Wellness is the New Luxury: Tanya Shively on Healthy, Sustainable Interiors

In this episode of Beyond Interior Design, Marc Müskens sits down with Tanya Shively, interior designer and founder of Sesshu Design, to explore how your home can either heal or harm you.

They discuss how everything from your lighting to your paint can impact your well-being, how Tanya's W.E.L.L. philosophy came to life, and why non-toxic, sustainable design isn’t just a trend—it’s essential.

In the episode, Tanya shares:

How circadian lighting systems can support natural sleep cycles Why your home might be making you sick (and how to fix it) Simple steps to reduce toxins using zero-VOC paints and materials Her mission to make healthy homes the standard for luxury living

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Tanya is offering early access to her Top 10 Wellness Design Features PDF — a practical guide to creating a healthier home through smart design choices.

Download it here: beyondinteriordesign.club/tanya

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Transcript

[00:00:00] Tanya: Most people don't realize that their home can be an affecting their health and impacting it both negatively and positively. So there is a little bit of an education process, and that's a big part of what my message to the world is, and we can make choices that improve that.

[00:00:27] Marc: I am super into all things health, CrossFit, mindset, wellness, you name it. And for me it's all about feeling good, staying sharp, and living a happier life. And I think the same goes for the spaces we live in. Why not design a home that not only looks great, but actually supports who you are and who you want to be?

[00:00:47] That's why I'm really excited about today's guest, Tanya Shively. She's the founder of SES Design Associates out in Scottsdale, Arizona, and she's all about designing literary spaces that [00:01:00] are a healthy, sustainable, and just feel amazing to live in. What's cool is Tanya's design journey started early, just 12 years old when she got to redesign her own bathroom.

[00:01:10] Since then, she's built a reputation for creating beautiful homes that also boost wellness and performance. We are talking eco-friendly materials, well tag and a nature inspired design, all woven into our philosophy called well designed homes. She's on a mission to shake up the design world and bring more attention, health, and purpose into how we live.

[00:01:32] So if you ever wondered how your home could help you to live better, this one's for you. You're listening to the Beyond the TE Design Podcast, and let's dive in. Here's Tanya Shavey. Welcome Tanya. 

[00:01:44] Tanya: Hi Bark. Thanks for having me. 

[00:01:45] Marc: Interior design means different things to different people. For some it's about aesthetics.

[00:01:51] For others, it's about, uh, functionality. But Tanya, you probably have a very clear and unique definition of interior design. What's yours? 

[00:01:59] Tanya: For [00:02:00] me, interior design means curating your home for success. 

[00:02:03] Marc: That's such a powerful statement, curated for, uh, success. And it all ties beautiful into our current focus of attracting those dream clients who truly resonate with your philosophy.

[00:02:15] But, um, if I'm, uh, correct, your journey didn't start here, right? It began at a slightly different direction, didn't it? 

[00:02:22] Tanya: Well, I started out in a really traditional interior design path, um, as far as what the design process and results were looking like. But early on I knew that I wanted to be more eco-friendly and.

[00:02:39] After working in sustainability and eco-friendly homes for a while, I realized that something that really matters to most people is their health and their wellbeing, and so I pivoted slightly to creating homes for optimal wellness. I. 

[00:02:55] Marc: Ah, optimal wellness, but way if we go way back because why do you [00:03:00] have this health focus actually, where does it come from?

[00:03:02] Tanya: Yeah. That actually comes from growing up, um, with my father who had severe chronic asthma, so indoor air quality. That was a big part of me wanting to do the eco-friendly homes was the indoor air quality, because that's something that as interior designers we can affect directly. And I grew up in Jackson Hole, so literally on the border of Grand Teton National Park and Yellowstone National Park.

[00:03:27] Yep. And the idea of environmental responsibility and stewardship for our planet was also deeply ingrained in just everything about where and how I grew up. 

[00:03:39] Marc: So you told me your father had health issues. Mm-hmm. It could feel like this is your responsibility to fix something or how, how, how was that for you?

[00:03:49] We were like, okay, I'm an there is, can I fix even this? 

