How Ashley Montgomery survived a stressful split and came out stronger

Summary

Business of Home Podcast: How Ashley Montgomery Survived a Stressful Split and Came Out Stronger

Host: Dennis Scully
Guest: Ashley Montgomery, Toronto-based interior designer
Date: August 18, 2025

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Episode Overview

In this candid and insightful episode, Dennis Scully speaks with Ashley Montgomery about her journey navigating a personal and professional split from her husband and former business partner, emerging stronger and more confident in both life and business. Ashley shares lessons learned about business structure, personal growth, the challenges of motherhood as an entrepreneur, and how she’s reimagined her firm post-divorce. The conversation ranges from Canadian vs. American clients to her business strategies, and culminates with her new outlook on success, creativity, and community support in the design industry.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Starting Out: Early Career, Family Influence, and Building a Firm

• Ashley was born into a family of home builders and was exposed to construction and design from a young age ([12:28]).
• Her path included early jobs at architectural firms, a chaotic small design firm (“a bouquet of red flags”—[14:33]), and a pivotal stint in a Toronto design retail store where she discovered her skill and market value as a designer ([15:52]).
• "I worked at American Eagle in high school. I can do this all over again." ([15:52])
• Ashley launched her own firm in 2014, starting small, taking on all kinds of projects, and learning business basics along the way.

2. Entrepreneurship & Motherhood: Juggling Growth and Family

• Discusses the realities of building a business while starting a family: “Look at me. No energy, no sleep, breastfeeding in my car… I can do it all.” ([04:37])
• Realization of needing separation between work and family life led to getting her first studio space: “I need a separation. I need to get dressed. I need to leave this house.” ([17:52])

3. The Business Partnership and the Split

• Ashley’s husband Eric joined the business, bringing crucial systems and operational structure ([03:15], [23:39]).
• Initial enthusiasm gave way to tension as their roles overlapped and communication broke down.
• Attempted to keep the business partnership after their marital split but found it unworkable: “Personal messes into business. Business messes into personal.” ([05:57])
• Learned the importance of understanding all aspects of her business, especially the financial side ([07:21]).
• Ashley cautions against 50/50 business splits: "I've learned never go into business with somebody 50/50… 51/49 every single day, never, ever, ever down 50/50." ([08:39])

4. Lessons in Business Operations and Growth

• After the separation, Ashley rebuilt her business structure, hiring an operations manager and bringing bookkeeping in-house ([28:09]).
• She shared the challenges of keeping the business afloat during a tumultuous period: "There was about a year where I was basically running a sinking ship, but trying to keep everything cool on the outside." ([28:11])
• Importance of setting clear boundaries in work/personal relationships, especially when family is involved: “…those conversations didn't end in this office. And that's the hardest part…” ([26:03])

5. Evolving the Business Model: Pricing, Markup, and Fees

• Describes the transition from not marking up product to instituting markups and hybrid billing models: “When I first started, I didn’t mark up anything… Everyone told me I was crazy.” ([30:27])
• Now employs a mixture of hourly and flat fees, and a transparent markup structure for furnishings and custom/vintage items ([29:15]-[30:27]).
• Recognizes that years of experience and a strong portfolio justify higher fees, even as her efficiency increases: “I don't spend nearly as many hours on projects anymore... but that's because we've built years and years of perfecting a craft.” ([34:57])

6. Navigating the Canadian & American Design Markets

• Ashley is often mistaken for being American, but is proud of her Canadian roots. She points out the practical differences between markets:
  • “Our American projects are easier to do than our Canadian projects… can’t get those tiles here...” ([41:51])
  • “Our appliances are double the price. Our plumbing fixtures are double the price. Our lighting fixtures are double the price.” ([41:54])
• Tariffs and limited Canadian manufacturing have led her to source globally, including from Europe and Turkey ([44:47]).
• On Canadian nationalism and sourcing: “Canadians, we're very proud of our country and what we do. And have we taken the easy route of going across the border for a lot of things in life? 100%… But now we're paying a lot more.” ([44:47])

7. Defining Success & Rebuilding After Crisis

• Ashley’s definition of success: balancing being a present mom and a thriving business owner ([21:54]).
• Emerging from hardship, she feels more confident and creative: “I feel like I've spent the last two years building this business internally back up again… My goal is to let it thrive now.” ([46:53])
• On rediscovering her love of design: “I’m falling back in love with it again and being creative again…” ([46:53])

8. Achieving New Goals: Publishing a Book

• Achieved a major goal: landing a deal with Rizzoli for a coffee table book about “the little moments in life” and “attainable, achievable luxury in all sorts of homes” ([36:57]).
• “As a Canadian designer to be picked up by an American publisher is… really amazing. I don’t like to, like, overly talk about how cool this is, but it’s really frigging cool.” ([39:18])

9. Community, Transparency & Growth After Crisis

• Emphasizes the importance of being open about challenges: “What I have learned by speaking openly is I'm not the only one going through this. There's lots and lots of entrepreneurs…” ([49:48])
• Rejects the association of separation/divorce with failure: “You have to change your mindset on it… It’s not failure. You were able to stand up for yourself and say, this isn’t working.” ([49:48])
• Therapy played a key role in reframing her challenges: “Yeah, therapy therapist was pretty good at that one.” ([51:20])
• Community support—especially from female entrepreneurs—has been vital (“…thank her so much for picking up the phone and calling me… she gave me a boost of confidence, and she's like, you can do this.” [52:21])

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On entrepreneurship and motherhood:
  "Look at me. No energy, no sleep, breastfeeding in my car… I can do it all." – Ashley ([04:37])

• On understanding your business:
  "You need to know the ins and outs of your business… I had no idea. I was just like, sure, no problem. I do this, you do that. Well, you need to know the ins and outs of your business." – Ashley ([05:57])

• On business partnerships:
  "I've learned never go into business with somebody 50/50… 51/49 every single day, never, ever, ever down 50/50." – Ashley ([08:39])

• On surviving tough times:
  "There was about a year where I was basically running a sinking ship, but trying to keep everything cool on the outside." – Ashley ([28:11])

• On pricing evolution:
  "When I first started, I didn’t mark up anything… Everyone told me I was crazy. I might have been…" – Ashley ([30:27])

• On her upcoming book:
  "I want a coffee table book. I want to walk through Home Goods or Homesense or Indigo… and I got it… It's about the little moments in life. Little moments in your home. We look at these big, beautiful homes… there's something so beautiful about the moments in these homes." – Ashley ([36:57])

