Taking the mystery out of room design

WEDNESDAY, NOV. 7: The 50 Shades of Valspar seminar is promising to give any room a brand spanking new look.

The women only event at Baptiste Builder’s Supply is continuing on from its successful 50 Shades of Grey marketing campaign earlier this year.

Sacha Bearden, CEO and owner of Baptiste, said: “We were trying to think of an event to do with Valspar. I did the commercial, the 50 Shades of Grey, and it was such a big hit. Every day somebody comes up to me and says ‘I heard you on the radio.’

“Months later, people are still hearing it for the first time or just seeing me for the first time since they heard it.”

Ms Bearden said that advertising campaign was successful and wanted to capitalize on that marketing, which was already out there.

“If the radio commercial was aimed at women, why not do an evening aimed at women?”

She added even though most people tend to think of a hardware store as a man’s domain, but 50 per cent of Baptiste’s customers are women.

“It’s not just a men’s store or a builders’ supply store anymore.”

She added:  “Women buy colour. Men come in and buy white paint, but they don’t buy colour. So we wanted to get women in here and make colour.”

Ms Bearden said more women prefer to get advice from an interior designer than do men.

She said that was “Because we’re always second guessing ourselves. This will help take the guesswork out of picking colour.

“This is a chance for girls to get together in a hardware store with no boys around and ask questions you might otherwise be embarrassed to ask.

“This is a chance to get advice about paint that you really can’t get elsewhere.”

She said with both designers and a paint expert on hand for the event, every woman would be able to pick the right product for their project.

“It will make the whole project seem less daunting.

“This will be a fun night.

Patti Crouch and Jill Henneberger, interior designers from By Design, redid Ms Bearden’s drab beige livingroom to show the women in attendance what a dash of colour can do to brighten the space.

Ms Bearden said:  “They took a room that was dull and lifeless… and they painted it two colours. The first time I walked into that room, with just the paint and nothing hung up, I was shocked at the difference the colour made to the room and the feel.”

She said the By Design team is “really awesome and very creative. They have a really good eye for this sort of thing.”