Luxury Living with Debrae Little

Unknown Speaker 0:00
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Unknown Speaker 0:44
Hi, I'm your host, Debray little, and today we're delighted to have Nick Cusumano. He is the regional manager of ProSource here in Las Vegas, Nevada. Welcome Nick.

Unknown Speaker 0:55
Thank you. Thank you for having me.

Unknown Speaker 0:56
Yeah, you're welcome. I wanted to start out a little bit to find out about Nick and his background and how he's come to have that position at ProSource.

Unknown Speaker 1:07
So been with ProSource since February of 2002 so take it back. It's February 2004 sorry. So just over 20 years, started with the company as an account rep, working with different interior designers, contractors within the showroom, helping pick product selections and finishes and whatnot. And you know, I reserved a desire to be in leadership. So four years into the into the sales role, the manager spot had become available at the ProSource here in Las Vegas, and fortunate enough to be promoted into that and then I was the showroom manager here for 10 years, still day to day, working with customers as they come in, and updating different displays and keeping the showroom fresh and fresh and new for all the people that come in and along with running day to day business operations and stuff along those lines and and then, just over six years ago, fortunate enough again to be promoted and been in a regional manager role, still reside here in Las Vegas and responsible for this showroom, but I also travel into Southern California primarily on a weekly basis, and responsible for four more pro sources out in Southern California.

Unknown Speaker 2:30
Wow. And that's impressive, that what, what a nice climb you have. And obviously you must love pro source for you to be there at such a long period of time. They've probably been good to you.

Unknown Speaker 2:40
Oh, they've been great. It's a great place to work. It's, you know, hopefully as you as a designer coming in, feel that it's a very welcoming place. Overall, amazing atmosphere, for sure, great.

Unknown Speaker 2:51
Well, tell our listeners what is ProSource? Exactly,

Unknown Speaker 2:56
sure. So ProSource, we're a wholesale flooring and Kitchen and Bath company. We are not open to the public. Strictly work with what we title as trade professionals such as yourself, lots of interior designers, home builders, general contractors, anyone that has the common use for flooring or kitchen and bath products in their daily business, essentially, can become a member of ProSource, and then we want them to utilize our showroom as their own. So we have anything you can think of when it comes to flooring and kitchen and bath products really cover the full spectrum of pricing and color and textures and sizes and all that good stuff with wood flooring, vinyl tile, carpet, so on and so forth. And in the world of kitchen and bath, we have full line of cabinetry and countertops, tubs, toilets, shower doors, the list goes on.

Unknown Speaker 4:01
Oh my god, it's one stop shopping. It sounds like for the trade,

Unknown Speaker 4:04
it is, it is, it is.

Unknown Speaker 4:06
And I bet you keep things current and you have the latest and greatest of what the trends are coming up. And it seems like it's pretty much like a candy store for the design trade to to have seen mouth watering treats of what they could do, or the materials that they use in remodeling a client's home.

Unknown Speaker 4:25
Sure. Sure, we have to. We have to stay, stay up on the trends and work to keep the showroom as fresh and new as possible with the latest and greatest and colors and textures and all that good stuff, for sure. So

Unknown Speaker 4:40
tell me exactly, since we are talking about the luxury market, what does that luxury homeowner, what does he What are they looking for these days? Say, for example, in kitchen design, what are you seeing? Is there certain choices that you think are being selected by contract? Actors and builders and designers for that luxury clientele these days,

Unknown Speaker 5:04
I would say, you know, in the world of a luxury kitchen, you really think that you want great looking countertops, whether they're natural stone like marble or granite or a man made product like quartz, along with amazing looking cabinets and some great color tones, you know, with modern or traditional looks, along with having high end cabinet handles too, or, who knows, might have a coffee or wine station within, within the kitchen space. So, you know, depending on your kitchen goals, we would definitely steer you towards a cabinet line that we have that would be able to provide those design concepts that you're looking for. So countertops, you know, can fit, whether there be the look or the functionality within the within the space. If you have little children, you may not want natural stone because it's a porous product and and could stain. And we see a lot of different asks or requests for accessories when it comes to technology, whether it's a little pop up charging station that would come out of your car. Oh,