• On redefining failure:
  "You have to change your mindset on it… It’s not failure. You were able to stand up for yourself and say, this isn’t working." – Ashley ([49:48])

• On therapy and personal growth:
  “You learn most from failure in life. You learn from mistakes that you make… I think I'm a better person. I'm a better mom, I'm a better friend… from this experience.” – Ashley ([51:20])

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Timeline of Significant Segments

• [03:15] – Ashley recounts the beginnings of the business partnership with her (now ex-)husband
• [05:57] – The importance of knowing the business beyond just the creative
• [08:39] – Lessons about 50/50 business ownership
• [17:52] – The turning point: first studio and separating work/home
• [23:39] – How business operations changed after the split
• [30:27] – Discussion of pricing, markups, and how her approach evolved
• [34:57] – Recognizing the value of experience in pricing
• [36:57] – The journey to publishing her first book with Rizzoli
• [41:51] – Challenges of sourcing and tariffs in the Canadian market
• [49:48] – On openness, failure, and support from the community
• [51:20] – Therapy and learning from failure

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Conclusion & Takeaways

Ashley Montgomery’s story is one of resilience, adaptability, and self-discovery. Her willingness to share the messy, human side of business and personal upheaval offers inspiration for designers and entrepreneurs, especially women balancing multiple demanding roles. She underscores the importance of understanding one’s own business, setting boundaries in partnerships, evolving pricing structures, and being unafraid to chart a new course—personally and professionally. As Ashley summarizes:

"You have to trust yourself and you gotta grow from that... You learn most from failure in life."
— Ashley Montgomery ([51:20])

This episode is a must-listen for anyone interested in the real-life challenges (and victories) behind the scenes of the design industry.

Transcript

[Dennis Scully]

This is Business of Home. I'm your host, Dennis Scully. Every week I'll be speaking with leaders and innovators from all corners of the home industry. My guest this week is the Toronto based interior designer Ashley Montgomery. Born into a family of home builders, Ashley knew what she wanted to do from a young age as after cutting her teeth in the industry, she launched her own firm in 2014, which exploded in popularity during the COVID homeboom. Ashley's work has been published in top shelter magazines and she's inked a deal with Rizzoli for her first book. Recently, she and her husband and business partner divorced, leading to a challenging time both personally and professionally. But now that the dust has settled, Ashley's opening up about how it has made her stronger and what lessons she's learned along the way. Much of our conversation covers that ground. I spoke with Ashley about the difference between Canadian and American clients, why she doesn't regret not charging a markup early on in her career, and how she came to fall in love with the business side of her firm. This podcast is sponsored by Leloy, maker of rugs, pillows and wall art for the thoughtfully layered home. If you miss them at Vegas Market, Laloy's newest summer introductions keep design at the forefront pieces that are beautiful in your home and ethically crafted. The new collections are handmade in India and Goodweave certified, which ensures they come from an ethical and transparent supply chain. See those collections and more@loloi rugs.com that's L O L O I rugs.com follow them on Instagram and TikTok laloyrugs to see the rugs from even more angles. This podcast is sponsored by Blue Dot, Minnesota's premier modern design brand. If you're a pro, you're going to want to know about Bluedot's newly updated trade program. Members receive 20% off every order. Every day you get a dedicated trade concierge, AKA a real human being who can assist you with product info, samples, ordering and fulfillment. You'll also get early access to new designs and special finishes reserved just for the trade. There's even more, so head over to bluedot.com to learn all about it. That's b l u d o t dot com and now on with the show.

[Interviewer (possibly Dennis Scully or a co-host)]

Normally I try to ease into this a little bit, but I just felt like this seemed I don't want to say this is the elephant in the room, Ashley, but this is so Eric business partner thought to be life partner, right? All of that. And now let's let's get an update. Let's hear what's going on.

[Ashley Montgomery]

Yeah. So, I mean, got married, had our first child. Life was great. I had this interior design company that was small and out of our basement at the time, but there was potential there and it was growing. And that's when I had decided to get my first studio space and kind of jump in. And it was right before COVID and he was kind of in between jobs, so. So obviously our thought was, well, if we could work together, how great is that? Great, great. Great in theory. And it was good in the beginning. And he brought a lot of business sense into this business that I didn't have at that time. I was good at designing. I wasn't great at running a business. In my mind, I thought I was going to be like a semi stay at home mom. That's kind of what I envisioned growing up. I didn't kind of envision this life of a career woman. So business started to pick up and I mean, Covid was that big boom. We had our second kid. There was even more of a juggle. But motherhood, I think, is one of the things that taught me how much you can do. And all of a sudden, I felt this new kind of wave of all of the stuff I could do. You look at the sleepless nights and you still get up the next day and you show up.

[Interviewer (possibly Dennis Scully or a co-host)]

Look how strong I am.

[Ashley Montgomery]

Yeah, look how delusional I Look at me. No energy, no sleep, breastfeeding in my car. Like, I used to travel around with pumps, literally pumping in my car in between meetings and bringing my babies to showrooms. And I was like, I can do it all consistently. I'm a working mom. I can do it. So as the business started to grow, we kind of hit a breaking point where it was almost like a romantic relationship turned into a working relationship. And I think that's something we lost sight of very quickly. And then it became where I was kind of outgrowing his part of the business, if that makes sense. So the operational side, I mean, once you set it up and you've got great systems and great operations, it was kind of like while he was bored, I'm thriving in terms of designing. And we just kind of had shitty communication between each other. So we decided, this isn't working personally, this isn't working. We tried to keep as business partners, and that obviously was a pipe dream. Like, we will go through a personal divorce, but we'll stay business partners.

[Interviewer (possibly Dennis Scully or a co-host)]

We'll separate, but we'll be great partners. Running the operation, sure.

[Dennis Scully]

I can see you wanting to try.

[Ashley Montgomery]

Right. We'll give it a shot. Obviously, personal message into business. Business messes into personal. So needless to say, through this whole thing, I learned a lot of lessons. So obviously, he was my husband. There's a big trust in what he's doing and how things are done in the books and everything like that. And he didn't do anything wrong. But I didn't know that side of my business. I had no idea. I was just like, sure, no problem. I do this, you do that. Well, you need to know the ins and outs of your business. You need to know what's going on from A to Z and how. What's happening day to day. I knew what was happening with my design team, but I didn't know what was happening in terms of money coming in, money going out, who's owing invoices, who hasn't been sent invoices. What are we investing in, what are we not investing in? All of that stuff. So that's something that I've really learned, and that's taken me the better part of a year and a half to kind of get myself back up to that, which is. I feel in such a better space now, having full visibility of what this.

