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Haden Long sits in the model living room in the new home for Ellecor Design and Gifts.
SBJ photo by Christine Temple
Haden Long sits in the model living room in the new home for Ellecor Design and Gifts.

Ellecor settles into new home

Posted online

The pillows were fluffed and each piece of decor was thoughtfully placed yesterday afternoon as Haden Long prepared to welcome her Rountree neighbors into 623 S. Pickwick Ave for a soft opening.

Though the same family line has called the 1,600-square-foot bungalow home for nearly 100 years, this year it becomes Long’s Ellecor Design and Gifts. Its grand opening is tomorrow.

“We feel like with this space, we can show people what we can actually do to make your house like a home,” Long said.

She and her husband Brady purchased the home for $212,000 on May 8, 2018, and they spent the last eight months renovating the space to house her interior design company. The move coincided with the end of a five-year lease at Farmers Park.

“I thought we’d just be a retail store at first and then our design services will grow. It’s been the total opposite,” she said, adding she hired full-time designer Sierra Penas at the end of 2017 to keep up with demand.  “Most of what we do tends to be special order. I spend more time one-on-one with people in their home helping them with plans and remodels.”

The showroom retail space at Farmers Park just wasn’t the right fit for Ellecor’s business model, Long said, adding she designed the home on Pickwick Avenue to inspire clients.

“Everything is just set up to be like, ‘Hey, this is what my house could look like,’” she said. “People shop so much online anymore, but we feel like you want to sit on the cushion and see how it sits, touch the rug and feel the bedding.”

In June, Long told Springfield Business Journal she expected to invest $50,000 I home renovations. Yesterday, she said that figure doubled to $100,000 due to unexpected expenses, including adding a ramp to comply with the federal Americans with Disabilities Act and updating and converting the heating, ventilation and air conditioning system to electric from gas to make full use of the 58 solar panels already on the home. Renovations were completed on schedule.

Long said, luckily, vendors they work with on clients’ home remodels provided steep discounts on cabinets, flooring, countertops and appliances. She estimated discounts saved her roughly $50,000. Brady Long served as project manager through his construction company ADPM LLC.

“We bought the house and completely gutted it out and started over,” she said. “Some walls moved. The windows and trim are original. We wanted the floor to look as original as we could get it.”

With Ellecor’s departure from Farmers Park following 417 Salon’s move to nearby Aundria Plaza, the number of retailers in the southeast development is down to six. Ellecor was the first retailer to open in Farmers Park in February 2014.

“We’re excited,” she said of the space that’s just a block from her family’s home. “It seems like it’s been such a long time coming, but it really hasn’t because it’s a huge remodel.”

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