What really makes a house a home is when your personality shines through. But that can be difficult to do when you feel like you have to settle for less at the only chain furniture store you know in a new city. COCO Interior is trying to change that, one home at a time.

COCO Interior specializes in custom-made curtains, but they work in such a way that they are like a secondary interior designer helping to bring your vision to life – no matter how specific that vision might be. They look at the room or home as a whole, and can also help with rugs, carpets and cushions to bring everything together.

Truly Made to Order

One of the big problems with DIY interior design ironically stems from internet searches, something which should theoretically make it much easier. A lot of the larger companies now offer “custom-made” (ōdā meido) curtains, so if you search that term, those companies will be what pop up first.

But the thing is, depending on the shop, all they usually do is provide curtains cut to your desired size. You can speak to staff at the shop, but without seeing your room, they can’t help you with truly personalized service.

That is what sets COCO apart. They go above and beyond to bring your design together. One of the key ways they do that is by visiting your home to see the existing style and get a feel for the atmosphere. It’s important not only for them to understand how the curtains might fit with the color theme, but also to see how light might interact with the room, whether certain fabrics would be out of place, or whether the curtains should work as a centerpiece or blend into the background.

This is also accompanied by questions about who else lives with you, which may change the requirements. Someone who works late nights may only be present for the cooler evenings, whereas their partner may be at home during the day and want more light to come through. These lifestyle differences are an essential factor in the design process.

A World of Variety

All of this comes after a reserved consultation where you can go into as much detail and explore as many styles as you like at their boutique in Meguro. The staff have worked on a variety of jobs, from very specific, high-end projects to helping those building a new home from scratch.

COCO has a surprising variety of products and services to cater to these various needs. From flat curtains to mountain folds, or delicate lace to heavy fabrics, they have almost every size and shape imaginable. On top of that, everything can be customized to make life easier, including creating add-ons to help wheelchair users, for example.

The variety continues year-round, too. While many other interior design and curtain shops may buy discounted styles in bulk that serve as their stock for the entire year (or longer), COCO makes sure to follow trends and popular designs to keep things fresh. One section of the boutique is swapped out every three months with their latest brand collaboration. At the time of writing, their latest display is a beautiful collection of Morris & Co. curtains and other interior items featuring William Morris designs like the ever-popular Strawberry Thief.

Even in the world of interior design, things are often changing—so COCO changes its services to better suit customers’ needs, as well. One of the latest additions to their services is a set-up of electronic curtain rails to integrate with Smart Home features.

When setting up electronic curtains at a customer’s home one day, the customer asked “Could you hook it up to our Smart Home system?” While any other shop staff may have simply said no, since this was not an existing service, COCO staff member Ryo Yamashita decided to research the process and agree to help the customer with this new query. Now, this is an additional service that they can offer when setting up.

Reaching Your Home’s Full Potential

When asked what advice she would give anyone unfamiliar with interior design, shop owner Yasuko Koide said to be aware of the pitfalls of order-made items: “Not all order-made items are custom-made.”

It can be hard for a first-timer to know what to look for when walking into a furniture or curtain shop, as there can be the illusion of variety. There may be lots of different colors, but only a few different shades, or very few different materials. Choosing the right one might seem easy at the shop, but once you bring them home, you realize something is off, or they don’t fit the room in the way you’d hoped. They may be order-made in the sense that you ordered them to fit your window frame, but have they really been customized to fit your room?

COCO makes sure to avoid that issue entirely, yet without being overwhelming. Although you are surrounded by different options during your consultation, the staff will first hear out your needs and ideas, and then bring you different options one by one. This helps you figure things out without simply walking around and picking up something eye-catching – which may not be what your room needs in the end.

Koide’s other piece of advice was to come to COCO as early in the design phase as possible. Some people fall into the trap of buying curtains at the very end of the process, but this should be seen as a part of the design as a whole. “Just as with an order-made suit, different materials can affect your curtains,” she adds. “It can really change how they move and how the room feels.”

Overall, COCO is a very welcoming place that is happy for you to come back time and again to discuss your preferences and has no issues with you bringing your children to the boutique or taking your time to browse their styles. Rest assured, you will not only have a lovely experience, but a lovely new addition to your stylish home.

MF Building 501,3-14-8 Kamimeguro, Meguro- ku
0120-499-455
coco-web.com

(You might also be interested in: JK Interior: Modern home-renovation solutions)