How To Tap Into Your Creative Side After 40 with Interior Designer Denise Pough
In this episode of Mom to MORE®, Sharon sits down with interior designer and entrepreneur Denise Pough to talk about finding her way back to herself after years of putting motherhood and family first. After becoming a stay-at-home mom almost by circumstance, Denise discovered interior design through a community college brochure, which was then amplified by her love of HGTV, and eventually turned a creative interest into a new career.
Denise shares what it was like to return to school while raising children, managing rental properties and renovating her own home, and how those experiences gave her the confidence to build a business of her own. She also talks about trusting her gut when business slowed down, the motherhood skills she still relies on today, and learning to give herself the time and grace to develop her creative side.
Tune in for an inspiring conversation about rediscovering yourself, trusting your instincts, and giving yourself permission to pursue something new.
[00:00] Introduction
[03:03] Falling Into Stay-at-Home Motherhood
[08:13] The Moment Denise Wanted to Find Herself Again
[10:50] Discovering Interior Design Later in Life
[15:12] Turning a Creative Passion Into a Business
[17:38] Going Back to School While Juggling Everything
[20:05] Launching a Business Just Before COVID
[25:30] The Motherhood Skills Denise Uses Every Day
[28:01] Learning to Trust Yourself Through Mistakes
[29:59] Combining Travel and Design
Meet my guest, Denise Pough:
Website: https://ajayinteriorsbydee.com/
Instagram: @deeajayinteriors
LinkedIn: @DeniseCPough
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Keep an eye out for episode #73 of the Mom to MORE® podcast where Sharon is joined by Jodi Bondi Norgaard, the founder who fought the toy industry for a decade to launch Go! Go! Sports Girls and lived to write the book about it, More Than a Doll. Coming soon - you won’t want to miss it ♥
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Denise/A-Jay Interiors by Dee (00:00)
I knew in my gut that I didn't want to real estate management, as my primary focus because that didn't resonate with me. So there are gonna be hills and valleys, you're gonna feel like you're falling in a ditch and you're wondering when you're gonna come out. but I believed that I'm giving it the time that it needs to grow and to flourish.
Sharon (01:03)
Welcome back to a new episode of Mom to More Midlife Reinvention for Moms. Hey, before we dive in, if these conversations remind you that motherhood is not the end of your story, please take two seconds to hit follow. It is the easiest way to help more women find their way to the show.
My guest today built her career the way most of us build anything meaningful, in the margins, between everything else life is demanding. Denise Pugh is the founder and principal designer of AJ Interiors by D, a New Jersey-based interior design firm. She interestingly came up through the hospitality world. Think Sky Club and the Waldorf Astoria in New York, then earned a BBA from Pace University.
And an MBA in marketing from the New York Institute of Technology. Life took her from New York to California to motherhood while raising three kids and co-running a real estate management business with her husband. While she was doing that, she quietly went back to school for interior design, earning her credentials from Bergen Community College and the New York Institute of Art and Design, and impressively, passing her residential interior design
qualification certification on the first try. Bravo, Denise. She launched
AJ Interiors in 2019 and then COVID hit and she is still standing. Denise is an allied member member of ASID New Jersey and a member of the National Kitchen and Bath Association. Her design philosophy is simple. Every space should reflect the people who live in it. And I love that.
Denise, welcome to mom to more.
Denise/A-Jay Interiors by Dee (02:50)
Thank you. Thank you for having
Sharon (02:52)
And nice to see you again. We met at an event over this past winter.
Denise/A-Jay Interiors by Dee (02:56)
Yeah.
Yes, yes, we did. And I'm glad I got a chance to meet you.
Sharon (03:00)
So I'm gonna start with what I call my essential mom question. And that is how many kids do you have? Where do you raise them?
Denise/A-Jay Interiors by Dee (03:08)
Okay, so I have three adult children. One is my stepdaughter. She is in her thirties. She has a young son who's eleven years old. So I don't consider myself looking like a grandmother, but I guess I am. and then I have a son who is about to be twenty seven and my daughter just graduated grad school and she's twenty four.
