Make Your Space Special! Superstar Designer Amber Lewis (Pt 2) Shares Insider Tips + Her Deeply Personal, Inspiring Journey to Skyrocketing Success

Get ready to curate magic in your home, your work space and more! Does the space you live in right now feel as beautiful, magical and special as you are? Does it feel restorative? Livable, Curated, and in a Style that reflects who you truly are? The energy of the spaces we call home, can impact how we feel, and there are simple tips we can all learn, no matter the budget we’re on, to make our spaces feel even more special! Amber Lewis is one of the most talented, buzzed about, and in-demand interior designers right now, and she’s here in person today with you and me, to help us curate our own spaces, make our homes more magical, more livable, and even more…us! Amber Lewis is a seasoned interior designer, founder of a full-service design firm, Amber Interiors, touting clients across the country, the genius behind the brick-and-mortar and online retail stores Shoppe Amber Interiors, and as a result of her remarkable love from her customers and demand for her talents, in recent years, she has expanded her business into successful, multi-year furniture, rug, textile and décor collaborations with companies you love like Anthropologie, Loloi, Visual Comfort and more. She’s published two bestselling books, Call It Home and Made For Living, and Her brand new third book, a New Home Renovation and Interior Design Book: called Interiors: Curated Spaces from Start to Finish is available everywhere books are sold! I am so excited for part 2 of this conversation and I am so happy you’re here, thank you for being part of the JKL Show podcast family, and thank you for sharing this with every single person that you know, who might need some inspiration and hope today, because we are all in this life together! ORDER AMBER LEWIS’ BRAND NEW BOOK! Interiors: Curated Spaces from Start to Finish is coming out next week! Get your copy here: https://amberinteriordesign.com/interiors-by-amber-lewis/ Follow Amber on Instagram at @amberinteriors for design inspiration, behind-the-scenes moments, and more from Amber and her world. I am so excited for this conversation and I am so happy you’re here, thank you for being part of the JKL Show podcast family, and thank you for sharing this with every single person that you know, who might need some inspiration and hope today, because we are all in this life together! And I have to say, I’m so excited to share today’s conversation with you! And if you could take 2 seconds and hit the subscribe button on the ap you’re listening or watching on…that way you’ll be the very first to get every inspirational episode! And whether you're joining me today for yourself or because someone that you love shared this episode with you, I want to welcome you to the Jamie Kern Lima Show podcast family. And remember this episode is not just for you and me. Please share it with every single person that you know because it can change their life too. ____ Chapters: 0:00 Welcome to The Jamie Kern Lima Show 8:50 Rug Rules! What Size Rug Is Right For Each Room 14:50 Have The Confidence To Reinvest In Yourself! 18:10 Famed Designer Amber Lewis On Discovering She Has MS 34:35 When Your Child Is Your Greatest Purpose ❤️ It’s such an honor to share this podcast together with you. And please note: I am not a licensed therapist, and this podcast is NOT intended as a substitute for the advice of a physician, professional coach, psychotherapist, or other qualified professional. Click ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to Subscribe to the YouTube Channel Follow me here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Website⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ — Sign up for my inspirational newsletter for YOU at:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ jamiekernlima.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ — Looking for my books on Amazon? Here they are! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠WORTHY⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Believe IT⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

• 0:00Speaker 00

  Oh gosh, do you do this, do you make people cry all the time? I can't, I'm crying.

• 0:05Speaker 01

  Coming up in this incredible part two episode with Amber Lewis.

• 0:10Speaker 00

  It's tough to talk about MS. Gave me that perspective of just I have a different fire under my ass now.

• 0:16Speaker 01

  Really?

• 0:17Speaker 00

  Yeah, because tomorrow isn't a guarantee.

• 0:19Speaker 01

  Yeah. Wow. I'm so honored you're here.

• 0:22Speaker 00

  Thank you.

• 0:23Speaker 01

  Blessing all of us with your time.

• 0:25Speaker 00

  Thank you.

• 0:25Speaker 01

  Right now. Amber Lewis is one of the most talented, buzzed about and in-demand interior designers right now, and she is here in person today with you and me to help us curate our own spaces, make our homes more magical, more livable, and even more us. What would you say makes a home often look energetically off, even if someone spent a lot of money on the stuff in there?

• 0:52Speaker 00

  Honestly, when things are-

• 0:53Speaker 01

  Everyone wants to know, what's your favorite white paint?

• 0:56Speaker 00

  I have a few go-tos, but one of my favorites is-

• 1:02Speaker 01

  The color around us can change how we feel. When it comes to kitchens, what's something that really, really matters and what's something maybe that people get wrong a lot? How do you make a small room look bigger? What is something that often people will DIY, but you're like, oh, no, no, no, it's actually really worth, even if you're on a tight budget, it's really worth spending the money of actually hiring someone to do it who really this is what they do?

• 1:27Speaker 00

  Honestly.

• 1:29Speaker 01

  Amber Lewis is a seasoned interior designer, founder of a full-service design firm, Amber Interiors, touting clients across the country. The genius behind the brick and mortar and online retail stores, Shop Amber Interiors. And as a result of her remarkable love from her customers and demand for her talents, in recent years, she's expanded her business into successful, multi-year furniture, rug, textile and decor collaborations with companies you love, like Anthropologie, L'Oréal, Visual Comfort and more. She's published two bestselling books, Call It Home and Made for Living, and her brand new third book, a new home renovation and interior design book called Interiors: Curated

• 2:12Speaker 01

  Spaces from Start to Finish, is available everywhere books are sold. And not only is she sharing answers to all of your most pressing design questions, she's also opening up like never before. We all go through things, we're all carrying things-

• 2:28Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 2:28Speaker 01

  -that no one can ever know or imagine unless they're inside our world.

