#36 - Design Principles w/ Heather Amalaha

Heather Amalaha

how to budget and use their money. And I worked in corporate finance. So it was a lot of advising people about what to do. My husband is a builder. one of very first things we did together when we were like even dating was we painted my apartment and he like made this weird pattern on the wall. It was very weird, but it was like very much like we're.

very into decorating and homes and all of that stuff. And so when I at one point, someone decided that I wanted to like learn interior design for real. And I decided I already had a bachelor's degree in MBA, so I wasn't going to go back to school. But I love an online course. So I did get

Jeff Albaum

Yeah, yeah.

Heather Amalaha

an international decorating and design certification, which was so amazing to do that online. I really love the school that I went to and I really think it elevated my design style. And then after I got that certification, I started a company doing virtual design because this was like right around the pandemic. And so it wasn't a lot of going into people's homes. So I was doing virtual design and...

Jeff Albaum

Okay.

Okay.

Heather Amalaha

I liked that, but it's not as fun as actually getting to see the physical transformation in someone's home. So I ended up getting a job as a home stager with a staging company. And that's when I really discovered the joy of staging because for me, it's like very much instant gratification, interior design. I get to talk to a client and then two weeks later, I'm installing something in their home and doing the big transformation. So it's a lot of fun. That's how I ended up here.

Jeff Albaum

Okay.

That's incredible. And so I think you alluded to it. But so you started a home staging company, right? And that's where you're okay.

Heather Amalaha

Yes. Yeah, so last year I launched Show Homes Career Design Studio, the Austin location. Yeah, and it's been great so far. I'm very excited about what we're going to do in the market this year.

Jeff Albaum

Okay, man, I feel like there's so many questions I could ask you on each one of those career points. I guess to start though, when I think of staging, I'm like, cool, I kinda get it. There's like you bring in better looking furniture and you showcase what you can do in the house. But so from your perspective, do you own all your own furniture and you keep it in a warehouse and so you're moving it into and out of homes? How does that work logistically?

Heather Amalaha

Yeah, that's exactly what I do. I have a warehouse full of inventory that I've curated to provide like a really

livable luxury Austin modern style. I like having my own inventory because it provides me a lot of creative control over what the final product is going to look like. And really that's the goal is to make the house like really look like a super compelling version of itself. So I wanted to be able to have the best quality furniture. So every home that we stage looks like at least a million bucks. was the goal. Yeah, I don't know if I answered your question.

Jeff Albaum

Okay.

Okay.

Yeah, totally. And so like when you're, how does the process work? So like let's say you get called in and you're like, okay, I'm gonna stay just home. Does the seller need to get everything out of their house first in order for you to put stuff in? Or as you're walking around, you're like, ooh, okay, like let's get that couch out of there. I can bring my couch in. That'll look good here. Like how does that work?

Heather Amalaha

So there's a couple of different common scenarios. So people are either coming to us when they're living in the home. If they're gonna be living in the home throughout the listing process, what we'll do is like an occupied listing consultation. the way that you live in a house is not the way that you wanna sell it. We really wanna...

Jeff Albaum

Right. Dang it. Don't look at the dishes in my sink.

Heather Amalaha

Exactly, exactly. You want a buyer to walk in there and be able to imagine their story and not just see yours. So our goal with the Occupied Listing Consultation is really to show sellers how to showcase their home. So we'll go in there and we'll provide recommendations for paint or lighting updates, for decluttering and how to optimize a home and depersonalize it so that

Jeff Albaum

Totally.

Heather Amalaha

somebody else can enjoy it. I think that's the thing that a lot of sellers forget is that when you're listing your house, like it's a product now, it's not your home. And so you want to, yeah, you want to do it like that. So that's one scenario. If somebody's still living in the property, we'll do that. If the property is going to be vacant, this is, which is honestly ideal when you're listing.

Jeff Albaum

Yeah, it's not yours.

Sure.