Sharon (03:31)
So empty nester, don't we love that?
Denise/A-Jay Interiors by Dee (03:33)
Yeah. But they come back every once in a while. Yes, yes.
Sharon (03:36)
of course they come back. Yeah. But the whole empty nest thing, I'm having such a blast doing it. Yeah,
it's really nice. All right, so your stay-at-home mom years, were they planned or did you fall into them? How did that unfold?
Denise/A-Jay Interiors by Dee (03:48)
I kind of fell into it. So, I lived in New York all my life and then I was working at the Waldorf Astoria. but I had met my husband. we were dating for a period of time through my twenties, and when we were getting married, he got a promotion to go to California for a job within the music industry. And so
my career working in the hospitality industry shifted to going to California. But before I could get a job, I got pregnant shortly after I got married. So as we all know, being a pregnant woman and trying to start over, you're really not as marketable for jobs or careers because you think about it, in five, six months, you're going on maternity leave.
So what do you do? You just look for part-time things to do and you try and just figure out life. And then you have your baby. And all of a sudden that becomes your priority. So my son was born a month before my first year anniversary. So that was quick. So he took
Sharon (04:53)
Yes, it was.
Denise/A-Jay Interiors by Dee (04:54)
he took over my life, which was a great blessing.
I didn't have to work over that period of time. And then a couple of years later I had my daughter. But in the meantime, my stepdaughter came to live with us while she was in middle school before we moved back to the east coast.
Sharon (05:09)
So you had pretty much a full house right from the start.
Denise/A-Jay Interiors by Dee (05:12)
Yeah, yeah. I learned how to juggle it all.
Sharon (05:16)
and we're gonna get into that. So you have said when we first spoke that you were a latchkey kid growing up. I'm curious how much did that shape your decision to be home with your kids?
Denise/A-Jay Interiors by Dee (05:27)
Honestly, I don't know how much I thought about it because I never thought about being a latchkey kid affecting my children. It just happened to be that I didn't have to work because of what my husband's job was. It's not to say that I wouldn't have gone to work because that's what I grew up having around me. My both of my parents worked while we grew up. So it's not something that I would have said, that's not possible or I can't do that.
the balls just fell the way they did. And the next thing I know, staying at home was not just beneficial for the baby, but financially beneficial for us. Because as you know, the more money that we make, the more taxes they take out and all the things. So you you know, I've met people in the in the work world who have juggled decisions, right?
women that have built careers. When I was at the Waldorf story, I met a woman who she was a powerhouse in her position. But when she got pregnant and she had her baby, she made the choice to stay home and I respected that.
Sharon (06:33)
And appreciate that. You know, also like you've had a pretty crazy ride. within the first, let's say, three years of marriage, you went from newlywed to mother of three with your son, your stepdaughter,
Denise/A-Jay Interiors by Dee (06:44)
Yeah.
Sharon (06:45)
and then your daughter. how would you describe those years? No holding back, ugly and all,
Denise/A-Jay Interiors by Dee (06:51)
Being a stay-at-home mom taught me how to manage and juggle a lot of things that are around me that aren't in my control. As we all know, children, you really don't have control over your children from the time that they're
born, when they cry, when you gotta change them, when you gotta take them to school and all the things. But then also running a real estate management business that kind of developed over time. It was
owning one property and then another property. So I kind of gradually fit everything into what my schedule was. and I'm a planner. I've always been a planner. So even before children, before marriage, I'm planning out my school semester and I know exactly where I'm gonna be when I'm gonna be there. So with my kids, I kind of just brought that on, right?
I need to know where you are, what we're gonna do, who we're gonna see, what appointments we gotta do, doctor's appointments, okay, am I juggling this and juggling that? So being that was always in me to plan things out ahead of time. I think I kind of just transferred that into what I had to do at home.
Sharon (08:05)
And they're very similar, right? I mean, you're
Denise/A-Jay Interiors by Dee (08:07)
Okay.
Sharon (08:07)
running a a small corporation, right? With the kids
Denise/A-Jay Interiors by Dee (08:09)
Mm-hmm.