• 2:33Speaker 00

  It just very clearly just said, yeah, you just have MS. MS is invisible, and that is the hardest thing I've ever had to deal with. It's been a whirlwind. I've, one of the greatest things that's ever happened to me bizarrely has been this diagnosis. The perspective shift is something that you only get through a traumatic event. It's not anything I would have ever thought I needed because I was on such a mission to grow and big, big, big, next, next, next. And all of a sudden, you get sick and everything stops. You are just in your body, in your body that is failing you. And you no longer are living for anybody else, you're just trying to get through the day.

• 3:17Speaker 00

  And that is something that I would have never known had I not been given the perspective of this disease. I try to look at MS with a very day-to-day, how am I feeling today? If I let myself get too far ahead of myself with thinking about the future is when I tend to kind of collapse a little-

• 3:41Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 3:41Speaker 00

  -and feel very overwhelmed. I was with my ex from when I'm 22 years old, and our life was really his life. We'd built everything together. We were a really, really, really strong team, and we still are a very strong team. But marriage is tough. We went through a lot of trauma. Our married life was struggling, and it was really hard. It was horrible. It was the hardest thing I think I've ever gone through. Taking those hard looks at your life are some, is when the most change and evolution happens. Getting sick, my whole rug was taken from underneath me.

• 4:23Speaker 00

  I had to look at every single thing and the people in my life, too. I work with him every single day. He's my best friend.

• 4:30Speaker 01

  He's your best friend right now.

• 4:31Speaker 00

  And we love each other so much.

• 4:33Speaker 01

  Are you dating anyone now?

• 4:34Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 4:35Speaker 01

  Do you think if you had never worked together, you'd still be married? Do you think if you had not been diagnosed with MS that you would still be married?

• 4:44Speaker 00

  I do actually think that.

• 4:45Speaker 01

  Really?

• 4:46Speaker 00

  You have to look back at your partnership as well and think, well, this is why.

• 4:52Speaker 01

  You have a huge, thriving, avid fan community. I read that people have asked you to sign their chest-

• 4:58Speaker 00

  Their boobs.

• 4:59Speaker 01

  Their boobs.

• 5:00Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 5:01Speaker 01

  Then- When people are often successful, usually it's not an accident. And to understand who Amber is behind Amber, hearing how you've navigated really tough decisions, I mean, you're a badass. You're a badass, and you're really tough, and you're really ambitious, and you're no joke. And, and seeing that side of you, I'm getting emotional now. Everyone else cries on my show, but I'm like crying right now because I'm just like, I love this.

• 5:28Speaker 00

  Oh, man. It's like a therapy session, ma'am.

• 5:31Speaker 01

  It's so beautiful.

• 5:33Speaker 00

  Oh, thank you.

• 5:34Speaker 01

  I am so excited for this conversation, and I'm so happy that you are here. Thank you so much for being part of the Jamie Kern Lima Show podcast family. And if you haven't done this yet, can you take two seconds and hit the subscribe button on the app that you're listening or watching on? That way, you're going to be the very first to get every inspirational episode. Plus, you can get weekly inspiration into your inbox from me for free. Just join my newsletter at jamiekernlima.com. And thank you for sharing this episode with every single person that you know who might need some inspiration and hope today, because we are all in this life together.

• 6:10Speaker 02

  Welcome to the Jamie Kern Lima Show.

• 6:13Speaker 01

  Oprah, how have you defied the odds?

• 6:17Speaker 03

  Her show is unlike any I've ever done. A revelation. When you listen, it feels like a hug.

• 6:24Speaker 01

  First lady, Michelle Obama.

• 6:26Speaker 03

  Jamie, you are going so deep. I have never had this in-depth conversation.

• 6:32Speaker 01

  I've actually never said that out loud to anybody in an interview before. You know how to get there.

• 6:38Speaker 03

  Your brain and your spirit and your heart is like, wow.

• 6:42Speaker 01

  Melinda French Gates.

• 6:44Speaker 03

  When I look into Jamie's eyes, I feel like I am on some other cosmic level with her.

• 6:51Speaker 01

  Meghan, Duchess of Sussex.

• 6:53Speaker 03

  I wasn't expecting that one. I could see the light around her, she's infused with light.

• 6:59Speaker 01

  Maria Shriver.

• 7:00Speaker 03

  I never made that mistake again.

• 7:02Speaker 01

  Imagine overcoming self-doubt, learning to believe in yourself and trust yourself and know you are enough. Welcome to the Jamie Kern Lima Show.

• 7:14Speaker 03

  Jamie Kern Lima is her name. Everybody needs Jamie Kern Lima in their life.

• 7:18Speaker 02

  Jamie Kern Lima.

• 7:23Speaker 03

  Jamie, you're so inspiring. Jamie Kern Lima.

• 7:28Speaker 01

  What would you say makes a home often look energetically off, even if someone spent a lot of money on the stuff in there?

• 7:36Speaker 00

  Honestly, when things are too matching. I think when someone says they bought the nightstand to match the dresser that matches that, and everything is the same finish and everything is the same color, I say, get a little funk in there, get a little bit of a different finish or texture or color.

