Tipping on Tablets and Classy, Kitschy Homes with Kimber

Chris: Hello, world. Welcome to Can We Complain? The podcast where we rant, gripe and talk smart to get you ramped up. In this episode, Kimber joins us to vent about unexpected tipping culture, food delivery apps, cleaning, home renovations and interior decorating taste. Be sure to follow us on all the socials at can we Complain? And let us know what drives you crazy. See you on the flip side.

Kimber: Can we complain?

Chris: Can we complain? Can we complain? Can we complain? So excited today to have my good friend Kimber joining. Hello, Kimber.

Kimber: Hello, Chris.

Chris: Hi. Welcome, welcome. Thank you for joining me. Years ago, we talked about podcasting. and I know that was probably.

Kimber: More theity like during COVID I and.

Chris: Even before COVID and I think that was probably a time when many people were starting podcasts and, you know, it’s okay. There’s still a lot of opportunity to reach different people, in podcasting, so not terribly hung up I on missed opportunity. But Kimber and I’ve known each other for many years. I would say we’ve known each other six years. Six years. Maybe longer, not quite sure. but we used to live in the same apartment building and so that’s how we met was through hanging out at the pool and having fun. And, Kimber and I both happen to like to share opinions about things, so we had some alignments on our opinions, some non alignments on opinions, but we always have something to say and that’s what’s important. so today we’re going to be diving into a few topics and I’m really excited to have you here, Kimber. This is one of the first recordings for the Can We Complain podcast. So I really appreciate your help and being here today to get things started.

Kimber: I’m excited. This is going toa be fun.

Chris: All right. Excellent, excellent. So, Kimber, thank you so much for joining. This is so funny because this is one of our first actual sit downs. You helped, you came over and we did a tech rehearsal basically. Like we did a recording where we talked about a few topics and played around with microphones to see, you know, how we sound, how we work together and how the vibe was. And I think it went well. And I just want to thank you for coming over help with that. That was really great.

Kimber: I mean, we always complain anyways, so why not sit down and record it?

Chris: Yes, well, we do happen to complain quite regularly. However, I think about valid things other people might not agree.

Kimber: Right.

Chris: But you know, everyone has opinions and everyone has assholes. There’s a phrase about that somewhere. so one thing that I wanted to. I was hoping to talk about today, that just came up. And I want to thank, our friend Shannon from Chicago. I went on the socials and asked something that people, you know, get annoyed with or what grinds their gears, etcetera, and her suggestion, was tips on tablets. And I thought, oh, my gosh, this is coming up with such prevalence, especially since, really, since lockdowns, like, since COVID it’s become far more of a prevalent topic for people to kind of gripe about the notion of everyone needing to be or being expected to tip on a lot of things. Things that maybe five or ten years ago we wouldn’t have been tipping about or we wouldn’t be tipping. 4. Excuse me. So, I’m, you know, I just kind of want to start with the notion of that kind of. First the obvious thing, which is the uncomfortable moment of having someone flip around a tablet and expect you to tip them. And particularly if they’re not directly doing something and they’re just standing there and you’re like, okay, well, let me think about this. And, you know, might also, when the lowest suggestion is like 15% or 20% and you’re talking about someone doing a role where maybe they’re just handing you a product or maybe they are not part of a team of people that’s even really doing anything, you’re doing most of the work. So, it’s one of those things that’s come up recently that I know people are sensitive about, particularly if you work for tips. And we ve both have worked for.

Kimber: Tips in our lives for a long time.

Chris: Yeah, absolutely. So I’m wondering from your perspective. I think I know where I feel like I’m middle of the road. I feel like there are times where I’m like, why would I tip you for this? I don’t think this is deserving of extra money. Blah, blah, blah. There are other times where my empathetic nature calls. I’ve also literally lived off of the cashroom tips. And so I want to be. And, you know, I don’t know. I’m, And I just kind of feel like people are cheap and stingy in general. I don’t like that. Look, I’m not into it. So getting started on the tip train. Kimber, what is your thoughts on tipping primarily for things like, I don’t know, that we need to dive into servers at a restaurant. I think we all know about.

Kimber: We all know we should hit them.

Chris: Yeah. Yeah. It’s really those kind of questionable Newer things. So is there anything that jumps to mind right away when you hear about tipping on tablet? We can venture from tablet, but tipping in tablets.

Kimber: Yeah. So, the last time that I was at a concert, the merch table asked for a tip. And, you know, the T shirts are already like 55 plus dollars, and they’re just grabbing them out of a box for you.

Chris: Yeah.

Kimber: And I was paying on the tablet and it popped up. And they always have, like, stupid little sayings too now, like, show us some love or anything. Helps, tip the team. You know, they’ve got something silly that they’re trying to, like, prompt you into tipping with. But I was really thrown, that a merch table at a concert would ask for a tip.

Chris: Well, particularly when you’re thinking about the notion of overpriced merchandise to begin with, you’re not going up and buying a 5/l. Item. If you’re buying a $5 item at a merch table, what are you even getting? That doesn’t make any sense.

Kimber: A bumper sticker.

Chris: Right. You said you’re paying, let’s say you’re paying 50, $60 for a T shirt. And then you’re being asked to tip, and it’s like you’re literally working. What is it like? I guess a retail job.

Kimber: Yeah, I guess. I don’t know. But a merch table just feels so different. They’re just reaching into a box and grabbing you.

Chris: Yeah. You know, that definitely feels strange. I feel like the. The notion of the not doing much to earn a tip vibes.

Kimber: Yep.

Chris: Like being at the airport. My crazy example is being at the airport and everyone. I mean, I don’t want to say everyone expects to be tipped for everything. That’s not true. However, I went up to one of those, like, flat retail displays in the hallway that has like a fridge and some shelves.

Kimber: Yeah.

Chris: And there was a self checkout. And then it asked if I wanted to leave a tip. And I’m looking around and there’s not even a person to the machine. I mean, it’s like, okay, so some person probably does come and stock this area. I actually did. It’s funny ca becausee then I took my goods and I went and sat at a table and I watched someone eventually come up and, like, replace items. And I’m like, okay, so that person works there. However, if I go to another retail store and someone stocks shelves in the middle of the night, I don’t them.

Kimber: yeah.

Chris: And I kind of feel like there’s things like this where at the bottom line, like, I don’t know if it’s just a crazy liberal thing, part of me or something, but like businesses should put into the cost of their items to pay their people appropriately. And if you are stocking shelves, you’re not doing something for me as an individual, I’m not coming up. And you’re benefiting me with something where your services is exemplary. You had a great sense of humor. We had a great vibe. You made the experience better. There was no experience benefit.

Kimber: Right.

Chris: To checking myself out at a kiosk.

Kimber: At a self serve kiosk.

Chris: Unbelievable. Yeah, unbelievable. I just, that stuff just drives me nuts. I feel like the, the creeping into the portion of where people are doing things and it’s maybe not full service, like full sit down at a restaurant or a driver or something where you tip because you’re like, oh, historically this has been the thing. There are other things where now that’s becoming a thing or becoming more commonplace. And what I, where I struggle with it is one sometimes if someone is literally just going to pick something up and put it in front of me on a counter.

Kimber: Yeah.

Chris: I don’t, I struggle a little bit with where that is deserving of a tip. Now what do you think about counter service? I mean, it’s even something like okay, like coffee shops, people want to be tipped. There’s usually a tip thing. I generally tip. I don’t tip very well at coffee places, I think, I mean I think I give. If I, let’s say back in the day when I was getting cash, I would put a dollar or two in the thing just.

Kimber: But that actually is a lot. When you’re looking at the price of your coffee, you’re still tipping like 20%.

Chris: That is true. Yeah, that is true.

Kimber: It seems like very little, but you know, in the grand scheme of things, it’s all based on the, you know, product that you’re getting. Right.

Chris: Yes.

Kimber: I feel like baristas should be tipped because they’re performing a service. Like that’s a skill. It’s a skill set. I couldn’t do that. I don’t know anything about coffee, but I just also would probably mess up all the machines. I would lose my job like within the first day. It would be really bad. I think that that is a service that they’re providing you however, at like a normal, like casual fast dining, or just like regular counter service in the food realm. I think that is a little ridiculous and I might get slammed for saying that, but I think that it’s a little outrageous to expect a tip at like, you know, McDonald’s. I don’t. I actually did get prompted to give a tip outam McDonald’s out a self serve kiosk I think or another fast food restaurant recently. And I was like whatus? I was actually typing in the order myself and everything.

Chris: Yeah, I’m thinking it must, I don’t know, I’m assuming it would be not McDonald’s and I’m going to tell you why. When I was in high school and I worked at McDonald’s and people would come through the drive thru and be like, oh my gosh, I just want to give you a few dollars. Like you, you actually like were on top of shit, you got the order right. I loveah, particularly regulars, people that would come in like regularly most mornings and then you were friendly and nice. You build a little rapport, you’re having a bad day, you see them, they’re nice to you, you’re nice back, that kind of thing. And they’d be like oh, I just want to give you some money. And we were told by management we were not allowed to acceptkay gratuity, which was of course disturbing at the time because I was like, I’m making like.