Sharon (08:10)
and family and and all those things that you said that you do. Hey, Denise, we are gonna take a super quick break and when we return, we are diving into your reinvention which will both resonate and inspire. So don't go away.
Welcome back to Mom to More with AG Interiors by D, founder Denise Pugh. So Denise, you had said, quote, I wanted to find me again. When did that feeling show up and what did you do with it?
Denise/A-Jay Interiors by Dee (09:27)
So I would say because I've always worked, I've always had a job since the time I was sixteen. And then when I had my kids in California, that became my focus, my life.
We eventually moved to New Jersey where my son was just about to turn four. My daughter was a little over one year old. My stepdaughter's going to into high school. And I felt like, okay, now that the kids I can kind of get them into school, including my youngest, right? When she got about 18 months, two years old, I had her in preschool. I was like, okay, well.
Now is time to figure out what do I want to do or just like, even if it's a hobby. And so I was looking at the brochure that came through the mail from Bergen Community College and it mentioned interior design. And
I didn't ever know what interior design was. When I grew up, that was not a thing. Going to school was business. It was I was not interested in being a lawyer or a doctor. But I was always interested in certain business classes that I took in high school, which I don't even know if they do many of those now. Yeah.
Sharon (10:47)
I think they're probably doing a lot more of it than we think, actually. Well they should be,
right? Yeah.
Denise/A-Jay Interiors by Dee (10:52)
They
should be, you know, 'cause I took typing. I don't know if anybody remembers taking typing.
Sharon (10:57)
yeah, I remember that. Okay, wait, wait, we're talking w we're
talking those of us of a certain age. Yes, I remember taking
Denise/A-Jay Interiors by Dee (11:02)
Ha ha.
Sharon (11:02)
typing. Yes. Yeah.
Denise/A-Jay Interiors by Dee (11:04)
They took typing. And
so,
I had the very interest of saying, interior design, what is this? And so let me see if this is something I would like to do. The kids are in school. There's almost there's you know, so much grocery shopping you can do between, you know, nine and three. So it's like in s you know, how much cleaning do I need to do in my house? So I figured, you know, let me take a class or two and figure it out. And
I didn't realize some of the things that I had done when I lived in California incorporated me doing interior design. I didn't realize that when I was a kid and I used to sketch, hand sketch, you know, looking at a picture and just seeing if I can sketch it the same way, or taking a bookcase and ordering it and putting it together myself, all of those little things incorporated, I have a creative interest.
And so interior design kinda gave it a home for me. And that's when I said, okay, let me just start taking classes and let's see where this goes. And that's where it started.
Sharon (12:10)
Interesting. You know, I always smile when women talk about their reinventions because sometimes they show up as the most unexpected chapters, like you, right? now did this also have something to do with HGTV?
Denise/A-Jay Interiors by Dee (12:26)
HGTV I got kinda hooked into that because it was when we were looking for homes when we lived in California, right? So when I first got married, we lived in California in a two bedroom condo.
But then I got pregnant, so we needed to get a house. HGTV was on and it was showing homes and things like that while we were searching for houses. And then over time I started to like different shows on HGTV. and it's funny because now I tell my clients, I I know you like HGTV, but we're not talking about that anymore.
Sharon (13:02)
But it started you off, you know, it
Denise/A-Jay Interiors by Dee (13:04)
It did, it did.
Sharon (13:05)
sort of s planted a seed, you know, for where this all ended up, basically.
Denise/A-Jay Interiors by Dee (13:10)
Yes,
yes. And so when we moved here, when we were planning to move here, HGTV was still part of it. It was still a thing of house hunters, people looking for homes, what are you looking for? And those kind of things. And I just realized that when I'm looking at the show, my critical thinking and my thought process on how like why would they put that there?
Whatever it is, whether it's
Sharon (13:37)
Mm.
Denise/A-Jay Interiors by Dee (13:38)
why is the kitchen placed there, I could see why they did that renovation. or looking at a bedroom and why is the window not centered to the room and now you don't know exactly where you should place the bed, right? So certain things started to resonate with me. And then like I said, I didn't know interior design was a thing, and they never said on HGTV back then.
