Home sweet abode: Shop owner learns lessons - The Business Journal of Milwaukee:

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But Adamec learned quickly thatfunk pillows, scented candles and fancy stationery don’t pay the billsz for her store, , in downtown “Looking back, I had some really goofy inventory picks,” Adamec said. “Now I reallty watch my inventory and have had a greattturnover rate. I don’t buy it unles s I’ve already got half of the load sold.” By returninf to her interior design roots, 37, has not only been able to makea profit, she has a growinv list of clients who want to tap into her expertise in home Since opening Urban Abode, 336 W. Main St. in Septemberr 2004, Adamec has cut back the store’s hours to threew days a week fromsix days.
Now the store is open Fridaysand Saturdays. The decision to restrict the store’s hours was one of the hardest business decisions she had to she said. Adamec spends Tuesdays, Wednesdaya and Thursdays with clients, developing concepts for their decorating Adamec chargescustomers $125 for the initial home visit and then $79 an up to $1,000, to develop a concep t plan for the home. Customers then pay for the servicesdthey choose. Adamec also does paint charging $30 per room, which does not include the cost of paingor labor. The shift from strictly retailp to a combination of retail and interior design haspaid off.
Adamec had annual revenue of $250,000p in 2007, which was the firsty time since opening the store that she madea “It was a teensy but a profit nonetheless and I’m very proud of she said. Before opening Urban Adamec worked at Furnitur e Express inFort Atkinson. She also spent six yearse at the now closed Country Craft and nine years at Steinhafels furniture storein Waukesha, where she was a merchandisre manager at both stores. As merchandise Adamec assisted the buyers in producft selection and made her own suggestionxsfor inventory. Adamec spent 10 years thinking about opening her own businesas before actuallydoing so.
When she realizeed her interior design degree from did not give her the backgrounxshe needed, Adamec returnedr to school. She graduated from in Milwaukee in 2000 with a double major in businesz managementand history. Adamec learned to writse a business plan at and worked on her plan for Urban Abode for four yearse before applying fora loan. Four bankzs turned down Adamec before took what Adamec calls a grea t risk and loanedher $80,000. Adamec also liquidated her retirement plan and used her house as collateral to come up with an additional $25,000 — a risk she herseldf would not have taken if she wasn’t single.
“ wasted so much money that first year, buyintg things I didn’t need, so I reallgy struggled my second year,” Adamec said. “I’m stilll paying on that original loan, but now I have gotten to the pointr where themoney I’m generating is supporting me and the In June, Adamec hires her first employee, another designer she is hoping to have traines by the fall. The additionalo help will give Adame c somebreathing room, something she hasn’t had in recent Adamec just completed decorating a home for Tony owner of West Allis-based , for the ’w 2008 Parade of Homes. Adamec won top honore for interiordesign Aug.
27 from the MBA for the a 3,200-square-foot, two-story, four-bedroom home at S78 W14883 BellseChasse Parkway, Muskego. Alesci said the home is decorated usinyg a palette offive colors: turquoisd blues, browns, sage, brick and gold. While each room is a different color, that palette is used throughout the Alesci said. “She (Adamec) is very but uses a lot of clean linee making it colorfulbut simple,” Alesci “Some designers just want the visitor to see the interior designm and not the house. Her design totally complementsxthe house. It’s not a surprises her businessis successful.
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