It’s gotten so difficult to shop for significant others in recent years that many households are skipping gifts altogether. Call us old-fashioned, but we still love receiving something special during the holidays. Even better, we have some great ideas for how you can surprise that special someone in your life.

Instead of racking your brain trying to think of the perfect gift for your partner, you should seriously consider giving them somewhere to put all those incredible gifts!

We’re talking about upgrading your storage space for the holidays with a new closet, pantry, or organizational system to bring peace on Earth to your home — and your relationship!

Find out how you can win this holiday season by giving the gift of organization!

Give Them the Closet They’ve Always Dreamed Of

It’s been reported that people will give up some wild things to have more space in their closets. Thankfully, you don’t have to make any drastic sacrifices to upgrade your closet with Closets by Design.

Even without a full closet remodel, there are all kinds of changes you can make that can maximize your space to make your closet seem bigger and more efficient.

Not only do people want more space in their closet, couples also fight about sharing closet space. A custom closet system could be just the thing to give your partner the space they deserve. It might even improve your relationship!

It has been shown that a tidier home leads to a happier relationship. Maybe some organization is just the spark your relationship needs. See how you can upgrade your closet this holiday season to give your partner a surprise that keeps on giving.

Install the Perfect Pantry for the Foodie in Your Life

If you or your partner love cooking, baking, or just eating, then you’ve probably given plenty of kitchen gadgets and cookbooks as gifts. These can be thoughtful, but what if you already have a stand mixer with too many attachments?

Instead of adding more clutter to the kitchen, you could find a way for your partner to store and organize all their stuff! If there’s one thing that foodies love, it’s an organized kitchen with everything at arm’s reach. The same goes for your pantry.

Consider adding custom shelving solutions to your pantry to find the perfect place for ingredients, spices, and more. Improving your pantry and kitchen storage is a terrific way to make this room one of the coziest and well-organized rooms in your house. That’s not to mention finding a place to put all those holiday sweets and treats!

A Place to Put Those Special Holiday Bottles

If the market trends are to be believed, then there’s a good chance that many people may be giving out a different kind of holiday cheer for gifts this year. Alcohol sales are up more than 25 percent, and sales traditionally double during the holidays. With so much cheer flowing around the table, where are you going to keep it all?

Even the nicest and most well-meaning bottles take up space on the shelf. If you plan on saving some of the nicer bottles from friends and family, then you’re going to need a place to store them.

If it’s a particularly rare or valuable bottle, you may want to show it off in a special light. Installing a custom wine rack and organization system is a wonderful way to store your wine. It also lets you add much-needed organization to show off that special bottle for your holiday feast.

Schedule Your Consultation to Make Your Season Bright!

Do you have a special someone in your life that could use a new closet? Give them the gift of organization to simplify their life during a stressful time and help them go into the new year with style!

Schedule your free consultation today and learn how you can give a gift that will keep on giving long after the holidays are done.

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There’s actually some psychology around the “just in case“ clothes. For many, they symbolize a safety net, for others a self esteem issue. Let’s explore. When you see the bags full of “goal weight” clothes tucked away in the closet it’s a reminder to yourself that your current weight is temporary and before you know it, you’ll get back into those ‘skinny jeans’. No matter the reason, it’s emotional rather than practical.

There is even a psychology concept called enclothed cognition which examines why certain clothes can make us feel more confident or creative. For so many of us, the clothing we own reflects who we are or who we strive to be. The reality is, it can be very satisfying to de-clutter, leaving only the clothes that make you feel best or fit well in your closet. If you feel like you are ready, it may be time to let go of those clothes you don’t wear and purge.

There’s no magic number about the amount  of clothing in your closet, but a recent report indicates that most people don’t use 50-percent of what is stored in their closet. That is valuable storage space being wasted on clothes you don’t like or don’t fit anymore.

Organizational experts say if you have something in your closet that you haven’t worn in a year, it’s time to let it go. Or you can take the advice of renowned organizer, Marie Kondo. She is best known for her books, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up and Spark Joy, which also inspired her Netflix series. Her mission is to get rid of the things in your life that don’t bring you joy. No matter how you approach this, it’s time to get it busy and lighten your load. And while it can be emotional, there is a great sense of peace when your life is organized, less cluttered and everything has its place.

