"Hey Suz, Walk in My Shoes:" Luxe Home Company's Stan Gulati

Friday June 14, 2013

Today I walked in the shoes of Owner, Stan Gulati of "Luxe Home Company", Princeton Forrestal Village, 126 Village Blvd Princeton, NJ, 609-987-2600.  www.luxehomecompany.com

Stan and I had met several weeks ago at my house to discuss "re-doing" our master bedroom.  We had hired him to come to our home and give us a consultation.   Stan spent his time touring our house to get an idea of our style and then he asked us a lot of questions about what we were trying to achieve with the new look.   What I liked the most was that he listened.  I talked about a "spa/beach look," but he clarified that that did not mean I wanted white-washed furniture and anchors hanging, rather I wanted a airy/clean feel.  I shared some inspiration pictures I had collected and some colors that I wanted to incorporate into the room.  Before leaving he took a lot of pictures and measurements of the space.  

My Day Begins

Today we were meeting at Luxe Home Company in Princeton.   Whenever I walk into this store I always think the same thing "I would love for my entire house to be decorated by this store."  It's always fashion forward, fresh and exciting.  I noticed on a table there was a ton of fabric samples and some beautiful color swatches that I was praying were selected for our project.

We sat at a table and Stan took out three layouts to show us different options for our space.  Right away we agreed on one layout.  

Next he brought out samples of ten different upholstered headboards.  I had mentioned to Stan in our initial meeting that I really liked upholstered headboards. We narrowed it down to two and then he told us that he had both on his showroom floor (which is 11,000 square feet of beautiful furniture and accessories).  We looked at both and again agreed on one headboard.  

We then saw pictures of three options of dressers/nightstands and consoles.  My husband and I looked at all of the pictures and narrowed down the dresser and the nightstand to the below.

But we are torn on which console to pick.  So we brought home color pictures of both. The darker one matches the dresser and nightstands, the lighter one is an interesting compliment.   

We then looked at pictures of about 8 different chairs.  Two chairs would be placed at the end of the bed with ottoman's.   We narrowed it down to 4 chairs and then walked around the store and sat in them.  This is where things got tricky.  My husband selected a chair that was more "traditional" (pictured on the left) and I picked one chair that had a more "modern" look (pictured on the right). Rock meet hard place.  I felt like we were going through "marriage counseling" with Stan caught in the middle!   Thank goodness he stayed neutral...though I do think he said "happy wife equals happy life." Stan has been married for over 15 years.  His wife Susan and him opened their first store over 21 years ago.  

Consumer Tip

Here's something that I learned that I thought would be helpful to share.

If you are trying to give your dated room a new look on a tight budget, per Stan, "try changing out the paint color, or a new rug, different lamps or new decorative pillows! All of those changes can make a room more up to date."

We looked at a lot of different fabrics and started to narrow down our selection.  What we liked about Stan is that he didn't "yes" us to death.  If we picked two fabrics and asked did the fabric go with the design look we were trying to achieve, there were times where he would say "no that fabric is more cottagy vs the other is more formal."  

My favorite thing about his store is that no one will follow you. You can feel free to browze and if you have questions than you can approach someone on the floor. They are not pushy at all.  Stan describes his store as "An upper end store with a real design focus.  You can walk in and order a piece of furniture or some accessories or you can hire them to work with you to re-do an room or an entire house.  He says they are very good with ensuring rooms are scaled properly." 

Does The Shoe Fit?

I learned today that being the owner of an Home Store means working almost every day, being able to hire, train and fire staff.  Keeping up to date on trends - they look at trends 8 months before ..so right now they are finalizing what they will buy for their store for Fall/Winter 2013/2014. Thank you Stan for letting me “walk in your shoes” and I'm very excited to be working with you on our new bedroom project! 

Written By:  Suzanne O’Rourke

www.LocalChatBox.com 

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