- Will you consider this?

We've all spent a little bit too much time at home the past few months.

And the comforts of home can wear on you as if the walls are kinda literally closing in.

We learn about the ways to make things work from a pro at Majestic Interior Design.

(upbeat music) You need to make a few changes, but can it be done?

Better yet, can it be done on a budget?

Don't think you have the wherewithal to tackle the improvements you envision?

We just may have some food for thought.

I'm Christine Zak-Edmonds and my guest is Cheryl Magnuson from Majestic Interior Design, who shares some of the tips for your home improvements.

Welcome Cheryl.

- Thank you for having me.

- You look all bright and shiny and everything, like you just stepped away from a completed project.

(laughing) - Yeah well, quite a few actually (laughs).

- Okay yeah, I bet.

So, tell me a little bit about Majestic Interior Design.

How did it get it start?

- Sure.

It's my business and I started at 15 years ago and we'd started doing residential design and now we do commercial design.

And when I started the business it was just myself and it organically grew over time, and now I have a team of six designers and we keep very, very busy with all these projects like you said, because people have been stuck at home.

- Right.

You all have degrees in interior design or just are branching out just on your own?

- Yes, almost everybody on my team has their degree.

Yes, most of them are from ISU actually, in Bloomington.

- And is that where you went to?

- [Cheryl] Yes.

- All right.

Is this something you always wanted to do growing up?

Did you have a Barbie house... And you'd change (Cheryl laughs) the furniture around all or what did you do?

- I came from an art background so I did a lot of art growing up, I inherited the natural talent from my mother, who is an artist.

And I just loved doing art, but I knew I didn't want to do a career in art.

So, as I became in my early 20s, I started realizing that I was just attracted to fabrics and textures and beautiful things in the home.

And so, I went and spoke to someone who had a design store and I said, "Hey, can you just tell me a little bit about how you got into this field?"

And she actually offered me a job on the spot.

(laughing) And I had no experience.

And so, I worked with her for about six years.

And then when she closed her store, that's when I decided to open up my own.

- Interesting.

Did you do that when you were still in school or had you already graduated with a degree or?

- I was finishing up school at the same time.

- [Christine] All right.

- As I worked with her.

- All right.

And then the other ladies that are with you, your other designers... - Yeah.

- They pretty much went to ISU and then, do you work with the school and kind of pick people out or they just kind of find you?

- You know what?

They found me and I was really lucky, because I have a great team and it's just like I said, it kind of organically happened.

The first designer I brought on, I actually knew her, I grew up in Roanoke with her and I got so busy, I couldn't do all the work myself.

And so, I contacted her and said, "Hey, do you wanna get back into design again?

(laughing) I need help.

So she's been with me a very long time.

And then the other people have just come and they've just said, "Hey, can I work with you?"

"Can I work at Majestic Interior Design?"

And so, I've really lucked out just having people come to me and ask to work at our little business.

- And you do this in people's homes and like you said, now commercial, any size home, any size budget, basically?

- Yeah, absolutely.

And that's one thing that's really important to me as a business owner is that, I want to be accessible to people that maybe, say, have a small budget, but I still love doing the large budget projects.

So, we keep our prices very reasonable and we will do the smallest thing, if say, people just want paint colors, right?

They got a new home or they're gonna revamp and they don't know how to choose paint colors.

So we'll help with that.

But if someone wants a full kitchen remodel or a full basement remodel, whatever it is, large or small, we're happy to take it on.

And that is a question that we get quite often, "Is this big enough for you to do?"

And I always say yes.

- And do you have one of those computer programs where you can draw it all out so they can vision?

'Cause a lot of people are not visual at all, they just don't get it and you'll go, "Oh yeah, well this will go here and this..." (Cheryl laughing) But this helps them.

- Absolutely, we do have that capability.

We definitely do those types of renderings, when we have projects that you need to see that.

Especially commercial projects, right?

We can do them for residential, but it does take a lot of hours to put in there.

But if they want to pay for our time to do it, we're happy to do those drawings.

- And from what I understand, an initial consultation is great.