[Interviewer (possibly Dennis Scully or a co-host)]

Business is start to finish, which is a tremendous relief. First of all, I'm sure, to better understand your business. And it sounds as though one of the lessons that you learned is, I don't ever want to be away from the business side of the operation.

[Ashley Montgomery]

Yes, again, yeah, I do enjoy. Now that I understand it, I enjoy the business operations of it. I don't find it as terrifying. I mean, I was a girl that, like, you put a balance sheet in front of me and, like, my eyes glaze over. Like, that is not. You could put me right to sleep with an accounting document. Like, that is not what I like. Scroll to the bottom. I'm like, so how did we get here? Tell me more about this number. So now, understanding the ins and outs of everything, it's. It helps me run this business. And I mean, at the end of the day, as much as I love designing, it's still a business, and I have to make sure that it's running functionally, really well. And putting the right people in the place to do that, but still having control over them and the decisions that are made has been really rewarding.

[Interviewer (possibly Dennis Scully or a co-host)]

Well, I'm very sorry for whatever happened in the.

[Ashley Montgomery]

Don't be sorry. And that's what people are like, oh, you guys separated? You're divorced. I'M so sorry. And it is not a sorry situation. It's. Everybody's happier, everybody's thriving. It's. The kids are happy, I'm happy, he's happy, we've moved on. And it's just like, it's not what you plan for. And trust me, there's many days of therapy that I had to go through to understand, like, this is not a bad thing.

[Dennis Scully]

Right.

[Ashley Montgomery]

This is actually a good thing for you. So it's even to be able to learn how to say the word divorce or separated or ex business partner, that. That was a learning curve in itself. But I've learned never go into business with somebody 50. 50. That was our biggest problem.

[Interviewer (possibly Dennis Scully or a co-host)]

Oh, so tell me about that.

[Ashley Montgomery]

Well, we were 50, 50 owners of the business, which means you're basically in a standstill on any decision when it came to the legal side of it. So it was like, well, I can't do anything and he can't do anything. So that was the biggest thing is 51, 49 every single day, never, ever, ever down 50, 50.

[Interviewer (possibly Dennis Scully or a co-host)]

You'll never give up that control again, Ashley.

[Ashley Montgomery]

Never, ever. And it's funny, I've talked to a few others in the industry that are going through those growing pains and separating from their other parts of their businesses. And it's tough when you're a creative and you have that creative sense and you're building this side creatively and you have somebody who's running the operational side of it. It starts obviously, the creative, their name, their face, their. They're the ones who are getting the accolades for the work. And whoever's running that operational side has to be okay with that because the people want to lift up and see the designer work because that's what's presented to the world. That's what people see. But the business needs that operational side to function. So it's one of those, like, well, you can't get the proper clients if you're not operating functionally with your business. But at the same time, you're not going to sign new clients if you don't have beautiful design. They both go hand in hand. And sometimes, I mean, I'm guilty for it being like, well, I can do this all by myself. I don't need you. I'm the designer. I'm the one who makes it beautiful. That's why people come here. Yes. But they also want to make sure that their money's being allocated properly, invoices are being sent out. Operational wise, they put a lot of money and trust into you. So it does have an equal balance, of course.

[Interviewer (possibly Dennis Scully or a co-host)]

And so is that what led to some of the friction or tension was that.

[Ashley Montgomery]

Yeah, it's very hard, I think sometimes when you. I mean, I started this company long before I even met him, before we got married, before we had kids. So there was a part of me that, like, this was my first baby. And when it got to a point where we were butting heads on directional design and logo design and branding design and what I was doing with my time and who we were hiring, it was not a good thing. I felt very kind of like this wasn't mine anymore. And I fought so hard for so many years to keep it. You know, having kids while growing this business meant I didn't get a mat leave. I didn't get to stay home and be that stay at home mom. And that was a decision I had to make because I knew if I did that for a year and I hit the pause button on growing, it's gonna be twice as hard to catch up once I am there. So it's like I wanted to keep building this business, and it's like an addiction. Once you start and you start this snowball of creativity, you wanna see it come to fruition. And I still feel that way. I still wake up every morning and love what I do. And I wanted to make sure that I was making the calls and the decisions. And with our partnership at the time, that wasn't. That wasn't the way it was gonna go.

[Dennis Scully]

Let's take a step back at this.

[Interviewer (possibly Dennis Scully or a co-host)]

Point and let's explain how you got into the business and when you started the business on your own, and then we can come back and talk about Eric joining the firm and all of that. So in your youth, so a lot of people in your family were in and around the design space, right?

[Ashley Montgomery]

Grandparents, yeah, my grandfather was a. He was a builder. I mean, he started in concrete. He built apartment buildings. He was an Italian immigrant. That was his move to Toronto when he was very, very young. His family was in construction, so he became a house builder, a home builder, as the years went on. And then my parents have always built their own homes, renovated their own homes. So I remember walking through job sites as a kid and always kind of being around it. And I loved watching HGTV as a child. And Candace Olson was like my dream celebrity. I would rather have a Candace Olsen poster on my wall than, like Britney Spears. So that's how I ended up here. And when I went to design school after university, I wasn't sure what element of design I wanted to be in. And at that time, many, many moons ago, there wasn't a great understanding of what interior designers did. It was kind of like, oh, well, you could be a decorator, which is great, but I like the construction side of it. I like seeing things walking into a space and envisioning what that space could be. And after design school, I went and worked at an architectural firm in Toronto. Great experience. Realized that is not what I want to do.

[Interviewer (possibly Dennis Scully or a co-host)]

Quickly, quickly realized that is not where I want to be.

[Ashley Montgomery]

I realized I was going to be stuck at a desk on CAD for 40 plus hours a week. And it was like, no. And it was a very old school, like, well, you put in your time and eventually you'll be an intermediate designer and a senior designer, but still, you're never the one making the decisions. And I wanted to make decisions. I wanted to see my visions come to life. So from there I went and worked at a small firm where I thought maybe I would get that opportunity. That was one of those big learning lessons of this is how not to run a business.

[Interviewer (possibly Dennis Scully or a co-host)]

Well, now you've said that to me before. This is what I learned, not how to run a business. What was going on at this small firm?

