Today we’d like to introduce you to Galen Murphy.
Hi Galen, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I grew up on my family’s farm in rural Oregon — four generations deep — the simplicity of that life, gave me a lasting love for antiques, vintage finds, and rooms that aren’t overly fussy. My parents gave me an appreciation for art, cooking, nature, and doing things on my own. At 10 we moved to the city and my childhood bedroom became my canvas – a 10×10 blank box, a waterbed, and a fish tank. I redecorated that room enough times that my parents stopped keeping track. Looking back I realize this is really where my fascination with design took hold, but I didnt “figure it out” till years later.
I started design school late, in my 30’s, finished my internship, and managed a design showroom. In 2008 my pull toward antiques and vintage eventually led me to run one of the largest vintage and antique resale operations on the West Coast — and from there, things moved fast. Somewhere along the way, a decade passed, and I’d built a whole network around me — builders, real estate agents, small business owners, contractors and artists. That network really became the foundation for Ottis & Pearl Design, and the work I do now.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I have yet to meet a business owner who’s had a smooth road of it. If you haven’t had many challenges or failures, you’re probably not learning much — and that won’t serve you well in the long run. The biggest lesson for me has been realizing that not only can I NOT do everything, it’s better if I don’t. The time it takes for me to learn to do something, and do it right, will take more time and money than hiring the right person to do that thing — and then just letting them do it.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I realize now, that I do is problem solving, first and foremost — which is a little ironic, since I’ve never been someone who liked puzzles. Every project means solving a problem within an existing framework, and that framework is different every time: a different room, a different budget, a different life stage, a different person’s history in the space.
What I’m most proud of is when I come up with a solution for a client that they weren’t even thinking of — or when a solution goes beyond solving the problem they have right now, and ends up solving problems that would have come up for them later. That’s really the best outcome I can hope for: not just solving what’s in front of them, but heading off what’s coming next.
My work spans design, real estate staging, and refinishing and reselling vintage and mid-century modern furniture — and one niche I’ve found through doing this work, which has become really rewarding, is helping older adults navigate a change in living situation: becoming empty nesters, preparing a home for retirement, or moving into a retirement community.
I think what sets me apart from other designers is that I don’t have a “look.” I never want someone to walk into a house and go, “oh, this is an Ottis & Pearl.” I don’t want to be known that way. I want someone to hire me, and then have their friends walk in and say, “wow, this is so you.” I want their space to be a reflection of who they already are.
In the vintage world, I believe in reduce, reuse, recycle — relove, the preloved. The legacy pieces in a room with a real history behind them, the more interesting story that room tells — and it keeps things out of the landfill. If everything in a room came straight from a showroom, it can end up feeling a little soulless. It might be beautiful, it might be pretty, but there’s nothing behind it. Good design should be interesting — it should tell a story.
Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
I was the kid who’d hide in the department store just to hear my name called over the announcement system — which is probably how I ended up being “the boy on a leash” for a while after that. I was curious, a little mischievous, and always testing the edges of things.
We had 40 acres to play on growing up, and we used every inch of it. We didn’t have cable TV, our closest neighbors were within sight, and we knew — or were related to — pretty much everyone around us. We had cows, chickens, the whole thing. It was idyllic in a lot of ways, and it’s only as I’ve gotten older, and technology has become such a bigger part of daily life, that I’ve realized how rare it was to grow up like that.
My mom’s solution to my precocious streak was to keep me busy — arts and crafts, baking, and otherwise kicking me out of the house until it was time to eat. My dad kept us busy in the opposite direction — camping, fishing, all things outdoors. Between the two of them, art and nature got wired into me early, and they’ve never left. They’re in almost everything I do.
Pricing:
- $105 hr
- $150 90 min consultation
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.ottisandpearl.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ottisandpearl/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61551842613680
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/galen-murphy-96b368292/
- Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/@OttisPearlCollective
