they're in Bozeman. It's like four months long.
Joey: Yeah, We had a saying when I lived in Alaska that we had all four seasons, winter, June, July, and August. And I was talking to my aunt this morning who lives in Palmer, and she's like, I think I want to come spend. And she lived here for some time. We grew up in Alaska. She moved back to her and her family, and she said, I think I want to start spending January and February in Redding.
Dustyn: Oh, yeah.
Joey: Just, she's like, and she was telling me some of the, the last few years, the conditions there. She lives in Palmer, which is a little north of Anchorage, dairy, big dairy farms, Matanuska Valley. But, she's like, yeah, 65 miles an hour winds with ice. It's just, yeah. It's crazy.
Dustyn: Miserable.
Joey: Miserable.
Dustyn: Just miserable.
Joey: Straight out of a movie. It's like, I think of the movie, The Thing. Remember John Carpenter, The Thing.
Dustyn: I don't.
Joey: Oh. It's like one of the greatest horror movies ever made with Kurt Russell.
Dustyn: I don't do horror.
Joey: It's also like psychological thriller type horror.
Dustyn: Yes, yes. I remember the title.
Joey: Yeah, so anyway, when she's talking I was just like, oh, yeah, I don't know how you spend any outside of the summer. I don't how much you spend there. So you went to Montana. It was super cold?
Dustyn: It was super-cold.
Joey: Were you missing Redding the whole time, or?
Dustyn: I was. I really was. I loved that. You know, just the. I love hiking, I love the outdoors. And as much as you think, well, Montana, but it's cold. You just, it's uncomfortable. I had three littles. It wasn't easy or comfortable to be outside for very long—seven months out of the year.
Joey: No.
Dustyn: And I just missed the mountains here and the lakes. They had mountain lakes there, but you'd have to drive a distance to get to a mountain lake, and it just wasn't like our lakes.
Joey: And those aren't like recreational lakes?
Dustyn: No.
Joey: Yeah. We have some killer mountain lakes here if you ever get into the Trinity Alps.
Dustyn: Oh yeah.
Joey: I mean, there are some awesome, great trails.
Dustyn: I know. And I.
Joey: Small little ones.
Dustyn: I'm like, and I can be at the beach and I can go to the city if I want to. And you just felt. I felt very landlocked. It took a lot of hours of driving or, flying out of our little airport was super-expensive, especially if you're trying to get everybody flown out of there. So I just really felt locked.
Joey: A little isolated?
Dustyn: Isolated. Absolutely.
Joey: So you come back in 2008, that's when the very famous. Yeah.
Dustyn: Yeah. We came back in '10. So.
Joey: Well, hopefully, you bought real estate when you came back in '10 because that was good.
Dustyn: We did, we bought the house that we're still in.
Joey: You then you got a smoking deal.
Dustyn: Yeah.
Joey: You got a great deal.
Dustyn: Yeah.
Joey: So your timing was perfect.
Joey: Perfect.
Dustyn: Perfect. Couldn't have been better.
Joey: But did you have the design company right when you got back?
Dustyn: No, no, I went, because nobody was spending money on that. And unfortunately, moving back to Redding, it was kind of like Redding wasn't known for design. Like.
Joey: Not yet. No.
Dustyn: It wasn't, it's the new. But.
Joey: We've had a little Renaissance. Redding's going through a little bit of a Renaissance period.
Dustyn: I agree. And I'm just jumping on this wave and I just want to take it. But moving back it was a little depressing because a lot of Redding homes looked the same. Didn't matter if the house was a $150,000 house or a million-dollar house. It had the same finishes and it was just bigger, but it was just very depressing, but at that time I went back to my job, which was nursing. I'm actually an operating room nurse.
Joey: Oh, wow.
Dustyn: And so went back to that and did that for years and then just did, just volunteered at my church, did events and did their stage set and stuff like that. And it's the starring, so it helped with the cafe and all of that.
Joey: I'd heard that. I heard that you helped design the starring.
Dustyn: Well, they did, the initial design was not me. I wasn't part of that team, but then I was brought in later. And so there have been some changes since then, and I was part of that. But I haven't been a part of that for a couple of years. But.
Joey: Do you have. So to me, when I think of interior design, it falls into the realm of art.
Dustyn: Yes.
Joey: I don't know if it's.
Dustyn: Yeah.
Joey: Okay. Yeah.
Dustyn: I'm an artist. I just moved things.
Joey: Okay, good. So this is going to. I'm not going to sound like an idiot.
Dustyn: No.
Joey: This, this great. I'm on the right path. It feels so good. So I think of it like art. And when you think about artists, or at least when I do from the outside, they have a style, right? Picasso has a style. Monet. So on. Do you have one style or design though, it feels like yeah, but there are also trends. You know what I mean? There are periods.
Dustyn: Yeah. I think I do have a style. I know I have a style.
Joey: And then I am always like infusing a bit of my style into somebody else's style. So when I staged homes, I really had to like, I'd go into some homes and I'm like, "Oh, I don't even know this style." And I was trying to use what they had. So I would go home quickly and like Pinterest, and the internet and just dig. And I'm like, oh, okay. This is what the look they're going for. And then I'd go back into the house and like, I got it. But now, now that I'm doing design, my take, my influence is into everybody's kind of design. So they bring me in and they want mid-century. Well, you're going to see a little bit of me in there. And I would say what I am is not necessarily a style, but I love just organic, taking things from nature. Like I love woods and I love concrete. I love the metals. I'm not neutrals, the touch of black.
Joey: You're not neutrals or you are?
Dustyn: I love neutrals.
Joey: Okay.
Dustyn: I love neutrals and just muted greens and blues. And so I love things to also tell a story. And so you're going to see that in all my designs.
Joey: Do you see your design shifting? Because trends shift. So like if you were to look at something you did 10 years ago, you go, oh, that's totally my 2014 period. I was in my.
Dustyn: Totally.
Joey: I was in my such and such stage.
Dustyn: This was the red kitchen stage.
Joey: The red door stage. Everyone was like.
Dustyn: The red door. Everybody had a red door.
Joey: Exactly. So that's because I was thinking of art, but at the same time, people are. This is, like you said, the red door, all of a sudden everybody gets a red door. Yeah. And you see minimalism or. My wife and I'll look at pictures of homes and she can tell immediately it's like, oh, that 1990, that was '94. '95. That's 2006.
Dustyn: I don't base it on style. I base it on the year.
Joey: Exactly. So because I don't think we know the vocabulary. So that's so avant-garde. I don't even know what avant-garde means. But like you said, mid-century in there and you know where my mind went, my mind went to the '50s and '60s. Is that what you meant by mid-century or not?
Dustyn: Yeah, So people, mid-century. Yeah, because I think it's gotten like. I think a lot of people maybe in the lay or whatever feel like mid-century is just black and white but it really isn't. And it has so much. But it was, they were really into style. And I can tell it by the shape of the furniture and the shapes of things.
Joey: I can picture it in my head. I almost can't use words, but I know I can the table and then the legs would be.
Dustyn: Yeah, the legs are usually angled.
Joey: Yes. That's exactly where I was going.
Dustyn: A lot of angles.
Joey: Yes. Lots of angles. Is that like a Franklin Lloyd right type influence type thing, or you're like, no, you're mixing you.
Dustyn: Yeah. I don't know.
Joey: I love when I see his house and the stuff that geography.
Dustyn: I haven't dug too deep but yes, I do love his houses too.
Joey: I just said three, I said two G words wrong, geometry.
Dustyn: Geology you put in there somehow.
Joey: I said geography, then I said geology. I was like, okay, close. I'm at that age. I think vitamins would help.
Dustyn: Help.
