With the launch of our new website design this month, I am reminded of how important "getting something new" is to the interior home furnishings business. But buying the right thing, rather than the wrong, makes the difference between a well-appointed home and one that simply becomes a collection of "best deals" or impulsive "must-haves."
As we redesigned the website, our webmaster and advertising agency put together a plan for a new overall design and execution. The redesigned home page became the integral "spine" of the project: simple use of well-chosen colors, showing stylish furniture and permitting the customer to understand exactly how and where they can approach the site.
Similar concerns are the basis for your next interior design makeover. If you plan your room carefully, you won't go too far off-focus as your work proceeds. Choosing wall color and floor materials are an appropriate starting point but as I have mentioned before in this column, falling in love with any aspect of the room is one of the best ways to begin. And I mean "head over heels" falling in love: with a paint color, an area rug, a lamp, sofa—it does not matter how big a piece of the final picture it represents—only that feel passion for it.
On our new homepage, I fell in love with the combination of colors. Pulling from the rust tones of our logo, the graphic designer added muted complements that permitted the furniture and images to have their own power. Remember this when you choose the paint for your walls. Some color combinations are absolutely stunning, but if their intensity, their brightness, overwhelms your furnishings, you may find the room "showy" as in a store-front window arrangement, but not soothing as you want a home to be.
Falling in love with one or two things will then be followed by some intense planning. The amount of time expended here will vary but will be greatly affected by how many people need to "weigh in" on the decision. No one way is the right way. I love it when one person has the personal assuredness to make all the decisions without asking others, and by contrast, am amazed when someone will spend the time and mental energy to ask a dozen different people how they feel about the choices. Certainly, the latter is the safest, but there are some individuals who are "gifted" with making good design choices in an instant. You see it in how they dress, how they accessorize an outfit, or even in how they set a meal on the table. House of Oak & Sofas prides itself on giving out helpful design help without charging. Many customers will bring their paint and flooring choices to the store for a free color consultation. Of course, we also provide in-home consultations that are free with purchase but have a small fee if you are not making a purchase.
Finally, the design component is handed over to someone who carries out the plan. For the website, our able web master spent months learning new systems, rearranging our product choices, and presenting versions "A or B" for us to choose from. She had the hardest part--days and days of moving our product pages into the neatly organized format that you will find under our furniture pages. In the home, you might do most of the work yourself. Certainly, that is one of the most satisfying aspects for many homeowners. Others are too busy and leave this part to others while they go forward with some other project. Here is where House of Oak & Sofas can also help you with timed deliveries, window treatment installation, mirror, and picture hanging, installing area rugs, and removing old furniture for donation or disposal.
In the end, getting something new often makes us want to make improvements somewhere else. Fix up the inside of the house, and the outside screams for help or remake the kitchen, and the family room looks horrible by comparison. As we move to spending move time indoors, fall is a wonderful time to survey what improvements we would like to make over the next year. Shorter days often call for more artificial light and holiday entertaining can beg for a new sofa or dining table.
Now it's your turn to peruse our website and think about something new. As usual, we appreciate your comments and questions, about our website, this article, or your home project. E-mail us at merle@houseofoak.com.