You do charge a fee, but they don't have to hire you.

- Absolutely, absolutely, that's another thing.

I like to be really flexible and I'm kind of a no obligation person.

So, if someone just wants to have us over for the initial consultation and that's all we do and we give our feedback and thoughts and ideas, while we're at the home and get their input as well and what they like and don't like about where they live, that's fine.

And we'll tell them, "Hey, you can go to this store and find that item and go here and here's the type of rug I'd recommend."

Because some people like to go find that themselves, they like to search, right?

And other people just don't have time.

They may not have time, or they may not know what they're looking for, or even where to start, or might just feel overwhelmed.

So, we're happy to help in whatever capacity.

- Well, I know about overwhelmed, because I grew up many, many centuries ago... (Cheryl laughing) And wall-to-wall carpeting, and then I have a house with hardwood floors and (mumbles), "Well what size area rug do I need?"

So it's very, it is kind of a challenge, and it can be taxing, but it is kind of fun.

However, with you and your team, you have a whole process that you go through.

So you have the initial consultation, what comes next?

- Yeah.

So, after we meet at that person's home, we'll sit down at the end of that meeting and say, "Hey, would you like us to do any further work?

And we can quote that out for you."

So, there's no surprises.

Someone doesn't end up with a thousand dollar bill.

And so, we will go back to the studio, and we will do an estimate of time.

So if they say, "Hey, I want help with finding a sofa and a rug and lamps and tables for the living room."

We will give them an estimate of time.

And if they approve that and give us a deposit, then we'll start working on the project.

And I would say, usually, we're really busy right now, but usually it's about two weeks.

And then we get back with them, we either do a presentation in their home, or we do it at the studio, and we have them in and we present all of our ideas.

Sometimes we'll give them choices, like say, if it's a light fixture, we might pull three light fixtures and say, "We like all of these, which one is your preference?"

So we like to give people choices.

And then sometimes, once we know that client, we worked with them a really long time, we can go, "We know you're gonna love this light fixture," and so we don't have to do that anymore.

So yeah, that's the presentation.

And then from there, if they approve and really like everything we've chosen, we'll do estimates, very detailed.

So we can see exactly what this lamp, this faucet, this countertop costs, and then go from there.

And then we'll find the right installers and contractors, if needed.

- Has it ever been really difficult to find something that they really, really want, and you're scratching your head going, "I don't know where in the world this will come from."

- Yeah, you know what?

I actually love those challenges.

So for example, I have a client that I'm working with right now, and he wants a custom made bar cabinet made, and he wants the fizzy water, he calls it, and the soda and the coffee and this whole little beverage area.

And so we're gonna custom build it for him, and we have sourced all of those products.

So, that's not something I always source, but it's really fun, and so I love that challenge of, I want something and I don't know how to get it and I'm like, "We'll find a way."

So it's really fun.

- And you said you have contractors then, that you work with, and you know what they're capable of doing for which project?

- Absolutely, yes.

And so we have people that are good at painting just a couple of rooms and maybe not two story homes.

And then we have contractors that have a bigger team, that can paint two story homes and larger scale projects.

And we have contacts with plumbers and electricians and general contractors as well.

So we have good working relationships with them.

- And you're located in Bloomington, but you also do some work in Champaign and you come over here as well.

- [Cheryl] Absolutely, yes.

- So most of Central Illinois.

- Yes, I'm happy to travel.

I've had some clients in Chicago too, done some condos up there.

And that happens because we'll have clients that have a home here locally and then stay in Chicago or somewhere else.

But yeah, happy to travel and there's a small trip fee, but it's not a whole lot, we keep it very reasonable.

- Well, that's good.

So you are really learning as you go and you've been doing this 15 years, you said?

- Yes, yes.

I can't believe it, it goes by quick (laughs).

- Yeah, that time does kind of fly.

What about...

Your taste in something, and you learn what your clients are, how difficult is that when somebody is not even close to on the same page... - Sure.

- [Christine] With your tastes?

- Yeah, and that's a good question.

So again, I will tell you, we love that challenge as well, because one of the things we enjoy is that, every client's different, right?