Joey: Yeah, please.
Dustyn: I think I've been doing it long enough now that I just kind of, I'm not so into necessarily trends, and I see. I could be wrong and I could laugh at myself in five years and say that was a trend. You thought you were being like a timeless classic. But that was a trend too because I do love a moody room, a dark room in a house. And that might even just be a trend, but, and then the neutral colors, that might just be a trend. But I have painted plenty of red rooms, red doors, and yellow kitchens back in the day, yeah.
Joey: I was thinking when you said mid-century, I also, immediately saw kitchen appliances with the kind of the, that green.
Dustyn: Yes. That's what I see.
Joey: Or orange.
Dustyn: Yeah.
Joey: With the chrome.
Dustyn: Even though mid-century is like '50s, right? Yeah. But I think it's like goes into the, kind of flows into the '70s.
Joey: I think it's '70s. Okay.
Dustyn: Yes.
Joey: I am.
Dustyn: Into the '70s with the angled hardware and the green.
Joey: And the chrome handles on stuff. They went chrome-crazy. And lighting fixtures changed a lot. You went from. See, I don't. I'm nervous using the words, I feel like the word industrial keeps popping into my head. Do you know what I mean? They went from ornate to this, you see cool lamps, it's like, that doesn't even make sense, but I kind of like it. You know what I mean? Or the hanging lamps and stuff like that. So that you like that style?
Dustyn: Oh, I like it. But that's not necessarily, that's not my style. No.
Joey: So how do you balance? When you get a client, do you interview them and you're like, "Okay, hey, our styles are going to clash."
Dustyn: No.
Joey: Like you should go find somebody else, or?
Dustyn: I will do that, but I meet with all my clients at fairs first. We jump on a phone call and if I feel like, okay, this can go now to me coming to their house, but sometimes, just from the phone call I can say, oh, you're definitely this person's style or you're that person. I try to just kind of because I know a handful of designers in town and I just will filter it that way if I feel like somebody else could serve them better. And then when I come into their home, I spend an hour with them walking room to room and just have them tell me how the room needs to function and the pieces they love. And their assignment before I come is just to get rid of everything you don't love.
Dustyn: Because I will, my brain will try to incorporate it. I don't want to incorporate it or think of it as in my plan because if you left a lamp and you absolutely hate it, but you didn't tell me that, I'm going to try to incorporate that lamp. So, I might have something else in the room that balances that lamp. So I just need to know. So we walk through the house and I just need to know what's staying and going. From there, I pick the pieces that I feel are needed for the space to take it, elevate it, and make it function better. And I incorporate their style.
Dustyn: If they have a bossy cabinet that is from their grandma and they have to have it, then it just tells me how to pair their table with that. So, I think I come in with more of a neutral.
Joey: I remember hearing years ago listen to there's a lady, Marissa Mayer. She's considered the business mind behind Google. And she said this thing about how artists love constraints. She said that the most intimidating thing to an artist is a blank canvas. So, I don't know because I'm not an artist.
Dustyn: I agree.
Joey: Okay, I was wondering.
Dustyn: And I think we're all different. And I've talked to other designers who don't want to, they would much rather have a blank slate. And they're like, what you do seems very difficult to me. And I thought, "Oh, that's weird because it's the opposite for me." I don't want a blank slate when designing for someone else. I want to see what you love. I want to see your start. You may not know what your style is and I might not have a name for it either. But I want you to tell me why you love that sofa. I love the legs, or I love the hardware on this. I picked this up when I traveled. "Oh, you travel. Where did you travel? What did you like about that?" I want to complete the story, and I feel like they've started.
Dustyn: And so, that to me, I love the challenge. And so, I love trying to find the piece that's going to tie their piece of art to their cabinet that is staying. And now we have to marry the two and make the whole room, make the whole house talk.
Joey: Do you treat like each room? Is it like the room's a chapter and the house is a book-type thing?
Dustyn: Yes.
Joey: Is that how you do it?
Dustyn: For sure. It needs to all talk. I need to be able to pull the rug that I got. And I tell people this all the time. I'm not only picking a rug for your bedroom. I want you to be able to mix this up. I want you to be able to pull that rug and put it in your living room and take the rug from your living room, put it in your bedroom. Like, it should all to me talk definitely. And maybe in the moody room, the stronger room, usually it's an office or a bathroom where I like to have just dark walls. But that is a color that's brought out from somewhere else in the rest of the house. A piece of art, a rug, something else.
Joey: Do you ever. I would think as you're doing this, you have to. You're almost like a part therapist. I feel like you probably help a lot of people declutter their homes.
Dustyn: Wow. How did you figure that out?
Joey: Because I feel like it's such a personal thing to come into somebody's home and try to help them tell their story.
Dustyn: Yes.
Joey: That's what I just heard from you. And I thought that anyway, we're like, when it's one thing, if you're like, "Oh yeah, I worked with a builder, and I just design," or even with realtors where it's like, "Hey, this empty house, we have to stage it." That's the blank canvas. And you don't really have to worry about anyways, feelings or anything like that. You're just, this is like, sell the house. But when you talked about, you walk in and well, this is my grandmother's hutch. And you said, what was the. Bossy. That was the word you used where it was a nice way of saying like, I don't know.
Dustyn: That's a lot.
Joey: Yeah, that's a lot. Okay.
Dustyn: Extra. We'll use a word they use right now. Extra.
Joey: Yeah. I was thinking cluttered, but we'll go with it. Hutches are so bossy, but I just thought like, there's a. I can see you having this therapy session with someone where they're like, "Well, your grandmother's hutch in your grandfather's chair. It's like these we've got issues here."
Dustyn: Oh, it's even deeper than that. It's therapy, for sure. Because I'll be like, so what about this piece of art? And they'll be like, "Oh, that's from my husband's previous marriage." I'll be like, what is it doing on your wall? Like it needs to be done. Is that what you think every time you see it? Oh, it's out.
Joey: Hopefully it didn't have her portrait. That's my husband's ex-wife.
Dustyn: It hasn't been that bad, but there are pieces that are guilty. Why do you have that? Well, my mother-in-law gave it to me, and I feel guilty about getting rid of it, but I've never liked it. Wow. So when you see that piece, you feel mother-in-law guilt, get rid of it. She doesn't deserve that either. That's what you think of her every time you see that it's time to be done. So there's a lot of that. There's a lot of therapy that happens. Sometimes, a lot of times I walk in, and people are overwhelmed. Their house doesn't flow. They can't see it. Everything's a disaster. And I just love it. I spend the day with them and you can just see the weight of the world just melting off of them.
Joey: Totally.
Dustyn: I come in, I'm like, just like your garage with boxes. There's going to be a donation. There's going to be the pack away. I don't make it. You don't have to throw it away. And then there will be the garbage and let's do this.
Joey: That sounds like the nurse in you coming out. The nurse and the artist get to meet, and they get to work together.
Dustyn: They get to meet. Let's heal this.
Joey: Yeah, I like that.
Dustyn: So I've done a lot of those. I didn't know at the start of Curated if I was going to do a lot of the full-day intensives of going piece by piece through people's houses. As much as I love it, it is a lot of work. I do love it.
Joey: So you threw in Curated, which is the new showroom.
Dustyn: Yes.
Joey: And so does that mean you've shifted into furniture sales, right?
Dustyn: So when I go through people's houses when I spend that first hour with them, we'd come up with a list, like a shopping list and I shop to my vendors. I go to the market. I handpick all the vendors I want to carry based on quality, style, and things that I can see in most houses that I go into. And then, I kind of created a digital shopping basket with a room board of the room. And it also has the 3D layout of their space so they can see and I can keep their furniture in there. So if they want to keep that sofa, I leave that sofa in there, but then I add chairs or whatever. So I can create this for them. And this is what I've been doing for five years.
