Step inside Paysage's 7,000-square-foot store and prepare to be delightfully underwhelmed. Unlike other furniture emporiums, with their bulging-at-the-aisles displays, this Cleveland Heights design center allows its stock of eco-friendly furniture products to breathe in artful, spacious vignettes spread across eight rooms and two floors.
This less-is-more philosophy is one co-owners Richard and Jane Marquard and their son, Jesse, encourage their customers to take home. "If it's clean, if it's natural, if you're using classic shapes and forms, you can have fewer things, and you get to enjoy the silhouettes of what you do have," says Richard Marquard, running his hands along a reclaimed whitewashed coffee table ($1,395), which developed its patina as it sat in the Balinese sun. "You might not notice the dovetails on this table or the stitching on this sofa because your room is cluttered with stuff."
Paysage carries major names — think Baker and Lillian August as well as its own recently launched line of upholstered furniture, named Please Be Seated, which sells at about 30 percent less than big brands. "What we wanted to do was create a product that had all the prestige and all of the value but not the price," Marquard explains. The modern yet classic collec- tion is exclusively upholstered by Lee Industries, a sustainable manufacturer that uses organic fabrics, recycled fibers and soy-based foam.
"We're trying to mix natural and green products with classic shapes," Marquard says. "When you're going to spend money on furniture, you don't want to spend [it] on something that is in today and gone tomorrow."
OLDEN AGE
†'Old is the new new, Richard Marquard says. From reclaimed wood to repurposed items, such as this former cement brick mold turned centerpiece ($125), customers are clamoring for pieces with a past.
LUCKY NUMBER 8
†' If you're out shopping for quality upholstered furniture during this month's white sales, be sure to look for pieces made with eight-way hand- tied springs, says Jesse Marquard. This spring sys- tem is tethered to a frame eight different ways. "It's more expensive to make a piece of furniture that way, because a machine can't do that," he says.
When You Go:
Nearby Find:
Owned by two interior designers, DuoHome offers design services and mid-century modern furnishings. 3479 Fairmount Blvd., Cleveland Heights, 216-651-4411, duohome.com