Heather Amalaha

if the property is vacant, we will bring everything in. So we will bring in all the furniture and decor that's going to make it feel like a home that's going to be a shorthand for buyers so they know whether or not their life is going to fit there. I think the number one question that people ask when they're touring a home is, can my life fit in this space? And it's more than just three beds, two baths, 2,000 square feet.

Jeff Albaum

Yeah.

Heather Amalaha

the baseline, you know, but people want to know, can my sofa fit? Am I going to be able to fit a king bed in the primary? Will my kids rooms be big enough? You know, what's the dining space like? What's entertaining here like? How's it going to feel to be in this home every day? And so by putting in furniture and decor that really reflect the character and the architecture of the home and the lifestyle that it provides, we're able to provide that shorthand for buyers.

Jeff Albaum

Mm-hmm. Yeah, that's amazing. My wife and I love going to open houses just for fun and just like walking through it. You can totally tell like, this is like, like this, you just like, you see your life like, I could live like this. Like this could be what it could be like, and you're totally just selling the dream, right?

Heather Amalaha

Yeah, exactly. Exactly. It's selling the dream of what could be and like, you want to showcase the home in a way that's like aspirational. What's this? What are buyers aspiring to? What do they want right now in a home? And that's what you want to highlight.

Jeff Albaum

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, totally. So, okay, I want to ask you about like design because I think I was telling you that when we got coffee, I know nothing about design. I know what I like and I can show you what I like or I can tell you if something I like it or I don't like it. But I like I don't know how to explain it in words, right? So like what does when you go into a home you go into a room, let's say it's a it's a totally vacant living room or entryway entranceway into a living room.

Heather Amalaha

You

Jeff Albaum

what are you looking for that kind of starts to tick off in your head? Like I'm gonna try, I know this is the type of couch I want, this is the color that I'm looking for. Like how do you think about that?

Heather Amalaha

Yeah, so I am going into the property, you know, and I'm basically I'm putting myself in the shoes of a potential homebuyer. So I'm going in there pretending like, hey, I'm going to buy this house, what would I want to see? Or what questions would if this space was vacant, what questions would it bring up? And then I want to go ahead and answer those questions with furniture. So like with an entryway.

Jeff Albaum

Okay.

Heather Amalaha

The goal of that is to make it feel like really welcoming and you want people to be like, this feels so good when they walk in and you know, one of the things we do is like we like to put mirrors in an entryway because then people can like literally see themselves in the home. It's one of those weird psychology things that makes you feel a little bit more comfortable.

Jeff Albaum

Whoa.

Heather Amalaha

And just like, yeah, you want to provide, think about what the feeling is that you're trying to convey. That's the first level. We go through three things, basically, the feel, function, and the flow are the three main things we're trying to communicate.

So the feeling is generally one of like warmth and relaxation and comfort. Depending on how high end the home is, there might be also that we're trying to convey that this is a luxury property. You know, and then we're looked to the function because buyers aren't shopping with a tape measure or anything like that, you know, people

people aren't doing that. They're using furniture to like, as I was working. And so we will figure out the right scale, the right, which just means like, we're getting the right size furniture for the space. Kind like a Goldilocks, not too big, not too small situation. But really, I think it's 90 % of people cannot visualize a space when it's empty and the other 10 % of us are designers. So

Jeff Albaum

Sure.

Mm-hmm.

Heather Amalaha

I think that's just how it works for me. It's like almost difficult to describe like exactly what I'm looking for because it comes so naturally, but I'm looking at the home's architecture and the colors that are already there and the finishes that are already there and how we can kind of like highlight that, like make it what buyers are paying attention to instead of, you know, maybe some of the things that aren't as great.

Jeff Albaum

Right, right. Man, that's wild. So do you struggle when you go into a house, like if you go to a friend's house for dinner, are you kind of just like, mm, I would do things differently. Like, can you turn it off?

Heather Amalaha

I can turn my mouth off, yes.