Kimber: Six dollar six an hour.

Chris: Oh my gosh.

Kimber: You’re like that dollar could buy me a pack of gum.

Chris: Or I can spend it on the food that I have to eat here on my break that you make me pay for. but yeah, like the there’s the. I haven’t noticed it myself in fast food places personally, but definitely like the kind of kiosk desk counter situations. one thing that gets me a little bit too about the prompting with the tablet, the turning of the thing.

Kimber: Yeah.

Chris: kind of like ordering cars where they ask you about your tip before the service is even done.

Kimber: Yeah, that’s true.

Chris: So like, is my coffee even the coffee I ordered, Are you going to get anything right? Like is this going to be a painful thing? Am I going to sit here for 20 minutes waiting for you to get my shit and then be like thank God I tiped them. Like yeah, it’s kind of weird. I don’t like being pre, preempted to tip. I like that for example with car service, or with delivery like Uber Eats or something like that, they ask you if you want to leave a tip. I just put in. I generally go with whatever they suggest or like if it says if they do it by percent and it’s like 4:38 then I will backspace it and do $5. I’ll wait for the experience to happen. If they get my food, if I watch that little car, if I watch that little car on the screen come directly to my apartment and not drive around in circles for 40 minutes wondering where my building is. If they don’t leave my fucking food out in the street in the cold, where they literally. That has happened. Where someone is calling me from a block away, being like, where is your building? I’m like, it is the size of the whole city block. And they’re like, but where’s the door? And I’m like, it’s on. Well, it’s on the building I live on now. It’s on Western. Like, the address is Western. You’re not going to find the front door over on Pillsbury or another street. Like, it’s where it is. And then. And then they’re calling and they’re doing and they’re this and they’re that. And I don’t want to put down. I’m sure that it’s rather complicated to find certain people’s homes. Apartment buildings are all different. Like, people have different expectations.

Kimber: Our last. The place that we live together, where met. Yes, that was the worst for deliveries. But it was like the building.

Chris: That’s right.

Kimber: Had an address that was listed on, like, the main road, but then you had to go down a little alley area to get to the front of the building.

Chris: I forgot about that.

Kimber: So my issue there was. I put in the notes exactly where to go same. And I made sure that I had that in the notes. Cause it was constantly an issue. And do you think that they read the notes? No.

Chris: Why are.

Kimber: That’s where I get frustrated.

Chris: Why are there notes if you’re leaving notes and they are clearly ignored.

Kimber: Right.

Chris: I mean, I don’t know what it is about the ui, the interface for the driver, the delivery person, but commonly.

Kimber: Right.

Chris: You leave directions or instructions because it makes it easier.

Kimber: Yeah.

Chris: Clears it up.

Kimber: Y.

Chris: Easy peasy. You not following them or even looking at them.

Kimber: Yeah.

Chris: Is going to make the situation more challenging for you.

Kimber: Yeah.

Chris: And will likely result in less of a tip from me.

Kimber: Yeah.

Chris: Because you are, like, not following with these buildings. And I don’t know if you’re listening and you do delivery and you feel like we’re being insensitive. I would say another thing about apartment buildings. If someone gives you directions on where the front door is or tells you to come to the front door. Most newer constructions, like, if the building isn’t like a Brownstone where the front door is obviously what it is. There’s usually signage. This is another thing. People will come to these backoors where it’s like, this is clear. Or a side door where it’s like, this is clearly not like the lobby. This is clearly not where you’re going to gain entrance as a visitor. So keep that. but it just drives me that. So what I like is that there’s an opportunity to leave a tip and then I wait for the experience to happen and then based on that experience, I may update my tip.

Kimber: Yeah.

Chris: So for example, for the person who literally left my food out on the sidewalk. Well, on the flower pot, you know, the built in landscaping, block shit outside of the building. Okay, fine. But the day that it happened, it was below 30 degrees, it was like 25 degrees. So my food is sitting in a bag out on a literal freezer. Like in a freezer.

Kimber: Ye.

Chris: And I’m like, so you couldn’t just take the extra six steps, first of all, to put it in the entryway of the building, like just in the.

Kimber: Front door, the heated entryway.

Chris: Right. And because like I. Some people will come to like a newer build like this, where I put in my name is in the buzzer. Feel free to do it. They come all the way up to the apartment and they drop it off. And I’m like, that is so nicee. I don’t personally have that expectation. I feel like that is super spoiled in the sense because you’re just getting it to your door right now. What do you think about that?

Kimber: Well, I had an instance where I actually did have Covid and I was, pregnant at the time. So I was like, really sick, like really feeling like crappy as hell. And I put in the instructions, like, please bring up to my door. And the guy didn’t do it. And I messaged him and I said like, where did you leave my food? You know, and he answered where he left it. And I said, I asked you deliberately to bring it up to my door because I have Covid and I’m pregnant.

Chris: Yeah.

Kimber: I’m like, I just want you to know that you just made my day harder when I had in the instructions, like, what to do. And then I feel bad because I’m like, okay, like, I’m probably being too hard on this person. But also you are paying for a service. And that’s where I have trouble with it sometimes. Because if you’re not good at doing something, why would you even want to do it? Number one. And like I could never drive for a living. Like, I am so shitty at directions, I’m directionally challenged. Like, I can’t figure out up from down. I have to use my GPS to go everywhere. And even when I go somewhere where I know where I’m going, I still get, like, ants in my pants about it. Right.

Chris: Yeah.

Kimber: So why would I ever pick to be a delivery driver? You know, if you’re not good at something, maybe it’s time to, like, move on. I don’t know. Especially if you’re being like, kind of. I’ve had him be like a jerk back to me, like.

Chris: Yep.

Kimber: Then maybe this isn’t for you.

Chris: Yeah. Ah.

Kimber: I don’t know.

Chris: I know. And it’s such an interesting thing because the first thing I think of when you’re saying this.

Kimber: Yeah.

Chris: Is the online responses that I would see of people being like, wow, what a privilege to say you’re just not going to do a job. It’s like, fair enough. I did a lot of jobs that I didn’t want to do. Right.

Kimber: Yeah.

Chris: I wasn’t necessarily a rock star at cleaning offices that I did while I was in college. I cleaned offices. I’m pretty good at cleaning. But, you know, was that my life’s calling? Of course not. And realistically, I let the frustration and the irritation of having jobs like that motivate me into making changes in my life to do. Okay. So I’ve had jobs where I was, for example, the cleaning offices while I was in college job. I allowed that I had that serve as a motivator for me to do other things in my life, to build myself a career, to advance myself in ways where maybe I wouldn’t be doing something I hated so much for so little. And you’re right. When people are deliver. Delivering things and they’re not good at driving, they can’t find a property to save their lives. They, literally have a hard time getting from their car to aore.

Kimber: That would make me miserable. Like, I would hate doing that. That. And I. I get that. Yeah. It is a privilege to have a job. And, like, you know, it’s not super easy to find jobs when you’you know, don’t have experience, for instance, or, you know, you’re kind of building yourself up. But at the same time, if it’s something that, yeah, you’re obviously not good at and that, you know, it would just make me miserable to be driving around constantly not knowing where I’m going. It would be stressful. It would be so stressful in a Way that, like, wouldn’t be worth it to me.

Chris: Well, through this journey, though, of the person bringing food, what I was going to say is that what I like is that the app, at least Uber Eats, which I prefer because I like that there’s an option to have it delivered directly to me. Their apps don’t have that option. or maybe they do now, but they didn’t years ago when I made the choice to no longer use their apps because they would pick up, I would get. Okay, I’m gonna say, let’s say I’GOT kfc. I don’t know, I got some sort of cheap food, fast food.

Kimber: Right.

Chris: Where getting it picked up in a bag, you want to brought directly to you.

Kimber: Yeah.

Chris: Like, if you’re doing it for yourself, you’re not gonna be like, now I’m gonna run my errands with my fast food sitting in the car.

Kimber: Yeah.

Chris: So they would go around and pick up other people’s orders to drop off other places, and I’d watch them on the map and I’d be so frustrated. So when Uber Eats had the thing where you can pay however much more a dollar, two, three, four, five, whatever it is, to have it delivered directly to you, I do that. So I watch them on the little map. I mean, maybe not like a crazy person, but I will check to see, like, are they even finding, like, where are they going, blah, blah, blah. If they bring it here quickly, I do have a door where it’s. You can just press. You find my name in the thing. I can let you in, you can come up, drop it off. If I can tell by their driving on the map, if I can tell by any communications, they’ve sent me something like, bar, I’m like, oh, my God, why are you even sending me a message while bringing food? Then I may go down and just meet them at the door. Because for me, let’s say I don’t have Covid, and let’s say I’m not pregnant, then realistically, I may go down and meet them. Because I’m like, for me to get my lazy ass up and go down there and get the shit, it’s just gonna be faster and easier for everyone.