Begin by making two piles: clothes to keep and clothes to discard. Be honest with yourself, if you haven’t worn an article of clothing in a year and it doesn’t fit…it’s time to let it go. Or if it is not bringing you joy and it’s not making your life better, it’s just clutter. But for those who have a really hard time parting with items, place your discard items in a bin or box and label it with the date.  If after 6 months, you haven’t gone back in the box to retrieve something you placed in there, you can feel confident you won’t miss it went it’s gone.

Those discarded clothes can be put to good use. You could take them to a consignment shop or donate them to the charity of your choice.  There are always people in need of gently used clothing in all sizes.  The end results? You now have a thinner closet with only the clothes you really wear and fit you well.

Since you’ve done all this great work, this is an opportunity to truly organize your new wardrobe. Consider a custom-built closet with the capability to arrange all your clothes just the way you like them. At Closets by Design®, we’re passionate about revolutionizing the modern closet so you’re always organized without sacrificing style. Schedule a free in-home design consultation.

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It starts by knowing which organization mistakes you need to avoid to make sure your home looks its best. Here are the top organization mistakes everyone makes, and how you can fix them and organize your life.

1. Storing Clothes Out of Season

One big organizational mistake we see all the time is keeping clothes in your closet that are out of season. You may be asking why you shouldn’t keep all your clothes in your closet all year round. This is a good question that also has a simple answer.

The reason is that clothes can quickly take up a lot of space. This is especially true when it comes to winter coats and other seasonal items. Parkas and winter coats may look luxurious after Labor Day, but they look out of place in the middle of July.

It’s hard to make your closet look organized when it’s so full that it’s about to burst. Make room in your closet to give your clothes and your closet room to breathe. Store your winter clothes away during the spring and summer months to make more room in your closet for a cohesive and organized look you can love all year round. Not only will your closet look better, it will also be easier to find seasonally appropriate clothes for your outfit too.

2. Holding on to Things You Don’t Wear

Another organizing mistake people make is hanging onto things they don’t use or wear. We know it can be hard to let things go, but you’re not doing yourself, or your closet, any favors by holding on to clothes that either don’t fit, need to be repaired, or you just don’t like anymore.

Go through your closet and perform an inventory of your wardrobe. If you haven’t worn a piece of clothing for six months to a year, it’s probably time to donate or recycle it. You don’t need space in your life taken up by things that just weigh you down. Clear out your closet to make room for you to organize the clothes you actually care about.

3. Letting Piles Pile Up

No matter how nicely you stack things, a pile is still a pile. This is true whether it’s your clothes, mail, papers, or books. A mantra for good organization is “a place for everything and everything in its place.” A pile is not a good place for anything.

Items in piles can’t look organized because that’s obviously not where they belong. By adding bins and other storage solutions to your closet or home, you can keep lose items like scarfs, belts, bracelets, and more organized and out of sigh.

Even if your pile is more of a stack, it’s important not to let it get too high. Depending on the clothes, a stack on your closet shelf should never go more than three or four items high. Once you reach a certain height, it stops looking organized and looks more like you don’t have a place for all your clothes.

4. Clutter That is Out of Control

Clutter can be tricky because of the way it sneaks up on us. It starts as a shoebox or shopping bag here and there. Before you know it, there are things commandeering every closets in the house. Even if you’ve carefully arranged each knick-knack, a closets packed to the brim doesn’t look organized. It looks like you have too much stuff!

Try to pare down your items so there are only a few, specially selected things occupying each shelf. That doesn’t mean there isn’t space for your little Picasso’s masterpiece. It means you should be discerning with your decorations to make sure you see all your bric-a-brac in its best light. You can also teach your kids how to be clutter busters and build good habits.

5. Using Your Closet as a Storage Unit

We’ve all been there before. A few extra boxes, maybe some holiday decorations, or a Halloween costume make their way into your closet for a quick fix, with promises that you’ll move them later.

A few days turn into a few weeks, which turns into a few months. More things keep getting added to the closet. Before you know it, you don’t have any room for your clothes!