• 7:54Speaker 01

  Mm-hmm.

• 7:55Speaker 00

  Because it does, that energetically feels too much like a showroom. And you want, you know, we want to live in our spaces.

• 8:01Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 8:01Speaker 00

  And know the people who live in the spaces.

• 8:03Speaker 01

  Right.

• 8:04Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 8:04Speaker 01

  Right. Do you have a favorite? So when you're picking a white paint for a wall-

• 8:09Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 8:10Speaker 01

  -or a white paint for a ceiling, do you have like a couple go-tos that are your favorite whites?

• 8:16Speaker 00

  Yeah, in my first two books, and even in this one, I just go through like the gamut of my white, because I get that asked all the time, what's your-

• 8:23Speaker 01

  Everyone wants to know, what's your favorite white paint?

• 8:26Speaker 00

  I have a few go-tos, but one of my favorites is just honestly Benjamin Moore's Swiss Coffee. It's a tried and true, it's warm. I paint it on a lot of ceilings, I paint it on a lot of trim, and I paint it on a lot of walls. It's a good color, but there's so many whites out there, there's so many.

• 8:45Speaker 01

  One of my close friends, Victoria Jackson, who's done a number of houses, that's her favorite color, Swiss Coffee.

• 8:51Speaker 00

  It's Swiss Coffee. It's just straight, if you add, and every brand does it a little bit different. So Dun Edwards Swiss Coffee is a little different than Benjamin Moore's Swiss Coffee, which is a little different than like Behr's Swiss Coffee. So it's ridiculous, but everyone is a little bit different. I like Dun Edwards and Benjamin Moore.

• 9:09Speaker 01

  Do you like, and, and the Swiss Coffee Benjamin Moore, it's almost like it's white, but it's something like a cream.

• 9:15Speaker 00

  Yeah, it's creamy.

• 9:16Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 9:17Speaker 00

  Which is beautiful, because you don't want something to feel so white that you're in an operating room. It's the same with lighting. You have to be very specific about really honing in on a warm tone light. And so you don't want your paint to feel cold, and you don't want your lighting to feel cold. It's a little creamy.

• 9:33Speaker 01

  Have you heard of Winborn White?

• 9:35Speaker 00

  Yeah, it's great. It's fantastic, by Faro and Ball.

• 9:38Speaker 01

  And that one is, and then, and then a lot of the more accessible companies have sort of been inspired by Winborn White and made a match.

• 9:44Speaker 00

  Yes.

• 9:44Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 9:45Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 9:45Speaker 01

  And that one's a little more white, white.

• 9:47Speaker 00

  Winborn is white, but it has a lot of yellow in it, too.

• 9:50Speaker 01

  Ah.

• 9:51Speaker 00

  It has a lot of yellow, but like a good yellow. I've done a bunch of homes in the Winborn. Oh, Faro and Ball is another incredibly beautiful.

• 9:58Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 9:59Speaker 00

  Yeah. I could go on and on, I could write a whole, another whole book about just white paint.

• 10:03Speaker 01

  About white paint. Oh, my gosh, has anyone ever done that, I wonder?

• 10:06Speaker 00

  I'm sure, I'm sure.

• 10:08Speaker 01

  That's a good, I mean, that's important. I never understood why your white paint color matters, because this is not my world, and I totally get it, because the color around us can change how we feel.

• 10:18Speaker 00

  Well, and here's what's another really wild thing to think about, is that some people will say, well, oh, okay, I did this white on the interior, and then they'll go paint it on the exterior. Eh, wrong. You have to think about the exterior in a totally different way than you do the interior, because the exterior light- Is going to change seasonally and it's going to be different every single time of the day. And you can't just do a one size fits all. So that's a whole other kind of thought process and theory. I think about it all the time.

• 10:50Speaker 01

  What's so cool about this conversation is to be so granular about things. I think, I think this is, I think this is fascinating because when a regular person like me hops on to your Instagram and looks at something. And I'm like, why does this look so good? But then you hear the thought behind all the things and, and also just the reps you've put in over the years of figuring out why a white paint matters so much. And how the color on the outside changes during different light and all of that. So super cool to hear about all of this. When it comes to people's kitchens, what's something that really, really matters? And what's something maybe that people get wrong a lot?

• 11:32Speaker 00

  Storage really, really matters. I am a big fan of hiding appliances because I love a clean looking kitchen, but a working kitchen. So I like when the appliances are behind cabinets, if possible. But I love to see pots and pans. So it's like a very unique kind of flow. I want you to feel like you can use the space and you can use the kitchen. But I also like the idea of some of the uglier things like our appliances that we use every day to be behind a appliance garage. And I think a good range is a big, big worth, worth the money investment.

• 12:13Speaker 01

  A good range, a good, a good stove top oven range.

• 12:17Speaker 00

  If you're remodeling a kitchen, that's choice number one, in my opinion. I think like one of the most important things is what is the range going to look like and then build around that.

• 12:26Speaker 01

  Is it kind of like the centerpiece?

• 12:28Speaker 00

  Jewelry.

• 12:29Speaker 01

  The jewelry. How do you make a small room look bigger?

• 12:34Speaker 00

  Actually by less. So I think one of the things is it's the other idea is that you would think if it's a small room, small furniture. I actually think the opposite of that. You actually want bigger furniture in a small room because it feels a little bit more cozy and, and like intentional instead of it feeling super small and then you put super small furniture in it. And also you can't really, unless you want it to feel like a nook and a very kind of dark little hole, you always want to be a little bit brighter in a smaller room on the walls. So like whites, creams, try not to go too dark and heavy. Cause I think sometimes that will make the space feel like a small little hole cave.

