Transcript of Make Your Space Special! Superstar Designer Amber Lewis (Pt 2) Shares Insider Tips + Her Deeply Personal, Inspiring Journey to Skyrocketing Success

Oh gosh, do you do this? Do you make people cry all the time? I can't believe I'm crying.

Coming up in this incredible part 2 episode with Amber Lewis.

It's tough to talk about. MS gave me that perspective of just, I have a different fire under my ass now.

Really?

Yeah, because tomorrow isn't a guarantee.

Yeah. Wow. I'm so honored you're here.

Thank you.

Blessing all of us with your time.

Thank you.

Amber Lewis is one of the most talented, buzzed-about, and in-demand interior designers right now, and she is here in person today with you and me to help us curate our own spaces, make our homes more magical, more livable, and even more us. What would you say makes a home often look energetically off, even if someone spent a lot of money on the stuff in there?

Honestly, when things are—

Everyone wants to know, what's your favorite white paint?

I have a few go-tos. I have a lot of go-tos, but one of my favorites is—

The color around us can change how we feel. When it comes to kitchens, what's something that really, really matters and what's something maybe that people get wrong a lot? How do you make a small room look bigger? What is something that often people will DIY, but you're like, oh no, no, no, it's actually really worth— even if you're on a tight budget, it's really worth spending the money. of actually hiring someone to do it who really— this is what they do.

Honestly.

Amber Lewis is a seasoned interior designer, founder of a full-service design firm, Amber Interiors, touting clients across the country. The genius behind the brick-and-mortar and online retail stores Shop Amber Interiors. And as a result of her remarkable love from her customers and demand for her talents, in recent years she's expanded her business into successful multi-year furniture, rug, textile, and decor collaborations with companies you love like Anthropologie, Loloi, Visual Comfort, and more. She's published 2 best-selling books, Call It Home and Made for Living, and her brand new 3rd book, a new home renovation and interior design book called Interiors: Curated Spaces from Start to Finish, is available Everywhere books are sold. And not only is she sharing answers to all of your most pressing design questions, she's also opening up like never before. We all go through things, we're all carrying things that no one can ever know or imagine unless they're inside our world.

He just very clearly just said, yeah, you just have MS. MS is invisible, and that is the hardest thing I've ever had to deal with. It's been a whirlwind. I've One of the greatest things that's ever happened to me, bizarrely, has been this diagnosis. The perspective shift is something that you only get through a traumatic event. It's not anything I would have ever thought I needed because I was on such a mission to grow and big, big, big, next, next, next. And all of a sudden you get sick and everything stops. You are just In your body, in your body that is failing you, and you no longer are living for anybody else. You're just trying to get through the day. And that is something that I would have never known had I not been given the perspective of this disease. I try to look at MS with a very day-to-day, how am I feeling today? If I let myself get too far ahead of myself with thinking about the future is when I tend to kind of collapse a little.

Yeah.

And feel very overwhelmed. I was with my ex from when I was 22 years old, and our life was really his life. We'd built everything together. We were a really, really, really strong team, and we still are a very strong team, but marriage is tough. We went through A lot of trauma. Our married life was struggling, and it was really hard. It was horrible. It was the hardest thing I think I've ever gone through. Taking those hard looks at your life are some— it's when the most change and evolution happens. Getting sick, my whole rug was taken from underneath me. I had to look at every single thing. And the people in my life too. I work with him every single day.

He's my best friend.

Right now?

He's your best friend right now?

And we love each other so much.

Are you dating anyone now?

Yeah.

Do you think if you had never worked together, you'd still be married? Do you think if you had not been diagnosed with MS that you would still be married?

I do actually think that.

Really?

You have to look back at your partnership as well and think, well, This is why.

You have a huge, thriving, avid fan community. I read that people have asked you to sign their chest at different events. Their boobs.

Their boobs at events. Yes.

When people are often successful, usually it's not an accident. And to understand who Amber is behind Amber, hearing how you've navigated really tough decisions, I mean, you're a badass. You're a badass and you're really tough and you're really ambitious and you're no joke. And And seeing that side of you, I'm getting emotional now. Everyone else cries on my show, but I'm like crying right now because I'm just like, I love this.

