Hot Young Designers Club | Interior Design Business Podcast

Fresh off Fall 2026 High Point Market, Shaun and Rebecca are back with their favorite showroom discoveries, emerging interior design trends, and the hidden gems you may have missed! From innovative performance rugs and stunning decorative hardware to lighting details that deserve more attention, they're sharing the products, vendors, and creative inspiration that caught their eyes at the world's largest home furnishings trade show. Plus, they're calling out the trends that are starting to feel a little too overdone.

Whether you're planning your first trip to High Point Market or looking for fresh sourcing resources for your interior...

What does your tile installer really wish you knew before starting your next interior design project? This week, Shaun Crha and Rebecca Plum welcome Adam Wilson, founder of Icon Tile, to get an insider’s perspective on custom tile installation, bathroom renovations, and the relationship between interior designers and skilled tradespeople. From the great Schluter debate to intricate tile layouts, waterproofing systems, and the true cost of craftsmanship, Adam shares what goes into bringing ambitious design ideas to life—and why some tile installers say “no” when designers want to push the boundaries.

With more than two decades...

Are you taking on more liability in your interior design business than you realize? This week, Rebecca and Shaun are diving into the sometimes confusing world of project management, construction coordination, and business compliance. After hearing about an interior designer facing a workers' compensation audit for potentially operating like a general contractor, they're asking some important questions about where an interior designer's responsibilities should end and how to protect your business from costly mistakes.

But it's not all insurance audits and legal headaches! They're also talking about hiring employees versus independent contractors, outsourcing the parts of your...

Vintage furniture brings character, personality, and soul to a space, but incorporating it into your interior design business comes with its own set of challenges. From sourcing one-of-a-kind pieces to navigating shipping disasters, pricing antiques, and managing client expectations, there's a lot more to selling vintage than finding a beautiful treasure. In this episode, Shaun and Rebecca welcome Heather Peterson, founder and principal designer of Minneapolis-based Heather Peterson Design, to discuss her approach to vintage sourcing, transparent pricing, and creating a client experience built on trust.

Heather shares how her background in advertising and art curation influences...

What does it look like to build an interior design business where creativity—not just revenue—is the driving force? Shaun and Rebecca sit down with Julia Miller, founder and creative director of Yond Interiors, to talk about protecting the creative vision of a project from the first client inquiry all the way through installation, styling, and photography.

Julia shares how Yond has built a process that allows the team to execute large-scale interior design projects across the country while delivering a high-touch client experience. They get into choosing aligned clients, setting expectations with contractors, preserving design inte...

What if your interior design project tracker could tell you when you actually have capacity for your next client—and forecast the revenue coming with it? This week, Shaun and Rebecca are talking about owning your accomplishments, getting more intentional about the projects you want to attract, and using technology to make running an interior design business a whole lot easier.

Then Shaun shares an interactive project management and capacity dashboard he built with ChatGPT, starting with the idea of a simple spreadsheet and turning it into a custom tool for tracking project phases, scheduling, payments, cash fl...

Shaun and Rebecca are getting real about the messy overlap between interior design, construction project management, and everything clients assume is included in “project management.” After catching up on home renovations, home office frustrations, and the never-ending search for furniture that actually functions, they dig into how Rebecca is refining her discovery calls to better qualify potential interior design clients and uncover what they really want from their homes.

Then, they tackle a bigger question for interior designers working on construction projects: Are we actually managing the construction, or are we managing the design intent? They talk thro...

What can Costco hot dogs and Hermès handbags teach interior designers about running a high-end design business? Quite a lot, apparently. Rebecca and Shaun dig into the wildly different business models behind Costco and Hermès and uncover surprising lessons about luxury, value, trust, vendor relationships, pricing, craftsmanship, and creating a brand clients believe in.

They also catch up on some big personal and business changes, including Shaun’s decision to leave his studio and reduce overhead, Rebecca’s adventures in home renovation and color drenching, and the importance of making strategic business decisions with trusted adviso...

What stories are your clients telling about working with you? Shaun and Rebecca welcome back Rick Campos, founder of Design Biz Survival Guide and a certified Unreasonable Hospitality coach, to explore how interior designers can create a client experience that goes far beyond great service. Drawing from Will Guidara’s Unreasonable Hospitality, Rick explains why making clients feel seen, heard, and understood can become one of the strongest differentiators for an interior design business.

They talk about identifying client-facing touchpoints, creating meaningful moments without relying on expensive gifts, and tailoring hospitality to what each individual client actually va...

What happens when you build an interior design business around creativity, connection, and trusting your instincts? Shaun and Rebecca sit down with Whitney Romanoff, founder and principal designer of Meet West Studio in Fayetteville, Arkansas, to talk about her unconventional path from international relations and management consulting to running a growing interior design firm.