Dustyn: But there was a disconnect because people want to touch and feel things. They just really do.
Joey: Tactile.
Dustyn: Yeah. And I would go to market and I would ask people to trust me, but that's hard and I'm keeping notes. That was a comfortable chair that was made well. And I'm trying to keep mental notes of the pieces I touched and talking to my rep, but it was just, it was difficult. And so I'm like, I should have a showroom, a studio that my clients could visit. And then it's like, why not just open it up to the people in Redding? I mean, it wasn't that fast of a decision. But it has been a game changer. Now, not only can my clients come and touch and feel the things that I've chosen for their home, but people can just come in and buy one thing, you know?
Joey: Okay. Yeah. Yeah. So you said, I'm not sure if I will do that. That all-day session.
Dustyn: The all day session.
Joey: Are you transitioning?
Dustyn: Yeah. Yeah. So right now, I have a full day of styling. It's still on my service that I come in with my team, and we come in full day, like whatever we can get done in a day. We rehang art. We move furniture. We restyle and reposition rugs. Usually, that happens after I've already been there for an hour. We've done the shopping list, we've made the purchases and everything's arrived. So now, the styling day, that full day, I'm incorporating what I brought bought and bringing it into the space. But at that same time, we're getting rid of things that I just can't incorporate into the design. It's a full day.
Joey: Any I'm thinking conflict issues. I'm wondering if the guys like my mother gave us that. I can just see there's potential for some, like I said, like therapy. There's going to be some national teeth, some tears.
Dustyn: There is. So there's kind of an assignment before I come in. Like they just really need to go through the house. I ask that all parties involved like go through the house, and you guys need to decide what's staying and what's going. Hence there are boxes in the garage. And that's just like a holding spot. But I can't use it in the design I'm doing. That doesn't mean that someday you won't bring it back out. So.
Joey: I'm wondering, do you find yourself helping? Because I'm visualizing all this, and I'm seeing you help a couple and go, and then that'll be the man room, and this is where all this cool stuff can go in one, like all this stuff that you're like, "We have to get rid of this look." Your mother-in-law or your mother's would look so great in your man's room.
Dustyn: In your man room.
Joey: So you, I guess maybe I'm making a presumption that a lot of your clients are female. Or at least.
Dustyn: They're both.
Joey: They're both? Is it?
Dustyn: I feel like it's pretty equal. Yeah.
Joey: Okay. I don't know why I pictured that.
Dustyn: Isn't that.
Joey: I think because.
Dustyn: It's interesting.
Joey: You mentioned something about the mother-in-law, right?
Dustyn: Oh yeah.
Joey: But did you? I wonder if you used her mother-in-law in that through it or if I was just thinking.
Dustyn: I feel like we think, and I think that was maybe a big surprise to me in all this is it's usually one or the other. And there'll be wives, husbands that bring me in, and the wife just looks at the husband. I don't know. He cares more. He cares more.
Joey: Okay.
Dustyn: And it's pretty equal.
Joey: Well, we remodeled our house, and my wife did everything. I had one input, and that was fine. Honestly, the one input was a one. So, I'm projecting. I'm just thinking like, "Okay, well, it's my wife that I kind of don't care as long as things are clean." I'm like, "As long as I can smell bleach, I'm home. I'm happy."
Dustyn: So I get strategic when there are things that necessarily I don't want. I just make sure they're not in the line of sight. I'm like, "Okay, we must have all these pictures. Let's make a gallery wall." But I just don't want it in line of sight. So, looking into an office room, maybe the wall that's connected to the door is the gallery wall of the pictures that I don't necessarily find pleasing, but I can make them into a gallery wall.
Joey: Like the portrait of the ex-wife.
Dustyn: Yeah. All right. The portrait of the ex-wife or, yeah. And then the hutches are, or not hutches, but I don't call them hutches, but a cabinet with like glass doors is a great way to like, okay, let's take the award or the thing and let's group it together and put it in there and then let the piece be exciting itself.
Joey: Is transitioning. Is feng shui real? Is that a real thing? Do you adhere to it?
Dustyn: Feng shui? I don't know.
Joey: I even said it wrong. Feng shui is not a real thing.
Dustyn: Feng shui is not a real thing.
Joey: Feng shui is a real thing, though.
Dustyn: I really don't know much about it. I think the thing that always comes to mind when I hear feng shui is that it's like they say that your feet should always be facing out the door. I think it's because people will say that to me when I place a bed, they're like, but feng shui, your feet must be facing out the door. And so I don't know enough about it.
Joey: I thought it was this flow. because.
Dustyn: It is.
Joey: As you were talking, it was.
Dustyn: That's the only thing I know about it. I've never done any research.
Joey: Okay. So maybe it is. Because when you were talking, you talked about the story and then the flow and the layout, and I don't know anything about feng shui. The only thing I know is that the only thing I remember is that people wanted to put mirrors in short; if you open the door and there's a wall right there, put a mirror. So, it gives depth. There's something like that.
Dustyn: And I'm sure there's a ton of things that I do that are feng shui. I just don't know that they're feng shui. Like, I feel like a desk in a home. Well, desks, in general, shouldn't face a wall. Like your back should face the wall. Then it should be your desk, and then the desk should be facing like a window or a door or something. But to me, it's more energizing to work in that environment than your desk against a wall, and you're facing a wall. Things like that mirror for illusion. I like to, if there's a great view and then I have a blank wall across it, it's like, let's put a mirror there. So, it reflects the view of the outside and gives the illusion that there's a window there, which makes the room space bigger. So, there are tricks that we use, such as line of sight. So yeah, maybe would I face the feet of a bed out the door? Because when I look in the door, I want to see my bed situation as a whole. So yes. So, some of those principles are probably feng shui.
Joey: That was the word that I think of when I think of interior design. I'm on the outside looking in. You're talking to a guy who doesn't let the cool threads fool you. I don't put much time and energy into aesthetics and stuff like that. I appreciate it. But it's.
Dustyn: You probably notice it and feel it inside, and you don't know why.
Joey: Yes.
Dustyn: As you go into a nice hotel, and you walk in, and you're like, Oh, this is amazing in here. And it's just the lighting and the light, how they lit the space and the rug and the chairs that welcome you.
Joey: When I see designs that I like, I notice Northern European minimalism. I appreciate that. For example, when you see some Scandinavian stuff, I don't like clutter. I know that, yet as I say that, I know a couple of my spaces are cluttered. And it's the other thing I like is I like, I don't know if this, there's a name for this, but I like, there was this it's like Northern Europe meets Japan. You start to see some of these designs where you see the exposed wood, and you know, like Japanese wood, it's not perfectly geometrical. They always have like the, you know what I'm talking about versus when you look at Northern Europe, everything is 90-degree angles. Everything is 90-degree angles.
Dustyn: Yes. It's more organic.
Joey: Yes.
Dustyn: And the Japanese has a little bit.
Dustyn: Kind of not, not perfect lines. Yeah.
Joey: And it's like the two come together, and it kind of like, I've never really enjoyed a typical crown molding where the lines, I've like, that's two or an eight. And then somebody will be like, I like it.
Dustyn: I agree.
Joey: I like, I think this, yeah, I like this style right here where the base, the trim is very geometrical. And so I, that was, I think, started to get popular in the '80s. I remember seeing it. I was down in Orange County. You would see it a lot. There's a lot of, I think, a Japanese influence down there, but it was just a little bit of Japanese.
Dustyn: I think that's when I say that my style is more organic. Organic to me when it comes to design, is something you'd find in nature. So, no straight edges. Right.