Oh man. It's like a therapy session, ma'am.

It's so beautiful.

Oh, thank you.

I am so excited for this conversation and I'm so happy that you are here. Thank you so much for being part of the Jamie Kernley Show podcast family. And if you haven't done this yet, can you take 2 seconds and hit the subscribe button on the app that you're listening or watching on? That way, you're gonna be the very first to get every inspirational episode. Plus, you can get weekly inspiration into your inbox from me for free. Just join my newsletter at jamiekernlima.com. And thank you for sharing this episode with every single person that you know who might need some inspiration and hope today, because we are all in this life together.

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What would you say makes a home often look energetically off, even if someone spent a lot of money on the stuff in there?

Honestly, when things are too matching. I think when someone says they bought the nightstand to match the dresser that matches the— and everything is the same finish and everything is the same color, I say get a little funk in there, get a little bit of a different finish or texture or color. Because it does, that energetically feels too much like a showroom and you want, you know, we want to live in our spaces.

Yeah.

And know the people who live in the spaces.

Right. Right. Do you have a favorite? So when you're picking a white paint for a wall or a white paint for a ceiling, do you have like A couple go-tos that are your favorite whites?

Yeah, in my first 2 books and even in this one, I just go through like the gamut of my white 'cause I get that asked all the time.

What's your favorite white paint? Everyone wants to know what's your favorite white paint?

I have a few go-tos, but one of my favorites is just honestly Benjamin Moore Swiss Coffee. It's a tried and true, it's warm. I paint it on a lot of ceilings, I paint it on a lot of trim, and I paint it on a lot of walls. It's a good color. But there's so many whites out there. There's so many.

One of my close friends, Victoria Jackson, who's done a number of houses, that's her favorite color, Swiss Coffee.

Yeah, Swiss Coffee. It's just straight. If you add, and every brand does it a little bit different. So Dunn Edwards Swiss Coffee is a little different than Benjamin Moore Swiss Coffee, which is a little different than like Behr Swiss Coffee. So it's ridiculous, but everyone is a little bit different. I like Dunn Edwards and Benjamin Moore.

Do you like, and the Swiss Coffee Benjamin Moore, it's almost like, It's white, but it's almost like a cream.

Yeah, it's creamy.

Yeah.

Which is beautiful because you don't want something to feel so white that you're in an operating room. It's the same with lighting. You have to be very specific about really honing in on a warm tone light. And so you don't want your paint to feel cold and you don't want your lighting to feel cold. It's a little creamy.

Have you heard of Windborne White?

Yeah, it's great. It's fantastic by Farrow& Ball.

And that one is, and then a lot of the more accessible companies have sort of been inspired by Windborne White and made a match.

Yes.

Okay. a little more white, white.

Wimborne is white, but it has a lot of yellow in it too.

Ah.

It has a lot of yellow, but like a good yellow. I've done a bunch of homes in the Wimborne. Oh, Farrow& Ball is another incredibly beautiful one.

Yeah, yeah.

I could go on and on. I could write a whole, another whole book about just white paint. About white paint.

Oh my gosh. Has anyone ever done that, I wonder?

I'm sure, I'm sure.

That's a good, I mean, that's important. I never understood why your white paint color matters, 'cause this is not my world. And I totally get it because the color around us can change Change how we feel.

Well, and here's what's another really wild thing to think about is that some people will say, well, oh, okay, I did this white on the interior, and then they'll go paint it on the exterior. Wrong. You have to think about the exterior in a totally different way than you do the interior because the exterior light is going to change seasonally and it's going to be different every single time of the day. And you can't just do a one-size-fits-all. So that's a whole other kind of thought process and Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. I think about it all the time.

What's so cool about this conversation is to be so granular about things. I think this is fascinating because when a regular person like me hops onto your Instagram and looks at something, and I'm like, why does this look so good? But then, you hear the thought behind all the things, and also, just the reps you've put in. over the years of figuring out why a white paint matters so much and how the color on the outside changes during different light and all of that. So super cool to hear about all of this. When it comes to people's kitchens, what's something that really, really matters and what's something maybe that people get wrong a lot?

