1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:11,360 You're listening to the Arch Publications Business Insight podcast. I'm Katie O'Regan 2 00:00:11,360 --> 00:00:18,040 and we are publishers of magazines which are delivered free each month into 33,500 homes 3 00:00:18,040 --> 00:00:25,040 across Holmes Chapel, Sambach, Middlewich and Congleton, lovely Cheshire towns and villages. 4 00:00:25,040 --> 00:00:31,120 Our magazines advertise businesses and we run articles and editorials which delve into 5 00:00:31,120 --> 00:00:37,520 the owners behind those businesses. We find out what makes them tick and learn more about 6 00:00:37,520 --> 00:00:44,120 their expertise. Coming up in this edition I speak to Mark from the Design House by Interior 7 00:00:44,120 --> 00:00:50,360 Motives. They have a retail space of beautiful items for your home and he's part of a very 8 00:00:50,360 --> 00:00:57,160 talented interior design team all based in the village of Holmes Chapel Cheshire. Business 9 00:00:57,160 --> 00:01:03,760 Insights with Arch Publications hosted by Katie O'Regan. So we're here at the Design 10 00:01:03,760 --> 00:01:10,560 House by Interior Motives which is just off Manilane in Holmes Chapel and it's been here 11 00:01:10,560 --> 00:01:15,320 for over a year now which I feel like has been the fastest year of my life and I'm here 12 00:01:15,320 --> 00:01:21,680 with Mark who is the owner along with your partner Max and we're having a chat, we're 13 00:01:21,680 --> 00:01:26,480 having a catch up because I did come in and see you when you first opened and it'd be 14 00:01:26,480 --> 00:01:32,240 nice just to see how things have been going but just give us a bit of an outline about 15 00:01:32,240 --> 00:01:37,040 how you got to this point where you've got this fabulous retail space in Holmes Chapel. 16 00:01:37,040 --> 00:01:44,840 So Interior Motives as a company had been trading for over 12 years and we decided having 17 00:01:44,840 --> 00:01:50,080 come through lockdown that we needed to do something new. We needed to expand a little 18 00:01:50,080 --> 00:01:55,320 bit because of the demand we were getting. We'd been notified by a number of different 19 00:01:55,320 --> 00:02:01,040 people that they'd perhaps made mistakes. Buying and shopping online isn't always necessarily 20 00:02:01,040 --> 00:02:06,920 the best thing to do for your home. People get sizes wrong all the time. So we felt there 21 00:02:06,920 --> 00:02:12,360 was an opportunity out there where we could create something that could emphasise design 22 00:02:12,360 --> 00:02:18,520 and living spaces. As you can see here today we've got different room sets that people 23 00:02:18,520 --> 00:02:25,280 can see and see how you can style your home. But it was really, we felt that the design 24 00:02:25,280 --> 00:02:31,640 house can then emphasise how everything can be done under one roof which is a service 25 00:02:31,640 --> 00:02:37,960 that we can offer. Anybody with a blank set of plans or a blank room or blank canvas can 26 00:02:37,960 --> 00:02:43,320 come in and we can help them design everything through from the flooring through to the paint 27 00:02:43,320 --> 00:02:49,120 colour to the sofa to the light fittings to the window dressings. It can all be done 28 00:02:49,120 --> 00:02:55,000 and selected all under one roof. Yeah so just to explain when you come in the unit you come 29 00:02:55,000 --> 00:03:00,160 upstairs and you've got a lovely kitchen set up and you've got a lounge. You can imagine 30 00:03:00,160 --> 00:03:05,120 what your lounge is going to be like with some lovely sofas and then a very nice large 31 00:03:05,120 --> 00:03:11,920 bed and then a lovely dining room area and it would be my dream set up for a home I think 32 00:03:11,920 --> 00:03:16,040 because it's all beautiful. It's very much like a large apartment. It is! Yeah it is! 33 00:03:16,040 --> 00:03:20,480 The only thing we're missing is a bathroom. Yeah. Yeah no I think it was really to try 34 00:03:20,480 --> 00:03:26,480 and show and demonstrate you know how you can mix and mix colours and how they can blend 35 00:03:26,480 --> 00:03:31,440 together so you don't have to have the same colour in every room but then actually sort 36 00:03:31,440 --> 00:03:36,520 of working with the same sort of colour palette you can then mix that and then work it through. 