LA-Z-BOY Gulf Coast Designers DESIGN BLOG! - MARKS INTERIORS

RESULTS ARE IN! WHICH ONE? Take a look ...

4/20/2021

April 13th post by La-Z-Boy Designer, Alli Sypert:
Which one, and what's the difference? Server or cabinet?

POLL RESULTS:
What would you choose? 44.9% of you chose the server!
Which one do you think the customer chose? 100% of you chose the cabinet for the customer.

Which one did the customer choose? THE CABINET!
Read the full story here.

April 6 post by La-Z-Boy Designer, Tommy Mac:
Your new bed... wooden or upholstered? WHICH ONE?

POLL RESULTS:
What would you choose? 64.7% of you chose the upholstered bed.
Which one do you think the customer chose? 56.3% chose the upholstered bed for the customer.

Which one did the customer choose? The upholstered bed!
Read the full story here.

Thank you for your votes!

Which one, and what's the difference? Server or cabinet?

4/13/2021

By Allie Sypert, Designer
La-Z-Boy, Spanish Fort

What is a Server?
<-- Don't we all wish we had one of these at home all the time? Someone who says, "Hi, my name is John and I'll be taking care of you today!" Well, of course, we do!

The server that is on my mind, though, is a piece of dining room furniture that serves as a serving table, and it is conveniently called, a SERVER. It is a relatively slim table, much like a sofa table, and is meant to be placed along the dining room wall. This piece was (and still is) traditionally used to stage food before it is served to guests, although now has become quite the beautiful, flexible piece in a home and used for a myriad of purposes. You might see it in an entryway or hallway, and it may or may not have cabinets below. Most any servers are usually shorter in length and height than cabinets.

The Southbury Server

So, what is a cabinet?
The cabinet is all about storage space. Shelf storage is the central and most important feature of a cabinet. All of that cabinet space can be used to store everything from dishes to books, collectibles and photos. Anything you want to store that will fit!

The Weatherford Heather Hastings Open Hutch/Buffet Cabinet

Legos, a laptop, and china.
Fresh ways to use a server or cabinet!

CREATE A CLEANER WORK SPACE
Working from home? Need more surface area for work materials or screens? Solve your clutter challenge by using the server as a cadenza. It masks as a chic, understated piece in the same room where you can turn it from work space into a lounge or dinner area at night.

THE TOYS, THE TOYS!
Are toys everywhere in your room? Think outside the toy-box and if your cabinet or server has solid doors covering the shelves, use it to hold this wonderful but cluttered chaos. Children's books and small boxes of coloring books and crayons fit well. During playtime, children can easily access the toys because the doors are usually at their eye level. And when its nap-time or bedtime, or if company is coming over, the clutter can quickly be taken out of view.

DISPLAY YOUR COLLECTIONS
Whether a closed cabinet, or one with exposed shelves (or both), you can artfully display your much loved china and collectibles in the defined space of a cabinet or server. This gives you the freedom to express without overtaking a room with clutter.

OR, JUST USE IT FOR ITS ORIGINAL INTENTION.

Stack those fine white plates and espresso cups on top of a server with an expresso or coffee machine, or set up a cocktail-hour mini-bar on it. When not in use, put flowers, accessories, and books on it! If you have a cabinet, do the traditional thing and show off your china, photos, and books in the cabinet's open shelves or behind its glass doors!

A customer's dilemma solved

A La-Z-Boy customer recently inherited two sets of china from a relative who is downsizing. She was so excited to receive not one, but two sets of beautiful fine china but was short on storage space. The obvious thing would be to get a cabinet with all of the extra storage space. But she already has a cabinet! The bottom shelves were full of her children's books and art supplies because they used the table for drawing and coloring. Her own set of china filled the top shelves. And as with all of us, her kitchen cabinets were full, as well. She didn't want to just store them in the attic or garage. She said, "I'll never use the china if it's hard to get to!"

So, we talked it through, looked at all of the cabinets and servers available in our furniture gallery, and came up with a solution.

How would you have resolved this storage issue? What do you think she did?

DESIGNING AN ENTIRE ROOM?
BOOK YOUR FREE DESIGN CONSULTATION!

Your new bed... wooden or upholstered? WHICH ONE?

4/6/2021

By Tommy McMullan, Designer
La-Z-Boy, Mobile

Think about this... we spend more time in our beds than any other piece of furniture in our homes. Not only do we spend time dreaming and sleeping, we also watch tv, work on our laptops, scroll on our phones, read books, cuddle with our dog, our cat, our kids. Your bed is possibly the most important piece of furniture in your home!