Storage really, really matters. I am a big fan of hiding appliances because I love a clean-looking kitchen but a working kitchen. So I like when The appliances are behind cabinets if possible.

Mm-hmm.

But I love to see pots and pans. So it's like a very unique kind of flow. I want you to feel like you can use the space and you can use the kitchen. But I also like the idea of some of the uglier things, like our appliances that we use every day, to be behind an appliance garage.

Mm.

And I think a good range is a big, big, Worth the money investment.

A good range.

Yeah.

A good stovetop oven range.

Yes.

Yeah.

If you're remodeling a kitchen, that's choice number one, in my opinion. I think like one of the most important things is what is the range going to look like and then build around that.

Is it kind of like the centerpiece?

Yeah.

Yeah.

It's like jewelry.

The jewelry. How do you make a small room look bigger?

Actually, by, Less. So I think one of the things is it's the other idea is that you would think if it's a small room, small furniture. I actually think the opposite of that. You actually want bigger furniture in a small room because it feels a little bit more cozy and intentional instead of it feeling super small and then you put super small furniture in it. And also you can't really, unless you want it to feel like a nook, Mm-hmm. in a very kind of dark little hole, you always wanna be a little bit brighter in a smaller room on the walls. So like whites, creams, try not to go too dark and heavy, 'cause I think sometimes that will make the space feel like a small little hole cave.

That's like how black pants make us look thinner and white pants bigger, like that kind of thing.

Totally.

That makes sense.

Absolutely.

Brighter, whiter colors.

Yes.

Yeah.

And ironically, a little bit of a bigger furniture scale. I think is better.

Yeah, that's so interesting because you'd think, oh, it's small, let me get the smaller chairs. But yeah.

Probably smaller chairs, but I like when there's a little bit more upholstery. So if you're doing a living room that's small, I like the idea of a bigger sofa kind of filling the space a little bit more because it's kind of cozy. You're leaning into the fact that it's a small space.

You know, there's so many YouTube videos and so many things out there on DIY and like doing things yourself and all that. And What would you say is something that, because there's, you know, designers, of course, and contractors, then there's subcontractors, and then there's just figuring out someone that is a professional who could do it, whatever it might be. What is something that often people will DIY, but you're like, oh no, no, no, it's actually really worth, even if you're on a tight budget, it's really worth spending the money of actually hiring someone to do it who really, this is what they do?

Honestly, the painting, because I painted myself for clients when I first started in the very beginning, and oh, I had to learn a technique that I didn't know. You use like solvents and you want, I think if you are painting something, it's kind of good to hire someone who has a little bit more experience than you with a paintbrush. I mean, you can do it, but I think DIYing, never DIY or paint your furniture. That's something you always wanna outsource if you're gonna repaint something.

Painting, you know, that's funny you say that. I learned that the hard way. Recently, actually, where the company we hired didn't prime correctly.

Oh.

And every little crease, and they were so expensive, by the way, I've been figuring it out what happened. But every like corner and crease is cracking. And oh my gosh. And once you have things installed to have to redo it, it's such a nightmare. So that makes a lot of sense. So painting, you think is worth it?

Good quality painter and a good quality contractor go a long way. Yeah.

Okay, this is a big one for a lot of people.

Yeah.

Because, you know, a lot of people will just grab, you know, they'll order something online or they'll surf, you know, different furniture stores and they'll buy this or they'll buy that. When you have pets and you have kids or you just wanna be able to put shoes on a couch and not worry about it, shoes on a sofa and not worry about it, what is the best fabric Um, you would say for like a sofa that's the most durable for kids or pets, but still you would love and feel chic? And/or do you Scotchgard things? What do you do to make something where you just don't have to worry about it?

Well, they make a lot of amazing fabrics now that are that indoor-outdoor quality. So they have that stain guard in them, performance fabrics. But sometimes performance fabrics don't actually look like the beautiful hand kind of linen that I am drawn to. But companies are getting a lot better. So a performance fabric is great because you don't have to worry about it so much. But honestly, natural fabrics are really durable. I mean, they've been around for years. It's the same theory about people with natural stone in their kitchen. They freak out.

