Make someone else more comfortable too...

This blog post is short and simple: it's about one of LaDiff's very favorite promotions of the year: the Ekornes 'charity' promotion.

Each holiday season, Ekornes lets us choose the charity, and they give you the discount off one of their uber-amazing Stressless recliner & ottoman sets.

For the second year, we've picked CARITAS of Richmond.

CARITAS helps hundreds of homeless individuals in the Richmond area find shelter, find work, and find a new life. Then, once these folks get a *home*, CARITAS helps them furnish it from their only-one-in-Virginia-south-Richmond furniture bank, stocked with donations from people like YOU.

When you visit LaDiff between now & January 16th, for every $50 donation you make to CARITAS of Richmond, Ekornes and LaDiff will give you $200 off an amazing Stressless recliner & ottoman set.

Huge savings for you.
A meaningful donation for CARITAS.
... and you'll both be more comfortable in the end.

Learn more about how you can save & help at the same time by clicking HERE.

Design is the new food

"Design is the new food, " said Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan at November 11th's R.Home for the Holidays. After greeting the audience, and thanking LaDiff "as I hear they are called" (swoon!), Maxwell explained his statement: years ago, no one talked about food as 'cuisine'. Now, women, men, even kids talk about the garlic infused marinade, what body of water your oysters lived in, or the local farm that supplied your greens. What was once simply food on the table has now become a major topic of conversation for dinner tables, kitchens, and water coolers everywhere.

This is the future for 'design', too, says Maxwell. He believes that 10 years from now, we'll all know the names of designers the way we know the names of chefs on the Food Network today.

Maxwell's statement was part of a speech that captivated an audience of about 250, gathered in LaDiff's low-lit parking-garage-now-banquet-hall. Before taking questions and signing his book, Apartment Therapy's Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces, Maxwell told us how his business, blog, and website, Apartment Therapy, came to be.

A former elementary school teacher, Maxwell talked about how he had noticed that children from 'beautiful homes' - homes where the inhabitants showed they cared about the surroundings - did better in school. They appreciated art, music, language more.

Maxwell called creating a room as a "recipe with ingredients" that requires "careful curation." Maxwell noted that most Americans are collectors not editors when it comes to their "stuff." It is when we learn how to edit, move, subtract, change the space around us that the "stuff" becomes more meaningful.

Maxwell quoted occasionally from Terence Conran, the English born design guru, known for his Conran Shop, London restaurant designs, and many books on the subject. He is also an obvious idol of Maxwell's (and of ours). In the preface to The House Book, Conran wrote, "Having a warm home that looks good and that you and your family and friends enjoy must be one of the most worthwhile things in life."

For Maxwell and his team, Apartment Therapy is a community of idea sharing and inspiration. Last Thursday, he shared those ideas with Richmond, Richmond Magazine, and LaDiff.

Thanks, Maxwell.
Come again soon!


***pictures by Melissa Martin Molitor***

Co-Founder of Apartment Therapy blog is coming to LaDiff

We are SO EXCITED at LaDiff!

A few weeks ago, Brandon Fox, editor of R.Home Magazine (a subsidiary of Richmond Magazine) emailed me to see if LaDiff would be interested in hosting their annual R.Home for the Holidays event. When I heard that Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan, co-founder of the national blog Apartment Therapy would be the guest speaker, I gave a resounding yes!

So, together with one of our favorite suppliers American Leather, who are joining us as co-presenting sponsors, we are hosting this terrific event THIS WEEK!

Why would a *furniture* store who wants & likes to *sell stuff* be thrilled to host an outspoken, self-professed minimalist who lives in an under 300-square foot NYC apartment (with his wife and child, I might add)? Because Mr. Gillingham-Ryan and his blog team help us see the new and different in the world of home furnishings.

On the blog, they show how modern works with traditional, how ethnic works with glamor, how one small item can change the way a room breathes... and he does it all in an uber-organized fashion (ooh, that alone makes me giddy).

So... without further ado, we hope you will join us on Thursday, November 11th from 6pm to 9pm. You can meet and listen to Maxwell, drink some wine, nibble on some food, bid on special wreaths created by members of Richmond's design community (including one very cool wreath by Megan Pluim, Jennie Kam, and Melissa Molitor of LaDiff!), learn some holiday decor ideas, and... of course... shop at LaDiff!

Tickets are available here, and all proceeds benefit the fabulous Richmond Ballet.

See you Thursday!

photos courtesy of Richmond Magazine

Designing your room can be FUN

Last week, I opened a box of old office supplies from my mother-in-law (part of her downsizing has been passing the extras on to us). Along with more partially used notepads than you can imagine, I found an architect's scale ruler and a plastic sheet of 'furniture' outlines used for room-planning. I gave them to my almost-10-year-old for fun. A week later, I am finding page after page of room plans, with labels like My Dream Room, Ann Ross' bedroom, Jordan's new room. Boy did that bring back memories...

When I was about 10, I became fascinated with room plans. My grandmother had been a student of architecture and had designed her home and those of friends and family. I was intrigued. I spent many a lazy summer afternoon with my ruler, sharp pencil, and blank paper designing house after house after house. How the rooms led from one to the other, the flow, where the windows would be, how the stair landing would work... it was all fun.

Fast-forward to high school, when I seriously considered going to school for architecture. When I realized that meant engineering, too, I quickly changed my mind, ... but I still loved the concept.

I was the roommate who would rearrange the furniture while everyone was out - a source of much frustration for Michelle and Elizabeth who never knew how they would find the apartment.