37 00:03:36,520 --> 00:03:41,280 It's not just a showroom though is it because you've got lots of lovely pieces that you 38 00:03:41,280 --> 00:03:48,000 can buy ranging from candles to sofas. It's amazing. Absolutely yeah everything really 39 00:03:48,000 --> 00:03:56,640 from a candle stick to a diffuser to artwork to wall lights, ceiling lights and of course 40 00:03:56,640 --> 00:04:04,640 a library that shows a lot of wallpapers and fabrics as well. So I could come in today 41 00:04:04,640 --> 00:04:10,240 for someone's birthday and take away something beautiful couldn't I? Absolutely yeah and 42 00:04:10,240 --> 00:04:15,680 yeah to suit everybody's purses and budgets as well really. Yeah I have actually spotted 43 00:04:15,680 --> 00:04:22,440 a set of candles that I am going to take away. I will pay for them. My husband wants to buy 44 00:04:22,440 --> 00:04:27,160 that chair over there which is really beautiful. People in Holmes Chapel probably will remember 45 00:04:27,160 --> 00:04:31,440 you from when you were based in the village which how long ago was that? Gosh we're going 46 00:04:31,440 --> 00:04:35,480 back about eight years I think now. Yeah you were on the corner which is now the ice cream 47 00:04:35,480 --> 00:04:41,160 shop homesuit home. Absolutely yeah and I think at the time Holmes Chapel was going 48 00:04:41,160 --> 00:04:48,960 through a change. We'd seen a lot of the high street banks move out of the village and I 49 00:04:48,960 --> 00:04:56,600 think we really felt that our business at that time our core business was contract work 50 00:04:56,600 --> 00:05:03,120 and I think we've sort of seen the contract work develop and that's another side of the 51 00:05:03,120 --> 00:05:08,400 business that we still deal with but we're very much heavily emphasised now on working 52 00:05:08,400 --> 00:05:14,240 with private clients with homeowners and we're working with everybody from whether it's their 53 00:05:14,240 --> 00:05:20,520 own home to whether they've got holiday homes. We've done a number of Air B&Bs in various 54 00:05:20,520 --> 00:05:26,600 cities around the UK and that's been really interesting and really good to work on. When 55 00:05:26,600 --> 00:05:33,280 you think about having an interior designer to come in and do some work for you I always 56 00:05:33,280 --> 00:05:38,120 worry that it's going to be expensive. What is the kind of starting cost for something 57 00:05:38,120 --> 00:05:45,840 like that? I think we always look at the bigger picture and we look at how big the project 58 00:05:45,840 --> 00:05:51,240 is going to be. We don't have a set structure or set fees and we always like to say our 59 00:05:51,240 --> 00:05:55,920 first meeting is free perhaps just a cup of tea or a cup of coffee is the only payment 60 00:05:55,920 --> 00:06:01,280 that's needed but from there we then sit down with the client and understand the brief that 61 00:06:01,280 --> 00:06:06,840 they have and their time scale that they want to work to and then really understand how 62 00:06:06,840 --> 00:06:11,800 much involvement they want because some people are quite happy to do their own thing but 63 00:06:11,800 --> 00:06:18,000 just want the ideas putting together in perhaps design boards or mood boards which we're quite 64 00:06:18,000 --> 00:06:23,480 happy to work with clients and do that. If not then we will create a shopping list and 65 00:06:23,480 --> 00:06:30,760 a lot of clients enjoy the fact that we will do the shopping for them. We go to our supply 66 00:06:30,760 --> 00:06:36,400 chain we bring everything in as you can see downstairs we've got a massive warehouse space 67 