Kimber: And fries have a shelf life.

Chris: 1.

Kimber: Like, let’s be honest, you’re ordering fries from a fast food place and they show up cold. What are you gonna do? Put them in the microwave? Like, yuck, thank you.

Chris: I know. I actually have put them in a frying pan to, like, warm them up. Like, you don’t put. I don’t put any oil, you just like, warm them up. But, like, it’s not the same and.

Kimber: Right.

Chris: It is what it is.

Kimber: They have a shelf life of like 10 minutes.

Chris: A very short shelf life.

Kimber: Yes.

Chris: So tipping before the service is completed is awkward, but this. Sorry, this tangent is taking forever. Oh, my God. Apologies to our listeners at home. but realistically, by the time if the situation I get my food, blah, blah, blah, it’s terrible. Oh, my gosh. Half the food isn’t even there. There’s no beverage, there’s nothing. The receipt says Becky. And I’m like, why are you bringing Becky’s food to Chris? Like, I understand that you went to the restaurant and they handed you something. When you looked at your phone and it said Chris and you looked at the bag and it said Becky, you just obviously didn’t do that. And I understand. Maybe, you know, quality assurance isn’t your strong suit. Maybe you can’t read, I don’t know. But at the end of the day, I’m not going to tip you for bringing me someone else’s food slowly. Like, I just, I’m not gonna do it. So that is what I love about the food apps, where it prompts you for a tip before. If it goes poorly, you can just change it to zero or whatever you want. And I like that.

Kimber: Right.

Chris: I don’t like when there’s this thing where the service hasn’t happened yet, you haven’t received the good. Nothing’s gone on. What are you gonna tip? And I’m like, what?

Kimber: Yeah, and we’re gonna start you off at 20%.

Chris: When I lived in Chicago, there’s a bar across the street that me and my friends. My friends and I enjoyed going to. because it was, it was. They called it a sports bar, but I mean, it’s a gay bar. That’s a sports bar. So there were activities on the screen and sometimes, you know, people would care. But realistically, it was like a not fancy gay bar. And, it was fun. It was easy. Like they had some sort of thing where when they were checking out, they would. They had the handheld thing. Yeah, the like squarespace white hand controlled thing. So they d put it on the counter and give it to you. And the first one, I think the first one was 25%. I think it was 25, 35, 45. And my friends were like, who is tipping 45% at a sports bar when you’re getting your collective tab? And I think that it’s. I mean, that’s pretty exemplary. Service that’s like when I because there’s a guy there that I, that I love that was so great. And if I was to be paying with cash and I just gave him $10 and the drink was $7, might be like keep it, whatever, because I love him and I don’t know what the percent would even be but to be getting a bill for a night of drinking and have the first one be 25% is like that’s not low. Not low. That’s not low.

Kimber: Can we complain?

Chris: Can complain. Can we complain? Can we complain?

Kimber: Howdy H neighbor.

Chris: Hidi Ho Burno. Hello. Welcome back. Think it’s been an interesting thing for even the, you know, getting together and doing some test recordings, even recording by myself. When I put together a little teaser for this, I was like I’m gonna do this and then we’re gonna do that and I’m like okay. You know, just.

Kimber: It’s like a two year old that’s like narrating their life because they’re like just learning how to talk. Oh my God.

Chris: Think convert. That is how I would definitely describe myself as a two year old.

Kimber: Someone with a two and a half year old who’s starting like narrate their life to you.

Chris: Yes, Amen. That makes sense. So I’m gonna try not to be like your 2 year old who’s narrating life. I’m gonna try to be a grown ass man who can actually’so good at.

Kimber: Listening to it though.

Chris: Oh geez. Yes you are. but one of the things that when we were doing brainstorming to discuss topics and things, one thing that came up for you and I is definitely personal style, aesthetics, choices, blah blah blah. Having to do with our home, having to do with us having to do with our look, having to do with things that we care about. Yeah, now a little bit more background I should say background, but you know, I am a homosexual. I am m a gay man of a certain age. U you are what?

Kimber: News to me.

Chris: Yeah, yeah, totally. and you know, just like many queer men, I do have, I have a good eye for things. U at times I have a good aesthetic. I have good taste according to some people. Not according to everyone people. Some people would disagree. However, that’s kind of a thing. You know, most gay men are known for being on top of that. Not necessarily that they are the character of like Will Truman from Will and Grace or something like that. Doesn’t need to be the fact the case and I don’t like that. It’s actually kind of a broad stereotype in theer ofeah how it would be. But I do have an elevated sense of taste and style and things that I care about. And obviously that’s one of the reasons that we connected so much, I think to begin with is because you obviously have a flair, an aesthetic, things that you like. Yeah, yeah. Good taste, blah, blah, blah.

Kimber: Yes.

Chris: So when we have been discussing, you know, life, love, the pursuit of happiness, all the things having to do with our look, our vibes, our world, the place that we’re building, the place we’re living, the blah blah, blah. there have been some patterns that have come up with us and want one thing is when talking about. You have complained about this. Yes. You have put this on the Internet.

Kimber: O yeah.

Chris: You have put on the Internet for sure. About people doing renovations to homes.

Kimber: Yeah.

Chris: Doing facelifts and not sticking with the time of the home, etc.

Kimber: So I’m part of some Facebook groups where people will post like before and afters and like get people’s opinions on things with their home. And oh my gosh, it irks me so bad when you see like a beautiful Victorian home where they got the kitchen, they put in like prefab cabinets that are like all white with their white countertop and you know, whatever prefab that they get on sale at like whatever box retailer and just completely gut the character out of the home. And I feel like you have to pay respect to some of those old houses that are just beautiful and you’re never gonna get that shit back, you know.

Chris: Yes.

Kimber: Like you tear that out, good luck finding it somewhere else anymore.

Chris: Yes. You know, and spe so homes built at a certain time.

Kimber: Yes.

Chris: Having the quality of craftsmanship.

Kimber: Yeah.

Chris: Having the quality of the product, having the quality of their choices and their implementation. The care is not the same in some place broadly it’s not the same by home builders today. It’s not held to the same standards by people that are doing home renovations.

Kimber: Right.

Chris: Be it yourself or professionals, frankly. You know, there’s a lot of builder grade home coming up that have the, you know, tiki techie cabinets and shelves and the blah, blah, blah. And for me, where the disconnect really comes with that with an old home versus the new things is that disparage that difference in the quality m Because there are homes and a beautiful Victorian built in 18 whatever, where someone comes in and takes the time to put in the detail for their renovation efforts, where maybe they do Even go with a modern twist where it could be a little monochromatic. They could have gray cabinets. They could do some sort of shaker, some sort of stone, where maybe it does look. At first glance you might be like, this is a little too modern for this song. This is a little too new. But then they’ve taken the care to do beautiful, pulls and knobs, or the pieces are custom built.

Kimber: That’s like a nod to the home’history.

Chris: 100% where you’re bringing in today’s contemporary styling, but not in a way to bastardize it.

Kimber: Right.

Chris: With these big box choices.

Kimber: Like why in tarnation would you like just gu out a beautiful built in in your home?

Chris: Yes.

Kimber: Like, why even buy that home then? That’s what always gets me is like, just go buy and house like, you know, in the suburbs that actually, like, sometimes they are cheaper. Why are you buying this beautiful, like old home in, you know, the St. Paul area and then just completely gutting it for something that you could get anywhere else? It’s like so disrespectful. Like, get out of here with that shit.

Chris: With the white walls and those ugly gray fake wood flooring. Oh, like that’s. Oh my God.

Kimber: There’s no such thing as gray wood.

Chris: In the real world.

Kimber: It’s terribleeah.

Chris: It’s a hate crime. And now it’s funny that you say this because there’s. I lived in a brownstone once that I rented where it had like a galley kitchen where there was actually only cabinets and stuff on, really on one side. And it was like a hallway. And then there was a dining room and there was a built in buffet.

Kimber: Yeah.

Chris: That had a closet on either side. And I remember being like, oh my gosh. If this was a condo, what I would have done is like where the built in is, I would have opened it up because it was. The kitchen was so closed off and I would have had the top part of the buffet, there’d be a counter and then taken out the uppers of the built in so that that was open into the kitchen. I would have kept. Because the bottom had those like the glass doors with the nice wood se. You know, like it had this old world charm, but the functionality was not great. So there would have been a way to keep that. I think about some of these people would have been like, just tear down the wall. Just get rid of the wall and make it open. Make it look like Joanna Gaines did it. And it’s like, okay, well the problem is that you just Got rid of the character in this homeeah. And like, you can add functionality with keeping pieces.

Kimber: Yah.