Mm-hmm.

I don't want it to stain. If you go to Europe and you look at everything everywhere, it's all marble. It's the The floors in the Vatican, like the ceilings, everything, it's marble. And it adds patina and character. You just have to get not precious about it and lean into the fact that it's going to get a little wear and tear.

You have to be okay with that.

So it's adapting your mind to the space. But I think performance fabrics, they're starting to get better ones. But ultimately, I love a natural fabric and a wool. Wool rugs are beautiful and they actually wear pretty well. But the, you know, the ones that we do with aloe are great too.

This is the most random question, but I think everyone wants to know this for their real life.

Yeah.

Is, do you have a favorite stain remover?

Honestly, the one that Resolve makes, it's like a pet and odor remover, or Nature's Miracle. Both of those work fantastic. Nature's Miracle works pretty good on stains.

On stains on all types of fabrics? Yeah.

Yeah.

Like sofas or rugs?

Yeah. I mean, just make sure, don't, don't quote me, but of course, of course, test it first. But yeah, I mean, so far so good. I've used it for years. I've got 3 cats, so.

Okay. Yeah. You'd be mortified if you've seen some of the times I've tried to remove stains and I'll like create a bleach spot on a sofa or any of those. Yeah.

Hire a professional when it comes to like bad ones. You just gotta hire a stain pro.

Yeah. To get it out. You know, I wanna talk about a lot of the things that maybe a lot of people are gonna connect with.

Yeah.

That are, you know, we all go through things, we're all carrying things that no one can ever know or imagine unless they're inside our world. You shared publicly about your MS diagnosis. And can you share a little bit with us about how you discovered it and How has it impacted your life, your business world, all of it?

MS is a funny disease, and I'll sort of preface it all by saying it's an invisible one. So one of the hardest things to live with is something that doesn't have an always visible— when we see someone that's, say, in a wheelchair, has a disability, you know they're struggling because it's identifiable to our eye. We know that they're going through something because we can see that they're going through something. MS is invisible, and that is the hardest thing I've ever had to deal with because I can't and haven't always been able to come in straight hot to, Jamie, I don't feel good today 'cause I have MS. It's not as easy off the tongue as say a visible disability. So that has been the hardest struggle. I was diagnosed in 2020. So when the world was shutting down on March 9th, I got diagnosed.

Wow.

I lost all feeling in my, It started in my feet, went up to my knees, and eventually it was all the way up to my hips. And I went almost 6, 7 days without addressing it. I was on a path. I was working crazy. I was moving into a new home that I had been remodeling and basically knocked it down to nothing and rebuilt the whole entire thing. And that was happening that week, literally the week before the world shut down with COVID This is in 2020. And I had all of these symptoms, and I was in such a habit of, I came next, I came second, everything else came first. And I finally got to a point 6 or 7 days in where I went to the doctor. They did all these tests, and they said, you have to immediately go to the emergency room. So I went to the emergency room, and I got all the tests and multiple MRIs. I got a spinal tap. And all the test results came back, and they just very clearly just said, yeah, you just have MS. And it was the moment that they told me that, not only did it, I knew what it was because ironically my aunt has MS.

Mm-hmm.

So we had heard about it when I was growing up, but I had no idea that what all the things were that were coming with that diagnosis. What was that going to do to my life that moment? And then the next 6 years that I've been dealing with since that diagnosis. And it's been a whirlwind. I've— one of the greatest things that's ever happened to me, bizarrely, has been this diagnosis.

Hmm.

The perspective shift is something that you only get through a traumatic event. It's not anything I would've ever thought I needed because I was on such a mission to grow and big, big, big, next, next, next. And all of a sudden, you get sick and everything stops. You are just in your body, in your body that is failing you. And you no longer are living for anybody else except for your own skin. You're just trying to get through the day. And that is something that I would've never known had I not been given the perspective of— this disease. So it's been a journey. It's been a journey. It started me on a propeller, started me on a trail of all kinds of big shifts happening in my life. It was really jarring, really crazy.

