Welcome to Creating Your Happy Place! A podcast that explores how our spaces support (or sabotage) our happiness and make it easier (or harder) to reach our goals, then empowers you to do whatever it takes to get happy at home. 😊🏡

Today, we’re chatting with special guest Garrison Hullinger!

Garrison Hullinger is Principal at Garrison Hullinger Interior Design. GHID’s meteoric rise from its 2010 start in Garrison’s attic to a bustling studio in downtown Portland is a direct result of the talent and flexibility of the team he has assembled and nurtured over the years. Combined with his background in branding and retail business systems, Garrison’s commitment to client-centered design and deep understanding of color, form, and construction shape every project that GHID takes on – whether it’s a private home, a multi-family development, or a high-end hotel. Follow him on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/ghidinc/

If you would rather read the episode than listen, we have provided a full transcription of the episode below. Enjoy!

Rebecca: Welcome to Creating Your Happy Place, a podcast that explores how our spaces support or sabotage our happiness, and then empowers you to do whatever it takes to get happy at home. I’m Rebecca West, host of creating your happy place and author of the book happy starts at home. So glad you’re here. Now, whenever we think about interior design, you’re always thinking about how the needs of our home or how our home should serve our needs, but sometimes those needs change either on a permanent basis.

Like in our last episode, we talked to Shelly Rosenberg about how she’s adapted her home to the needs of her down syndrome child, or on a temporary basis. Like we break a leg and we need some help getting into the shower. Today, we’re going to chat with someone who has been creating beautiful spaces for a very long time, but right in the middle of it all, he faced a life changing accident that put him in physical recovery for five years.

He had to learn how to read, write, speak, and walk all over again. When I heard his story, I wondered like, how did the accident affect how he saw his spaces and his environment? What had changed in his space during his recovery to support him and the person who was taking care of him, living in that same space, as he learned to do everything all over again and how, or if all that changed how he designed spaces for himself and other people since recovery.

So let me welcome him. The show from Portland, Oregon, where he lives in a house with his husband of 31 years and their 10 year old Greyhound ,president of Garrison Hullinger interior design- Garrison Hullinger. Welcome to the show.

Garrison: Hi, Rebecca. Wow. What an introduction!

Rebecca: Well, I really am excited to talk about this.

I’ve been wanting to talk about this ever since we met you and I met a year ago at KBI when we were both serving as judges at the industry show. And I just, I’m so excited about this conversation. So I want you to start by telling us about the accident, what you were doing with your career before it occurred and the timeline of your recovery.

Let’s begin there.

Garrison: Great. Well, I was living in San Francisco. I was, an early entry into retail with the gap, so way back in the day. And, so I was one of the first, a few dozen employees for old Navy. And when we were building that brand and I was living in San Francisco, developing technology. So my primary job was anything that plugged in or had a battery in stores and, and the processes that went around that.

So that meant scanners credit card process. Anything that we were doing in the stores was what I managed with my department. And I was on a trip to Chicago. Rolling out. There was Y2K, I don’t know if you’d know that I’ve heard of Y2K. Like

Rebecca: I’m old enough,

Garrison: You are okay. I mean, doomsday, right?

Like computers are going to crash, the stock Market’s going to crash, computers aren’t going to work. So we were building up for that. And part of my team, our responsibility was to travel the country and to roll out all these new laptops and gadgets and stuff. And so, we were in Chicago and one of the.

Kind of winding down moments was to go out bowling. Unfortunately, I slipped and fell, and suffered a traumatic brain injury along with a spine injury and my heels and just, I mean, a mess. So that took probably five or 10 days. I think it was five or six. I was in Chicago. Then they finally moved me back home to San Francisco.

And I didn’t really experience, probably the typical symptoms except for maybe a major concussion. And then on day 10 of returning home for what, I understand in July of 2019, I started having seizures. and then I fell down a set of stairs in our home. so things started getting complicated really quick, and then they just.

Unfortunately just got worse.

