From Paint Store to Diversified Home Services: The Lake Interiors Success Story

For a story on adaptability in a changing market, look no further than Lake Interiors in Chelan, Washington. 

Don Cantor opened the store in 1992 as an 800-square-foot paint store. Located in a tourist and agricultural area that features a 50.5-mile-long lake, the resort area was a haven for second homes and retirees. Today, Chelan is a thriving year-round community. In addition to providing interiors solutions for single-family homes, vacation homes and full-time rentals, Lake Interiors does business with commercial building owners, condominium homeowner associations, retirement communities and apartment complexes. In its third year, owner Don Cantor added a carpet division, and the company moved to larger buildings over the years as they diversified into flooring, window coverings, and water restoration. 

Water Restoration

Lake Interiors joined CarpetsPlus in 2002 and it was the same year it entered the water restoration business. 

Lake Interiors was doing regular business in collaboration with a water restoration company 35 miles south of Chelan. After that business opened a floorcovering store, Cantor and his business partner decided to get into the water restoration business since they already knew the insurance companies and the adjustors.  

“Everybody knows that if you own a house, you have a 99% chance of having a water problem in your lifetime,” Don Cantor said. “Water restoration doesn’t depend on what the economy’s doing.”

Cantor and his brother-in-law got certified in water restoration. They made a $25,000 investment in equipment—air movers, humidifiers, carpet extractor—and started the restoration business. 

“We were sprinting within a year,” Cantor said. 

Once a business owner invests in equipment, Cantor said the largest expense is labor for the demolition and repair work. Cantor said they acquired their general contractor license, and the team subcontracts plumbers, electricians, drywall and painting contractors as needed. Today, water restoration is over 12 percent of the company’s business, with very high gross profit margins. 

“Once you own your equipment, you’re renting it out to every job,” he said. “A typical job is three to five days.” 

Window Coverings 

Window treatments offered another area of diversification. The company teamed up with Hunter Douglas, which offers premium products and sales tools.  

Jon Cantor, who runs Lake Interiors window covering business, said the Hunter Douglas mobile selling app simplifies and streamlines the selling process. 

With the mobile selling app, I’m able to go into a customer’s house and enter in their measurements, show them pictures of the products, show them videos of it‚—we can look at the color swatches right on there—and before I even leave the customer’s house, they have fully built quote,” Jon Cantor said. “It has really helped our close rate.”  

Hunter Douglas also provides installation services; a certified installer will measure and install the job.   

“When somebody wants to buy a new floor, it’s just a natural addition to be able to add the window coverings with it,” Cantor added. “When we’re selling flooring, we’re selling the protection like the Scotch Guard add-ons, carpet cleaning packages, but you really want to protect your floors from UV fading.”  

Today, window coverings make up 15-16% of their business also with high gross profit margins, and exterior shades are the next area for growth.  

“Outdoor spaces since Covid have been the huge explosion,” said Jon Cantor, who runs Lake Interiors’ window coverings division. “Being able to offer that all-season outdoor space—that they can have opened up in the summertime when it’s nice and then close that down and still be able to enjoy it in the winter with heaters—is a huge advantage.