That they were interior designers. They would say
Sharon (14:05)
interesting.
Denise/A-Jay Interiors by Dee (14:05)
that, they would say their name, and then they would say, whether it's design consultant or they would say something, but it was never, I never saw interior designer. Right?
Sharon (14:18)
Okay, okay.
Denise/A-Jay Interiors by Dee (14:19)
And so taking that into account, saying, okay, I didn't grow up knowing about interior design. This is something that interests me.
I went to my first design center in California and I was like in awe. They are very overwhelming
Sharon (14:35)
They're pretty overwhelming. Yeah, I can appreciate that. Yeah.
Denise/A-Jay Interiors by Dee (14:38)
when you know, when some people say, I can't walk into Lowe's or Home Depot without getting, you know, hives, I'm like, I I'm in there.
Sharon (14:48)
Right, right.
But I remember going to like the design center in New York on
Denise/A-Jay Interiors by Dee (14:52)
Yes.
Sharon (14:52)
the east side and thinking, my God, there's so many fabrics. Like, how do you choose? That's why I need people like you, you know, to help me work through that process. You know, I'm curious, Denise, what flipped the switch from I like doing this in my own home to I can do this for a living?
Denise/A-Jay Interiors by Dee (15:09)
I think what switched for me
And this is something that I always tell my kids. I told my kids this when they were little. Find something that you love to do and make money at it.
Because we find that so many times in this life we take jobs just for the money and not really seeing if it's something that builds us up and resonates with us, right? And so I didn't want that for my kids. So I'm grateful that I was home, been been able to stay home with them, to mold that into them. yes, you still need to work to make some money at some point, but maybe take that job.
to feed what you love until you can go do what you love. But eventually as you get older, you want to do things that resonate with you that ha you have a passion for, because then that's something that makes you want to get up in the morning to do it. Right. and so for me, when I decided to do my own business,
It wasn't necessarily of wanting to do my own business at first. It was people that happened to see what I've done in my own home that planted a little bit more of those ideas, like, my gosh, you did this yourself. Like that vision, that creativity came out of your brain and and
Sharon (16:27)
Help me do it in my home, yeah.
Denise/A-Jay Interiors by Dee (16:28)
created this whole space. And so I think hearing that enough times.
And then also owning my own real estate management business. I already know about being an entrepreneur because I I know how to manage the books and manage time and things like that. it just kind of was a transition to, okay, now it's time.
Sharon (16:50)
Right, right. And I thought that was really wise what you said to your kids, and we've said something s very similar, that don't chase the money, chase something that genuinely you love, because then it doesn't become work. It becomes like a passion, like you love doing what you're doing, and it's easy to get up every day and do it.
Denise/A-Jay Interiors by Dee (17:09)
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. It does. It does.
Sharon (17:11)
Yeah.
I love that you had asked yourself when we first spoke, you said, what can I do outside of normal mom stuff? I love that line. And then you went back to school
and you know, you were squeezing classes around your full time mom schedule. What was that sort of undoubtedly crazy period like for you guys?
Denise/A-Jay Interiors by Dee (17:35)
A year that was really crazy.
Sharon (17:39)
Tell me about it.
Denise/A-Jay Interiors by Dee (17:40)
So I was coming down to the end of my certification, my certificate program at Bergen Community College. And it was gonna be the last semester that year, that summer, my in-laws moved in with us because they were planning on moving to South Carolina.
We got a dog, and I had two classes that were the most time-consuming courses ever. one was a visual concepts course where I actually had to create a kitchen and do like the 2D, 3D layouts, and everything. Do a whole model that we had to present in class.
I also still had to manage rental properties. But on top of that, that
Sharon (18:26)
And you have the kids.
Denise/A-Jay Interiors by Dee (18:28)
wasn't the only thing. We were renovating,
Sharon (18:30)
And if that's not all, folks.
Denise/A-Jay Interiors by Dee (18:33)
we were renovating our unfinished basement. So for six months,
Sharon (18:39)
Crazy.