[00:03:52] Tanya: Yeah. You know, I was hearing more and more about how much asthma was on the rise and [00:04:00] how more and more people were being diagnosed with asthma and like I said. Indoor air quality is something that directly affects people who have asthma and allergies, and that's something that we can control with the materials and the finishes that we use.

[00:04:14] So it was. Kind of a no brainer for me to be designing that way, especially if that was a concern for my clients. 

[00:04:22] Marc: Yeah. But, uh, I know we can, uh, sometimes can feel for interior designers and architects that we are kind of shrink or something because, well, you know what I'm talking about and now you are, you can be a doctor too, or 

[00:04:35] Tanya: well.

[00:04:36] I don't ever want people to think that I can cure whatever ails them. You know, we can certainly do everything in our power to improve their environment and hopefully that improves their health. But no, I'm not a doctor and I can't fix people. 

[00:04:53] Marc: Uh, well, unfortunately, not everybody cares about eco Fenty or sustainable healthy environments, [00:05:00] but almost everybody cares about their own health.

[00:05:02] Right, exactly. But do you need to educate people on that? Because we know, we know the impacts of a well-thought healthy design, but not everybody knows. 

[00:05:11] Tanya: Very true. Yeah. Most people don't realize that their home can be affecting their health and impacting it both negatively and positively. So there is a little bit of an education process, and that's a big part of what my message to the world is that, yes, your home does affect your health, and we can make choices that improve that.

[00:05:32] Marc: Well, you've, you've chosen a very clear niche. That's something I really admire. It also is one of the reasons you're here today because picking the right niche doesn't just define your work, but it can actually make running an interior design business so much easier. Would you agree? 

[00:05:48] Tanya: Yes. If you have a clear niche and a clear market, um, then that makes your message to that market so much easier.

[00:05:55] Marc: How did this, this focus impacted the way you work with your clients? 

[00:05:59] Tanya: [00:06:00] Well, it has grown. It's evolved over the years. I've been designing for almost 30 years now, and it's definitely evolved. But part of my process has always been an. Intake questionnaire. And it used to be, you know, really centered around what colors do you like and what styles do you like.

[00:06:18] But I have added questions about, um, what are your priorities? Is energy efficiency a priority? Is your health a priority? Why is your health a priority? Are there any issues that we need to be aware of? Even if it's not something significant, if people have allergies, then that's something that's important to take into consideration with our design choices.

[00:06:42] Marc: Yeah. Very good. Let's go, let's go dive into that deeper, because we do ask for allergies, but I think we can add way more to make a barrier impact. So let's go deeper on that one. I'm, um, designing a healthy, eco-friendly environment that can feel overwhelming for many people. So where do you begin? [00:07:00] 

[00:07:00] Tanya: Well, like I said, it's directed a lot by the client and what their priorities and desires are and what their needs are.

[00:07:08] So with that intake questionnaire, that starts to give us a direction of if we need to be thinking one way or another as far as what materials we're using. Um, for example, I had one client who came to me because she had some, um, chemical sensitivities, and so we were very careful about our choices of materials, um, and making sure that they weren't offgassing, um, they were non-toxic, the finishes and the glues and everything.

[00:07:41] That, absolutely everything. Making sure that all of that was non-toxic, which is of course the basis for a healthy home is the air that you're breathing, the water that you're drinking. So we're bringing in air filtration, we're bringing in water filtration, and you know, those aren't the pretty sexy [00:08:00] parts, but those are some of the parts that really can affect your health and your wellbeing.

[00:08:04] Marc: Yeah. Is this a standard for you to use with this kind of to implement this kind of products? 

[00:08:09] Tanya: It is, yeah. It's the basis for me to always use the non-toxic materials. This case was a little bit more extreme, but yeah, it's always a basis. 

[00:08:20] Marc: Yeah. That's great. Yeah. You ha you have to, because even when you don't have allergies, people do want the healthy home.

[00:08:25] And again, I think we need to educate our clients and the world. Actually, people don't know, they just go to the shop to buy paint and they don't have thoughts about it. To put their newborn child in the most toxic room of the house with the new paint. 

[00:08:43] Tanya: I tell people all the time, that new paint smell, that new carpet smell, that new car smell, that's all toxic off-gassing.

