CANVAS Corp Articles

Canvas Corp. Taps Into the Desire for Simplicity

February 2008

SIMPLICITY. That’s an important word for consumers as they go about the activities involved in keeping up their homes. Unfortunately, simplicity is not the word that usually comes to mind when consumers embark on a home improvement project. Many tend to think of the time and labor involved and the hassle they’ll experience if something goes wrong. Download article to read more

Homespacing - Scrapbooking for the Home

Christine Meier, Vice President and Co-Founder Canvas Corp

When a Scrapbooker is not Scrapbooking, what is she doing? Studies show she is working full time, taking care of her family and decorating her home. The scrapbooking market has unleashed creativity in a huge demographic of women and that creativity is coming off the pages and into the spaces of her home.

Scrapbooking has hit the home décor scene in many ways. Examples include scrapbook pages in an oversized format that are designed to be pieces of art, photo walls that are created with enlarged photos, beautiful scrapbooks that become the new coffee table books, scrapbook rooms are being designed to provide a venue for the hobby and furniture and storage pieces that are created for the home.

Consumers are no longer looking for projects to keep their hands busy. Rather they are in search of solutions-based ideas that preserve memories, promote family, simplify their lives, increase organization, reduce clutter, recycle items for new uses, and allow them to represent their individuality. As a scrapbook page captures a moment in time, a special event and even beautiful facial expressions; homespacing is about capturing the design, emotion and vision for a home space in a very similar format.

The design process of the home is as individual as the homeowner and the amount of research, organization and planning that goes into the process determines the overall success of the project. As scrapbooker’s have learned the process of organizing their pictures, journaling their memories, and creating pages that tell the story visually, they can now transfer that experience into the design of spaces in their homes.

Consumer driven design publications are the number one place consumers get their ideas for home décor. The home design inspiration, as with a scrapbook page, can come from anywhere. Bringing these ideas together to create the theme of the space is a great place to start and brings to life the spaces of the home. Adding the room components such as fabric, wall color, wall décor, etc., become what embellishments are to a scrapbook page. Capturing these ideas and inspiration onto a design board is what Homespacing is all about.

The Homespacing process breaks down into four easy steps, beginning with the basic measurements of the space, finding the inspiration to bring the visual plan to life, space planning the furniture and accessories and finalizing the process by completing the room.

How often do you walk into a furniture store or a paint store with the intent to buy something for the home without a plan for the space, no knowledge of the measurements of the room and nothing that represents the other colors that will live in the space? The visual application of Homespacing is an inspiration board that brings all of the elements of the space together, most effectively explained as a scrapbooking for the home. Home inspiration boards reflect the function, style and design of the space and can be detailed and elaborate or it can be simple and to the point. The goal is to visually bring to life the space so that there is a plan in place, allowing for better decisions to be made and fewer changes required during the design process.

Many of the same tools and supplies found in today’s scrapbooking stores make the creation of inspiration boards even more exciting. Boards can be made with scrapbooking papers as the inspiration for fabrics in the home, stickers and die cuts can represent creative art on the walls and artwork in the room and the tools and supplies used to make a scrapbook page can be used to cut circles, punch out holes, etc. Scrapbooking elements help tell the visual story of the space.

Scrapbook stores now have the opportunity to market to this savvy consumer and begin developing a larger and even more loyal customer base by offering products that provide them the tools they need to inspire and capture their dreams of spaces in their home. They can also offer a new twist to the traditional scrapbooking crops is a Homespacing crop, where an interior designer or decorator can be on hand to help walk the participants through the Homespacing process. Helping them to think through their home spaces and bringing them to life visually. Not only can the professional walk them through the process, but also answer design questions, provide design ideas, solve space planning dilemmas or help with storage and organization solutions.

The forward-thinking scrapbooking stores will establish a leadership position by addressing the need in the market for DIY customer and begin marketing their products to support this trend. Stores that see the vision beyond the inspiration board and scrapbooking aspect, may dive deeper into the market segment and offer products that help the consumer complete the project, such as great ropes, tags, clips, hardware, stencils, paint, etc. These items are larger versions of the very embellishments found in scrapbook stores today. The scrapbook store has a reputation of offering the most up to date styles and design for scrapbooks and now they can expand to the walls of the home in the same manner.

And it is important to remember that this does not signal an end to the traditional scrapbooking customer and categories, but rather a shift in the product offering to adapt to the demographics of today’s Creative Do-It-Yourself consumer, who we know is also a scrapbooker and offers a huge opportunity to increase customer base and market share.

The Creative Do-It-Yourself Market

July 2007
Christine Meier, Vice President and Co-Founder of Canvas Corp.

Is the market ready to embrace the emerging Creative Do-It-Yourself Customer? The groundwork has been laid by home shows created for TV, the increasing number of home décor magazines and books filled with creative ideas and solutions for the home creating a need in the market for products and services that support the enormous quantity of ideas.

Consumers are no longer looking for craft and home décor projects to keep their hands busy. Rather they are in search of solutions-based ideas that will simplify their lives, increase organization, reduce clutter, recycle items for new uses and allow them to represent their individuality through their home.

