From The Garage to Main Street

Valentina Guenther’s taste for luxury reveals itself in the décor of her charming downtown Durham . Valentina’s main business has always been custom home decoration. However, her experience in interior design helps her choose gifts with style for her shop, but without a luxurious price tag.

Valentina began her business in 1998.  She started out making custom window treatments. Her custom-curtain trade soon spread-out to design for the rest of the room.  Valentina says she was industrious from home for 10 years until her “fabric samples in the garage made her husband’s snow blower and lawnmower inaccessible.”

In 2008 she opened the shop on Main St. in Durham at an awkward point in her life; right after she tore her ACL skiing and went through surgery. “Not the best time to open a store front,” joked Valentina. But she persevered and got the shop up and running in the little blue cottage near the Durham Pharmacy.

She found that many people started stopping by looking for gifts, so she supplemented her design showroom with ready-to-sell decorations such as picture frames, candles, vases and decorative birds. Valentina then added items that make a nice present beyond home décor such as jewelry, handbags and scarves. She wanted to give people the opportunity to buy something special at a comfortable price. For example, her fun jewelry runs from $19 - $35, metallic or flowered scarves sell in the $17 range, and embroidered cotton hand/dish towels are just $5. Trendy handbags range from $50-$90 and colorful, hand-woven silk scarves are priced from $36-$50. Gift certificates are also available. Valentina’s is a great place to stop by before occasions such as proms, birthdays, spring dances, dinner parties or the local scholarship ball to grab something great to wear or give.

Interior design is Valentina’s main-stay business. She takes on any size job, small to massive. “For example,” Valentina explained, “one client started with just my help having a chair reupholstered and eventually she asked me to renovate her 7,000 square foot house.”  

Color consultation is another specialty of Valentina’s. She explained that “there are so many paint chips and fabric swatches to choose from, it can be overwhelming. I have seen so many colors in practice that I know which shades work well on a wall or a piece of furniture and which ones don’t.” Her favorite work is, her original love, window treatments. Valentina uses computer renderings of custom curtains and furniture arrangements within a simulation of a client’s room, “that way a client can really see what they will get.”

Valentina’s Home Designs is located at 327 Main St, Durham. Hours: Wed-Fri 10-5, Sat. 10-4, Sun. 10-2; Phone 860-349-5655. See a full list of interior design services on her website www.valentinashomedesigns.com.