Later, when the opportunity arose to renovate and remodel a home in Richmond with my husband, I jumped at it. Three stone fireplaces and a wide view of the James River made us fall in love. The fact that the foundation of the house dated to the 1910's and 1920's and knowing that the house had not been really renovated since 1963 when it was rebuilt after a fire did not dissuade us. We dove in head-first.

Out came the architect's scale and graph paper and the fun began. The previous owner had been, um, height-challenged. Only one room in the house had ceilings at 8' or higher. There were hallways and doors where, at 5'8" tall, I had to duck to go through. We set out to change that.

Being in the 'furniture biz,' as we planned the physical space, we talked about how the rooms would flow with furniture. What would the layout be? Where would the TV live? How would we group the living room so that we could enjoy the fireplace AND the view of the river? It was FUN.

Since I was not a 'trained' architect or designer, I did not have any knowledge of formal CAD software. I really wished, however, that I had some sort of 'easy' program that I could use to design our spaces.

Two years after we were finished, moved in, and furnished, we were introduced to this really cool, EASY, software called ICOVIA room planner. How I wished we'd had this back when we were designing the house!

Even though I didn't have Icovia THEN, I have it now... and so do YOU! You can access ICOVIA's easy, very cool room planning software right from www.ladiff.com at the 'room planning' tab. You can plan, rearrange, dream, and imagine. Remember to set up an account so that you can save your works in progress! Using this will let you know if you really can fit a 9 foot sofa in 'that space in the living room.' Then, when you visit LaDiff in person, you can pull up your drawings right then, and we'll ALL know just what will fit.

Room planning lets you (and us) know exactly where the windows & doors are, where the major traffic patterns flow, where the fireplace, TV, piano, view, etc. come into play. If you want US to do it FOR you, come on in and set up a design appointment. We can help!

Feeling inspired to start yourself? Here... you can CLICK HERE and get planning!

Top 10 things you might not know about LaDiff

10. We haven't always sold furniture.
When LaDiff was founded 30 years ago, in Charlottesville, its first wares were crafts and functional art items that Andy Thornton imported from Haiti where he worked for two years.

9. LaDiff is not "the Richmond version of Ikea"
While we appreciate what Ikea has done to expand the concept of 'modern design' to the American public, LaDiff knows that 'modern' can run the gamut from the crazy cheap to ridiculously expensive. We like to think that we are somewhere in between, with the emphasis on value.

8. All those designs you see at LaDiff aren't really "from the future".
Did you know that LeCorbusier designed his "dental office looking" chaise in the 1920's? That Charles Rennie MacIntosh's gorgeous chair dates to the 19th century? 'Modern' design is about a minimalist aesthetic and is not something belonging only to George & Judy Jetson. Truth be told, if Thomas Jefferson were alive today, we like to think he'd be shopping at LaDiff.

7. You can light up your whole house from LaDiff.
Yup, we sell lighting... and lots of it. Not just talking table & floor & task lamps here either. LaDiff has fabulous wall sconces, pendants, and other fixtures for bathrooms, kitchens, even outdoors. You do not have to settle for "builder spec" to find amazing lighting that runs from transitional to uber-modern and ranges in price from "home improvement store competitive" to "Milan-show-envy."

6. Our sales people are incredibly smart and friendly
We know that some of you have that impression that a 'modern' furniture store must have those "Now's the time on Sprockets when we dance" all-black-wearing, frigid, austere, nose-down-looking sales associates who will only help you if you are hip and cool. The truth is so far from that it makes us laugh... really... we laugh A LOT. Come laugh WITH us and have some fun while you furnish your place!

5. We love to furnish outdoor rooms too.
Did you know that a statistic from the 1990's said that Americans spend more annually on home-delivery pizza than on outdoor furniture?? Crazy. Fortunately, our society is becoming less 'disposable' and we are starting to take the European approach to outdoor living: buy furniture that is good quality, that will last, and that will give you a beautiful extension of your living space outside. What a great idea... and the reason we carry so much OUTDOOR furniture!

4. LaDiff is NOT a chain.
In case you have NOT read our website's 'About Us' section and did not already know this, you do now. There is only ONE LaDiff, and we are in downtown Richmond, VA... and we wouldn't have it any other way.

3. There is a 5th wall in your room... it's called a FLOOR... and we love to decorate those too.
LaDiff carries one of Richmond's most eclectic, unusual, extensive, and affordable collection of modern & contemporary rugs. From warm and neutral to exotic and daring to colorful and bright, you can find a great rug that suits your space and your wallet.

2. Our building used to have a giant rifle attached to it.
LaDiff's home is the former Watkins-Cottrell Wholesale Hardware Store. We've been told by many a Richmonder that there used to be a HUGE rifle on the front of the building. We've never seen it. We've never seen a photo of it (but we'd LOVE too). We have no idea where it is. Can you help???

and, the #1 thing you might not know about LaDiff...

Not everything we sell is "expensive."

We know the perception: cool modern store in downtown location with hip advertising must be really, really expensive. Your friend walked in and saw a $9,000 price tag on a sectional; your mom fell in love with a $3500 bed; your uncle just bought a $2500 recliner... okay, we get it. You are afraid to come in because you think it will ALL be that way. Sure, we carry some pretty high end stuff (have you checked out the French walnut table from Seltz? divine). But, we can also get down &, uh, low-priced with the best of them.

And just so that you can recognize the best deals in the store, we created LaDEAL$ - all identified with super bright yellow tags to show you where you'll find the ooh la la for ooh la LESS!