Unknown Speaker 6:24
the gadgets. Now, that's exciting. That's what designers like. We like all the bells and whistles, and we have clients that love those things too. So what else in addition to the pop up,

Unknown Speaker 6:36
I think you know, a lot of technologies that are applied in the in the kitchen right now, different for more so for the for the bath, which we can talk about too. You know, comes from appliances. Maybe that have, you know, voice recognition. But I would say, you know, that's we don't do appliances. So that's not necessarily my specialty. But I think you know something right now, cutting edge that we have in cabinetry itself is a cabinet line that is probably inspired by Italian design that incorporates a linear rail technology. So it's a very sleek, integrated rail system that provides like an unseen channel to access the doors and drawers. So it's almost like a, like a bypass type setup. You can really elevate the, you know, the efficiency within the kitchen space, because you don't necessarily need cabinet handles. They're all frameless cabinets, so it gives you real sleek straight lines and minimal gaps, for sure.

Unknown Speaker 7:41
Now that sounds appealing, especially well. You know what's interesting that you mentioned that for just in terms of bells and whistles for available products, but it would probably maybe work for someone who is elderly to the ability to just be able to slide a door open, as opposed to the handles and that type of thing. So I think that's a good application there. I hadn't thought about that. I have to keep that one for myself there. Yeah, that's great for sure. Well, that's, you know, that's interesting, because there are, there are a lot of new trends that are popping up and regarding the kitchen. But you said there were some in the bath area as well.

Unknown Speaker 8:23
Yeah. So, um, lot there. And then, you know, I would say most luxury bathrooms are going to want to have a, maybe a freestanding tub, separate from a stand up shower class, shower doors, some spa like features where you can pair body sprays, maybe with a shower head, or even a rainfall shower head. Even growing popularity is lighted mirrors. So there are even some mirrors that have some defogging system within them, which is pretty cool. That is cool. You ever find yourself coming out of the shower and wiping it off your towels? Yeah, not having to do that anymore. So, you know, that's some great things there. You know, we see, we see some challenges with that too. I would say overall, just because there are a lot of different options when it comes to body sprays, shower heads, so on and so forth. And just, you know, maximizing the space that they have in the bathroom and placement of plumbing is can be a challenging thing.

Unknown Speaker 9:37
So what you're saying is that you for something like that, you kind of have to weigh the cost, if that, or the benefit, kind of like a cost benefit analysis type of thing, or

Unknown Speaker 9:50
a little bit I mean, of course, before we would get going with working on a project, we want to understand how much they would like to invest in the project. And that could steer us. Into different brands and stuff like that, but I was thinking more of a space and functionality. So you're obviously just limited to a certain amount of square footage within a bathroom. So if you have this real long wish list, it could be, you know, challenging to do that if we just don't necessarily have the space right,

Unknown Speaker 10:19
right? So they have to prioritize what they really want and what's important to them, exactly, exactly. Well, I find that today, a lot of my clients are wanting LED lighting everywhere. I mean, it seems like it's underneath the cabinetry, it's inside the cabinetry, it's it's just about everywhere underneath the island and everything like that. So I think those are one of the things that I'm seeing. What other things are you might, you might actually be seeing that that clients, you know, designers or contractors, might come in and just ask for, what's the most unusual thing? I should say that they come in and ask for, you know,

Unknown Speaker 10:56
just to quickly mention what you what you said on lighting, you know, integrating lighting into the space, whether it's in the vanity, through the mirror, like we mentioned, back lighting certain things with LED strips. You know, just proper lighting really enhances the materials that are in the space. You know, we see a lot of requests for storage solutions, I would say, within cabinetry, jumping back to the kitchen space, built in organizers, pull out shelves, or just specialized storage solutions for appliances or utensils. So there's a big ask for that right now, to really deck out the interior with storage solutions,

Unknown Speaker 11:43
right? Are you finding that today's luxury client? Are they? Here's a thought, are they cooking for themselves, or are they planning the kitchen for that chef that comes in and prepares meals for them?

