“Personalized Interior Design For Every Client” with Brittany Farinas of House Of One

Nathan (0s):
Welcome back Radio Entrepreneurs, listeners and fans, I’m producer Nathan Gobes. I’m excited to introduce you to a new guest, Brittany Farinas CEO of House Of One. Welcome Brittany.

Brittany (12s):
Hi, how are you?

Nathan (13s):
I’m doing well and you?

Brittany (16s):
Good. Thanks for having me. I’m super excited to be here. Yeah.

Nathan (19s):
Thank you for joining. Why don’t you start by telling our audience about house of one?

Brittany (24s):
Definitely. So house of one is an interior design firm specializing in curated luxury, residential and commercial projects. We’re based here in Miami. We’re actually currently working on some projects on plan B as well, which is really exciting. So we do everything from pre-construction FFNE selection, 3d rendering, custom furniture design, which is one of our selling points is that we really focus on creating that bespoke experience for our clients. That’s where house of one comes from every single design is one of a kind, every project is one of a kind. So, so yeah, it’s very all encompassing services that we provide here.

Nathan (1m 6s):
Exciting. That’s a, that’s really interesting. And you’ve got some very nice design apartment behind you,

Brittany (1m 13s):
But yeah, this is our, we’re actually in our design studio right now. Beautiful. Yeah. Thanks.

Nathan (1m 20s):
I wanted to get into your background a little bit before we dive deeper. Where did you, how did you get into starting all of this and how long have you been running the company?

Brittany (1m 31s):
So how’s of one I’ve been operating as of one for the last couple of years, I’d say like three and a half, four years now. So, I mean, growing up, I’ve always been a creative child. I, you know, always found different ways to express myself, always collaging taking art classes and was always around furniture. My mom worked at a very prominent furniture store here in Miami. So I spent a lot of my childhood there. So I was able to kind of develop my eye and my opinion for certain things at a really young age, which I think has helped a lot and actually graduating high school.

Brittany (2m 12s):
I went and pursued nursing, which is like kind of random and has nothing to do with design. But then after like the first semester, I was like, what am I doing? This is not what I’m passionate about. I need to be things of being creative. And I always overlooked interior design as a career. I always thought of interior designers as decorators, you know, just pillow fluffers. And in my mind, I couldn’t imagine making money doing that. So I, as I did more research, I, I realized like this is something that I really want to pursue. So I actually called my real estate license and was going to school at UNM for interior design.

Brittany (2m 52s):
And then in the middle of that, I got my first project and this was a full gut renovation, 5,000 foot home. And I learned so much on this project. And then from there I said, okay, I have to dedicate all my time to interior design. So I quickly shifted over and I been running my business ever since I actually never interned for another firm. I never worked for another firm. So I just kind of went right into it,

Nathan (3m 21s):
Jumped right into the entrepreneurial spirit. And how big is the team now is a house of one, a team of one, or do you have any staff working for you?

Brittany (3m 31s):
Yeah, so we’re actually a team of four, including me. So I’m the principal designer, creative director. And then I have a marketing coordinator. I have two designers that are working with me now. And one of them actually has an architecture background, which is great. So going into this new year, I’m really excited to kind of put all of our forces together and work on some great projects.

Nathan (3m 53s):
Very cool. Where do you see the company going from here and then where do you see the industry as a going over all? Those are kind of two questions. So maybe we’ll start with the first one.

Brittany (4m 3s):
Yeah. So I think for this year, I really just want to focus on continuing to provide the best quality service for our clients and always, you know, working on bigger and better projects, you know, a lot of our, of our clients, they become great friends of ours and, you know, become great referral sources. So we’ve been able to work with such amazing people again in Miami, and now we’re branching out into LA. So that’s really exciting. And possibly this year, I’d like to also branch out into the New York market. So I guess where I see how someone going in the next couple of years is just again, working on great projects with great people and continuing to develop our, our furniture and wallpaper collection.

Nathan (4m 50s):
Yeah. I know that you have some new collections that are out, that are coming out. Do you want to tell our listeners about, about those?

Brittany (4m 58s):
Yeah. So behind me, you actually see our full wallpaper collection. So we have our mighty bowls of design and arch massage. So we actually collaborated with Candice Kaye who is based in Toronto. She’s an amazing, talented bespoke textile artists. And she’s responsible for some of the hottest restaurants here in Miami and in Toronto, New York as well. So we were able to kind of combine forces and design these, these two designs here. And we’re still proud of them. I mean, there, we’re getting such a good response from everyone. She actually hand painted all the butterflies on the mighty Bolsa, and then she hand hand drew this one here, the dressage.

Brittany (5m 38s):
So really excited about that. And then our furniture collection, you can kind of see a little bit here in the background, but we designed a pedestal, a side table and a coffee table all made out of mirrors. So very clean, very streamlined us, sleek design. And the idea behind that was I just wanted to create something that would work any project. And in doing that, I’m offering them in a bunch of different finishes. So if you’re looking for something a little bit more in the transitional or traditional side, you can definitely order a pedestal, whether it’s an antique mirror, traditional mirror, but then again, if you want to go more into that sleek and contemporary feel, we have it available in bronze and smoked.