[Ashley Montgomery]

It was just a hot mess. It was a bouquet of red flags when I showed up. And I should have just listened to myself. Red flags. I didn't. I was like, okay, well, maybe this is what it is. And it was a one woman show and we worked at our kitchen island. And I just remember one day she had these pillows and she's like, I need you to go return these. And I was like, well, you've had them for like three months. Like this little boutique is not going to take them back. And she's like, oh, no, you're going in there and taking them back. And I remember walking in with these pillows in my arms and the shop owner looked at me and goes, oh, hell no, honey. And I was like, I'm not doing this. And I just turned around and walked away. And I was like, you know what? This isn't, this is not what I've dreamed of. So I was in my mid-20s, I was lost and confused and questioning every decision I've made. And I ended up working. A friend of mine from design school was working in this boutique in downtown Toronto called Atelier, which was in the Summerhill design district at the time. And he's like, why don't you come work for us? We need a girl. We've just got all males on staff. And it would be so fun, and I think you'd love it. So I was like, fine, I'll go work in a retail store. I worked at American Eagle in high school. I can do this all over again.

[Interviewer (possibly Dennis Scully or a co-host)]

Sure.

[Ashley Montgomery]

You know, sales is great. So I did. And the owner of that store, he was a mastermind in terms of styling and vintage and finding these pieces and the way that he would layer them. And his store was one of those stores where, like, you kept your elbows in because you were worried if you turned around, you were gonna knock something over. And it was just overflowing with beauty somehow. And he had such an eye. And that's where I was like, okay, I'm falling back in love with all of this again. And the appreciation of beauty and being in that retail side. So not only did he have vintage, but he also would go to High Point and all the big markets, and he would buy from suppliers. So I learned the whole furniture supplier side in that era, which was fantastic. So that kind of opened my eyes to a whole nother category as well. And. And when I was working there, the store manager was like, you have so much potential. Why don't you just. When a client comes in and they want to look, they want to hire somebody for a consultation, take it. I was like, I don't know. So one day this woman came in. She's like, can I just hire somebody to come to my house and give me some advice? And he's like, yeah, Ashley will do that. She's like, well, how much are you charging hour? And at the time, I said, $125. And. And I thought that was insane amount of money.

[Interviewer (possibly Dennis Scully or a co-host)]

You thought that was all the money?

[Ashley Montgomery]

I thought that was all the money. I was like, there's no way this lady's gonna say yes to this. And she's like, no problem. And I was like, what? And that's how it started. And I was like, oh, okay. I was used to making minimum wage at the time. I think it was $10.75. So it was mind blowing. And that's how it started. And I just kept going and going, and I. And I schlepped and I did the condos and the apartments, and I went to Ikea, and I built furniture myself, and I painted walls myself, and I did all the things because I thought that's what you do.

[Interviewer (possibly Dennis Scully or a co-host)]

Yeah.

[Ashley Montgomery]

And it was great. I was living downtown Toronto. Life was fantastic. And I just started growing. And then I got to the point where I was ready to take on my first employee. And at this point, I had gotten married, and I was like, you know what? I need help. I need somebody else to help me with this. Got my first employee working out of my basement with all of my little vintage finds all around me. And I had had my first child, my son, Aiden. And I realized, okay, I need to make this separation between motherhood and working life. Because if I'm at home with him, even if I have a nanny or a babysitter and they're on the main floor and I'm working out of the basement, my ears don't turn off, my head doesn't turn off thinking about him. I need a separation. I need to get dressed. I need to leave this house. I need to get out. So for my own mental health, it was like, having a baby is a big life change, and I don't think anyone really prepares you for that. So I was out with him for a walk one day, pushing the stroller, and there was a Ferle sign in this kind of warehousey looking building. And the leasing agent was there, and I signed the lease right then and there. And I was like, well, sink or swim. Like, I'll make it work.

[Interviewer (possibly Dennis Scully or a co-host)]

Look at you.

[Ashley Montgomery]

I'm a big believer if you throw something out of the universe, you're gonna get it back. And sometimes it's hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel. It's hard to see what is it all for. But then these little glimmers come in and you're like, that was it. That was it. And getting my first studio space, man, did that change my world. It absolutely rocked it because it added this validity to who I was and what I did. And it was like, oh, wow, she has an office now. She has a studio. She must be killing it. She must have all these clients.

[Dennis Scully]

She's doing so well.

[Interviewer (possibly Dennis Scully or a co-host)]

Look at her.

[Dennis Scully]

Right?

[Interviewer (possibly Dennis Scully or a co-host)]

That's the perception.

[Ashley Montgomery]

Yeah. And to be able to say to a client, like, why don't you come to the studio for a meeting? Why don't you come in? We'll have a consultation. Big change. Rather than, you know, sometimes it's worth going to their place in the beginning, but a lot better than saying, hey, do you want to meet in this coffee shop? Do you want to meet? Like this all of a sudden was like, oh, and we can go through samples and we can have a coffee together and relax. And you can see what my studio looks like because it's really a representation of what we do. And that was a big thing.

[Dennis Scully]

How long did it take you to.

[Interviewer (possibly Dennis Scully or a co-host)]

Transform that space into the look and.

[Dennis Scully]

Feel that you wanted to represent you.

[Ashley Montgomery]

To your point, it wasn't that long, so I just transformed it with my antique pieces. The one piece that I did buy that I absolutely loved was this 19th century mercantile cabinet that had all of these big drawers, so it was like a shop cabinet. And that's where my entire sample library was. And that was like. She was my bread and butter. That piece was stunning. I loved that thing.

[Interviewer (possibly Dennis Scully or a co-host)]

Clients said, ooh, look at that.

[Ashley Montgomery]

Literally, every time someone would walk in, they'd be like, this is stunning. I'm like, I know. Well.

[Interviewer (possibly Dennis Scully or a co-host)]

So suddenly you were on your way.

[Ashley Montgomery]

I was on my way. And I had. I felt like I. Nothing could stop me. And then Covid hit and Covid. What a time. So obviously, the world shut down, and there was a big question mark for a couple weeks, and then the world decided they really wanted beautiful homes. And it was like, okay, during this time, lockdown after lockdown, and we had a young kid. I was pregnant. My family lives outside of the city, so we were spending a lot of time up there. House prices in Toronto were going wild, so we found a place up outside of the city on the lake, and we decided to make the move. I grew up on the water. It's something that's been inside of me forever. I love the peacefulness up here. Stumbled upon this place. It was beautiful. It was a stunning home. Sold it during the divorce, started a new chapter, got it.

[Dennis Scully]

Okay.