Chris: I don’t understand the notion of buying an old home and then being particularly. I should say particularly. But it’s just weird when someone does, like, the kitchen. So, like, the kitchen is gray wood floors with white cabinets, white shit. Everything looks like it came out of a catalog, like ikea, basically. Like, you just go into a storm, buy it, slap it in. Then the rest of the house is like, ornate with woodwork and moldings. And it’s like, what is going on here?

Kimber: Yeah. Well, that brings me to, like, you know, just a sense of style, like overpopularized styles that like, take over and then everything starts to look the same. Like the modern farmhouse, style that has been, you know, popular for quite some time now and I think is going out of fashion. It has gone out of fashion. Like, let’s be honest, for people that know, like, anything about design, that’s like, overplayed at this point, but it’s just clinging on. It’s just hanging on everywhere you go.

Chris: It totally is.

Kimber: Yeah.

Chris: Like, I’WE re. We’re late. It’s funny because the modern farmhouse thing, it’s like we’re late to the game of even complaining about it because. Oh, for sure, you know, like the notion of the like, ship laap and I already. I already talked shit about Joanna Gaines for a second here. I don’t want to throw her under the bus. I think her and Chip shit is actually pretty cool the way that they went about it and the. What they did. I have respect for them. I just feel like that whole aesthetic was really brought on by the, like, I’m a woman who has, like, enough money to spend some money on some things at the house, and I don’t really have real taste, so I’m just gonna do what these people do.

Kimber: So that goes into, like, resale value, right? Because I believe that if you buy a home, you should live in it, you should love it, you should make it look how you want it to look and not care about the resale value to an extent. Right? Like, not destroying the charm, not destroying things that would like, really, like, fuck over your resale value. But I do think that you should enjoy and have pride in your home and make it a place that, like, you walk into the room and you smile because you got something kind of, you know, that’s special to you. And my husband struggles with thatuse. He’ll come home and I’ll of like, painted the front door ombre. Or like, I painted our little, like, pool house shackq pink because I wanted the back. I wanted the backyard to have the aesthetic of Palm Springs.

Chris: Right.

Kimber: Because I love old school, like, palm, spring style.

Chris: Yeah.

Kimber: And I just like. It brings me joy. Like, those little tiny things that I do that are quirky. Bring me joy.

Chris: Yeah.

Kimber: Yeah.

Chris: Well, definitely bringing a personal style in that isn’t a. I don’t know if it’s the word. It’s like a purchased style. There’s probably some term, because when you’re talking about the farmhouse, the Joanna Gaines look from five, ten years ago.

Kimber: Yeah.

Chris: That is an aesthetic that people chose. maybe they liked it for themselves. I don’t know. It just feels very, like a purchased concept.

Kimber: It’s, like, so contrived.

Chris: Yeah, very much so. It feels like you. It’s almost like there’s, like, a real Pinterest in front of you. Like, someone can be like, here is the paint can. Here is the sh. Here is literally the cupboards. Here is the.

Kimber: Is the color we all use in our kitchens now.

Chris: Right. 100%. And it’s funny because in the moment, or when it starts, even I fall a little victim to the trends and the things I happen to. Back in the day, when I first saw a Chip and Joanna show, I was like, oh, my gosh, this whole, farmhouse thing is totally working for them. And I can see why people like it. They also are entertaining in their own sense. So you’re, like, watching them on the tv, and I feel like there are people that watch shit like that, and then they’re like, oh, but look at me. It’s me and my husband. We’re like that, like, straight up. Like, my husband’s like, chip. And I’m like, joanna. And I’m like, honey, that’s. That’s. I don’t really think you should say that to Joanna Kain.

Kimber: That’s called not having a personality.

Chris: Right. So, no, it’s just like a co. Opting someone else’s ideas and not really being into it yourself. And there are people that, to be fair, don’t necessarily care or they don’t have a preference about aesthetics and things like that. Okay, fine. Well, then if you are, particularly if you know someone who does lean on them, y. Hire a designer, hire a consultant. Ask a friend who really does care and is interested. And if you don’t care, then that’s fine. But if you do care, then don’t do this, like, commercialized version of having Taste?

Kimber: Yeah.

Chris: These trendy fucking ideas, like the modern farmhouse thing. you know, it’s interesting because right now my aesthetic in general in my home is like a mid century vibe.

Kimber: Ye.

Chris: And I went with that because. Well, I started with that because however many years ago, five, ten years ago, it was really like on trend to do mid century pieces.

Kimber: Yeah.

Chris: And I was in a rental in an apartment and I thought, okay, I’m going toa buy all these pieces because when I buy a house then this is going to become my basement furniture. Yeah. Because I mean I don’t have like shitty furniture. It’s fine. It’s just like if I owned a home, it would become the basement furniture. And I haven’t bought a home, I don’t have a basement. So it’s still just my furniture. I’ve made changes, I’ve updated some things, blah, blah, blah. But I went with that aesthetic because of my love for Palm Springs. I go to Palm Springs every year. I used to live in Southern California. I definitely have a thing about mid century pieces and architecture and all of that. So for me it rings. It rings well. It’s about my personal taste. It’s my personal style. I have pieces on the wall that are movie posters and different items. I have decor that matches because I bought it because I like it.

Kimber: Yeah.

Chris: It’s not. I went to target and dropped $5 on end cap pieces like that. Absolutely not.

Kimber: Yeah.

Chris: So the, the one thing though about some of the, though a ah, little bit more on trend things like right now my apartment has the white walls, white trim, black hinges, knobs, blah, blah, blah.

Kimber: Right.

Chris: And I, what I like about it is that it allows for my pieces to be themselves. things that have color have color. Things that have texture have texture.

Kimber: Right.

Chris: Plants that are green are green. It’s not overtaken by this like color of the wall or feeling that comes with a space where there’s too much color, too much weight. I think white on white is like light and bright and it makes your things be emphasized.

Kimber: Yeah.

Chris: Now I feel like if I had a house.

Chris: I would definitely have a bedroom where there would be like navy walls or green like, like that lovely sage that’s happening.

Kimber: Yeah.

Chris: There’s some really great colors that are going on right now and as a renter I just opt not to do that. do you think too much white? Because the one thing about too much white as well is that it’s not really. Well, I feel like it’s kind of trendy right now. It’s never really all that trendy because even like in the 90s, you know, you’d have more of like the Scandinavian look.

Chris: Like there’s ways to do the white with it without it being trendy.

Kimber: Yeah. I mean the early 2000s, I just think of like that yellow creamish color that was like everything.

Chris: The Tuscan kitchens and the McMansions. Tuscan kitchens 100y everywhere.

Kimber: Yeah. I mean I feel like mid century modern is classic and timeless. Which is why I think that the pieces that I would invest in I would try to keep like as classic and timeless as possible and not trendy. And you can add in the little trendy pieces where you’re not spending crap ton of money so that you’re stuck with that style for the next like 20 years. Because you spent, you know, how much on a couch that’s, you know, out of style. Now that had like a crazy flower pattern or something, right?

Chris: 100%.

Kimber: Yeah.

Chris: Those like, evergreen pieces and things that you keep around. Those like you said, particularly when you’re talking about homes decor, if you’re going toa spend 2, 3, 4, if you’re going to spend anything over $1,000 frankly on a couch, you should probably not be going to style specific.

Kimber: Yeah.

Chris: now. Okay. If you’re buying a $1,500 couch you don’t care about. Sure. I mean, buy the one that is not very comfortable and is totally m like the thing that’s happening right now. I like going with a couch where it’s like, it’s not necessarily terribly specific. but that’s because there’s these evergreen pieces. So for example, in my bedroom I have gray furniture pieces. What I like about it is like right now there are gold polull and things. I’m kind of going for a little bit more like plush pink grays, monochromatic m meats love story. Who even fucking loves. Okay, I’m just making up bullshit right now, but at the end of the day, I could move into so many places and have a gray dresser and side tables.

Kimber: Yeah, good.

Chris: It could be like if I all of a sudden I met the love of my life and he was some industrial kind of like, look at m me. I’m hard to roug around the edges. I’d be like, let’s get that exposed brick, honey. Let’s put in my gray pieces. Like we got it. You know, it’s more evergreen. It’s not like it’s gonna be totally uncool in five years. It’s not like, it was amazing five years ago.

Kimber: Like a sleigh bed that’s like, got slave some, you know.

Chris: Oh, my God. I know. It’s funny to say sleigh bed because. Yes, sleigh beds, particularly, like, if you’re in a place where the room isn’t huge and you’ve got this big king sleigh bed. Like. Oh, my God. I feel like you have lived this life.

Kimber: I have.

Chris: You have.

Kimber: Yeah. We had a, padded, like, slate. Well, it was like the sleigh bed, like back y. Right. Yeah, like the.

Chris: The headboard.

Kimber: Headboard.

Chris: And then the.

Kimber: And then. Yeah. And it was. Oh, my God. It’s like a cream color. Right.

Chris: Yeah.

Kimber: So it, you know, gets, like, stained and yucky. Just even from dust.

Chris: Yeah. Life.

