Hidden Treasure

BY RAEANNE MARSH

PHOTOGRAPHY BY SCOTT SANDLER

>>> D. Frank Designs, Scottsdale, Arizona

Debbie Frank and co-owner Darrell Merrick.

Whether it's the Moulin Rouge bed dressed in a red and white striped bedspread and matching headboard or the patent-leather lamp standing on a 1930s buffet, the items that fill D. Frank Designs' furniture and accessories boutique in downtown Scottsdale are testament to owner Debbie Frank's credo that home décor is influenced by fashion. The tagline for her business, in fact, is "Your home, fashionably dressed."

"I wanted to be a fashion designer, but I don't sew and I don't draw," Frank admits. Then, as she puts it, "I fell in love with furniture." As a salesperson at Phoenix-based Newport Furnishings, she relates, "I worked so much out of my head" putting together styles and then the fabrics for customers' homes. Her success in translating her vision into an image the customer could perceive contributed to her standing as a top salesperson and trainer company-wide.

She also gained a thorough knowledge of furniture from the outside in. This expertise was part of the impetus for founding D. Frank Designs in 2007.

"I want to be an advocate for designers," she explains. "I know how [the furniture] is made, and have inside information on other fabrics." Her knowledge of manufacturers that supply branded lines to certain retail outlets also enables her to help clients find the same pieces at a lower price.

Frank represents more than 70 lines of furniture and accessories. These include Robin de Vick's hand-painted pillows, richly embellished candles from Sir Oliver, Studio Chic pillows with Swarovski crystals, Blue Fish accessories such as flocked candelabras, and Paris-based De Versailles's antique reproductions of wood furniture. Recently, true antiques have also been added to the mix as individuals have approached Frank to represent them. Home accessories that also emphasize fashion include works from local artist Lorna Wallace, whose pop-culture art pays homage to Dior, Tiffany and Chanel, among others.

An eclectic mix of fashionable furniture and accessories marks the intimate showroom.

Classic mingles with vintage looks throughout the boutique. "I was inspired by juxtaposition," she shares. Dining tables will be surrounded by their respective matching chairs, but Frank purposely plays up the concept of contrast in all other display arrangements.

And then there are her own private-label "The Collection by Debbie Frank" pieces, such as that eye-catching Moulin Rouge bed and her Empire wing chairs, which offer a stately statement with their tall, tufted backs. A contrast in many regards, the Enfant chairs are more open-framed (available in various finishes), with a small oval back and cushioned seat available in animal prints. Frank's design for her Vanity oval ottoman is a scalloped oval, a shape she feels adds greater versatility to its use in a room. Influences she cites for this hand-produced and -finished couture upholstery collection are, not unexpectedly, names revered in fashion: Betsey Johnson, Louis Vuitton, Chanel.

Frank also helps clients with custom projects. "I have access to people who have worked with Disney and Universal, [to do] a complete theme like the skyscape of Manhattan for a theater room." It's a whole environment, she emphasizes, from construction to such touches as a pillow-like rock. "Crazy stuff," she says with a laugh.

Frank has been settled since last November in her downtown Scottsdale location, across from the new SouthBridge development, but she still recalls the hectic two and a half weeks in which the move from her previous locale was accomplished. More serendipitous than planned, the move has given her much greater exposure to walk-by traffic, to which her boutique offers a plethora of impulse buys.

D. Frank Designs is open to the public, but Frank offers discounts to the trade that vary with the product line.

D. Frank Designs, 7107 E. Stetson Drive, Scottsdale, AZ 85251; (480) 874-1310 or www.dfrankdesigns.com.