House style

A one-stop online interiors shop

IF YOU’VE EMBARKED on a decorating project over the last few years, the chances are you will have found your way on to Houzz. Since arriving in the UK from the US in 2014, the site (houzz. co.uk) has established itself as a useful tool for home inspiration, offering its two million monthly users endless photos of rooms to browse and add to online mood boards, along with message boards and a directory of tradespeople.

Now, Houzz has launched its own online shop, so that, as MD Marcus Hartwall puts it, ‘People can do everything from start to finish: be inspired, hire great professionals, get advice and buy the products and materials to complete their projects.’ The shop also has a ‘view in your room’ augmented-reality feature on its app, allowing users to upload a picture of their room and see how a product would look in situ. It’s certainly

a step up from a pile of decorating magazines and a scrapbook – so much so it was named last year as one of the news channel CNBC’S top ‘disruptors’ (companies revolutionising their industries).

Another site teaming interiors with tech is Trouva (trouva.com), which was launched two years ago as the ‘antiamazon’. The idea was to give small, independent bricks-and-mortar boutiques a chance to compete with online giants (Houzz, perhaps) by signing up under the Trouva umbrella. This gives them not only an online platform, but also the technology and know-how that enables them to offer services such as click-and-collect and one-hour delivery.

‘It’s a new angle on shop local,’ says creative brand director Lucy Ward. ‘We only work with stores with a physical presence on the local high street as we believe it’s a sign of quality – running a shop requires passion, expertise and serious commitment.’

The site now represents over 400 independent shops across the UK, offering furniture and accessories from both unknown designers and big-name brands – so you can buy your Tom Dixon lamp and support an independent shop in the process.