It's interesting because when I'm at somebody's house, like I really like, I like to be able to see that somebody, to clearly see that somebody lives in their house. I actually love when I go into like, even if I'm just going on a walkthrough or something and I see people and they, you know, they, you can tell when somebody loved living in their house because they did a lot of stuff to it. They really personalized it. And that's, that to me is way more interesting than, you know, following every single design rule and all of that.

Jeff Albaum

Hmm.

Heather Amalaha

Especially when it's a home that you're actually living in like if you're not if you're doing interior design and not staging I think you want to personalize it on As much as possible really because it's your space, you know, it's your home base like it's very important part of your life. So

Jeff Albaum

Sure.

Wait, okay, you mentioned design rule. What is that? What is a design rule? Or like, what's an example of one?

Heather Amalaha

Well, there are different design principles. So balance. You want to visually balance a room.

if you have a lot of chunky, you don't wanna have like all chunky furniture, you know, that's gonna feel like very visually heavy. So you would balance that with maybe have a really chunky sofa and then a couple chairs that, you know, are a little bit more leggy. So it's not like everything is like really big and bulky. That's an example of one of like design principles. And then there are like more like rules.

Jeff Albaum

Okay.

Heather Amalaha

like we you know we touched on flow a little bit but like the spacing between furniture you know should be a certain amount of inches how you even like how you hang art you want to hang it out like a certain point on the wall so that it's the best viewing angle for people there are lot of little underlying things like that that

you are never actually going to like pinpoint when you're looking at a room. You're not going to say my god i love this room because that art was exactly six inches above the table like that was so great like nobody's saying that okay nobody's even really noticing that but what you do notice when it's room is designed really well is that all of those things flow together and it feels easy to be in the space it feels

It just feels different to be in a space that's been really designed for how it's going to be used and taking into account some of these more functional design rules.

Jeff Albaum

That's so interesting. never, I didn't know that these existed and it shows my ignorance, like, so are these like common throughout like the interior design industry? Like these are like the rule of balance, like you were saying, like this is like a known principle.

Heather Amalaha

Yes, yes, there are, yeah, I think there's like eight key design principles. And don't ask me to name them right now.

Jeff Albaum

Okay.

But balance is one of them.

Heather Amalaha

balance is one of them. Yes. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, this is the thing. It like really makes a difference. And most people don't know that because I think a lot of people are decorating just based on what they like. They think if I buy a bunch of stuff that I like, and I like everything, then I'll like it together. And unfortunately, that's not the case. You may or may not actually work together. And it's because of things like scale and balance.

Jeff Albaum

That's so wild.

Totally.

Right.

Heather Amalaha

rhythm, harmony, those kind of things and how things play together.

Jeff Albaum

That's so interesting. so is the rule of scale kind of like you were saying with the Goldilocks stuff, like you don't want your couch to be too big. You don't want to be too small for like the size of the room that it's in. Is that what that is? Okay.

Heather Amalaha

Yes. Yeah, basically, you want it to take up the improper name on a space. I mean, if you have like a huge living room, and you put a tiny sofa in there, it just looks off and it's not it's not, using like the highest function of that space. Same by the same token, if you put a sofa or something that's too big into a space, it just doesn't work, right? And it just doesn't, it's not going to ever necessarily feel right. I think scale is one thing that,

Jeff Albaum

Mm-hmm

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Heather Amalaha

people tend to get wrong because people think that they need smaller things than what they actually need. Most people are not buying big enough rugs, art, and things like that to really present the home in a way that matches the scale, unfortunately. And I think it's just because people don't know about design rules and stuff.

Jeff Albaum

Mm-hmm.

Totally totally totally. So, okay. What's what's the phenomenon? Like I think I've noticed this like when we were touring a place and it's empty and then we see the same room with furniture in it in my mind if I was like, surely with furniture it would look smaller, but that actually is the opposite. It's like sometimes when we'll go to see like an open house and then we'll go back and we'll see it with furniture with furniture. It looks bigger. Why is that? How does that work? Is this because it's designed well?

Heather Amalaha

Yes. Yes.