Today, what is living with MS like? And what does, when you think about your future, what does that look like in terms of prognosis, in terms of how, you know, you anticipate it impacting your life?

Yeah, I am a very positive human being. I'm a very driven and ambitious person, like I said, and I'm also very half full. My mentality is a very glass half full idea. So I try to look at MS with a very day-to-day, how am I feeling today? If I let myself get too far ahead of myself with thinking about the future is when I tend to kind of collapse a little and feel very overwhelmed because the other part about MS is it's completely unpredictable, and no 2 people with MS have the same symptoms or their lives look the same. I could be doing, I could be running marathons at 75, or I could be in a wheelchair. I'm unsure. But I know that today I'm grateful that I get to sit with you. I drove myself here.

Yeah.

I get to see my daughter later. I get to play outside. I can do what I, I woke up and I can go for a walk. And so today I feel great. And today I'm living with MS that way.

Yeah.

You know, have I lived with it very dark and very horrible and symptoms like you can't believe that have just stopped me in my tracks? Yeah. And that's been really tough. But today I'm okay.

Have you, or are you exploring things that have been, reportedly healing for other people, like Joe Dispenza meditations or Dr. Gundry microbiome, uh, things like that?

Yeah, 100%. So I've gone through the gamut of taking medication and going off medication. I've been recently went back on disease DMTs. They're called disease-modifying therapies, and I went back on and because I thought that I was bigger than the disease, and I was like, I'm gonna get off everything, and I'm going to go medicine-free, and unfortunately, it progressed. That said, in the same time since I've been diagnosed to today, my whole life has changed. I pay attention to what I eat. I pay attention to my supplements. I do, like, a ton of vitamin D.

Mm-hmm.

And I'm a very just mindful human. Every single day, I kind of wake up with a little mantra that I tell myself, today is a beautiful day, today's a great day. I try to impart that to my daughter, give her all these beautiful, like, life lessons, you know, the rules I call them.

Mm-hmm.

Be sweet, be kind, be respectful, be safe, be honest. Those are the only things that we can control. And it's how I live my life. And I think it's probably Mind over matter really helped me through dealing with the disease. And what— because medicine aside, there's, you know, there's only so much I do. I've tried all the diets. I've tried it all. And I, you know, it's just kind of is what it is.

Yeah. Do you meditate?

I do.

And what does that practice look like for you?

Nothing like what typical meditation looks like. It is truly I take about 20, 25 minutes of drinking my coffee in bed in the morning, and I just stare out the window, process my day, try to calm my mind, chill my thoughts out. I like to know what I'm going to do. A lot of times I'll journal what I'm going to do in the day so I have it down on paper, and that's my form of meditation.

Isn't coffee in the morning the best thing?

It is.

It's like my favorite thing.

I can't function without it. But also it has to be, it doesn't have to be, but I like to have my 20, 25 minutes in bed just by myself, quiet. It makes me happy.

Are your cats there with you?

Yeah. Okay.

Yeah.

Obviously. And I'll wake up, I'll set my alarm early so that I can have 20 minutes of quiet with nobody.

That's nice. With, you shared shortly after, not too long after your MS you shared about a shift in a whole other area of your life online with your community. You have a huge, thriving, avid fan community. I read that people have asked you to sign their bras, their chest at events.

Their boobs.

Their boobs at events. I mean, people are just, you have a lot of loyal, loving customers out there and fans. But you had a giant shift in your personal life shortly after MS. Can you share a little bit about your then-husband and that big transition and what happened and where is it now?

Yeah, so the journey of even getting to here was really so twisty and turny, but I was with my ex from when I was 22 years old, and our life was really his life. We did, um, he was a musician, a traveling musician. He's from the UK, so he came here literally we moved to Santa Monica together, and we were together ever since, like, really young. So 22, I got married at 25, had my daughter 3 days after, or 3 days before I turned 28. So a life happened to me seemingly young, and it was always with me and my ex. I mean, we built everything together. We had all these hopes and dreams and ideas. And we were a really, really, really strong, team, and we still are a very strong team. But marriage is tough. It's really tough. And I think we went through a lot of trauma, a lot of traumatic events in his life, in my life, getting MS. And, you know, one of the bravest things I think the both of us ever did was to take a really long, hard look at the difference between a really great partnership—

Hmm.

