Full Design & Measurement Service.
Home consultations
As part of the design service Katharine offers home consultations which allow customers to chat through their requirements with her in the comfort of their own home, which may be in Suffolk, Norfolk, Essex, London, or beyond. Katharine has customers as far reaching as Bath and Bournemouth so distance is never an issue, Katharine is passionate about projects with people who are passionate about the end creation!
Excellent level of customer service
Katharine deliberately sets an hour aside in her diary for all consultations to ensure a customer does not get disturbed during these times. It guarantees every customer receives an excellent level of customer service, focus and feels valued. Working in this way is hugely valuable to the client and equally important to Katharine to ensure accuracy in her understanding at all times.
First Appointments
First appointments usually take place in the showroom when Katharine will take you through various fabrics to get your feedback, establish your tastes and preferences and guide prices discussed. There are so many colours, styles and fabric types it is much easier to have this meeting at the showroom but for those unable to meet in this way an initial home visit can be offered which will involve a discussion with lots of note taking by Katharine!
Second Appointments
Following the first meeting Katharine will spend time researching materials and begin planning the project. A second meeting is arranged which takes place at your home or property. Katharine will run through her understanding of your requirements and bring a range of beautiful fabric samples she believes will best meet your requirements and hopes you will fall in love with (!) and measure up.
Whether it is curtains, roman blinds, roller blinds, loose covers or upholstery, curtain tracks or poles, nothing compares with seeing these in your actual home; looking through these and discussing these together is tremendously beneficial if the fabrics and products are seen in their final setting.
Katharine will go through the final design brief, any subsequent creative ideas Katharine is so very good at, and explains costings and options so every customer determines their final spend. A detailed quotation will follow and a time frame agreed if the customer would like to go ahead.
Third Appointments
Occasionally a third meeting is arranged if Katharine feels this is needed. Being a perfectionist she will refine the project brief meticulously from the second meeting if she feels changes are required.
COMMERCIAL ENQUIRIES
For commercial enquiries there may be multiple locations visits required which Katharine is happy to schedule. Ultimately incorporating this service in to any project which a customer feels passionately about will only result in accurate costings, a thoroughly well-researched team project, and overall a better finish and a happier customer.
SOMETHING SIMPLE
For some customers who may require something simple, such as a roman blind in a small kitchen, a consultation is not always required, or only a very small fee may be applied for a home visit if only to measure a window at a property within Halesworth. However, for larger projects most customers prefer the full consultation service; they expect to have more input at the design stage and prefer to spend more time involved in the planning before Katharine begins her work.
DESIGN STAGE
The most important element of the design stage is getting a full understanding of a customer’s requirements. Identifying what the client has liked in the past, establishing what their preferences are moving forward, and Katharine’s presentation of her ideas are all what makes Katharine Ellen Designs’ personal service so appealing to both private individuals as well as commercial contacts.
COMMITMENT V RELATIONSHIP
These consultations are all provided with no commitment from the customer and Katharine has no intention of changing this system. She feels it is a much nicer way of working and knows expertise and excellent customer care will always ensure every customer will be fully committed from the start.
Listen, look, imagine
By listening to your ideas Katharine can guide you through the process and provide expert advice on design, style, fabric and colours. Most importantly the home visit/s enables Katharine to bring her creative flair to life, seeing a home firsthand will enable her to provide ideas a customer may never have thought of, and this is where Katharine’s lifetime experience in soft furnishings truly come in to their own.
Establishing what a customer likes and dislikes, what their dream ‘end look’ is, and establishing the practicalities of the design (ie in an older property is the plaster able to cope with the weight of a chosen fabric for the curtains?) Katharine will ensure the soft furnishings won’t just look fabulous, they will work practically once installed. The fitters provide lifetime guarantees on their own workmanship, and Katharine only ever uses the most appropriate fixtures and fittings for each project.
Each showroom consultation and subsequent meetings at a customer’s home/property lasts between 30 mins to 1 hour, all are offered free of charge including at customers’ homes for all customers within a 15 mile radius of the showroom. She is happy to go beyond this radius, and can do this by charging an hourly rate to cover her time only.