[00:08:51] You don't want that in your home. So when we're using the Lowers or zero VOC paints, you really don't smell that. [00:09:00] Maybe you know, for a day or two, but it truly does go away because it's already so non-toxic. 

[00:09:06] Marc: So you start with the basics, air quality, the right products, purify water, air systems. What comes next?

[00:09:12] Tanya: Well, then I start talking with people, especially if they have told me something about their lifestyle and that, you know, maybe they're into competing in a sport of some kind. I had a client who was a triathlete, you know, not professional triathlete, but he liked competition, and so that's when we start talking about spaces and features that aid in recovery.

[00:09:37] And a lot of my clients are also very interested in their mental health and their mindset, and. Spaces like yoga rooms and meditation rooms and steam rooms and all of these kinds of things that really help you to relax and rejuvenate are important to a lot of people. So we just start going down that path and asking those [00:10:00] questions, you know, is this something that you are interested in?

[00:10:02] Is this something that you want? A lot of times people are actually coming to me and saying, I want a cold plunge. I want a steam room. I want a yoga room. So even when they're not necessarily overly wellness or wellbeing focused, my clients are asking for those kinds of things and then we just expand on that.

[00:10:21] Marc: Yeah. And what about, what about lights? Because I do think it's one of the most important features of a well thought and dare design. I. I can imagine air first, then, uh, light second. 

[00:10:31] Tanya: Absolutely. Absolutely. Um, and our first thing that we like to do is incorporate as much natural light as we possibly can and take advantage of our gorgeous views that we have here.

[00:10:44] When it comes to the artificial lighting, there's some new technology out that I think is just super cool, where with a high quality LED light and lighting control system, we can create what's called a circadian rhythm [00:11:00] lighting system. What that does is it's program to automatically dim and warm your lights at certain times of the day in the early morning and in the evening, and then in the middle of the day it brightens it and makes it a whiter, more clear light, which is what mimics the actual sunlight that we experience over the course of a day.

[00:11:22] So it really helps to tune your body into its natural rhythms. One of the problems that a lot of people are having right now is sleep issues. And most people don't realize that it's probably being caused by the fact that we're looking at screens all day. We're living in artificially lit spaces, and all of that signals and triggers your brain to be like.

[00:11:46] Wait and alert, and it's really hard to calm down and go to sleep when you're in that highlight environment or looking at a screen or a television or a phone that has blue light. 

[00:11:58] Marc: Yeah, it has to do with the blue light, [00:12:00] right? 

[00:12:00] Tanya: Yeah, exactly. That says to your brain. Be awake, be alert. So if that's what you want, that's great, but if you're trying to go to bed, you want it to be warmer and dimmer.

[00:12:09] Marc: Yeah. Wonderful. Yeah. And uh, you told me you live in Arizona, there's sometimes too much sun. Mm-hmm. Can, can that be stressful? Too much sun. 

[00:12:18] Tanya: Yeah. You know, and that's one of the interesting things too about with interior design is our color choices. You actually don't want a lot of white, white, white, because paired with our intense sun, that can kind of be a lot.

[00:12:35] It's just too glaring and too bright. So of course things like our window shades, which we like to put on the control systems so they can automatically adjust according to the time of day. And you know, of course our heat too, so it can limit the heat, 

[00:12:54] Marc: temperature. Temperature is another feature.

[00:12:55] Tanya: Temperature, keep the space more comfortable. Yeah, absolutely. 

[00:12:59] Marc: It's funny that [00:13:00] you talk about this white because in the previous episode we had Alina Shana, she's a, a global color ambassador. We talked about natural colors, but normally you think about these badges and grays and whites, but did it research?

[00:13:16] A science is proving that extreme white is very stressful. Yeah. It's funny that we use it so much in our interiors because pure white is actually never a good choice. Yeah. 

[00:13:28] Tanya: Yeah. It's been a trend for a while, and I, for one, am very grateful that that trend is going away. I think people are starting to realize that that's actually not a comfortable environment to live in.

[00:13:38] Marc: Yeah, so we have basically, we have air quality on one, then the light, and then the temperature. It's a kind of top three to, uh, think about. So it's not even about aesthetics right now. You, we are just talking about other qualities of the interior design. 

