Tamara Thompson is the owner and Décor designer of Décor & You, a residential and commercial interior design firm in Mandarin.
WHAT DOES SHE DO?
She runs the business and networks to bring in referrals for new customers.
When Thompson first gets a client, she spends about 20 minutes on the phone with the client doing research to get in idea of what they want to do. She then meets with the client and brings information to the customer that she thinks they might be interested in. When she is in the home, she measures the room/s and takes a lot of photographs.
“I like to give my clients a folder of the before and after when we are done. I like to get a feel for what they really want. Maybe they don’t know what their style really is. Maybe they have what they need, but they just don’t know it. They just don’t know how to pull it all together.”
DECORATING PLAN?
“I come up with a decorating plan for the customer. Basically, I sit down with a person and I develop a plan to buy and then we buy to the plan. If you are a new homeowner, and you want to decorate your house, but you don’t have the money to do the whole thing at one time, we can establish your taste, preferences, colors, what you want the house to look like and how you envision it showing off who you are. We sit down and develop that.”
Many times, making minor changes and even using existing pieces in the home could make a big difference for the customer. “Over time, you can plan to buy what you want and then you buy it when you are ready to.”
HOW DOES SHE CHARGE?
When she goes into a home for an initial consultation, there is an $85 fee that is applied towards any purchases. “That’s it. There isn’t an hourly charge.” She likes to find out what a persons budget is up front so she can help them do what they want to do within the budget they have.
HOW LONG COMPANY OPEN?
Décor & You has been in existence since 1998, but Thompson just brought it into Jacksonville in November 2004, when she bought the franchise. “I am the first franchise owner in Jacksonville.” She has been doing interior design on her own home and friends homes for years.
BEFORE HER OWN COMPANY?
She has 30 years experience in the mortgage business, most recently with J.P. Morgan Chase as a project manager and operational financial manager in the mortgage company as a vice president of the bank.
WHY SWITCH FROM THE MORTGAGE BUSINESS TO INTERIOR DESIGN?
“You can only handle the corporate lifestyle for so long. I got burned out with it.” She had been through four different mergers with Chase. By the fifth one, she was ready for a change. “I had always wanted to do interior decorating.”
WHO ARE YOUR CUSTOMERS?
Thompson said she is working with people that she has just met on an everyday day-to-day basis. She is also working with several Realtors to service their customers. She has worked with sellers who were having trouble selling their home and gave them some suggestions to help in the sale and she has worked with buyers who want to fix up their new home.
HOW ARE REALTORS IMPORTANT TO YOU?
“They are important to me because they are a very good referral source. One of the programs that we have is aimed towards Realtors. The company on a whole has developed a program where we give a give package to a Realtor. This package has a gift certificate for a free consultation and they give it to their clients at closing. It looks like it came from the Realtor. What I get in return is that person’s name, e-mail address and phone number. That way I can call them and hopefully set up an appointment.” Thompson said she would give them to any Realtors who ask for one.
WHAT DO YOU LIKE ABOUT YOUR JOB?
“I can use my creative abilities. I have to constantly be doing something on the creative side. I’m a very visual person and I like to work with my hands. So, what I can do with this is I can take something that I see and I can envision what it will look like when it is done. And then to see the end result, I just love it.”
HOW WERE YOU AS A CHILD?
When she was little, she used to create little vignettes in her room. “Of course I didn’t know they were vignettes. I had taken a doll bed that I put a little canopy over it so my dog could sleep in it. I had my mother out buying rugs and things for my room because my room was pink and white. It was totally different than the rest of the house.”
DESIGN FOR COMMERCIAL AND RESIDENTIAL SPACES?
Yes, she does designs for both. “I’ve only done one commercial client so far. It was a dentist and I really loved doing that. It was just the idea of getting the lobby/waiting area comfortable for his clients that inspired me.”
PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS?
She is a member of the Jacksonville Regional Chamber of Commerce and has attended Women’s Council of Realtors meetings.
BIRTHPLACE
Ohio.
MOVED TO JACKSONVILLE?
She moved to Jacksonville in 2000 with her previous profession.
PET PEEVES?
“I don’t like designers who mislead people. I don’t like a designer who comes in and recommends something that they know is totally wrong for the client because they like it. That’s not what designing is about. Designing and helping the client is about them. It’s helping them discover what they like. It’s helping their room look the way they want it to look, not what I like and not what I want it to look like.”
PERSONAL STUFF?
She is very involved with her church, River of Life United Methodist. She is on the church council, sings on the praise team, chairman of the singles group and is a youth counselor. She is single and lives in Julington Creek. She has one daughter, Antoinette and three grandchildren, Brandon, 18; Joshua, 16 and A.J., 9. Her favorite movie of all time is “An Affair to Remember.” She has read and would recommend the “Left Behind” series by Tim Lahaye. When relaxing at home, she enjoys tuning into “Extreme Makeover” and Home and Garden Television. “It is to live and die for.”
When dining out, she enjoys Bonefish Grill and when traveling, she enjoys Northern California.
— by Michele Newbern Gillis