Bring panache to your abode with Dash & Albert rugs, Juliska dishware and city signage.
In the color palette of Kate Kazlo's interior design world, "greige" is all the rage.
"A little bit of gray, a little bit of beige. I could live with greige forever and be happy," says Kazlo of the neutral color on display with many items at the Home Market, a lifestyle and home furnishings store that opened March 1 at Hilldale.
The 1,200-square-foot shop at the east edge of the open-air east-west plaza (next to Macy's) is the second location for the 10-year-old company. The other is a 2,200-square-foot space in downtown Milwaukee's Third Ward neighborhood.
The Hilldale store carries more than 300 product lines and will also provide designer and upholstery services and sell custom-made furniture.
The Home Market is packed full of furniture, bedding and bath items, rugs, dishware and knick-knacks to brighten and bring panache to any abode or apartment. Designer lines include furniture manufacturer Lee Industries, dishware maker Juliska, and Pine Cone Hill, which makes bedding and bathroom items, furniture and rugs.
Other stand-out pieces at the Home Market are decoupage trays by John Derian Company and striking replicas of Madison neighborhood and street signs ($94).
Rugs made by Dash & Albert — many resplendent in greige — start at $28.
The most expensive items at the Home Market are Lee Industries sectionals, with $3,500 to $5,000 price tags. There are 900 different fabric options for customers to choose from.
Kazlo describes her design aesthetic as clean and simple. She prefers items that aren't too cute or make people feel like they're "in a museum." She gravitates to clean lines and vintage items when selecting one-of-a-kind pieces on buying trips across the country.
"I love things to be soft and classic, [with] a great base and neutral [color], and then add on from there with a pop of color or fun pattern," says Kazlo. She has spent time as a designer with Shabby Chic, a retailer and home furnisher headquartered in Chicago.
The Home Market is one of the holdings of Karma Brands, an events, marketing and broadcasting company based in Beaver Dam that broadened its retail scope two years ago through its partnership with Kazlo.
Opening the Home Market in Madison is a homecoming of sorts for Kazlo, a Beaver Dam native who graduated with an arts degree from the University of Wisconsin in 1999. She honed her retail skills at Karen & Co./Sassafras, a women's clothing boutique on State Street. She considers store owners Karen and Dan Fix mentors and role models: "Their work ethic is unbelievable, and they treat their employees like family," Kazlo says.
Though she wasn't familiar with Hilldale during her stint in the city, Kazlo says it was an easy decision to expand the Home Market there. One difference she sees with the Madison clientele compared to Milwaukee is that Madison has a more dynamic combination of empty nest couples, college students, university employees and young professionals.
"Hilldale has a really great feel of mixing local shops and national stores, which I think is such a successful mix with retail these days," Kazlo says.
The Home Market 700 N. Midvale Blvd., 608-204-0454, shophomemarket.com, 10 am–9 pm Mon.-Sat., 11 am–6 pm Sun.