It yeah, it has to do with the scale. So, you know, are you ever seen like a meme where they have a banana for scale? You know, like, okay, so you know, like the idea of putting an item that is of a size that people understand, like people know what a banana looks like, right next to something else, so that they can so that that scale is clear, right? Like if I put a penny next to I don't know.

Jeff Albaum

Uh-uh.

Mm-hmm. Sure, sure, sure.

Okay.

Heather Amalaha

a quarter or something like that. Something else that is clear what the scale is. And that's what it's doing. The furniture, when it's the right size for the space, is, yeah, just, it's hard to describe. It fills the space properly so that the proportions are right. Yeah.

Jeff Albaum

Sure.

Mm-hmm and Do you think that like how much how much of a factor is furniture versus like paint or like the the house itself a factor? Right because like sometimes you go into a space and you're like, Like this is nice and other times you go into a space you're like, I just I'm not comfortable I don't know why I'm just not and how much of that is the furniture versus the house versus the paint versus You know some other factor

Heather Amalaha

Yeah.

Yeah, I mean, usually it's going to be a combination of a lot of things. And really, think design ultimately is more than the sum of its parts, right? So it's like all of those things combined together to create a certain effect. you might be able to like, like changing the paints can change how an entire room feels.

Jeff Albaum

Mm-hmm.

Heather Amalaha

So any of those changes like paint, lighting, flooring, the furniture are going to make something feel different. So like I could have a house, the exact same floor plan. And if you paint it differently, you put different lighting in there, you put different furniture in there, it's going to feel different, even if the scale is the same. So it's really a combination of those things. And I think...

Jeff Albaum

Mm-hmm.

Heather Amalaha

Yeah, it is about getting the right combination. There's no one single thing I think that is going to be like, that's the make or break. It really is about making sure everything really works together really cohesively.

Jeff Albaum

Sure.

Hmm that makes sense if if you had I mean especially because your husband's a builder like let's say you were building a house from scratch and you had Unlimited options and you're like, okay. This is the type like you mentioned like lighting paint floors Let's say like floor plan was you couldn't change that but like what would you want to do for your flooring your lighting your paint color and then I guess your furniture if that makes sense, I know it's kind of a broad question, but

Heather Amalaha

Well, let's see, the first, when I'm doing an interior design project, like the first thing I'm looking at is like, I wanna know how you, first and foremost, how you wanna live in the house. That's gonna determine everything else, like how we use the different rooms in the house, because you don't have to decorate it or furnish it.

like whatever the name is on the floor plan, just because it's a dining room, it says dining room on the floor plan doesn't mean it can't be an office or a playroom or whatever you need it to be. So that would be my first thing. And then for me, like my personal design style is, I like to call it uptown funk. know, Chuck's on with St. Laurent, you know, bit, a little bit luxe, a little bit vintage, you know, it's very classic. So.

Jeff Albaum

Hmm sure

Okay.

Heather Amalaha

I love like a very neutral base. My home is like mostly white. It's mostly black and white. So it's white walls, black trim, black doors. And then I layer in a lot of other funky stuff like my floral wallpaper that I've got behind me. So and then I

Jeff Albaum

Yeah, it's so cool.

It's not a virtual background for those who are wondering.

Heather Amalaha

It is not a virtual background. No, no, this is real. This was my my first project when I started my virtual interior design business. I need a pretty space to work out of.

Jeff Albaum

For sure, for sure. And like to showcase, like when you're on calls with people, you're like, check it out.

Heather Amalaha

yeah exactly you can't create a beautiful space if you're not in a beautiful space.

Jeff Albaum

100%, 100%, okay?

Heather Amalaha

Yeah, so I mean, that's the thing is ultimately what is right for different people really, really varies. So like, I think 2026 is going to be really interesting in terms of interior design trends, it's becoming personality and characters really making a comeback. So I'm really curious to see how that's going to play out in the real estate market and also just in interior design in people's homes.

Jeff Albaum

What does that mean if I'm a third grader? Like what does that mean personality in terms of interior design?

