Thursday, March 8, 2012

New Year, New Staff, New Proceedures

There are a few exciting things happening in Grapevine Furniture & Design this year!  We are growing and expanding.  Our new office is being well used and thoroughly enjoyed.  Debbie Veronesi has joined my team as my office manager.  She has agreed to take on the daunting task!  I am married to a CA, and I can tell you that my business is very complex when it comes to tracking the ins and outs of this office!  Together we have come up with new proceedures for book keeping, ordering, managing trades, quotes and keeping the client well informed!  I have felt chained to my desk instead of doing what I do best - designing.  That is all changing now thanks to Debbie.  We are now invoicing the first and middle of each month.  We have a new letter for clients, trades and a new mission statement:

At Grapevine Furniture & Design we offer our clients great value on furniture & accessory purchases and design services.  We rely on
experience, expertise and true integrity to complete projects with consistently pleasing results.


I am getting around to taking pictures of completed projects and hope to show you those soon.  One such room is this family room.  The client was excellent a knowing what she wanted and scouting out Homesense regularily.  I helped her with the built in furniture on either side of the fireplace from Coastal Woodcrafters.  The comfy sofa and ottoman are from Moss Studio.  This sofa is feather filled and super comfortable.  I also comes in a slipcover that allows you to wash the cover - which is brilliant, especially if you have young kids!  The tables are from Redford House.  One of my favorite new suppliers!



 

Here is another piece that I love from Redford House:



 

I wanted to talk to you about a major trend that Ive been noticing.  The "retro-trend" has been happening for years now, but I am really noticing it more.  Especially with 60's design.  I recently had the priveledge to visit a famous home built in the 50s and 60s.  It has been preserved in its original state and I was shocked to see many elements that we are seeing in contemporary design today:

This chair for instance.  Straight out of the past, but a total  current design that we would see in contemporary homes today.

This light was installed in probably the 60s.  It is so similar to something I just put in my new home.  Plus if you notice the wallpaper:  It is in a chevron pattern, which is so popular now.  And the paper is on the ceiling.  This is something that aparently was quite common back in the day.  I just wallpapered the ceiling of my dining room!





The picture above is from the most recent edition of House Beautiful.  I think my new favorite magazine!  I just love the feeling of most of the rooms they feature.  The room above is just screaming 60's.  But I love it!

 

This week I have set up an account with a new fabric supplier that has a great selection of quality fabrics and an excellent price point.  I also have discovered a new outdoor furniture supplier:



I continue to have great success with another of my suppliers of higher end outdoor furniture.  Their quality is unsurpassed!

We continue to add to our list of suppliers weekly.

I am excited about the coming months at GF&D.  We've got some very fun projects finishing up that I can't wait to share with you!