Every project is different.

Everybody's taste is different.

And so, I love that.

And say for example, it's a style that I haven't done as much, or I'm not as familiar, then we'll do research on it.

- [Christine] Such as?

- So some mid-century modern, right?

So that's a big thing right now.

So, I know if people are liking that, we will do some research on the light fixture styles and that's a really big thing right now.

Maybe they like Asian, or maybe like Craftsman style.

Maybe that's not my style at all, but I'm happy to do that for them and make sure we're finding the right pieces for them.

- What's been the most interesting of those types of, you said mid-century, you had to kind of look it up.

- [Cheryl] Yeah.

- It was pretty basic back in the day I think... - It was, and now it's a thing again (laughs).

It all comes back around.

- I think mid-century is 18th century.

(both laughing) And then I, "Oh no, or 19th century.

No, no that would be like the 1950s, okay."

- Yeah, yeah.

I would say, when we have a historical home that we're gonna work with, that might be in a historical district, which we've done in Bloomington as well, looking up what those wallpapers were, that were used back then, trying to recreate that feeling, but still give it an updated, fresh look.

So hinting to that time, but still updated.

So, we try to mix in both those ideas.

- Well, you need to try to find a place for a big screen TV that's gonna be on a wall in those kinds of situations too.

- Exactly, yes.

And they weren't built for that always, right?

- No, they were not, mine was built in 1890.

- [Cheryl] Oh wow.

- So, I know those challenges.

- [Cheryl] Yeah.

- So tell me about your commercial projects that you've been doing.

- Sure, happy to.

That's really exciting as well.

So, my team is more talented than I am, I will tell you that.

And so, their skillsets have just allowed us to do these commercial projects, which I'm very thankful for.

A couple of them that we did complete in the last couple of years, at the airport in Bloomington, we actually did a lounge area there.

So when you walk into the airport right in the center, there's a lounge area off to the right, and we designed that.

We designed the water fountain with the logo.

The furniture, that was one we did.

The last one we did is the DoubleTree in Bloomington as well, the ballroom there.

So, we designed the light fixtures, the ceiling treatments, the wall covering, the light fixtures on the wall, the sconces, and now we're getting ready to redesign the check-in desk there.

So, fun things.

And then right now we're working with St. Mary's Church to redo their parish hall and make it part of a functioning school that's right next door.

So fun things, right?

- Really, and people are finding you and presenting you with, "Okay, here's some ideas, can you help me?

Can you work with me?"

- Yeah, absolutely.

And so for example, my last appointment I went to last night at about 4:00 PM is, they're friends of mine and they decided to hire us and we're gonna redo their entire kitchen.

They built the home in about 2000 and it just feels dated, the woods were darker, the countertops were darker back then when people were building.

And so, in design, we're doing everything lighter and brighter and fresher and updated, right?

So we're gonna change the countertops, change the flooring, change the paint colors and just really give it an updated, fresh look.

- Well, this farmhouse kind of thing is taking off now too, and that's lighter and brighter, but how long will that last?

Do you, do you... - [Cheryl] That's a good question.

- Do you give that to the people, just say, "Okay, well that's in style right now, but I don't know about three or four years from now."

- Exactly.

And so, if we do have someone that comes to us and lets us know they like the farmhouse or industrial look that's hot right now as well, we will help them get that look, but we will also give them our advice as, "Hey, let's put this in a light fixture.

Let's do this in a few places, but not overdo it."

I think that's really important to have a balance.

So it doesn't look too kitschy or something.

So, I think the balance is important and yes, some of those things are trends.

But again, if someone really loves the way that look is, and they want some pieces of it, we are more than happy to help and like I said, help them find that balance.

So it's not overdone.

- And then you help them with different textures.

So you're looking for texture and you're also looking for pops of color as well?

- Yeah, yeah.

Depending on the look that they want, right?

A lot of the look right now is like tans and whites and camels and neutrals and we're happy to do that, but I can tell you, like myself, I love pops of color, which I happen (laughs) to be wearing, right?

So, I love pops of color, and that might be in draperies or a rug or pillows and maybe everything else is neutral.

