frankly speaking

Houston custom home builder opens state-of-the-art new showroom

Imagine a custom home builder capable of radiating such cool confidence in the execution of their finished product that they’re happy to maintain the property long after the completion of the project—impossible? Enter Frankel Design Build. The Frankel experience begins in their exceptional new client-only design showroom, where the firm’s signature scent (none other than luxury brand Loewe’s Tomato Leaves candle) permeates the air and “ends,” so to speak, with enrollment in their home maintenance and management program.

The innovative, multi-award-winning, Houston-based firm recently debuted a swanky new design showroom in the Houston Design District showcasing product vignettes and technologies far exceeding what is available to preview with other custom builders. The showroom brings truly custom features to life, including a full-sized vault door; a custom quartz hydraulics-lift meeting table that doubles as a standing workspace; a 14-foot, sliding glass door system by Mirror Gallery, Inc.; along with herringbone hardwood floors, a full bar with custom metal fabricated details, and Venetian plastered walls.

Clients will find a curated range of selections — from tile, hardware, and plumbing fixtures to lighting, custom cabinetry, and millwork — sourced from trusted industry partners such as Visual Comfort and Ann Sacks, among others. This unique blend of offerings empowers clients to personalize every detail with intention.

For nearly four decades, the Frankel family’s luxury residential home business has maintained a reputation for a client-forward culture. Founded in 1988 by Jim Frankel, sons and current co-presidents Scott and Kevin Frankel are continuing this legacy through their new showroom.

“We are trying to create the best environment for people who design and the best customers to get together and come up with great ideas,” Scott tells CultureMap. “I think it’s a little different for a home builder, particularly a custom home builder, to open up a space that is just for their clients to enhance that experience.”

Each area of the showroom has been outfitted with high-tech A/V equipment that will allow clients to engage with the Frankel team remotely, if need be. “What we’re trying to do, as our clients are busy — they’re active, they’ve got stuff going on in their personal lives, kids, work — we’ve tried to put together a facility that puts together interior design and architecture, and put our clients in a position where they’re able to do this, and they’re not having to run all over town,” says Scott. “It’s a pretty big investment for a home builder to make on the custom side.”

With thousands of tangible samples on-hand, including full-sized door and glass options, the Frankels recognize that keeping up with a showroom of this magnitude will require a lot of management, but it’s not a challenge they’re prepared to shy away from.

“Our interior design team isn’t just helping clients make their selections. They are looking at everything that’s out there and then making sure that this place is curated to building and designing a home right now,” says Kevin. “It has to be a lot of showrooms in one.”

Potential custom home buyers sometimes find themselves apprehensive when exploring the possibility of building homes, mostly due to some illusive bad experience a “friend of a friend” had when working with a builder. Frankel Design Build puts clients at ease through their active flexibility. “This for me is just so different from what custom builders try to do. Typically, what they are doing is going ‘you are limited to this,’” says Scott, noting that anything their team has chosen is already in the budget — there are no surprises.

Ever the realist, Kevin understands that social media can play a large part in determining whether clients stick to their original selections.

“It’s such a long process, and we want people to feel good about it. It just takes more management from us, which we’ve always been willing to do,” he says. “The day after your plan is done, do we expect for you to stop looking at Instagram? We don’t. We have to be flexible. We know you’re looking at Instagram.”

Through their family of companies, which also includes AVEA Pools & Outdoor Living and Frankel Home Care, Frankel Design Build far exceeds what any reasonable person would consider “turn key service.” Once a Frankel home is complete, a user-friendly customer portal through Frankel Home Care allows for home care services to be scheduled at the click of a button.

“Every home that we build, our goal is to help the customer understand that there are certain things that they might need to maintain forever. We don’t just build houses now, we build pools — we have to — and we clean those pools every week. We service generators, we clean gutters, we wash down driveways,” says Scott. “The problem is, you move in, I give you this house, and now what? To live in a house you need a list of people. I don’t want my customer to have to do that. We are in the custom design and service business — we are in the long term care business.”

Photo by Kerry Kirk

Welcome to Frankel Design Build.

