Inside the sample library: how we pull 28 mills before you arrive

The showroom at the Laguna Design Center holds the sample library for 38 mills and brands: rolled rug samples on the wall, broadloom on the hanging racks, a table of poms, and a drawer for every mill's current price-free spec sheets. Designers who are nearby come in. The rest, from Seattle to Miami, work with it through us. Either way the library does the same job: it lets a designer see fifty options in an hour instead of fifty emails.

The rug wall

Every roll on the wall is a rug sample at a size you can unroll on the floor, which is the only way to judge a pattern's scale against a sofa. They are organized by mill and then by construction, so a designer who says "hand-knotted, wool and silk, something quiet" is standing in front of the right ten rolls in a minute. The racks to the right hold broadloom: hanging samples at full width, so a stripe or a plaid can be seen with its repeat intact.

Send us the plan first

The most useful thing a designer can do before a visit is send the plan: the room, the furniture layout, the fabrics and paint, and the brief in two sentences. We pull options before you arrive and lay them out, so the hour in the showroom is spent deciding rather than searching. The same service works at a distance: send the plan through the concierge page and we photograph the pull on the floor, then ship the memo samples from the mills the same day.

Memo samples versus the real thing

A memo sample is the mill's standard swatch, 6 to 9 inches square for broadloom, 12 to 18 inches for rugs, and it is what goes on a scheme board. It is also, for anything with pattern, a small part of the story. For a final presentation we send a larger piece: a cut that shows a full repeat, a corner with the border, or a strip across the roll. Both are complimentary for approved trade accounts and ship from the mill within 24 hours; the larger pieces take a day or two longer because someone cuts them by hand.

Ten samples, then a conversation

We ask for about ten memo samples per request. It is not a rule so much as a rhythm: ten samples ship the same day from the mills, a whole-collection review needs a phone call so we can pull the right things rather than everything. Designers who have worked with us for years know the fastest route is to tell us the room and let us narrow it. The samples page has the details.

What the library cannot do

It cannot hold stock. Every sample on the wall is a sample; the goods ship from the mill, which is why lead times are quoted by the style and not by the showroom. And it cannot show a custom color, which is what poms and strike-offs are for. What it can do is put the whole catalog, 4,800 styles, in reach of anyone with a trade account and an email address.

Visiting

Suite 150 at the Laguna Design Center, 23811 Aliso Creek Road, Laguna Niguel. Monday to Friday, 9 to 5. Appointments are preferred, because an appointment means the pull is on the table when you walk in. Forty showrooms share the center, so a carpet appointment fits between fabric and lighting without moving the car. Everyone else: email the plan, and we will meet you on the floor by photograph.