 |
|
|
|
Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer
Designing Her Own: Nahid Haynes, owner of Nahid's Draperies and Interiors, in Campbell, sits among artwork and sculptures that she also sells in her shop.
Interior design business offers bargains in Campbell
By Amy Jenkins
It has been reported that with the economic downturn many people are turning to home improvement rather than extravagant expenses such as vacations to Europe.
This rings true for interior designer Nahid Haynes, who just opened a shop and business called Nahid's Draperies and Interiors, located at 825 W. Hamilton Ave., in Campbell.
At the heart of her business is a belief that it is "important to care for human beings and their homes," says Nahid, who moved to the United States from Persia 28 years ago. After spending years working at retail furniture stores, she realized that many people called themselves interior designers but were nothing more than salespeople, she says.
With a degree in design from San Jose State University, and a passion for decorating houses, Nahid would stay up all hours of the night planning designs and not making much commission.
So she started working out of her Los Gatos home until her husband was angry that it was turning into a warehouse, and they decided to set up shop in Campbell, she says.
At 15 percent above her cost, she considers her price more reasonable than most designers and retail stores. She says most businesses charge a 50 percent markup.
Among the extra-special deals she offers are low carpet prices and vinyl shutters as a cheaper alternative to wood shutters.
The store is open five days a week (closed Sunday and Monday) from 11 a.m. until 6 p.m., unless Nahid is taking a customer to the design district in San Francisco. This is a service she is happy to provide free of charge. Similarly, at no charge she will visit a home to find out the style of furniture a client owns.
The store is filled with antique masks and rugs, some of which are made with vegetable dye. Nahid collects some antiques from sales in Monterey and Carmel, and others are acquired from a friend in the antique business. A couple of chairs that a friend found in a pub in England were reupholstered and are for sale in the store.
In the store there is also small-size furniture.
Nahid also stocks fine art. "The store is a repository of fine art and decorative art," says Nahid's husband, Mike Haynes, a graduate from SJSU with an art history degree and a master's degree in graphic arts from the London School of Painting. Nahid opened the store to provide a chance to introduce her husband's art, which appears in the Riverside Museum of Art, to the public, she says.
Recently, Nahid has been staging homes for Realtors. She fully decorates the home so it is not empty when the Realtor shows the house to prospective buyers. Her last endeavor in Menlo Park proved how quickly she can work. While she usually needs four or five weeks to design a house, because she has to receive materials from distributors, she staged this house in two days. She used all her own furniture and materials to decorate the house in a modern Italian style on such short notice.
She is so versatile, she not only designs homes but also offices and cafeterias. She recently outfitted three rooms and a lobby in an office building in Saratoga. Going along with the workers' tastes and preferences, one room was done in a modern style and one was traditional, while the conference room was designed with a casual look and the lobby was formal. At another office building she turned a boring cafeteria into a "cozy" and stylish eating area. Some workers were so impressed they now hold meetings in the converted cafeteria, she says.
In a county with many old homes done in the arts and crafts style, Nahid offers restoring of wallpaper. The company she works with makes high-quality, exquisite, handmade wallpaper that cannot be found on the market, Mike says.
For more information on Nahid's Draperies and Interiors, call 408.583.0301.
|
|
|
|
Campbell, California
