Design for all

That’s one of the reasons Surmelis said he chose to have his home line available in stores such as Kohl’s and Costco. He wanted it to be affordable and attainable.

“I came from a working-class family. My dad was a short-order cook and my mom was a waitress. They always wanted to decorate their home but didn’t have a lot of money to spend on home décor.”

This also is one of the reasons why it took Surmelis a while to launch his own line. Certain manufacturers wanted to place limitations on the locations and price points of his work.

“My goal always has been to make great design accessible to as many people as possible,” he said. “Even if they’re not buying, they can see what is available.”

Surmelis said he was especially thrilled when he heard that Costco wanted to feature his line. “They speak to the consumer out there that speaks to value. I’m already a Costco member so I understand the Costco member.”

He added that he appreciates Kohl’s sense of fashion, offering “beautiful stuff at great prices. To me, that’s exciting. It makes me feel like we can get what we want and have it be a good value.”

That being said, however, doesn’t mean he doesn’t like or appreciate high-end furnishings and fashions. Just look at Vera Wang, he said. She designs clothes for Kohl’s but also has high-end couture.

“I don’t think we will ever stop aspiring toward great stuff. That’s why there will always be high-end fashion and high-end, expensive furniture. We always want something beautiful and that feels out of the norm for us. But, along with that comes the inspiration to find ways to do that for less.”

He equates the situation to seeing a well-dressed woman who has paired a $10 T-shirt with an expensive pair of designer slacks. “I think that combination is beautiful and sexy, a sign of modern times. It’s how home fashions should be addressed. If you have a heirloom piece, something that you’ve paid way too much for, partner it with something more affordable. You’ll get a great look and great style.”

For Surmelis, interior design is instinctual.

When he was 6 years old he began rearranging the furniture in his family’s home.

“I was always dragging stuff around. I would get up when they were sleeping. It was a never-ending battle,” he said of his parents’ attempts to get him to stop.

“One day, we were living in an apartment in Chicago at the time, I did my usual thing. My mom went to stop me and my dad stopped her. He said, ‘I don’t know why, but every time he does this, it looks better,'” Surmelis said.

Eventually he was able to take this “affection,” and turn it into a career, appearing on television makeover shows, including “Rate My Space” on HGTV.

“Depending on the budget, we were using what people had or buying new furniture. We were creating our own projects, design work and using furniture in new ways,” he said.

Surmelis also had his own interior design business and often designed specific furniture pieces for his clients.

He called creating his own line a natural progression. Although he had been approached with offers to lend his name for furniture collections, he said it wasn’t until he was given the opportunity to use his own designs that he felt the time was right to launch angelo:HOME.

Debuting last August, angelo:HOME started with upholstery and just recently added a line of bedroom furniture, including beds, dressers, nightstands and media cabinets, as well as a line of bedding that includes duvet covers, shams and pillow cases.

He said it would be hard to put a label on his style. “I’m a traditionalist in a way, but I love to play with tradition. I think the collection feels that way. It feels familiar when you look at it, but it’s fresh and new.”

His modern twist means adding traditional elements, such as nailhead trim on chairs and sofas or castered legs, to modern pieces with clean silhouettes.

Surmelis said good design doesn’t have to be trendy and should be something a person can live with and grow with. “And in a way that they don’t feel they are breaking the bank to do.”

Although he dreads using the word eclectic to describe his own style because it is so overused, Surmelis said his designs, both in his home and in his work, really don’t have a specific style.

“The best way to design a room is to look for different types of styles to mix together. I don’t want a room to look like it was picked from a catalog. I want it to look like it evolved over time.

“I don’t want to live in a museum,” he added. “Sometimes what we see in a magazine, although it’s beautiful, it’s not how we want to live. I don’t want people to come over to my house and say it’s beautiful but they are afraid to sit down. The ultimate compliment is to sit down in a chair.”

In addition to comfort and quality, Surmelis is concerned about how his furnishings affect the environment. He is a member of the Sustainable Furniture Council, which, in turn, resulted in changes in his thoughts about packaging his products for shipping. All of his pieces are manufactured to fit in a single box without polystyrene fillers. This enables the furnishings to be shipped directly to the customer from the warehouse, helping save fuel.

He also uses recycled steel for the springs in his upholstery and is considering eco-friendly fabrics.

Surmelis’ designs are available at Kohl’s.com as well as Amazon.com, Costco.com, CSNStores and Overstock.com2, and they are expected to be in Costco retail stores starting in early summer.

For additional information about Surmelis or his work, visit his Web site at angelohome.com