00:06:36,400 --> 00:06:41,480 so everything comes in here and then we then take that out to our clients we install it 68 00:06:41,480 --> 00:06:48,840 all we have a dedicated team of installation fitters and curtain installers so we install 69 00:06:48,840 --> 00:06:53,160 everything and then we even take all the cardboard and packaging away and then everything's 70 00:06:53,160 --> 00:06:58,400 done for them. And you tidy up as well. We do yeah we do get our Henry out every now 71 00:06:58,400 --> 00:07:03,160 and again. Oh I love that. What you're saying is that it doesn't matter really what your 72 00:07:03,160 --> 00:07:08,040 budget is you can come out and say look you can have these ideas and they can go away 73 00:07:08,040 --> 00:07:12,320 and you know look at it themselves or you can just do everything. Absolutely yeah I 74 00:07:12,320 --> 00:07:17,400 mean we've done it recently with a client who has simply wanted just some wallpaper 75 00:07:17,400 --> 00:07:21,960 for a feature wall and we've been able to help them we've chosen the wallpaper and we've 76 00:07:21,960 --> 00:07:27,640 even specified a paint colour for them to go with that and they've got their decorator 77 00:07:27,640 --> 00:07:32,880 installing. We do get a number of people that come to us and say I haven't got a clue where 78 00:07:32,880 --> 00:07:38,160 to start I don't know anybody we've just moved into the area do you know a local decorator 79 00:07:38,160 --> 00:07:42,960 and we do work with a number of different trades that we can then put those trades in 80 00:07:42,960 --> 00:07:47,840 touch with our you know our new clients and they help them out. How do you work out what 81 00:07:47,840 --> 00:07:51,480 someone's going to like I know you said you'd take a brief but what is it you know what 82 00:07:51,480 --> 00:07:57,080 would you ask me. I think the big thing is to find out what you've seen already if you've 83 00:07:57,080 --> 00:08:02,480 got a lot of people are using the internet things like Pinterest and Instagram the following 84 00:08:02,480 --> 00:08:08,560 designers they may have stayed in hotels where they've enjoyed a certain room colour and 85 00:08:08,560 --> 00:08:14,080 they've built their own sort of if you like small portfolio of images of things that they 86 00:08:14,080 --> 00:08:20,640 want to do and what they like and then it's then starting to put ideas in front of them 87 00:08:20,640 --> 00:08:26,600 that we see the reaction of whether it's a yes or a no. Yeah and you have done some quite 88 00:08:26,600 --> 00:08:30,200 big properties as well haven't you. I think last time we talked about that you've done 89 00:08:30,200 --> 00:08:35,760 some really large decadent houses. We have yeah and it's a real mixed bag we've got a 90 00:08:35,760 --> 00:08:41,560 project on the on the on the go at the moment which is for a 1980s built house that we were 91 00:08:41,560 --> 00:08:46,680 going in and redesigning that knocking walls out and creating large spaces. We've worked 92 00:08:46,680 --> 00:08:55,040 with a thinker over a farmhouse in Mallorca which was an exciting project and that involved 93 00:08:55,040 --> 00:09:03,120 again creating space knocking walls down. We've worked in 16th century thatched cottages 94 00:09:03,120 --> 00:09:09,760 and even penthouse apartments in city centres so we work with a very much a mixed bag of 95 00:09:09,760 --> 00:09:13,640 different houses and different styles. We're quite lucky I suppose as well we've got that 96 00:09:13,640 --> 00:09:18,520 broad range of properties because you obviously work across the whole of Cheshire and it sounds 97 00:09:18,520 --> 00:09:22,720 like the whole of the country as well but in Cheshire we do have a real mixed bag of 98 00:09:22,720 --> 00:09:26,920 different properties that you can go and work in. Yeah very much so yeah I mean obviously 99 00:09:26,920 --> 00:09:31,480 that there's lots of 1970s houses that were built in the last sort of the boom many years 100 00:09:31,480 --> 