Rebecca: So at first you didn’t really think much of this. This was just a, you slipped, you fell.

Garrison: Yeah, I was only out for, I mean, not even a minute probably, they said like unconscious. But then I think, because it wasn’t a, I can’t remember the term now. It was a closed head injury.

So it didn’t split open and bleed, but I had just small amounts of bleeding on my brain. The rear occipital lobe. And so we just kind of thought like, oh, it’s a, you know, severe concussion. And I was embarrassed. All I remember about the accident is like embarrassment. Like I fell down and I’m kind of known as being a jokester and the lighthearted guy.

So a lot of the people tell us that they thought I was kidding when it happened. But then I was out and I wouldn’t get up, jokes over guys, like yeah. And then people that came out to help us, they also got injured because they didn’t realize there was all this oil that had spilled from the machine.

So it had a, it had a failure. And so as people came to help me, they also started falling. Another lady had to have her kneecap replaced. Yeah. Created quite a mess. but anyway, yeah.

Rebecca: So you know, the moral of story is don’t go bowling.

Garrison: The moral of the story now is if you go to a Brunswick bowling alley and you see these big, crazy black and yellow lines that say, do not cross, I think that’s that’s because of me, which is we think it was kind of their weird way of saying not our fault.

Cause my fall happened in front of that line. The oil was all spilled in front of it, not pass that line. So it was kinda like. But my employer was just glad that they helped pay for my recovery and stuff.

Rebecca: So now you’re back at home and things get worse and ended up really kind of falling apart. Like where did you find yourself?

I mean, you said you had to learn to speak again?

Garrison: And walk. Yeah. Yeah. I wasn’t able to verbalize and communicate. And then also my eyes had been affected. So they, I started to, like, my husband started noticing that I wasn’t able to read or to look at emails. I remember this is dial up, we’re talking to all right.

And but then guests would come over and friends and people that worked for me and I. There started being days where I didn’t recognize people or I would just zone off and I was doing a lot of rocking. You know, I think probably just trying to, from what I, I don’t remember these days, but probably just trying to cope with the stress and the pain.

And then they started medicated me heavily by October of that year. So probably four to five months into it, just to try and get things to slow down and shut down. And I think, you know, during that part, there was a time probably for a year that I, my brain was more of an adolescent, or pre, so I did a lot of like coloring and computer games and, friends would come and watch me and let, so Jake could kind of go out and have a little bit of a life or travel.

So it definitely became, I feel like as I look back and I hear the stories, it was probably the most stressful for the caregiver. For my husband.

Rebecca: You guys have been married for about 10 years at that point, right?

Garrison: Yeah.

Rebecca: Yeah. So a solid relationship, but still a massive strain on massive restraint. I mean, that’s not, we do sign up for better or for worse, but we never really can imagine what worst looks like

Garrison: Yeah. And I think that, you know, I remember I, and I do kind of remember when the fog started being lifted. I, they had put me into a group trying to get me to do, use some coping mechanisms and it was a head injury group in San Francisco. And most of the people in the group had had severe strokes or were, doc or iron workers, people that build big, tall sized skyscrapers.

Cause they’re the ones who really suffer bad head injuries from what we’ve learned. So I was with our only high tech guy, you know, and I remember Jay said, probably, so this is a year after the accident or a year and a half, two to three months into it. I said, you know, I’m, I would come home crying from the support group because I started having empathy for those people in the group.

I started realizing I was in a better position of healing than they were. And so that’s when they said they kind of knew like, Oh, he’s coming out of this. Like, there’s, there’s hope. And then, you know, you just kind of take on wherever we can. And I was really, you know, very fortunate that, Jay had bonded with a case worker, for our healthcare.

And she really pushed to enter me into all kinds of different programs. And so they flew me to some other locations to do very unique treatment, with scalp and head injections and, pain management was the biggest piece. Cause I would have headaches that lasted 16 to 18 hours. Yeah. Yeah. but I don’t remember it.

