By Shayna Mace
For Katie Guindon, owner of Hartland’s designXchange, buying furnishings and décor secondhand has been a constant in her life. When she was younger, and setting up her first place, she bought from consignment and secondhand stores. She even worked part-time at a consignment shop. During her career as a retail buyer and interior designer, she would help clients donate furnishings in anticipation of dreaming up new looks for their spaces. That’s when she realized the area lacked a high-end home consignment store.
Sixteen years ago, she opened designXchange, a home décor consignment shop, in a former schoolhouse off Capitol Drive. She’s since moved to her current spot in Sendik’s Plaza, which houses ample furnishings, décor and wall art. Guin- don also operates designXchange Porch & Pantry, which sells kitchen and garden items, and Wooden Hanger, a women’s clothing consignment shop. The latter are both in Pewaukee.
Customers love perusing the store’s carefully curated, themed vignettes with classic, farmhouse, midcentury modern and other styles.
Guindon says it was tough during the beginning of the pandemic — but now, she can‘t keep items such as sofas, dining room tables and wall art in stock. She attributes this to the current homebuilding and renovation craze.
“I feel fortunate that people come to us — I have over 10,000 consignors in my list,” Guindon says. “With [that many] consignors you’re going to have a lot of stories that go with it, and that part is really intriguing.”
600 Hartbrook Dr., designxchange.biz