All that said, we cannot help what YOU fall in love with. It's kind of like trying to diet and walking into a great restaurant. Sure, they have salads on the menu, really good ones in fact - but if you order the filet mignon and the creme brulee, you cannot blame the waiter if your pants are tight the next morning. If you tell us your budget, our smart, funny sales team (see #6) will definitely try to keep you within it. If you keep walking back to that sofa that is *not* in your budget, because, well, you just LOVE it, you really can't blame us for offering it. We want you to be exposed to great design at every price point.

At LaDiff there is something new and something fun arriving every single day. Come discover what we have to offer. We can't wait to see you.

Our donation to Virginians4Haiti

.......excerpt from ladiff.com

Still littered in rubble even months after the major earthquake disaster, Haiti has only received a small portion of the aid promised by other nations to rebuild.

NPR reports, "More than 1.5 million people still live in more than 1,000 encampments that sprouted up after the Jan. 12 quake. Americans have donated more than $1.3 billion for Haiti, and thousands of charities are helping the recovery effort."

LaDIFF has spent the better part of 2010 working with aid organization virginians4haiti to raise awareness and financial assistance to Haiti to rebuild this island nation. In addition to devoting portions of the LaDIFF showroom to displaying Haitian crafts for collecting donations and engaging customers in conversation to raise awareness of these ongoing efforts, LaDIFF was fortunate enough to collect contributions from various furnishings manufacturers.

Donations came mostly in the form of merchandise to sell during the massive 30th Anniversary Sale held in June and early July, 2010. Proceeds from these contributions and from the sale event as a whole will provide generous and much needed funding for medical work, home building and other aid to the Haitian people.

Being a good citizen, corporate or otherwise, means looking at your backyard and the backyards of those who live thousands of miles away. We are all interconnected.

LaDifference will continue to build a long-term relationship with virginians4haiti and the great work they have done and will be doing in the future.

LaDiff owners, Andy Thornton & Sarah Paxton present a $25,000 contribution for aid organization virginians4haiti to Allan B. Harvie, jr. (middle).

Learn more here.

Everyone needs a little R&R now & then

Whew!

For the last few weeks we have been BUSY BUSY BUSY at LaDiff.
Different schedules, extra people, lots of great customers and even more activity, added up to a great 30th anniversary event AND a whole lot of fatigue when it was all over.

What's the best way to recharge?

Do NOTHING. And I mean absolutely NOTHING. For the last 4 days, the president of LaDiff, the empress of LaDiff (aka the daughter), and I have enjoyed a whole lotta nothing on the banks of the Rappahannock River.

This kind of do-nothing-vacation is right up my alley: 2 hour naps (at 10:30 in the morning no less), walks with the dog, drives around the area, doing puzzles (and more puzzles), playing Charades, Crazy 8's and Go Fish, eating ice cream (yum), and watching not one but two thunderstorms roll across the river... the perfect way to rest and recharge.

With all of the excitement on our plate for fall (new merchandise, new hires, new designs), it's a darn good thing we've rested!






...p.s. Happy Birthday, Mom!

Independence Day at LaDIFF

Guest Blog by Juliette Heydenrych

Well, it's getting to be about that time of year again- and as those hot summer days usher in warm summer nights, we've been spending time in the cool air conditioning at LaDIFF bustling around with heaps of customers. We love seeing all the NEW faces and having lots of old friends stop in, too.

In the midst of our pleasantly crowded 30th Anniversary & Remodeling Sale, a lot of folks have been wondering- will we be having our usual 4th of July Sale? And of course, to them we say, this is IT! We're constantly marking down prices and putting new items of the floor, but don't fret- we're still cooking out on Sunday.

Here's a snap Sarah Paxton took at Costco, just before loading up the car with all the yummy goodies we'll be feasting on Sunday the 4th:

(What isn't shown here is the giant chocolate cake we devoured in celebration of our July birthdays here at LaDIFF! Delicious....)

So, YES we are open on Sunday, July 4th, from 11am to 5pm (that's an hour earlier than usual on Sundays!) and we're firing up the grill at noon. And YES, we'll be OPEN on Monday the 5th, from 10-6pm. (Be sure to check our website for our store hours, they might not be what you're used to from us!)

Of course, it's not all about free food and fireworks... we still have a ton of great deals and amazing bargains to be found throughout the store. Mozey on over to our Facebook page to check out the full albums, but here's a sneak peek at what's new and what's marked down lower than your great Aunt Celia can limbo;





Hurry in, the SALE ends SOON!

Think you've seen it all? Think again! Our 30th Anniversary Sale continues!

Guest Blog By LaDiff's Graphic Designer & Marketing Liaison, Juliette Heydenrych

Wow! After two weeks of awesome customers, great prices, and long, busy days our 30th Anniversary & Remodeling Sale is in full swing! It's an all-hands-on-deck event, with even our office team working on the floor answering questions, cashiering, manning the phones and helping customers get their new goodies ordered, picked up and delivered! I've spent two weeks at the front desk myself and it's been amazing to see so many of my favorite furnishings fly out the door!

As they say, out with the old and in with the new; we're adding great NEW and never before seen in our showroom items to our floor as they arrive from all over the world almost DAILY!

To give you a taste- in the next two weeks we are expecting 5 (count 'em, FIVE!) containers in from Thailand, China, Italy and more- and of course from our best selling vendors from the USA and Canada as well!