Whitney shares how her corporate background shaped her approach to client communication, team leadership, and difficult conversations about money, as well as why creating a genuine connection with clients leads to stronger creative work. They also get into building a design team that...

What if the reason you can’t focus, make decisions, or tap into your creativity isn’t a lack of discipline—but a lack of capacity? Shaun and Rebecca sit down with executive advisor, business coach, keynote speaker, and author Angie Wisdom to talk about protecting the finite mental and emotional resources we rely on to run our businesses and our lives.

Angie breaks down why interior designers are especially vulnerable to capacity overload, how constant decisions and “search friction” drain our brains, and why pushing through burnout usually makes things worse. They also explore nervous system regulation...

Summer is summering, and Shaun and Rebecca are feeling every bit of the chaos. They catch up on Rebecca’s daughter starting middle school, the impending disruption of a home flooring project, sensory overload, and what it looks like to raise kids who can advocate for themselves instead of having every problem solved for them. They also share an exciting update on the upcoming Hot Young Designers Club Mexico City trip, designed to give interior designers a chance to connect, explore, and actually let someone else handle the planning for once.

Then it’s time to bring back...

How well is your interior design inquiry form actually qualifying potential clients? In this episode, Shaun and Rebecca explore how budget dropdowns, minimum project investments, investment guides, and consultations can shape the quality of your leads. They discuss the tension between filtering out unqualified inquiries and educating promising clients who have the money to invest but do not yet understand what furnishing and renovation projects cost.

They also unpack a viral designer post announcing a public “breakup” with furniture vendor Four Hands. The conversation expands into vendor relationships, furniture damage claims, buying power, client-facing marketing, rage bait, and...

What do reality television production and running an interior design firm have in common? More than you might think. In this episode, Shaun and Rebecca sit down with Patrick Maziarski, founder and principal designer of Beau Geste Interior Design, to trace his creative journey from growing up in Canada and working in reality TV to studying design in Los Angeles and building his own interior design business.

Patrick shares how production taught him to manage budgets, schedules, crews, and countless moving parts—skills that now help him lead complex residential design projects. They also discuss finding your vo...

Interior designer Linette Dai joins Shaun and Rebecca to share how she built Linette Dai Design by following opportunities, embracing discomfort, and working backward from the kind of business and life she wanted to create. Linette reflects on her unconventional path into interior design, from operating a boba shop and teaching English in Taiwan to helping renovate investment properties and eventually studying interior architecture at UCLA Extension.

The conversation explores what it takes to move into the luxury design market, invest in professional photography and public relations, build a collaborative team, and become more visible even when...

Rebecca and Shaun catch up on the invisible work behind creative businesses and everyday life—from recovering after an intense project push to building routines that support mental health without falling into hustle culture. They explore the difference between discipline and consistency, the value of rest, emotional check-ins, and why sustainable habits often work better when they are quiet rather than performative.

The conversation moves into the realities of managing interior design construction projects, communicating renovation timelines, selecting durable terrazzo materials, and deciding what historic details can realistically be preserved. They also dream up a better inspiration pl...

When does a productive habit stop serving you and start feeling like another obligation? Shaun and Rebecca unpack that question after Rebecca reveals she may abandon her 741-day Duolingo streak. Their conversation explores sunk-cost thinking, the pressure of maintaining streaks, and why letting go can create space for habits that genuinely improve your life and business.

Before granting Rebecca permission to break the streak, they catch up on the realities of running an interior design business—from catching a costly furniture measurement issue before production to building financial buffers for inevitable mistakes. They also discuss Programa workflows, Sc...

In this episode, Shaun and Rebecca dig into the art of having, styling, photographing, and protecting beautiful interiors. They start with the emotional intelligence of delivering client news, then move into the creative direction behind Shaun’s upcoming project photo shoot and how designers can create portfolio images that feel lived-in, layered, and aligned with their brand.

They also talk about why styling budgets matter, how to help clients understand the cost of “finished,” and what happens when people want nice homes but don’t always want to invest in or care for the final details. From bookcase...

Shaun and Rebecca are back for a classic Hot Young Designers Club catch-up, diving into the increasingly bland world of modern branding, the tension between creative identity and trend-chasing, and how interior designers can avoid losing personality in their own brands. They talk about “blanding,” luxury fashion logos, Canva-looking design identities, and why your branding needs to support—not flatten—your creative work.

They also get deep into the operational side of running an interior design business: construction documents, redlines, return clients, spec sheets, software fatigue, and the never-ending quest for the perfect interior design tech stack. From Stu...

In this episode, Shaun and Rebecca catch up on summer schedules, parenting, old photos, and the strange feeling of realizing how much of our lives has been documented somewhere. That leads them into a bigger conversation about memory, storytelling, and how interior designers can capture the deeper meaning behind the homes they create.