[Ashley Montgomery]

But it was a home that I absolutely loved, and I loved transforming that from what that house was to what it is now. So, I mean, did I have a lot on my plate when our lives took a different direction? 100%. We were renovating. We had basically finished renovating, but we were doing a smaller addition onto the house. So there was the stress of that, the stress of the business. Two kids, 20 months apart. There was a lot. And we just broke. It all. Became too much. And we realized we had changed as people. What we thought we wanted in our lives were very different. I loved work, and finding that balance of motherhood and running a business is a tough balance to find. And I know we talked a little while ago about, what's your definition of success? And that has really resonated with me is my definition of success is being able to run a business and be a mom and being there for my kids when they need me, and having that time with them and making sure that I don't miss those little moments. I want to be there for all those little moments.

[Dennis Scully]

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[Interviewer (possibly Dennis Scully or a co-host)]

So you mentioned with Eric. So he comes in, he puts some structure around all of this. He creates some systems, and you were happy to have that in someone else's hands and to not, right?

[Ashley Montgomery]

Yeah.

[Interviewer (possibly Dennis Scully or a co-host)]

Then the two of you start to go through the tension and the friction, and you realize that you have to get much more involved in the business side. And this is in the past couple of years. I'm taking it.

[Ashley Montgomery]

Yeah, yeah. It's still. I mean, we signed the papers. Like, I ended up buying him out of the business last December. So we're coming up on a year. So it was. I started traveling for work. I started, which. I see it both ways from a spouse's side or a partner's side. Oh, you're. You're going on another vacation. It's not a vacation. It's a lot of work. You know, when you travel and you're sleeping in hotels and you're eating out and you're. It sounds and looks glamorous, but it's exhausting. So there was a bit of resentment there on both sides. I was burning the candle at both ends and trying to keep up that family life at the same time while also feeling like I was killing myself taking red Eye flights and going here and there. And it was a lot. And that's kind of where the resentment started. I feel like the bigger the business got, the more resentment there was. But then he started to get bored, and I think there was more resentment there, and he started to get into kind of, well, why don't I start helping with logo design and creative things? And, well, I can look at floor plans. And he wanted to travel. He wanted to go out and meet these clients and do the glamorous thing. It didn't make sense why. So we tried that, but it was kind of like, okay, well, that was a waste of a visit. Now I have to go back. So there was. When he started kind of crossing that border into the creative side, it just did not go well. Feedback. Creative feedback coming from one creative to another, that didn't go well. So it was kind of like, well, no, I don't like that. Well, taking criticism from me wasn't exactly his favorite thing. So therapy should have probably started a lot sooner.

[Interviewer (possibly Dennis Scully or a co-host)]

There were some really challenging conversations going on.

[Ashley Montgomery]

It sounds like there were. There were. And the difficult part was that those conversations didn't end in this office. And that's the hardest part, is when you're a husband and wife working together, you've got to set those boundaries of what happens at work, stays at work, and what happens at home, stays at home. But it was like when we got home, our conversations were about work, and we kind of lost who we were as a romantic couple. It became business partners. Everything was about business. Everything was talking about business and work and staff, and it just. It became too much.

[Interviewer (possibly Dennis Scully or a co-host)]

So past few years, you've been working through this, wrapped things up. At the end of last year, your business has been growing a lot, and you're becoming very, very well known in the States and very desired outside of Canada, and we'll talk about that. But in thinking now about how you've decided you want to charge now that.

[Dennis Scully]

As you say, you found a greater.

[Interviewer (possibly Dennis Scully or a co-host)]

Confidence, it sounds like going through this whole process, how have you now structured your business? How do you now work with. Talked about hourly or markups or all that?

[Dennis Scully]

Where have you landed?

[Ashley Montgomery]

So I realized quite quickly I needed to get my operations back in place. So basically taking that role that Eric had done. And we had a great bookkeeping team at the time that supported payroll and accounts receivable and accounts payable and all that kind of stuff, because as he was transitioning out of the business, and, I mean, things were pretty volatile for a while where, like, we were not on speaking terms, which made life very difficult while also running a business. So there was about a year where I was basically running a sinking ship, but trying to keep everything cool on the outside. And I have to, like, say a big thank you to my design staff for sticking through it, because they're anyone.

[Interviewer (possibly Dennis Scully or a co-host)]

Who stuck around during that period. Right.

[Ashley Montgomery]

There was some muddy, muddy water that we had to navigate through. I was trying to find contracts and things that I hadn't done before. I hadn't sent out a contract or quote to somebody in years. So I'm getting these inquiries in, and we need to keep taking on projects. But his mindset on this was, why we don't know what the future of this business is. And I'm like, there's going to be a future in some way for me, and I'm going to keep growing. I can't let this. I can't let my baby die. I want to keep this going. So, I mean, did I have my moments of weakness where I was like, you know what? Maybe I just close the doors and walk away? Of course I did. But a solid night's sleep and a long walk, and I'm like, okay, I can do this. So getting back into it, I had to find that operations person, so I ended up hiring an operations manager, which was great. We've taken the bookkeeping back in house, so. So she's overseeing all of that, which is fantastic, because you need somebody who's really guiding and making sure. Okay, where are we at with our current project load? What do we have the ability to take on? We want to make sure we're not overloading our design team with too many projects all starting at the same time. And how are we charging? What are our fees? And that's been the biggest thing. So for a long time, I bounced back and forth between hourly and flat fee, and we do a hybrid of both. And there's certain projects that an hourly is fantastic for. And we have a couple clients that are absolutely lovely. They love what we do. They've already built their house. They did it. We did it with their architect. But now they want furnishings. You know what? Let's do this hourly. This is more of an hourly job. So anything that's kind of furniture and decor and just that, which aren't a ton of our projects, but there's a couple sprinkled through that's an hourly project on anything you buy and a markup on our furniture. So we do retail less 5%, and that's what we pass along to our clients. And then any vintage or custom pieces is a 30% markup. And that's been new, too. So when I first started, I didn't mark up anything.

[Dennis Scully]

You didn't?

[Ashley Montgomery]

Not a single thing. Everyone told me I was crazy. I might have been, but.

[Dennis Scully]

And you discovered.

[Interviewer (possibly Dennis Scully or a co-host)]

Yes, I was actually slightly.

[Ashley Montgomery]

It still might be. But I realized at the time I wanted to make that dollar of that budget go as far as humanly possible. So if that meant that I didn't make an extra little bit off this project, then I got to include that beautiful fabric or that stunning piece of furniture or that light fixture. So it was like, if I pass along my discounts, which was very taboo, then I got to create these spaces with a much wider budget. And I did that in the beginning. And I think that attributed to a lot of, like, how are you working with clients that you can afford all of this stuff? I had to eat that customer.