[00:13:53] Tanya: I mean, lighting of course can have aesthetic aspects to it, you know, with lighting design, so that we have task design, we [00:14:00] have ambient design, we have accent lighting, you know, so it can be part of the aesthetics as well.

[00:14:06] But the circadian rhythm is just technology that great for our health. 

[00:14:10] Marc: Is this, uh, something you start talking about in the first place already about this kind of design principles to work with this, uh, features or elements, or is this coming later on in the conversation? Do you, you just start talking about the aesthetics or how, how does it work in your case with your clients?

[00:14:27] Tanya: It's something we start talking about early on and it evolves, you know, as the conversation goes on and, and, um, you know, when we start in choosing light fixtures and doing lighting design, that's when we really start. Bringing up ideas of. The different layers of light. I typically bring up the circadian rhythm lighting kind of early on because I think it's an interesting feature and, and people need time to understand it.

[00:14:52] Marc: What do you think are the most I supported spaces in a home when it comes to health and wellness? The 

[00:14:57] Tanya: spaces that you spend the most time in your [00:15:00] bedroom is key because you're spending, you know, typically at least eight hours in your bedroom. And so you want that to be as non-toxic as possible, and there are a lot of things that go into a typical bedroom that might not be that healthy.

[00:15:15] You know, latex, non synthetic latex mattresses, memory foam mattresses. Bad, bad, bad, bad. They're offgassing right there at your face all night. Then probably the next big one, and this is a big one for everybody, is your kitchen. 

[00:15:29] Marc: Yeah, of course. The kitchen. Yeah. But what, what you talk about the, the bedding, so we talked about the light.

[00:15:34] Some people spend even more time in the bathroom because they, they work from there, or they want to eat something. They, they take their breakfast in the bathroom. Right. How, how do you, how do you deal with that? Because we once had a client and. Well, our, uh, philosophy is living on your own terms. So in that case, we design what they like and how they live.

[00:15:52] Mm-hmm. So we designed the kind of kitchenette in the bedroom so he can stand up at, well, half past 11, [00:16:00] then he can go down, but. Before that he didn't have any breakfast. He didn't, he just laid on in the bed, owned his laptop, a very unhealthy habit, but we, we changed it into a healthy habit so he could gather, grab his coffee or tea and a, a healthy snack.

[00:16:15] Do you have this kind of um, I would not call it silly, uh, silly grass, but it, it is not the ordinary, 

[00:16:22] Tanya: actually, it's super common for my clients to have a little. Coffee bar in their bedroom, you know, a little, um, under counter refrigerator that's got maybe some healthy drinks in it, but yeah, like a coffee bar, tea bar, something like that.

[00:16:36] Because live on your own terms and if you like to have a slow start to your morning and relax and wake up slowly and gently and have a little tea or coffee while you're in bed. Absolutely. 

[00:16:48] Marc: Yeah. For him it was a kind, a really efficient one because he woke up, but he was like, if I go down, I will. It was a big house.

[00:16:56] So he will meet his staff? 

[00:16:58] Tanya: Yes. 

[00:16:58] Marc: Or he will [00:17:00] meet other stuff or things he didn't want to see 

[00:17:02] Tanya: exactly. 

[00:17:03] Marc: He, he just closed down his, um, hisself in the bedroom so nobody could disturb him. Nobody saw him. So he did his mm-hmm. The most of his, of his work he did in the bathroom in the mornings, and he was a very successful, uh, guy.

[00:17:17] I can tell you. 

[00:17:18] Tanya: You know, a lot of times I like to describe your bedroom as your sanctuary and you know, that's the place where it's your little cocoon and you don't have to see other people. 'cause people aren't gonna just walk into your bedroom typically. 

[00:17:32] Marc: Yeah. Yeah. It is. Let's dive to the second, uh, room.

[00:17:35] You told me kitchen already. What's going on in the kitchen? How can we create a healthy space over there? 

[00:17:40] Tanya: Yeah. Something that I'm doing more and more, almost exclusively now actually, is replacing the microwave with a steam oven. It is so much healthier in the way that it prepares your food and it can do almost all of the same things that a microwave does.