Joey: Do you, you work on any projects that you're, they just, they didn't go well. And.
Dustyn: Oh yeah.
Joey: Oh yeah.
Dustyn: Oh yeah. That's common in ours.
Joey: I was wondering how common it is because I feel like what you're doing is so personal and so subjective. And then on top of that, if you were to, like I said, I felt like it was like a form of therapy to find you, interject yourself into someone's home, and there are two people, and you touched upon it, the mother-in-law thing or something that it just seems very difficult. Or, I guess for me, it would be a very challenging endeavor.
Dustyn: See, I think that I mean, this is twofold. I think of two things when you're talking. The first thing is that I love the styling aspect of things, bringing in furniture, and doing that part. And I love the therapy part of that, too. And I think that's like we said, isn't the nurse in me? I talk to patient after patient, and I talk. I work in surgery. So they're kind of super, they feel super vulnerable to being in the hospital. You feel vulnerable, but going to surgery, you feel even more. Somebody is going to be in control of your body for a couple of hours.
Dustyn: And I'm the person, I'm their advocate when they're asleep. And so I have to reassure them that everything will be okay and that they're in good hands. And so I feel like that has translated into reading a couple when I go in there, and I can sense maybe he's getting upset or she's not understanding or they're that person's not on board. So I feel like I'm pretty good at that just.
Joey: You would have to be.
Dustyn: Because I have so many years of experience of just reading subtle movements, answers, words, tone, doing all that. I work with surgeons in high-stress situations. So, always just being aware of all those things has been main.
Joey: What a great strength.
Dustyn: Yeah.
Joey: Yeah.
Dustyn: And if you say what, have you had any bad stories? I think I, yes. And those stories, I don't see necessarily as failures, just as directional things. I used to do remodels, pick selections, and things like that. But I found that very difficult when somebody changes something in a plan and being able to, I mean, this is hard for me to articulate. Still, I think it's not my strength to be strong enough to say you cannot change that, that changing that one element because you found a tile like the one I chose, but it was on clearance. And now you want to change that tile, which, which changes everything. And that happens all the time in my experience. And that's probably because maybe they sensed from me my lack of confidence in like being strong and like saying, no, I feel definitely more confidence in a house saying yeah, your recliner has to go then like, no, you can't have that clearance tile. I don't know.
Joey: Because I imagine budget. Well, there are two things you're going in there, but you brought up the whole clearance title twice. And I thought I would imagine some of the initial conversations were expense-centric. How much is this going to cost? Oh, my goodness. And you're, and you from listening to you and checking out your Instagram, you have a nice taste, by the way.
Dustyn: Thank you.
Joey: So I don't imagine a lot of the stuff you get is discounted.
Dustyn: No. And that's easier for me in furniture, I guess, than in construction, and construction is, was, and I just learned that for me, it was just a little bit more intimidating. It was for clients; they're making these big decisions, and I'm helping them and guiding them in making these really big decisions. And then they might panic about the budget because maybe this costs more than they thought or wanted. And then they're trying to find ways. And then they're like, well, let's not go with that lighting. And then they change that. But that's going back to house is a book, and each thing is a chapter and everything plays off each other. And so I just personally learned about myself that I have a hard time pivoting, a hard time not taking it personally. And.
Joey: Everybody does.
Dustyn: Yeah. And I was just like, but I get so dead set like that is like, this is beautiful. It's going to look amazing. And then you change one thing. I have to start tweaking everything. And then before you know it, I'm like, this isn't my design, this isn't my design. I feel like I was just kind of a handholder now.
Joey: Well, I imagine people will not want to tell you that it's money. And they'll say, "Well, I don't like that. I like this. And it's somehow because they don't want to come off cheap. And you have to get, you'll probably pick up that read at some point where you're like, this isn't about them liking A over B, this is about them, A is financially making them uncomfortable. Does that happen, probably?
Dustyn: Absolutely. Definitely. Definitely. And I think sometimes they're like, yeah, yeah, yeah. Do it all. And I want this, and I want that, and I want the heated floors and I want the.
Joey: He doesn't.
Dustyn: And everybody wants it all, but I'm just thinking ching ching ching ching ching ching. Oh, I think my lighting budget just got eaten. Like, and trying to, I just, in the end, I don't like doing that. And I realized with the start of, just really pivoting strong to just staying within styling, furnishings. Because that's what I love, that is deciding that that is the lane I want to stay in.
Joey: Do you deal with any like antique furniture? Do you find yourself in that? Or is it like, Hey, this is all new stuff? Or are you somebody who goes and finds old pieces?
Dustyn: So I do have old pieces in the shop. But not necessarily furniture. I have some end tables. So when I go to the furniture market, there are some vintage-like warehouses that I can dig through. And so I have jars and lamps made out of old jars and some kind of artifact, like styling elements and things like that stools. Things that aren't like it, like I just don't have beds, and I don't deal with the furniture side of antiques.
Joey: Oh, okay.
Dustyn: Just because, I don't know, that's a whole other realm to me, I feel like. And the construction is a lot different. The drawers, I've had enough antique furniture to know, like, that's a great chest of drawers, but it's just going to be a pretty thing in the entryway because it's very hard to open and close those drawers. Things like that.
Joey: We just have it seemed like there were periods in America with manufacturing where things were. As I start to say this, it's probably the same way now: there was really good architecture, really good design, and junk. And sometimes, from a distance, they look identical, but when you start to interact with them, like you said, these drawers are a nightmare. The ones that go back, that shift backand forth versus.
Dustyn: Back and forth, you're just trying to get it out smooth and you can't.
Joey: There's no guide track. And what is expanded and contract and stuff like that.
Dustyn: So that's a whole other realm that I haven't entered and maybe someday, but there's a lot of knowledge that has to be attained so that you deciphered between junk and not junk. And I'll just admit I don't have that knowledge base on antiques.
Joey: I'm going to throw some questions at you, and if you don't know, you don't know. I was wondering if there are any local like furniture makers or if there, is there anybody local artist-wise that you.
Dustyn: Yeah, we actually have a handful.
Joey: Yeah.
Dustyn: Yeah. And I've been in touch with a handful of furniture builders in town, and I hope that, or craftsmen I can start bringing in some of their pieces.
Joey: Perfect.
Dustyn: But I have used on like for custom closets and custom pieces. So absolutely. We are amazing that we have more than people even know.
Joey: I thought so. And you can find some of them on Instagram and YouTube that they're trying to get their work out there. So, based on what you just said, if you are a local craftsman trying to get your work out there, come by.
Dustyn: Oh, absolutely. I'm already talking to a handful of them, and I'm like, just make me something cool, you know, that I could use in people's homes. I want it to be a piece of art. So.
Joey: How much is your family involved in this? I know you have a team.
Dustyn: Yes. And so it's my family, my team. And so I have my oldest daughter, who's my admin, and she graduated. She goes to the state with her business degree. And so she's.
Joey: Good job.
Dustyn: She's my admin. She takes care of everything. She does my point of sale and my invoicing tracking and ordering. And then my youngest is 18 at Shasta College, and she works in the retail space.
Joey: Okay, So somebody comes in and wants to buy a piece potentially.
Dustyn: Yeah You're going to see one in.
Joey: Your youngest is going to be on the floor.
Dustyn: Yes.
Joey: And your other daughter is going to check you out and take your money.
Dustyn: They both check you out. My oldest one, if we're doing deliveries or styling, she's with me. And so then the youngest is checking people out. So there's usually two of us in the shop at any moment. Unless we're not, I mean, it's very short windows. We try to.
Joey: When are you guys open?
