Barbara Rourke
Barbara Rourke
Co-Founder/Creative Director All The Bells and Whistles
Los Angeles
www.allthebellsandwhistles.com
Instagram @bellsandwhistlesdesign
Pinterest
What do you do?
I design environments that facilitate good times for all!
“I design environments that facilitate good times for all!”
What steps did you take to get where you are now?
There have been steps, crawls, stumbles and dives. This would be very long if we got into all of it so I'll go with working my ass off and never giving up no matter what road blocks come up.
For other people in your field, what do they usually lack?
Honestly, I don't focus on what other people lack. I just do the best I can and I believe it is kinda working.
What are you working on right now?
A few restaurants, a few Juice Served Here locations, a private residence, and office for HP and have some proposals out for some really amazing projects that I can't tell you about yet!
We are all Slashies with multiple skills, which one do you wish you could do more often?
I wish I could spend more time being creative. Because I'm wearing so many hats I'm typically spending more than half my time just managing the business and doing the mundane like accounting and excel. Woohoo!
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What is frustrating you right now?
Growing pains. Oy! Keeping up with all the new projects coming in along with the projects we already have and trying to find great people to help us with our projects. I guess I can't complain about being "too busy".
What task keeps landing at the bottom of the To Do list?
Probably stuff like scrubbing the stove. But luckily there are people you can pay to do these things!
If you could hire someone for $20/hour, what would you have them do to make your day easier?
Wear lots of hats, be inside my brain and know exactly what I need and be awesome at everything!
Let's bring out the time machine. What do you wish you could have told yourself, when, and why?
Mid-thirties isn't old. It's the best time in my life so far so don't stress about "making it" all through your twenties.
If you could talk to an expert to gain more insight on something, what would it be about?
I'd like to know how to be okay with letting other people have design input on our projects. Maybe Kelly Wearstler would know...
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What kind of opportunities/projects are you looking for?
My favorite kind of project to work on are restaurant projects. Ultimately I would love to partner with a chef or restaurateur and open something as an owner.
“Ultimately I would love to partner with a chef or restaurateur and open something as an owner. ”
It's hard to put your heart and soul into a project and then have to hand over the keys to the client in the end.
What is your ideal client?
A client with a good budget, a good concept, trusts us creatively 100% and is super easy going! But who doesn't want that?!
Do you allow yourself to say No?
I have loved learning to say NO. It's seriously the best. I am so grateful that we are in a position that we can be very selective with the projects we take on and can say NO to projects we don't feel are the right fit for us.
What is your rate?
It really depends on the project and scope of work. Sometimes it's a square foot price, sometimes it's a percentage of the budget and sometimes other factors such as timeline are factors.
How should someone approach you about working together?
An initial email with some project details is great. We like to start with a phone call after that and then go see the space and meet the client. We like to really get to know our clients so we ask tons of questions about who they are, where they come from, what is their family like, etc.
This member profile was originally published in November 2015.