Crate & Barrel Wants to Give You Design Services for Free—and Its New Store Is the Future of Furniture Shopping

Crate & Barrel has been such a stalwart in the interior design world for a long time, making style and elegance accessible to the masses. And if you don’t know about its popular Design Desk service, you’re going want to to listen up. It gives customers access to interior design experts at no cost. Yes, you read that right—it’s free!

The Design Desk launched in 2020 and is available at Crate & Barrel stores. All you have to do is book an appointment at a store (although sometimes you can just walk in) and a Design Desk Pro will help you with any interior design question you have or styling advice you need. Want to redesign your whole living room? They’ve got you with floor plans and layouts! Not sure what to do with the table in your entryway? They’ll help you zhush it up!

Crate & Barrel

The service is so popular with shoppers that the brand made it a centerpiece of its new stunning, 18,420-square-foot store in Walnut Creek, California, which just recently opened. The store’s Design Desk is located in a large rotunda with soaring windows and impressive light fixtures. Swatches and samples are thoughtfully displayed so customers can really feel and see what the finishes and fabrics look like.

Crate & Barrel

“It’s [the store’s Design Desk] a great prototype among a few other stores where we’re working on expanding and really continuing to provide more options for the customer around Design Desk,” Crate & Barrel Brand President Alicia Waters says. “I think it’s a great new way to showcase this experience that we care so deeply about. Like the way that we display these swatches is different than other design desks that we are in.”

In addition to the store’s Design Desk, there is so much more to inspire and delight inside. This new location is actually smaller than typical Crate & Barrel stores, which gives it a boutique feel. The one-floor, open floor plan gives customers an easy and efficient shopping experience, helping them go from “room to room” and showing off the products in different and inventive ways. Every home category is represented, and Alicia adds that this store is the first to include the brand’s new bath vanities.

Crate & Barrel

“When it came to laying out the floor, a single level store allows you to cross-merchandise categories in ways that feel more real and more like a true home,” says Sebastian Brauer, Crate & Barrel’s SVP of Product Design. “You’ll typically go into our stores and we have entertaining and kitchen on the first floor, and most of the furnishing upstairs. Here, you start to see how the home has evolved into more open, great room—you have your kitchen open and it faces the living room and the dining room. The store feels more like the way that customers are living today and allows for that moment of inspiration too. That starts the journey.”

The store also pays homage to its location—the exterior of the building features a vibrant mural by Oakland-based artist Casey O’Connell. If you’re interested in stopping by, it’s now open at 1201 Main Street, Walnut Creek, CA 94596.