There is plenty of storage space in your home you didn’t know you had, which means there’s no excuse to let junk pile up in your closet. Save your closet for your clothes instead of turning it into a glorified storage unit.

Let Closets by Design Find Your Organization Solution

It’s easy to make a lot of these simple organization mistakes. That’s why sometimes the best solution is to trust the professionals! A professional designer with Closets by Design can help you set up the perfect system to organize your home and make sure it stays that way. Schedule your complimentary appointment with Closets by Design and start getting organized today!

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Let’s take a walk through the ages to discover the history of the closet, where it comes from, and where we can expect it to go.

Closets Date Back to Roman Times

At its simplest, a closet is a room, cabinet, or recess designed to hold clothing, china, and other possessions. It should come as no surprise that such a fundamental and helpful space would have been around for some time.

It turns out that some of the earliest people to use a closet were Roman soldiers. The soldiers needed a more practical way to store and transport weapons and armor, especially on long journeys. These storage units were called “armoriums.” As you might have guessed, the Latin word “armorium” became what we know today as an “armoire.”

Closets Became More Common in Early Modern Europe

In France during the 16th century, the armoire came to popularity among the upper class as a way to store weapons, tools, and clothing. There were even closets in England as early as the 1550s. However, these early closets had more in common with walk-in closets than the reach-in closet you’re familiar with.

These closets and were closer to a small private study instead of what we think of as a closet today. They were often used to store odds and ends like maps and books rather than a place to keep your coats.

As industrialization happened across the world, and goods were more affordable and easier to produce, people had more stuff to store. This led to a change in how people viewed and used the closet, but it wasn’t until much later that the modern closet started to take shape.

Closets Take Shape in the 1800s

The idea of the closet, as a dedicated space built into the home for storage, happened in the United States around 1840. We already told you about how Europeans had rooms called closets and used similar pieces of furniture for hundreds of years. However, it was Americans that established the closet as its own space built directly into the wall during the 19^th century.

The convenience of the closet built into the home rapidly became a standard feature in many American homes. It was nowhere near as expensive or bulky as furniture like armoires and chests. However, while Americans (and the rest of the world) were starting to warm up to the closet, they also didn’t give the closet too much thought.

It wasn’t until the 1950s, after World War II, that we started to really see what we think of as the modern closet.

America Creates the Modern Closet

The economic boom following the war led to an even larger consumer culture in the U.S., and increased need for a place to keep everything. More people began moving to the suburbs and buying larger homes. These larger homes came with closets, and Americans had plenty of new clothes to fill them with.

Closets by Design Reinvents the Closet in 1982

By the 1980s, people started to look at their closets in a new way. The question now became what you could do to upgrade their closets to make them more attractive and efficient. Enter Closets by Design.

Closets by Design was founded in 1982, and the way the world looks at closets hasn’t been the same since. Thanks to its incredible custom-tailored designs and commitment to total customer satisfaction, Closets by Design has reinvented the closet and continues to lead the way in modern closet design today!

Schedule Your Design Consultation With a Historic Industry Leader

We hope this has helped you learn a thing or two about the fascinating history of the closet. It’s always amazing to learn about the evolution of our homes throughout the ages. Are you ready to take your home into the future? Schedule your free in-home design consultation with one of the professional designers at Closets by Design and see how you can really make your closet stand the test of time.

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Brio is a word that describes something with vigor and vivaciousness. That’s just what you get with the Brio Collection! This closet collection combines the best of sleek, modernist design with bold textures to immediately add some extra panache and elegance to any room.

Learn more about the Brio Collection from Closets by Design and how you can turn any room into the modern masterpiece of your dreams.

Sleek Storage that Stands the Test of Time

Storage is one of the biggest selling points when people are looking for a home. The Brio Collection is the perfect closet, whether you’re upgrading a chic downtown apartment or want to add some modern flair to your cozy family cottage. Whatever your style might be, you can give your home the look it deserves with these incredible, classy closets.

The Brio Collection takes everything you love about sleek, modern design and turns it into a sophisticated and convenient organizational system that can complete the look of any home. The modern design of this collection never goes out of style, and it’s always sure to make an impression now and in the future.