Kimber: And I didn’t pick that bad out. It came from Dave’s previous life. I wouldn’t have picked that out for myself.

Chris: Right.

Kimber: but even, like, every time we moved, I just, like, would try to clean the shit out of that thing with like a steam cleaner or whatever, and it just stayed so yucky. But yeah, it’s like. Okay, what’s realistic here is should we have fabric headboards? Like, I don’t know.

Chris: I know. And I had. I had a simple tufted one. It was literally just a headboard. It wasn’t slip. It wasn’t even attached. Like, I actually attached it to the wall. And when I moved once, I just. I sold it on Facebook, Marketplace or something to someone because I was tired of rebels dog hair getting into the.

Kimber: Tufts and the top.

Chris: It was a guest bed. I didn’t even sleep in it. It was used like three times in a year.

Kimber: Still was.

Chris: And I wasab. This is not like. This is not working for me.

Kimber: Yeah. Yeah.

Chris: But yes, there’s definitely those kind of the approaches to the big pieces where you can get longevity out of them. You can have them, you can use them in multiple places or with different vibes.

Kimber: Yeah.

Chris: And, you know, I don’t know, sometimes people do just want to make a crazy, dramatic change as far as their tastes.

Kimber: Yeah.

Chris: I notice for me, when moving place to place, I tend to be a bit more like, I’m making this kind of change. It’s a little more subtle. Like, before I had my mid century pieces, I had that espresso wood stuff. Everything I had was like, that dark, rich or that dark wood because the yellow oakwoods were m. Brassy looking and nasty to me.

Kimber: Or the fake, like, redwood. The fake redwood.

Chris: Yes.

Kimber: Yeah.

Chris: From the early 2000s, I’m big on fucking storage. I am m big on putting things in places I m don’t like. I think it’s Eddie and Abfab, where it’s like, I don’t like things on places, darling things on places. I grew up in a house where my parents had too much shit around. They still have too much shit around. There’s just things. My mom’s mom was raised in a house like during the depression or like her mom, her grandma was in the depression. There’s like keep everything so they never.

Kimber: Let go of anything.

Chris: Why would you have a surface and not put things on it? Like, Because most surfaces you can put one or two things and it looks cute, it looks tasteful, it looks intentional. You don’t need everything on everything.

Kimber: Yeah.

Chris: And it’s another thing that I learned from reading a. I could give you a five minute synopsis. You wouldn’t even need to read the book. It’fucking Bethany Frankel book about like living the skinny girl lifestyle. I’m m like, I can’t believe I ever even read this fucking book. But one of her things, a pro tip which I totally agree with, is cabinets, sideboards, storage shelves. Don’t. You don’t need to put everything out. If everything is out, there’s too much. So I sometimes with that like Nordic West Elm. Oh, there’s this beautiful consol table. There’s no drawers. ###e It’s just like four pieces of wood. And I’m like, there’s nowhere to put anything.

Kimber: My trotchys are gonna be out in the open.

Chris: Well, and it’s like there’s a place for course.

Kimber: Yeah.

Chris: But when you have a council table in your entryway that has not one drawer, not one cabinet, then what? It’s just like four boards that you put your keys on.

Kimber: It’s useless to me, it’s basically useless.

Chris: It looks nice, but it s functionally takes up space’gonna. Give it a thumbs down now. We, you and I are. I think it’s interesting because we both have things where we like to have things out. Memorable things I like to have out. I’m not. I’m talking about when you go to someone’s house and it’s like everything they own is on display.

Kimber: Yeah.

Chris: It’s like, why is everything you own on disay?

Kimber: I mean, I’m like a maximalist.

Chris: So you are. This is where we’re a little different.

Kimber: So. But I would say that maximalism isn’t just putting everything out that you have. It’s very like. It Takes a lot of time. You know, like I’ve got my entry wall that is like an eclectic mod podge of things. But I have been like taking the time to lay it out. If I add something new, I might actually like fill the holes in the wall and repaint and move stuff around. But not everyone has like the capacity to do that, I guess. Tooah. But for me like maximalism is. Yeah. Having things out that like bring me joy, but doing it in like a tasteful, well thought out way. Like I’ve got on that wall a teeny tiny mini library. You know, family photos, holy water fonts and like gothic looking you items. and I don’t think people would look at it and be like this is too much. I think people look at it and they’re like oh my gosh, that’s new. Or I never noticed that was like mixed in with those photos before. And I love that type of maximalism.

Chris: Yes.

Kimber: Yeah.

Chris: The wall that you’re talking about.

Chris: I love.

Kimber: Yeah.

Chris: in Kimberidge s living room, there’s a. I guess for people that have not seen it, I guess I would call it like a gallery wall.

Kimber: Yeah.

Chris: And because it’s primarily framed photographs and framed pieces that are not very large. You don’t have like big things, do you, on that wall?

Kimber: I have like a couple like family photos or like photos of the boys and then like one from our wedding that would be considered big.

Chris: Yes.

Kimber: Yeah.

Chris: But you are. What I love about it is like to echo what you’re saying to back it up. Kimber’s taken the time and the care to craft and editorialize this wall, like to curate these pieces. Franklyeah. And so there’s like when you look at it and you first look at it, it’s a gallery wall with all these different kinds of frames, different sizes, different things. I think the tie in together when you’re looking at it is this kind of I don’t know that vintage is the right word.

Kimber: Yeah. Like the gold and the black.

Chris: Yes. Like for example, I have gallery walls where all the photos are in white mats with black frames. It’s like simple, clean what it is. Your look that you’re going for is more eclectic. the brass, the gold. There’s more character in the pieces, I think.

Kimber: Yeah.

Chris: And you also have done a great job with putting in those little like a little cross ye. A little, little piece that goes in the wall that fills in these spaces, that brings a little character.

Kimber: Yeah.

Chris: So as you’re Traveling through this wall of things, you re finding little pieces, little presents, little gifts.

Kimber: Yeah, well, and most of the things are actually like things that you maybe wouldn’t normally hang.

Chris: Yes.

Kimber: And like things that I’ve gotten on like trips with my husband or things that my grandma passed down to me that I’ve like turned into something that can hang on the wall because I love it so much. Another thing that I do and like, you know, for people that love all their stuff, rotating it out, like things don’t have to stay out or stay in the same spot. You know, like I’ve got ah, a built in in my dining room that I change out with the season. So I’ve got a lot of really neat vintage glassware that I’ve gotten like from my mother in law or that I’ve found, you know, at garage sales or resale shops. And I trade stuff out with the season and like redecorate it every now and then so that I can, you know, showcase everything that I have that I love without having it all out at the same time.

Chris: Yes, that is a great pro tip. particularly if you have the storage space. Like you’re in a single family home.

Kimber: Yeah.

Chris: So you have your garage, you have your basement, you have places to put things. I know that can become a little more challenging when you’re in a rental or something and you don’t have the space to store everything. However, that is a great tip. And even in you saying yourselff proclaimed maximalist or whatever. Right. What I’ll say is being in your home, there are places where things, there are things and then there are places where there are not. Like you work really well with that. Like b it out balancing. You bring up the built in in your dining room you have this great built in in the wall with glass doors with things in it where it’s like, this is obviously an appropriate place to be displaying things.

Kimber: Right.

Chris: You’re not like, let me take up every wall in my dining room with like floating shelves and just sac a bunch of shit on them. Like, oh my God, not some people do that well.

Kimber: And I think having kids helps too. Right. Like I can’t put things out where they will get them because, my God, I have had things broken already. And yeah, it’s like kind of heartbreaking but it’s, you know, it’s not the kid fault. You’re like, why did I put that there? You know? Yes, like, yes, my fault. I shouldn’t have put that there. But yeah, you have to be intentional about where you’re gonna put things when you have kids. To like that, changes things.

Chris: That does make a difference. Yeah, I know. I’m lucky. I’m like a single guy who gets to make all my choices is like, my space is my space. I don’t have someone in my life being like, I don’t know if I really like it and being like, well, I don’t care, I better taste than you. So I’m making the choice.

Kimber: You also don’t have like a two year old that has cheeto fingers that’s going toa come walking through your bedroom and rub them on your bedspread.

Chris: 100%. Yeah, 100. so beyond the notion of the storage bit, which I think, and I’m just hung up on that in the sense of like, even when some people do kitchens and all of their uppers are glass.

Kimber: Oh b.

Chris: And you can see everything in them. And I’m like, unless everything you own in your kitchen looks good on display, why are you making these choices? Maybe flank each side of your stove with a glass, do one or two fabulous. All of them. Like, what are you gonna do with the things where you put your Cheerios? Like, what are you talking about?

Kimber: Yeah, I mean that pisses me off on design shows when it’s like, oh, we’re making over this space for a family and we’re gonna have like more than half of the shelving be open shelves with no doors even or anything. Floating shelves. And you’re like, this family comes back in here and they’re gonna be like, well, my plastic cups that don’t match. Where do I put those now? Like, it’s just not realistic for people.