Right. So that’s, that’s a really awesome thing.

Rebecca: Yeah it’s like childbirth. Let’s have another baby, whatever. I mean,

Garrison:  I would be a millionaire if I had a baby though, but,

Rebecca: so, okay. So now you were living in a space in a home. So what had to change for the two of you? Through the recovery, like, did you have to make adaptations in the space to help you get up?

And how did you like, was it super sterile? Super hospitaly. Did you just live with it? Tell us about that,

Garrison: that home that we rented in San Francisco, we started layering in lots more rugs. Cause I spent a lot of time on the floor because of my back and my spine. you know, it’s, it is interesting though, because I think that.

probably then we, it was more open. I wouldn’t say sterile. Definitely. I have always loved textures and layers, and color, but it definitely was more open. Did not, as you know,

Rebecca: Fewer obstacles.

Garrison: Yeah. I think that was probably the biggest piece for us. What Jay did, was he, They tore down our kind of breakfast nook and they put a computer set up in there.

And then I did a lot of, cause I had 20, some hours of in-home therapy a week. And so they set up kind of a therapy area in the breakfast nook for me. And then from what I understand, I think. I mean for one, I understand everything else was kind of left alone. I think they did put some kind of tread things on this internal staircase.

I wouldn’t slip, but you know, it’s, I think that, Jay and I have always taken on remodel projects, that’s just something we always did our free time. And the occupational therapist knew that about us. And so, you know, one of the first projects that they wanted us to take on was to update a bathroom sink.

Rebecca: But you were in a rental house at the time?

Garrison: So we got permission from the landlord for me. And so the state of California brought in a professional plumber who worked with people that are trying to do work rehab. He’d never worked with someone like me, from what I understand. And so they, my occupational therapist, I can remember her, you know, I don’t remember her name, but yeah, I can just remember how like determined she was that we’re going to get Garrison to do this because he’s determined to do it.

And I think that was, you know, probably some of the first adjustments. I think the biggest piece that I look back and I have photos where I’m standing in front of this weird plywood painted box thing. That’s sitting over our range. Because they wouldn’t let me use, any kind of devices for cooking.

Rebecca: Right, for safety.

Garrison: So those were, I think those were some of the big pieces, was just probably safety. but we didn’t put up grab bars or anything like that.

Rebecca: and I think it’s really interesting that you were in a rental space because you know, people. When they are thinking about like aging in place, they are adding a lot of structural components for safety, which if you’re in a rental space, you may or may not feel like you have permission to do that.

And so that, that ability to think, you know, I can just talk to my landlord. Maybe they will allow me to make some adaptations to my space. or maybe they won’t, but you might as well ask. Right? They always say, if you, if you don’t ask the answer’s no.

Garrison: Yeah. Yeah. I’m, I’ve never been of the mind to, you know, ask for forgiveness.  I’d rather ask for permission.

Rebecca: Now also a big change would have been that you were, I assume always home, you know, sort of like when a husband goes and retires and the wife is like, huh, you’re home a lot, you know? So how did you guys manage making sure that you had your own spaces and you said that sometimes friends would come over so he could go travel.

Yeah. How did you handle all of that at-home time? Which we’re all facing right now? Of course.

Garrison: Yeah. So again, we were kind of serial remodelers in 2001, we purchased a home, a complete fixer that had been vacant for 10 years. Just a few blocks from our house in San Francisco. And so that kind of became the new project.

it’s interesting. Wow. It’s interesting that you mentioned, like, how did I create my own space. So I had actually, there was a lower area off the garage, which was kind of, I think they called it a rumpus room. Or have you heard that, is that rumpus? Yeah. it sounds like a fifties term.

Rebecca: I think it probably is

Garrison: It had this beautiful redwoods siding like grooved siding. I mean, it was really pretty internal. So we did create a space there that was like my space. I’m still in recovery. cause so this would be a year and a half after my accident. And so that was really current, I think, from what I understand, that was the first area we set up the master suite and that area.

