An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
Be adventurous even in a small way. If you’re a person that doesn’t like a lot of color in your home, try using one or two colors you like in a space. Possibly a pillow or accessories that have the colors you like. You may discover you like it or you don’t. But, either way you’ve stretched outside of your comfort zone — which is always a good way to help us with personal growth.
As part of my series on the “5 Things You Can Do To Help Your Living Space Spark More Joy”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Elle Cole.
Dallas-native Elle Cole, Owner and Principal Designer of Elle Cole Interiors, brings strong architectural and interior design training, a sincere love for creating beautiful spaces, and a healthy dose of Southern hospitality to the table when bringing her clients’ vision to life. She believes that our strongest and fondest memories are made in the home. Elle and her team deliver sophisticated yet approachable interiors that honor the client and their space, while recognizing that this work should be fun!
Thank you so much for joining us in this series! Before we dive in, our readers would love to learn a bit more about you. Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?
All my life I’ve been lead to this point in my design career, even though I majored in economics. It’s my childhood that set the desire in motion of creating a beautiful home. Since I was young, I’ve always had a love for creating, but it was the downturn of the market that lead me to seek what I felt I’d really been missing, because I wasn’t happy. And, I knew at that point I needed to make a change in my career.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started this career?
When I started my firm, I knew I always wanted to hang my own sign up. I’d been praying for God to lead me to where I needed to be for months. Little did I know the next morning, dreading looking for spaces again that were either too big, wrong location or I couldn’t afford. I happened to go into one of the design showrooms for fabric memos and as I was leaving I had a gut feeling to ask my sales rep (Jayne) if she knew of anyone that had a space available close to the design center. She immediately said, “Yes! Call Richard, he just had someone move out and is looking for a new tenant.” I called him as soon as I left the showroom, met him that afternoon at the office and signed a new lease that day. It turned out to be the perfect design studio…lighting, price, location and size. Call it coincidence or miracle, it was one of best things that has happened to me.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
My goodness, suppose we all make mistakes! I’m can’t say it was comical at the time, but it certainly has been a lesson I’ll never forget. We had a large fabric order to upholster chairs, it was a 22 yard order. I waived getting a CFA (Cutting For Approval) of the fabric — this is when we confirm our memo fabric to the fabric coming from the mill to ensure the dye lots match. Well, we received a call from our workroom asking if we changed the fabric on the chairs. Of course we didn’t! Well, we thought we were receiving a grey fabric and what arrived was lavender in the same pattern. Now, the interesting part is that there was not a lavender colorway to select from, the mills dye lot was way off from the original memo we sourced. So, lesson learned was…always request a CFA or you’ll own 22 yards of fabric you don’t need!
What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now? How do you think that might help people?
Every project is exciting and brings with it its own challenges. Currently, we’re working on decorating projects — this is the fun part where you select fabrics, furnishings, etc. and really make the space shine, because you have good bones to work with. I absolutely love every aspect of design, but it is a nice treat when all you have to do is dress up the room to make it beautiful vs. create a foundation to make it pretty. The best advice I can offer to help people is taking the time to create a plan for the room. Meaning, decide on the colors that you’d love for the room, how you want the space to feel, the furniture layout, financial investment before going out to buy furniture. Make a plan first in order to achieve the result you’re seeking.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
“Action breeds more clarity than thought, you can’t think your way into a new life, you have to act your way into one.” Taking action towards the life that you think you want will breed more clarity into the life you really want. So many people think, read, think, read — but they never do. It’s only by leaning into your dreams and being brave enough to take action when you truly find out what’s right for you. Your dreams will never come to fruition by you waiting for them to show up. All you need is the where not the how — you’ll figure things out while you’re flying. I’m still applying this life lesson in my business today. If there’s a business opportunity I want to venture into I keep this quote in mind, it helps me move forward rather than allowing my fears to drive my actions.
Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
There are so many people that help you along the way. But, when I look back it would have to be my husband. He’s been the oak tree that has been a constant in my life. Never wavering of his support in my toughest moments and always believing in me when I didn’t believe in myself. When I first started thinking of opening my design firm, he never doubted its success. He always had the strongest faith, having enough faith for both of us. But, I remember him saying, “you must do this or you’ll regret it. And, don’t worry, because I got you.” Something so simple, gave me all the courage I needed to launch. And, now I’m happily standing strong years later.
What are your “5 Things You Can Do To Help Your Living Space Spark More Joy” and why. Please share a story or example for each.
Fill it with the things you love. When you love something it brings you joy every day.
Be adventurous even in a small way. If you’re a person that doesn’t like a lot of color in your home, try using one or two colors you like in a space. Possibly a pillow or accessories that have the colors you like. You may discover you like it or you don’t. But, either way you’ve stretched outside of your comfort zone — which is always a good way to help us with personal growth.
The area of your home that is a paint point, try to view it with a different perspective. Take a moment to envision the beauty it could be vs. what it isn’t. If you change your perspective you may discover a new way to use the space and learn to love it. Or, you may gain clarity around what’s needed to make it more inviting.
Invest in functional items, like good lighting or a professional organizer — when your home functions and you have for example a good reading spot or an office that’s organized it makes a world of difference in your life. Having a functional space will give you time back and provide support when you need it the most.
Clean out the clutter. Give away items that are not serving you well and donate them to a local charity. Giving is always better than receiving.
If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be?
Getting others to feel passionate about the written word, hand-written letters. Everyone sends texts, emails, etc. — the art of writing well or even writing in cursive is being lost. I believe partly to blame is that our society has become too accustomed to instant gratification. It would be lovely to see a shift in our communication style, where people began to enjoy the art of the hand-written letter again.
Is there a person in the world, or in the US whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why?
The author Malcolm Gladwell — any scenario (breakfast, lunch or dinner) would be amazing. I’d have so many questions for him. But, what I love about his writing is that he finds magic in the smallest of details and creates a story that allows people to engage and understand the most complex subjects in a simplified manner. How could you not want to be in the presence of someone who has this incredible gift of storytelling?
Thank you so much for joining us. This was very inspirational!
Elle Cole: 5 Things You Can Do To Help Your Living Space Spark More Joy was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.