Cynthia Huffines & Associates displays range of designs in new Elon studio
- lblomquist
- Feb 23, 2018
- 5 min read
By Lilly Blomquist
On the corner of Williamson and Lebanon avenues, an interior design studio bursts with different hues of color, various textures and a range of patterns. Inside the studio, shades of beige, green, purple, bronze and cream are splattered across the room, which is filled with furniture, from plush couches and frosted glass tables to crystal chandeliers and broad bookshelves.
Creating for her clients
Cynthia Huffines & Associates, an interior design company, has moved locations from a home studio in Guilford County to 100 Williamson Ave. in downtown Elon to introduce her current and potential clients to the wide range of designs she can create for their homes. After nine months of renovating the space, Cynthia Huffines, the owner and lead designer of the company, opened the studio the first weekend of February.
At this new studio, Huffines said she intends to showcase examples of the company’s various design projects and demonstrate that she tailors the design of each home to reflect her clients’ interests and desires.
“What they want always comes above any dream I have, so my projects all look very different,” Huffines said. “I want it to look like I wasn’t there. I want to get into their mind and bring out whatever it is they’re trying to make it look like. I always try to reflect my clients’ taste and what they want.”
Huffines said she strives to execute each of her client’s unique plans, which is why her designs lack a consistent or distinct style. Her new studio reflects the company’s multiplicity of styles.
“Each design is uniquely their design,” Huffines said. “Most designers have a look, but I don’t. It’s whatever my clients want.”
Huffines said her clients’ plans guide her projects because she understands the home’s significance in people’s lives. She said she believes homes should represent their residents and serve as a welcoming and comforting place for them to relax, unwind and create fond memories.
“The goal is to create beautiful havens for my clients,” Huffines said. “People feel like the world is out of control. People are invested in their homes because they feel it’s safe.”
Huffines currently has about 25 clients from as far north as New York to as far south as Naples, Florida. Her clients consist of single individuals, married couples and families with children.
These clients can hire Huffines for an initial assessment of their homes and to seek advice on furnishing details, like choosing paint colors, for $295. Huffines can also rearrange her clients’ existing furniture for $600 during a half-day meeting. For a majority of her projects, Huffines works on designing entire homes, which include apartments, cottages, houses and estates. Clients pay $150 an hour for the interior design service.
In order to tackle her clients’ projects and accurately reflect their visions, Huffines travels to her clients’ homes to meet with them, assess their homes and discuss their design preferences.
When Huffines is not traveling, she is meeting with contractors and architects, specifying and planning details for her clients’ homes or working in the studio on paperwork and measurements.
Huffines said her clients usually lack an understanding of the level of precision and detail that these projects entail. Despite the complexities of the process and what Huffines called immense paperwork, she said witnessing her clients’ satisfaction upon the projects’ completion makes the hard work worth it.
Expanding at Elon
Huffines decided to open a new studio in downtown Elon to amass more clients who contribute to her business’s growth and success. She said this new location in Elon has facilitated the company’s expansion because it attracts a new demographic of students and their parents.
“Elon is energy and intellect and great diversity in its people,” Huffines said. “It’s just the best place to put a new business.”
Cynthia Huffines & Associates is open from noon to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday to inspire visitors with its decor, inform them about the company and present them with an opportunity to buy items on display.
Studio Assistant Kerri Gough works during the retail hours, so her work schedule revolves around interacting with students and other visitors.
“If I see them looking in the window, I tell them to come in,” Gough said. “A lot of people don’t really understand what we do or who we are, so I want them to feel welcomed.”
Sandy Szczepanski, the financial administrator of the company, said the new studio’s bright and upbeat interior has piqued students’ interest in the company. She said the design of the studio attracts a steady flow of visitors.
Alexis Vondran, a junior who is studying art history and arts administration at Elon, has been following Cynthia Huffines & Associates on Instagram since the summer. She said she was excited about the studio’s grand opening because the studio is “dreamy and chic.”
Vondran said she thinks the Elon location will not only bring larger audiences to the company, but it will also benefit the students.
“For Elon students interested in design and interior planning, I see partnerships and opportunities waiting to happen,” Vondran said.
Huffines spent years amassing and purchasing the decor for the studio to display the company’s many styles. Gough organizes and arranges these pieces to create an aesthetically pleasing environment for visitors.
A family affair
Huffines said this location is also personally meaningful to her because she grew up in Burlington and said she wants to give back to the place that helped her develop.
Elon’s School of Communications previously occupied this two-story, 2,500-square-foot space that was built in 1891. When the university’s 30-year lease on the space expired, Huffines said she knew this opening was meant to be.
“My first haircut was next door when I was two years old,” Huffines said. “My husband asked me for my first date three doors down. It’s like I was always supposed to be here on this corner.”
This location has also been an important part of her family’s furniture business, which has been in effect in the Burlington and Elon areas for 70 years.
Through the new studio location, Huffines not only hopes to serve her clients, but she also said she aims to honor her grandfather and parents and carry on the family’s name.
“My grandad and my parents in heaven are looking down,” Huffines said. “There’s not a day that I don’t want to be in here.”
In 1948, Forest Canady, Huffines’ grandfather, started a furniture and appliance company called Canady Wayside Furniture on West Webb Avenue in Burlington. Her parents, Joe and Dee Sexton, took over the business and moved locations to the corner of Williamson and Church Street in 1960. Huffines’ family sold the business in 2001, which was when Huffines decided to launch her own design company.
Ever since attending the University of Georgia and pursuing the school’s interior design program, Huffines has been passionate about designing. After graduating in 1983, Huffines worked at the High Point furniture market and at Thomasville Furniture before starting her own company.
“I could work 23 hours a day,” Huffines said. “Ever since I left design school, there hasn’t been a day where I didn’t want to do this. I don’t take it for granted that I found my passion.”
For the future of the business, Huffines said she wants to continue sharing her passion with others in hopes of inspiring them with timeless and personalized designs. After the company’s 16-year lease expires, she said she hopes someone who is dedicated to serving the clients and creating meaningful homes that appeal to them will take over the business.
“I would love to grow this business for the next designer that will come in and take over a successful design business with 70 years of history to it,” Huffines said. “I’m doing it for the next designers and the younger generation.”
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