My Showroom Makeover

The DRAMA behind My Extreme Showroom Makeover by Bonnie Jewelry. Did you catch our before and after video on our showroom? You’ll love to know how we got there! 

Welcome to a brand new blog of By Bonnie Jewelry! We have the pleasure of introducing you today to Mahsa Afsharpour, and our topic will be something very special - how we turned our showroom from drab to fab! But first, let me introduce you all to this amazing guest.

The Start of a Lifetime Friendship

Our friendship began when we were both embarking on our parenting journey and joined the Burlingame Moms Club. It was comforting to meet someone like me, a new mom who also identified as a Girlboss! We realized right away that we could be best friends — it truly felt like an instant connection.

After some deliberation, I eventually decided to revamp the space many of you have seen in my earlier videos; numerous people asked me if I had done it myself. Of course, as much as I'd love to take credit for this accomplishment, the truth is that with all my other commitments and stress-inducing attention to detail, there was no way one person could do so much work alone. As a perfectionist who worries about every small detail, such an enormous undertaking simply wasn't feasible on my own. That's when Mahsa  stepped in.

I quickly realized I needed assistance and was confident that she could certainly tackle the job with ease. After informing my husband about her, he even declared that he would contact her simply because I was starting to drive him crazy about the topic!  Anyway, long story short, I had a consultation and she showed up right away. When we initially saw the neglected area, our first thought was "What a dump!" It looked like an office that had been completely abandoned. How did we manage to turn it around? Let's explore how this transformation came about!

When I initially connected with Mahsa, my anxiety was noticeable. After all, perusing pages of interior design magazines and paying for costly furniture, tiles, paint - it seemed overwhelming! But deep down I had a fear that nothing would be within my budget or too expensive for me to purchase. Then I quickly comprehended the value of hiring a professional when Mahsa explained it to me.

The Importance of Hiring a Professional Interior Designer

When you employ an expert for something like purchasing diamond rings and bands, such as myself, I can guarantee you that you can evade costly mistakes. When you collaborate with an experienced professional like myself or Mahsa, we will be able to provide guidance on where to allocate your budget most effectively. 

We understand that it's important for you to have an end result that matches your style and preferences; however, this must also fit within your financial constraints. That is why hiring a quality interior designer can make all the difference in achieving a stunning home design without breaking the bank! An interior designer can help you identify which pieces of your décor are repairable and what needs to be replaced. Now, let’s walk through the process of hiring an interior designer and all that it entails!

You don't need to be an interior design expert; that's why you hire one. All you have to bring is the vision and let your designer do the rest! To make sure your dream space comes to life, provide lots of photos (think Pinterest or mood board) for reference - it'll help more than you think. Working in tandem with Mahsa was an incredibly productive experience. I had a clear vision and even shared some images of what my ideas looked like. To our surprise, the design that she ultimately presented ended up being the inspirational driving force for the entire project!

I desired a space that would be inviting and open, allowing customers to easily browse my products. At the same time, however, I wanted them to feel comfortable, almost as if they were at home, instead of feeling pressured due to insanely bright lights like in most jewelry stores. It was essential for me to create an atmosphere that could make people feel at ease while still showcasing all my beautiful pieces.

I think that was the most essential part, to bring pieces of Bonnie into this space. We set it up so that when you walk in, you feel like you're in someone's living room. When it comes to selecting an engagement ring for the love of your life, you want to feel cozy and not rushed into making a hurried decision. Rather than blinding lights focused on you, we chose a setting that feels like home - comfortable, warm, and inviting.

Designing a space for someone is about taking their vision into consideration, but it's also the perfect opportunity to be daring and explore beyond what you initially thought. When I started out on my own design journey, this pushed me outside of my comfort zone; which was quite overwhelming as I'm extremely detail-oriented! Instead of having an HGTV moment where everything had been done before unveiling it to me, I took every step with Mahsa's team while they created something that went far beyond expectations. I diligently followed the progress of my store, eagerly anticipating when each detail was carefully put into place; like when they added a fresh coat of white paint to the walls that almost caused me to break down because it reminded me so much of a hospital!

Initially, I was uneasy about Mahsa's ideas; trusting an interior designer with your space is a huge deal! Thankfully, after some deliberation, I put faith in her plans. We began with my mood board and she crafted this amazing PDF that showed me what the room could look like once it was completed.

Mahsa's work begins with space planning, where she sketches out the envisioned final product. She then curates and designs mood boards that incorporate colors, materials, lighting choices, and all of the other details needed to produce a visually pleasing environment. Her role is crucial in designing something you can truly envision as reality!

Crafting visuals of diamond rings for our clients can be a difficult task, as they want to get an idea of how it would look on the finger rather than just seeing a standard white stock photo. Mahsa's process is no different - she faces precisely this same challenge when creating her own images.

 She created a vision board with this beautiful PDF for me to see so I can visualize how my space will look like. And it's not only HER vision, it's actually a very collaborative process. Interior designers love having opinionated clients, people who know what they want but also give them creative freedom and clients that trust them. All in all, Mahsa became my confidante just like I am for many of my clients who come to me seeking the perfect piece of jewelry.

