Keith Shirley

For the first of the series of Showcase articles I was lucky enough that Lorna Sixsmith from Garrendenny Lane was willing to help get the ball rolling.

Before we get started – Lorna will be on RTE 1 tonight (Wednesday 1 April 09) at 8:30pm for an episode of “Not Enough Hours” – a great chance to get to know the person behind the business a little bit better.

So who is Garrendenn Lane Interiors?

Garrendenny Lane Interiors is owned by Lorna Sixsmith, it offers a new and unique way to shop for your home; you can visit our showroom based in rural Carlow with plenty of easy parking, enjoy a coffee and browse the many fabric and wallpaper collections, furniture, stylish gifts, gorgeous bedlinen, vases, mirrors, clocks, candleholders, pottery and other enticing giftware collections. The intention is to offer a personal and friendly service within a relaxed ‘home’ environment. I also offer an interior design service. Garrendenny Lane Interiors is based only five miles from Castlecomer which has a lovely park, walks, cafe and fishing lakes so you can make a day of it with family and friends.

The online shop www.garrendennylane.ie opened last August and it stocks items such as kitchenware, bedlinen, accessories for children, gifts, teasets, clocks, candleholders ….

What kind of services and products do you offer?

I offer an interior design service whereby a client can either come to the showroom to peruse the collections or I can visit their home.  If visiting their home, the first visit will generally be just to have a chat, take a look at the room or rooms in question, perhaps take some photographs and measurements if the client is looking for new curtains/blinds and/or wallpaper.  Then on the second visit, I bring the fabric and wallpaper samples or whatever it is the client requires.  I can help clients as little or as much as they need – some simply require help selecting paint colours or putting the finishing touches to the room, others have a blank canvas and wish to have the whole room designed and others may wish to change the wallpaper or curtains and require assistance as they wish to co-ordinate with the existing furniture and flooring.

I also provide a complete curtain making and measuring service.  Naturally, clients are free to use their own curtain maker if they wish but I find that most people prefer me to measure, arrange the making of the curtains and arrange to have them professionally hung.

I stock fabrics and wallpapers from a range of renowned designers.  Those that fall into the mid-range price bracket would include Lorient, Voyage, Swaffer and Sanderson.  Designers Guild, Jab, James Brindley, Andrew Martin, Chivasso and GP & J Baker tend to be more expensive but are oh, so so gorgeous.

I can also help clients choose the perfect sofa, armchair, occasional chair and ottoman as I use a wonderful established furniture making company and the beauty of  this is that each item of furniture can be totally individual as it is made especially for you.  You can choose the style, size, shape of arm, type of filling, different leg options, box or scatter cushions, the list goes on but the piece de resistance is that you can choose whatever upholstery fabric you wish to use (with our advice) rather than being limited by the choices in many furniture stores.  The workmanship is superb and the order time is only six weeks.  So, whether it’s a 3 piece suite or an occasional chair for a hall or bedroom, you can enjoy truly individual and original seating at a ordinary price.

For the ultimate in hassle-free shopping, you can even email photos of your room and I can offer interior design advice by phone and email, putting samples in the post and then arranging for the fabric and/or wallpaper to be delivered to your door.

The online shop stocks competitively prices ranges of stylish giftware, including items from Cath Kidston, Rachel Allen, Lene Bjerre, Black & Blum, Designers Guild, Joseph Joseph and many others.  Items are despatched the following day (unless the details contain the information then it may be longer).

Who are your typical customers?

My customers tend to be quite varied but I guess one thing that is common amongst them is that they often just need the reassurance that they are making the right decisions.  Some clients will leave the decisions up to me but some just find it difficult to be objective when it comes to making decorating decisions about their own home and simply require guidance and reassurance.  I tend to come up with at least 2 or 3 decorating schemes so that the client can choose their favourite.

Clients include those who have built their new home and want help choosing paint colours, wall finishes, fabric for curtains and blinds, and flooring.  Others will have decorated some of the rooms in the house and have become devoid of ideas for the remaining rooms, perhaps requiring help with the finishing touches for the rooms done so far too.

Some clients will have used ready-made curtains in the bedrooms and wish to fit made-to-measure curtains downstairs and contact me for help with measuring for the curtains and choosing fabric.  I am also finding that families are extending their houses instead of moving to a bigger house and are building on an extra sitting room (that will often be a ‘good’ sitting room) and an extra bedroom and bathroom.

What makes your business special?

The one-to-one service.  As it is a one-woman show, I offer a personal, homely, friendly service.

I also ensure that the interior design choices for each client reflects their own personality and suits the use of each room by using the initial visit to do my research and then leaving sufficient time to put a scheme together before I visit again.

I visit the European trade fairs and source items that are unusual, different and yet are not expensive – I like sourcing items that look like they cost more than they do!  I have had many customers comment on the reasonable prices of the accessories and gifts.

Are there any other things that you work on that are not necessarily part of your core business?