And then all the other areas we had to replace all the plumbing, electrical while we lived there. Of course. Cause why would you do it sensibly? And, you know, I think that was I really trying to, you know, create that defining area that was for me. And, you know, it’s kind of like, Cause if you were to know me now and the way I live and talk to my employees, I’m very orderly things are, everything has a place and it must go into place.

That’s the one thing I’ve learned. But during that phase, I think from what I understand, I think that I didn’t probably have as much in-house in home therapy or Jay looking over me because I had my own space. And so it kind of started getting like cluttered and so that was, I think there’s always like this, pull the curtain go back there.

Rebecca: Sure. Because you were relearning habits, just like a child learning habits, right.

Garrison: Yeah. Yeah, that was a big focus of the job was of my task of recovery, which I always considered my job was to learn how to get things into short term memory. That was the big, big goal. cause if it could ever get into short term, it would, it would end up and get filed into longterm.

And so, you know, it was just trying to get through this. And I remember the big exercise that lasted for, for what I understand Jay says over a year is placing plates out on the counter when I’ve eaten a meal and try not to wash them or put them in the sink. So there were all these labels that were all over the kitchen, countertop, like breakfast plate, lunch plate, like, you know, so that I would try and make sure I knew did I eat that day?

And then just managing the pills, you know, we had bought, Oh my God, I don’t know, like. And friends were always buying us pill boxes like that had timers on them or cause you’re, you’re, you’re just taking this enormous amount of medication for the seizures and for the pain medicine. So yeah, there’s a, I think there was a lot of activities every day, that you know, you definitely would’ve known someone was going through something major if you came into the home.

Rebecca: Right. And then I wonder does that give you some empathy and compassion for the kind of personalities when you’re, you know, cause you, you are now an interior designer. And there are people who need their piles.

They need the stuff out because if they don’t see it, it doesn’t exist. They can’t manage it. So having kind of gone through a phase like that, does that give you some empathy for them? That’s maybe different than from beforehand.

Garrison: Yeah. I think if anything, it gives me a, it challenges me to want to help them in a different way,

Rebecca: Because you obviously moved from that phase to it.

Garrison: Yeah. And I think that there’s, it’s creating order, is really important to me. I have, I can’t shut my mouth, you know, if there’s opportunity for improvement for someone like, and I’m. I’m not totally crazy, but like, you wouldn’t go to my garden shed right now and you wouldn’t see like outlines of where the shovel goes or where the rate goes, but it’s close. I think that what I’ve learned and what I always empower others with is you need to establish what your pattern is and where things go, and then that’s yours. No one else is allowed to touch it. And that’s the thing that I think in compromising, especially when you’re sharing a household, whether it’s a spouse or kids or whoever is everyone needs to establish, like, this is the way I like my order.

And if everyone is in agreement, it’s up to me, the person, the individual, to keep my order. Now, if other people are going to interject and throw more stuff on the pile or take things out, it doesn’t work. And that’s usually one of the first rules that we set. you know, when I think about organization design is okay, who’s space is this, you know, if it’s a pantry like I have, we have amazing pantry photos on our portfolio.

And a lot of it is because we create zones. You know, I don’t believe in the triangular, work zones that were created in the fifties, for the kitchen area, there was no microwave. There really wasn’t a dishwasher. There wasn’t, you know, like children were prepared meals when they got out of school.

So things were very different. And so now we create zones, right? So there’s the cleaning zone. There’s the prep zone. There’s a cooking, there’s a snack zone. That’s what favorite things to do.

Rebecca: That makes sense.

Garrison: Yeah. So like who, who manages the snack? Right? Do you go buy the snacks? Do they come from Amazon?

And then the kids unload them. So again, it’s responsibility who is gonna manage that area. And then I think it, like, it all starts falling into place, even if it’s a pile, which. You know, I have issues. I don’t like pals out in the open. and I don’t have piles behind doors, but I know others do. Right. So if they do I get it, I don’t, I mean, I don’t really get it that much, but,

Rebecca: But you’re trying to create a system that accommodates and adapts to the reality of their habits, their system, their orders, because even people with piles would say, I know where things are at.