I have a client who has moved to our area and she is decorating her new condo. She works remotely for a company and she sheepishly admitted to me that she does quite a bit of morning work from her bed! So having the right bed, the right support, and the right atmosphere is as important to her as any other room in her home.

I told her she shouldn't be the last bit embarrassed that she spends several hours of her workday in her bedroom. Because, do you know...that many powerful, productive people work from their bed?

Working from bed is a time-honored tradition upheld by some of history’s most accomplished figures.

Frida Kahlo painted masterpieces from her canopy bed.
Winston Churchill, a notorious late riser even during World War II, dictated to typists while breakfasting in bed.
Edith Wharton, William Wordsworth and Marcel Proust drafted prose and verse from their beds.
“I am a completely horizontal author,” Truman Capote told The Paris Review in 1957. “I can’t think unless I’m lying down.” (nytimes.com)
Mark Twain jotted down his ideas while in bed.

In the bed during the day...is this you?
Do you ever slip off to your bedroom with a cup of coffee and a good book or magazine to get some quiet time? Are you the parent who might use the bed as a hideaway from the chaos? And of course, we all have grabbed a quick nap to "reboot" our day.

Bedtime
Beds and books are such perfect companions. In our busy lives the only time we have to ourselves is that hour or so in bed before we fall asleep. We rarely stop the clock to read during the day but the bed is the one place where we permit ourselves the luxury of losing ourselves in a book, and where others allow us to read without passive-aggressively suggesting we should be doing something more useful.

The finest comfort you can find should be in your bed. It simply cannot be overlooked!

Imagine yourself in luxurious comfort every night, and every nap, and every hideaway moment. Want to be thrilled with your bed? Let's think about a new one!

First decision, what type of bed would fit your idea of the perfect hideaway?

Wooden or upholstered?

The Wooden Bed

The natural beauty of wood
Wooden furniture gives your room natural, cozy warmth. You don’t need to think much about the decor of your bedroom if you place a large, polished natural wood piece of furniture in the middle of it. A timeless, more traditional wooden bed complements most any interior design.

A wooden bed is a practical piece of furniture
Not only the wooden bed is easy to match with other interior details – more importantly, it is very easy to care for. Simple periodical cleaning using a damp cloth and some water would perfectly work. Or if you lazy to do so – simply dust off the headboard and the bed frame of your bed and it will do a trick!

Wooden beds come in a wide range of styles
There are so many wood bed variations!As wood beds, upholstered beds also come in an enormous amount of different styles, colors, and materials.

Wooden beds are firm and sturdy
Being naturally sturdy and strong, wooden beds are exceptionally stable so that you can sleep in it very confidently. They are also pretty resistant to various types of liquids and stains, therefore you don’t have to worry about it getting damaged even if you have both kids and pets in the house.

The Upholstered Bed

The upholstered bed is exceptionally soft and comfy
If you are a person who values the comfort of bed the most – you might like the upholstered bed more than a wooden one. An upholstered bed is wrapped in a cushioned fabric that maximizes your sleeping comfort to the highest. But more importantly, sitting, scrolling on our phone or laptop, doing work, watching tv...anything you can think of doing is most comfortable in an upholstered bed.

Upholstered beds are versatile AND beautiful
You can have an upholstered bed in most any color plus you can choose from different shapes and fabrics. An upholstered bed creates an inviting and luxurious look in your bedroom, and you can use it as the center of your decorating focus for the rest of the room.

Vote in our poll!
Which one would you choose?
Which one do you think our customer chose?

Ready for a new bedroom?
Book your free consultation!

Poll Results for "Which One?" Here's how you voted!

3/30/2021

In March we asked readers to vote in our WHICH ONE? blog poll each week. Thank you for being involved. You've watched our videos, read our blogs, and voted! Hopefully it's been fun for you because it's been great fun for us.

We’ve counted the votes and the results are in!

March 2, 2021
Upholstered or Wooden Back?

Designer: Mercer Moore
To review, here's the link to the video and client story: Hardback or upholstered?

POLL RESULTS:
Which one would you choose?
Upholstered: 51%
Wooden Back: 49%

Which one do you think our customer chose?
Upholstered: 58%
Wooden Back: 43%

Mercer's client chose: UPHOLSTERED!

March 9
Sofa or Sectional?