I blog regularly about interiors, home products, farming, life in general.  I send out a monthly newsletter to subscribers which contains items such as tips on the latest trends, special offers, upcoming events and information on new products.

I have also contributed to articles for interior design magazines – Irish Homes (which ceased publication in January) and Munster Interiors.

Is there anything about you or your background that stands out or that you’d like to highlight?

Indeed, I’m going on television as I had difficulties balancing my family, work & home balance and organising my priorities!!  But that’s all sorted now!

Interior design is a relatively new career choice for me, having worked as a teacher, lecturer and head of department previously.  Within those roles, I had to plan, deliver, work to targets, (persuade teenagers to complete coursework – easier said than done!), work to time scales and lead teams.  In the past, my husband and I renovated and decorated five houses when we lived in England.  The first one took us 5 years as we were both working and studying at the time.  However, the other four were completed in time scales of 9 months to 2 years and all came in either at or under budget.  3 of the 4 houses had to be completely gutted, new electrics, plumbing, central heating, new kitchens and bathrooms, some structural work, new floors, some new ceilings, renovation of period features and the most enjoyable part – the decorating.

However, now that I am working as an Interior Designer, I find that my own home is last to be done (almost like the cobbler’s children going barefoot! – well, no, not quite that bad) but with 2 small children and a busy farm too, I find I don’t have as much time as I would like to make as many changes to my own home as I’d like. But then, I was accustomed to moving house (and décor) every two years so do tend to like to redecorate quite often.

Lorna can be contacted at:

Garrendenny Lane Interiors
Crettyard
Carlow
Eire

www.garrendennylane.ie
T: 086 1051007
F: 056 4442310

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Please feel free to leave any useful feedback in the comments section and if you know anyone that might be interested in having their business listed then send them the link www.short.ie/showcase or my contact details.

Note: If you wish to send someone the link for this page – just give them www.keithshirley.ie/showcase

The Background

Following on from the success of Bizcamp in Dublin I’ve decided to use this blog to help promote local businesses. After all – we do business with people we know.

I’ll publish a number of interview style posts here  – starting off with Carlow and Kilkenny based businesses. It’s a great opportunity to raise your profile and hopefully get some more customers.

There are hundreds of boring business directories on the Internet. The profiles I’m trying to publish here will be much more personal, informal and interesting. I love to get to know details of peoples businesses and I want people reading this blog to be interested in knowing about your business.

How will it work?

You can write your own profile or I can help you. Just remember the style should be conversational and should not sound like boring sales brochure material. The questions below can form the starting point and then we can expand on any areas I feel are not clear.

Questions:

• What are your basic business contact details?
  - Who are you? Where are you based?
• What kind of services and products do you offer?
  - In plain English – pretend I don’t know your business.
• Who are your typical customers?
  - I’d like people reading the blog to be able to refer you.
• What makes your business special?
  - Is there anything you are especially proud of? Now is not the time to be modest.
• Are there any other things that you work on that are not necessarily part of your core business?
  - You’d be amazed at how often a business deal twists into something completely different.
• Is there anything about you or your background that stands out or that you’d like to highlight?
  - You might be an Interior Designer with 20 years project management experience at Microsoft. At least I’ll know that my house redesign is more likely to be completed on time.

How can I get the updates?

Hopefully you are interested in seeing the new profiles as they are published. There are a few ways you can do this.

On the right hand side of this blog there are 2 options that you can choose:

“Enter your email address:” – If you provide your mail address you will receive an email every time the blog is updated. Follow the instructions that are given after you click the “Send me Updates” button.

If you feel more comfortable with the technology then you can use the RSS feed by clicking on “Subscribe in a Reader”. This is the fastest way to get updates.

I’d like to have my business included

Great. Please send me an email (K.Shirley@Shercom.com) with the starting questions listed above completed (only as much as you feel comfortable). Please include your phone number. You can also call me – 087 9112027 – but I can be hard to get  – I won’t answer the phone if I’m with clients.

Once I have your details we can get in contact so I can fill out the details.

I know a lot of people are not used to having to promote themselves. I will help you. Note:

• You don’t have to have a website
• You don’t even have to have email
• You don’t need to be in business a long time

Do I have to pay?

No – I’m doing this because I want to help. I plan to leave the posts available for a long time but there is no guarantee. I’ll do changes for you if details such as phone numbers change. My blog is set to allow Google to follow links – that means you can have a link to your website (if you have one) and it’ll get a little it more exposure.

I reserve the right to edit comments or posts if something is unclear or inaccurate. I also reserve the right to delete a post. You have the right to get me to delete a post. I’ll be allowing people to post comments – that means you might get some good testimonials or some pissed off customers. I suggest you respond to both in a polite and helpful way.I don’t plan to remove negative comments unless they are abusive as I feel a business can shine by dealing with a negative situation in a positive way.

Enough about me – Let’s hear about you!

Pass this on to any friends that you think can benefit. Feel free to copy any text from here that you need. If you wish to send someone the link for this page – just give them www.keithshirley.ie/showcase