Unknown Speaker 11:55
I think, yeah, yeah. I think, I think we see a blend of both, for sure. And you know, we we still see the need when they have a chef that would be there for those storage solutions, whether it's to store cooking appliances, you know, knives, or whatever it may be, there's all different solutions that you have for that. And then, you know, for all, those that do the cooking on their own, different things like pop up shelf that will hold a mixer, and then you can just roll it back down into the cabinet. So we see, we see different types, but we're able to accommodate either way.

Unknown Speaker 12:35
No, that's great to know. I'm seeing clients now who are asking more of their butler's pantry. I find that the butler's pantry at one time what had contained a sink and some shelving, and maybe there was an under cabinet, refrigerator or something. Now they're they're massive, they it's almost like having a secondary kitchen. Is that something that's very common that you're starting to see? Um,

Unknown Speaker 13:00
I wouldn't say super common. I We do do those. And I think what you explained is what we do see a fair amount in them, whether shelving to stock up wine bottles or whatever, that is definitely a beverage center to hold beverages, whether it's a wine fridge or just regular beverages, and just off to the side of the main kitchen is where we're technic or typically seeing those, but I wouldn't say it's overall common, but we're definitely doing those. Okay,

Unknown Speaker 13:35
well, I I have clients that always are into the luxury bath experience. And they're definitely looking for an experience these days, and they want to feel as if it's their their hideaway. Are there any products or services that you would offer for the the client that's looking for to elevate their bath, to make it a luxury bath? Yeah,

Unknown Speaker 14:00
so we have a fair amount of technology going into the bathrooms. We have systems that allow you to control a lot of the fixtures via an app on your phone. So those are super cool. Different brands have different assortments, but you can do different things, like turn on your shower from afar, or if you're just pulling into the garage, and

Unknown Speaker 14:30
you can turn it turn on and warm it up before well, you

Unknown Speaker 14:34
can, you can definitely regulate the temperature from there. There's options that you have preset temperatures so you can have your own. Everyone that lives in the house can have their own. Oh, and you can just select your name per se within the app and it'll go to your designated preset temperature. I

Unknown Speaker 14:53
like that spoiled.

Unknown Speaker 14:55
Yeah, those are cool to even digitally. Starting to fill your tub from from when you just get home and right down to maybe turn it on some tunes. You know, there's music integrated into some of the tubs today, and you can turn on some tunes before you actually make it in there.

Unknown Speaker 15:13
Oh, I think you should be able to coordinate that with the LED lighting and have your own light show to take a bath with. I want a pink I want it to be pink today when I get in my tub. Yeah, it is very cool. It's very I mean, it sounds like the The options are endless to satisfy that that particular clientele. Well, let me ask you this, what are some of the misconceptions that people have, or individuals have about Florin, and I'll say like today's customer, are they? Are they are having to educate them more, either maybe even the designer, the contractor, because it seems like there's always this new barrage of products that are coming onto the market, and a lot of people, even like myself as a designer, have misconceptions. Of you know, whether we want to use a luxury vinyl flooring because we understand it's water resistant, or are we drawn to a porcelain because maybe that's a better product to use in a high traffic area, and we're concerned about water What? What are what are your thoughts on that,

Unknown Speaker 16:22
you know, I think a lot of misconception that we see is more so that, you know, maybe luxury flooring is always just expensive, you know, and clients might assume they can't afford luxury options and opt maybe for some cheaper alternatives before really exploring all opportunities. So you know, we discussed that there are definitely some value options in luxury flooring that have long term durability and potential cost savings over time. So we're able to present a range of options within different price points. Explain how investing in a in a quality floor can can be more economical in the long run. You know whether you're going with a porcelain or a vinyl like you mentioned. And you know there are floors that are expected to last maybe five to seven years, versus one that would be 10 plus. So you know, which one would you end up with, and and the longevity of that I