Chris: True. Yeah, my plastic drive thru cups are gonna go great here.

Kimber: Right?

Chris: it’s so true though. We all have those things in our kitchen that we’re notnna put out on display when we’re having people over that we want to have a good companion of us. They’re in cupboards for a reason. They’re in cabinets for just. I don’t get that. Put things away. It helps with the look of a space. And for me personally, I don’t know about. I like coming home. I like entering an environment where I feel like there is an element of make senseness, like organization. Organization.

Kimber: Yeah.

Chris: Control. It’s not chaotic.

Kimber: Yeah. I mean it, it is so true that when you have chaos like in your home, like as far as like not having stuff clean or having piles of crap everywhere that like, it causes more like mental chaos. Like it causes me stress. Like I. I think that there’s a difference between having like some clutter. Right. Like, oh, we didn’t put the mail away and there’s like a mae pile sitting out versus like dirt and like actual like grossness too. So, like, I’m okay with like, you know, piles of things here and there. Like, as a mom, like, my room is the last room to get taken care of. My laundry is the last laundry to get taken care of. Right.

Chris: Yeah.

Kimber: So a lot of my stuff lives in the laundry basket, which is tragic but true.

Chris: Yeah.

Kimber: And yeah. There is like something to be said about, you know, the chaos when you come home. That stress just isn’t lifted. Like after a work day, if you’re coming home to that.

Chris: Yeah.

Kimber: But some people have like blinders on and that stuff doesn’t bother them.

Chris: Yes. It’s like coming back to your same environment all the time.

Kimber: Yeah.

Chris: Not leaving it regularly, blah, blah, blah.

Kimber: Yeah.

Chris: You get the blinders up. Total.

Kimber: Yeah.

Chris: To your own stuff. I’ve even heard people referencing when talking about cleaning. I don’t really. I’m a fairly cleanly person cleaning. Like I don’t know it is what it is, but I’ve heard from someone before, even when they were re like, well, I wasn’goingna clean, but it doesn’t matter ca becausee it’s just my filth anyway. And I’m like, oh my gosh. I know, like, it’s like, I hear you. Like, I know what you’re saying because I know my filth. When I know my filth, I’m cool with my filth. Yeah. I just don’t like living like that. I don’t like having people come to my home and be like, wow, this is filthy.

Kimber: I can’t do it.

Chris: Can’t do it.

Kimber: Like, if I go to somebody’s house and I don’t want to take my shoes off or like, if you’re. If I know I’m going to your house, I’m gonna wear socks because I don’t want my bare feet even on your floor. Like m. To me, that’s a problem. I cannot handle it. But I’m also the type of person that like cleans my baseboards and stuff like that.

Chris: Yeah.

Kimber: Yeah.

Chris: And this is. I don’t know that I’m crazy about cleanliness. I tend to be a little more about spaces where people are going to be. I want them to feel comfortable.

Kimber: Yeah.

Chris: I feel like my motivation for having a clean home is really about comfort.

Kimber: Yeah.

Chris: I Want people to come into my home and not feel like, oh, God, am I going toa have to use their bathroom? Because every time I go to their bathroom it’s a disaster.

Kimber: Yeah.

Chris: Like I wouldn’t want to. If you know that that’s happening in your home and you’re like, that’s fine. I don’t get that. It would make me uncomfortable to be like, guests don’t want to. I know they don’tn toa use my bathroom. I know they don’t want to take their shoes off cause my floors are fucking filthy.

Kimber: Yah.

Chris: I know they don’t want to prepare food in my kitchen because every time they do their’re disgusted.

Kimber: They think they might get a cold iron.

Chris: Right. I mean, like, I don’t know, it’s just, yeah. I don’I.

Kimber: Don’t know how people can live that way.

Chris: I don’t either. And I feel like one thing with the families that’s challenging when you’re picking up other people. I, know so many women that are like, oh, if I didn’t have a man in my life, my place would be perfect because I’m constantly picking up after my man and I’m like, lucky because I’m a single guy and I feel like if I had a man in my life, I would have some sort of wicker basket, some sort of tote thing from, a store where I would go around the house randomly and just put all this shit in it and be like, it goes in the office, it goes in the store.

Kimber: Yeah.

Chris: When you’re looking for your shit and you don’t know where it went, it’s probably where I always put it because yeah, I don’t want, I don’t want to clean up. I don’t want have to be thinking about where to put your shit. I’ll just pick it up.

Kimber: Right.

Chris: I don’t mind picking up. I don’t. But I want a place to look. It’s for me, the cleanliness is about comfort.

Chris: I don’t want to feel uncomfortable in my own home because of filth. And I certainly don’t want other people coming into my home and being like, every time I go to his house, like, it’s disgusting.

Kimber: Yeah. This crusty ass towel in the bathrooms, the same one that I’ve seen the last like two months that I’ve come here to visit.

Chris: Which is a funny example because Kimber told me about that and I was like, I’m sorry about my Krusty towel. And she’s like, no, not your towel.

Kimber: No.

Chris: And I’m like, no, I know it’s not my towel. Cause I don’t have any crusty towels.

Kimber: I just was thinking about it. Cause I’m like, oh, that. It just bothers me when you. Yeah. Go into someone’s house and you do feel uncomfortable. The one, like, thing that I always think of, and I. I think this is so true, is that if you are gonna clean one room, any room in your house before having a guest, like, let’s say you find out someone’s coming over in a half an hour, just clean up your bathroom. Like, the bathroom is the one thing. And like, for women, it’s like you’re sitting on the toilet. Am I looking at, like, your floor and seeing, like, wads of hair, like tumbleweeds, like, wafting across your floor? Like, please pick that up. Or like, men that stand in pee, you know, they’re staring at the back of the toilet. Like, what the hell are they seeing? Like, just think of the perspective of the person that’s sitting there. Like, that’s not their filth.

Chris: Yeah.

Kimber: Like, I don’t want to be sitting on a toilet that’s got, you know, random hairs hanging on it. Like, what the hell is that?

Chris: I know. And it’s so terrible because, you know, having a dog.

Kimber: Yeah.

Chris: I find my. I find little rebel hairs. My. You know, my bosson terrier. His hair ends up looking like eyelashes sometimes. Like, short, really black pubes.

Kimber: Yeah.

Chris: And I’m like, great. So my dog’s hair looks like short little black pubes everywhere. So I agree with you. If I know someone’s going toa be here in 10 minutes, I’m going in and I’m wiping down that bath as fast as I can. Like the floors, the corners, the toilet, the sink.

Kimber: Yeah.

Chris: Bam. Like, my shower doesn’t need to be spotless. I don’t really care. They’re not taking a shower.

Kimber: Yeah.

Chris: But, like, I don’t want someone sitting on the john, looking around, being like, this is disgusting. So I’ll do that. And then my second thing is the kitchen primarily. Even if it’s just getting all the shit off the counters into a drawer into the closet and doing a quick wipe down clean surfaces. You can set your food here.

Kimber: Yeah.

Chris: You can put your arms. You can rest your arms on this counter and you won’t be peeling your skin off of it because it’s disgusting.

Kimber: Yeah.

Chris: And so the bathroom thing is so important. And it just. The pet thing adds another layer with the hairs because I Will go in and clean that bathroom. Someone will come over, and I’m like, oh, I’ll use the bathroom, too. And I look and I’m like, o. There’s, like, black hairs. It’she to my dog. And I’m like, oh, no.

Kimber: I think people know, though, right? Like, I mean, if you know your friend has a dog, like, you’ve seen the dog shed. There’s a difference between a few hairs. And, like, they never vacuum. And their carpet is, like, literally full of dog hair. Or there’s tumbleweeds of the dog hair in the corners of every room of their house.

Chris: And it’s weird. I have spent time in a friend’s home where the kitchen’s disgusting, the bathroom’disgusting Like, I’m like, oh, my God. I know you, and I know you have an extra 20 minutes or 30 minutes in your week to take care of this on a somewhat regular basis. But then they have, hand soap that’s, like, really expensive. Or they have random things where it’s like, why do you care about this when everything else is a disaster? Like, oh, well, I want to make sure you have a clean hand towel. I’m like, you want to make sure I have a clean hand towel? I can’t touch a single surface in this bathroom without literally needing to quarantine.

Kimber: Yeah.

Chris: And you’re worried about me having a clean hand towel. I wouldn’t even want to wash my hands because touching your sink is going to make them dirtier than me touching my own genitals.

Kimber: Right?

Chris: I just said genitals.

Kimber: Genitals. Can we complain?

Chris: Can we complain? Can we complain? Can we complain?

Kimber: I think that you have to have pride in what you own. And it comes down to pride sometimes. Like, is this just, like, a place that you’re passing through so you don’t give a shit about it? But that’s, like, a bad way to. That’s a bad mentality to have, you know, like, have pride in where you’re at. Like, no matter if you think that it’s, oh, this is beneath me. I’m just living here in this apartment t until I can buy a house, so I don’t give a shit about it. Well, you still, like, at some point in your life, like, think back to when you were like, God, I can’t wait to have my own apartment. Like, take pride in your place and your things. I think that there is something about that that shows to me maybe that, like, a different side to the person, like, mentally, maybe where they’re at. I don’t know if I want to go there, but like kind of agreed.

