DZ Miholer Designs is now located in the former Bell Pipe & Supply building at 1106 West Michigan Avenue in Three Rivers.

DZ Miholer Designs received a “Brick Award” from the Three Rivers Area Chamber of Commerce during the organization’s Annual Dinner in late September.

The rationale for the recognition was very evident as the relatively new Three Rivers business celebrated its new quarters at 1106 West Michigan Avenue with a November 5th ribbon-cutting and open house.

The “D” and “Z” of DZ Miholer Designs are Darcy and Zach Miholer, an entrepreneurial couple who launched their interior design and custom upholstery business from their home in 2004.  After two years there, the growing enterprise moved to a larger location in rented space at 2 North Main Street in downtown Three Rivers.  Over the following two years, the business outgrew that spot as well, prompting them to purchase the former Bell Pipe & Supply building in 2008.

Ambassadors from the Three Rivers Area Chamber of Commerce and family members participated in the November 5th ribbon-cutting ceremony at the new location. Zach is at the left, holding 2-year-old daughter Maycie. Next to them is Darcy with two other Miholer children, 7-year-old McKenzie and 10-year-old Charlie. Not present for the picture was a fourth Miholer child, 12-year-old Bailey. In the second row (left to right) are Chamber Ambassadors Debbie Leer, Melissa Barlow, Barry Miller, Lynn Lorenz, Lisa Ludwig and Ben Harrison.

Zach said the new location is about four times larger than the downtown store.  He said, “We have about a 3,000-square-foot furniture showroom.  We also have a flooring showroom that’s about 800 square feet and, also, we just added on a kitchen and bathroom showroom so we have it all.”  (Zach_Miholer_audio clip – :17)

Renovating the building has presented challenges and is “an ongoing process.”  Zach said, “I don’t think we’ll ever see the end of re-doing this building, but we’ve come a long way.  We’ve put a lot of sweat equity into it and I remember hauling a lot of their shelving to the dump.”

Darcy also talked about the process of transforming the building into the showplace one finds there now.  She said, “Hauling everything away was the first part, but we painted everything.  I created all the lighting fixtures.  We took down all of the fluorescents that were in here, took down a bunch of walls, put up some new ones in different places.  We tried to keep the industrial aspect so we kept all the exposed plumbing and duct work and stuff like that, but a lot of paint, a whole lot of paint, inside and out.”

Darcy is a natural when it comes to design.  She said, “I’ve been doing this since I was a kid, literally.  My parents let me do my first bedroom when I was 12 and it just stirred something in me.  I’ve loved it ever since.  I’ve had formal training and I’ve gone to school and am still in school, but this is just something that’s been in me forever.”  And she added, “I absolutely love what I do.  It doesn’t feel like working coming in every day.  And, when I can come up with a design for somebody that they love, there’s nothing better than that.”  (Darcy_Miholer audio clip – :15)

Regarding his role in the business, Zach said, “I have a background in business.  I run a lot of the business aspect, and an art background, and I’m heavy into the flooring and the window treatment aspect of our business.”  He said, “I do a lot of things that she (Darcy) doesn’t do so we kind of complement each other well.”

This interior view illustrates the great job Darcy and Zach Miholer have done in transforming an industrial building into the new home for their business.

In describing their business, Darcy said, “We kind of do everything.  We do interior design consulting for the do-it-yourselfer, and then we also supply the products that they would need for their home if they want us to do it for them.”

DZ Miholer Designs is open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.  Darcy said Sunday hours are “coming soon, but not quite yet.”

To reach the business by telephone, call the store at (269) 278-1607 or Darcy’s cell phone at (269) 209-3970.

You’ll also find the business online at www.dzmiholerdesigns.com.

To learn more about DZ Miholer Designs through a River Country Journal interview with Darcy and Zach Miholer, conducted by Bruce Snook, click here (6:14 – 5.71 MB).