• 13:17Speaker 01

  That's like how black pants make us look thinner and white pants bigger, like that kind of thing. That makes sense. Brighter, whiter colors. Yeah.

• 13:25Speaker 00

  And ironically, a little bit of a bigger furniture scale. I, I think is better.

• 13:30Speaker 01

  Yeah, that's so interesting. Cause you'd think, oh, it's small. Let me get the smaller chairs. But yeah.

• 13:35Speaker 00

  Probably smaller chairs, but I like when there's a little bit more upholstery. So if you're doing a living room that's small, I like the idea of a bigger sofa. Kind of filling the space a little bit more because it's, it's kind of cozy. You're leaning into the fact that it's a small space.

• 13:48Speaker 01

  You know, there's so many YouTube videos and so many things out there on DIY and like doing things yourself and all that. And what would you say is something that, because there's, you know, designers, of course, and contractors, then there's subcontractors, and then there's just figuring out someone that is a professional who could do it, whatever it might be. What is something that often people will DIY, but you're like, oh, no, no, no, it's actually really worth. Even if you're on a tight budget, it's really worth spending the money of actually hiring someone to do it who really, this is what they do.

• 14:21Speaker 00

  Honestly, the painting, because I painted myself for clients when I first started in the very beginning and I had to learn a technique that I didn't know. You use like solvents and you want, I think if you are painting something, it's kind of good to hire someone who has a little bit more experience than you with a paintbrush. I mean, you can do it, but I think DIYing, never DIY or paint your furniture. That's something you always want to outsource if you're going to repaint something.

• 14:49Speaker 01

  Painting, you know, that's funny you say that. I learned that the hard way recently, actually, where the company we hired and didn't prime correctly. And every little crease and they were so expensive, by the way, of figuring it out what happened. But every like corner and crease is cracking. And oh my gosh, and once you have things installed to have to redo it. It's such a nightmare. So that makes a lot of sense. So painting you think is worth it.

• 15:18Speaker 00

  Quality painter and a good quality contractor go a long way.

• 15:24Speaker 01

  Okay. This is a big one for a lot of people. Because, you know, a lot of people will just grab, you know, they'll order something online or they'll, they'll surf, you know, different furniture stores and they'll buy this or they'll buy that. When you have pets and you have kids or you just want to be able to put shoes on a couch and not worry about it, shoes on a sofa, not worry about it. What is the best fabric? You would say for like a sofa, that's the most durable for kids or pets, but still you'd love and feel chic. And/or do you Scotch guard things? What do you do to make something where you just don't have to worry about it?

• 16:02Speaker 00

  Well, they make a lot of amazing fabrics now that are that indoor, outdoor quality. So they have that stain guard in them. Performance fabrics, but sometimes performance fabrics don't actually look like the beautiful hand kind of linen that I am drawn to. But companies are getting a lot better. So a performance fabric is great because you don't have to worry about it so much. But honestly, natural fabrics are really durable. I mean, they've been around for years. It's the same theory about people with natural stone in their kitchen. They freak out. I don't want it to stain. If you go to Europe and you look at everything everywhere, it's all marble. It's the, the floors in the Vatican, like the ceilings, everything, it's marble.

• 16:45Speaker 00

  And it adds patina and character. You just have to get not precious about it and lean into the fact that it's going to get a little wear and tear. You have to be okay with that. So it's adapting your mind to the space. But I, I think performance fabrics, they're starting to get better ones, but ultimately I love a natural fabric and a wool. Wool rugs are beautiful and they actually wear pretty well. But the, you know, the ones that we do with will wear great too.

• 17:10Speaker 01

  This is the most random question, but I think everyone wants to know this for their real life. Is do you have a favorite stain remover?

• 17:19Speaker 00

  Honestly, the, the one that Resolve makes, it's like a pet and odor remover. Or Nature's Miracle. Both of those work fantastic. Nature's Miracle works pretty good on stains.

• 17:31Speaker 01

  On stains, on all types of fabrics, like sofas or rugs?

• 17:34Speaker 00

  Yeah. I mean, just make sure, don't, don't quote me, but test it first. But yeah, I mean, so far, so good. I've used it for years. I've got three cats, so.

• 17:44Speaker 01

  Okay, yeah. You'd be mortified if you've seen some of the times I've tried to remove stains and I'll like create a bleach spot on a sofa or any of those.

• 17:53Speaker 00

  Professional. When it comes to like bad ones, you just got to hire a stain pro.

• 17:57Speaker 01

  Yeah, to get it out. You know, I want to talk about

• 18:02Speaker 01

  a lot of the things that maybe a lot of people are going to connect with. That are,

• 18:08Speaker 01

  you know, we all go through things, we're all carrying things that no one can ever know or imagine unless they're inside our world. You shared publicly about your MS. Diagnosis and can you share a little bit with us about how you discovered it? And

• 18:29Speaker 01

  how has it impacted your life, your business world, all of it?

• 18:35Speaker 00

  MS is a funny disease and I'll sort of preface it all by saying it's an invisible one. So one of the hardest things to live with is something that doesn't have a always visible. When we see someone that's saying in a wheelchair has a disability, you know, they're struggling because it's identifiable to our eye. We know that they're going through something because we can see that they're going through something. MS is invisible and that is the hardest thing I've ever had to deal with because I can't and haven't always been able to come in straight hot to, Jamie, I don't feel good today because I have MS. It's not as easy off the tongue as say, a, a visible disability. So that has been the hardest struggle. I was diagnosed in 2020.