[Interviewer (possibly Dennis Scully or a co-host)]

I'm practically giving it to them.

[Ashley Montgomery]

I'm giving it away. But I did.

[Dennis Scully]

But were you thinking, oh, I'm gonna.

[Interviewer (possibly Dennis Scully or a co-host)]

Have such great photography because I'm gonna have that beautiful light fixture and these.

[Dennis Scully]

Beautiful fabrics, and that's going to be in the project.

[Ashley Montgomery]

And they were things that I wanted to put into these projects. And it was like, when you're sitting there looking at it and going, I want to use this light so badly. I want this in a project. It'll make this space gorgeous. Or I can make a couple thousand bucks. I get more feel out of seeing that piece in that project. And if I get one word of mouth referral from it or. Or one client signed on because they saw it on Pinterest or Instagram, fantastic. I paid myself quadruple what I would have made off of that one light fixture. So it's like, you gotta kind of put the money to the side, grow that passion, get those pieces in there, grow your portfolio as much as you can, and then get to a point where it's like, okay, let's start making money now.

[Dennis Scully]

Okay.

[Interviewer (possibly Dennis Scully or a co-host)]

And so at some point you realize, yes, markup hourly.

[Dennis Scully]

Here we go.

[Ashley Montgomery]

Yeah, yeah. And that was probably when I got my studio space and everything became a little bit more legitimate. And then we do a flat fee, and we base that off of usually the square footage of the home. We'll take a percentage of what the square footage is and come up with a number. And then I kind of go, okay, does that seem realistic? Like, does that seem insanely high? Like, let's drop it, 20 or 30 grand? Because I can't fathom sending somebody a quote for this much based on the square footage of their house. So sometimes I'll tweak them like that. And then all procurement is billed out at an hourly. So that's hourly as well.

[Interviewer (possibly Dennis Scully or a co-host)]

I would think that that is becoming increasingly more difficult as prices have gotten so much higher, have gone so much higher. So it's hard. So many designers have been telling me recently that it's just even hard to tell clients, no, it really is that much.

[Ashley Montgomery]

Oh, my God, it's insane. And then bring it to Canadian dollar, and it's even more insane.

[Dennis Scully]

Right?

[Interviewer (possibly Dennis Scully or a co-host)]

And I'm imagining that tariffs are showing up in a very meaningful way in your world. And we're going to talk about that, but I don't want to jump to that yet because I want to fully understand now how you.

[Dennis Scully]

So do you have a pretty good.

[Interviewer (possibly Dennis Scully or a co-host)]

Database of what previous projects have cost.

[Dennis Scully]

Roughly so that you can.

[Ashley Montgomery]

Yeah, I have a rough understanding. I'd say my biggest shortfall is, you know, I don't like to track my hours. So it's hard to make your team track your hours when you don't like to track your hours.

[Dennis Scully]

Right.

[Ashley Montgomery]

But you need to know how much time you're spending on certain things. So that's where we kind of twisted into this flat fee model is we're at a point where hourly doesn't make sense sometimes, because when we are getting clients that are coming to you for your style and what you want, their decisions are made rather quickly, and there's very few revisions that are done on those projects. So if you look at an hourly versus a flat fee, you're not really making the money that you should be because you're not spending that many hours on it anymore. But you've spent years and years and years getting yourself to train to this level, so you have to accommodate yourself for that. So it's kind of a hard thing to wrap your head around sometimes. But I don't spend nearly as many hours on projects anymore. But our fees are still the same or more. But that's because we've built years and years of perfecting a craft.

[Interviewer (possibly Dennis Scully or a co-host)]

Of course. And all of your talent and experience and the knowledge that you have is suddenly worth so much more today.

[Dennis Scully]

I mean, I think, if I recall.

[Interviewer (possibly Dennis Scully or a co-host)]

You started your firm in. Let's call it 2014, right?

[Ashley Montgomery]

Something like that.

[Interviewer (possibly Dennis Scully or a co-host)]

Yeah. So, I mean, yeah, so it's certainly been a time and. And look at all you've gone through.

[Ashley Montgomery]

I know. And it's every year I kind of set a goal for myself, and I think that has been one of the biggest things too. And I remember when my goal was to have a house and home video tour, because those were like, all the rage 12 years ago. And I got one that was from tagging different magazines and websites on my Instagram photos. And then I ended up getting email contacts through that. And, hey, we saw you tag us in one of your photos, and we'd love to learn more about who you are and what you're doing. And then one year, I really wanted to get published. I wanted to be in a magazine, and. And one of my projects got picked up, and that was like, oh, aha moment. And the last couple years, I haven't set any goals for myself. I've just. I was in the thick of the thick. And so this year I was like, you know what? I'm gonna shoot my shot. My goal this year is I want a book. I want a coffee table book. I want to walk through Home Goods or homesense or Indigo, and I want to see. I want to be on that shelf with all of these people that I adore. And I got it. I got it. So we've got a book coming, and.

[Dennis Scully]

Tell me what that represents.

[Interviewer (possibly Dennis Scully or a co-host)]

I mean, yes, you want to see yourself on the shelf with all these.

[Dennis Scully]

People that you admire, but what do.

[Interviewer (possibly Dennis Scully or a co-host)]

You imagine happens when you get that book and you're on the shelf and people see you that way?

[Ashley Montgomery]

So I did a cold call, essentially, with Rizzoli. I sent them an email. I was talking to an editor now friend, Allie Duncan, and she had written a couple pieces for me previously. And I was talking. I was like, do you by chance have any contacts at a publishing house? And she was like, I do, actually. I will. Here's an email for a publisher at Rizzoli. And I was like, okay. She's like, what are you thinking? I'm like, well, I would love to have a book. She's like, okay, go for it. Like, I support you. I think that would be amazing. So I just sent an email one day, introduced myself. Nice to meet you. And she wrote me back, and we went back and forth a couple times. And she's like, okay, what's the book gonna be about? And I was like, I have no idea. I didn't think that far ahead. I just wanted to see if I'd even get in the door. And there was one night I was making dinner at the kids, and they're running around, and the music's on, and I real. And it's those little moments. And that's what this book is gonna be about. It's about the little moments in life. Little moments in your home. We look at these big, beautiful homes that, for many of us, are not attainable. And through this whole change and shift of my life, I ended up downsizing into this little log cabin that I bought. It's filled with love and laughter and happiness. And I was like, this is what's important about designing, is you don't have to have these massive mansions that we see scattered all across North America. There's something so beautiful about the moments that you have in these homes. The moment when you're cooking dinner and your kids are running around the kitchen. Those core memories that are going to stick with you for life. So it's really about honing in on attainable, achievable luxury in all sorts of homes. Large, small, medium, everything. Yeah, it's a dream. Come true. Like, it's. It's still a kind of a pinch me moment, which I'm very, very excited for, especially as a Canadian designer to be picked up by an American publisher is. Is really amazing. I don't like to, like, overly talk about how cool this is, but it's really frigging cool.