Heather Amalaha

Okay, okay, okay. So, over the last, I don't know, five, ten years, kind of the prevailing design has been very neutral, very minimal, white walls, a lot of gray, not a lot of personality, so not a lot of color or pattern or things that might indicate that, you know, you have a point of view.

you know so i think people are kind of sick of that and i think especially you know when the world is kind of chaotic people want their home to feel like a really safe space and so i think because of what is going on in the world people want to feel more at home at home

Jeff Albaum

Totally.

Heather Amalaha

And so they're gonna be personalizing the space more. I'm seeing a lot of wallpaper. I'm seeing a lot of bold colors. We're hearing a lot about color drenching. Even like I love going on open houses as well. And a few weeks ago I was in Crestview looking at a bunch of different Paradisa homes. And I love the style that they're doing right now. They've got...

you know, like really colorful bathrooms that are, you know, tiled in color and then entirely painted in the same color. So that color drenching effect, I think we're going to be seeing things like that, where it's a lot less neutral. And I think that's what people are really wanting right now.

Jeff Albaum

Mm-hmm. What's been like a home that you've walked into that you're like, that is the most unique thing I've ever seen. If I ever can build a, like that's like super functional and awesome and like, that's amazing. But not in like a, it's a cool chandelier. Like, holy, like what? I didn't know you could do that in a house.

Heather Amalaha

Hmm

favorite house that this was a house that I really wanted to buy, but it was out of my price range when I was looking. And it was for me, I love like a weird house. And this one was really weird. It just it had a layout that I love. That is where the house is designed around a courtyard. So it had that feature. I know that's like my dream one day I'm going to build that. And so this house

Jeff Albaum

Okay.

Yeah, that's legit.

Heather Amalaha

Yeah, this house had that feature where it had like a one wing essentially where there was like the primary suite and then that could see into the courtyard and then on the other side of the house was like some living areas, a couple other bedrooms. But I just love that the courtyard thing, it's just so cool to me because I feel like it brings the outdoors in. know, don't have to like natural light is like a really big thing for me.

Jeff Albaum

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Heather Amalaha

Actually, I was thinking the other day when I was looking for my house We put in an offer on another house in the exact same neighborhood And it just didn't feel right and so we ended up backing out and I was trying to think about why the other day really and I remember telling the sellers that So we were looking in the winter and there was like a heat issue where it was really hot upstairs and not

not as hot downstairs. And so that's what we told them. But they were like, we'll put in another AC unit. And they actually did. And they were like, that's really not quite it, you know? And we're still going to back out. But I was thinking about it. And when we saw the house, like, it was completely blanket. It was wintertime. So it was really dark. Like there wasn't, and natural light is such a big deal to me that I was hyper focused on the fact that it was so dark in the house.

Jeff Albaum

Okay.

You

Yeah.

Heather Amalaha

And that is one of the things that I think like staging is really good for because I think had that house been staged, my focus wouldn't have been as much on, my God, it feels so dark or like, the heat or whatever. I really would have been able to like...

Jeff Albaum

Yeah.

Heather Amalaha

imagine you know our kids growing up there and like the things we would be doing there and instead i was really like focused on it's not as bright again it was the winter so it wasn't as much fun but yeah i felt that was just

Jeff Albaum

Sure, sure.

Do you think that is is natural light something that you can, I don't wanna say fix, but like correct with proper lighting? Like, is that something that you can, or is that something that you just have to have from the get-go, windows in the right spaces to have natural light coming in? Like, can you not really correct if that's a deficiency?

Heather Amalaha

You can do things to increase the amount of natural light in a space. Like when we're staging, we typically won't put up curtains or if they are there, we'll take them down. Like wood blinds are fine. And those are great because those are actually a great value add. But yeah, like I think it comes down to how you're dressing the windows. It also can come down to the type of light bulbs you're using and like the things that are in the space. So if you have

Jeff Albaum

Mm-hmm.