Denise/A-Jay Interiors by Dee (18:39)
still juggling kids, now training a dog, making sure I have my classes done.
And then making sure that the contractor gets in the house and answer the questions and make sure we have all of the, you know, finishes and decisions that are made and meeting with the electrician and the plumber and everything like that. if I could do that, I think I can handle a lot.
Sharon (19:04)
Clearly. my God.
That is crazy time. On on top
Denise/A-Jay Interiors by Dee (19:07)
Mm-hmm.
Sharon (19:08)
of everything, especially with the dog. When you said dog, I was like, okay, forget about that. Because
Denise/A-Jay Interiors by Dee (19:12)
Ha.
Sharon (19:12)
we have a dog and I know how crazy it is to like train a dog. there was a reason we never had a dog when the kids were younger. They'd be like, We want a dog, we want a dog and another child would be telling our our kid, I love having the dog and the mom in the back is going, No, don't do it, don't do it
Denise/A-Jay Interiors by Dee (19:24)
no, I was saying
the same thing. I would tell my friends that I'm like, No, you don't want one. You don't want one. Not yet, not yet. No.
Sharon (19:31)
Not yet, not yet, yeah. that's too funny.
Denise/A-Jay Interiors by Dee (19:35)
my kids were seven and ten when we got him. So and then we didn't get a little one either. He was a German shepherd. So Yeah. Yeah, he
Sharon (19:42)
We had one too. I love those dogs. Yeah. They're amazing.
So you officially launched AG Interiors by D in twenty nineteen. So you had about a year to get things off the ground right before COVID hit. clearly you survived COVID and you're still standing and designing how how challenging was that for you?
Denise/A-Jay Interiors by Dee (20:02)
So it was November 2019 when I officially launched it. I had renovated two floors of my home and I said, well, this is a great opportunity to launch my business, have people that I worked with on the project for the house, as well as invite realtors and friends and things like that. So I launched it in November. and then March, as we all know, 2020, everything shut down.
Closed. And literally,
Sharon (20:31)
Literally done. Yeah.
Denise/A-Jay Interiors by Dee (20:32)
literally. It's like one minute they say two weeks, and then next thing you know, it's two months, and we're still, you know, still in it kind of thing. And so, the winter time for the the design industry is usually slower. And this is slower because people are thinking about the holidays and they're thinking about
Are they traveling? That kind of thing. And then they're waiting for their tax return money to come in and you know, all of that. So it's a little slower in the winter going into spring. And then all of a sudden spring hits, and then people want to do outdoor seatings and they want to do something in their yards and things like that. So because I was starting my business then.
Marketing became more important and marketing became a priority, right? How was I gonna market myself? So back then I had to get used to just putting my face on Instagram.
when I didn't grow up where social media was a thing and it was easy, I had to first start putting my face on Instagram.
Sharon (21:35)
I'm with you, mama. Yeah.
Denise/A-Jay Interiors by Dee (21:35)
And then figuring out
how I was just going to get more followers and and communicate what I was gonna do. But one of the things I felt that was good for me in COVID period was
How to run an interior design business, because I've never run an interior design
Sharon (21:53)
Mm.
Denise/A-Jay Interiors by Dee (21:54)
business. Interior design, the design industry, it's very different than running real estate. Real estate, you get your rent money in and you pay your bills, right? And you manage the property. But when you're dealing with other people's money and you want to make sure you have a process.
Even though we all have processes, we have processes in our head. We know how to do things, but having a written process that you can follow every single time, I think I needed that time to learn it. So
Sharon (22:26)
Mm.
Denise/A-Jay Interiors by Dee (22:27)
for me, COVID was a little slow in my business, but it gave me the opportunity to step back and say, okay, you launched this business, but do you know how to actually run it the way it should be ran? in order to make it, I guess, viable.
To survive as well as not as overwhelming. And then that way, every time I talk to a client, this is my process. Start with a discovery call, we have a consultation meeting. But all of those things had to be written out. All of those things had to be,
Sharon (22:57)
Right.
Denise/A-Jay Interiors by Dee (22:57)
you know, just clear and precise. And so for COVID, for me, even though we were home.