I have a system. Yeah. Just, it’s not clear to you when you’re looking for it. Right?

Garrison:  Well, that’s like even in designing our beach house, you know, the first thing I did is I, it was a remodel of a 1940s home, single ranch, single story, ranch home. And I took out all the upper cabinets. and I put in these really large industrial kitchen, heavy duty stainless steel. Because the big thing, I didn’t want people that if you get invited to come to the house, cause we don’t really host a lot of people there or we don’t rent it out.

I don’t want to like care for you. You know, so a lot of this, and what we talk about organization for people is, you know, if you have open shelving and you have everything in order, it’s really easy. If you want to help do the dishes or put the dishes out of the dishwasher,

Rebecca: because they want to hunt through the doors to figure out what goes where.

Garrison: And I kind of, the whole walkthrough and spiel is even when you come to my home is okay. So I’m gonna show you where it is the first time, and then you’re going to do it from here out.

Rebecca: Nice. I love it. Now, do you feel like your accident caused…. you weren’t an interior designer. You’ve had the accident. You are now an interior designer.

So is your current career related to the accident? How did this come to be? And do you feel like your accident has influenced how you design or who you work for, how you approach it? What’s the connection there?

Garrison: I definitely have always made the joke that it sometimes takes a knock in the head to figure out what you’re supposed to do in life.

Right, and I’m very process-oriented. I’ve always been an operational person. I ran millions of dollars of budget when I worked for the gap and old Navy, mostly based on processes and, operations and systems. And so that’s still in me. That part is there and I love a system and I love a process and I know this is crazy.

I feel like I thrive in supporting the best culture and environment for my employees. I feel like they’re the ones who need more structure, to do their best job. So I may not be the best creative. I’m very practical. I’m sensible. That doesn’t always appeal to everyone as a client because I will always put livability practicality before just doing something because it’s designed.

Rebecca: That’s one of the reasons why I love you, because I mean, you’re speaking my language, so yeah. But you’re right. You know, you have an entire team and you have a lot of different kinds of clients. So you meet the client where they’re at.

Why does it sound crazy to you that you are just helping other designers do their best work.

Why is that crazy?

Garrison: Well, we know that the unicorns need structure and I love the way they stand around and braid their hair and put color. And sometimes there’s skittle rainbow farts, but, you know, it’s, I love building structure. And sometimes that means a fence or a corral and a process and I that’s, that’s where I love.

Rebecca: So you’re right. Your job is wrangling unicorns. It’s not interior design.

Garrison: Yeah. I love you unicorns. and I love to challenge, I think the, you know, so here’s how here’s our whole formula. What makes this work is that. The, the designer, whoever gets assigned to a project, I’m their client. They’re not allowed to imagine impressing the client with design or trying to sell the client.

That’s my job. So they have to sell me so that every design has my spin on it and my eye, because that’s really who they’re hiring.

Rebecca: Right. Your name is on the company.

Garrison: Yeah. And so I think that that’s, that’s how we keep this in check. and so that is it. It does put a lot of confinement on some design members and now it’s not, it doesn’t work for everyone.

And I think that what I bring to the table is practicality. So I’m very fortunate. I grew up in a home that my mother loved to entertain. That was her spiel. That was her thing. we came along, we were adopted later in their lives. My parents lives and my brother and I, and. Her whole thing was she had been raising and really giving life to her nieces and nephews.

They spent weekends at her house. They would travel with her and my dad. And so those were like all these like much older cousins were always around. And so that was kind of one of the things that I learned, and I’m always sure that my employees have that piece of hospitality. you know, that one of my very first projects was this huge, crazy remodel.