[00:17:54] And then, you know, those. Refrigerator drawers or those things like that [00:18:00] where you have healthy snacks and healthy drinks right at your fingertips. And especially if you have kids in the house, you know, they can be grabbing their snack or their drink without opening the big refrigerator. So. Making things easy to prepare a healthy meal and just designing around the way that you live and, and your family and, uh, those kinds of things.

[00:18:23] They are part of what goes into a typical kitchen design, but we're just looking for the healthier options like the steam ovens. 

[00:18:30] Marc: We had this sym, funny commercial from, uh, Heineke beer with a walking fridge. I don't know if that one was in, uh, like that America as well. There was a guy and a lady was showing the new house.

[00:18:40] They had a housewarming party and just the women opened their closet, uh, with full of dresses and clothes, shoes, all the, all the women were screaming like, oh, this is great. Whoa. But then. They were interrupted by the mans who were like, whoa. And we're like, what's going on here? And then they walked over to the other room and there was a [00:19:00] walking fritz.

[00:19:00] So we built a complete room with all the fritz with full of beer golds, of course. So it was a very funny commercial, but. A walking fridge or something like a, a cool room with glass that you literally see your vegetables and fruit and snacks. Is that the kind of common Yeah, I saw it only a couple of times, but it's, it looks very, it's a kind of healthy shop.

[00:19:23] You can grab your snack, you will literally see the healthy food, so that will change your habits for sure. 

[00:19:28] Tanya: It will. Yeah, that's a really good point. A lot of people don't want the glass door refrigerators. 'cause you know, most people's refrigerators not that tidy. 

[00:19:37] Marc: No leftover pizza. No, 

[00:19:41] Tanya: but they are available and if you want to remind yourself to eat the healthy snacks, that's a great way of doing it.

[00:19:47] That when the bowl of fruit on the countertop, you know, so simple. 

[00:19:51] Marc: That's something like that. You, you just grab the fruit, eh, in your, in your work. Yeah. Another question, does a healthy or sustainable lifestyle ref, [00:20:00] uh, how does it reflect in your portfolio? Is it a specific style or can you see it or recognize it?

[00:20:06] Tanya: No. Typically you can't, unless I tell you something about that photograph. What is in that room that's sustainable, that's healthy? Whatever. No, not really. 

[00:20:16] Marc: Yeah, that's quite a cool, it's the same with sometimes it seems to be like this ego interior designer or something like that. It has to look ego, but I'm like, Hey, you can use this material for every kind of situation.

[00:20:27] So it doesn't have to look ego. No, but it's the same with yours. It's just, it looks a, a normal, luxurious house, but it's even healthy. That's the extra. 

[00:20:36] Tanya: Yeah, exactly. And I tell people that all the time too. You don't have to sacrifice your style or your convenience or your luxury to be eco-friendly or healthy, and it does not relate to style.

[00:20:48] I've worked in all kinds of styles and equally healthy, equally sustainable, and each of them, yeah. Well, wonderful. 

[00:20:55] Marc: We just talked already about this, uh, circadian rhythm lighting system, smart [00:21:00] lighting systems. There is a, is a very kind of top three must have wellness features that your client love the most, or that, that you, that you love the most.

[00:21:09] Tanya: I think you know, those recovery spaces and those spaces for reflection and quiet, the meditation spaces are super important. And then. The kind of fun, interesting things that more and more people are putting in cold plunge pools are amazing. Um, you know, I keep sharing this story about LeBron James. He's 40 years old and he is still, you know, knocking down records and dunking on 20 year olds.

[00:21:38] And part of the reason he's able to do that is his. Maintenance and care of his body, his tool, one of the things that he does is a 15 minute cold plunge every day. 

[00:21:49] Marc: 15 minutes. 

[00:21:50] Tanya: 15 minutes, which I can't even wrap my head around doing that. 

[00:21:54] Marc: Well, I love cold plunges, very leery. Well, I live in the Netherlands.

[00:21:57] We have cold winters. It can be [00:22:00] minus, uh, degrees Celsius. Yeah, I, I love it. There's a kind of lake in front of me. Uh, probably you call it a pond, but the Netherlands so slow. It's a lake for us. Uh. I like to dive in that even in wintertime because it makes you feel so energized and this kind of, kind of reset of for your body.