• 19:20Speaker 00

  So when the world was shutting down on March 9th, I got diagnosed. I was started, I lost all feeling in my, it started in my feet, went up to my knees and eventually it was all the way up to my hips. And I, I went almost six, seven days without addressing it. I was in, on a path. I was working crazy. I was moving into a new home at that I had been remodeling and basically knocked it down to the nothing and rebuilt the whole entire thing. And that was happening that week, literally the week before the world shut down with COVID. This is in 2020 and I had all of these symptoms and I, I was in such a habit of I came next, I came second. Everything else came first.

• 20:05Speaker 00

  And I finally got to a point, six or seven days in where I went to the doctor. They did all these tests and they said, you have to immediately go to the emergency room. So I went to the emergency room and I got all the tests and multiple MRIs. I got a spinal tap. And all the test results came back and they just very clearly just said, yeah, you just have MS. And it was the moment that they told me that, not only did it, I knew what it was because ironically my aunt has MS. So we had heard about it when I was growing up. But I had no idea that what all the things were that were coming with that diagnosis. What was that going to do to my life that moment?

• 20:47Speaker 00

  And then the next six years that I've been dealing with since that diagnosis? And it's been a whirlwind. I've, one of the greatest things that's ever happened to me bizarrely has been this diagnosis. The perspective shift is something that you only get through a traumatic event. It's not anything I would have ever thought I needed because I was on such a mission to grow and big, big, big. Next, next, next. And all of a sudden you get sick and everything stops. You are just in your body, in your body that is failing you. And you no longer are living for anybody else except for your own skin.

• 21:32Speaker 00

  You're just trying to get through the day. And that is something that I would have never known had I not been given the perspective of this disease. So it's been a journey. It's been a journey. It started me on a propeller, started me on a, on a trail of all kinds of big shifts happening in my life. It was really jarring, really crazy.

• 21:59Speaker 01

  Today, what is living with MS like? And what does, when you think about your future, what does that look like in terms of prognosis? In terms of how, you know, you anticipate it impacting your life?

• 22:13Speaker 00

  Yeah, I am a very positive human being. I'm a very driven and ambitious person, like I said, and I'm also very half full. My mentality is a very glass half full idea. So I try to look at MS with a very day to day, how am I feeling today? If I let myself get too far ahead of myself with thinking about the future is when I tend to kind of collapse a little.

• 22:44Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 22:45Speaker 00

  And feel very overwhelmed because the other part about MS is it's completely unpredictable. And no two people with MS have the same symptoms or their lives look the same. I could be doing, I could be running marathons at seventy five. Or I could be in a wheelchair. I'm unsure, but I know that today I'm grateful that I get to sit with you. I drove myself here. I get to see my daughter later. I get to play outside. I can do what I, I woke up and I can go for a walk. And so today I feel great and today I'm living with MS that way.

• 23:20Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 23:21Speaker 00

  You know, have I lived with it very dark and very horrible and symptoms like you can't believe that have just stopped me in my tracks? Yeah. And that's been really tough, but today I'm okay.

• 23:37Speaker 01

  Have you or are you exploring things that have been reportedly healing for other people? Like Joe Dispenza meditations or Dr. Gundry microbiome, things like that?

• 23:51Speaker 00

  Yeah, a hundred percent. So I've gone through the gamut of taking medication and going off medication. I've been recently went back on disease, DMTs are called disease modifying therapies. And I went back on and because I might, I thought that I was bigger than the disease. And I was like, I'm going to get off everything and I'm going to go medicine free. And unfortunately it progressed. That said, in the same time since I've been diagnosed to today, my whole life has changed. I pay attention to what I eat. I pay attention to my supplements. I do like a ton of vitamin D and I'm a very just mindful human.

• 24:36Speaker 00

  Every single day I kind of wake up with a little mantra that I tell myself today is a beautiful day. Today is a great day. I try to impart that to my daughter, give her all these beautiful like life lessons, you know, the rules, I call them. Be sweet, be kind, be respectful, be safe, be honest. Those are the only things that we can control and it's how I live my life. And I think it's probably mind over matter really helped me through dealing with the disease and, and what? Cause, cause medicine aside, there's, you know, there's only so much. I do, I've tried all the diets. I've tried it all and I, you know, it's, it's just kind of is what it is.

• 25:19Speaker 01

  Yeah. Do you meditate?

• 25:21Speaker 00

  I do.

• 25:22Speaker 01

  What does that practice look like for you?

• 25:23Speaker 00

  Nothing like what typical meditation looks like. It is truly, I take about twenty, twenty-five minutes of drinking my coffee in bed in the morning. And I just stare out the window, process my day, try to calm my mind, chill my thoughts out. I like to know what I'm going to do. A lot of times I'll journal what I'm going to do in the day, so I have it down on paper. And that's my form of meditation.

• 25:51Speaker 01

  Isn't coffee in the morning the best?

• 25:52Speaker 00

  It is.

• 25:53Speaker 01

  It's like my favorite.

• 25:54Speaker 00

  I can't function without it, but also it has to be, it doesn't have to be, but I like to have my twenty, twenty-five minutes in bed. Just by myself, quiet, makes me happy.