I was working part-time at a furniture store and these clients came in and, they had bought a home because they loved the restaurants in Portland, you know, like how does that work? And, you know, it was, and it was $800,000 home and they spent 1.4 million remodeling it, and then over $400,000 in furnishings.

And it’s like, I didn’t know what I was doing really, as far as like the bookkeeping and all that. But what I did know is that, you know, the younger designer who was the assistant, was just throwing the utensils in the drawer. And I’m like, what are you doing? Like there had to be liners and we have to put organizers.

And I think that, you know, really putting some practicality into design is something that it’s not only in aesthetics, but it’s also really talking about seasonal things. Like if you’re a host and you have large platters and you have large baking shaping dishes and all that, those don’t go in your main kitchen, right?

Like let’s not occupy all that space. Let’s put it somewhere else. And so a lot of times in design, you know, I really try to think about the floor plans. And the value that I bring is that I look at as a real estate. So there’s always, you know, when you look at a neighborhood there’s always the high value pieces of property and that really special jewels.

And then maybe there’s something that’s over by the tracks or maybe up by the stoplight or the bus stop, not quite as great value, same thing for home. Like. I think that I look as like the high dollar priority areas of a home, like a kitchen or dining room go to the spaces. Let’s not overbuild them. If we don’t have to, let’s make them practical.

And let’s find other areas where we can kind of, you know, condition spaces and provide organization. So I think that influence on my designers is something that is unexpected. Yeah, it doesn’t realize they’re going to get

Rebecca: one. I love that it’s coming from what you experienced as a child growing up. So do you feel like, you know, they, they entertain so much, that was a hospitality home.

it sounds like that’s really influenced how you approach home in general. Are there rules that over time you thought were true? That aren’t true. That you’ve actually jettisoned over time.

Garrison: Ooh. Hmm. Well dryer sheets, right? Don’t use that. I mean, over time, dryer sheets are not good for the environment or us.

Rebecca: That is true. But they do smell awfully nice.

Garrison: Sorry.

Rebecca: Yeah, no, that’s I love that answer. And it’s something, it might be something to change the question a little bit, where you see clients who think, Oh, well we have to follow this rule. And then you’re like, No, no, we don’t.

Garrison: Yeah. Well, I definitely think the dishwasher still goes to the right or the left of the sink.

You know, that is a good rule. I wouldn’t change it. I’m very opinionated. Believe it or not, even though I’m really nice and congenial, if I see something I don’t agree with, I’ll just say it,

Rebecca: But it sounds like it’s more in the moment because you’re not, you’re not somebody who sounds like you’re guided by.

These are rules for everybody all the time. It’s more of a, what are the rules for this family in this moment right now?

Garrison: Well, and I think, I mean, I will say one trend, maybe, maybe not for my childhood, but one trend that I’m really trying to negotiate in my own head is putting the plug strips up underneath the cabinets.

Because when you really struggle and you think about someone who is truly using appliances and they’ve got their, their burger grinder and all their other appliances, the few that they leave out every day, do you really want to have to reach up under and plug something in? Is that sensible? Just because of the aesthetic.

Yeah. So I’m like, I don’t. I don’t know if I believe in that anymore.

Rebecca: Yeah. And I think there is, you know, so some, some of the times on the podcast, I’m talking to normal people who just have homes and sometimes I’m talking to designers and I think it’s interesting for designers to walk that line between aesthetics and truly practical.

Functional form. Right. And it’s, it’s a big part of our job, but you’ve got to weigh the pros and cons and figure out where the client’s coming from too. And you know, their luxury level and their expectations and everything like that. So let’s talk about your home now. Would you call your home your happy place?

Garrison: Oh yeah. Yeah.

Rebecca: Why, what is it in your home that makes you so happy? It’s mine.

Garrison: It’s me. It’s my way. And we’ve not, you know, we’ve, I don’t know if it’s purposely, but I’ve never, I haven’t published this home. and it’s, I am slightly afraid that my clients will look at it and go like, Whoa, that’s your style?