Dustyn: We are open Tuesday through Friday.
Joey: Oh, nice.
Dustyn: Yeah, and then Saturday, we're open to smaller hours. So today, we're open. Well, today's a Saturday. We're open 11:00 to 4:00 today. And then I do have a photographer who I just call part of my team because, honestly I couldn't showcase what I am without her.
Joey: Your photography's beautiful on your Instagram account. Yeah, it's clear somebody's.
Dustyn: Thank you. She's amazing. Yeah, She's amazing. She loves it. She is super creative, and we have a blast. I also have another girl who's going to Chico State to study interior design, and she loves it.
Joey: Nice.
Dustyn: So she loves coming to the houses with me, getting measurements, and helping dream them up.
Joey: I saw a post that you had that I really liked. And you talked about your mother-in-law and her, how did you put it? Like living in the moment and making big experiences at little things?
Dustyn: Oh yeah. And that's definitely. She is definitely an influence in the things I do. because I didn't grow up this way, but I think I used the analogy of a cup of hot cocoa. If you went to her house to have a cup of hot cocoa, you're going to get whipped cream, you're going to get the sprinkles, you're going to get the cinnamon stick. I mean, a peppermint stick in your hot cocoa, and it's going to be on a plate, and it's going to have a spoon. That's how it was there. You go to my house, I'm going to tear open a package of hot cocoa mix, put it in a cup. I might stir it for you. That was kind of the difference. And me growing up and then just watching how she put so much intention into all the smallest tasks and how it just made you feel special and cared about. And so I knew that when I was opening the store, I had to think about those kind of details for people in their homes too. because I wanted anybody to come in and be able to buy something. So I do have the things like the nice kitchen rack, kitchen towels and rags so that it looks nice on your counter. And nice lotions and soaps to add to what it all looks like. And.
Joey: I bet if I walked in your store it smells excellent too.
Dustyn: It smells amazing.
Joey: I was going to say.
Dustyn: I mean, we handpicked all our candles. Like we smelled so many candles, and we're like, oh my gosh, this is my favorite. No, this is my favorite. But she really just. I think I really learned that the small things, when you go to somebody's bathroom, and they have the nice containers of soap, and they have a nice hand towel for you, it just makes all of the difference.
Joey: Do you have any idea where she got that? Is that like. I mean, did she ever tell you why, like Hey, I grew up in a Four Seasons and thats why I'm like this. Or?
Dustyn: Oh no no. She grew up like a ranch, like living in, just out in the country. And mom and dad were out milking the cows, and the sisters were taking care of the house and cooking the food. I don't know if her mom. I don't think her mom had the time to do, to take care of them in that way. But I think it was also the generation, like the Martha Stewart generation.
Joey: I was thinking Martha Stewart when you said it. Totally.
Dustyn: I think it was just probably when she was having babies. It was Martha Stewart and how Martha Stewart was really into hospitality and just taking care of people.
Joey: Attention to detail.
Dustyn: Oh, the detail. And so just getting to watch my mother-in-law and how she still treats us and anybody who comes into her house.
Joey: So if I come over, or is the pepper, is the cocoa going to have the whipped cream and.
Dustyn: Yeah it's going to have all the things.
Joey: All that?
Dustyn: All of the things.
Joey: Is that your house? So.
Dustyn: Oh, at my house.
Joey: I mean, I'm trying to figure out, did you fully absorb it, or did you just appreciate it?
Dustyn: I didn't fully absorb it, but I absorbed a lot of it. Yes. Yes. It'll be close. Not as great.
Joey: Is that like the word intention?
Dustyn: Yeah I think just. I think the word I used was just everything had intention. Like she thought about every detail.
Joey: I've been trying to. Like I have been at my age I'm 52, and I'm still growing and changing.
Dustyn: Constant.
Joey: So I'm like one of the things that I'm trying to implement is more confine yourself to the present. I very much am someone who lived in the future and the past.
Dustyn: Yes.
Joey: Anxiety, depression, right? And so stay confine yourself to the present. And I felt like, as I've been reading and trying, setting intention in the moment helps. Because when you're ripping open a packet and pouring the hot water and you're thinking to yourself like tomorrow versus when you're sitting there and you're like, oh, wait whipped cream. And then chocolate shavings would be good. You're in the moment. And I think that it's. This has always been a human struggle, so much of what we go through feels very much like, no, that's totally 2024. And then you read something from Marcus Aurelius, Seneca, or even the Bible of Christ talking. And It's like, oh, they were going through the exact same thing we're going through. It does seem a little a little faster-paced. Like the world.
Dustyn: I heard something. I was just listening to a book. I listen to a lot of podcasts and a lot of books.
Joey: Me too. Guilty.
Dustyn: So sometimes I can't keep them straight. But it said in the Bible that Jesus said, walk with me. He didn't say run. He said, walk with me. And we're so not walking through life.
Joey: No.
Dustyn: And then another thing I heard that I just, I think, the last two days listened to, and I was like, wow, it was when you're not present when you're full of anxiety or fear, of which I spent a lot of my life that way. You don't. And you're not present in the moment. You don't remember that moment at all.
Joey: True, true.
Dustyn: So then I try to think back of, like, well, where were my kids at six? And where were my kids? When did they swim? And what was that? And I'm like, why don't I remember? And then I always felt guilty that I didn't remember a lot of their childhood. And it was because I was anxious. I was in a hurry. I wasn't thinking of the hot cocoa. I was thinking of X, Y, Z, and other things. How was I going to afford the hot cocoa, and what did I have to do to do the thing? And before you know it, that moment's gone, and there's no memory of it.
Joey: And everything you just said was in the past. You've gotten past that.
Dustyn: I think I've done a lot of. I'm almost as old as you. Not quite as old as you, but. I think.
Joey: Congratulations.
Dustyn: Thank you. I think it's a second stage of life thing where we stop and we slow down and we say, wait, what just happened? That was a. That just blew right by. And then my daughter, my oldest has a baby, and it's like, whoa, how are we doing this different? I cannot do this second half. And then just doing a lot of soul-seeking and reading and like oh, I can see it. I don't want that for them. So what can I do to teach them, to guide them? Slow down, and be in the moment. And so, yes, so it's new for me. It's really new. I mean, I'm an OR nurse still, and I really realize how much of I've spent the first half of my life fight or flight at work and at home. It's go, go, go, go, go that rest and relax. It wasn't happening. And because it wasn't happening, I wasn't gaining memories, I wasn't gaining just time. Time was just fleeting because I was always just preparing for the next thing.
Joey: That hits home.
Dustyn: And my job was that way. But I couldn't turn it off. I'd just come home, get your shoes, get your thing, get. Get in the car, get the bag get the. Get stuff out to prepare for dinner and get. Start that da, da, da, da, da, da. And I just lost the. There's so much guilt in my raising of my kids. And so I'm just like So I read something and it was like how do you create an anxious adult? Hurry them as a child.
Joey: Ah.
Dustyn: And I was like woah. So I definitely was like called my daughter up. Don't hurry him. Let him take his time, putting his shoes on. Don't hurry him. You know? because my kids all. I don't want to cry, but my kids all deal with anxiety in different ways.
Joey: We all do.
Dustyn: And it was. I think a lot of it is like hurry, hurry, hurry. We're in a hurry. Get that done. Finish the thing. Instead of take your time, put your shoe on. Oh, he loves that rock. Let him climb on it for a second. You know?
Joey: Guilty.
Dustyn: Get on the ground.
Joey: I'm a sympathetic crier. So I have to warn you, I'm going to have to stop looking at you in a second because I am a total.
Dustyn: Look away, look away.
