THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, December 14, 1994 TAG: 9412130106
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 12 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LORI A. DENNEY, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 95 lines
IT'S ONE THING to be handed a menu in a restaurant and quite another to be offered a menu that features delicacies cooked up by an interior design firm.
Customers who enter Interior Directions, an interior design firm owned by Greg Frech, are given a menu that features appetizers of magazines and catalogs and house specialities of interior decorating, interior design, restoration and remodeling.
A la carte items are lighting/lamps, upholstered furniture, case goods, window treatments, wall coverings, flooring and custom built-ins and cabinets.
Entrees include the complete design of an entire room from the kitchen to the foyer to a sun room to a child's room. Dessert consists of art work - sculptures, pictures, frames, glassware and heirlooms and antiques.
``This kind of romances what we do,'' said Frech, 48, the owner of the 4-month-old business in Grand Junquetion Center off Bonney Road. ``To serve you in a way that gives you some fun in the process.''
The store's menu doesn't list prices along with its choices. That's because each job involves different facets of interior design. For example, a local accountant hired Frech's company to do an entire office with a budget of $2,000.
``There is an opportunity to do this very reasonably,'' said Frech, a California native. ``But, you have to ask for it.''
Offering a menu of choices has helped customers decide where they want to begin, Frech said.
The store can custom order any piece of furniture or fabric found in one of its dozens of catalogs. Inside the store, customers can browse over the dozens of knickknacks, art, pillows and a few choice pieces of furniture, including a display of Maine Cottage Furniture.
The company can do any number of interior renovations, including using furniture and knickknacks a person already has to change the look of a room. It's been commissioned to do everything from simply changing the lighting in one room to redesigning every room in a home.
The upstairs of the business is reserved for commercial jobs and displays the kinds of things that can brighten an office, such as art work.
Frech has also hosted several ``tea parties'' in the store to draw in former customers and their friends to discuss interior designing, what's in and what's out.
Currently, the work of three artists - Pittsburgh artist Karen Scofield and local sculptures Raoof Assefi and Avon Howard - is on display and for sale in the store.
There are three interior designers as well as an office manager.
Frech said his top designer, Debbie Jordal, has worked with him on other projects for more than three years and has been in the interior design business for 18 years.
The two became acquainted when Frech began to offer interior design services as part of his residential architectural firm.
Frech opened his architectural firm, G.M. Frech & Associates, in 1979. He also owns Design Four, a local construction company.
``I'm doing splendidly with residential (architectural) work,'' he said. ``But this is in an interest to finish that work. It helps the soul a bit to see it all finished up in a style that compliments what you've already done.''
Frech began offering interior design in his architectural firm about five years ago. His three companies often overlap, which is what he wants.
Being an architect, he can design renovations and additions; his construction company can build his designs; and finally, the interior design firm can do the decorating.
``Like your hairdresser, we want this to be a lifetime relationship,'' said Frech, a graduate of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York. ``If you can't figure out what color to paint your fence, we'll come over and tell you what we think.''
Frech doesn't get into the technical aspect of his new business. Instead, he lets his office manager and designers do the hands-on work, while he manages the three businesses from his architectural office.
He and his wife, Georgie, came to Hampton Roads from New York in 1976 so that Frech could start a job as a teacher at the Hampton Institute of Architecture. While he was teaching, he worked for other architects and ran his construction business on the side.
He and his family live in the Great Neck area.
Interior Directions is open from noon to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. MEMO: To reach Interior Directions, call 498-4872.
ILLUSTRATION: Staff photos by MORT FRYMAN
Greg Frech, owner of 4-month-old Interior Directions, has worked
with his top designer, Debbie Jordal, for more than three years.
Greg Frech has hosted several afternoon teas at Interior Directions
to draw in former customers and their friends to discuss interior
designing, what's in and what's out.
by CNB