[00:22:18] So, uh, yeah, I like gold punches. And another one in your top is hyperbaric oxygen chambers. What's that? 

[00:22:27] Tanya: Yeah, those are kind of crazy. Those are things that not everybody's gonna want or need, but it's basically the same technology that is used for divers who have decompression sickness or the bends. So it puts you into a highly pressurized environment.

[00:22:46] It's a chamber, usually sort of shaped like a submarine, if you will. So it's highly pressurized to something like twice our typical atmospheric pressure, and then also adds extra oxygen. And what that [00:23:00] does is it forces extra oxygen into your bloodstream and then forces out the toxins. So. I have one client who installed one because she was dealing with, uh, mycotoxin poisoning, mold poisoning as part of her recovery system.

[00:23:16] I have another client who's recovering from a stroke and a hyperbaric chamber was recommended to him as a way to increase the oxygen, um, and improve his brain recovery. So it's a little bit more of an extreme. Yeah. But there's people like Gwyneth Paltrow. She had one before her house burned down in the fires, sadly.

[00:23:37] But she had a hyperbaric chamber that she attributed to helping to keep her youthful. 

[00:23:43] Marc: So, yeah. Well, a steam shower, a sauna, a gym. Well, that's maybe not enough anymore. You need to go, you need to go beyond when you want to improve your health. Yes. Yeah. Well, for everybody, uh, for everyone's listening, if you're curious about even more ways to elevate your [00:24:00] space on this health level and wellness, we've gotta special gift for you.

[00:24:04] Well, Tanya has a special gift for you. You can head over to Beyond Design. To download Tanya's free PDF, the top 10 Wellness Features. It's, uh, packed with practical tips and ideas to help you design a home. Not only looks beautiful, but also supports your health and wellbeing. So, um, don't miss out and grab your copy now beyond Theand Club slash Tanya.

[00:24:26] Well. Let's take a step back and look at the bigger picture. In your experience, what's the key difference between top performing entrepreneurs that you are helping as well? And first, this elite athletes? 

[00:24:40] Tanya: Well, obviously athletes, their body is their tool for achieving their success, and so they are very focused on recovery systems.

[00:24:50] The. High achieving entrepreneurs and business people, they, their mind is their tool. So they're looking [00:25:00] for, um, you know, they're frequently very stressed in their everyday life, and so they're a little bit more looking for meditation spaces, salt rooms. Saunas, steam rooms, those kinds of spaces that help you to relax and de-stress.

[00:25:16] Marc: More wellness focused, 

[00:25:17] Tanya: more wellness focused, but in a, in a different way. It's more about de-stressing and relaxing and recovering from that sort of environmental challenge versus the body. 

[00:25:29] Marc: Yeah. So the, those, those athletes, you could say they go more hardcore because he wants everything out of the body.

[00:25:36] Tanya: Right, exactly. They're the ones that want the cold plunge because, you know, they realize and recognize how that cold environment helps your muscles to recover. 

[00:25:45] Marc: It is, it is, yeah, definitely. It's getting more extreme, isn't it? A couple of weeks ago I was watching the, the documentary about living longer.

[00:25:55] What took me the most was how some ultra wealthy people have designed their [00:26:00] entire lives around an extreme healthy lifestyle. Everything from the daily routines to their decisions revolves around extending their lifespan and optimizing their health. This is a, this is almost biohacking or something. Do you, do you have this?

[00:26:16] Extremes. Did you got them already on your, uh, in your clientele? 

[00:26:20] Tanya: Yeah, that's part of it too. Although it's a lot of the same technology, it's just how they utilize it. But things like infrared saunas are big. Mm-hmm. There's some kind of funky things out there, some wellness pods, you know, the. Incorporate sound technology and aromatherapy and light therapy.

[00:26:42] And a lot of those biohackers are kind of into those sorts of things. Yeah. They're kind of funky and interesting. 

[00:26:48] Marc: Yeah. I heard, uh, it was, uh, well, Kelly from the Mirror, he is, uh, coming again with part two in the podcast, but he was, he already told me that already the Egyptians had colon therapy [00:27:00] rooms. So we are talking about thousands of years ago, they already knew that just color could heal you.