So, there's definitely ways to work in that personal taste, into someone's home.

- How about knocking out walls?

Do you do that too?

Do you make that suggestion or do they say, "Do we have to knock out a wall?"

- Yeah, it's probably both.

Sometimes people come to us and say, "We wanna take this wall out."

And if that's the case, I definitely bring in my contractor or an architect to look at it as well.

But sometimes it's our idea.

So for example, I just did a country home and they had a really small kitchen, really small.

And too small almost, to have a dinette table.

And so I said, when I did the drawing for them, I blew out the porch wall, and I said, "We're gonna make this porch part of the kitchen."

And I gave him the large picture window, she wanted more natural light so, we definitely take those things into consideration.

But like I said, when it comes to taking out a wall, I will bring in an expert on that.

- [Christine] Make sure it's not a weight-bearing wall.

- Exactly (laughing).

Or if it is, there's a way to still support it.

Sometimes we'll stick those beams up in the ceiling.

- [Christine] Yeah, yeah good.

- So works it works.

- But, most people don't wanna knock out the walls, they just want the freshen up kind of look?

- Yeah, I would say so it depends on the house, right?

So, if it's just a fresh up, that works, but sometimes we are changing the walls, or say, the house I was in last night, we're gonna change the entrance to the pantry, because the way it's at right now, there is no wall for a TV and we're gonna make one.

So we're gonna make that entrance around the corner.

- [Christine] Okay.

- It just depends on the layout.

(Christine laughing) - Let me have that next challenge, right?

- [Cheryl] (laughs) That's right.

- So how do people do this on a budget?

I mean, yes, with this whole COVID thing that we've had going on that nobody wants to think about, somebody was calling it the 2020 thing... - [Cheryl] Yeah.

- Which is fine.

How do you do that?

You've been spending too much time and those walls are closing in on you, but maybe you weren't earning as much, or maybe you're earning the same but you have a very limited budget.

You've got kids going off to college, or private schools, whatever.

How do they do it?

What's the smallest budget they can have and then go crazy?

- Yeah, and so first of all, you're exactly right.

And I think that's why we're so busy, because people have been cooped up at home and looking at the four walls going, "We've been putting this off and putting this off and now we're finally just gonna do it."

So that is why I think we're so, so busy, which is great.

So, when it comes to a budget, I think there's a lot of things you can do just to kind of, again, freshen up and brighten up the home.

So for example, right now it's spring, it will be summer and it will be outdoors.

So, you can bring in cut flowers and plants and trees and sticks and just put those in a vase and that brings that nature into the house, right?

So that's a kind of a nice way just to freshen things up.

And then also, say you have some furniture, or say you have an old dresser, right?

Maybe it's one of those dressers that has a mirror attached to it.

I'm sure you've seen those.

And so I would advise, say, taking off the mirror, looking at that furniture in a new way, and maybe painting it, maybe changing the hardware, or maybe spray painting the knobs or the metal pieces that are on there.

So I think there's some ways that you can freshen up, like on a budget, even if you're looking for pieces at a thrift store, for example.

- And a lot of people do that?

- [Cheryl] Absolutely.

- Do they have you include those kinds of things as well, or do you go in search of them, or did they find them or it's both?

- It's probably both.

Again, if they let us know they're on a budget, we will definitely try to make that work and we will try to find those pieces for them and then find out if they're gonna paint it, or they want to pay someone to paint it, right?

Not everybody wants to do it yourself.

So it goes both ways we help them, and then sometimes they find it and say, "What should I do?"

And then I'm like, "Oh you definitely should paint that white.

And we should change the hardware to this color."

- [Christine] All right.

- So, absolutely.

- And then how do you know?

Just from talking to them, you have that general idea of this is where we've got to be?

- Yes, and that's something that I would say is most important about our work, is that when we go into people's homes, we really have to get to know them.

It's their home, it's their space.

So I wanna know how they live.

If the kids are sitting there doing homework while the mom's cooking, for example.

Or if there's a dog, and where the dog sleeps, on what sofa, right?