Designer: Tommy Mac
To review, here's the link to the video and client story: Sofa or Sectional?

POLL RESULTS:
Which one would you choose?
Sofa: 40%
Sectional: 60%

Which one do you think our our customer chose?
Sofa: 79%
Sectional: 21%
Our client chose...the SOFA!

March 16, 2021
Coffee table or no coffee table?

Designer: Alli Sypert
To review, here's the link to the video and client story: Coffee table or no?

POLL RESULTS:
Which one would you choose?
Definitely a coffee table: 64%
No coffee table. I love having the open space: 36%

Which one do you think Alli's client chose?
She came back for a coffee table: 52%
No coffee table. She wanted the extra floor space: 48%

Alli's client chose: NO COFFEE TABLE!

March 23, 2021
Coffee table geometry: Rectangle, square, or round?

Designer: Mercer Moore
To review, here's the link to the video and client story: Rectangle, square, or round?

POLL RESULTS:
Which one would you choose?
Rectangle, square, or round?
Rectangle: 46%
Square: 7%
Round: 47%

Which one did our client choose?
Rectangle: 50%
Square: 22%
Round: 28

Our client chose: RECTANGLE!

We have more of this same fun coming up every Tuesday in April! Thank you to those who voted in March. See you Tuesdays in April!

Have design questions?
Book your free consultation!

All of us think choosing a coffee table is super easy until it’s time to find one!

3/23/2021

By Mercer Moore, Designer
La-Z-Boy, Pensacola

Video: The coffee table is your best friend.

The Kings, the Queens, and the Knight

What gets all the attention in a living room? The sofas, sectionals, chairs, and rugs - they are the Kings and Queens of the living room. They wear the crowns...they get all of the adoration!

My clients and I spend a lot of time choosing the Kings and Queens of the living room: the sofa and chairs, the rug, the upholstery, and the placement of those crowned pieces. But what really makes a room function well is the Knight, the coffee table. It's there to serve, to accompany, to make everyone's lives better!

Choosing your Knight - the coffee table - is something that you think you just instinctually know how to do… until it’s time to find one! But the Knight is the workhorse in the room and is every bit as important as the rest. Give it some respect. The right one will make your living room a wonderful, majestic place and make your day a royal experience.

Well, maybe that's a leeetle much. But in real person terms, the right coffee table WILL enhance your everyday life. It holds your drinks. It patiently nestles your magazines. It presents your flowers. It stoically takes the heat from your candles. It offers a place for you to prop your feet. All of this with no whining, no complaints. Your coffee table is your best friend. Choosing one can be one of the most important decisions of your life.

Coffee table decision.

Last month I designed a room for a family who recently moved to Pensacola. My client had always had the traditional setup of a sofa with two chairs. But she was ready for a more relaxed living space now that she is on the Gulf Coast, and chose an L-shaped sectional. Her well-loved, old coffee table was not going to work well with the new sectional. So, using the following "coffee table guidelines", she and I talked about what would work best! Going through the guidelines helped her eliminate tables. There was no guessing, and no trial and error. She chose her coffee table, and she chose it well.

Which one did she choose?
Which one would you choose?
Vote in the poll at the end of this post!

HELPFUL GUIDELINES FOR CHOOSING A BEST FRIEND,
YOUR COFFEE TABLE

A coffee table should be:

At least half the length of your sofa
But no more than roughly ⅔ the length
Should be the same height as the seat, give or take 4 inches

For an L-shaped sectional:

The 1/2 to 2/3 guideline applies better to just the length of the horizontal seat, rather than the full length of the sofa
Round and square shaped coffee tables can almost be interchanged - same goes with rectangular and oval.

Keep scrolling!
The diagrams and photos below explain it best!

Rectangle

Consider a rectangular coffee table if you have a standard sofa (or a sectional with chaise) so everyone can have easy access to whatever they have in their cups...coffee, cocktail, or milk with their cookies! If you have a narrow space with minimal walk-around clearance, the rectangle is absolutely the best choice!

Square

A square coffee table is a great choice if you have a large comfy sectional or the traditional conversational set up with a sofa and a couple of chairs. It is perfect when placed in the center space of the seating area. But it also fits well in the L-shaped nook of your sectional! What I love best a square coffee table is all of the wonderful styling space. Accessories, books, flowers, a lovely box for the numerous remotes, will all fit on top with some room to spare for the coffee cup.

