What got you here? So, we have a long family history of being creative and design work. We had a family business for 25 years. My mom and I had a shop in Plymouth. We actually make costumes, where seamstresses by trade. So the costuming turned into wedding gowns, and then it transitioned into custom drapery embedding. And that's kind of when I got hooked up with an interior designer, and I worked for her for a long time, and so did my sister. Since we were kids, loved, like, picking something and, like, this would be a cool something else, and, like, turning it into something and it's not supposed to be. We've done that our whole lives. We've always loved a treasure hunt, and for many years, we talked about having a store of our own. And during COVID, I reevaluated my life and what I wanted to do and where we were as a family. And the timing just seemed right, it gave me perspective, which I'm sure it did for everybody else about what's important. And going back to a job that I didn't love, as opposed to working for myself, just kind of made sense, so... we found this space, and here we are.
What is style to you? Oh, gosh.That's a great question. It's very, it's very personal. I always love collecting meaningful pieces. And then marrying them up with new things, or maybe trendy things that aren't your pieces, your staple should be good pieces, with history, real wood, the things you can't find anymore, vintage because, to me, modern furniture is disposable. So I always try to use the really special, solid vintage pieces, and then I'll throw a bit of modern or unexpected with it, but that combination of stuff is why the store looks like this. That's why we, you know, use the word eclectic. That is the only way to describe my style in a store like this is that I just love a lot of things. Black is always in style.
What’s your favorite thing to style? Ooh, um, bathrooms.
Okay. Why? I think it's an untapped space in your house. I think it's unforgotten. I mean, it's forgotten. I think people just use it as a utility, and I think there's a missed mark in your bathroom. I love putting beautiful art and decorative pieces. Not junk, like, collective and beautiful. Everyone that comes into my bathroom says, oh my god, your bathroom's so beautiful. Second would be a master bedroom. But to me, the reason I say those are 2 very personal spaces in my home. My bedroom and my bathroom. those are my spaces and I just want to feel good and I love bathrooms. That's probably odd. They're like little mini sanctuaries. And it's missed. So many people just do not spend the attention on their bathrooms and they should.
What would you say to somebody that's looking to either redo, update, refresh their homes? What kinds of things to consider or keep in mind? Declutter. I think it's important to edit things out, keep things. I'm a minimalist too, but keeping things very simple and things that you treasure that are important to you. My living room is very small and everyone's always shocked when I tell them I'm a minimalist. I have beautiful art, of course, pillows and the house is decorated. Anybody can come sit on my sofa. You can sleep on it if you want. It looks nice, but it's super comfortable. I have small end tables. I can't fit a coffee table, so everybody has a drink table next to their chairs. And then I have a big buffet, things like that that they look nice, they serve a purpose. Storage is key in little houses.
What advice would you give to somebody that doesn't know what their style is, can't visualize a finished room? So we offer home styling. We go to your house, we assess everything you have, we always try to use your pieces. You might have a beautiful armoire in your basement and it really should be present upstairs. We'll stage your whole living room. We use mostly the pieces that they have and we add in our own stuff. We leave a detailed invoice of everything that we left, and you have 24 hours to live with it. Look at it at nighttime in the daytime, go through that list, edit some things out. We come back the next day, you tell us what you want to keep. So we do things very differently than, like, other design services. We kind of, we're just styling your home. We are just using what you already have to make your house the home you want it to be.
What's on the horizon, say, for the rest of the year? We're trying to pivot a little bit because small businesses are struggling. So we are trying to keep it very local. We have 21 vendors in here. They are all Michigan based. Local, women owned businesses, and we have one man. We want these great artisans and people to have a place to showcase their stuff that don't have brick and mortar, and keeping the price down too, we really have to be mindful of that. We try to come up with different ways to appeal to people, but our price point, we're trying to keep that. So instead of passing that on to the customer, we're just kind of editing some of that stuff out of our store and keeping everything very local.
So I always try to use the really special, solid vintage pieces, and then I'll throw a bit of modern or unexpected with it...
Two sisters from Metro Detroit, recognized for their creative flair and innovation, have joined forces to create a brand that reflects their unique style. With nearly 35 years of collaboration under their belts, they're proud to introduce Eclectic Home. Specializing in handpicked vintage items and funky fashion finds, they bring a fresh perspective to home decor.
Eclectic Home (248) 798-5080
133 W 14 Mile Rd.
Clawson, Michigan 48017