So it's really important for us to get to know that customer and client and how they live, for us to make those recommendations.

So when we're at someone's house, we ask them a lot of questions, so... - Do you have a whole list of questions that you go through?

I mean, it's a checklist kind of question?

'Cause I know this is part of your process to get to know your customers.

- Yeah, yeah.

Something that helps with that, is we're developing a questionnaire that we're gonna send to clients before we even go to their home.

So if they've called us, we've set up an appointment and we're gonna get that questionnaire to them, so we get some of their preferences ahead of time.

But then a lot of it is just us asking off the cuff.

"Hey, so what colors are you drawn to?

What things do you hate?

What do you love about your house.

what do you not love about it?"

So it's a lot, like I said, a lot of questions to get to know them.

- Do they often love a lot about their homes or do they often want to just have you come in and do the whole thing?

- Yeah.

(Christine laughing) I think it goes both ways, right?

There could be someone who's just like, "Oh, I just never liked this and we're gonna change this."

But, like last night, my clients were like, "You know what, we love our home, we do love it.

It just needs the freshening up."

- [Christine] Right.

- So again, I'd say it kind of goes both ways.

- What do you steer people away from?

Is there anything right now that's trendy that you're that you say, "Maybe that's not gonna work in a while?"

- Yeah, again, I would say the trends that we're following, just again, not overdoing it, right?

So, it's great to have a hint of it here or there or a little cute sign that hints toward a farmhouse and like I said, maybe a light fixture or something, but just not overdoing anything.

I think it really comes down to balance.

And I think that's why people hire us sometimes, because we tend to look at it with a fresh perspective, because they've lived in this, and they're looking at their home for so many years, right?

So just having those fresh eyes look at it, I think is helpful.

- Has there ever been a situation where you've gone in to a place and went, "Oh dear?"

(Cheryl laughing) - Now, if there was, I would never say it.

- [Christine] Okay (both laughing).

- Yeah, I mean, I'm sure we've had that reaction, and it might be a really, really old home and maybe it wasn't well taken care of and there's a scent or the basement had water problems.

But again, I try really hard not to judge, that's not in my place so, I'm just glad to help in whatever way those people need.

- Well, that's a very nice, fresh approach.

- [Cheryl] I hope so (both laughing).

- Because, well some people really just don't have a knack.

- [Cheryl] Yeah.

- And so those, a lot of times, those are the people that are coming to you and just say, "I really need help."

- Yes, and that's so true.

And so I just spoke with someone yesterday, a new client that called and we set up an appointment.

And that's exactly what she said, she goes, "I just don't have the knack for this."

She goes, "I didn't get that gene."

I go, "Well, I didn't get the numbers gene, so it's okay."

(laughing) Fair playing game.

(laughing) - It all comes out in the wash. We need everybody in our lives.

In your process, how many meetings do you have with someone before they actually hire you, or before you're ready to come in and start ripping off wallpaper, put it up new or... - [Cheryl] Sure.

- [Christine] Whatever you're gonna do?

A lot of times we'll do a phone call first.

I always like to talk with people on the phone to get a really good idea of what they're needing, what their project is, what they're dealing with, what their frustrations are.

And then, so we have a quick phone call meeting and then I tell them absolutely, 'cause a lot of times there's a lot of questions.

"Well, can you do this?

Can you help me with this?

Can you, is that something, can you help me find an electrician?"

So we'll answer and go through all those questions and answer those.

And then, they'll hire us for that initial consult.

And during that initial consult, is when they'll decide if they wanna have us do an estimate for more time to finish that project up for them or to find the items.

- So, you go by yourself and some of the other people, some of your other associates also go out by themselves.

Do you come back and compare notes, or do are you looking for some suggestions from them?

A little feedback too?

- Yeah, and that's the fun thing about having a team of people is that, we'll be at the studio, there might be two of us, three of us, five of us, all at one time and we will talk about those things.

We'll talk about challenges, we'll talk about maybe if there's a problem that came up or a measure that was wrong, and we'll talk about how we handle those.

- [Christine] What do you mean a measure that was wrong?