Joey: I'm a super sympathetic cry. I'm a crier. Anyway. I wasn't. And my oldest daughter was born. She's 19.
Dustyn: She did it.
Joey: And like two things I learned fear. So I was in the Marine Corps and I've been in combat situations and I don't remember being afraid. But I remember being afraid as soon as my daughter was born. And having mass anxiety. And a lot of what you're saying is resonating with me because I'm a very anxious person. And my wife all the time remember this. No.
Dustyn: No.
Joey: I've told a few of my friends this story that my father-in-law right now is dealing with dementia really, really bad. And he has been for several years, but I don't know, a year or so ago, him and my wife were like remember when you brought that dog home? That little dog you saved? And I'm like What? And they go, remember that little chihuahua? You brought it, you found it. And I'm like what? And my father-in-law, who's got dementia, is like yeah I remember it was that little brown dog and you had it for two days. And I'm like what's he talking about? My wife's like And then you found the owner. I remember the owner didn't act like really grateful. It was a really weird thing. And you're like I wish I would've just kept that dog. And I'm like I'm telling you right now. Nothing.
Dustyn: Nothing.
Joey: I have none of that. I can't even telling you the story. It's not sparking anything. Right. And so I spent my adult life being very anxious. And I realize, and when you say that I need to slow down because I still have, my daughters are 19 and 17. My oldest is at St. Mary's. My youngest is at Shasta College. She graduated a little early and wanted to stay home for a little bit longer. Stay as long as you want.
Dustyn: Stay as long as you want.
Joey: And then my boys are 11 and 14, so I've got a little one. So I'm going to take. I learned something today. I'm going to take some advice and I'm going to slow things down. Thank you very much for that. I appreciate that.
Dustyn: Yes. You're welcome.
Joey: So I'm going to shift so that we both don't start crying. Okay.
Dustyn: Shift. No Crying.
Joey: Let it out. Let it out. Let it out. I wanted to talk about two things. I want to talk about a lot of things, but one of them is, what is your favorite wood to work with when you're inside a home? It seems like oak is very popular here. And if you don't have one, that's totally cool. But do you find like some other woods you're like I really like geez, because you said natural, so I don't know. I was thinking woods. I don't know about woods but.
Dustyn: Yeah I love walnut.
Joey: Oh yeah who doesn't?
Dustyn: I love Walnut. And maple. But see, my husband builds wood furniture, so we've always been around wood.
Joey: Oh really?
Dustyn: And so.
Joey: I imagine there's some on the showroom floor.
Dustyn: There isn't only my kiosk is made by him.
Joey: Oh, okay.
Dustyn: Just, he's remodeling our bathroom right now.
Joey: Good man.
Dustyn: And he has a lot of hobbies. I mean, he's builds out sprinter vans and we've redone Airstreams, so he's performed.
Joey: Oh, that's right.
Dustyn: In a lot of directions. So I don't have any of his furniture right now. And maybe one day we leave it open to him that if he's an artist, he doesn't like to be forced to make a piece of furniture. But he'll just like get inspired and he'll build a table or something. So it's open for him whenever he wants to. But wood, I just. I love walnut. I love the natural color of walnut. I'm not so into stained wood. I like natural colors. And so like white oak is a beautiful. It doesn't need to be stained. It's a beautiful color. It's not too yellow. It's not too green, it's not too red. So that's kind of why I like white oak. I like that it's popular right now, because to me it's natural. So, I'm not into stain.
Joey: There you go.
Dustyn: There you go. Let's just say it. I'm not into stain. I like natural colors of wood.
Joey: And I like when you go into kitchens. This has probably become pretty popular in the last few years because I've seen it is I love the butcher board countertops.
Dustyn: Yeah I have a whole. All butcher block in my kitchen.
Joey: Oh butcher block. Sorry. Butcher board. I was so close.
Dustyn: You're so close. But.
Joey: I had to be butcher and the bee, it was so close. Not bad for a guy who clearly doesn't have any design background. But I like that when you go in and you see that. And I also noticed it's that. For lack of better way to put it is, the Connecticut kitchens are very popular and I don't even know if that's the right way.
Dustyn: What did you say?
Joey: The Connecticut kitchens.
Dustyn: Okay I don't know what that is.
Joey: because I made it up. It's that style that I just think of like when I see it, I'm like Connecticut. I don't know I've never been to Connecticut, but I'm like this is what all the kitchens in that state look like.
Dustyn: I'm going to be looking that up.
Joey: I don't think it's a real thing. I think I made it up. But they all have butcher block. I almost said board again. Butcher block. They have that blue. They'll have blue cabinets underneath, but they'll have white or gray cabinets up top. They'll have.
Dustyn: That seems very coastal.
Joey: Yes. Is Connecticut on the coast? Yeah Connecticut on the coast. Right.
Dustyn: There you go.
Joey: I'm like. Yeah.
Dustyn: Don't ask me.
Joey: Geometry, geology. Geography.
Dustyn: Geography.
Joey: It's a different geo word. So I want to talk about. I had another question I wanted to ask about your favorite project, but I'm afraid because I get sidetracked, that we won't get to talk about remodeling Airstreams. because I love watching. There's a few of these videos I watch where these people, they either take Sprinter vans and turn them into living quarters or they'll completely remodel Airstreams. Airstreams are the.
Dustyn: And we've done both.
Joey: And I love Airstreams. I love the.
Dustyn: Nostalgia. Just the shape, it's so cool.
Joey: Yeah I'm thinking space and I'm thinking of when Leonardo DiCaprio's in the Aviator and he's like it's have to be all smooth steel and I think the Airstreams. So I imagine you probably do that to sell them, right? You remodel and sell them?
Dustyn: Well, we bought one for us and we remodeled it. And then people saw it like when we'd be at a campground or whatever. And so then people would have us come and like can you look at this one with me? Could it be built out? And then we did buy another one out of somebody's backyard. And then somebody bought. They would come to the house, our house and work on it. He wanted to build it out with my husband. He wanted to learn. And so he just would come and they would work on it together. And that's a couple that they lived in it for a little while. And so the two, and then beyond that, just advice going to people's houses and walking them through their Airstream and giving advice on, first off, is this a good one to purchase? And then once they did purchase it like this is what we would do. My husband is definitely more. I was more the design and the labor. A lot of polishing.
Joey: Oh, I bet.
Dustyn: Yeah but he's definitely the more technical, the plumbing, the wiring and all that. And then we did Vans and then. So we had the Airstream, and then we bought what came first, oh, he had a friend buy a Sprinter van and asked if he would build it out. And so he built that one out. And then it was like. Ooh, we want to do this for us. So we bought a van, not a sprinter, we bought another, I can't think, Ford Transit and built that out to sell. But I say for us, because we just kind of used it a little bit and I fell in love with it and he ended up selling it. I wasn't very happy. I shed some tears but it's not our season to have it because it's definitely for two people on road trips and we still have a daughter in the house and it's not our season. And he reminded me of that it's not our season yet. Let's sell this one and we'll build ours.
Joey: But you do have the Airstream.
Dustyn: We don't. We sold it.
Joey: You don't have the Airstream either.
Dustyn: We sold it to Cave Springs, because we're not in that season either. We are in-between seasons.
Joey: You're too busy to be traveling, you got too many things going.
Dustyn: We're just in-between seasons, because the Airstream was great with the girls, but it's too big for the two of us.
Joey: They can be huge, I've seen the triple axle ones, but they make the little ones too.
Dustyn: Yeah, but it was just, it's a lot of work for two people, and we realized we'd rather just be off-road, and they're not off-road.
Joey: No.