00:09:38,240 ago 50 years ago when you know a lot of people moved out of the cities of Liverpool and Manchester 101 00:09:38,240 --> 00:09:42,560 but we've also got a lot of modern houses as well being built and I think sometimes as 102 00:09:42,560 --> 00:09:45,600 the builders always say they like to provide you with the house but they don't provide 103 00:09:45,600 --> 00:09:50,800 you with a home and that's where our job comes in that we help the client then convert that 104 00:09:50,800 --> 00:09:57,120 house into a home with lots of nice things that you can buy from the showroom. Yeah that 105 00:09:57,120 --> 00:10:02,240 you've you know got on display some of the fabulous obje d'or. Absolutely. Is that what 106 00:10:02,240 --> 00:10:08,600 you call it? Nicknacks I think. Tell me about what your plans are over this year then you're 107 00:10:08,600 --> 00:10:12,800 obviously selling you've got beautiful stuff to sell are you going to continue doing that? 108 00:10:12,800 --> 00:10:19,560 Very much so yeah I think certainly the last 12 months has shown what's been popular. We've 109 00:10:19,560 --> 00:10:24,680 just all popular diffusers everybody loves the smell of the diffusers as you walk in. 110 00:10:24,680 --> 00:10:30,400 Yeah certainly been very popular even though we've always sort of had that knee jerk and 111 00:10:30,400 --> 00:10:36,560 that cringe about going online we are going to go online. Okay. So we are working with 112 00:10:36,560 --> 00:10:42,400 our design team at the moment in starting to look at uploading images of soft furnishings 113 00:10:42,400 --> 00:10:49,680 that we're going to be selling online as the first sort of start into that new venture. 114 00:10:49,680 --> 00:10:53,320 We've got lots of projects on the go that we're working with as you can see we've had 115 00:10:53,320 --> 00:10:58,560 some new redesigns in the showroom with new wallpapers we've got a fabulous new company 116 00:10:58,560 --> 00:11:03,440 that we're working with from Italy that are bringing and developing a silk wallpaper so 117 00:11:03,440 --> 00:11:10,360 that's come in slightly wider than the normal but the textures are very very different. 118 00:11:10,360 --> 00:11:16,240 Is that the one here the greeny coloured one on the wall? Yeah yeah. Decorators cringe 119 00:11:16,240 --> 00:11:22,200 because it's a metre and 20 wide so yeah nearly obviously well over twice the normal size. 120 00:11:22,200 --> 00:11:25,360 What's the benefit of having silk is it just the way it looks? Just the way it looks the 121 00:11:25,360 --> 00:11:32,240 reflection that you get. Oh it does look really nice. Also you have a fabulous wallpaper which 122 00:11:32,240 --> 00:11:39,360 has got birds and greenery which is stunning. The green colours at the moment those sort 123 00:11:39,360 --> 00:11:45,520 of pastel colours that we have you know the terracotta, the rust, the green are still very 124 00:11:45,520 --> 00:11:53,720 very popular. Certainly lots of tropical textures with in fabrics and in wallpapers have been 125 00:11:53,720 --> 00:12:00,320 introduced to from our suppliers to the market and they just throw something different in 126 00:12:00,320 --> 00:12:05,920 a room design. So people can if they want to just have a browse they're absolutely very 127 00:12:05,920 --> 00:12:11,520 welcome to come in and have a browse. Yeah yeah we're open six days a week from nine 128 00:12:11,520 --> 00:12:16,520 to five Monday to Friday and then Saturdays 10 till three. There's always somebody here 129 00:12:16,520 --> 00:12:22,160 and we're always somebody you know able to lend a hand and give some advice and if we 130 00:12:22,160 --> 00:12:28,840 haven't got it on the shelf or displaying it then we can source it from our database 131 00:12:28,840 --> 00:12:33,520 of suppliers that we work with. And what about furniture then do you have a cat because 132 00:12:33,520 --> 00:12:37,960 obviously you have got sofas here but there must be more you can get. Absolutely yeah 133 