Clean Design Gives Your Clothes the Spotlight

You’ve worked hard building your clothing collection. Each item is carefully curated for maximum style and impact. It’s no wonder you want to show off your wardrobe! That’s why you need a closet system designed to perfectly complement your clothes.

Just like how the perfect picture frame brings out the best in the artwork, the Brio Collection does the same thing for your clothes.

Find the Right Finish for Your Home

Not only does the subtle style of the Brio Collection complement your clothes, it also comes in a wide range of finishes to perfectly match your home. Choose from a light and softer color to add a classic feel to your closet or opt for a darker finish for a more modern, daring look.

When you work with one of our professional closet designers to create your custom closet system, you know you’re getting a closet that has been carefully crafted to pair perfectly with your home and style. Thanks to the variety of styles and finishes, you’re sure to find the right closet for you. You could even add a beautiful island to spice up the texture and feel of your closet with a luxurious look you’ll love.

Brio Collection is a Closet as Chic and Sophisticated as You

Don’t let the same old boring molding and cramped closet that came with your home keep you down. Upgrade with the stylish and sophisticated Brio Collection from Closets by Design and fall in love with your wardrobe all over again. Schedule your in-home design consultation today!

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After all the work you’ve put in making your closet look amazing, it’s time to put your closet to work for you!  A famous person once said, “Ask not what you can do for your closet. Ask what your closet can do for you.”

You never know. Your closet may be hiding cash you never knew about.

Who What Wear reports that the average woman probably has between $1,000 and $2,500 worth of clothes and shoes that she won’t miss. That’s a serious amount of money that could be spent on all kinds of things. You could even use it to buy more clothes or upgrade your closet!

Learn how you can turn your closet into your own private cash cow. And not all of the ways involve clothes.

Consider Consignment

One of the first ways to turn your closet into cash is through consignment. Consignment can be a wonderful way to ensure you’re getting top dollar for your items and know that your beloved clothes are going to a good home.

Unlike other places like pawn shops, you don’t get paid immediately when you give your clothes to a consignment shop. Instead, the consignment shop agrees to accept your items and sell them for you in their store. If and when the item sells, you get paid, and the shop keeper keeps a piece of the sale price.

Putting your clothes in a consignment store can be a great way to get your clothes in front of potential customers. Online consignment shops like the RealReal and Poshmark are wonderful ways to make money on your lightly-loved designer goods.

Reports show that secondhand clothing is more popular than ever, so it’s a great time to be a seller of quality, secondhand goods. However, unless you’re dealing with designer brands that you’re confident will sell, it may take at least a month or two before you see any money.

Donations Can Be A Tax Deduction

Do you have quality clothes in good condition that may not be right for consignment? Don’t throw them out! Those old clothes can still turn into serious savings on your next tax return. You should seriously think about donating them to your local thrift store or a worthy charity such as your local Goodwill, Salvation Army, or veterans charity.  As long as your items don’t have holes or stains, you can feel great about donating them and someone will benefit from your generosity.

When you donate your clothes, make sure you don’t just throw a bunch of clothes in a bag and call it a day. As you put together your donation pile, keep a list of what you’ve included and a general idea of what it’s worth. This “fair market value” will be useful later.

After donating your clothes, the store will give you a receipt for you to itemize your donation on your next tax return. A lot of the time, the charity won’t fill this out for you. That’s where the list you made comes in handy. Add up the fair market value of your clothes and use that number on your receipt to deduct it.

What’s more, many thrift stores are non-profits that do a lot to help their local communities. Donating to these stores can be a great way to clean out your closet and get a tax deduction while also giving back.

Sell Your Stuff Online

The internet has opened a whole new world of options when it comes to selling your stuff. Popular auction sites like eBay have been a great way to earn extra cash for a long time. There are even sites specifically designed for selling or renting clothes.

Whether you’re getting rid of designer clothing you never wear, or lightly-worn children’s clothing your kids have outgrown, there are all kinds of ways to profit it from it on the internet. You can choose to go with the online auction route or even try selling your clothes directly through social media on Facebook Marketplace.

The downside of selling online is that you’re going to have to package and ship those clothes once they sell. It can be a lot of work, and it could become a job in itself, depending on how many items you’re selling.

