“What’s not fun about a faux fur coat and a $100 handbag?” asks Lindsay Smith Altieri, co-owner of P. Smith Designs. Lindsay is the stepdaughter of Patti Smith, founder of interior design firm and retail store at 65E Ridgewood Ave in Ridgewood, NJ. And, when you walk into the store, you’ll get good old-fashioned customer service and expertise from Patty and Lindsay themselves.
What makes P Smith Designs stand out as a great place to buy gifts this season? Good taste.
The store is laid out for ideas on interior design for the home. However, all over the store, there are new and different items in all price points. You don’t have to spend a lot of money to get something for the person who has everything, or for someone just moving into their first home or apartment.
From notepads to frames, to a sofa, to a drink table, to fine faux jewelry to gold, silver and bronze holiday trees, there’s truly something for everyone. Faux fur blankets and coats are also super popular as are accessories such as pillows, artwork and other finishing touches for the home.
The company has been involved with local fundraising events such as a recent pop up store for the middle school. Owners only donate locally to support their community. Getting to know people in the greater Ridgewood, NJ area during the 4-6 months of a typical home decorating job is one of the things that Lindsay says she and her stepmom love most about the business. “People start decorating one area or room of the house and there’s sort of a domino effect. They want to make the other spaces in the home more beautiful as well.”
As a benefit of working with P. Smith Designs, clients can take artwork home to see how it looks and feels with the space before making the purchase. Patty and Lindsay use the honors system when it comes to the “trial period” for art in the home.
Sharing her knowledge and expertise, Lindsay offers the following home decorating tips for people in a new home:
- Prioritize the ground floor, the rooms you spend the most time in. You can go ahead and paint the whole house, but the more in-depth decorating should be done on the ground floor first.
- Live with the paint swatches for a while and view them in different times of the day, as the natural lighting in a room will change at various points. Colors can look entirely different in the morning versus the afternoon.
- Parents should prioritize their own room over the children’s rooms for decorating. Adults need a respite in a bedroom that’s beautiful.
- Pillows make a huge difference. Lindsay says, “they are like earrings to your little black dress”. But, don’t use too many pillows. It’s better to buy less, but high quality and that the pillows don’t overwhelm the furniture. Two really nice pillows is all a typical sofa needs.
- Window treatments need to be the right scale for the room. Too often, a window treatment gone wrong-sized will dwarf a room.
- To have an uncluttered look, have less furniture and fewer frames around the space.
And, Lindsay’s advice to those new to interior design:
- Meet the WHOLE family. You’ll be working with everyone and a lot of times you’ll be facilitating mediation and compromise. She adds that you’re literally like a therapist a lot of the time.
- Two essential qualities an interior designer must have are patience and good taste.
Since 1987 Patti Smith has been the creative visionary of her design business as well as the owner of the storefront that bears her name in Ridgewood, New Jersey. The store is both a visual portfolio of Patti’s style as well as a retail venue for purchasing accessories, lighting, art or other wall decor, as well as furniture.
Collaborating with residential as well as commercial clients, she is able to transform a client’s needs into something uniquely elegant and functional. With non-stop energy, P. Smith oversees every project personally making sure its culmination far exceeds expectation.
For more information on P. Smith Designs, check out www.psmithdesign.com.