And believe me, home, everybody's home was different. Everybody's
Sharon (23:10)
yeah.
Denise/A-Jay Interiors by Dee (23:10)
trying to find a corner to be in without being in somebody's face. it just gave me an opportunity to learn more because I'm an avid learner. I love to understand
Sharon (23:19)
Mm.
Denise/A-Jay Interiors by Dee (23:20)
things and learn how things work. And so I needed that for my business. And then that's how I'm actually still here now because I knew someone who's
saying she was a designer but didn't have that kind of thing and then she gave up doing it. So
Sharon (23:36)
Interesting.
in some ways COVID was a real blessing because you were able to really organize the systems and the back end. And as you scale a business, that's what you need. You have to have those underpinnings so you can scale and grow. So in some
Denise/A-Jay Interiors by Dee (23:51)
Mm-hmm.
Sharon (23:52)
ways, that was a really beneficial period of time for you.
Denise/A-Jay Interiors by Dee (23:55)
Yes. Yes. it it kept me grounded, right? because there's gonna be moments that it's gonna be slow in the business. but understanding what I need to do to keep going and and then also for me to have that belief and passion, because this is something that I love to do. I could have easily said, let me go 100%.
full thought process and just doing this real estate management business with my husband, which he was the one that generated it. And because I was home, I considered myself, you know, inexpensive labor because how often do you get paid when you work
Sharon (24:31)
True. Yeah.
Denise/A-Jay Interiors by Dee (24:32)
with your spouse? I looked at it like, okay, even if there is slow times and it can be a little frustrating
I knew in my gut that I didn't want to do real estate management, being a landlord as my primary focus because that didn't resonate with me. So there are gonna be hills and valleys, and you know, you're gonna feel like you're falling in a ditch and you're wondering when you're gonna come out. but I believed that I'm giving it the time that it needs to grow and to flourish.
Sharon (25:06)
And that makes so much sense. You know, we mentioned this earlier, sort of alluded to it, that you are a master juggler. And I'm raising my hand here because I think every mom really is. So we have to be, right? So looking back on
Denise/A-Jay Interiors by Dee (25:19)
Yes.
Sharon (25:19)
those years of raising three kids, what specific skills did you sharpen that you now use every single day running your business?
Denise/A-Jay Interiors by Dee (25:27)
Well, I definitely use a calendar. whether it's in my phone or paper, because I still like to see things in whole as paper. but then I also give myself I think I learned over time to give myself buffer time. So
When you say you schedule something and you know it's gonna be an hour, I add on either it's a half hour before or a half hour after, just because there are times that you get thrown back and say, my gosh, I didn't get this done and this is what I plan to do. But there's always something. It's like as if you're driving somewhere and then there's unexpected traffic. Where was your buffer time? Right. So then I have to do that when it comes to me.
scheduling when it was scheduling my kids, taking them to their activities, it's scheduling me to do a site visit. It's scheduling me to go to a a client consultation meeting. So giving myself, I say, 90 minutes for a consultation meeting, it could be two hours, depending on what we're talking about. So I think I I brought that over as part of it.
Because that's the only way I can sleep at night to say, Okay, I not overstress myself that I didn't get something done.
Sharon (26:44)
I love that. And I love asking that question because everyone answers it so differently, but it's so unique
Denise/A-Jay Interiors by Dee (26:45)
Yeah.
Sharon (26:48)
to them. So thank you for that. if you could go back and tell the younger version of yourself sitting in that kitchen table with her continuing ed books all around, you could tell her one thing. What would that be?
Denise/A-Jay Interiors by Dee (27:01)
I would say tap into your creative side because I didn't realize that being creative was a part of me.
Sharon (27:10)
Mm.
Denise/A-Jay Interiors by Dee (27:11)
I thought I was strictly business. I thought I was strictly structured. And being creative, you're not structured.
Like your thought process is not structured. When a creative idea comes to you, it it doesn't just pop in there immediately. you could think it could take you 30 minutes to come up with a creative idea and you it doesn't come till tomorrow, right? So it's giving myself grace to allow what is supposed to happen at the end to be able to grow and build and come out at the end.
