ESTERHAZY — Interior design has been something Sarah Feltz has been drawn to for some time. With a diploma of Interior Design in hand, plus years of renovation experience, she has recently opened the doors of Handpicked Interiors, a tile and flooring store, on the southeast end of Esterhazy.
“I started Handpicked Interiors in the fall of 2021, so it’s been about three-and-a-half years that I’ve been doing interior design,” Feltz said. “I focus mainly on renovations and helping homeowners with kitchen and bathrooms from start to finish. Through that, I got a little bit more familiar with what people are looking for in terms of tile and flooring and what’s all available here. I noticed there was a little bit of a gap in this general area for the things that I was always looking for, so my husband and I bought this building in December, renovated it completely, and decided to make it into a tile and flooring store.”
That building was formerly JJ’s Steak House, now completely different in appearance from its former restaurant days.
“It’s had a few lives,” Feltz said of the building. “It’s been a restaurant for like 60, 70 years, so it’s had a long life that building!”
For homeowners who want to update their nest but need a little inspiration, Feltz says stepping into Handpicked Interiors might just inspire them.
“Our store itself is a full retail showroom, so we have a bunch of different tiles on display — floor tiles and wall tiles,” Feltz explained. “Whether you’re looking for your entryway flooring or your shower wall, we have a bunch of different options. We also have every type of flooring — luxury, vinyl, plank and tile, hardwood, solid and engineered carpets — everything. We can help you find what matches your situation in terms of the budget you have and where it’s going, and what you use your space for.”
Handpicked Interiors also does installation of what they sell.
“The thing we usually get asked the most is if we have an installer or not,” Feltz said. “We have an installer for everything as well.”
Whether your project is a complete home design, room-specific, renovation preparation, or even just a consultation session, Feltz can custom-tailor the right fit for people’s needs.
“We can definitely help you with figuring out what would be the best option—we have multiple options for every type, so we can go through the pros and cons of each one and help you figure out which one makes the most sense,” she said. “If you’re looking for just flooring or tiles, you can just stop by the showroom and we’ll help you on the spot to figure out what will work, or what might be your best options. If you’re looking for design services, then I usually start with an hour consultation where I’ll come to you and then we can discuss whatever it is that are the main issues you’re having or the main things you’re wanting help with. After that, if there’s more services that you’d require, I price it out project by project, and we go from there.”
Unlike the home renovation shows on TV, proper interior design isn’t something that can be magically brought together in under 30 minutes. Great results do take a little time, but that investment is definitely worth it in the long run, says Feltz.
“I usually like to say you want to leave a good two to three months for the design part,” Feltz advises. “Sometimes, work will start while we’re just finishing up the design, but usually if you give yourself a good two months before you expect things to actually start happening, then you’ll have a comfortable time frame to figure out what you want and make sure you can get it in time.”
Since opening the storefront, Feltz has noticed business increase, growing every day.
“It’s starting to pick up a little bit more now,” she said. “We’ve had more people hearing that we’re open and they are learning a little bit more about what we have. We’ve had a few weeks of people coming in and out.”
As with many local businesses, shopping local is important to the team at Handpicked Interiors.
“We tried to do as much as we could when we were renovating the store itself,” Feltz said. “There’s been a lot of different local businesses that we reached out to first for everything before we went anywhere else, so it’s certainly something that we try and promote whenever we can. Even if there’s something we don’t have, if we know that somebody else does have it, we certainly let you know.”
Feltz added that Handpicked Interiors has many one-of-a-kind styles unique to her collection.
“We have a lot of options that you won’t find elsewhere in terms of brands for both flooring and especially in our tile selection,” she said. “We have a really unique tile selection for this area. There’s a lot more handmade and patterns that you won’t typically find even in Yorkton.”
Feltz says Handpicked Interiors is the answer for those who favour something beyond the ordinary.
“It’s for anybody who’s looking for something that might be a little bit different than the standard stuff you’ll get at a hardware store,” described Feltz.