Heather Amalaha

maybe a room that has a window that's not in the best place or needs more light or something, you can use things like mirrors to try to bounce some of that light around the space. So there are things that you can do at the end of the day. mean, ultimately the most important thing is going to be the location of the window versus where the sun is. But yeah, there are things you can do to kind of increase that.

Jeff Albaum

Mmm. Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

That was one of the hugest takeaways. My wife and I recently moved and we didn't necessarily know that natural light was so important to us until we were looking. And then we're like, man, we would rather live in a tiny house with great natural light than a huge place that was super dark, because it is really, it's everything. It makes such a big difference.

Heather Amalaha

Yeah.

100%. I like to say that I'm solar powered, so I don't think I could live without my 300 days of Austin sun. I would definitely be on some medication. But it is very important to have that light and it makes a difference in the way that the home feels, really. I think that's what it really comes down to is like a dark space. And some people really like that, honestly. Some people really like a dark cave-like cozy kind of space.

Jeff Albaum

Yeah

Yeah.

Totally.

Heather Amalaha

it's suspicious yeah but you know the light lighting just makes such a big difference and how you experience the space so yeah

Jeff Albaum

Those are crazy people. You shouldn't be friends with them.

That's wild.

100%. Did you do anything special with your kids for design? Like did they get to do any like, okay, you get to choose the paint colors or you get to choose where your bed goes or anything like that?

Heather Amalaha

so I, my kids got a lot of room makeovers. and we did it kind of a couple different ways. So when they were younger, it was always like a surprise. which I love. It's like a little baby HGTV moment, you know? I remember doing it one year for my son when he was like four and he came in and he was like, what is this place? This is your room.

Jeff Albaum

Okay.

What did you do?

Heather Amalaha

I think we had just painted, my husband built a bunk bed, like a built-in bunk bed situation for him, and we painted it in his favorite colors and put like a bunch of sports stuff. Yeah, so it was really important to me to allow my kids to...

Jeff Albaum

That's so cool.

Heather Amalaha

let their rooms be what it wanted to be and like be super personalized for them. I think it's really important to have like your own space to kind of disconnect from everything where you feel super comfortable. So yeah, and as I got older, they definitely got more involved. My daughter's latest iteration. She was very involved, had a whole Pinterest board. I felt like I was consulting with a client. So they're into it. Yeah.

Jeff Albaum

Totally.

amazing. That's amazing. Do you draw inspiration from like, are you a big HGTV fan or like a house flipping fan and like that kind of stuff?

Heather Amalaha

don't watch as much HDTV anymore. But listen, I love reality TV. So the home shows that I watch the most are like, million dollar listing and like selling sunset. I love seeing how those properties are designed. Plus, know, the outfits are amazing. It's just like, yeah, that's kind of TV I'm watching.

Jeff Albaum

Yeah, yeah,

Those are the worst though, because then you're like, I could be a successful real estate agent. I just need to sell one house a year and I make $400,000.

Heather Amalaha

right it's so easy

Jeff Albaum

man, that's amazing. Are there any people that you look up to in terms of design? Are there any inspirations? Where do you draw inspiration from? how do you consume? Do you want to learn something new about this kind of stuff? Is there a person you go to, an authority you go to, books you read, podcasts you listen to, that kind of thing?

Heather Amalaha

yes i love i actually love going to physical magazines house beautiful i know i'm gonna draw blanks on the names but i love actual like physical magazine vogue living is great and also like again with the catalogs i love furniture catalogs because you get to see sort of what's coming things in different places but

Jeff Albaum

Okay.

Heather Amalaha

think my most... i will go to barnes and noble and just like flip through all of the design magazines because now they're you know $15 i don't know why um inflation but i think that's really oh you know there's some things that you're going to see in a design magazine that you're probably not going to see online and that's one thing i would definitely encourage people is like get off the internet um and get inspiration like in real life going to restaurants going to hotels um

Jeff Albaum

Right, alright. Yeah!

Heather Amalaha

those kind of things are going to be really great for inspo and it's going to be different than you know what we're seeing every day on tiktok and instagram and it'll be more personalized for your city your neighborhood those kind of things.