And friendship and parent, like, we are solid. And— but our married life was struggling. And I think that the two of us took a really hard look at that and decided that we were better partners in life, just with a little bit of a different definition. And it was really hard. It was horrible. It was the hardest thing I think I've ever gone through. But taking those hard looks at your life are some— is when the most change and evolution happens.

Hmm.

And, yeah, I mean, getting sick, my whole rug was taken from underneath me. I had to look at every single thing and the people in my life, too. And how was this going to affect them and their happiness and their wellbeing? And I didn't ask for this. Nobody asked for this. And so when I was looking at how do we all thrive after the fact, it was the hardest thing I've ever done. But being honest about where we were in our marriage was really tough, but it had to happen. And I work with him every single day. He's my best friend.

Right now?

Yeah.

He's your best friend right now?

Best friend. And we love each other so much, and we will always love each other. But that's the only thing that we can focus on, is we are completely united as parents, completely united as business partners, and our life partnership, um, is we just don't live together and we're not married. Do you—

are you dating anyone now?

Yeah. So is he. We have both been in relationships for a few years now. And, you know, it's really wild to think that that was ever going to be in our future.

Yeah.

And it's difficult and hard, but we're like one big bizarre Brady Bunch. We all kind of hang out and do things for our kids when it matters most. We go to Disneyland and try to— we're all very cordial and happy. But yeah, I mean, It's just honoring who that— who your people are. And I think with my ex, I love and respect him so much that I love— and he loves and respects me so much that we knew that, you know, our marriage had run its course, but that we're still really strong as parents and partners.

Do you think if you had never worked together, you'd still be married?

Ooh, that's a good question. Um, no.

No?

I don't think so. I think sometimes people grow together and sometimes people grow apart. And like trees on a branch, your roots can be super solid and they can run very, very deep, but your branches are getting further and further apart. And I think that there was a moment in time where that was happening to both of us. And so we were honest enough with ourselves to honor that and And yeah, and let's move to the next chapter.

And next chapter. And do you think if you had not been diagnosed with MS that you would still be married?

I do actually think that.

Really?

Yeah. Mainly because I would've never had the perspective to realize that— I take, you know, maybe I take that one back. That's a tough one to say because I think my MS just put a lot of things into perspective. And I think, getting married very young and being together with someone for so many years. Like, it really just comes down to growth and where you're growing and what you're like, okay, so you get to a halfway point in your life, turn 40 years old. What does the next 40, 50 years look like? And if it is with this person, we're growing together, right? We're going to be together and we're on the same path. And our paths were different. Same priorities.

Mm-hmm.

Different paths. Our priority was our daughter. Our priority will always be our daughter. Our priority will always be our business. And those are the things that we fortify, and those are the things that we're excellent at. Our marriage wasn't a priority. It wasn't important. It became less and less important as we— our paths started to shift.

That's something a lot of people can relate to.

Yeah. And then, And it's tough to talk about because, you know, there's so much stigma attached to divorce and separation, especially when you're together with someone for 20 years. I mean, your whole life is that person. But there's also, in the same way that MS gave me perspective shift, there was, I wasn't going to have this terrible, horrible divorce where it was knockout, drag-out fights where we hated each other. We didn't, we loved each other. And we love each other, but it's identifying reality versus the fantasy, right? It's identifying your real life with this person versus what you want it to be.

And did being diagnosed with MS make you evaluate energetically, how do I feel in certain relationships? And what do I want my day to look and feel like?

Yeah.

What do I need? Yeah.

Life is a gift. Every single day is a gift. And every day should be filled with fulfilling that gift of being here, which is striving for the next best, biggest thing. I'm a tough person. I mean, full disclosure, I'm a tough cookie because I am driven and ambitious and I want and I want and I want and I want and I want to do more. And path and priorities. Path for my ex, he was cool. He was happy. He was settling. And I was like, I gotta get— I gotta be bigger and better in all aspects of my life. Um, MS gave me that perspective of just— I have a different fire under my ass now.