[00:27:05] It's amazing, right? We forgot about it over the years. 

[00:27:08] Tanya: Yeah, that is wild. 

[00:27:10] Marc: I know you work with a questionnaire too. We have a freebie for that. The premium interior client blueprint you could download for free at our website, uh, too. But, uh, you already, um, added some extra questions to uh, our list. Uh, I do think, because you were talking about, uh, do you have any health issues or allergies?

[00:27:29] Mm-hmm. How do you deal with them if you get this answer? Are you an expert already on that? How do you deal with all this, all those kind of allergies? Or is there kind of one medicine for that? 

[00:27:40] Tanya: It depends on what the situation is. You know, typical allergies, asthma, health, whatever. That part, I'm pretty well versed in.

[00:27:47] Like I said, the one client I had that had the extreme chemical sensitivities, yes, we had to go do some research and find some alternative options. But I feel pretty well versed in that now [00:28:00] too. 

[00:28:00] Marc: Yeah. Yeah. This, this is extreme. Yeah. And do you ask the que, because you, you told us already, like what are your priorities, uh, what matters to you the most?

[00:28:09] Like health, wellness, aesthetics, functionality? Um, I can imagine we are. Well, some people call waning me, call the why guys, because I, I always want to know the why. Do, do you go really deep on those, uh, kind of things to really get to the core of the, what you need to design? If they, if they, if they, if they tell you aesthetics is the most important thing and actually they're calling you because you are already held sustainable interior designer.

[00:28:36] How, how do you cope with that? 

[00:28:37] Tanya: Well, yeah, like you said, why? Why is that? Tell me more. Dive deeper into that. And you usually uncover something that you might not have just automatically known or gone to, and that helps guide the whole process. Even if it is aesthetics and they think [00:29:00] it's aesthetics, what they might mean, for instance, is that we don't want our house to look eco-friendly.

[00:29:06] We want it to be whatever style. We like, you know, but we want it to be healthy. And they might be concerned that, you know, we can't do both. 

[00:29:15] Marc: Great. Because interior design is so emotional. It's about feelings, associations, memories. How can, how can you measure it? How can you measure that? You did a good job.

[00:29:25] Well, 

[00:29:25] Tanya: at the end of the project we do have sort of a follow up questionnaire and asking, you know. How they would measure their happiness, how they would measure their general wellness and wellbeing. Do they feel a difference day to day in their stress level? You know, so it's subjective, but it's always subjective, isn't it?

[00:29:49] Marc: Well, you can measure the air quality and the light quality and all the things you can measure, but well, the inside world, what is going on in the mind of your clients? That's hard to measure, right? Yeah. So you can, you [00:30:00] literally asking 'em, Hey, how do you feel now? And give it a, hey, give it a score. Mm-hmm.

[00:30:04] Scale. Scale it from one to 10 or something like that. 

[00:30:06] Tanya: Yeah, yeah, exactly. 

[00:30:07] Marc: Yeah. And then you can give a follow up after maybe six months when you're really living in the space and living a new life and a healthy lifestyle. You check in. That's what you do. Right. Wonderful. What, uh, what advice would you give to, uh, interior designs who want to position themselves as a to go person in this wellness and sustainability niche?

[00:30:26] Tanya: Well, what I basically have done is, you know, study, learn, research. You know, I got my lead ap years ago when Lead for Homes first came out, and so the. Studying and learning in order to do that started me down that path. And then it's of course something that I can point to and say, you know, this is accreditation that I have.

[00:30:51] Um, I've proven that I understand and know more about these things, but it's continually evolving. And so continuing to take, um. [00:31:00] Uh, education courses. I, we call 'em CEUs here. I'm not sure what you might, but yeah, just going to expos and events and seminars and webinars and, you know, following people like yourself who are out there sharing some of the cutting edge, leading edge kinds of philosophies and ideas.

[00:31:22] So it's really more about educating yourself. And then just sharing that message on social media, on your website, in a newsletter, those kinds of things. 

[00:31:31] Marc: Yeah. So Lilly, you have to share your story. Of course, you need, you can be a better designer if you educate yourself on all those qualities and things you need to know, but share your story, educating your clients.