Although we may specialize in different fields, Mahsa and I share a common approach with our customers. When all the details were determined and everything came together correctly, both of us had to take a leap of faith. The same thing transpires when dealing with my clients - "This is what it's going to look like—you just have to trust me".

Our clients have been consistently impressed by the showroom makeover, particularly our coaches. To ensure a warm and inviting atmosphere in this mostly neutral space full of white and beige pieces we made sure to include some interesting shapes and textures. 

We wanted to create an atmosphere of warmth and hospitality, so the couches were a great choice for this open space. But what absolutely blew us away was when we saw the front desk – both literally and figuratively!

It was beautifully created with the help of Mahsa and her incredible team, but it also came with its own challenges! Initially, we believed that a very elegant stone was ours for the taking. But when we realized our upper level could not accommodate such an enormous thousand-pounder, and with limited elevator capabilities, we had to get creative. 

The stunning piece you see before us is quite grand and huge - however, no amount of strength or ingenuity enabled us to bring it up the stairs! It was a very stressful time, not only for me but for Mahsa as well. Regardless of the unglamorous history, we can now proudly showcase a lavish reception desk.

One aspect of working with women in construction that I'm incredibly passionate about is the fact that it's a highly male-dominated industry. To be honest, there aren't many females present in this space, and so I feel very privileged to have been able to work alongside Mahsa. When we hired the construction team, they were extremely condescending but I was not having any of it - I made sure to stand up for myself! Having a woman who has faced all sorts of stressful difficulties with construction delays or COVID-19 issues is an incredible advantage. We are lucky to have her on our side as she can navigate these difficult times with ease.

But, just like navigating through a construction zone to get from Point A to Point B, there is always the potential for hiccups along the way. It would be great if everything went smoothly, but chances are that we will encounter obstacles and have to develop ways of dealing with them. Having teams that advocate for you is a necessity in ensuring your work gets done. Not only did we learn numerous lessons, but the experience was highly bonding. In fact, it brought us closer together than ever before and now we're close friends! (And now she has a beautiful diamond necklace from me!!!)

And now she has a beautiful diamond necklace from me!!!

Mahsa’s Tips For The Makeover Of Your Dreams!

I recently asked Mahsa to provide her top three strategies for creating a dream space within a budget, and she was more than happy to share. Check them out!

Create a Vision Board For Yourself

"I think it's essential to create a vision board for yourself. You know, it feels like homework, but it is essential to have a vision for your space and don't feel limited by budget. Just be wild. Bring all the images that you have. The more you provide for us, the closer I can get to your vision."

Set a Budget For Yourself 

"So you have an idea of what you want to spend. People get very tricky and uncomfortable around the word budget.  I think it's reasonable to discuss with your interior designer and ask what's a reasonable budget. I really have created, for example, for the clients that I work with, either commercial spaces or home spaces. I've created budget-friendly lists, higher-end lists, more luxurious lists, and so forth.

Bonnie’s Insight: "And we had to give up some things during the process, like, what would you want to spend this money on? Do we want super fancy fake ceilings or do we want super fancy carpeting? Like we had to kind of figure out those pointers!

Work With Someone That You Trust 

"Research them. Take a look at the projects that they work with. Have a conversation with them and ask difficult questions like "What do you do if this comes about? Who are you? Do you have a lot of designers?" We have a set list of tradespeople we work with... electricians, plumbers, contractors, etc. So when you hire us, we come with an arsenal of, besides our skills, our folks that we trust and we have repeated businessmen. So working with those, you know, you just don't just get one person, you get a whole crew."

Bonnie’s Insight: "I would say from this experience, my biggest takeaway is that once you select the person that you're going to work with, just let them do their job. I was just going back and forth, back and forth. Should we do this? Should we do that? Do I like this? In the end, I realized that I should just trust her (Mahsa) wholeheartedly. And the space came out absolutely wonderful and I feel like it's actually very much parallel to ring shopping. I mean, we have clients that we ask them, "Hey, I want a diamond ring", I'm going to be like, "Okay, what kind of diamond ring - do you want round, you want square?".

The second thing is when clients say that there isn't a budget and it's really difficult to talk about the word budget for some reason. Everybody has a budget, right? So whether it be $5,000, $50,000, or $100,000, all those numbers will help narrow down getting closer to what you want. And then the third thing would be trusting the person to make it. It's like our years of expertise are built because of that. And in the end, it took me a long time, but I, you know, trusted her wholeheartedly and it couldn't have been more beautiful".

My Showroom Makeover

If you stuck around until the end of this blog, we wholeheartedly thank you! This whole experience we lived with Mahsa was so special and we now see each other not only as Girlbosses but also as sisters! If you are interested in learning more about Mahsa's work, click here to visit her website. Don't hesitate to reach out because you never know. You never know what beautiful things you can create together. For an all-encompassing experience, click here to watch our YouTube video and get the full scoop!