If you've been into our store recently, and you think you've seen it all, here's what you can expect to see arriving on our floor as early as tomorrow (Monday) for all price points;

• Extremely well priced wooden dining room tables and chairs from Thailand
• Leather sofas, chairs and sectionals- great quality at exceptional pricing
• New upholstered sofas, chairs and sectionals with 3 seat sofas on sale for $799
• Mixed bar stools, dining chairs, tables and occasional tables
• Another container of our favorite promotional wooden bedrooms from Vietnam
• New high end leather from Italy
• New outdoor furniture ('tis the season!)
• Plus... Lots and lots more. It just keeps rolling in!

See you soon! Don't forget to check our website for special sale store hours and specials!

WOW! What a sale!

Holy smokes, the last three days have been AMAZING! ... and it's only the beginning.

Thank you to all of our funny, special, patient, creative, appreciative, GREAT customers. You have made this sale so much FUN. Thank you to our long-time "old" customers for taking the time to say hello, ask questions, and keeping us at the top of your list. Thank you to all of you NEW customers for discovering LaDiff for the first time.

But the biggest thank you goes to our entire TEAM. They are pulling out all the stops, working super long hours, tagging, moving, cleaning, selling, loading, answering, walking, no, make that running (especially up & down the stairs... buns-o-steel, baby), listening, learning, explaining, reminding, signing, writing, lifting, changing, arriving early and staying late to make this the BIGGEST BOLDEST BEST SALE EVER.

If you've been, you know *exactly* what I mean.
If you haven't visited yet... what are you waiting for???

For more details, visit www.ladiff.com! Better yet, just visit LaDiff IN PERSON!

A few FAQ's about our SUPER BIG ANNIVERSARY & REMODELING SALE

By now, most, many, or maybe ALL of you reading this have received a LETTER or EMAIL from LaDIFF about our upcoming SUPER HUGE Anniversary & Remodeling Sale. Because this sale is SO special, SO big, SO different, we thought we might try to anticipate a few of your questions here in our blog...

Why does your advertising look so different for this sale?

We knew this sale had to be BIG because we have BIG remodeling plans ahead… so we took a different direction from our normal ‘look’. The print and direct mail campaigns you’ve seen are proven methods for drawing a crowd. Don’t worry - You’ll see the LaDiff look again when the sale is over!

Are you going out of business?

No way! In fact, just the opposite… when you visit in person you’ll see drawings of the ideas and plans we have to expand Vive, remodel our lighting department, create an outdoor furniture showroom, and develop a mattress gallery.

What if I didn't get the email OR your letter?

Just follow this link and print out a copy for yourself. Bring it WITH you when you shop on June 8th-9th-or 10th, too!

Why are all sales final?

We need to know that the purchase is NOT coming back so that we can plan our new showroom displays more effectively. Plus… these deals are so good, they have to be ‘final sale.’

What if you don't have what I want in stock?

That's easy... as long as the item is still available and we're still able to order from that supplier, we can order it for you. Special orders will be on sale too!

Can you store my purchase for me until I need it?

The longest we can ‘store’ your purchase is 30 days – maximum. We need to make room on the floor so we can start remodeling and re-merchandising, and we need to make room in the warehouse for new orders. If you’re picking up, bring your blankets & tie-downs so that you can carry your new purchases home safely.

Will you ‘hold’ my item while I think about it?

Sorry… no can do. This is a first come, first served sale. Bring your room dimensions, tape measures, color chips WITH YOU to the store so that you’re prepared to make a decision on the spot!

Anniversary? Which one?

Why, it’s #30… thanks for asking!

Thom Filicia is one heckuva nice guy

Yes, Virginia, I get star struck.

Mind you, I don't fall for the kinds of 'stars' that most of you might. Sure, I think it's way cool that Jessica Lange shopped in the store at Tobacco Row when filming a really forgettable movie with Gwyneth Paltrow. And do I love telling people that Sissy Spacek used to shop in Charlottesville on Christmas Eve (her birthday is Christmas day), and would walk through the store shouting "Schuyler! Madison! Come on... time to go"? Uh, yeah... it's a great story.

My real star struck, dumbfounded, must see, can't think what to say moments happen when I see, meet, or hear about a sale to (drumroll) an HGTV designer.

These people are like my family. They come into my living room and bedroom and show me how wonderful it can be to have GOOD TASTE and FUN IDEAS when you decorate a space. They ask their homeowners to be receptive and creative. They take risks. They are almost always disarming, charming, and funny.

You may remember the post about last fall's High Point market, when I mentioned being really really close to Candice Olson at a Revco party. Well, I actually MET Ms. Olson 6 months earlier at an American Leather party. As she towered over me, there I stood, between friends Jeff & Tom. Jeff, too, was a fan. I blabbered on about how funny she is and how she and her crew seem to get along so well (*ugh*). Jeff told her he was a fan of all of her kitchen renovations. Tom, seizing the opportunity to mortify both of us, asked her if she remembered the episode when the Klingons took over... comparing us to nerdy little Trekkies. If the shoe fits...

Anyway, back to last fall, which was the prelude to this past weekend's events. You may remember that our own Lisa Degenaars had a brush with fame when she got to meet Thom Filicia - original 'home design specialist' on Queer Eye for the Straight Guy and now HGTV star and furniture designer.

Lisa attended a breakfast where she sat with one of Thom's friends. Afterward, she made her way to the man himself and got this photo as proof. She was thrilled.
(Vicariously, so was I.)