• 26:05Speaker 01

  Are your cats there with you?

• 26:06Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 26:07Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 26:08Speaker 00

  Obviously. And I'll wake up, I'll set my alarm early so that I can have twenty minutes of quiet with nobody.

• 26:14Speaker 01

  That's nice. With, you shared shortly after, not too long after your MS diagnosis, you shared about a shift in a whole other area of your life. Online with your community. You have a huge, thriving, avid fan community. I read that people have asked you to sign their bra, their chest.

• 26:38Speaker 01

  I mean, people are just, you have a lot of, of loyal, loving customers out there and fans. But you had a giant shift in your personal life shortly after MS. Can you share a little bit about your then husband and that big transition and what happened and where is it now?

• 26:57Speaker 00

  Yeah. So the journey of even getting to here was really so twisty and turny, but I was with my ex from when I was twenty-two years old. And our life was really his life. We did, he was a musician, a traveling musician. He's from the UK, so he came here, literally we moved to Santa Monica together and we were together ever since like really young. So twenty-two, I got married at twenty-five, had my daughter three days after, or three days before I turned twenty-eight. So a life happened to me seemingly young and it was always with me and my ex. I mean, we built everything together. We had all these hopes and dreams and ideas.

• 27:40Speaker 00

  And we were a really, really, really strong team and we still are a very strong team. But marriage is tough. It's really tough. And I think we went through a lot of trauma, a lot of traumatic events in his life and my life, getting MS. And, you know, one of the bravest things I think the both of us ever did was to take a really long, hard look at the difference between a really great partnership and friendship and parent, like we are solid and, but our married life was struggling.

• 28:20Speaker 00

  And I think that the two of us took a really hard look at that and decided that we were better partners in life, just with a little bit of a different definition. And it was really hard. It was horrible. It was the hardest thing I think I've ever gone through. But taking those hard looks at your life are some, is when the most change and evolution happens. And yeah, I mean, getting sick, my whole rug was taken from underneath me. I had to look at every single thing and the people in my life too.

• 29:03Speaker 00

  And how was this going to affect them and their happiness and their wellbeing? And I, that, you know, I didn't ask for this, nobody asked for this. And so when I was looking at how do we all thrive after the fact? It was the hardest thing I've ever done, but on it, you know, being honest about where we were in our marriage was, was really tough, but it had to happen. And I work with him every single day. He's my best friend.

• 29:32Speaker 01

  Yeah. He's your best friend right now?

• 29:34Speaker 00

  Best friend. And we love each other so much and we will always love each other. But that's the only thing that we can focus on is we are completely united as parents, completely united as business partners. And our life partnership is, we just don't live together and we're not married.

• 29:54Speaker 01

  Do you, are you dating anyone now?

• 29:56Speaker 00

  Yeah, so is he. We have both been in relationships for a few years now. And, you know, it's really wild to think that that was ever going to be in our future.

• 30:09Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 30:09Speaker 00

  And it's difficult and hard, but we're like one big bizarre Brady Bunch. We all kind of hang out and do things for our kids when it matters most. We go to Disneyland and try to, we're all very cordial and happy. But yeah, I mean, it's just honoring who that, who your people are. And I think with my ex, I love and respect him so much that I love and he loves and respects me so much that we knew that, you know, our marriage had run its course, but that we're still really strong as parents and, and partners.

• 30:46Speaker 01

  Do you think if you had never worked together, you'd still be married?

• 30:51Speaker 00

  Oh, that's a good question.

• 30:55Speaker 00

  Um, no.

• 30:57Speaker 01

  No.

• 30:57Speaker 00

  I don't think so. I think sometimes people grow together and sometimes people grow apart and like trees on a branch. Your roots can be super solid and they can run very, very deep, but your branches are getting further and further apart. And I think that there was a moment in time where that was happening to both of us. And so we were honest enough with ourselves to honor that and, and yeah, and let's move to the next chapter.

• 31:21Speaker 01

  And next chapter. And do you think if you had not been diagnosed with MS, that you would still be married?

• 31:28Speaker 00

  I do actually think that.

• 31:29Speaker 01

  Really?

• 31:29Speaker 00

  Yeah. Mainly because I would have never had the perspective to realize that.

• 31:38Speaker 00

  I take, you know, maybe I take that one back. That's a, that's a tough one to say because I, I think my MS just put a lot of things into perspective. And I think getting married very young and being together with someone for so many years, like it really just comes down to growth and where you're growing and what you're like, okay, so you get to a halfway point in your life, turn forty years old. What does the next forty, fifty years look like? And if it is with this person, we're growing together, right? We're gonna be together and we're on the same path. And our paths were, were different, same, same priorities, different paths. Our priority was our daughter, our priority will always be our daughter. Our priority will always be our business.

• 32:22Speaker 00

  And those are the things that we fortify and those are the things that we're excellent at. Our marriage wasn't a priority. It wasn't important. It became less and less important as we, our paths started to shift.

• 32:36Speaker 01

  That's something a lot of people can relate to.

• 32:39Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 32:39Speaker 01

  And then.

• 32:40Speaker 00

  And it's tough to talk about because you, you know, there's so much stigma attached to divorce and separation, especially when you're together with someone for twenty years. I mean, your whole life is that person. But there's also, in the same way that MS gave me perspective shift, there was, I wasn't going to have this terrible, horrible divorce where it was knockout, drag out fights where we hated each other. We didn't. We loved each other. And we love each other. But it's identifying reality versus the fantasy, right? It's identifying your real life with this person versus what you want it to be.