Jeff Albaum

Fair enough, fair enough. Okay, I have to ask the billion dollar question. What are your thoughts on IKEA?

Heather Amalaha

Yes.

Alright, that was like IKEA. You know what, think IKEA is a great company for a specific phase of life. I'll put it that way.

Jeff Albaum

That was so diplomatic. That was so diplomatic. Okay, fair enough. But okay, when you go, you not fall in love with the micro-apartment life?

Heather Amalaha

I could spend days in IKEA. One of my favorite pastimes is just walking through IKEA.

Jeff Albaum

Right?

Yeah, if you have four hours to kill it's great.

Heather Amalaha

Yeah, I mean, you can have lunch, can go to the candy bar, like it's a whole experience. I think IKEA has some really great products, that are at a good price point. And I think that it's like, it's a company that's necessary. Okay, not everybody can afford to spend.

Jeff Albaum

Mm-hmm.

Heather Amalaha

thousands of dollars on a sofa. But they still want stuff to look good. And I think like IKEA is a happy medium for that. And that's why I say like, I think it's a it's a great company for a specific time in your life when you need furniture that's affordable, and it's gonna hold up. go with like, yeah, like, I don't have I don't see anything wrong with that. I mean, even I think some a lot of homes could benefit from their kitchen renovations, and like closet design and things like that. There are a lot of great options.

Jeff Albaum

Mm-hmm

Yeah, yeah, yeah, okay, very well said. was very, yeah, very diplomatic. Okay, if someone isn't gonna go to IKEA and let's say they live in Austin, where are your go-to home stores? Like if you're, let's say you're on a bit of a budget but you want it to look good, you're designing everything from scratch, you need all, know, new couch, new night, you can see that I'm really good at this, nightstand tables, all that stuff, where are you sending them?

Heather Amalaha

Yes. Okay. Okay. Well, ultimately it's going to depend on their design style, but some of my favorite, hidden gems in Austin. Okay.

Jeff Albaum

If you like minimalism, like just minimalist, like old school, that kind of vibe.

Heather Amalaha

Let's see. Okay, if you're liking like old school, Austin has a ton of vintage thrift places that have really cool furniture. Like Poplick Vintage is one of them. Oh my gosh, I wish I had written this down. I had a list of names, but there's a ton of vintage spots to go to. So definitely recommend that. Oh, one key on vintage finds.

There is a...

I think it's a monthly sale at Palmer Event Center called the Citywide Vintage Sale. And they've got clothes, furniture, decor, all that kind of stuff. So that's a really great resource. I just went last month and got some stuff for my inventory. So definitely recommend that. I also love the Forehands outlet. Forehands is a little higher end. It's a designer brand, but because they're an Austin based company, they have their outlet store here on West Anderson Lane, which is in Furniture Row.

Jeff Albaum

cool.

Heather Amalaha

if you need furniture go to West Anderson Lane, Burnett Road area, there's a million and one furniture stores over there. Right next to the Forehands outlet is Nadeau. I really love that store they've got great wood furniture and it's really reasonably priced and it's excellent quality. Yeah I think those would be my top picks.

Jeff Albaum

Sweet, okay, very cool. Wait, something just reminded me that I can't remember. Furniture stores, where'd it go? Ah, whatever, I can't remember, I'm sorry. It'll come back to me. Well man, this has been super fun. Heather, thank you so much for sharing and for coming on. If people wanna know more about you or they have staging questions or wanna get in touch, where's a good place for them to find you at?

Heather Amalaha

It happens. Yes.

You can find me on social media. Our handle is at showhomespremiereaustin or showhomes.com.

Jeff Albaum

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Well, Heather, thank you so much for coming on. I super appreciate you. And this has been really helpful for me to put words to thoughts that I've understood, but never understood how to actually like verbalize. So thank you.

Heather Amalaha

Thank you so much for having me, this has been great.

Jeff Albaum

Awesome. Bye, everybody.