Cause it’s, it’s very vibrant and I love stimulation and Jay is like my best and worst client ever. Like he’s, he’s slow to agree, but then he, like, he just embraces it and he loves it. Yeah. And the mix of color and pattern in my living room. And that’s my, it is my happy place to be able to, we do the French press.

And then we walk in, he reads all this foreign language called sports that I don’t understand. And then he’ll quote to me like, Oh, the offensive. I’m like, I don’t know, but you know, so we’ve read our phones, we read the news in the morning and you just kind of like, see the space light up. And then, well, now I walk 20 feet to work, but, where I would leave and go to my building.

but yeah, I think it is, I think it’s, and it’s, it’s those artifacts and the Hunter and the gatherer and the stories behind all those things. like everything in my living room. I think everything is a, there’s a story behind it. Either a gift or a treasure that we found.

Rebecca: Yeah. It’s interesting to me.

So you say your living room is very, very vibrant and, that you, your clients might be like, that’s not for me. I’m curious why, but you could, of course be designing. That could be your thing, right? It could be like, I’m the person who does all the crazy color. So you’ve not chosen to make that your brand, if you will, as an interior designer,

Garrison: Yeah, I, I have purposely not been defined for a style because I have so many loves, well, I, I just, I think, you know, Especially when you run such a large company, you know, it’s, it’s 30 plus employees and they all have their own little tastes too.

Right. but I think that I love, I have such a huge love for traditional homes and all the moldings and the kitchen vets that go into that. I don’t want to live like that. Like we’ve already remodeled. You know, I already done that in San Francisco. We then went on to remodel several hundred year old plus homes.

I don’t want that anymore. So I, I’m not saying that’s not my style, but it’s not right now today. but I think I want to be able to help create an interpretation of what someone else’s life is. That’s what I really want.

Rebecca: story behind it.

Garrison: Oh, I love that. I love to pull out like. What inspires them and not just Pinterest, right.

a trip or a story or someone else’s house. I’m okay. If it’s someone else’s house. but you know, I think that it’s, that is the piece of creating someone’s home. That doesn’t feel like they just went out to a furniture gallery and bought.

Rebecca: Yeah. Have you ever had a big design failure that you’re willing to share with our listeners?

Garrison: I I’ve I had in the first year when a really big fail, I did not comprehend how to measure a L-shaped sectional. I just, it, I made a mistake. I had done components widths. Let’s see, how do I explain this? the. Somehow I shortened it by one seat. So 39 inches. I remember it. How much? Yeah. Right. So then the fabric got ordered wrong and it got applied wrong and it got, and it was this beautiful nubby, Italian corduroy as well.

I was like baking. so yeah, that’s probably one of our. My largest mistakes. Yeah.

Rebecca: So if somebody were not a designer and they were having to measure for their own sofa, what advice would you give them?

Garrison: Try and learn what right facing and left facing are means. Right. And so that’s kind of like when people talk about the front.

Tires on a car. Is it the right or the left?

Rebecca: Is that from when you’re sitting inside of the car or

Garrison: when you’re looking at the car? Yeah. So for, I, you know, you have, Oh man. I think that right arm left arm facing that will tell you everything. If you learn those terms, what that means. then I think that it’s really doing an outside measurement when the sexual is joined together.

That’s what you have to do. And. I, I screwed that up. I didn’t think about that.

Rebecca: We all start. We all started somewhere.

Garrison: Wow. It was not a great place to start. and you know what I would tell you that if anyone is from a design perspective, as a professional is the onus is on us as a professional. We have to create the fix, whatever goes on behind the scene.

If you think it’s a vendor problem, or you think it’s an whatever whoever’s fault it is, it doesn’t matter for us. It’s like, I want to get to the fix. That’s it. My staff knows that the client and their expectations have to be

Rebecca: met. I love that. So what advice would you give to somebody who’s trying to create their own happy home?