They also dig into industry changes, including Pooky Lighting being acquired by Visual Comfort, the challenges of buying from vendors as interior designers, and why designers need to keep educating clients on craft, quality, and the human story behind furnishings. Then, in true Hot...

In this episode, Shaun and Rebecca sit down with Hema Persad, founder and principal designer of Sagrada Studio, a Los Angeles-based interior design firm creating layered, personal, and highly intentional residential and commercial spaces. Hema shares how she moved from law to celebrity styling to interior design, and how each chapter shaped the way she runs her studio today.

Hema gets candid about building a luxury interior design business, creating tiered service offerings, managing client expectations, outsourcing strategically, working with contractors, and refusing to tolerate mediocrity in her team, her process, or her life. This conversation is...

In this episode of Hot Young Designers Club, Shaun Crha and Rebecca Plum talk about what it really looks like to stay committed to the business changes you’ve made, even when the right interior design projects take time to show up. From refining inquiry workflows to trusting your instincts with potential clients, they dig into the behind-the-scenes decisions that help interior designers build more profitable and sustainable businesses.

They also discuss how client proposals, payment processes, and service boundaries evolve as your design business grows. Shaun shares how he’s testing new proposal systems for full-service inte...

Shaun and Rebecca are back with a winding, very Hot Young Designers Club conversation about mindset, merch, aging textiles, sleep pillows, old design magazines, and the eternal hunt for better interior design inspiration. What starts as a chat about energy, time, and side quests turns into a bigger discussion about how interior designers can find more original references outside of Pinterest, Instagram, and the current design algorithm.

In this episode, they explore why designers need a better way to collect and share the tiny design details that make a project special: trim profiles, upholstery edges, tile miters...

Shaun and Rebecca are catching up on the very real emotional, practical, and slightly chaotic sides of running an interior design business. Rebecca shares the time stress of trying to balance work, family, installs, and all the little business decisions that add up, while Shaun reflects on the power of delegating, building support, and choosing the work that actually matters.

They also unpack the viral response to a clip from Caroline Turner’s episode about who gets to call themselves an interior designer, the value of design school versus lived experience, and why designers need to communicate th...

In this episode Shaun and Rebecca catch up after their latest travels and dig into what those experiences revealed about creativity, mindset, wellness, and the way interior designers structure their businesses. Rebecca shares takeaways from the Design Field Retreat in Charleston, including lessons on Enneagrams, journaling, morning routines, and learning from successful design leaders.

Shaun and Rebecca also talk about the power of being opinionated in your interior design business, especially when it comes to positioning, investment guides, and helping clients trust your expertise. From “design domming” clients who want confident direction to building a business that can...

In this episode, we're sitting down with Caroline Turner of Caroline Turner Interiors and Confessions of an Interior Designer to talk about running a design business, building a waitlist, handling referrals (or not), and using social media for client growth. Caroline shares her unfiltered thoughts on why she’s not a fan of referrals, how she sets project minimums, and the major shifts she’s made in her business to improve workflow. Plus, we get into her viral TikToks, the future of AI in design, and her juicy behind-the-scenes confessions from working in the industry. If you’ve ever had to...

Shaun Crha and Rebecca Plum are back with a classic Hot Young Designers Club catch-up episode full of interior design business advice, creative tangents, client presentation stories, and a few pop culture detours. Rebecca shares the high of a nearly fully-approved presentation for a colorful, personality-filled project, while Shaun talks about the joy of working with clients who trust you enough to take bigger creative swings.

They also dig into what it feels like when your interior design work starts attracting the right kinds of clients, how creativity shows up whether you are working or trying to...

Shaun and Rebecca catch up on spring travel, allergic reactions, editorial photoshoots, and the realities of balancing rest with productivity as interior designers. Rebecca shares the behind-the-scenes story of her Texas project being selected for a magazine cover and what it was like working with a full editorial team on location.

They also dive into the importance of showing your design work online, how editors discover interior designers, the ethics of using other designers’ photos on social media, and why clear floor plans and thoughtful presentations matter so much in an interior design business. From art lending li...

How should you respond to clients when you really don’t want to do the project? How do you set boundaries in your business and train others how to respect them? Should you stop charging a flat rate and start charging by the hour?

In this episode, Rebecca and Shaun speak with Kate Lester of Kate Lester Interiors, to discuss:

This replay episode brings back a great conversation with Ali Faulkner of AEF Interiors about what it really looks like to grow an interior design business with intention. Ali shares how she built her firm by leaning into process, trusting her instincts, and making thoughtful investments in support before the results were fully visible.

Rebecca and Shaun talk with Ali about balancing strategy with gut instinct, using Instagram as both a marketing and educational tool, and why community matters so much when you are scaling a design business. From hiring help for social media to building referral...