Really?

Yeah, because tomorrow isn't a guarantee.

Yeah. Wow.

And how I'm going to feel tomorrow is not a guarantee.

I'm so honored you're here.

Thank you.

Blessing all of us with your time right now.

Thank you.

I'm happy. Can you tell us about your daughter, Gwyneth?

Yes. She is the light of my— I could cry talking about her. You know, I didn't know what I was going to be. I didn't know what I was going to be good at. I was just kind of like, even though I had a purpose, and I was driven, and all these things, and I knew I was good at something, there was so many moments in time when I was growing up that I was just kind of flailing. I didn't know. And having Gwyneth at a young age, my purpose was never more clear than after I had her.

Mm.

And I didn't really know that I wanted to be a mom. I didn't— I got married young, and I— all these things. I didn't really have, like, that was gonna be my plan. But once it was my plan, I was, you know, ambitious to, like, make it perfect and all the things. And when I had her, it just— all what you thought went out the window. The amount of immense love that I have for her is nothing I could ever describe.

Mm-hmm.

She has given me a purpose beyond any material, beyond anything else, looking at the way that she's— the human that she's becoming. And, you know, just her whole little existence is so— it's the biggest heart-bursting thing you could ever experience. And I just am just in awe of her every single day. She's the greatest.

Is she the best thing that's ever happened to you?

Ever. Ever. And it's funny too, because you have to look back at your partnership as well and think, Well, this is why. You know, there's so many other things that we succeeded at or failed at, whatever. But she is the why. She's the reason why we were together and why we came together. I truly believe it because she's such this perfect being in the world. Perfect being in the world. And she is, yeah, the light of my life.

When you imagine Gwyneth 50 years from now, and someone asks her about her mom, what do you hope she says?

I hope that she knows that I found— oh, gosh. Do you do this? Do you make people cry all the time? I can't believe I'm crying. I hope that she looks back at her mom and says, What a lady. She was so passionate about everything she did. She was curious, and she was engaged, and she was driven, and she was ambitious. All these keywords, but they really are who I am. And I hope that she takes a little bit of that in her own life. Yeah. She's really magical, that one.

Yeah. I feel honored and grateful to be seeing all these layers to you today. And also, to hear— when people are often successful, usually, it's not an accident. And to understand who Amber is, behind Amber, and to imagine you as a little girl, and the things you went through, and the things you were exposed to, and like, sewing pillows. I think you got a loan from your grandma or something, trying to like, sew pillows.

I did.

And then, just everything that you— but also, hearing hearing how you've navigated really tough decisions. I mean, you're a badass. You're a badass, and you're really tough, and you're really ambitious, and you're no joke. And seeing that side of you, I'm getting emotional now. Everyone else cries on my show, but I'm like, crying right now because I'm just like, I love this. And I'm thinking about your daughter.

Yeah.

And I'm thinking about what a blessing that, you know, 'cause a lot of things are caught, not taught, to our kids. And like, what she's gonna catch from you, you know what I mean? Like, look out, world. Look Out World with Gwyneth.

It's pretty amazing. She's gonna do stuff, that one. She's pretty magical. I know, that's the best way to describe her. She's just, she's awesome. She's super cool.

And you were saying you're 5'8, but she's 6 foot?

She's 6 foot tall. She's 6 foot tall. It's so funny because she's gorgeous. I mean, she's absolutely gorgeous. And she's just this own, but her own little person. She looks nothing like me or her dad, but everything like her and her dad sometimes. Her dad and I are totally different, but we somehow look alike.

Yeah.

It's one of those magical things. And you see it in your kids, and you just hope that they learn. You know, she's privileged beyond belief. She has parents that love her so much. She has grandparents that love her so much, family that love her so much. She's gone around the world, this kid. She's done some pretty awesome things. And so that's just— giving her those experiences are pretty awesome.

It's funny you say that because You know, when I do see your Instagram and I see her having all of these cool meals with you or going to different things or seeing different— I get so happy that she's so blessed to be exposed to so many things at such a young age.