Sharon (27:47)
I love that. Thank you for that. you had also mentioned at one point about learning how to trust yourself as being one of your biggest challenges. How did you build that and own it ultimately?
Denise/A-Jay Interiors by Dee (27:57)
From mistakes.
Sharon (27:59)
Mm.
Denise/A-Jay Interiors by Dee (27:59)
Over time, I've realized mistakes will happen, you will feel upset, you will beat yourself up about it, but then all of a sudden the other side it's like, it wasn't as bad as I thought, or the problem got solved, right? I look at what I do and how I raise my kids. It's not rocket science.
It does take time to understand it. But in the end, I feel that any mistake that you make, there is a solution behind it, and you have to give it time to come to you. And so you only do better after learning from your mistakes. Like having a process is important to me. If I didn't have a process, my
projects would go off the rails. I don't want them to go off the rails. But then I also noticed that when something wasn't addressed, now I know from that mistake to not have that happen again.
Sharon (29:02)
That makes so much sense. I mean, we learn from these little mini failures, right? but that's
Denise/A-Jay Interiors by Dee (29:06)
Mm-hmm.
Sharon (29:06)
how you learn, right? You're like, okay, that didn't work for me. That does. I'm going in that direction. So that makes so much sense. No, not
Denise/A-Jay Interiors by Dee (29:12)
And you can't beat yourself up about it so much because
you know, I've had moments, you know, we all have had moments where you're just so upset and you cry and you just wish that it didn't happen and there's nothing you can take back. But then tomorrow morning comes and then you look at it differently. So
Sharon (29:33)
Well, thank you for that. Denise,
Denise/A-Jay Interiors by Dee (29:34)
Mm-hmm.
Sharon (29:35)
unfortunately our time is drawing to a close. And, you know, you have spent years helping other people design spaces that reflect who they are. So let me ask you, as you've designed this chapter of your own life, and since this is the Mom Tomore podcast, Denise Pugh, what is your more?
Denise/A-Jay Interiors by Dee (29:56)
Who it's interesting you say that because a couple of months ago I was talking with a friend of mine and we were saying to each other, do we want at this day and age, at our age that we are running interior design business? But we love design. We love looking at whether it's architecture or art. and I love to travel. So I think my more would be.
To eventually do travel tours revolved around design.
Sharon (30:26)
I love that.
Denise/A-Jay Interiors by Dee (30:27)
So it could be local, it could be international, I went to Barcelona. If anyone has any ever been to Barcelona, the architecture there is unbelievable and if it's stunning.
Sharon (30:38)
Stunning. Yeah.
Denise/A-Jay Interiors by Dee (30:39)
I've been to Madrid, I've been to Paris, you know, I've been to Italy. So I love the idea of travel, but then I've also been to the Caribbean where you're just like enjoying what God has created.
And looking out at the blue skies and looking out at this crystal water and just relaxing. And how do you feel in all of those spaces? And so I think that that would be my more is to just if I'm not, you know, hustling bustling with clients anymore, just taking trips and seeing what the world has to offer.
Sharon (31:17)
Yeah,
and teaching other people about that while you're doing it. I love that idea. Thank
Denise/A-Jay Interiors by Dee (31:19)
Yeah, yeah.
Sharon (31:21)
you for that.
Denise, please tell our listeners where they can find you online. And folks, everything is gonna be in the show notes.
Denise/A-Jay Interiors by Dee (31:28)
you can find me. You can look up Denise C Pugh, P O U G H spelling last name, on Instagram, I'm at D E E A J Interiors and on LinkedIn and Facebook, you can just look up Denise Pew and you will find me.
Sharon (31:43)
Thank you for that. Denise, this has been such a gift. Thank you for letting us in on your story today. I always learn so much from the women that I interview for, so thank you for that today.
Denise/A-Jay Interiors by Dee (31:55)
Thank you so much
for having me. I really enjoyed having this conversation with you. We don't always get an opportunity to say where we've come from to where we are, and I like how your podcast does that.