00:12:37,960 --> 00:12:44,320 yeah we're now working with a sofa manufacturer based in Europe. Lead time is possibly standard 134 00:12:44,320 --> 00:12:50,640 as with most furniture suppliers and there's a lot of different styles and textures of 135 00:12:50,640 --> 00:12:55,920 fabrics that you can choose from. But then again we also have a number of UK companies 136 00:12:55,920 --> 00:13:03,480 we work with that can do spoke furniture and one off so yeah. We did touch on the new wallpapers 137 00:13:03,480 --> 00:13:10,880 the silk what are the trends did you think we've got coming in 2023. Feature walls are 138 00:13:10,880 --> 00:13:19,680 still very popular a lot of people are going more for texture particularly in sort of areas 139 00:13:19,680 --> 00:13:26,360 where like linen wallpapers come in and they have that nice sort of feel to them. There's 140 00:13:26,360 --> 00:13:33,440 no real set colour although grey is not necessarily the new colour as it was. Is it like a sand 141 00:13:33,440 --> 00:13:41,480 colour. I think the new word is grey. Is that like a sandy kind of. It's a sandy grey colour 142 00:13:41,480 --> 00:13:48,840 yeah that's the top mix with grey. Yeah it has you know people have often thought grey 143 00:13:48,840 --> 00:13:56,000 has been a little bit cold and I mean when there's too much it can be but I think the 144 00:13:56,000 --> 00:14:00,720 benefit of it now is that the colours that are coming out the popular colours of the 145 00:14:00,720 --> 00:14:08,640 greens and the oranges the rusts the terracotta sits so well with grey. Black is still very 146 00:14:08,640 --> 00:14:14,120 popular as you can see we've got quite a few black things with benches and stools and 147 00:14:14,120 --> 00:14:21,480 things. We've had lots of new fabrics come through like a boucle fabric which is the 148 00:14:21,480 --> 00:14:26,760 texture which we have on the bed that we've got on display so there's lots of that coming 149 00:14:26,760 --> 00:14:32,280 through. Just give me a bit of your background of how you trained to do this then. What was 150 00:14:32,280 --> 00:14:39,400 your history not that long ago. No no no not at all I've fallen into this from a great 151 00:14:39,400 --> 00:14:47,200 height. I've been involved in housing and property for gosh since 30 odd years ago I 152 00:14:47,200 --> 00:14:55,560 was dare I say an estate agent many many years ago. I was yeah a long time ago but Maxine 153 00:14:55,560 --> 00:15:01,720 before she moved to the north west had her own curtain workroom and was a designer down 154 00:15:01,720 --> 00:15:07,880 in London and her trip sort of travels took her from London up to Scotland and then down 155 00:15:07,880 --> 00:15:14,000 to Cheshire and she's been in Cheshire now for over sort of 20 25 years and she's been 156 00:15:14,000 --> 00:15:16,680 here. You are a couple couple as well aren't you. We are yeah we're married. Yeah we are 157 00:15:16,680 --> 00:15:22,400 married. So where did you meet then. We met in a wine bar in Sandbatch many many moons 158 00:15:22,400 --> 00:15:29,000 ago yeah. Right nice. And you both happened to be in an industry that you like the similar 159 00:15:29,000 --> 00:15:35,440 industry. Yeah I was selling new houses at the time and Maxine was designing for a number 160 00:15:35,440 --> 00:15:41,720 of celebrities and different companies working from Knutsford and we got chatting and various 161 00:15:41,720 --> 00:15:46,800 things and a few glasses of wine later and yeah yeah. And you've got children as well 162 00:15:46,800 --> 00:15:53,640 haven't you. We have yeah we have both been married before. Yeah we've got the blended 163 00:15:53,640 --> 00:15:58,600 family. Do they work for the business too. Holly our daughter she's just gone on maternity 164 00:15:58,600 --> 00:16:05,720 leave so we were expecting our first grandchild at the end of April. That will have the best 165 00:16:05,720 --> 00:16:10,720 nursery in Cheshire. Oh absolutely it's just been finished this