Garrison: Okay. So this is something I, I feel like I challenged the most friends and other acquaintances is quit worrying about what a seating area looks like as you approach it. Thank you about the seating area once you’re in it. So if the, if you don’t need to create balance in a room, if you can’t reach the coffee table, if it’s there really to sit your drinks on like that doesn’t make sense to me.

And that’s something that kind of took over time. Cause I found in my last home trying to convince my husband of that, like he’s like, it looks a little crowded here. I’m like we’ll walk in and sit down. Okay now reach and we have this huge, crazy sexual in front of the screen and stuff, and it’s like, Oh yeah, that makes sense.

Like, yeah, it does. so I would tell people that don’t always think about especially a gathering space or where you’re gonna hang out. What does it feel like when you’re in the space and do you have all of the things within reach you want? Not just does that look visually pleasing?

Rebecca: And I think that’s really important for people to hear because, you know, we, we spend time on Instagram.

We spend time on Pinterest. We see these beautiful orange shelter magazines. We see these beautiful rooms and people may not realize that those pictures are a lie. Just like fashion photography is a lie, right? So what is done to create a beautiful photograph is very different from what is done to create a beautiful experience of living in a space.

And it’s important that we separate those out in our head. What we’re trying to say in a photograph is different from what we want to live with in our real lives.

Garrison: Yeah. And I think that, you know, the big key, you know, that I tried to teach a lot of people, even clients is that when the camera goes in the room, the room moves to the camera.

They, once the camera is set and it’s architecturally, you know, contemplating where the walls and ceiling and floor are that cameras, that land stays. And we start moving the room. All the furniture in the room to fit into the camera angle. There’s no way we live like that.

Rebecca: No, I mean, you’ll see pictures where there’s a chair right in front of a door that theoretically you need to open and go through.

Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, if anybody’s listening, it’s a very fun exercise to flip through a shelter magazine and then look at all the things that are impossible. Yeah.

Garrison: Right. but I th I think that as long as you have a little bit of nice space from your sofa to the coffee table, or if you need to put a little tiny, Do you know, Charleston forge?

Do you know that? Oh, I love that. They’re made him, I’m a made America guy. I love Maine America. Charleston forage is out of, North Carolina and they do, that’s all forged steel. And then they have a local, places, supplies, wood. And so they do these little tiny, crazy sofa tables and it’s like maybe eight inches wide.

What I love about those is in a tight space where you have a sexual, you just put it behind you. Like dad or someone, you know, could reach back and put the glass is beer glass. Yeah.

Rebecca: Which is especially nice. If there’s a bunch of dogs, cats, and small children running around the coffee table is always a little bit dangerous anyway.

Garrison: Yeah. Like think of those, like be practical. that’s what I would tell someone who’s like trying to make a happy space.

Rebecca: I love it. So, go ahead and share where folks can find you if they want to connect with you.

Garrison: thank you. How fun? I would say go to Instagram, that’s probably the easiest way to see, like what’s really going on and it’s G H I D inc.

So Garrison Hullinger interior design, inc. Or you can check out our website @ ghid.design.

Rebecca: Perfect. And of course that’ll be in the show notes as well. Thank you so much for sharing your story and your good advice with our listeners. I really appreciate having you here today.

Garrison: Thanks for having me what a fun conversation

Rebecca: And to our listeners-

I hope enjoyed this episode of creating your happy place and that you do feel a little bit more encouraged and empowered to make your home your happy place. No matter what life throws at you or what bumps on the head you get. If you do feel stuck, please, I encourage you to check out my book, happy sides at home.

It’s it’s filled with exercises that are really meant to help you figure out. What isn’t working with your home and what could change so that it does actually make you happy. And if you have a specific design dilemma, don’t hesitate to reach out to my team at seriously happy homes, because thanks to the magic of the internet and zoom, we can help you figure out some practical steps to making your home, your happy place, no matter where you live.

And in the meantime, no matter where you call home, I hope it makes you seriously happy. Until next time.

MAY YOUR HOME ALWAYS BE HAPPY!