Every Client Teaches Me a Why

Nobody really calls about a side table.

They think they do. The first conversation is usually about an object. I need a couch. I need something for this empty corner. I saw a lamp in a magazine and I want one like it. And that's real. They do need the couch.

But underneath every assignment, there's something else. A reason they're calling now and not last year. A feeling they're trying to create. A version of their life that the room isn't keeping up with.

Every client teaches me a why. Figuring it out is one of the most important parts of my job.

Inside someone's home

Working inside someone's home gives you an incredible view into where they are, in their head and in their life.

You see what they've kept and what they've stopped looking at. You see the rooms they use and the rooms they avoid. You see which things they apologize for and which things they light up talking about. You learn what they need, sometimes before they've said it out loud.

It's intimate work. I take that seriously.

The thing underneath the thing

Clients often think they're looking for a particular thing. Part of my job is uncovering what they actually want.

Sometimes it's a color. They don't need a new couch; they need the warmth they think a rust velvet couch will bring.

Sometimes it's a mood. The room feels cold, or cramped, or like it belongs to someone else.

Sometimes it's connected to where they are in their life. A move. A new chapter. A room that fit them five years ago and doesn't anymore.

Sometimes they saw something in a magazine and thought it was cool, but the actual object isn't what they need. What they loved was what the photograph made them feel.

So I ask a lot of questions. Why this room? Why now? What do you want to feel when you walk in? The answers almost always change what I go looking for.

We find the feeling, not the object

A lot of the time, we don't find exactly what the client originally described.

Instead, we find an unexpected surprise that gives them the feeling they were trying to create. Maybe it's a couch we reupholster to get the mood right. Maybe it's a great headboard, and then the sheets become the thing that completes the story. Maybe the lamp they asked for turns out to be a pair of chairs, because what they really wanted was a place to sit with someone.

It's all connected. We create stories.

The why changes the hunt

When I go out hunting for a client, the why goes with me.

Before I go, I set an intention. Show me what's meant for this person. Knowing the why is what lets me recognize it. Without the why, I'm just looking for a lamp that fits a measurement. With it, I'm looking for the lamp that will make someone feel at home in a new chapter of their life.

That's a very different search. And it's why the things we find are often not what anyone expected, but exactly what was needed.

Why I'm careful about who I work with

This is also why I'm extremely intentional about who I work with.

I screen my clients, across all my businesses, because the relationship and the process matter to me. I don't want hundreds and hundreds of clients. I want the right clients, at the right price points, who are going to enjoy the process with me.

Because this kind of work only happens with collaboration. If someone wants a room delivered in a box, there are plenty of ways to get that. Joey Rose is for people who want to be inside the conversation, who want to see the photos from the thrift store and talk about what a couch could become and learn their own why along the way.

It isn't high-volume commodity sourcing. It's personal.

What I get out of it

I love giving people something they want, especially something they didn't know existed.

When something I found makes someone feel beautiful, or changes how they see their room, or shifts something in them personally, that warms my heart. It's the best part of the work.

And every client changes me a little, too. Every why I learn sharpens my eye for the next one. I understand better what rooms are for, and what people are really asking for when they ask for a side table.

The question

If you're thinking about changing a room, try asking yourself the question I'd ask first. Not what do I need to buy? but why now, and what do I want to feel?

The answer might be a couch. It might be a lamp. It might be moving the furniture you already have.

Or it might be something you didn't know you were looking for. Those are my favorite.