[00:31:41] That's a very important, uh, thing. Mm-hmm. Actually, when I saw your, uh, socials or you are always talking about health and wellness and interior, combined with interior design, so that's very clear to me. If I'm looking for an interior designer who has this combination. In order to go to designer. 

[00:31:56] Tanya: Yeah, 

[00:31:57] Marc: that's, that's actually, that can be a superpower, right?

[00:31:59] If you [00:32:00] focus with this kind of 

[00:32:01] Tanya: Exactly. Yeah. In fact, I just had someone reach out to me because they wanted a wellness room. The, the client who had recently had a stroke and I asked how they found me and it was, you know, basically a Google search and they said, you seem to be the only one who does this.

[00:32:17] Wow. 

[00:32:18] Marc: That's great. That's great. 

[00:32:19] Tanya: At least in my area. Yes, yes. 

[00:32:21] Marc: Fairly 

[00:32:22] Tanya: true. 

[00:32:22] Marc: Yeah. I can imagine. Most clients don't even know what's possible. Right. How can we fix that? What would be your idea for the next steps to elevate this kind of niche? Actually, it needs to be in a a, a basic element of every interior design.

[00:32:36] Not to think about health and sustainability. That's my opinion, but how can designers start with this? Yeah. This element to inform. Clients better. 

[00:32:44] Tanya: Yeah. I think we just have to keep getting that message out there and we all have our own little ecosystem of our influence that we have people that we know and our social medias, our websites, putting out a newsletter, putting out a [00:33:00] blog, all of those kinds of things.

[00:33:02] And then also collaborating and coordinating with others in the field who are also sharing that message really helps to elevate it. 

[00:33:10] Marc: Well, as a wrap this up, as a kind of final conclusion, what, what do you think the future of interior design, uh, will look like? 

[00:33:17] Tanya: I think that wellness is a growing trend. I think it's gonna be more and more important and everything that I'm reading is confirming that, you know, I am looking at trends that are coming out for 2025 and wellness is right near the top of that.

[00:33:31] That's gonna be huge, which is great. I, I think it's wonderful that people are focusing more on their health and wellbeing and that designers can help them do that. 

[00:33:40] Marc: Yeah. Agree. Yeah. We have the power right to the, to design it. So, and yeah. I'll just always tell people, if you have the power, you have the responsibility, so do it.

[00:33:51] Yeah. So there are growing trends. Yeah. A gym alone is 

[00:33:54] Tanya: not enough anymore. No, exactly. Exactly. We need the recovery space. [00:34:00] Work out hard. Recover. Yeah. 

[00:34:03] Marc: Yeah. Well, yeah, wonderful. Heal from everyday stress being healthy and well, getting even more healthier. Yes. Get over there a hundred years old. What's the, what's the idea?

[00:34:15] What's your idea? Yeah. 

[00:34:16] Tanya: 130, 180. I've heard people shooting for. 

[00:34:21] Marc: Whoa. That's a goal. That's a goal. Well, then, yeah, thanks a lot for, um, for your inspiring insights and, uh, practical tips. Uh, it's clear that your approaches not only improves lives, but really transformed the way, uh, we think about interior design.

[00:34:35] And that's exactly why we are, we love creating this podcast, eh, after just one episode, people. Never designed the same way like they did before. That's, that's our goal. And I think it works with this one too. This is what Beyond is all about. So, um, thank you Tanya. Thank you Mark.

[00:34:56] A big thank you to Tanya Shively for joining us and sharing [00:35:00] such favorably insights it, uh, inspiring conversation. And we truly appreciate her time and expertise. If today's conversation with Tanya Maju. Eager to dive deeper into how wellness can transform your designs, your life, and that of your clients.

[00:35:14] Visit beyond Interior Design Club slash Tanya. And that's also where you can download the free PDF, the top 10 wellness features. And if you're ready to elevate your interior design business and connect with a growing community of ambitious like-minded creatives, join us at. Beyond the Dare Design clap slash join.

[00:35:33] And one last thing. If you enjoy today's episode, please subscribe and leave us a five star review on Apple Podcast. It helps us to reach more designers and keep delivering great content. Thanks for tuning in, and don't forget to turn on your notifications so you never miss an episode. See you next time on Beyond Interior Design.