Now... to last week. It's a Thursday morning like any other. We walk into a 10:30 meeting and learn that our warehouse manager, Terry Fisher, will be making a delivery to upstate New York to deliver a bed that Bethany Magus sold. Cool. We like selling stuff, so this was good.

Two hours later, Andy-husband-president-of-LaDiff shows me the paperwork for the bed sale.

The customer is none other than... Thom Filicia.

Really? REALLY??? Are you KIDDING???

Lisa was in the next room. I called her to my office and told her to sit down - she did, laughing at me. I handed her the pink ticket.

She saw the name and looked at me in disbelief.
So exciting...

Now, at this point, we have no idea if Thom bought the bed for himself or if one of his employees bought the bed in his name for a client... but, we're going to find out. And... just in case he's there at the delivery, Lisa plans to send the photo with Terry... so that Thom maybe, might sign it for her.

Fast forward to Sunday afternoon, and the phone call I got from Terry Fisher.

"Mission Accomplished."

Thom WAS there. The bed was for a friend & neighbor.


He signed Lisa's photo, and he willingly let Terry take his photo on the new bed.


He posed for photos with
Terry and his wife Theresa in front of our truck, and he encouraged Terry & Theresa to walk around the property and check out the lake.


Like we said... Thom Filicia is one heckuva NICE GUY. Thanks, Thom. Shop with LaDiff ANY time!

LaDeals Part 2: Behind the scenes

By LaDiff's Graphic Designer & Marketing Liaison,
Juliette Heydenrych


You might be wondering, what to baby chicks have to do with furniture? Well, there are some similarities. In Part 1, I explained the raison d'être for LaDeals: Good design should be available for everybody.

With spring in the air, we decided it was the perfect time to roll out LaDeals. You know all that sexy furniture I mentioned in Part 1 which converted me away from the big blue & yellow box? Well, now it has a name.

Enter Elevation.

Elevation brilliantly branded LaDeals and came up with the idea for the television promotion. It involved about a hundred baby chicks and some bright yellow tags.

During the early deliberations of the LaDeals category, we tossed around names like BrightBuys, SoLos and a personal favorite… Wowsers. Sadly, Wowsers didn’t make the final cut, but LaDeals did. The next steps would be making sure our LaDeals would be bright and visible throughout the store.

Branded with bright yellow tags, LaDeals hit us with a little spring fever. Our heads full of baby birds saying “cheep! cheep!”, Elevation came up with our latest Television ad.

The ad opens on the white limbo of a studio. We see a collection of LaDeals pieces. All over the furniture and floor are dozens of fluffy baby chicks. Andy, the voice of LaDiff, speaks the voiceover.

“…some of our staff worried that the name ‘LaDeals’ wasn’t quite enough to convey exactly how low the prices are. SO we’ve covered some of our many LaDeals with these baby chicks in hopes that you’ll remember one important fact. Our LaDeals are really, really…”

Cut to an extreme close up of a chick.

“…tagged in yellow”.

The real challenge with this production was purely logistical. After all, we’re in furniture. Where are we going to get a clutch of baby chicks? (Clutch is the official term referring to a group of chicks.) What would happen to them post-production?

As it turns out, you can’t just write up an ad with a group of animals in it and produce the thing without at least a few hoops to jump through first. First and foremost, the ad needs to get approval from the Humane Society.

The Humane Society needed to make certain that the animals would be taken care of before, during and after production. They needed to know where the chicks were coming from, how they were going to be cared for and that they would go to a humane home after all was said and done. They can even designate a representative to be present during production to ensure the welfare of all the critters involved.

Our baby chicks were acquired from a local poultry farmer, and were just 3 days old on the day of filming (it’s amazing how fast they grow)! By the end of the day, these fluffy little peeps were already starting to turn a light brown shade, developing the first tips of feathers on their wings- right before our eyes.

Chicks not on camera snuggled together under a heat lamp- kept at a steady 90 degrees (critical to keep them warm until they start developing head-feathers). The rest of the chicks enjoyed the run of the studio- well, part of it. We created a miniature great-wall surrounding the filming area to prevent chicken run-aways. Inside the barrier, chicks hopped around as we filmed them dozing on sofas, chirping on chairs and pooping- yes pooping- on everything.

We kept the camera rolling as we hustled about cleaning up after the flock. Baby chicks might be small, but they, like all birds, have a seemingly endless supply of poop, which they will happily provide at any given time of day.

Luckily it was a short day. The chicks were only put to work for a few short hours, and by lunchtime we had collected enough footage to take into the editing stages and cut together.

Video is a medium that is incredibly time consuming- especially with regarding to setting up the shots, making sure the lighting is right and adjusting the camera angles. Expecting an extremely long day, I was pleasantly surprised to call it a wrap. We couldn’t have done it without the suspiciously well-developed acting skills of all these baby chicks. One in particular- named Diva by the Princess of LaDiff Lucy Thornton- stole the show flapping her (or his) bright yellow fluff, cheeping on cue and posing coyly in front a LaDeals tag.

“I’m ready for my close-up, Mr. DeMille,” she seemed to say.

Of course, no animals were harmed during the making of this ad. We hope our fluffy little actors enjoy their early retirement from the stage in their new home. They were donated to a local farmer where they will spend their days on a local Virginia farm, enjoying the view and cheeping to their hearts content.

After sifting through a few hours worth of completely adorable footage, I was finally able to pare it down to the highlights and create a little behind the scenes video of the making-of our ad with Elevation. Enjoy!

