The government shutdown’s over. Now what? Look, I'm relieved. You're relieved. We can all get to Aspen or the Hamptons for the holidays without wondering if we’ll make it past security. But let's not pretend we're in the clear.

Uncertainty is poison in the luxury interior design business. Clients don’t buy $35,000 sofas when they’re watching Washington implode on television. They freeze. They wait. They “circle back next year.” And when air travel turns into a dystopian nightmare, which it was about to, that’s a disaster for an industry built on site visits, trade shows, and face-to-face relationships over cocktails.

So yes, we dodged that bullet. But the shutdown was just one more log on the fire. Tariffs keep climbing + the biggest home builders in the country are reporting sluggish numbers. And all of it—every bit of it—will eventually land on our industry like a ton of bricks.

Here's the brutal truth: new residential projects drive demand for what we do. When building slows, we feel it. When construction costs spike because of tariffs on steel, copper, and lumber, projects stall. Clients start re-evaluating their budgets.

For designers, it's another conversation where your value gets questioned. For manufacturers, it's an impossible choice: pass the higher costs on and risk losing business, or absorb the hit and watch margins evaporate. Nobody wins.

Here’s where I get optimistic.

The weather may be terrible, but the atmosphere is just fine. Interest rates may finally be coming down. And Wayfair's stock is pointing way up. That tells me consumers are more resilient to price increases than the doom-scrollers want to admit. If that holds for the mass market, it bodes well for luxury—the customer base that actually drives our world.

I’m not here to sugarcoat the news. I’m here to dig into it, make sense of it, and find the opportunity while everyone else is paralyzed.

Keep reading to see what else is shaking up the industry this week.

See you next week.

America’s biggest home builders just sent up a flare, and the WSJ spotted it. Even with discounted 4% mortgages and heavy incentives, they can’t sell finished inventory. Unsold homes are back to 2009 levels. Builders are slashing prices, handing out $60K-plus credits, and pumping the brakes on new construction. The weakness is hitting major design markets hard, including Texas, Florida, Southern California, and Washington, D.C., where cautious buyers and resale competition are creating bottlenecks. Here's what that means for us: buyers furnishing brand-new homes are big-ticket clients. When those homes don't sell, work will dry up.

My Advice? Don’t wait for demand to come to you. Shift your focus toward faster, lower-friction work: renovations, one-room refreshes, and high-impact accents. Make it easy for existing clients to come back—past clients will be your steadiest income in a cooler market. Stay visible when competitors go quiet; the designers who hold their voice through slowdowns are always the first to catch the next wave of opportunity.

Well, here you have it. After first losing the Design Center of the Americas in Florida, real estate mogul Charles Cohen has now lost The Decorative Center Houston. The industry predicted this would happen, and many of us are pretty happy about it. Visit any design center Cohen owns, or talk to the tenants—you'll hear the same thing: Lost potential.The biggest domino is the D&D Building in New York, Cohen’s crown jewel, along with the Pacific Design Center in Los Angeles, the two largest design markets in America. While everyone would celebrate new ownership, there’s a risk that Cohen loses the properties and they get converted into condos or offices. Design centers are the creative hubs of this industry and the closest thing we have to a town square. Losing them would be nothing to celebrate.

Christmas is officially here, and dominating 18 of the top 20 home decor keywords on TikTok this week. Ralph Lauren is trending too. The brand’s holiday aesthetic—plaid ribbons, tartan throws, old-money tradition—is everywhere this season. Tastemakers have been calling it for months: maximalism and “Dopamine Decor” is back. The greatest designers are flexing their creative muscles using layers, colors, and textures that would have been taboo even a few years ago. It’s clear consumers are getting tired of that stark Apple2 look. For designers and brands, the shift is obvious: minimalism is out, going over the top is in. Winners will learn to build depth into products and stories. My opinion? “More is more.”

Talking of maximalism, here’s an interior style having a major moment: bold geometric patterns, dramatic gold accents, symbolic wall art, and a color palette that's to die for. The only catch? It's been trending for about 5,000 years. The Grand Egyptian Museum near Giza's pyramids just opened as the world's largest single-civilization museum, showcasing thousands of artifacts that prove Ancient Egyptians understood timeless grandeur better than anyone. Let it inspire your next project.

Houzz recently launched a promotion for their new 3D Floorplan AI tool—designers creating rooms inspired by famous TV shows. The results? AI slop. Cheap, soulless garbage flooding the internet and people’s homes.

And sure, the software is terrible right now. Clunky, unconvincing, barely functional. But it’s going to get better. These tools will keep improving, and they'll keep landing in the hands of clients who think they can replicate the brilliance our industry delivers. 

But here’s what I know: nothing replaces the humanity, beauty, and craft of what we do. They've been trying to kill this industry for decades. There's always the next big thing threatening to take us down. And yet, we’re still here. Because what we provide—human stories, emotion, color, texture, soul—can’t be downloaded from a platform, no matter how smart it is.

If you’re selling products that keep getting more expensive because of tariffs, check out this podcast from BOH with designer Jessica Chude. She gives smart advice on how to communicate price increases to clients—some pass tariff costs through directly, others take a more discreet approach. At Mr. Thread, we believe transparency is the best policy. Especially now, when everything’s online and clients can easily look up info. It’s still not easy, but this podcast will help you talk to clients about rising prices without losing the sale.

Just three years after launching her jewelry label, Artifex Fine, Kindred Lubeck, 30, designed Taylor Swift's engagement ring. After the August announcement, Lubeck's $100,000 inventory sold out immediately. It’s more proof of what I’ve known for a while: the wealthy aren’t chasing mass-produced goods anymore. Craftsmanship is the new luxury.

So if you don’t already, it’s time to focus on your social media marketing—that's exactly how Lubeck landed Swift as a client, simply by sharing videos of her hand-engraved pieces online. Not everyone's getting a shoutout from Taylor Swift. But the lesson from Kindred is simple: just post. In this age of AI slop, people are searching for humanity and soul. So keep showing up, because you never know who's watching.

The Future Perfect just opened its fourth design gallery in Miami’s Villa Paula, a 1920s neoclassical building that is reportedly haunted. What a great way to stand out from the crowd and connect your brand to an emotional feeling… fear. Experiential marketing is also a brilliant counter to our increasingly digital world—people are craving real-life experiences. Feeling, touching, seeing humans create in physical spaces, that’s where you differentiate. Obviously, not every brand and designer can just open up a store or a pop-up, but why not think of other ways to create experiential moments for your clients?

This week it’s the 2025 Design Leadership Summit in Madrid—art, architecture, culture, networking, and a deep dive into Spain’s design heritage and innovation. Hard to believe it’s already their 20th anniversary. Peter Salek started this organization, and it’s become the Who's Who of our industry. Getting in isn’t cheap, and the approval process is selective—as it should be. They’ve built an unbelievable community of luminaries who actually push the industry forward and do good work. If you have the opportunity to join, this is one Mr. Thread heartily endorses. Among this year’s attendees is interior designer Meg Lonergan, who wrote on Instagram: “Bury me here. It was life changing for me!”

Thanks for reading! See you next week!