MAN ABOUT TOWN

BELLS & WHISTLES

NOT WANTING TO LOSE HIS COOL, THE MAN STRUGGLES TO KEEP PACE WITH THE LATEST TECHNOLOGY

by Steven Tingle

Irecently finished watching the series Only Murders in the Building. The show stars Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez as three strangers who come together to create a podcast about a murder that occurred in their Manhattan condo building. At its heart, Only Murders is a comedy, and much of the humor comes from the generational gap between the three main characters. Martin Short and Steve Martin are both in their seventies, while Gomez is twentynine. During the series, I found myself relating to Selena Gomez’s character and the frustrations she encounters while working with two “old white guys” who seem socially out of touch and are mystified about how to use current technology. At age fifty-two, I sit firmly in the middle of the characters’ age gap, and I found myself rolling my eyes along with Gomez whenever Martin’s character would sign his name at the end of a text message, or when Short’s character would try, and fail, to make a pop-culture reference. I feel your pain, Selena, I would think. Those guys are hopeless geezers.

Not long after the final episode of the show, my daughter Emily, who is twenty-eight, visited for a few days. We were sitting on the couch looking through photos on our respective iPhones when I found a great picture of the two of us. “Oh, that’s so cute,” Emily said when I held up my phone. “Airdrop that one to me.” I immediately had a choice to make. I could say “I’ll just text the photo to you,” or “What the hell is Airdrop?” I went with the latter, and Emily threw her head back onto the couch. “Where have you been for the last ten years?”

During Emily’s visit, we went to Jianna for lunch. We’d been sitting at the bar for a good ten minutes when I complained about the service. “Are they not going to give us a menu?” I asked Emily as she stared at her phone. She sighed loudly and pointed to a tiny square blot laminated on a card sitting on top of the bar. She then shoved her phone in front of my face. “This is the menu, old man. You have to scan the QR code to pull it up.” I nodded. “Oh yeah, I think I’ve heard about that.” Emily sighed again. “Is it safe for you to still be driving?”

Emily’s dig hit a sore spot. Last summer I bought a new car to replace my thirteen-year-old Volkswagen Jetta. I cruised around in the car for weeks, listening to the radio like I had done in the Jetta, until my wife, Jess, who is eleven years my junior, showed me how I could use Bluetooth to connect my phone to the car’s infotainment center and access some feature right out of Star Trek: The Next Generation called CarPlay.

Jess and I have the same identical model of iPhone. I use mine to make calls, send texts, check emails, and take photos. Jess uses hers to do the same, although she’s also able to tap on her phone’s screen and control all of the lights in our home, as well as the thermostat and the vacuum cleaner and stereo speakers.

“The future!” I always exclaim when Jess shows me some feature or service my phone offers that I know nothing about. Jess invariably shakes her head and says, “That option has been around for years.” I straighten up and say, “Well, guess what? I’ve been around for years too.” And I’m afraid it’s starting to show. Steven Tingle is the author of recently published novel Graveyard Fields and is the monthly contributor to this column. Find more at steventingle.com.

864.232.2761 rushwilson.com 23 West North St. Downtown Greenville Rush Wilson Limited @rushwilsonltd

“The interior of a home is like a rocket ship. The control panel has to be just right.”

—Susan Peace-Vernon, Vice President & Principal

Photography by Inspiro 8 Studio

INTERIOR PERSPECTIVE

The coronavirus pandemic changed a lot about American life—the way we shop, our entertainment habits, even holiday celebrations. It also left millions of people stuck at home for months on end, making that space more important than ever.

And that’s meant a boon for Tribus Interior Design in Greenville, which has seen its business grow by more than 50 percent as many people took advantage of working from home to do room remodels and even build new homes, according to Susan Peace-Vernon, principal of the company.

“If you spend that much time at home, it needs to be something you enjoy,” she says. “Everybody likes to live in a lovely space.”