Round

For anyone living in a small space where every piece of furniture counts, you can literally cut corners with a round coffee table. It also works with an L-shaped sectional because it fits into the "nook" perfectly. One of my favorites is this round coffee table with a lower tier for accessories, and magazine and book storage!

Take our poll!

BOOK YOUR FREE DESIGN CONSULTATION

Want to take a deeper dive into coffee tables?
Check out these diagrams!

We get a coffee table because ... well, that's what we are supposed to do, right?

3/15/2021

By Alli Sypert, Designer
La-Z-Boy, Spanish Fort
Contact Alli

SCROLL DOWN TO SUBMIT YOUR VOTE!
WHICH ONE?

I worked with a darling customer recently who was worried about her room looking incomplete if she didn't have a coffee table. The problem is her husband and children love lying on the floor in front of the TV. We make many design decisions because our mama made the same decision, our friends make the same decision, our neighbors made the same decision...we grew up with it this way... and getting a coffee table is one of those "well, of course!" decisions. We get a coffee table because ... well, that's what we are supposed to do, right?

Our living rooms are now a place to play, work, and relax. In many homes, the living room has became a schoolroom, a workout room, a playroom, a playground, a yoga studio, and guess what... many of us have to move the coffee table out of the way at least once a day! The living room has truly taken center stage.

We would NEVER think about NOT getting a coffee table in front of our sofa. Am I right? But think of the open space you can have! There is freedom in gaining some space you've not had. And the alternatives are endless: small, easy -to-move drink tables, magazine holders, side tables. The coffee table, especially if its too large, too tall, too small, or too delicate, can be the "elephant in the room."

The case for a coffee table.

The coffee table, however, is the center axis of the living room for many families.
Here's why:
1. It controls clutter.
2. It holds magazines, drinks, offers space for puzzles, games, and gives you a place to prop your feet.
3. You have endless choices of surfaces, sizes, and colors.
4. For so many of us, its hard to imagine living without one!

So...which one would you choose? Coffee table or no coffee table?
TAKE OUR POLL!

WHICH ONE WOULD YOU CHOOSE?

WHICH ONE DID MY CLIENT CHOOSE?

NEXT WEEK'S BLOGPOST & POLL:
The coffee table: Square, Rectangular, or Round?

BOOK YOUR FREE DESIGN CONSULTATION!

Stumped in the living room... a sectional or sofa? Which one did Beth choose? Which one would you choose?

3/9/2021

By, Tommy MacMullan
La-Z-Boy Designer, Mobile

THINK
IT
THROUGH.

Some design decisions are quick and easy...like an accessory. Some answers are so clear! Then, there are others that are HUGE decisions that you will have to live with for a long time. And it is so important to make the right decision! And choosing between a full sectional or a sofa is one of those very big decisions that you must get right! So, I do my best to have my clients THINK IT THROUGH...

Last month, a new client - Beth - requested an in home design appointment. We met and she admitted how "stumped" she was trying to decide on a sectional or a sofa for her large living room. She sent her old sofa to college last month when her oldest child moved from the dorm into an apartment. Now she was ready to choose a new sofa or sectional, choose custom fabric or leather, and wait for its grand delivery later this Spring or early Summer when life - hopefully - may return somewhat back to normal. But she needed professional design help in choosing this primary piece of furniture. So, I went through my "THINK IT THROUGH" quiz with her.

Let's take a look at these two furniture workhorses: the sofa and the sectional.
A sofa - also called a couch - most commonly can seat three adults.

THE ALANI - SOFA WITH "CUDDLER"

A sectional (actually short for sectional sofa) has a modular design with two or more pieces coming together to create an L or U wrap-around shape, and can usually seat more than three adults.

THE ALANI - FULL SECTIONAL
- with cuddler and chaise -

How do you decide?

Both are beautiful, so we know the room will look like a picture out of a magazine! Still...its a decision she will live with - literally - for a long, long time. I told Beth, "Let's THINK IT THROUGH" together. This is what I do!

1. Do you feel strongly about one over the other?

Beth had a strong preference of a formal sofa when we first met. But when she came into the store and saw the La-Z-Boy sectionals, she realized they can be quite sleek, have an organized look and feel, and work perfectly in a living room. So, she was stumped. Confusion set in. So... I said, "Let's THINK IT THROUGH some more...."

2. How many seats and who will be sitting in them?

Beth still has one child in high school who will graduate in May, so by late summer the room will mostly be used by Beth and her husband.