Unknown Speaker 17:24
see, well, I'm that's good to know. I'm also seeing that that with Las Vegas, and we're becoming the sports capital of the world here, now that there's a lot of professional athletes that are coming here, and there's a lot of them have specific needs, whether it's the home gym or or something like that, or they may have their own weight room or workout space or a sauna or Jacuzzi. What kind of flooring opportunities exist for for someone who's really looking to do something like that, a total home gym system that's not just the weights, but everything else. It's almost if it was a locker room, sure,

Unknown Speaker 18:09
sure. So we definitely have some options for home gyms. Or we've done commercial gyms also, because commercial is a bit of our business, also not just residential, but we have multiple options in terms of color, whether they're solid tones. A lot of the popular gym floors might have speckles on them, whether different colors within the spec they come in, is that a rubber or it's a rubber floor, they come in different thicknesses, but ultimately, they're all a rubber floor, depending on the size of the space and the look you're trying to achieve, some come in squares that are interlocking, or some come in rolls, so you have definitely a lot less seaming with a roll. So just depending on the size of the space, you would pick which one works works best.

Unknown Speaker 18:58
Well, that sounds like a growing market here today. It seems like every time I turn on the television, there's a new sports team that's coming here. I think we're waiting for basketball next.

Unknown Speaker 19:09
Yeah. Well, I'm originally from New York, so I'm still at heart a New York sports person, so enjoying all the sports coming here, but I still am a New Yorker.

Unknown Speaker 19:22
I Well, let me ask you, this, is there a complex or unique design decision or challenge that you faced recently in the in the luxury market? I mean, I just mentioned about athletes and and their particular needs, but there's anything else that comes to mind? Maybe, perhaps, I don't know, maybe the elderly, maybe you know handicapped individuals, is there something that we should be aware of and know that may be better suited for them and at home, whether it's, you know, say, flooring, yeah, or pets for that matter.

Unknown Speaker 19:59
Sure someone that may be elderly or someone that has multiple pets, you mentioned vinyl before, and vinyl is really exploded on onto the flooring scene several years ago now, but still super, super popular. It's a product that is topically waterproof. So if you have a pet that has an accident, it can sit there as long as you want, and it won't harm it. Or if you have some guests over the prior night and they drop some wine and you don't get to it before, before the morning, it won't harm it at all. And those floors also can go seamlessly through your home, meaning from a hallway into a bathroom into the bedroom, which could help with elderly, especially if they have any walkers or wheelchairs. Some floors require a transition piece or threshold within a doorway, and these don't this would be a smooth transition to allow people to get from room to room, relatively easy and not have to cross over a transition piece.

Unknown Speaker 21:08
No, it sounds like that's a win win for everyone. For those that experience those kind of difficulties, and then those that that care for them, that's something that they would probably want, want to know and hear about. Sure. What about sustainability? That's a term that's thrown around quite a bit, and eco friendly. And, you know, I'm learning with the younger clientele that I'm seeing now that they're very conscious of that they really want a product that is that meets certain requirements, whether they be air or wind or whatever the case may be, and, and, and help with our planet, you know, basically. And so are there particular products that you know because they are also concerned? And I'll answer this myself, or extend the question, I shouldn't say, answer this myself in terms of the residue or something that comes off of, say, a wood product or something like that, but I think that's all a part of that ecological world of being friendly and everything. Can you talk a little bit about that?

Unknown Speaker 22:16
Yeah, without a doubt we have a lot of that. People want green, friendly products. And, you know, without a doubt, I would say wood floors are considered to be the most environmentally friendly, really, just because they're, you know, they're trees that can be regrown after they're cut down. And, you know, finishes on those can range from different things like polyurethane aluminum oxide, that have next to nothing VOCs within the house, which is very important to certain people that have allergies and stuff like that. But I would say also porcelain tiles have a tendency, or definitely are environmentally friendly just because they have a tendency to resist temperature changes, I would say, so you know, that can reduce heating and cooling peaks that save energy, essentially. Oh, wow.

Unknown Speaker 23:13
So save money and energy at the same time. That's right. We like that. That's right. That's very good.

