Valerianne has been a staple home design store in the Northern Virginia area for more than a decade, but its new location in Herndon offers customers something fresh and exciting. While the move helps with the logistics of getting to the store—customers no longer have to maneuver Route 123 traffic in Vienna—the new, open-concept location with high ceilings brings with it beautiful wares along with a focus on how to design any space.
“[The new space] allows a stronger partnership and a good way to show how to marry the vintage furniture and accessories with the new,” says owner Aimee Wedlake Lange of the store’s design and its close relationship with vintage merchandiser The Sweetwood Collection, which Valerianne stocks.
Lange’s goal with her store is to show her clients and customers how to blend different pieces into a home environment that is not just functional but luxurious. “I try to work on the way we merchandise or show things or the products we bring in is speaking to everybody and letting them know that yes, we can use all these wonderful and beautiful things, and we can live with them,” she says. “I want to make sure we have a livable luxury with personality and quality.”
New pieces enter the store weekly and are sourced from top-of-the-line manufacturers such as Italian mills for Egyptian cotton textiles, John Robshaw pillows and custom-designed pillows from Lange herself. With custom upholstery, lighting, rugs, furniture and one-of-a-kind accessories (agate napkin rings, vintage foot stools and tableware), Lange is focusing on bringing the design shelter magazines tout to reality for the area. “A lot of people are searching for that layer. Rooms [in design magazines] are so beautiful and pulled together because there are these wonderful pieces on bookcases and tables. Between the new and the vintage, we want to make sure we’ve got those things. We’re working to find some good price-point pieces for that—not everyone is in the market for $500 pair of bookends. We’re looking for things that are more approachable.”
And don’t worry if you struggle with getting the balance right in your design. The majority of Valerianne’s customers have come to the store for Lange’s design service: “I really like to work in spaces where people have things existing and help them refresh, move around, add or take away and work to give different suggestions.
“A home takes time; you have to curate it,” Lange adds. “You can’t just buy a furniture store and dump it in your space. It takes a lot of time. It’s a relationship for sure.”
Valerianne
295 Sunset Park Drive
Herndon, VA 20170
703-437-3500
(April 2016)
