Howarth-Haddock Design opens new studio in Mt Laurel

Stephanie Howarth Lansden and Carol Haddock Smeraglia are former coworkers who decided to create a house staging business together. But that never materialized.

Every time they would have inventory, it sold before they could do anything with it.

“I decided to leave my job, and six months later, she left her job and we were both doing the same thing,” Lansden said. “We went to North Carolina and bought furniture, but before we ever staged a house, we had sold it all to clients.”

She said this went on for six months, and they were ordering so much furniture, they outgrew their rental unit.

They were able to use a friend’s warehouse free of charge for one year. They decided since they had all that room, they might as well order more furniture.

“That kind of evolved,” Lansden said. “We would never be where we are now without that space.”

When the lease was up, they found another space nearby and created their warehouse/showroom at 3568 Lorna Ridge Drive in Hoover.

After working out of the Hoover location for about a year and a half, Lansden, who lives in Riverchase and Smeraglia, a Greystone resident, were approached by two developers and a homeowner in Mt Laurel within two weeks.

“Retail was the last thing in the world we ever wanted to open,” Lansden said. “But we finally stopped and said ‘God is taking us elsewhere, and it’s not in the staging business.’ It all dropped in our lap, and we decided to take the bull by the horns and roll with it.”

Their new space, Howarth-Haddock Design, is located at 56 Manning Place and opened in mid-May. The space is around 1,100 square feet of space and features middle and higher end furniture lines.

“Everything in our upholstery is custom; we design it,” she said. “There’s nothing on that floor right now that you could find anywhere else. We put our favorites in there, and everything in there is something that we love.”

But the design studio isn’t just a space to pick out furniture and accessories. They do customization from the ground up, including assisting with brick colors and roof options.

Sue Selby has been in the design business for over 40 years and works at the Mt Laurel location.

“If you’re building a house and need help, we do it all,” she said. “Someone can come in with plans, and we will look over the plans and start from the very beginning — paint color, flooring, tile, light fixtures. We can order the furniture so when the house is done, the furniture is already there.”

Lansden said their client is someone who is willing to step outside their box and try something new.

Lansden and Smeraglia’s differences make them a great team. Lansden favors a neutral palette, while Smeraglia enjoys more color, but they fit well together. Without even advertising their business, the duo has done projects from Salt Lake City to 30A.

The Hoover location continues to operate as more of a furniture design boutique, where customers can come in and have anything customized and ordered from the factory. Now, they have a space for customers on the U.S. 280 corridor.

“We are trying to keep everything fresh and new and are always rotating furniture in and out,” Landsden said. “It’s a balancing act with very little sleep and working 80 hours a week. All we do is work, but I love it, so I don’t feel like I’ve worked a day in my life. I feel like I get to play all day. I love what I do.”