LaDeals Part 1: My Dirty Little Secret

By LaDiff's Graphic Designer & Marketing Liaison,
Juliette Heydenrych


First of all, I’d like to congratulate Elevation. As friends & colleagues they never cease to amaze us with their flare for fun & quality work. At this year’s Richmond Ad Club awards, Elevation was named best Ad Agency of the year- a well deserved and hard-earned honor. So, I raise my glass (re-usable water bottle, actually) to Aaron Dotson and Frank Gilliam.

Last year, I wrote a little blog about the making of our fun Bedroom Sale TV ad and our Perfect Seat Sale TV ad, both of which were produced by Elevation. BOTH of these ads won a silver award in the Richmond Ad Club awards for best ad with a budget under $100,000- beating out ads for Geico and FreeCreditReport.com. Again, I raise my glass to you, Elevation.

That said, I’m going to switch gears a little bit.

Now, if you’ve seen our latest ad on TV featuring LaDeals, you might be wondering, What the heck do baby chicks have to do with furniture? More importantly, what the heck are LaDeals?

I’ll address the latter question first.



If you’ve ever broken your back hunched over a disastrous self-assembly with no one to call for help, then LaDeals are for you. If you’ve ever thought to yourself, “I can’t afford anything at that store” when it comes to deciding where you’ll purchase your new sofa or office desk, LaDeals are for you. If you've ever lived with a cheap, crappy coffee table with a wonky leg that looks like it’s trying to walk away, then LaDeals are for you.

What I’m about to say next might be a little intimate and I apologize if it makes you uncomfortable, but I simply have to come clean about something if I am going to properly explain the true meaning of LaDeals.

Alright, here it goes. Deep breath. My dirty little secret: I am an IKEA shopper.

Well, I was.

It’s not the quality or even the style that first attracted me to IKEA, but the prices. As a poor, fresh out of college starving artist, IKEA appealed to me because it offered me the chance to lose the hand-me-down hodge-podge furniture and make my apartment MINE. My taste, my style, my stuff. Oh, and my wallet.

Hauling things home and assembling everything was time-consuming and painful, and when things didn't quite assemble properly I accepted it as a consequence of going cheap- I wasn't about to lug everything back to switch it out and do it all over again!

The interior of my home was okay, I could live with it for the time being. When I made the decision to move to Richmond from the West Coast two years ago, I did so knowing I had an extremely low budget and would have to leave a lot of things behind. I brought with me nothing but boxes, my mattress and my two lovely cats. I minimized everything I owned as much as possible, loaded up the car with everything I could not live without, and well, here I am. I made the 3,000-mile trek, paid for gas, food and hotel stays on less than $1,000. Let the record state that I am a professional CheapSkate.

So when I got my first Richmond apartment, it needed to be furnished! No longer living in close proximity to the Store-Who-Cannot-Be-Named, and not wanting to drive a grueling 2 hours north, I started my search at home in Richmond. At LaDiff.

The first thing I hear when I tell people where I work is “Oh, I can’t afford that place”. As a professional cheapskate, I have to say that I resent such a statement. With an apartment now crammed full of LaDiff furniture, and done on a shoestring budget, it’s everything I can do to shout to the naysayers, THAT’S NOT TRUE!

My apartment gets a lot of compliments. In fact, the company I rent from didn’t want to let me switch apartments last year until they had found a new tenant, JUST so they could show the place with my furniture in it. This was confessed to me by the rental company manager himself, who knows I work for LaDiff and added that my apartment “shows really well because of how it’s furnished”. It’s flattering.

So that’s how I feel about LaDiff. As a master CheapSkate extraordinaire, if I can furnish my apartment on a tiny budget at LaDiff, anyone can. LaDiff's team is always ready to help, and each item has it's own manufacturer's warranty so I don't have to live with a piece that I don't want to build myself, that might be missing hardware or falls apart when the cats run amock on it, that has a huge scratch out-of-the-box or worse.

Gone are the days of escape-attempting coffee tables, desks with peeling veneer tops and furniture that falls apart after 2 years. Here to stay are the days of LaDeals: Sexy LaDiff furniture with sexy pricing and even sexier quality (is that why there are so many hot chicks in our LaDeals ad?).

Good design should be available for everybody. It’s a sentiment shared by all of us here at LaDiff. We know we have a lot of work ahead of us in breaking down the myth that we can only satisfy those with champagne taste.

And that’s what LaDeals are all about.

Now, what to baby chicks have to do with furniture?

Stay tuned for part 2, and find out.

Spring Cleaning Time ... for your furniture

Years ago, I read Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Ann Burns, about life in a small town in Georgia in the early 20th century. The story surrounds the Tweedy family and their general response to the grandfather's marriage to a very young milliner Miss Love Simpson, only 3 weeks after the death of his wife. Miss Simpson was from Baltimore - "practically a Yankee" by Cold Sassy, Georgia standards. There were many things about Miss Simpson that caused the town to gossip, but the one that has stuck with me is how she cleaned her house.

Yep. I remember the chapter on house cleaning.

Miss Love Simpson believed in true 'spring cleaning.' When she first moves in with her new husband, she begins to move room by room, cleaning, scouring, pulling out rugs, removing draperies, dusting, sweeping, scouring, and updating.

I love spring cleaning. There is just something about the new growth outside that makes me want to sort and clean and organize and purge on the inside. It's when you move the stack of boardgames on the shelf and find that missing Monopoly piece (oh, THERE's the little dog!). Or when you clean out your closet and discover a scarf from college may have actually come back into style (okay, maybe not).