Tribus is a full-service design firm with offices in South Carolina and North Carolina that also serves clients in Georgia, Florida, and New Hampshire.

With a staff of ten, including interior designers, cabinetry designers, construction specialists, and a showroom manager, Tribus offers everything from kitchen and bath remodels to new construction interiors.

For most of its four and a half years, Tribus was headquartered on Greenville’s bustling Main Street. Over the summer, it moved its offices and new showroom to the Village of West Greenville, where it aims to be a part of the community’s revitalization.

Peace-Vernon says the pandemic client is one who wants to build a home in a place like Greenville, which is nestled between the scenic Blue Ridge mountains and the sandy beaches of the Lowcountry, with Keowee and other picturesque lakes nearby.

“If you have the opportunity to work for your company and live wherever you want to, why not South Carolina or North Carolina? It’s such a great place to live,” she says. “And they want to move into a house that is fully furnished—just bring their clothes and leave the rest of the world behind.”

Others want to make their existing homes more comfortable or more expansive or adaptable now that they’re working from home—a staycation, if you will, she says.

“We have one homeowner who called and said, ‘Can you design a pool house for me with an office over top of it?’” she says.

“They also want [homes] to function properly to run their lives and their children’s lives while also doing their jobs,” she adds. “The interior of a home is like a rocket ship. The control panel has to be just right.”

While business during the pandemic blossomed, it’s been anything but routine. At the outset, Tribus learned to be flexible, especially with out-of-town clients, Peace-Vernon says.

“We did a lot of Microsoft Teams and Zoom calls,” she says. “And we mailed out boxes of samples from hardwood flooring to fabrics, and we’d discuss them once they received them.”

Often, that meant shipping sizeable packages filled with multiple choices for shower tile or sofa fabric or even paint samples.

“We’d learn our client and exactly what they were looking for,” she says, “so we were able to deliver a few great choices rather than the whole store.”

Like other industries during the pandemic, Tribus struggled through supplychain issues such as shortages of materials from upholstery foam to paint, PeaceVernon said.

“It was the same all over,” she says. “So we tried to front-load everything we could. If we wanted to order a tile, we ordered it that day if we needed it in six to eight months.”

Meanwhile, products from appliances to furniture were on backorder for as long as 23 weeks—up to four times the typical pre-pandemic wait.

“That is really something I have never experienced in 30 years,” she says.

But Tribus adapted and now most of the issues have resolved.

Tribus’s designs feature soothing color palettes, relaxed and open spaces, and elegant but durable furnishings. Nonetheless, Peace-Vernon is quick to point out that her firm is not pigeonholed into one style.

“I’ve said all along, over the 400-plus homes I’ve done, it’s not about me or one of the designers that works with me,” she says. “It’s about the homeowner, the client.”

That means designing surroundings that are comfortable and enjoyable for clients, their families and friends, she says. While these spaces are beautiful, homeowners also need to feel like they can put their feet up and live in them.

“We just completed a home in Walnut Cove [NC], and while I feel like their great room and view and 22-foot ceilings are Architectural Digest worthy, it’s still their home,” she says. “You have to feel good about using the space.”

So what can homeowners expect of upcoming design trends? Peace-Vernon says that while the farmhouse style is the rage now, its popularity will fade. Meanwhile, kitchens in creams and other soft-white shades will continue to be fashionable. Velvet sofas are stylish now, she says, while the big trend in plumbing is a return to brushed brass fixtures. And though people have been trending toward calming grays in recent years, most don’t want to get stuck in “50 shades of gray” anymore, she says.

“Greens are coming on really strong,” she says. “And blues are something everybody likes. It’s like the little black dress of interior design. “It’s not builder beige anymore.” Are you dreaming of a new interior space? The Tribus design team is ready to help. For more information, go to tribusinteriordesign.com, send an email to Hello@TribusInteriorDesign.com, or contact the showroom at (864) 729-4148.

864.729.4148 | TribusINTERIORDESIGN.com