Chris: I feel like the two things that I’m thinking of when you’re saying that one is that Beatles. I don’t know if it’s John Lennon, but the whole notion of like life is what’s happening while you’re busy making other plans.

Kimber: Yeah.

Chris: And people have destinations in mind for they want to go in their life and you’re in a rental that you don’t like. I’ve lived in some sh. Shitty fucking apartments.

Chris: People have come into apartments before I moved into them being like, wow, like okay, you know, and then I put my shit in, I make, I take my magic touch. And then the next time they come over they’re like, oh my God, this is so cute. And I’m like, it is a shitholeah. I am really good at making a shitole look good because I’m taking pride in it. I also grew up in home. We didn’t have money, we didn’t have things. I lived a very working class life growing up and, and my parents were raised, my dad was raised that way. My dad like ran the household and so on the weekends though you would smell bleach on the fucking weekends. Yeah. We’d be clean in that bathroom, we’d be clean in that kitchen. We’d be taking pride in that house because my parents actually owned that house and, and it was a big deal to take care of things that you own. And that lack of pride in ownership, even in pride in renting. You’re occupying it, you’re living in it.

Kimber: Ye.

Chris: You’re living in a place that you don’t give a fuck about at all.

Kimber: Yeah.

Chris: Like it’s weird. There’s something about taking pride in. There’s something old school about it. There’s something that comes from a place of non privilege, like of struggle.

Kimber: Yeah.

Chris: When you’re like, this is, this may be all I’ve got, but it’s gonna be the best that it can be.

Kimber: Yeah, I definitely feel you on that. I mean I came from a family that had like money issues and you know, we moved around a lot and like didn’t have, you know, a home for a while. We’re like living with family. And so I do think that when I have something, I always want to make the best of it and take care of it because there was a time in my life where I didn’t have that. And if you don’t go through those struggles that maybe you just don’t have that mentality so we’re thinking of it from, a different lens than Joe Shmo, who grew up, like, in a cul de sack with a brick house. And mom did everything and just took for granted that, you know, the house was cleaned up by, you know, their mom or whoever. Yeah. There’s.

Chris: Or maybe they don’t have hope. Like, they. They’re like, you’re saying something about mentality.

Kimber: Yeah.

Chris: That we’re not going toa sit. We don’t have to play therapist, but.

Kimber: Right.

Chris: If you don’t have a positive outlook.

Kimber: Yeah.

Chris: In general, like, I don’t even know if positive is the right word. If you don’t have a outlook where you want to do the best that you can, you want to enjoy life’s fruits that you’ve worked for. I don’t know. There’s something about that, that. Where the state of someone’s home can definitely give you an insight into their state of mind.

Kimber: I mean, and that bring, like, that brings me back to the whole, like, do stuff that brings you joy. If you want to paint your front door hot pink because it’s your favorite color, like, do that. Like, good for you. Have fun. Like, live in the home that you are in. Like, you’re living there. Like, don’t have plastic all over your furniture and your carpets because you might sell your house in 10 years. Like, what the fuck is that?

Chris: Yeah, absolutely. Resale is totally a thing. But you have to live there. Life is for the living. You’re only gonna get so much of it.

Kimber: Yeah.

Chris: Like, oh, thank God I didn’t make my house a mess for a decade. I should say make. Thank God I didn’t really live in that home because I made ten grand more. Who’snna be thinking that when you’re on your deathbed? Like, give me a break.

Kimber: Where I didn’t paint the walls, like, this super dark color because I thought one day I might have to paint them white again. And I was thinking ahead too far.

Chris: Right.

Kimber: Like, yeah, enjoy where you’re at. I. I have, like, some weird tastes, and I think that it is hard for my husband sometimes to, like, get on board. So, you know, most of the time I ask him or tell him what I’m gonna do ahead of time. But there have been times where I just do it because he doesn’t know. Always gonna love it until it’ there.

Chris: Yeah.

Kimber: And, like, the one thing that comes to mind is my food wall that I’m working on.

Chris: Oh, God.

Kimber: And you hate this. You hate this idea. But I know once it’s done, people are gonna be like, okay, that’s cute.

Chris: Give people at home an idea of what you’re talking about. Because I’m under the impression that perhaps if I see it, I’ll think differently.

Kimber: Yeah.

Chris: But I’m struggling with this one.

Kimber: Okay, so I want a kitschy kitchen.

Chris: Okay.

Kimber: I love some kitsch. I love a kitschy Christmas. I want a kitschy kitchen. Dave, on the other hand, is like, oh, my God. He’s been seeing. So I’m gonna wait to do this wall until I have all the pieces that I want, because, again, I want it to be intentional and I want to do it right if I’m gonna do it. So I’ve been accumulating pieces for my food wall in my kitchen. And my house is very, like, mid century, an older home with, you know, some of that. The kitchen, they’ve painted the cupboards before we moved in. And I want to bring it back eventually to, like, its era and do, like, the mid century modern kind of kitchen or, like, tiled floors with, like, the black and white tiles, or maybe not black and white, but black and gray. Something to kind of bring it back to that time, but also modern, like we’ve talked about. So, I want to do a kitschy wall where you have, like, fake food items that are just hanging on the wall. So one of the things I bought was a bowl of cereal that can hang on the wall. And it looks, like, so real. Because it is real. the girl, like, puts resin over the cereal and like, turns it into, like, a piece of art. I love it so much. And it’s, like, in a vintage bowl. The other thing that I, got is a waffle clock. So it looks like a real waffle with, like, little blueberries around the edges with whipped cream. Blueberries that count, counts the time.

Chris: O.

Kimber: And then I’m gonna have, you know, like, little corny signs up that say, like, I don’t even know. For instance, like, it’s always cupcake hour around here. Not like that. You know what I mean? Like, stupid stuff, like, get your ass out of my kitchen if you don’t want to eat my shit. No. Y. Y. Yeah. And, Oh, gosh, what else do I have? Oh, I have a fake jello cake. Like a fake, like, wibbly, wobbly jello. Like Jell mold? No, it’s like resin. So it looks like a real, like, jello from back in, like, the 50s, 60s. You know how they used to have those for, like, centerpiece desserts? Yes, I have a fake one of those that I’m gonna hang on the wall. One of the coolest things that I saw when I was looking for faux, hanging foods was a, platter of deviled eggs. A faux platter of deviled eggs.

Chris: Wow.

Kimber: And that was one thing I asked my husband. I was like, ooh, I really wanna buy this. This looks so real. Can you imagine having, like, deviled eggs hanging on your wall?

Chris: Yeah.

Kimber: And he said no. He said that was a little too far. Fake eggs.

Chris: What? That’s crazy. Dave loves my deviled eggs. Yeah.

Kimber: I think I’m gonna try to make my own maybe.

Chris: And see, it would be fun to do that because, you, know, do something. Start with something that’s not a big deal. Yep. And just master it, and then you can make your own stuff.

Kimber: Yep. So this is something that’s, like, experimental and probably, like, weird in a normal person. Probably wouldn’t have a faux food wall in their kitchen. But also, it’s gonna make me so happy.

Chris: Yes.

Kimber: Like, walking in there and seeing that. I think it’s adorable. I love the kitschy style, and I think it’s gonna just be adorable, like, in the area in the kitchen where I’m gonna do it. But is it for everyone? Definitely not. Not for the average bear, perhaps.

Chris: probably not.

Kimber: Yeah.

Chris: But I mean, it’s funny, as you’re describing it, like, I see it doesn’t sound all bad. Yeah, it’s for me. Like, to be fair, when you told me about this, I was over at your house for, like, the first time.

Kimber: Ye.

Chris: And we were hanging out in the backyard, and we were doing something in the kitchen, you know, prepping drinks or food or something. And you were re. Like, yeah, I’m gonna do, like, a food wall. I was like, what the fuck are you talking about? A food wall?

Kimber: Yeah.

Chris: Oh, my gosh. That’s so good.

Kimber: And I think we’d been drinking quite a bit.

Chris: Well. And I’ve never drank before, so a really big impact right now. The thing for me that I find the most. Okay. One of the most important things as an aging person, as a human being who’s particularly getting older, who has the privilege of aging, who is the privilege of still being alive, is lighting. Lighting is so my perspective. Going into people’s homes, particularly in apartments, if they’ve got canned lights and they think their overhead lights should be on all the time, and it’s like, what are you doing? Why is it this Brighton here?

Kimber: Yeah. You’re good at lighting, too, though. Like, I’ve asked your advice for how should I light this space or whatever and I haven’t done it yet. Particularly in my, in my built in. I want to put some like up lighting or something in there. but you’re good at that.