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stay gold

Online design juggernaut Perigold opens first-ever store in Houston

Courtesy of Perigold

Perigold combined three different stores into its new Houston home.

Houston, Perigold has landed. That’s right, the online design juggernaut and Wayfair subsidiary has chosen Houston’s Highland Village shopping center for its first (and so far only) brick-and-mortar store.

Turning an online retailer into a brick-and-mortar store is an interesting transition. With consumers looking to return to the throwback nostalgia of shopping with intention and returning to community vibes, it’s an ingenious move.

“We liken our experience to a department store, a Saks or a Net-A-Porter, and we hope to be a convenient place for the community. We know that people like to convene around design — so yes, we hope to be the answer to that,” Rebecca Ginns, global head of Perigold, tells CultureMap.

Referring to the space as a “store” does Perigold a major disservice — it’s so much more than that. While meaning no disrespect, the 20,000-square-foot space is what one would imagine if a Sears and a Neiman Marcus had a baby. It’s a lot, but in a fantastic way.

Extremely high-end, usually trade-only furniture lines find themselves nestled between place setting displays from dozens of brands, plus chef-grade knives by Shun. Appliances, plumbing and lighting fixtures, and tile are also available. Before worry sets in that every visit will break the bank, take comfort in knowing the store stocks more affordable options such as accessories, coffee table books, candles, and gifts as well.

Perigold store Houston This store really does have everything.Courtesy of Perigold

The folks from Perigold took the time to research Houstonians and their expectations. In a town where the local furniture emporium promises same day delivery, they knew they couldn’t play around. While it may not be same day, a local warehouse keeps larger showroom items in stock and ready for delivery in an expeditious fashion — they guarantee it.

Perigold’s design team utilized an area with plate glass walls and a courtyard to showcase outdoor furniture and accessories. Upstairs, local interior designers may use meeting rooms and workspaces to hold meetings with clients or Perigold associates.

Once shoppers pass through the chartreuse double doors, everything from Waterford crystal, Wedgewood, and Michael Aram, to the more daring Jonathan Adler is on offer. Chaddock, Fairfield, Century, and Stickley all come to play as well — with a showroom of this size, nearly every designer brand has representation.

Interestingly, there are many brands apparent, like Jonathan Adler in the village, who are showcased at Perigold. Most high end designers don’t allow what some may deem “competition” to exist in the same market as their showcase stores, but Ginns doesn’t see it that way.

“That’s something we worked through with brands when we first partnered with them in the e-commerce setting,” she says. “What they learned through that experience is that because we have such a wide reach, being featured with us ends up being an additive. So if you think of a customer searching for an item — just search for a luxury home on Google — something comes up that’s highly relevant or comparable, and that’s when they discover a lot of brands.”

On the topic of discovery, Perigold has made their in-store experience purposefully versatile, with different types of shoppers in mind. Whether someone chooses to engage one of the store’s seven product specialists, five interior designers, or simply go it alone, Perigold has it covered. Category shopping includes chairs, lighting, and almost everything else side-by-side, so there is no need to scour the store for every product decision, although that’s also possible. Shoppers who require some inspiration, or perhaps fancy a lackadaisical post-brunch stroll, will be pleased to discover that vignettes, or “style clusters,” have been curated throughout the store in the most popular home design styles.

Perigold partnered with acclaimed interior designers to create rooms in their respective styles to better assist buyers who may require inspiration. Each designer’s curated vignette features a robust mixture of brands and price points. Find transitional designs curated by Houston’s own Marie Flanigan, modern approaches by Jessica Davis, traditional inspirations by Julie and Isabelle Neil, glam styles by Evan Millard, modern glam looks from Xander Noori, and curated coastal vibes from Helen Bergin — all in one place.

“[For] that customer who doesn’t maybe know a brand, or is still discovering, we have a wide reach, and customers have found that to be true,” says Ginns. “So we are incremental and additive, but not competitive. There is just an element of discovery in the shopping process that we see a lot of [online], so we expect to see that replicated in the store.”

Courtesy of Perigold

Perigold combined three different stores into its new Houston home.

furniture design home-design perigold shopping store opening