She is. And I feel like it's formative. She's gonna have these experiences and it's gonna help her when she gets into the next phases of her life be really identified to who she is. I mean, these are the things that are helping her form You know, her humanity, her human experience.

Well, also, she's just like, I mean, I don't think I knew what the word patina meant till I was like 40. She's gonna like be so chic and into everything.

She wants nothing to do with this business, by the way.

Really?

Yeah, I keep trying to tell her like, you're gonna get into it, right? She's, no, Mom, I want nothing to do with it. Which is, I love that for her though.

Yeah.

What a badass for her. She's like, nope, I don't want anything to do with it.

To know what she wants.

Yeah, your dad—

And know what she doesn't want.

Yeah. Dad and I could hand it to you on a silver platter and she doesn't want it. Yeah, she's into sports.

Into sports. So I wanna ask you about your book. One of the things I love about Interiors is you take us through a number of different projects start to finish. What really inspired this book? Who is it for? And for the person who's listening or watching us right now, what can they expect to get out of it and to experience through it when they get it home? Besides the fact it's gonna look really good on their coffee table.

I want people to open the book and earmark it, put Post-it notes, write notes, take little snippets from every single page. I think one of the things, and one of the biggest compliments I've ever received, as weirdly to put this on my title as an author, is that I learned so much from your book. And I think with interiors, that was the goal is to re— every, you know, 4 or 5 years, I'm learning things every single day. And that's knowledge that I want to give to the reader. I want someone to understand the process of what it is to create your interior, your interiors. Like, what does that feel like? How do I— where do I start? And what is a process I could follow? What are some tangible things I could take away? And in this book, that's what I've given. Again, I've given the ability to take these 6 Ps, to really look at the process, look at, you know, understand that there's emotions that come with it, and you're going to start somewhere and you're going to end somewhere, and every single page you're going to be able to get something from it.

That's my hope.

Yes, I love that. Like, bookmark it, earmark it, like, put all of it.

Write on it for all I care. Like, just, you know, get a Post-it note or two. Nothing makes me happier than when I see my books that have a million Post-it notes in it come out the top, those little stickers. I love it. I love it with like earmarks or folds or whatever. It's great.

Well, you can get your copy of Interiors: Curated Spaces from Start to Finish by Amber Lewis, and we're gonna also link to the book. We're gonna link to your online shop. If you are ever in California, you've gotta go into one of her stores. I'm sure you're gonna expand beyond California as well. And so many of your collaborations, I've already just gone down the rabbit hole on long before we ever met. 'Cause I was so inspired by them. And, uh, I love when someone has so much talent that I don't have and I'm like, oh, I would never know how to create a rug this beautiful, but this looks so great and what a great price. And my dogs can like just all of it. And I'll just go down the rabbit hole. And I have to say, uh, uh, meeting you is even, has far exceeded any expectations.

Yeah.

Thank you for sharing your heart today and for just being here on the show and letting us get to know even more of you. And definitely everyone go to her Instagram, which we'll link to also. Because it just makes your day a little bit more inspired. And thank you so much for being here.

Thank you so much for having me. I can't believe I cried, but here we are.

Here we are, Amber Lewis.

Thank you. Amber Lewis. Oh man, it's like a therapy session, ma'am.

It was so beautiful.

Oh, thank you.

So beautiful. Yeah.

Wild, wild journey I've been on this one.

Yeah. Also, you're so young and doing so much.

Holy moly.

Thank you. Holy moly. Remember, this episode's not just for you and me. Please share this with every single person that you know, because it can impact and change their life too. And if you love today's episode, please click the follow or subscribe button for the show on the app you're listening to it on or watching it on. And if it added value to your life, if you could please give it a rating or review, I'd be so grateful. We love a good 5-star around here. And again, please share it with everyone you know. Share it with another person whose life could benefit from it. Maybe you know someone making a change in their life or their home, or just they need a little shift in their environment. You can share it with others online in your community who just might need the words and tools and tips and lessons and talent and genius in this episode today. You never know whose life you are meant to change by sharing this episode. And thank you so much for joining me today. But before you go, I wanna share some words with you that couldn't be more true.

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