OBSERVER BUSINESS |
Love of decorating fuels new venture
» Elmira woman’s flair for design and eye for unique pieces translate into consulting business
BY: VANESSA MOSS
Elmira’s Judy Hiller has been helping friends and family with their interior decorating for many years and now she has started her own business to aid others in the community.
“She is fabulous at what she does, she really is,” said client Rosanne Weber.
“I’m just really happy to hear that she’s venturing out on her own because we can use someone like her.”
Hiller’s knack for decorating developed as she worked on her own home and began offering advice to others.
Weber said she was so impressed by Hiller’s Cape Cod-style house on Florapine Road that she asked her to design four rooms in her Arthur Street North property.
“We had this huge, massive bedroom that we had to decorate and I just had no idea where to start and she’s just taken it and made it absolutely fabulous.”
Hiller said that although she has no formal training, she has the ability to analyze a space and transform it into something special. She tries to use items already in the home to cut down on costs and then adds pieces she finds during shopping trips to antique and specialty stores.
“I love to shop,” she said laughing.
Currently working on a home in Walkerton that is undergoing a renovation from the bottom up, Hiller also holds a part-time position at the Home Hardware corporate office in St. Jacobs.
She said this new venture is a side project that does not feel like a job.
“How can you put a price on something that you enjoy doing?”
While most of her consultations so far have been free-of-charge, Hiller has developed an hourly rate of $25-$30 that she thinks is affordable.
“If people don’t have to pay the high bucks to have a professional do it and are quite happy to have me do it, then I guess I’m willing to step out and try it.”
She normally meets with clients a few times in their home to determine measurements, styles and tastes.
“In order for me to know what you’re like is to see what you’re like in your surroundings and I find that very interesting in so many different people that oftentimes you think you have someone figured out, but when you go into their home, you can read them more.”
Hiller’s personality is reflected in her own space which features dark reds, blues and greens, patterned wallpaper, crafts and antiques, as well as unique pieces, like a sled above her roll-top desk and an animal print sofa.
“I love when people walk in and say ‘wow,’” she said.
“People often know what they don’t like, but they don’t always know what they like and I love the challenge of just pulling people a little bit, to stretch them a bit and encourage them to just see what’s out there. A lot of people don’t have time these days to go and see what is out there and what is interesting.”
In her clients’ homes, Hiller enjoys experimenting with unique combinations.
“I like to meet a challenge,” she said.
“I like antiques. I like seeing where the old things come from and using them in a special way, but I also know that in decorating, your house has to flow, it has to flow nicely, but you can mix ideas and that’s what’s interesting.”
To come up with decorating concepts, Hiller first makes her clients feel comfortable by letting them know that “everybody has good taste.” Then, she asks for their opinions about colours, fabrics and accents.
She admits spending hours in Chapters scouring over magazines for inspiration.
“Even if I just pick out a small portion of a picture and say, ‘now that would work where I’m thinking for that person’s home.’”
Since she is just starting out in this field, Hiller is mostly relying on word-of-mouth for business, but she is excited to start advertising to develop a larger clientele. She said that once she jumps into a project she does not hold back.
“‘Today is a gift and that is why it’s called the present’: I love that saying and I’ve read it over and over and I just think, ‘yes, we have been given a gift, so there’s nothing like the present to move on and do something about it.’”