Some people clean often, a lot, and regularly. Some clean in one long day every month. Some clean just before they're having guests over.

Here's the big question...

Do you CLEAN and MAINTAIN your furniture as well as you care for your house or your car or your clothes?

With every LaDiff delivery, we provide our customers with a Care Package of information. Included is a booklet that gives general ideas of how to care for your new purchase. Just like you gas up your car, refill the windshield wiper fluid, get the oil changed, check the air in the tires, and schedule yearly inspections, you need to take care of your furniture too.

The irony is that most people expect their furniture to last longer than their car or their clothes, but they provide little to no maintenance to ensure that it lasts and looks good too.

A website called, appropriately, furnituretips.com, provides starting answers for how to care for your 'furniture investment.'

A few simple tips and reminders from LaDiff are:

1. Wood furniture (veneered or solid) should be kept dust free to prevent drying out. Accumulations of dust particles that settle on wood eventually settle into it too, causing cracking and discoloration.

2. Unless you have granite, corian, or melamine, ALWAYS use a coaster to protect the surface from water rings, stains, scratches, or other marks: this applies to wood tables, glass, travertine, marble (marble does NOT like acids and one red wine spill can ruin your beautiful marble table).

3. Scratches happen: very few surfaces are completely impervious. If the surface is softer than whatever was set upon it, there may be a scratch left behind. (placemats, coasters, cutting boards... these can help keep the surface in good condition). Added note: some woods are softer than others! American cherry is one of the SOFTEST Hard Woods - if your child does homework on your cherry dining table without a mat or notebook under their paper & pencil, you may see their work left behind in your table top!

4. Often, the more expensive your purchase is, the more it will take to maintain it. Seems like the opposite should be true, right? It's like buying a car: a BMW and an Audi are more expensive to maintain than a Chevy or Ford. If you want a luxurious Elmo leather, for instance, remember that this is a natural hide in its most beautiful form, needing no correction. Because of that, it is soft, supple, and will age beautifully... but it is also NOT resistant to staining. Your richer, softer, more natural leather will absorb oils (pizza hands?), acids (wine?), and general dirt, making cleaning it and removing the stains a near impossibility.

5. Cushions do not fluff themselves. Wonder why your sofa has that smooshy look on one cushion only? Is that where you plop down to watch Real Housewives or Jersey Shore? You may need to do some regular fluffing. If the cushions are not attached to the frame, pull them off and gently push, pull, and pound on the filling. If necessary or if you can, remove the cover and/or restretch it around the insert. Feather or down filled? Feel free to pound HARD to fluff those guys back up. If the cushions are attached or it's a tight-seat style, you can fluff the seat and back with your fists. Of course, you really should consider sitting in more than one place - the other cushions are getting jealous. (photo courtesy of Apartment Therapy)

6. Glass is NOT scratch proof. Period. Glass is beautiful and very durable, but you need to use regular care, plus coasters or placemats, before you put your glass or dinner plate or serving pieces down on your glass dining or coffee table.

7. LIFT!!! please don't push & pull your furniture! Anything with legs or panel supports will break. I repeat... WILL break. Every time you pull or push an item one leg or panel wants to stay behind (that old science word: inertia). You weaken the joint where the leg attaches to the rest of the piece. This does not mean your furniture is not well made... it just means you have to move it properly. If someone tried to push or pull YOU, your legs would resist too!

8. Vacuum and dust the parts you DON'T see. Get between the seat cushions and under the chairs and UNDER the area rug (yep) and inside the shade of the lamps and on the top of the bookcase and behind the dresser and inside the tv cabinet. Embarrassing revelation: our dvd player stopped working a few years ago. When our personal Mr. Fix-it (my dad) took it apart, he found whirls of cat hair inside the unit. Turns out our cat had been climbing up onto the shelf and sleeping behind the dvd player. Gross? yes. Now we have glass doors and I dust out the shelves regularly.

9. Never lean back in your dining chair. Your mom told you not to. The teacher told you not to. Now I'm telling you not to. That leg thing mentioned in #7 applies to this, too. Your chair is meant to support you with all 4 legs on the ground. When you use only the back 2, they get stressed out and angry, the front 2 get jealous or start to taunt the back 2 because they have to do all the work. Seriously... you are damaging the physical integrity and joint structure of the chair... and you could fall and land on your noggin'! (p.s. those little protective floor caps at the ends of the legs will also be compromised, and fall out more often when chairs are pushed, pulled, and pressed inappropriately.)

10. Use cleaning products that are meant for the item you are cleaning. Do not use harsh abrasives on metal, marble, or wood surfaces. When in doubt, ask your design consultant, the retailer, or the vendor. Using the wrong cleaner on your leather sofa could discolor the leather or, worse, remove the color! Be sure to clean your wood with the right kind of oil or wax or paste. Most cleaners recommend approaching the entire product, not just the spot or stain, to prevent mismatched results. We've heard all kinds of horror stories about 'wrong product' applications: the wet-wipe used to remove gum off the newly delivered brown chenille sofa has to be the winner... that alcohol laden wet-wipe removed the gum all right, and all of the brown in the fabric too!

Basically, caring for your furniture simply means paying attention to what your furniture is telling you. You listen to the noises in your car and you look for the warning lights. You watch for loose buttons and frayed hems on your clothing. Your furniture doesn't have lights and bells, but it can give you other signs. Is a drawer pulling out slowly? Do you need to adjust the runners or is something 'stuck' in the back? Does a table surface look a bit dry? Is your leather starting to crack? These are all things that can be cared for easily if maintained regularly.

