creative interface for Faux furniture site.

v.2-3

this client wants a very creative look, none of that business-type, rigid stuff. Also WANTS a textured background, couldn't talk her out of it.

She has a business where she re-finishes furniture pieces using Faux painting. She does beautiful work and I want the site to reflect that, but it's difficult to make it look professional without being conservative. She wanted either purple or aqua/teel or blue, also a light gold, so I went with purple and gold.

This is a mockup I've been working on. Obviously not everything's right with it.

Suggestions, ideas please? I'd like to make it cleaner and more innovative.

One idea was using the upper left leaf design as a navigation, input on that?

Thanks,
cablemotion

It looks good. What I would do is have parts of the pages, like a header and footer that have the styles/imagery she wants but keep the main area clear for the content.

Personally i dont like it, i dont like the colors the background, or the text, and your almost going to have to make it open in a popup (which no one likes) because there is no way your going to get the background to repeat... but other then those things i guess its ok....

benmagga,

you mean have just the header and footer with the backround texture, and the rest of the page blank? I'll have to see how that works. That would require outlining the header and footer in a shape, right? I may try putting a semitransparent white box in the main content area so the text will show. Thank you for the comments and suggestion. I appreciate it.

x_fusion:

I'm not going to make it open in a popup. I have two options for the background. One, I've designed the background much larger, the picture I've uploaded is cropped. Is there any way to have a table set up to show more of the background if the screen has enough room, without causing scrollbars to appear on lower resolution screens? Does anyone know if this is possible?

Two, I may just encase the background in a simple design and have the outside area a plain color, which can fill the outside space regardless of the screen resolution of the viewer.

"i dont like the colors the background, or the text" An actual suggestion would be nice, instead of pointless negative feedback. Your post didn't have any suggestions to help make it better. Perhaps you didn't feel it was worth your time to make a helpful post, in that case I'd rather not hear your opinion at all. And the client likes the colors, the background, and the text right now. It may not be what you're used to seeing on a webpage, but it's what she wants.

Thanks for any other suggestions anyone can offer...

I think the fonts and the graphics work together very well.

I like the "plain color outside area" idea. Try a nice dark background -- black, perhaps? it will make the colors more vivid.

Also, a subtitle would help, something that expalins the purpose of the company (like "Furniture Refinishing and Sales)

as far as spanning the screen area.... I use MS Publisher -- it does it automatically, I believe. You can visit one of my pages and and lift the code, if you want: http://home.kc.rr.com/slova/
(don't be afraid to try out the link half way down -- it's harmless) ;)

looks good mate -keep it coming!

thanks for the replies.

While I've always loved the contrast of a black background, I try to avoid it as many seem to view it as 'unprofessional'. I don't know, I'll decide later but I think a lighter background might fit the atmosphere of the site better anyway.

Nice idea about the subtitle, I haven't incorporated it yet, but this is a version I did a couple days ago:

http://saffasartworks.com/Nana/mock%20site%202-6.jpg

Comments? Better? Worse? What to add?
The two navs with boxes are previews of the rollover.

It's still not quite what I want or the client wants. She likes most of it but there's some things that need to change yet.

Thanks,

cablemotion

I think the 2nd version is better but have you thought about the total page size at all? The version you are showing us is already at 70KB with no content. The general consensus is to keep each page under 50K in order to keep the attention of 56K modem users and I am wondering how you'll pull that off with integrating an even bigger background to prevent it from tiling?

What is the scroll bar/frame for?

I have not optimized this for a site yet. This is just a flat image of it right now. Once I optimize it and split it up, it will load fine. But I'm still not done with it.

The scroll bar/frame is for conceptual purposes, as is the rollover box. I plan on using iframes.