[Dennis Scully]

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[Interviewer (possibly Dennis Scully or a co-host)]

And being picked up by an American publisher and how do you think about that? And does being a Canadian designer, do you feel as if it's challenging, therefore, to break into the American market in a meaningful way? Is that so?

[Ashley Montgomery]

I do a lot of expert calls.

[Interviewer (possibly Dennis Scully or a co-host)]

So you're on the expert platform, we should say.

[Dennis Scully]

Right, on the expert platform.

[Ashley Montgomery]

I do love the expert platform. I'd say 80% of those expert calls. These clients think I live in California.

[Interviewer (possibly Dennis Scully or a co-host)]

So they have no idea. They have no idea.

[Ashley Montgomery]

It says Toronto. I guess nobody reads it. I'm guilty of that, too.

[Interviewer (possibly Dennis Scully or a co-host)]

That's interesting.

[Ashley Montgomery]

I look at the pictures and then book it and they're like, you're in Toronto. And I'm like, yeah, I thought you were from California. I'm like, no, you look like you're from California. I'm like, I know. Well. So.

[Interviewer (possibly Dennis Scully or a co-host)]

Well, because you're blonde and they think you're the style. Yeah, okay.

[Ashley Montgomery]

I don't know. They're like, all right, I know you're from California.

[Dennis Scully]

I live in a log cabin.

[Ashley Montgomery]

Meanwhile, yeah, maybe I'm in the mountains, who knows? But I find that borderline is. We could basically erase it now with technology and Pinterest and Instagram and FaceTime and Zoom and all the rest of it. That border isn't really there in terms of, like, we're breaking through that border, which is really, really great for Canadians. I mean, you look at the population of Canada, there's more people in the state of California than there is in all of Canada. So there's just so much more opportunity. Your price points are so much better. It's easier to work with. Like, our American projects are easier to do than our Canadian projects.

[Dennis Scully]

So tell me why I can't get the stuff here.

[Ashley Montgomery]

I can't get those tiles that are made in California, the Arto tiles and the Tabarca tiles and all the rest of that gorgeous craftsmanship. For me to get it here, you basically double the price and then some. So you're looking at a tile that's already 40 to $60 a square foot, which is a splurge for most projects, and then you double that to $120 a square foot, $200 a square foot. You're like, yeah, okay, it's not going to happen. Same with appliances. Our appliances are double the price. Our plumbing fixtures are double the price. Our lighting fixtures are double the price. So it's. You've got to make. You've got to get really creative here to stretch that dollar with tariffs and price increasing and everything else that's going on. I mean, Canada doesn't have the infrastructure of manufacturing. We have some, but we don't have a ton. So to pay our trades to produce something that mimics what we want, your price point's still really high. We often tell our clients, well, the only benefit, even though you're paying almost the same, if not sometimes still a little bit more, to have it made here, you're getting that craftsmanship because now you look at crateandbarrel.com and crateandbarrel ca crateandbarrel.com, you're looking at a chair that's $1,000. Crateandbarrel ca. That chair is $3,000.

[Dennis Scully]

Really?

[Ashley Montgomery]

But what are you. You're not buying. You're not getting a chair that's worth $3,000. You're getting a chair that's worth $1,000. So let's try to make that here and stay in that $3,000 budget, and let's have Canadian craftsmanship where, you know, it's really great materials and it's not overseas. And we're helping our own economy and industry rebuild in that sense. But, yeah, our dollar doesn't get you what. What it's worth anymore. And, you know, you order from these places where a lot of stuff is made overseas and the quality's not there anymore. So. But when we try to buy made in America, we gotta pay for it.

[Interviewer (possibly Dennis Scully or a co-host)]

Yeah. So much is being written right now, and so many people are talking about this renewed sense of Canadian nationalism and that everybody is quite upset, understandably so, about everything that's happening with tariffs and even just the talk about making Canada the 51st state, which I can imagine not going down well with a lot of the good people in Canada. But. But does that show up in a meaningful way for you every day? Do you sense all of this tension and friction and does it make some things more challenging for you? And buying product from America, do some.

[Dennis Scully]

People not want that American product in.

[Interviewer (possibly Dennis Scully or a co-host)]

The way that they once did?

[Ashley Montgomery]

Yeah, I mean, Canadians, we're very proud of our country and what we do. And have we taken the easy route of going across the border for a lot of things in life? 100%. It was like, well, they manufacture it, let's let them do it and we'll pay a little bit more. But now we're paying a lot more. So we are trying to. I mean, everybody loves when you can say this is Canadian made and from a Canadian boutique or a Canadian manufacturer. Our problem though is that we don't have enough manufacturers to produce things. So it's either the price is really high because it's a one off, or your timelines are really long. It's still hard. Like we don't have a lot of fabric houses that make fabric here. You know, it's all overseas. So we've kind of turned and we're looking, we're always going to buy from the U.S. we have to, we don't have a choice. But we are also looking at other places in the world to purchase from now where it's, you know, we get a lot of vintage rugs from Turkey. We get. One of our favorite plumbing lines is from London, England. So we're kind of bypassing the going through the state suppliers to order them and going direct to those European suppliers and bringing it in that way. Which is a learning curve because our brokerage and everything else is set up mostly to accommodate us to Canada, Canada to us. So to now opening brokerages and dealing with brokerage houses to bring in from the European Union over, to bring in from Australia over and Morocco direct instead of going through one of the tile suppliers in the States. It's one of those situations where we just have to be creative and find different ways to do things.

[Interviewer (possibly Dennis Scully or a co-host)]

Coming out of the challenges of the past few years, all of the structural changes that you've made now to your life, to your firm, your home life, everything.

[Dennis Scully]

What are you, what are you longing for now?

[Interviewer (possibly Dennis Scully or a co-host)]

What do you want to really have happen for you next? What's going to feel like a big achievement or goal for you?