Dustyn: And we have a Bronco, and we would rather be off-roading, and then, like, camping or whatever and so, or, I mean, ideally the van is, can go off-road. That's how we would rather do that, and not in a campground, and we really realized that with an Airstream, but it was convenient with kids. And so, our season of the Airstream was just over. We rented it out. We put it on Outdoorsy. It was rented for a while. People would just rent it. But that was a lot of work.
Joey: I bet.
Dustyn: It was.
Joey: And somebody, it just takes one person to.
Dustyn: And we did.
Joey: Like, do a little bit extra damage.
Dustyn: Yeah, we rented the van out, and some guy brought it just trashed, and it was like, okay, no more renting the van out either. So, we stopped renting both of them out, and sold the Airstream to Cave Springs. So, it's up there now and then sold the van.
Joey: And so, it's the season right now is.
Dustyn: And it's done. Yeah, the season is curated.
Joey: Curated. And.
Dustyn: Creating a legacy.
Joey: And the fact that you are still in the OR. I'm trying to think, like, the time, and still raising kids, and yeah, you got a lot going. You're a very busy lady.
Dustyn: It's good stuff. It's good stuff.
Joey: Yeah, years ago, I had Todd Franklin, Coach Todd Franklin on, and he just talked about. I can't remember how he put it, but he said, people that are busy find time to do things, and people that don't, like, they never have time. Like, the people that never get anything done, they don't have any time. And the people, they're like, how did you find the time to do that? It's like, I think he, I think, I don't know if I'm just, I mean, you got to remember, this is the brain that can't remember the dog he brought home for two days. But I think he said something like one of the laws of thermodynamics, that a body in motion tends to stay in motion. A body at rest tends to stay at rest. Right?
Dustyn: Yeah.
Joey: And so he was talking about, like, just because he was, he's one of these guys that's got, like, 99 things going too, and getting it all done. And I was like, man, I was very motivated by. Very motivated by him. I don't know if you know Todd Franklin.
Dustyn: No.
Joey: He's a great guy. He introduced me to a lot of other people. He, along with the Rezners, started the food truck park.
Dustyn: Okay.
Joey: So, yeah, they were big into that, and he's a coach, the basketball coach for the men's for Simpson College men's basketball.
Dustyn: I'm sure I do, but I'm not, I don't have a great memory either.
Joey: Yeah.
Dustyn: So I'm sure I've met him and heard people talking.
Joey: It's going to be hard to beat what I, the story I just told about not remembering the dog for two days, and that wasn't, like, 30 years ago. That was, like, five or six years ago.
Dustyn: And they showed you a picture, and you still, nothing?
Joey: No, they didn't have a picture.
Dustyn: Oh, okay.
Joey: They just said, remember, you were so attached to that dog. And I'm like, no.
Dustyn: No, I don't.
Joey: And like, what? And they're like, yeah, you found it, and it was on the freeway. It was running across the freeway. And it had a. My wife's like, it had a name tag with a name, and she's like, you got on Facebook, and that's how you found the owner.
Dustyn: Oh my gosh.
Joey: And the owner came, and she was just like, they just, they weren't, like, really grateful. They were like, thanks. That's my dog. And I was like well, he was in the middle of I-5. My wife's like, yeah, you were driving in I-5, and it, the dog was running around, and you pulled over and, like, got the dog. I don't remember any of it. And I promise I wasn't on anything. Not that I know of.
Dustyn: Yeah.
Joey: So, yeah. So I wanted to ask you about your favorite project when you think about, like, yeah, that was my piece de resistance, the your masterpiece. Do you have one?
Dustyn: I do.
Joey: Oh.
Dustyn: I do. Just because they totally trust me. I mean, it's hard to tell about it, but just, I was brought into a house. It was already a beautiful house. I guess that's why it makes it your favorite. And they already had, you know you walked in and you're like, this is a beautiful house. And so to me, that's a little bit more of a challenge. Yeah. I can walk into a house that's kind of disheveled and stuff. And yeah, anybody could walk through and kind of do a few things to make it look better. But this house was already beautiful and it had been remodeled and it was already beautiful, but the it just didn't feel complete to them. And so to be able to come in and they fully trusted me to be like, let's add some wallpaper there. They're like, yeah, add wallpaper in that room. Oh, and let's paint this room and let's do this huge room, all dark and drop a chandelier in the middle.
Joey: Oh my.
Dustyn: And big drapes.
Joey: Oh my.
Dustyn: Like velvet drapes and make this in leather chairs and let's make this like a lounge. And they were like, let's do it.
Joey: I'm picturing the ball from Pride and Prejudice.
Dustyn: Oh, and so it's, it's, that one's still in process right now.
Joey: Oh okay.
Dustyn: But I just, I love that they, what makes it my favorite is they trusted me. They already had something beautiful. And I just was able to just, just nudge it to be a little bit better. And I don't know, that was, that's fun to me.
Joey: Sounds fun.
Dustyn: Yeah. And so we brought in some furnishings and like I said, some wallpapers and some dark paint and it's just coming together so well.
Joey: Very nice.
Dustyn: That would probably be one of my favorites. I mean, I have a favorite time, like a favorite client where I was brought into a home and I used to, that's what thing might change, but I used to just go into people's houses, cold turkey, like they could just schedule and I didn't even have a call or anything with them and I'd just walk in. And this is probably one of the reasons I may have changed it, but I actually loved it. So, but to walk into a hoarding situation and the person just wants to, therapy, just wants to love their space again, but they're overwhelmed by the amount of stuff that they have acquired and they don't even know where to begin. And this particular house, I kind of wanted to just turn around and say, you're not ready for me do X, Y, and Z. But I was like, she was so sweet. I'm like, I could do amazing things in a day, you know.
Joey: Yeah.
Dustyn: And then there was a piece of me like, well, maybe she can't afford me but that was not the case. She was so, she was one of my most grateful. She was in it with us, knee deep, elbows just going through and she was so receptive to, okay, donate this, get rid of that. Let's pull this into here. Let's, and we just, and she hired us for another day. So two days. I loved her. I spent two days with her and so sweet.
Joey: I wonder how she was, how she went from hoarding all of that to like one day going, you know what? It's time. And because it sounds like very freely. Because I would think that you, even somebody that invites you to her home in a situation like that, it's like, oh, not that. Oh, and not that. Oh, and not that. And not that. And not that.
Dustyn: Yeah. How they come. Because she came mentally prepared.
Joey: Yes, very mentally. That's, feels like a big transition.
Dustyn: Yeah. I've been to homes where I've, so after that I did go to another home and I'm like, okay. And they weren't as sweet. I don't know. They didn't play on my heart as well, I guess. But I said, call me back when you've reduced this house by 75%. And they never did.
Joey: Wow, That's quite a bit.
Dustyn: Well at that one, I, it was a maze. I couldn't get through. I couldn't even see the countertops. It had to be 75%. I couldn't see anything.
Joey: Something out of like a TV show.
Dustyn: And so that's kind of where it's like, okay, they have to start at the, let's start at a phone call.
Joey: I also think, like I said, I could see your nursing side coming out. I can also see something about when you said I used to go into these cold situations. It almost feels like a surgical situation. Like you're walking into like, okay guys, it's go time. Let's go.
Dustyn: I don't know what we're going to find.
Joey: And a door opens. Yeah.
Dustyn: Yeah. And that's exactly what it was.
Joey: There's a rush there. I can imagine there. Because I like a little bit of improv.
Dustyn: Yeah.
Joey: Yeah, I do. I don't like stale things. I get monotony. My version of hell is working an assembly line. Joey, you're going to put on the passenger side doorknob.
Dustyn: Over and over.
Joey: For eternity.
Dustyn: For eternity.
Joey: Eternity eternity. Like no. So I like that.