Try a Yard Sale

You know you want to sell your clothes, but you don’t want to deal with the hassle of doing it online. If that’s the case, then you should have a yard sale! When everything must go, there’s nothing like a yard sale to get rid of it.

With a yard sale, there’s no paperwork, shipping, or driving involved. All you need to do is set up your stuff on the lawn and let the people come to you! The downside to a yard sale is that you might not get as much for your clothes as you would selling them online or through consignment. Even so, yard sales can also be a lot of fun for the whole family.

Let Closets by Design Upgrade Your Closet

The first step in making money from your closet is to get it organized and cleaned out. Having trouble seeing the hidden potential in your space? Schedule your free in-home consultation with the professional designers at Closets by Design, and learn how you can transform your home while also making some extra money!

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With nowhere to go and little to do, alcohol sales have also seen a marked increase during 2020. In fact, sales of alcohol are up 27 percent, with wine sales alone increasing 26 percent. Of course, with all these extra bottles comes a need to find somewhere to store them all in a way that is both functional and looks great!

This where those home improvement projects and Zoom wine dates with the girls combine! Learn what you need to know about how to display your wine the right way and make your pantry and winebar more functional and fashionable than ever.

Dedicated Space for Bottles Makes Room for Other Things

The first step in upgrading your pantry is finding a dedicated space to store your food, bottles, pots and pans, and other kitchen items. Space in your pantry fills up fast, which is why you deserve space devoted to bulky items.

Bottles can take up a lot of space if not stored properly. Worse, you could accidentally knock a bottle of wine off a pantry shelf and break it while searching for dinner.

Adding a wine rack to your pantry system helps provide a place for everything and keep everything in its place. This ensures everything in your pantry has ample room so that it’s easy to store and access.

Where You Store Your Wine Matters

A big part of making space for your wine rack is finding the perfect place to put it. It turns out that where you store your wine is as important to how it tastes as the brand itself.

A beautiful wine rack with bottles shining in the sunlight may look pretty, but it’s actually terrible for your wine. Remember that people store their wine in cellars and caves for a reason.

Sunlight and UV rays are bad for your wine by making amino acids in your wine oxidize, which can impact the taste and flavor of your wine. When you pick a place for your wine rack, be sure to keep it away from windows and natural light.

Don’t Let Wine Get Too Hot

Just like how you don’t want your wine to be exposed to too much sun, you also don’t want your wine to be too hot either. They say that the best temperature to store wine at is a brisk 55 degrees Fahrenheit. Of course, 55 degrees can get chilly awfully fast. You’ll probably need a wine refrigerator or an actual cellar to keep wine this cold.

For the rest of us, your wine should be fine as long as the temperature stays around the 60s or 70s. As long as you avoid storing your wine in a part of your home that’s too warm, such as a laundry room, you should be just fine.

The Right Rack Stores Your Bottles Sideways

This tip is more practical for those of you storing wine in your home for the long haul. If you plan on drinking a bottle in the next few weeks, then you don’t need to worry as much about long term storage. However, how you store wine matters for those special bottles you plan on holding onto for a few years, like a bottle you are saving for your wedding anniversary.

Just like the professionals, you should seriously consider storing your wine sideways rather than upright, at least, if the wine has a cork. The reason for this, beyond it looking impressive in your home, is that storing wine on its side keeps the wine in contact with the cork, which prevents it from drying out. Because the cork doesn’t dry out, it remains expanded and prevents oxygen from entering the bottle and spoiling your wine.

That’s why incorporating wine racks or pull out shelves with lips into your pantry is a wonderful way to ensure your wine is stored properly while also saving space and helping your home look great.

Bars are for More Than Just Alcohol

While storing liquor and wine bottles is the purview of many pantries, you can take advantage of this space for much more than just alcohol. With a little creativity, you can transform your pantry into a beautiful display to complement any room.

Use your bar or pantry to accent the rest of your room and put your favorite things on display. Try storing cookbooks, art, flowers, pictures, and more fun things to brighten your room and add some extra personality to your pantry.

Let Closets by Design Improve Your Pantry

It’s time to put your pantry to good use with an upgrade from the professionals at Closets by Design. Learn how you can transform any space into the wine cellar of your dreams. Schedule your free consultation with Closets by Design today!

