Meet Bryan Duncan; Designer Extraordinaire and Your New Best Friend

“People think that all of our sofas cost $4,000 and that’s just not true.  People can afford to shop here!”

We know how daunting it can be to design an empty room that is a blank canvas.  Do you start with the furniture?  With the walls?  A single piece or an entire suite?  The design of your home says a lot about you, and is therefore important to us.  So if we could give you a nickel’s worth of free advice, we would tell you to come talk to Bryan Duncan!

Bryan spent 22 years overseeing the manufacturing side of things at Rowe Furniture.  It was there that Bryan learned about quality, what he likes to call “the guts of furniture.”  He started working in the home furniture industry straight out of high school, so you could say that he really knows his furniture inside & out!

It was six years ago that Bryan came to work for us – and LaDiff has never been the same.  He has become a familiar fixture here, we love him, and you should too.  Bryan says that one of the things that he loves the most about working at LaDiff is the ability to be really creative when designing spaces.  His imagination isn’t limited the way it may be in a corporate store environment.  Being an independent business lets us free Bryan to let his ideas flow, and he certainly is creative!

So where does Bryan begin when a new guest wanders in looking for design guidance?  He says that the best way is to try and determine that person’s personal style.  Whether it’s sitting down and looking through a magazine together or strolling through the store, Bryan has a knack for feeling people out, determining their style, and figuring out what they want.  He says that one of his greatest skills is working in tandem with a new guest to figure out exactly what will work for them.  Like an American Paul McCartney, he says that he’s happy to “hold your hand” through the process, making sure that the design choices speak for you and no one else.

We also offer design consultations in your home.  Bryan can see what type of space you’re decorating and what it will be used for.  Pets?  Kids?   Do you already have furniture in the room?  Just adding a few pieces or starting from scratch?  All of these factors come into play when finding the perfect fit.  Bryan is a believer in starting small; pick one piece, such as a sectional, and live with it for a few weeks.  Does it fit your lifestyle?  One piece can often change an entire room and dictate the direction of your design.

Bryan is not only a designer by trade; he has a real passion for it.  He loves the classic American arts and crafts style of Frank Lloyd Wright and is a major fan of Milo Baughman, ‘a leading modern furniture designer of the late 20^th Century’.   A huge fan of American made solid wood pieces, his current in-store favorites are the Amish made Nobleza bedroom collection and the mid-century inspired Catalina dining collection from Copeland furniture of Vermont.

Bryan says that there’s a big misconception about our store.  “People think that all of our sofas cost $4,000 and that’s just not true.  We have sofas for $799, tables for $69, and much, much more!  People can afford to shop here!”  And Bryan will be here waiting to meet you!