kate MIDDLEman
Example of a trendy bathroom design in Toronto

Kate Shilhan
Inspiration for a coastal kitchen remodel in Toronto

Kate Shilhan
Home design - coastal home design idea in Toronto

Showcase Photographers
Inspiration for a mid-sized cottage master dark wood floor home design remodel in Nashville with white walls

Doors conceal both the linen and laundry closet
Small elegant single-wall carpeted home design photo in San Francisco with an undermount sink, flat-panel cabinets, beige cabinets, limestone countertops, beige walls and a stacked washer/dryer

Example of a mid-sized transitional freestanding desk dark wood floor and brown floor study room design in New York with beige walls and no fireplace

Nobody would be foolish enough to knowingly purchase PIZZA using a third party call-center middleman.But every day, thousands of people do exactly that when they purchase flowers for delivery! That’s because a NEW TYPE of “florist” has appeared on the scene. And that means most flower buyers pay as much as 50% MORE than they should pay! Finding A Floral Supplier When a prospective flower buyer wants to buy flowers, his first stop is usually the internet. The author’s flower shop is in Charlotte, NC and the two most widely used search terms in this area are: “Charlotte flowers” and “Charlotte florist.” When the customer searches for either of these terms, he will get a list of results. Paid results (advertising) are usually shown first. Organic (website) results come after the advertisements. When a customer clicks on an advertisement, he is usually taken to a beautiful website owned by a call-center floral middleman offering beautiful flowers, hand-delivered by a LOCAL florist. And the products are sales TAX FREE. But what is not revealed is that the middle man does not actually have a flower shop in Charlotte! The Difference Between Toasters and Flowers With “durable” products like toasters and sweaters, the location of the seller isn’t terribly important. That’s because the products will be shipped from a warehousevia USPS, UPS or FedEx. But flower arrangements are *fragile* and cannot be shipped that way! Instead, they must be locally custom-hand-crafted and hand-delivered! And this means that if a customer orders from a middleman’s website, the order must – somehow – be passed from the middleman’s company to a REAL local florist in, for example, Charlotte, NC. This “order transfer” is done by one of the three florist-to-florist networks: FTD, Teleflora and Bloomnet (1-800-Flowers). Too Many FEES and COMMISSIONS Membership in these networks is not free, so the middleman always adds a “handling charge” – typically about $15 -- to the customer’s bill to help pay for hiscosts to access to the network. Please note that the $15 handling charge usually far exceedsany TAX FREE “savings!” But the “handling charge” only helps pay for *access* to the network. The florist-to-florist network also takes a 7% commission, and also credits a 20% selling commission back to the middleman! What this means is that, for a typical online floral purchase, just under HALF of the customer’s money vanishes in unnecessary FEES and COMMISSIONS. By comparison, when a customer buys a toaster from an independent business listing it on Amazon, only a few percent of the purchase price goes to fees and commissions. With this huge profit potential available to third party floral marketers, it is not surprising that these middlemen spend huge sums on advertising and sales promotion. A few years back, one even took an ad during the Super Bowl! Buy Direct For Better Value Clearly, the consumer will always get His Best Floral Value by placing his floral order DIRECT with a Real Florist n the City where the flowers will be delivered. Sometimes it may be difficult to tell whether a Flower Supplier is located “in town.”Here are three easy ways to separate a “real” florist from a floral middleman: 1. Look for the street address, city and state on the website. Often this will be found on a tab labeled “About Us” or “Contact Us.” If you cannot find an address at all, then this is almost certainly a middleman! 2. Look at the telephone number. If the only number on the website is a TOLL FREE “800” number, then the floral supplier is probably not local. 3. Look at the invoice (before you click the BUY NOW button!) for any “Handling” or “Service” charges. A REAL florist will never add these charges to your bill! For more information about Charlotte Flowers and Charlotte Florist, please visit the author’s Flower Hut website at http://flowerhut.com. BUT, if you do not want flowers delivered to Charlotte, Matthews, Mint Hill or Pineville, NC, please do NOT order from us! Take the time to find a REAL florist in the town where you need flowers delivered. You’ll be glad you did!

Backyard of a Northern Italian Villa Style home in a gated community called Pelican Crest in the secluded town of Newport Coast. This home is on Pelicans Road which is possibly the most exclusive cul-de-sac of Pelican Crest. The project started in 2006 and was completed by 2008, stone was supplied by one of our middleman local broker at the time. All antique limestone floors were the 'Arcane' Limestone blend which is a Mediterranean Reclaimed Limestone collection that is a few centuries old. This wonderful home has been featured in several media outlets and in both local and national print and digital publications. The home had been sold for about $15,800,000 in May 2013 by its original owners. It is now back on the market for a whooping $20,000,000 as of April 2016 if you like to know! Since 2010 We have seen more than 10 homes valued between $10M to $20M selling in this one gated community all of which contained our stone elements in one capacity or another. For more information about this unique Antique Limestone Floor Collection called the Arcane Limestone please contact our offices at: 212-461-0245 or email us at: sales@ancientsurfaces.com Here's the direct page to this Antique Limestone: http://www.ancientsurfaces.com/Arcane-Stone.html Enjoy!

Premium Hurricane Impact Garage Doors and Windows available at wholesale pricing. Empire Windows supplies high-performance, missile-rated glass directly to homeowners and contractors in Miami. Skip the middleman markup and buy factory-direct. In-stock options available for immediate pickup.