• 33:20Speaker 01

  And did being diagnosed with MS make you evaluate energetically?

• 33:24Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 33:25Speaker 01

  How do I feel in certain relationships and what do I want my day to look and feel like and?

• 33:32Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 33:32Speaker 01

  What do I need?

• 33:33Speaker 00

  Yeah, life is a gift. Every single day is a gift. And every day should be filled with fulfilling that gift of being here, which is striving for the next best, biggest thing. I'm a tough person. I mean, full disclosure, I'm a tough cookie because I am driven and ambitious. And I want, and I want, and I want, and I want, and I want to do more. And path and priorities. Path for my ex, he was cool. He was happy. He was settling. And I was like, I gotta get, I gotta be bigger and better in all aspects of my life.

• 34:15Speaker 00

  MS gave me that perspective of just, I have a different fire under my ass now.

• 34:20Speaker 01

  Really?

• 34:21Speaker 00

  Yeah, because tomorrow isn't a guarantee.

• 34:24Speaker 01

  Yeah. Wow.

• 34:25Speaker 00

  And how I'm gonna feel tomorrow is not a guarantee.

• 34:28Speaker 01

  I'm so honored you're here.

• 34:30Speaker 00

  Thank you.

• 34:31Speaker 01

  Blessing all of us with your time.

• 34:32Speaker 00

  Thank you.

• 34:33Speaker 01

  Right now. Can you tell us about your daughter, Gwyneth?

• 34:36Speaker 00

  Yes, she is the light of my, I could cry talking about her.

• 34:42Speaker 00

  You know, I didn't know what I was gonna be. I didn't know what I was gonna be good at. I was just kind of like, even though I had a purpose and I was driven and all these things and I knew I was good at something, there was so many moments in time when I was growing up that I was just kind of flailing and didn't know. And having Gwyneth at a young age,

• 35:06Speaker 00

  my purpose was never more clear than after I had her. And I didn't really know that I wanted to be a mom. I didn't, I got married young and I, all these things, I didn't really have like, that was gonna be my plan. But once it was my plan, I was, you know, ambitious to like make it perfect and all the things. And when I had her, it just, all what you thought went out the window. The amount of immense love that I have for her is nothing I could ever describe. She has given me a purpose beyond any material, beyond anything else, looking at the way that she is, the human that she's becoming.

• 35:47Speaker 00

  And, you know, just her whole little existence is so, it's the biggest heart bursting thing you could ever experience. And I just, I'm just in awe of her every single day. She's the greatest.

• 36:05Speaker 01

  Is she the best thing that's ever happened to you?

• 36:06Speaker 00

  Ever, ever. And it's funny too, because you have to look back at your partnership as well and think, well, this is why. You know, there's so many other things that we succeeded at or failed at, whatever. But she is the why. She is the reason why we were together and why we came together. I truly believe it because she's such this perfect being in the world, perfect being in the world. And she is, yeah, the light of my life.

• 36:38Speaker 01

  When you imagine Gwyneth fifty years from now and someone asks her about her mom, what do you hope she says?

• 36:47Speaker 00

  I hope that she knows that I found, oh gosh. Do you do this, do you make people cry all the time?

• 37:01Speaker 00

  I'm crying. I hope that she looks back at her mom and says, what a, what a lady. She was so passionate about everything she did. She was curious and she was engaged and she was driven and she was ambitious, all these key words. But they really are who I am and I hope that she takes a little bit of that in her own life. Yeah. She's really magical, that one.

• 37:28Speaker 01

  Yeah. I feel honored and grateful to be seeing all these layers to you today. And also to, to hear when people are often successful, usually it's not an accident. And to understand who Amber is, behind Amber, and to imagine you as a little girl and the things you went through and the things you're exposed to and like sewing pillows. I think you got a loan from your grandma or something trying to sew pillows. And then just everything that you, but also hearing, hearing how you've navigated really tough decisions. I mean, you're a badass. You're a badass and you're really tough and you're really ambitious and you're no joke.

• 38:10Speaker 01

  And, and seeing that side of you. I'm getting emotional now. Everyone else cries on my show, but I'm like crying right now because I'm just like, I love this and I'm thinking about your daughter.

• 38:21Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 38:21Speaker 01

  And I'm thinking about what a blessing that, you know, because a lot of things are, are caught, not taught to our kids and like what she's gonna catch from you. You know what I mean? Like lookout world, lookout world with Gwyneth. It's pretty amazing.

• 38:36Speaker 00

  She's gonna, she's gonna do stuff, that one. She's pretty magical. I know, that's the best way to describe her. She's just, she's awesome. She's super.

• 38:43Speaker 01

  And you were saying you're five eight, but she's six foot?

• 38:45Speaker 00

  She's six foot tall. She's six foot tall. She, it's so funny because like she's, she's, and she's gorgeous. I mean, she's absolutely gorgeous and she's just this own, but her own little person, she looks nothing like me or her dad, but everything like her and her dad sometimes. Like her dad and I are totally different, but we somehow look alike.

• 39:05Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 39:05Speaker 00

  It's one of those magical things and you see it in your kids and you just hope that they learn. You know, she's, she's privileged beyond belief. She has parents that love her so much. She has grandparents that love her so much, family that love her so much. She's gone around the world, this kid. She's done some pretty awesome things. And so that's just, giving her those experiences are pretty awesome.