Dustyn: It's like, it's like trauma. So I work in a trauma situation in the OR, we get traumas and everybody who works in the OR, we're a different breed of people. There's a switch that turns on and we're in go and go. We don't know what's coming through the door. We don't know all that we're going to need, but we're all on and we're going. And so to me, it's very different, but the same is like, we're going to open this door. I mean, and just, we're going to solve this problem. We're going to fix this. It's going to look better than where we found it.
Joey: That that's what I was thinking when you said that I thought you're like we want the unknown.
Dustyn: Yeah.
Joey: We want that. Because that's part of the fun is that we're about to, we have no idea where we're going to start.
Joey: Yeah.
Joey: One of these TV shows where they drop you in the middle of nowhere and you have to get home type thing. And you're like, let's do it.
Dustyn: Let's do it.
Joey: Yeah.
Dustyn: I know there's a piece of me that loves that, but with opening Curated, that's my whole point is I, they're exhausting. Like the next day, we're exhausted as a team and I want to be present for the store for my, I want to be present for my current clients and so I don't know if I can do that still. And so I feel like I need to see the house and the situation and really just for me and my team evaluate to see if it's something we're willing to do to that scale.
Joey: Mental problem solving is incredibly physically exhausting. Magnus Carlsen, who is the, he's considered the greatest chess player of all time, and he's pretty much kind of retiring right now. Young guy's just a world champion. They measured, in a day in a chess tournament. He lost six pounds. Just sitting, lost six pounds sitting, doing chess. And you think like, wait, he's just sitting there. It, no, it's, you're the kilowatts that your brain uses.
Dustyn: That's crazy.
Joey: The energy. Yeah. So this idea of like, man, it's so exhausting. Well, versus, physical labor where you didn't have, your mind didn't really have, you just put on your headphones and it's Van Halen.
Dustyn: I never thought about that, but I did feel, I was trying to think, I thought it was like physical, but I can do that at my house and not be as exhausted. Like seriously, the next day I'm just white.
Joey: Because you're playing a master's chess game.
Dustyn: All day long.
Joey: You're yeah. All day long. Just next move dodge, pair it.
Dustyn: Look, look at this. Where's it going? Where's it going? Can I use it? Can I use it? How could I pair it?
Joey: Yeah.
Dustyn: What room does it go in? Because that's how we start. We start with looking at one item at a time, picking it up. Decision, decision. This is going to go in the office, this is going in that room, this is going in this room. And the first half of the day is just getting everything into the room I want it in.
Joey: Yeah. Just like, I'm imagine with the OR schedule, they don't schedule you five days a week in the OR. That, that would be insane, right? Like it has to be staggered. Right.
Dustyn: Some people are five, you know, it just depends.
Joey: Wow.
Dustyn: You either five eights, four tens, or three twelves.
Joey: Oh my, I would've thought like.
Dustyn: Yeah.
Joey: Every fourth day rotation or something. Just because you, because.
Dustyn: And there's call. It's an intense job. And then there's a ton of call. I'm only one day I'm, per diem. So I only work one day a week and I don't have to take call anymore. I did it for 16 years. That's swearing.
Joey: So, yeah. That I well, I struggle with it because first off, I don't want anything to do with anybody's bodily fluids. Okay. So let's just get that out in the open right now. Any type of bodily fluids. So the idea that we're going to yeah, we're just going to cut them open clamp. Oh look, we got an artery, like, I'm going to hit the Gartin's down. Gartin's down. So that and then the idea of just people's lives being in your hands.
Dustyn: Yeah.
Joey: That the second piece, I don't even want the bodily fluids.
Dustyn: Yeah.
Joey: I don't, you know, and then the second piece of like, well, don't mess up. Like, that's intense. So I don't even know how you, I think it'd be much nicer to transition to, helping someone redo their home.
Dustyn: Yeah.
Joey: Well, similar, but yet get the stress level down a little bit.
Dustyn: Well, that's what I, every time I get stressed out, I'm like, I say to my team, and to me, this isn't life or death. I've handled this. I've handled so much worse than this. This isn't life or death. Like if something happened, if a piece of furniture comes, you know, damaged and we have to wait and the client gets upset, I'm like, and I feel myself getting upset that they're upset that I've upset them. And then I'm like, stop. This is not life or death. You're going to wait a couple more weeks for your couch. I'm so sorry. It's not life or death. I know what life and death is, and I know that fight and flight feeling, and I'm not going to give to that, that is not this.
Joey: And if, and if you could just truly convey that to the.
Dustyn: Yes.
Joey: Like, you know, like, Hey, I'm going to come over tomorrow and we're going to talk about your furniture, but we're going to help somebody with brain surgery tonight.
Dustyn: Yeah.
Joey: And then it'll be over, and then that just kind of quiets them down. They're just like, oh, oh. Okay.
Dustyn: Oh, oh.
Joey: Yeah, Oh my.
Dustyn: Oh.
Joey: So Curated opened four weeks ago.
Dustyn: Yes.
Joey: It's open to the public. You don't.
Dustyn: Open to the public.
Joey: It's not just interior design.
Dustyn: I know. Nope. I don't have signs. My sign isn't up on the building yet, so therefore.
Joey: You can't miss it though. It's all the walls are glass.
Dustyn: It's all glass.
Joey: It's beautiful.
Dustyn: You can't miss it.
Joey: I mean, it's the corner of Cal. No. Market and Tama.
Dustyn: Market and Tama. Yes.
Joey: Market and Tama, where it used to be the split, the old karate.
Dustyn: Yeah.
Joey: And right across from I think.
Dustyn: The downtown Redding sign. Right there.
Joey: Right. Right there.
Dustyn: Seriously.
Joey: And I'm, well, it's been a pleasure meeting you.
Dustyn: Thank you for having me.
Joey: And absolutely.
Dustyn: It's been a fun conversation.
Joey: Good. Good.
Dustyn: Yeah.
Joey: Well, I hope so.
Dustyn: Went all over the place.
Joey: It did.
Dustyn: I did not know what to expect. And here we are. I think we traveled the world and here.
Joey: We didn't touch any of my questions.
Dustyn: Oh good.
Joey: That's.
Dustyn: You didn't even flip over your piece of paper.
Joey: No, I didn't flip over the piece of paper because it's just, you know, it's one of the things about the conversations. So we have a board and we, I brought to, so I did this before alone, and it was too much and I wanted to do this. And so I said, okay, I need help. And so a board was put together and the board was, they had some inputs and I was like, I can't do that. And they're like, wait, no, you got, like, they were kind of directing me. And I'm like.
Dustyn: Like a little structure.
Joey: Yeah. A little structure. And I'm like, guys, I don't do well with that. Remember. It is, so I'm trying to, but I'm trying to grow. So I'm like, okay, well maybe you do need structure. Maybe.
Dustyn: That has the list.
Joey: Yeah. Maybe you're fighting the very thing you need. You know what I mean? Like reverse psychology. Okay. I get it. But I just want the conversation going, especially it's fun to talk to you. It's fun meeting you. And it's a cool topic too.
Dustyn: I appreciate this. Yeah. I appreciate how you did it and.
Joey: Well, thank you very much.
Dustyn: I think you're a good conversationalist.
Joey: Well, thank you.
Dustyn: Yes.
Joey: And I'm going to, you're going to see me at Curated on the corner of.
Dustyn: Oh good.
Joey: Market and Tama, I'm going to come in.
Dustyn: Yes.
Joey: And look at stuff.
Dustyn: It's not karate.
Joey: Not karate.
Dustyn: Not Karate anymore.
Joey: Okay, until next time.
Dustyn: Thank you.
Joey: Thank you.