Brittany (6m 20s):
So that’s kind of, you know, the idea behind the furniture collections just to create something that it’s very versatile. So

Nathan (6m 28s):
Very interesting, very interesting. I wanted to maybe jump back to the, the other question that I asked earlier about where the design industry is designed spaces are headed, you know, as we head into 2022 and maybe even looking further down the road, if you can talk to us about where you see new designs heading and maybe even also how technology has impacted the industry. I know previously you mentioned 3d modeling. Is that something that’s a little newer to interior design or what do you think?

Brittany (7m 6s):
So a 3d modeling has been around for a long time. And I think that where design is Pettit is definitely like in conjunction to how quickly technology’s evolving. So there’s two things here. So design as far as aesthetics go. I think that because of the pandemic, you know, it caused a lot of stress and anxiety and worry. And I see, you know, colors kind of changing for this year in specific, I think more subdued colors and more nature inspired colors. So we’re talking about like Sage green and maybe hints of blue and Perry Winkle, like softer colors to evoke a feeling of peace and tranquility.

Brittany (7m 54s):
So I think that in that sense, we can definitely see people wanting to shift over to colors that are just going to make them feel a little bit better. And then as far as our clients, I definitely see our clients understanding more than ever the value of hiring an interior designer. Everyone’s making investments, especially here in Miami left and right. And people want to do things right. You know, they want to do it the right way, the first time around. And I think it’s, it’s great. We’ve been preaching this for our clients since day one. We don’t want to make an investment in any property. And then think that, you know, it can be kind of like half furnished or half done.

Brittany (8m 34s):
It’s just not the way to enjoy a space. And I think that as far as technology goes, I mean, it’s, it’s crazy how much, how much things are evolving, especially like we’re doing a deep dive into the metaverse right now, we’re really into, you know, what’s going on in the forefront of technology and design. And I’ve actually been able to take a virtual reality tour of a new condo. That’s being built, the 11 residences, and I’ve taken the tour about three times and it’s so mind-blowing every single time to be able to put on a headset and just stand like in the pool area, in the spa, in the, in the units and walk around.

Brittany (9m 17s):
There’s a part in the, in the tour where they ask you to jump off the balcony and, and you can’t even like, you can’t get yourself to even like walk forward because meanwhile, you know, you’re in a warehouse like just walking around, like, you know, where you are before you put the headset on. And it’s just crazy, you know, we’re looking into it right now and trying to see, you know, where we can, where we can evolve with technology and fit ourselves into this new space. I think it’s, it’s really exciting. So can’t wait to see, you know, how this continues to evolve over the next year.

Nathan (9m 53s):
Yeah. It does seem that like, things like the metaverse and all of that would be, you know, a play space for design and things like that. And to go back to what you said earlier about people, more and more appreciating the need to hire a designer, I can certainly see that on, you know, on the office side of things, less people spending time in the office. So I’m sure those are the people that, that manage an office, want the space to be welcoming. They want it to be enjoyable. They want people to appreciate their time. They’re not having to be drab and boring. And on the apartment side, people are spending more time in there. And again, you know, they want to enjoy their space.

Brittany (10m 34s):
Exactly, exactly. I think that, you know, I think during the pandemic all the time that we spent indoors, it caused all of us to kind of like, you know, look at everything And in, you know, in detail and say, okay, like maybe it’s time that I do renovate my kitchen. Maybe it’s time I do renovate my bathroom or my office, you know, and like, what can I do to better improve my quality of life? And that’s the beauty of, of what we do. And that’s why I’m so passionate about, about what I do is that, you know, we’re changing people’s lives. Like a lot of times people see interior designers as like, you know, a luxury service, but it really is whether we even realize it or not sometimes like, and anytime we walk into a space we’re affected by that interior design, you know, we’re affected by what’s going on, whether it’s the colors, the space planning, the lighting, everything is taking part into how you feel in that moment.

Brittany (11m 28s):
So it’s great to see that people are starting to realize, okay, yeah, we definitely need to hire an interior designer.

Nathan (11m 34s):
Yeah. Is there a difference between how you approach, at least at the beginning, a, an an office work versus a, an apartment if somebody is home?

Brittany (11m 45s):
Definitely. So how you use both of those spaces? That’s the number one thing that we look at, you know, a lot of our clients they’ll buy apartments and condos here, and this is their, you know, secondary home. So we definitely treat that differently than we would if it was someone’s primary home. And then for an office, you know, depending on, on what, how they work and you know, how big their team is and what they want to gain out of, out of their office space, like how we can improve their productivity, how we can improve their business, all of that kind of takes into, into play.

Brittany (12m 25s):
So it’s, it’s a lot of different factors.

Nathan (12m 28s):
Great. And if listeners or viewers want to get in touch with you or find out more about how someone or hire your services, how could they do so?

Brittany (12m 37s):
So they can follow me on Instagram at bringing Alexa underscore. That is my personal page. And at house of one, underscore is a business page. And then if you guys want to check out the website, it’s house of one with the number one.com.

Nathan (12m 53s):
Great, well, of course have a link to the website on, on our posting. I want to thank you for joining today. Brittany really appreciate you coming on to share your story.

Brittany (13m 2s):
Definitely. Thank you so much for having

Nathan (13m 4s):
Me. Thank you. And of course, thank you to our listeners and viewers for joining. Be sure to like comment, share and subscribe. That really helps us share more content like this. We really appreciate it. We’ll back after more, with more stories after this.