Good furniture should and can last a long, long time - if cared for properly. When you buy new furniture, TALK to your design consultant about the best way to care for your purchase. Manufacturer warranties generally cover the 'nuts and bolts', moving parts, and obvious defects, but they will never cover general use or general wear & tear. That's your job... take it seriously, and you'll enjoy your new furniture for many many years.

Operation Smile Reaction

Last week, husband, child, and I traveled to the nation's capital for some museum-hopping, 9-year-old style: American History, Air & Space, Natural History, and the Spy Museum. The Hope Diamond was "very disappointing" while the dinosaur and mastodon bone reconstructions were "awesome!" Husband and I loved the Lincoln exhibit at American History (well-told and very inspiring). All three of us were wowed by the Spy Museum.

Beautiful weather allowed for a long walk along the mall, past the impressive WWII memorial and the currently-empty reflecting pool, to visit Mr. Lincoln's "temple" and the flanking memorials to the Korean War and the Vietnam War - such powerful reminders.

All in all, a successful spring break trip... with one notable exception.

Most of the "service providers" we encountered "forgot" to smile. As retailers, our radar is set VERY high to the customer service responses of everyone we encounter. We understand that 'smile enforcement' often improves & increases with the quality and cost of service provided (i.e. fast food vs. high end restaurant), but this DC anti-smile trend was overwhelming and pervasive.

It started at the hotel reception.

We walked up to the desk with 2 suitcases and a very excited child, who knew there was an indoor pool. The woman behind the desk glanced up and said "name?"

Really?

No "good morning", no "welcome to the L'Enfant Plaza. Are you checking in with us today?" *sigh*

Maybe she was just having a bad day...

Later, at the cafeteria at the Air & Space Museum, the cashier never looked up from his machine. He simply stood and waited for us to speak. I honestly cannot remember if he even gave us the total. If he did, those were the only words he spoke.

Hmmm...

The next morning, as we were eating at another museum cafeteria (American History), husband said "have you noticed the lack of smiling here?" We both then acknowledged the lackadaisical, uninspired clerks who were sitting in chairs, chins in elbows WHILE THEY RANG UP THE SALES. Huh??? Seriously... imagine your elbow is on your desk, your chin is in your left hand, while your right hand rings up a customer... and you have the picture. A late lunch at a Penn Quarter Cosi gave us the least interested service providers yet... who not only didn't smile, but wouldn't speak above the roar of the ventilation system and screwed up our order to boot.

Curses! We were trapped in a city with a non-smiling epidemic! Our mission: find some smiling people, pronto!

Fortunately, the next morning saved us... of all places, it was a Starbucks. Now, this is a national chain that prides itself on its well-trained, welcoming staff, and that Tuesday morning was no exception. Amid a rush of commuters and morning-coffee-break DC-ites, they smiled at the trio of tourists. They made us feel welcome, and they said thank you. They made us feel like important customers.

Whew.

Here's the thing... what you PROJECT into the world through your facial expressions and body language can create a stronger reaction from others than any words you might speak. We all know the yawn syndrome: whether you're sleepy or not, if you see someone else yawn, your jaw starts to pull in that direction. (I'll bet that just reading this made some of you yawn! I just did.)

The same holds true for smiling (or frowning).

According to a January, 2000 American Psychology Society research report by Swedish psychologists Ulf Dimberg, Monika Thunberg, and Kurt Elmehed:

Studies reveal that when people are exposed to emotional facial expressions, they spontaneously react with distinct facial electromyographic (EMG) reactions in emotion relevant facial muscles. These reactions reflect, in part, a tendency to mimic the facial stimuli.

In layman's terms, this means if you are smiling, someone seeing you is more likely to smile. If you are frowning, they will frown. The next step is the mood change.

It's like the FISH philosophy, that started in the Seattle Pike Place Fish market: there are four "simple but powerful practices" that can change not only your behavior, but the reactions and behavior of those around you. Here are the 4 behaviors practiced by the Seattle fishmongers:

1. Play - bring some fun into your work life. A little laughter goes a long way.
2. Make their day - make someone ELSE happy. A small, sincere compliment will improve their outlook on themselves and on the day (and make them like YOU).
3. Be There - don't let your mind drift away to other things... the party last weekend, the bills at home... be THERE for your customer, guest, friend
4. Choose your attitude - only YOU can choose how to come to work each day. Show up in a bad mood and chances are you'll try to drag everyone down with you all day long. Show up with a sense of optimism and hope, and others will feel your mood.

This week, a good friend told me that I approach life with the glass half-full. I was surprised, because I've always thought of myself as a realist who thinks about what could go wrong in a project/situation/plan and then takes steps to prevent those problems from happening. There is so much in life that we cannot control... but you can control whether you're smiling at the next person you see. It's all about making sweet lemonade out of those tart lemons: Taking the time to notice a cardinal who is having a "bad crest day" on a rainy day makes the rainy day brighter... Try it! You might find it pays forward all the way back to you again.

Oh... and how should you handle it if you encounter a customer service person who isn't smiling? First - try smiling at them. If that doesn't work, and the opportunity exists, please try to let that person's supervisor know. Businesses want their employees to be friendly, first and foremost. If they aren't, we want to know.

I'll end with a shout out to the wonderfully friendly, happy, smiling team you'll find at LaDiff... and if you catch any of them in a mean old scowl, you be sure to let me know, okay?!