As the line between the craft and home décor markets begins to blur, there has been an increased demand for products that foster creativity and fit comfortably and appropriately into the home environment. Gone are the days of traditional decorative furniture painting, teddy bears tied to wreaths or lace covered glass bowls. Today’s crafts for the home are simple, sophisticated, solutions-based and have aesthetic appeal as well as a functional component. The projects can be as simple as painting six mix-and-match dining chairs with white paint, hanging a series of black frames with beautiful ribbons or creating unique curtain tie-backs with wire and beads.

The need for quality products that work together and support these home projects becomes greater with each new idea and the necessity for a creative home décor product center within the retail environment becomes more important than ever. As today’s craft stores look at their product mix and determine where the market is leading them, they should evaluate the products they offer that support the home decorating process. These products are not necessarily the finished home décor pieces within the store such as lamps, pillows and art work, but rather the basic products needed to hang, repair, glue and paint within the home.

Many products are already available in the average craft store – items such as specialty glues, wire, candles, chalk board paints, decorative sand and ribbon - that can help make a weekend project quick and easy. Bringing these items together introduces your customers to the creative DIY solutions offered in your store and sets the stage for a “one-stop” department that offers a broader range of items that are focused on the basic needs of the weekend warrior.

This presents a wonderful opportunity for craft stores looking for ways to increase their business, attract new customers and be on trend. Developing a ‘destination department’ within their store for the Creative Do-It-Yourself customer will set them apart from competitors.

The best place to start is by evaluating the current products offered and determining their application to the Home Décor market; the first question to ask is if the product solves a decorating dilemma for the home or can be used in the home decorating process.

Items such as hangers for photos or artwork, specialized glues that adhere to interior surfaces, natural sand that can fill a clear vase to become a center piece, all serve a purpose in decorating the home. When items like this are brought together, they make sense to customers who look for solutions and begin to depend more and more on the retailer to make those solutions available, simple and affordable.

To further develop the DIY department, retailers should consider adding expanded categories such as hand tools (glue guns, small hammers, staple guns, etc.) which can be used for a variety of DIY projects. Other expanded categories would include storage for home décor tools and supplies, basic interior design installation supplies such as furniture protectors, rubber bumpers and cork and felt disks. Specialty cleaners that are stain specific are also appropriate for this department as are odor eliminators (for flea market finds) and butcher block oil to maintain a new butcher block or revitalize an old one.

Pre-Mixed interior paints, furniture quality paints and other finishes that support weekend painting projects and provide a beautiful finished piece quickly and easily would also be ideal for a DIY department. Including hardware items such as picture hanging hooks, nails, wire, rope, twine, etc. that are used everyday but can be difficult to find in the metal finishes of the homes of today would also be appropriate.

And because every good home design project starts with a plan, products that support space planning, furniture placement and interior design would all be natural fits for this new department.

More than ever, homeowners today consider their home to be a reflection of their unique individuality. On top of that, Americans are known around the world for their lust for immediate gratification or “I want it now” attitude. That’s why Americans’ new favorite past time is renovating, remodeling and redecorating that can be accomplished in a weekend. Even couples are working on these projects looking for quick and simple ideas that they can do together, in a few days for a heightened sense of accomplishment. After all, successfully completing a great weekend project bodes well for the team surviving a major renovation project somewhere down the road!

Finally, the home décor market is well aware that women strongly influence not only the look of the home, but also the amount of money spent on home renovation projects. Efforts have been made over the past several years to attract women to this area with the introduction of such products as female friendly tools, pink hammers, lines of decorative toilet seat covers, cabinet pulls with flowers on them or completed décor pieces. These however are not the basis for most interior projects and do not provide the variety of choices needed to make the project their own.

Craft store retailers now have the opportunity to market to this savvy consumer and begin developing a larger and more loyal customer base by offering products that offer quality, unique design, sophistication, and of course, value. As scrapbooking stores and departments have grown to meet the needs of the scrapbooking market, so shall the hardware and craft stores bring together the products that satisfy this new customer trend.

The forward-thinking craft store owner will establish a leadership position by addressing the need in the market for a DIY department for weekend-project hungry consumers with money to spend on items that will help complete a project with simplicity and style.

And it is important to remember that this does not signal an end to the traditional craft categories, but rather a shift in the product offering to adapt to the demographics of today’s Creative Do-It-Yourself consumer.

# # #

Christine Meier was a buyer with Wal-Mart Stores Inc. for nearly six years. She went on to become a consultant to several national retail suppliers before co-founding DMD Industries with husband Randy, a company specializing in paper products for the craft, gift and stationery industries. Christine has an extensive background in the retail industry as a merchandise buyer which serves her well as the driving force behind Canvas Corp LLC, the Meier’s newest venture which develops and produces innovative design products for the home. Her insight into the market comes from her experience as both a buyer and a supplier in the industry. If you are interested in contacting Christine for more information, you can reach her at 1.866.376.9961 or via e-mail at cmeier@canvascorp.com.