Chris: Thank you. And I will take that compliment. And I have earned that compliment. Yeah. I remember years ago when I discovered, online a pro tip about lighting behind plants. Like upight space.

Kimber: Yeah. Yeah.

Chris: Like just how up lighting really does bring about a, it ups the taste level. It brings a little bit of grandness to something or even if that’s not your vibe. So I’m in a mid century apartment, my vibe, my aesthetic. So I don’t have things where you would necessarily want it to look grand or verbose. But really like if you’ve got a big. If you got a bird of paradise in the corner, put an uplight behind it.

Kimber: Yeah.

Chris: Bam. Have lighting behind your TV going up. Bam.

Kimber: That shit looks faint.

Chris: It looks so nice. It looks so nice. And it’s so much better than just having these bold lights on everywhere. I would rather have four lamps, table lamps in a room with some dim lighting.

Kimber: Yeah.

Chris: And then some one can big overhead light that’s just like making everything really bright. And then also the notion of that blue white light, the cool light. Y don’t do cool light. Ye don’t do cool light. It’s so easy to avoid. I don’t know why people do.

Kimber: It’s a generational thing too though, becausee like I think back to like my grandma and they didn’t have any overhead lighting. They just had lamps like everywhere.

Chris: That’s true. My parents house like we the kitchen had a ceiling fan with lights.

Kimber: Yeah.

Chris: But most of the rooms it was all lamps. And I feel like it just, it adds character to a room to have lighting and it’s better lighting.

Kimber: Yeah.

Chris: I also buy light bulbs. I don’t have expensive hue light bulbs because I am a cheapskate. So I went online and found warm white lights that are remote color changing so they can go brighter, dimmer and you can go like I usually do reds, oranges, purples, like the nice friendly for skin tone colors. But generally just even having white light and being able to dim them a little and make them brighter.

Kimber: Yeah.

Chris: You don’t need to, you don’t need to spend hundred dollar one hundred on a light bulb.

Kimber: Yeah.

Chris: For it to be good, it just needs to not be blue white lights and be able to control it. Be able to control the direction backlighting and upighting is so important. And also when having gatherings, I love to have candles out. Candles are a great way to add some lights and ambiance. They can be relatively inexpensive. Buying some nice tea light holders where you only have six because they’re six for twenty dollar, it’s like, well, that’s fine. I can buy six tea light holders for 25 bucks.

Kimber: Ye.

Chris: And then every party you have like two in the kitchen, two in the living room, one in the bedroom, one in the bathroom. And people are just like, it is so nice. And it’s like, that was not much.

Kimber: Of an effort, right?

Chris: It’s really not.

Kimber: And it’s mostly lighting, but people don’t do that. So to them it’s like, oh, wow, that’s so fancy. Because people don’t really do candles like that anymore. I In my front room, we call it the fancy room. it’s like the fancy living room that has like a fireplace and

Chris: You have that plush couch. What color is it? Green.

Kimber: It’s dark green velvet. And then we have blue like huge velvet armchairs that are like square mid century modern that we have to coveruse. We have a cat.

Chris: Yes. It’s definitely the living room. That’s too fancy to just sit in. Like it’s y. The living room you look at kind of.

Kimber: Yeah, yeah. So in there, I have faux candles like all over the fireplace, like on the top of it and the bottom I have faux candles that are on a timer. And every time I walk by that room I’m like, ugh, girl, it’s just gorgeous. Like, you’ve made it, you’ve got a fancy living room, but you can’t.

Chris: I love that shit. I love that shit.

Kimber: Yeah.

Chris: Remotes, timers, these are our friends when it comes to lighting it.

Kimber: Just.

Chris: And with Christmas stuff. So the holidays are coming up from our recording time right now. And I put up my things early this year because there was a presidential election and I needed the good vibes.

Kimber: Some sort of happiness.

Chris: When the results were coming in, I was like, Christmas tree is going up tomorrow. And so now that I, when I decided to do that, I invested in once again, not very expensive. I want to say’twenty 25 bucks. And I got a pack of three that are remote controlled power on and off plugins. Right?

Kimber: Yeah.

Chris: So rather than even. Because I don’t really like everything being on my phone because when you’re entertaining, when you have people over, I don’t necessarily want to be on my phone. I kind of want to Be able to control it in other ways.

Kimber: Y.

Chris: So I’m not the biggest thing about having the hue lights and the expense of whatnot. This way. I have a remote that sits behind a picture frame in my entryway. I pull it out, I aim it at the. I aim it at the Christmas tree, and I turn it on.

Kimber: Yah.

Chris: I aim it at the thing behind my bird of paradise. Turn that light on, and then when I go to bed, I turn them off. Otherwise, those would be on timers.

Kimber: Yeah.

Chris: Because I would just want them to turn on and off. I don’t want to turn my Christmas tree on and off every day. However, having that remote makes it. I love the remote. I’m so into it, and it’s not fancy.

Kimber: Ye.

Chris: It’s actually pretty easy. I don’t know. I love that shit.

Kimber: I have to hide our remote for the lights like, so well, though, because, Clark is obsessed with buttons and, like, remotes, and he will just like, snatch those things so fast and then fuck up all the settings. And then I’ve got to wait until, like, the time of day again where I want to set it for eight hours. And it’s, like, so annoying. But, you know.

Chris: Buts. Butssolutely.

Kimber: Yeah.

Chris: Well, I’m so glad that you were able to come over and to record with me today. Thank you so much, Kimber.

Kimber: Yeah.

Chris: I’m looking forward to you being a. Hopefully a reoccurring guest host guest with me. I love it.

Kimber: It would be fun. If I’m not too intolerable for people.

Chris: we’ll see what people have to say. Oh, my gosh. I know. It’s funny because I have a thing. I’ve always had a thing with my voice. Now as a gay man, like, there’s that thing, like, there’s like, the gay lisp. And it’s like growing up, every boy that I knowe Every man that I know had a time where when you’re starting puberty or you’re doing whatever, you answer the phone and someone’s like, like, my mom’s name’s Heidi. And someone would be like, hi, Heidi. And I’m like, oh, God, this is Chris. Yeah, your husband had it. Everybody’s ha. Where they think you’re your mother on the phone, and it’s like, oh, my God. So that happens. Then all of a sudden, the voice cracks, the puberty starts, the blah, blah, blah. All of a sudden you get a man voice. But then also as a gay person, I have the gay accent, the lisp, the.

Kimber: The Accent.

Chris: The accent, the accent. Oh my God, that’s so good. So I have the accent, I’ve got the lisp, I’ve got the whatever. And it’s funny because even when I moved to la, people were like, oh my gosh, you don’t sound like you’re from Minnesota. And I’m like, the gay accent covers up the Minnesota accent. It’s still very much there, trust me.

Kimber: Yeah.

Chris: and so recording our family on the answering machine, our greeting. And I’d hear my voice tonight. Cringe. When I was younger, I would always hear my voice recording on things and I’d be like, God, this is terrible. So I bought these microphones to start doing this podcast. I did a test run and I thought, my voice doesn’t sound that bad. No, I mean, it wasn’t driving me nuts in the way that I thought it would.

Kimber: Ye.

Chris: So the reason I’m bringing this up is if you’renn complain if you’renna bitch to me on the Internet about my fucking faggot voice and how m queer I sound, I’mnn tell that. Well, one day I would have cried, but now I’m not going to because.

Kimber: I’m like, you know, I.

Chris: What’did you say?

Kimber: Vocal fry.

Chris: Vocal fr. Oh, God.

Kimber: Where it sounds like you smoked like, you know, cigarettes every day of your life. At least two packs or something.

Chris: That could be my new thing. But I just, I remember listening to it and being like, you know what? This sounds more like my actual voice. There’s something about quality microphones, conversational. When you’re not like, I’m rehearsed, I’m saying some lines, that helps. But I’m just, I’m, just putting it out there for anyone homosexual that knows what I’m talking about, knows what I’m fucking talking about. And most people, I think, hate their voice when they hear it recorded back. I’m just hoping listening to it on a podcast, I don’t want to pull my own larynx out.

Kimber: Yeah, I mean, I sound like a little girl, I think. What I talk, I mean, which is annoying. And I’m a singer and I’ve heard my singing voice plenty of times recorded and don’t think that at all. But when I’m just talking, it sounds like a little girl to me. I don’t know.

Chris: Well, just so you know, when we recorded the other day, I didn’t think you sounded like a little girl.

Kimber: O thank you. Thank you so much.

Chris: You sounded like a grown ass woman, honey.

Kimber: Good.

Chris: thank you so much for joining me today. I really, really appreciate it. It’s so fun having you here, Kimber. And everyone, please follow. Keimmie complained on the socials. Subscribe on, any platform where you listen to your other favorite podcasts. Tell a friend, tell a loved one, tell someone you hate. Get them pissed off.

Kimber: Right.

Chris: Love you, Kimber.

Kimber: Love you.

Chris: Thanks, everybody. It.