In this episode, Shaun and Rebecca are joined by Brooke Stoll, an operations and profitability strategist who helps interior designers build stronger, more profitable firms through better systems, clearer processes, and more confident leadership. What starts as a cozy robe-clad conversation quickly turns into a deep and practical discussion about the real skills designers need as their businesses grow.

Brooke shares why the scrappy mindset that helps you start a design business is not always the same mindset that helps you lead a team, manage profit, or scale sustainably. Together, they unpack everything from project management tools...

Shaun and Rebecca catch up on the real-life highs and lows of running an interior design business, from factory tours and studio refreshes to client communication stress and the emotional weight of construction-phase hiccups. They also get candid about creative experimentation, shifting business priorities, and the ways designers quietly improve their clients’ daily lives.

This episode moves between funny, personal, and deeply relatable conversations about what it means to build a design business that actually supports your life. From limewash mishaps and freight increases to career transitions at home and the power of saying no to the wr...

Rebecca and Shaun are joined by Maegan Blau, owner of Blue Copper Design in the Phoenix area, for a conversation about accessibility, aging in place, and why thoughtful design should support people through every stage of life. Maegan shares how her lived experience as a wheelchair user shaped her design perspective and why accessibility has become such a central part of her business.

They dig into the misconceptions that keep homeowners and designers from planning ahead, from the belief that accessibility is only needed “later” to the idea that it has to look clinical or cost dramatically more...

Rebecca and Shaun meander their way through beauty routines, personal style, creativity, books, and the importance of staying curious as creative people. What starts as a conversation about video backgrounds and ChatGPT turns into a thoughtful reflection on how curiosity shapes not just personal style, but design work, aging, and creative fulfillment.

In this episode, they talk about using AI as a practical life tool, from building skincare routines to experimenting with fashion and body-type analysis. They also explore how inspiration often arrives when you have the space to receive it, leading into a fascinating discussion about...

Rebecca and Shaun are back with a classic HYDC catch-up episode—covering everything from creative ruts and tile inspiration to mattress upgrades and the strange ways we all unwind after long design days. If you’ve ever found yourself doom-scrolling design materials, obsessing over the perfect bed, or wondering why your brain suddenly works differently after 40… this one’s for you.

The hosts dive into tile sourcing adventures, experimenting with creative practices outside of work, and the surprising ways designers recharge. From Japanese-inspired tile showrooms to the economics of custom beds and the eternal quest for better sleep, t...

In this episode, Shaun and Rebecca are joined by returning favorites Heather of Heather KW Styles and Lauren of Studio Laloc for an unfiltered designer roundtable. What starts as a chat about Danish hardware and custom furniture quickly spirals into tariffs, turning down nightmare projects, presentation strategies, ideal clients, and—yes—an unforgettable handyman story.

From navigating red flags on discovery calls to debating whether we’d decorate a Miami Vice mansion for the right price, this episode is equal parts business strategy and design therapy. If you’ve ever questioned a client fit, struggled with pricing under ta...

In this episode, Rebecca and Shaun cover everything from skunk-induced wake-up calls to the realities of private equity in the design industry—before diving deep into the creative growing pains that come with leveling up your interiors. If you’ve ever felt burnt out on tile, uninspired by beige beds, or frustrated that nothing “off the rack” feels special enough, this one’s for you.

The big takeaway? Not every piece in a room can be the Beyoncé—but you do need at least one showstopper. Rebecca shares her current tile spiral, Shaun vents about the sea of neutral be...

In this episode, Rebecca and Shaun welcome back their friend Claire Jones, founder of Etch & Ivy Design in Sacramento. From quarter-life crisis to full-time interior designer, Claire shares how community, boundaries, and a recent business retreat reshaped the way she approaches her design firm.

The trio dives deep into mastermind dynamics, defining your ideal client (hint: it’s not based on Diet Coke preferences), setting minimums, managing anxiety in your workflow, and the power of surrounding yourself with designers who challenge and inspire you. It’s honest, hilarious, and full of real talk about leveling up without losi...

In this kickoff episode for 2026, Shaun and Rebecca get real about what’s holding them back in their design businesses—and what they’re doing about it. From car accidents to calendar overhauls, they unpack how they’re using systems and mindset shifts to create smoother, more profitable operations. This solo episode is filled with behind-the-scenes insights into the messy middle of implementing new processes and prepping for growth.

After a transformative retreat with business coach Renee Bush and other design peers, they share what they’re focusing on to get out of their own way this year. It’s...

Shaun and Rebecca are back to wrap up 2025 with their annual year-in-review tradition—and it turns out, it wasn’t all bad! In this episode, they share a candid look at the highs, lows, and the messy middle of running their interior design businesses this year. From surviving slowdowns and personal challenges to celebrating wins like tightened brand messaging and more aligned client projects, they prove that progress isn’t always loud, flashy, or Instagram-worthy.

They revisit the goals they set at the beginning of the year (in Episode 138) and dig into what worked, what didn’t, and why...