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So many decorations, so little space! If you think outside the box, then you won’t need to store as many things inside a box! Here are some ideas to keep all your holiday trimmings under control.

Decide Before You Buy

When buying decorations, ask yourself this question: “Where am I going to put this when the holidays are over?” Decide where you will store the items before you buy them.

Sneaky Swaps

What everyday items can you make a few tweaks to and use for the next holiday? For example, instead of buying Christmas-themed pillows, cover your regular pillows with holiday slipcovers.

Be Transparent

While storage containers come in a variety of cool colors, it is best to stick with transparent containers. This way you can easily see what is inside each box without having to open them. It will save you time and a potential mess.

Name that Item

If you can’t afford to buy new see-through storage boxes, buy inexpensive label stickers to attach to your containers. Instead of simply marking a box “Christmas” include details as to what is in the box that you might want to use for other holidays, such as “tree ornaments or Christmas lights.” This way, the next time you go to decorate, you’ll be able to easily see what items you are looking for.

Decoration Donation

When you pull out your decorations for the season, go through them and get rid of what you no longer want. You can donate them to a thrift store. There’s no use continuing to store things you never use!

Other Fun Decoration Storage Ideas:

• Wrap string lights around a hanger to keep them from getting tangled.
• Hang artificial wreaths in drawstring garbage bags.
• Store fragile ornaments in plastic cups to keep them from getting crushed.
• Make use of used tissue paper from gift wrappings to wrap up decorations
• Place small ornaments in egg cartons.
• Put bead garland in a water bottle to keep it under control.
• Place wrapping paper rolls in a garment bag and hang it in a closet.

Gift of Organization

The above tips can help a bit, but to truly keep your holiday decor under control, consider giving yourself the gift of custom organization from Closets by Design – whether it’s in a closet, a garage, or a utility room. Custom shelves give you a spot to keep boxes and bins. Drawers can be ideal for small decorations. We can even customize drawers with clear drawer fronts so you can see what’s inside from the outside.

Click here to schedule your free in-home consultation. We can look at the items you want to store, talk with you about your objectives, and assess your existing space and create storage for your holiday decorations and heirlooms.

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Does Living with Less Equal Happiness

You’ll find articles about this all over the internet; less clutter will lead to less stress. One of the most binge-able shows streaming right now is “Tidying Up with Marie Kondo.” After the show debuted on the streaming service Netflix, there were reports of surges in donations to thrift stores as well as throngs of people shopping for containers. People are being inspired, and Closets by Design can help them achieve their goals.

Expertise Meets a Helping Hand

We are not de-cluttering experts — we’ll leave that up to you. But, we can help you imagine what your totally organized spaces will look like. With a free design consultation, we can help make your minimalist/organized dreams come true, room by room. We’ll provide you with storage options designed specifically for your life. For example: if you’ve managed to pare down your unworn clothing but just can’t bring yourself to say goodbye to a single pair of shoes! Perfect! Closets by Design can accommodate your love with a beautiful wall of slanted shoe shelves. Maybe it’s a collection of cashmere sweaters? A cubby space specifically for those sweaters can fit the bill. That’s one of the things that makes Closets by Design so unique; our wide range of custom closet options and features made to order with quality top of mind.

A streamlined wardrobe is the perfect place to embrace the minimalist trend. If your day begins with one less decision about what to wear and no roadblocks in locating exactly what you are looking for, all the while you’re in a calm, clean, and beautiful environment, then your day is off to a good start. Leave the hassles to traffic and work!

Can Closets by Design be the Inspiration?

Like we said before — we are not de-cluttering experts. BUT, that doesn’t mean our beautiful products can’t provide the inspiration to minimalize. Just one look at our beautifully designed garage systems could motivate a weekend purging. Our garage systems look sleek and clean and are exactly on point. From garages to home offices, to laundries and pantries, Closets by Design offers more services than just closets! Providing whole-home organizing options makes Closets by Design a “one-stop shop” for all your organizing needs.

If you’re ready to embrace the minimalist trend and tackle all that clutter, Closets by Design can help. Contact us today and we’ll send one of our talented design experts to your home for a complimentary design consultation.

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