weekend. Yeah. And we don't 166 00:16:10,720 --> 00:16:13,840 know what we've done to the other two because one's one side of the world and the other's 167 00:16:13,840 --> 00:16:19,120 the other. Charlie's following his dreams of playing football over in America. Wow. 168 00:16:19,120 --> 00:16:24,680 And amazing my daughter she's off in Vietnam teaching English. That is amazing. Yes. Where 169 00:16:24,680 --> 00:16:30,920 abouts in Vietnam. She is in Saigon. Wow that is absolutely amazing. You've obviously brought 170 00:16:30,920 --> 00:16:35,400 them up well to be adventurous. That's why we've got no money. And we're still having 171 00:16:35,400 --> 00:16:39,480 to keep working. Yeah yeah well I hope you keep working forever because obviously you 172 00:16:39,480 --> 00:16:44,600 do some amazing designs and you've got some amazing stuff here. So how do you keep on 173 00:16:44,600 --> 00:16:50,560 top of trends then. We're in we're in touch with obviously our supply chain all the time. 174 00:16:50,560 --> 00:16:57,600 We constantly and see and we visit trade shows and there's lots of information that the design 175 00:16:57,600 --> 00:17:03,760 network sends out on a regular basis. So we're seeing stuff all the time from latest lighting 176 00:17:03,760 --> 00:17:09,760 to fabrics and artwork etc. So yeah we're in touch with stuff all the time. And do you 177 00:17:09,760 --> 00:17:14,000 like being creative then if someone was to say you've got a blank canvas do what you 178 00:17:14,000 --> 00:17:19,120 want would that be your dream scenario. Absolutely yeah I think I often take a backseat and I 179 00:17:19,120 --> 00:17:25,000 sort of manage the budget and the purse strings more but the design team do love to sit down 180 00:17:25,000 --> 00:17:31,640 and get and think right. And it's often something that we see it's just the odd wallpaper or 181 00:17:31,640 --> 00:17:37,120 the odd bit of fabric that we suddenly see and think oh my god where can we use that 182 00:17:37,120 --> 00:17:43,080 in our next design because it is so striking that where clients allow us to be creative 183 00:17:43,080 --> 00:17:48,040 we can really then go to town and introduce that. Just some people say I've got this sofa 184 00:17:48,040 --> 00:17:52,640 that's the only thing I want to keep work around the sofa. Absolutely yeah I think that's probably 185 00:17:52,640 --> 00:17:57,840 what I would do. Yeah and then start afresh with everything else. Yeah absolutely yeah 186 00:17:57,840 --> 00:18:03,800 so it's really been very nice to catch up with you again and the message is if you just 187 00:18:03,800 --> 00:18:09,160 fancy a little trip out to Holmes Chapel then come and have a look inside the design house 188 00:18:09,160 --> 00:18:14,880 there's free parking outside there's lots of amazing bits that you can pick up to buy 189 00:18:14,880 --> 00:18:20,680 from as we said candles glasses you've got full furniture chairs you've got lighting 190 00:18:20,680 --> 00:18:24,600 so many wonderful things if you wanted to treat yourself which is always nice or if 191 00:18:24,600 --> 00:18:32,880 you have something to buy for somebody else this is absolutely the perfect place to come. 192 00:18:32,880 --> 00:18:37,640 Thank you for listening to another episode of the Arch Publications Business Insight 193 00:18:37,640 --> 00:18:44,040 podcast you'll be glad to know we did buy the chair and it's very chic and very comfortable. 194 00:18:44,040 --> 00:18:49,400 To hear more inspiring interviews from local businesses across Cheshire subscribe on your 195 00:18:49,400 --> 00:18:55,200 favorite podcast platform and to check out our magazines either through your front door 196 00:18:55,200 --> 00:19:01,760 or if you're out of our delivery area you can find them on our website archpublications.com 197 00:19:01,760 --> 00:19:07,440 and I'll be back very soon chatting to another Cheshire business. Business Insights with 198 00:19:07,440 --> 00:19:22,520 Arch Publications hosted by Katie O'Regan.