[Ashley Montgomery]

Oh, geez. Oh God, I don't know. Everything right now just feels good. I'm in a place where everything, for some reason, feels good, Good. And I'm happy, and life is good. And our projects are great. We're kicking off some projects in the next six months that I'm so excited for. And I think my goal is to get back into. I feel like I've spent the last two years building this business internally back up again. And my goal is to let it thrive now is to kind of reap the benefits and the rewards from being in the trenches. And I'm excited to design again. I feel like I was in a bit of a stall pattern, a bit of a hold where there was so much going on in my brain and in my life that I was designing, but I wasn't in love with it. And I'm falling back in love with it again and being creative again and spending the time, rather than just being like, okay, I only have this much time, and I gotta hammer out this and this and this. Spending the time to be creative. I was just in D.C. working on a project. We were photographing it. We'd finished it, and I was in Georgetown, and actually I was talking to Brian Paquette, and he's like, you have to go to this design store. And I was like, what a disservice I've done myself. This entire project that I worked on. And I never knew this little area existed. I never knew this was here. And I'm like, that's my goal for these projects. I. Coming up is like, being intentional about where I am and my time in those places, being intentional about finding these little. These little design stores and these little boutiques that offer things that you can't find online. Like, I love that part of it, and I want to inject that back into our designs and back, especially working on these abroad projects. I want to be intentional about the places we're going and the time spent there and soaking up all of that again.

[Interviewer (possibly Dennis Scully or a co-host)]

Well, it sounds as if the American market is clamoring for you, so you'll be spending a lot more time in the States, and I'm happy about that. It sounds like a lot of rebuilding for you personally and professionally, and that you are feeling much, much stronger and looking to expand, to spread your wings. I'm so glad that you're in a better place and that you've come through all of this, and I'm really thrilled to get to talk to you about it, and I appreciate you speaking so openly about all of it with me.

[Ashley Montgomery]

Yeah, it took a long time for me to get to a point that I could see, speak openly about it. And I'm still learning to speak openly about it. But what I have learned by speaking openly is I'm not the only one going through this. There's lots and lots of entrepreneurs. And I mean, I'll say mostly female because that's generally who I'm speaking to on a day to day basis, but young entrepreneurial females that are also in this boat. And it's a hard thing to talk about because you often associate it with failure, that it didn't work out both personally and professionally. But you really have to change your mindset on it. But it's not failure. You were able to stand up for yourself and say, this isn't working. I'm not happy. Something needs to change. And if that means a separation, professionally or personally, then you have to do that because you don't want to look back and be unhappy for years. You don't want to look back and say, well, it's too late now. You gotta trust yourself and you gotta grow from that. And speaking with other individuals that are going through the same boat. It's very empowering.

[Interviewer (possibly Dennis Scully or a co-host)]

I wonder how you learned to see.

[Dennis Scully]

It that way and to turn it.

[Interviewer (possibly Dennis Scully or a co-host)]

Around from failure to, no, no, you've got to do this for yourself. This isn't something negative, this is something positive. You needed to make these changes for yourself.

[Ashley Montgomery]

Yeah, therapy therapist was pretty good at that one. Yeah. So that you kind of have to have these check yourself moments. So it's, you know, you can get down on yourself, you can get hard on yourself. You can say, well, what if this and what if that and what if I did that? But you learn most from failure in life. You learn from mistakes that you make, and those mistakes often teach you something. And if you can learn, take every mistake or every failure or what you classify as a failure and see the lesson out of it and what you've learned from it. I've grown so much as a person. I think I'm a better person. I'm a better mom, I'm a better friend. I value so much more now I'm a better boss from this experience. It's. Yeah, you just have to learn from what it is. And when you can do that and you can come full circle and recognize, okay, this wasn't just his fault, this is my fault too. We're both 50, 50 partners in this thing.

[Interviewer (possibly Dennis Scully or a co-host)]

We were in this together.

[Ashley Montgomery]

But it's saying those words out loud. I am divorced. That was a big learning lesson. I Don't have a business partner anymore. That was a big learning lesson. It's just your clients know everything about you, and they look for transparency on all ends, and obviously, they can tell when you're off and something's not going right. They're. You gotta be honest with them. I actually chatted with Molly Kidd when she was going through. Because we were going through our separations at the same time. Hers was a professional separation, but it was the exact same operational versus designer and where we were butting heads. Like, we were very similar as to how we were feeling in that situation. And I thank her so much for picking up the phone and calling me, because she managed. She gave me a boost of confidence, and she's like, you can do this. If I can do this, you can do this. And I'm like, okay. And then I'm working right now with Tandem for a rebrand because I'm ready for this fresh look, a fresh face, new everything. Shake off my old and start new. And Renee, who owns Tandem, she's lovely. She's going through the same thing.

[Interviewer (possibly Dennis Scully or a co-host)]

Oh, my goodness.

[Ashley Montgomery]

So it's like, you know, she. She's going through a divorce and taking her business out on her own. And so it was like, oh, my God. Like, not only do you create great branding, and we're eye to eye on that, but like, hello, let's talk about our lives. And it's like, as much as you, you know, you got to rely on your relationships, as big as a community, this is. It's really small at the same time, and there's a lot of people going through the same things that you. So it's. And she's very open to talk about that stuff, and I know she does those. Ask me any things. I'm not quite there yet in terms of personal things, but. Yeah.

[Dennis Scully]

Okay.

[Interviewer (possibly Dennis Scully or a co-host)]

Well, we are certainly catching you at an interesting time. There's. There's a lot going on. I'm. I'm. I'm thrilled to get to spend time with you. I. I had such fun with you at High Point Market in the. In the spring, and I was so glad to get you to your first High Point Market. I hope that was a wonderful experience for you.

[Ashley Montgomery]

Oh, my gosh. That was so much fun. It was just wild.

[Dennis Scully]

It was great.

[Interviewer (possibly Dennis Scully or a co-host)]

I hope to see you back there soon. But again, thank you so much for sharing all of this. I know that it will mean a great deal to everyone who gets to hear this.

[Ashley Montgomery]

Well, thank you. I'm happy to share it. I've had to learn to share it, and I'm happy that I'm at that point now that I can share it.

[Dennis Scully]

Thanks for listening. If you'd like to keep up with the latest design industry news, visit us [e-mail] where you can sign up for our newsletter, browse job listings, and join our BOH Insider community for access to online workshops, a free print subscription, and much more. If you have a note for the podcast, drop us a [e-mail] if you're enjoying these conversations, please leave us a review on Apple Podcasts. It helps others to discover the show. This show was produced by Fred Nicholas and edited by Michael Castaneda. I'm Dennis Scully. Thanks again for listening and I'll see you next week.