Unknown Speaker 23:21
The challenge a little bit there on environmentally products is, as we mentioned, the growth of vinyl, you know. And vinyl is made of products that are, you know, petroleum based, so they're not renewable in any way. So, you know, that's been a tough one when they're looking for that. But yet, they've heard so much about vinyl.

Unknown Speaker 23:41
Oh, that's interesting. So if, in a situation like that, would you lean that client more toward a hardwood floor? I mean, you know, if they were, if

Unknown Speaker 23:51
that's truly what they're after is, is that environmentally friendly product? Without a doubt, without a doubt. Yeah, but they're still have to balance functionality. How many people in the house, how long they want to be there, durability, so on and so forth, and the investment they have to do on their remodel. Well,

Unknown Speaker 24:10
what about engineered flooring is that? Is that a combination of real wood plus

Unknown Speaker 24:17
so real Oh, sorry, engineered wood is 100% real. So, you know, I once again, grew up in New York, and we had nothing but solid wood. And the difference between the two is that engineered wood has multiple plies within the core. Ultimately, the finish of those planks is whatever wood that may be if you select a maple or an oak or an exotic wood like Acacia per se, but really the different plies as manufactured one, they're facing different ways. And what that does is it adds dimensional stability to the planks, because wood is a living, breathing product, and being in this. Dry climate, a solid piece of wood requires a level of moisture that we normally don't have in our house every day. So engineered, once again, 100% real, it is just constructed differently to perform better in a drier climate like this.

Unknown Speaker 25:19
Oh, that's fantastic. So for those summers that we have with 120 degrees, you probably may not have to worry about your floor warping, perhaps, yeah,

Unknown Speaker 25:29
you know, it still requires a certain level of moisture. And what we say is the normal things that you do in your home, like cooking, cleaning, showering, those are enough for an engineered product to to live. Oh, I

Unknown Speaker 25:45
see, I see, so the moisture is, Oh, that's interesting. I didn't realize that,

Unknown Speaker 25:51
you know, and we give different suggestions to, you know, if you do have a humidifier going, that's not a bad thing. Or you can add different elements in the house, like a water feature or just plants that can add additional humidity to the house to help the wood last

Unknown Speaker 26:10
that's very good to know. I'm going to pass those along to my to my clients. I appreciate that advice or that information. Let's, let's talk briefly a little bit about the outdoors. And, of course, I have a way of personalizing everything, because I have a client for every particular situation, it seems. But I think it would be an interest to a lot of people, and that would be, you know, outdoor carpeting, carpeting. And I typically have utilized, you know, ProSource for purchasing carpet and having it cut down and customized to my client in the form of an area rug, but I understand now that there are options for carpeting out outside that can be cut or so. Tell me a little bit more about outdoor carpeting and how that would work. Yeah,

Unknown Speaker 27:07
no, we have a lot to choose from within that. And you know, the the outdoor space has been more and more popular, for sure, especially during covid and after covid, with people spending more time at home. But we have numerous products that are made to go on the outdoor to, you know, withstand the elements, made of different materials, some some made even of sawgrass that is meant to be outdoors. So depending on the look you're going for, we've got products that have different patterns and would have vibrant colors, or a sawgrass would be more just muted beiges, but have that real outdoor feel to them. So lots of those that we have on display, if wanted to come by and check them out, we've got plenty.

Unknown Speaker 27:58
Can you tell our listeners, how they would reach out to you.

Unknown Speaker 28:03
Yeah, without a doubt. You know, would love to visit with anyone that is looking to do a remodel, like you said before. We're really a one stop shop when it comes to flooring and kitchen and bath products, and our showroom could be reached at 702-798-9802

Unknown Speaker 28:22
Yeah. Two. Well, thank you so much for visiting with us today and for sharing your insight, your experiences with us. It's been a pleasure actually learning more about your work and the impact you're making on the luxury interior design market and helping folks like myself to help clients. And I'd say to our listeners, stay tuned for more episodes of luxury living with Debray at 91.5 every third Sunday at 930 in the morning.

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