- So like, say... (Christine laughing) Say, a measure for a cabinet.

- [Christine] Okay.

- Or, the sink didn't fit into that cabinet vanity or whatever it may be.

So, we talk about those things and learn from each other, so we don't make those mistakes again.

- [Christine] All right.

- So it's a team process to throw ideas back and forth and to learn from each other as well.

- Which is also great.

Now, we have maybe four minutes left.

What has been your favorite project so far, if anything, if you can remember any one really favorite, where you got to do it all?

- Yeah, yeah.

That is fun.

I will tell you, just in general, it is the most fun to be able to do the whole thing, right?

To give the complete look, and we don't always get to do that, and that's okay.

But, whenever we get to do that full look, whether it's from the flooring, to the cabinets, to the countertops, to the faucet, to the walls, to the decor, to the pillows or the furniture, it is really fun to do those accessories and just finish it up that way.

So, I've done a lot of fun projects.

And I would say, there's one where we just got to use lots of color, because I am a color person so, I guess if it does play into my personality and my personal tastes, it's really fun to take that out in a client.

(laughing) So, in a good way, in a good way.

- Well, and then there's the flow from one room to the next and all that color.

And sometimes people get a little bit too bogged down in, "Well, no this is just, I add a little white paint to this one, so that it's just a little bit lighter."

I'm going, "I don't know if you have to do that, but that's me."

- [Cheryl] (chuckles) Yeah.

- That's my taste.

- Yeah, yeah.

And I think, you kind of just mentioned that, when you're in a home, you want it to flow, right?

So, you want those paint colors to flow.

You want the color idea to maybe, say, in your entry rug, it's gonna echo what may happen in the living room, right?

So, there's ways to make those things work and flow, without being matchy.

- Well, and today some homes, they have the family room.

- [Cheryl] Mhm.

- But then there's the front room that is just, you bypass it.

What do you do in that situation?

- Do you know what?

That's a good point because you know, a lot of those living rooms that sat empty for so long, they became home offices.

- Oh, just yeah, okay.

- So yeah, I mean, that is probably, I would say making those, that used to be former living rooms into home offices, has been the thing to do.

And everybody's tried to find their own spot in the house, and usually that's what happens to the dining room.

And I'm sure people are laughing because they're gonna go, "Yup, that's exactly what we did."

(laughing) - Yeah, because the dining room, you have to clear the table just to have the whole family sit down to eat.

- [Cheryl] Exactly, yeah.

- But you got to keep busy the entire year.

- Yes, I'm very thankful.

So even when COVID happened, we kept our safety practices and health concerns very much clear with our clients, always masked up, so we kept on doing a few projects through COVID and then now that COVID's kind of out of the way, we're just swamped (chuckles).

So I'm very thankful and we're happy to take on more jobs too.

We just may book out a couple more weeks.

- [Christine] Right.

Well, when people, they become accustomed to that, with everything that's gone on in the past couple of months or a year so, or... - Yeah.

And it's hard to get a contractor right now, they're so busy, and then even supply and demand is such a thing, right?

So a lot of items are back-ordered right now.

So we go into a project and I tell someone now, I'm like, "Well, just so you know, you may have to wait till Christmas or after to get your sofa."

It's that long of a lead time right now.

- Really?

- Yeah.

- And even appliances too, I understand.

- Yes.

- Somebody ordered a washing machine and said that it's not gonna be here for a few more months.

What are you kidding (chuckles)?

- Yes, and I think that has to do with the chips.

So the chips manufacturing part of that on the other side of the world so, it's just crazy the things we're running into to, that we would have never thought.

- Well, you have enlightened us about many, many, many things.

Thank you so much.

- [Cheryl] You're welcome.

- And it was a pleasure meeting you.

- [Cheryl] You too.

- And your sparkly face and smile and everything.

- [Cheryl] Thank you.

- And all the best to you for at least another 15 years.

- That sounds great (laughs).

- All right, stay busy, all right.

And thank you very much for joining us on Consider This and learning all about this interior design business.

It's majestic, isn't it?

All right, thanks for joining us.

Have a good evening.

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