Small elegant gray one-story mixed siding gable roof photo in Charleston

A splendid room in New Hope PA features a beautiful fine hand knotted all over Persian design wool Oriental Rug from Nejad Rugs in Doylestown Bucks County close to Philadelphia, Princeton, Lehigh Valley and Montgomery County. The rug’s elegant light ivory background complements the light wall and moldings paint colors and sheer window treatments. The rug’s dark border works perfectly with the room’s black baby grand piano main focal point and the dark stone fireplace hearth. The sofa’s upholstery was carefully selected to coordinate with all of the rug’s colors and design motifs. Nejad Rugs is a leading designer, manufacturer and importer of fine Oriental rugs for over thirty years. Save by buying directly with no middleman’s mark-ups. Shipping Worldwide www.nejad.com 215-348-1255

A splendid room in New Hope PA features a beautiful fine hand knotted all over Persian design wool Oriental Rug from Nejad Rugs in Doylestown Bucks County close to Philadelphia, Princeton, Lehigh Valley and Montgomery County. The rug’s elegant light ivory background complements the light wall and moldings paint colors and sheer window treatments. The rug’s dark border works perfectly with the room’s black baby grand piano main focal point and the dark stone fireplace hearth. The sofa’s upholstery was carefully selected to coordinate with all of the rug’s colors and design motifs. Nejad Rugs is a leading designer, manufacturer and importer of fine Oriental rugs for over thirty years. Save by buying directly with no middleman’s mark-ups. Shipping Worldwide www.nejad.com 215-348-1255

We used: Custom cherry cabinetry in Arts & Crafts Shaker style by Kabinart in Boulder and Espresso stains. Liberty Hardware Venetian bronze 1-1/2" cabinet knobs. KitchenAid Architect II Series 22 CF counter-depth French door refrigerator. KitchenAid Architect Series II 27" convection single wall oven. KitchenAid 36" 6-burner dual fuel freestanding commercial-style range. KitchenAid Architect II Series 24" dishwasher. Sharp Insight Pro Series 24" built-in microwave drawer (Model #KB6524PS). Crystorama Solaris 12" wide pendant lights in English bronze. Granite countertops in Brown Fantasy. 3"x6" polished marble backsplash. Paint colors: Walls: Glidden Silver Cloud 30YY 63/024 Ceilings/Trims/Doors: Glidden Swan White GLC23 Robert B. Narod Photography

These traditional closet doors feature smaller, fixed louvers in the top and colonial raised panels in the bottom and are custom sized to fit your openings. To receive a quote on our Fixed Louver over Raised Panel doors follow the "Visit Store" link: below.

From Master Bedroom to Outdoor Shade. We Do It All ? Nairobi SWIPE → 1. LED Cove Gypsum Ceiling + Cream Paint + Skirting | 14th Drive, Kerarapon 2. Dark Walnut Built-in Wardrobe + Door | 3. Timber Slat Utility Screen | Kilimani 4. Steel Canopy Pergola + Landscaping | Kilimani Jongonga Contractors builds for diaspora clients in the UK, US & Canada. Full Interior + Exterior renovations with Remote Project Management + Weekly site photos. No middleman. ? WhatsApp a quote: +254 711 796374 ? Karen, Kerarapon, Lavington, Kilimani, Ngong Road #KeraraponHustle #KilimaniNairobi #KarenNairobi #LEDGypsumKE #BuiltInWardrobeKE #PergolaKE #TimberScreen #DiasporaBuild #NCAcertified #JongongaContractors #InteriorDesignKenya #ExteriorDesignKE

From Master Bedroom to Outdoor Shade. We Do It All ? Nairobi SWIPE → 1. LED Cove Gypsum Ceiling + Cream Paint + Skirting | 14th Drive, Kerarapon 2. Dark Walnut Built-in Wardrobe + Door | 3. Timber Slat Utility Screen | Kilimani 4. Steel Canopy Pergola + Landscaping | Kilimani Jongonga Contractors builds for diaspora clients in the UK, US & Canada. Full Interior + Exterior renovations with Remote Project Management + Weekly site photos. No middleman. ? WhatsApp a quote: +254 711 796374 ? Karen, Kerarapon, Lavington, Kilimani, Ngong Road #KeraraponHustle #KilimaniNairobi #KarenNairobi #LEDGypsumKE #BuiltInWardrobeKE #PergolaKE #TimberScreen #DiasporaBuild #NCAcertified #JongongaContractors #InteriorDesignKenya #ExteriorDesignKE

Transform Your Long Island Home with Factory-Direct ExcellenceFor over 35 years, Royal Windows and Doors has been the trusted local name in crafting premium, energy-efficient solutions for homeowners across Nassau and Suffolk counties. As a true family-owned manufacturer, we cut out the middleman to deliver unmatched quality, flawless custom designs, and stress-free professional installation directly to your front door.Whether you are looking to elevate your home's curb appeal with a stunning custom entry door or improve efficiency with our precision-engineered casement and sliding patio doors, our expert team brings your unique vision to life. Experience the Royal difference—where premium craftsmanship meets competitive, factory-direct pricing.Contact us today to get started on your custom project!? Call us today: 631-435-8888? Get Your Free Quote Now: royalwindowsanddoors.com

Collaboration with Canonbury Homes and Frank Neely Design Associates.
Inspiration for a timeless open concept kitchen remodel in Atlanta with beaded inset cabinets and two islands

In the expanded walk-in pantry, our client decided to dress up the storage space by adding custom base cabinetry and coordinating shelving. The countertop and shelves are a rich, cherry wood. Bead-board finishes off the look and ties in with the adjacent, country kitchen.