I told her, "Don't just count the seats you need. THINK about WHO will be sitting in them. A sectional can fit 4-6 people, most spots will not have armrests, and the one in the corner won't have legroom. A sofa with one or two chairs will provide plenty of seating for five people. So, the number of seats may not be as important as you might think. "

Tommy Mac: Many rooms with one sofa actually have space for TWO sofas to meet the need for more seating and great conversation.

3. How large is the room, and how will you use the room?

Absolutely key to making this decision is the room size and what its function will be the majority of the time. Beth has room for a large sectional, but still she had to THINK IT THROUGH. Beth's living room is large, and has a fireplace with a TV above it. Before COVID the room was a gathering spot for guests, football games, cocktails with the neighbors, and it was her kids' video game headquarters. However, glancing at some other pieces in her home, I could tell that she has a dressy flair.

We all know how sectionals are great for lounging back, kicking up your feet, and squeezing family members together to watch a movie. Beth was looking forward to entertaining again and I suggested that her guests might want a little more personal space so a sofa, two sofas, or a sofa-sectional with a cuddler, might be the better choice. She could add chairs. Plus, after a few months, the room would no longer be a video game haven.

Beth did THINK IT THROUGH, but for not long. She answered the quiz honestly, and made her decision. Which one do you think she chose? Which one would you choose?

Quiz yourself and THINK IT THROUGH.

Am I pressed for space?
Do I live alone, with a spouse, or family?
Does my room have a weird shape or layout?
What's my daily life in the room? Does it have to multi-function as a dining or office space, too?
Do I like to lounge more than entertain?

Now, vote!

Dining chairs...hardback or upholstered? Which one would you choose? Which did our client choose?

3/2/2021

By Mercer Moore, Designer
La-Z-Boy - Pensacola

My client, Anne, moved into a new home. I was designing the house, room by room, and we were focusing on the dining room. She had handed down a few pieces of her older furniture to her grown children and sold or thrift shopped everything else. She was ready for a fresh start with her new home! However, she kept her old dining room table. Because it was, well...old...plus rather casual, it was chosen for the breakfast room table. She loves it because of its history of family get togethers and it served as a homework headquarters for many years! But she really wanted a more elegant look in her new dining room. After choosing a round dining table with an optional leaf for her new dining room, she was at a crossroads deciding on chairs:

upholstered or hardwood?

I told Anne that I frequently design upholstered chairs for the dining room versus the kitchen because they really do lend an air of formality. Plus, fabric absorbs sound. Many clients have an open-concept kitchen or simply a room with a lot of glass or metal that looks stark. Upholstered chairs absorb sound and are a perfect way to add color and texture to a room. Coordinating upholstered chairs with the wall color or carpet, or other accessories ties everything together and adds to the design aesthetic. If a room is feeling plain, like it's missing something, it's fun to pull colors from the room into upholstered chairs!

There aren't downsides as much as there are things to consider. Obviously, upholstery can be a tougher cleaning situation for a young family. With kids at home who might not use napkins or smaller ones who don't have total control over their food, upholstered chairs will be a lot of cleaning trouble.

A Middle Ground...

There is a middle ground. La-Z-Boy has some great performance fabrics that make upkeep surprisingly easy. I showed Anne how she can still have an upholstered seat, leaving a hardwood back if she doesn't want as much upholstery.

Solid wood dining chairs will last for generations if treated well. Besides being knock-out beautiful, La-Z-Boy wood dining chairs are built with solid construction, have excellent durability and longevity, and enhance the look of a wood dining table, just like Anne's. And these dining chairs can be extremely comfortable and supportive.

Which would you choose?

Vote in our "WHICH ONE?" poll!

Which one would you choose?

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Which one did our customer choose?

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CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT WHICH ONE ANNE CHOSE!

When distressed is a good thing....

2/23/2021

ALLI SYPERT - DESIGNER
LA-Z-BOY, SPANISH FORT

La-Z-Boy Designer, Alli Sypert, creates balance and cohesion with distressed hardwoods in her coastal farmhouse designs.

SEE THIS VIDEO ON PLANNING A COASTAL FARMHOUSE DINING ROOM

Like a picture out of a magazine... a fine dining design by Tommy Mac

2/16/2021

By, Tommy MacMullan

Book your free consultation!

© Marks Interiors 2020
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Sunday. 1 PM - 5 PM

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Spanish Fort, Al 36527
251-300-2020
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5078 Bayou Blvd
Pensacola, FL 32503
850-479-9800
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