• 39:27Speaker 01

  I, it's funny you say that because, you know, um, when I do see your Instagram and I see her having all of these cool meals with you or going to different things or seeing different, I get so happy that she's so blessed to be exposed to so many things at such a young age.

• 39:41Speaker 00

  She is. And I feel like it's formative. She's gonna have these experiences and it's gonna help her when she gets into the next phases of her life, be really identified to who she is. I mean, these are the things that are helping her form, you know, her, her humanity, her human experience.

• 39:58Speaker 01

  Well, also she's just like, I mean, I don't think I knew what the word patina meant till I was like forty. She's gonna like be so chic and into everything.

• 40:06Speaker 00

  Nothing to do with this business, by the way. Yeah, I, I'm trying to tell her like, you're gonna get into it, right? No, mom, I want nothing to do with it. Which is, I love that for her though.

• 40:16Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 40:17Speaker 00

  What a badass for her. She's like, no, I don't want anything to do with it.

• 40:20Speaker 01

  To know what she wants.

• 40:21Speaker 00

  Yeah, your dad.

• 40:22Speaker 01

  She doesn't want.

• 40:23Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 40:23Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 40:23Speaker 00

  Dad and I could hand it to you on a silver platter and she doesn't want it. Yeah. She's into sports.

• 40:29Speaker 01

  Into sports. So I want to ask you about your book. One of the things I love about, about interiors is you take us through a number of different projects, start to finish. What really inspired this book? Who is it for?

• 40:43Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 40:43Speaker 01

  And for the person who's listening or watching us right now, what can they expect to get out of it and to experience through it when they get it home? Besides the fact it's gonna look really good on their coffee table?

• 40:56Speaker 00

  I want people to open the book and earmark it, post it notes, write notes, take little snippets from every single page. I think one of the things and one of the biggest compliments I've ever received, as weirdly to put this on my title as an author, is that I learned so much from your book. And I think with interiors, that was the goal, is to re, every, you know, four, five years, I'm learning things every single day. And that's knowledge that I want to give to the reader. I want someone to understand the process of what it is to create your interior, your interiors. Like what does that feel like? How do I, where do I start?

• 41:38Speaker 00

  And what is a process I could follow? What are some tangible things I could take away? And in this book, that's what I've given, again, I've given the ability to take these six Ps, to really look at the process, look at, you know, understand that there's emotions that come with it. And you're going to start somewhere and you're gonna end somewhere. And every single page, you're gonna be able to get something from it. It's my hope.

• 42:02Speaker 01

  Yes, I love that. Like bookmark it, earmark it, like all of it.

• 42:07Speaker 00

  Write on it for all I care. Like just, you know, get a post-it note or two. Nothing makes me happier than when I see my books that have a million post-it notes in it coming out the top. Those little stickers. I love it. I love it with like earmarks or folds or whatever. It's great.

• 42:23Speaker 01

  Well, you can get your copy of interiors curated spaces from start to finish by Amber Lewis, and we're going to also link to the book. We're going to link to your online shop. If you are ever in California, you've got to go into one of her stores. I'm sure you're going to expand beyond California as well. And so many of your collaborations, I've already just gone down the rabbit hole on long before we ever met because I was so inspired by them. And I love when someone has so much talent that I don't have. And I'm like, oh, I would never know how to create a rug this beautiful, but this looks so great. And what a great price. And my dogs can like, just all of it. And I'll just go down the rabbit hole. And I have to say, meeting you is even has far exceeded any

• 43:06Speaker 01

  expectations. Thank you for sharing your heart today, and for just being here on the show and letting us get to know even more of you. And definitely, everyone go to her Instagram, which we'll link to also, because it just makes your day a little bit more inspired. And thank you so much for being here. Thank you so much for having me. I can't believe I cried, but here we are. Here we are. Amber Lewis. Thank you. Amber Lewis. Oh, man. Like a therapy session, ma'am. It was so beautiful. Oh, thank you. So beautiful. Yeah. Wild, wild journey. I've been on this one. Yeah. Also, you're so young and doing so much. Holy moly. Thank you.

• 43:48Speaker 01

  Holy moly. Remember, this episode's not just for you and me. Please share this with every single person that you know, because it can impact and change their life, too. And if you loved today's episode, please click the follow or subscribe button for the show on the app you're listening to it on or watching it on. And if it added value to your life, if you could please give it a rating or review, I'd be so grateful. We love a good five star around here. And again, please share it with everyone you know. Share it with another person whose life could benefit from it. Maybe you know someone making a change in their life, or their home, or just they need a little shift in their environment. You can share it with others online in your community who just might need the words and tools and tips and lessons and talent and genius in this episode today. You never know

• 44:33Speaker 01

  whose life you're meant to change by sharing this episode. And thank you so much for joining me today. But before you go, I want to share some words with you that couldn't be more true. You, right now, exactly as you are, are enough and fully worthy, the most worthy. You are worthy of your greatest hopes, your wildest dreams, and all the unconditional love in the world. And it is an honor to welcome you to each and every episode of the Jamie Kern Lima Show here. I hope you'll come as you are, heal where you need, blossom what you choose, journey toward your calling, and stay as long as you like, because you

• 45:13Speaker 01

  belong here. You are worthy. You are loved. You are loved. And I love you. And I cannot wait to join you on the next episode of the Jamie Kern Lima Show. And please note, I'm not a licensed therapist, and this podcast is not intended as a substitute for the advice of a physician, professional coach, psychotherapist, or other qualified professional.