KAREN ARAKELIAN, OWNER OF WHITE HOUSE "DESIGNS FOR LIFE," ENTERED THE FURNITURE BUSINESS SOMEWHAT ACCIDENTALLY, BUT HAS MADE IT HER DOMAIN.
Arakelian opened her first retail furniture store, Red Barn Furniture, with the help of mother, Gloria, in 1978 selling American-made products. Years later when the demand for more formal furniture grew, and Arakelian was ready to deliver when she opened White House Furniture in Fairfield in 1982.
In 1994, Arakelian opened Uptown Country in Fairfield, an upscale, Hamptons-style country store. In 2004, Uptown Country moved to the Wayne location and Arakelian rebranded the new location by calling it White House Living - a shop for more relaxed lifestyles and casual homeowners.
In 2007, seeing a need for interior designers to have access to a local one-stop shopping location, Arakelian opened the trade-only division, To the Trade Design Resource. This division was later moved to the rear of the Luxe store and added to the White House Designs for Life umbrella by calling it the White House Design Resource. It is now considered home-base by many of the area's talented interior designers.
In 2013, grateful for having survived many challenges including a fire, floods and recessions, Arakelian decided to give back by founding The Gloria Foundation, a 501(C)3 for the benefit of domestic violence victims. Rather than selling the flood-plagued building that the trade division was in, Arakelian transformed the location to house Design Consign, a luxury consignment shop, with profits benefiting the Gloria Foundation.
In 2014, Arakelian wanted to create more synergy among her brands and developed the umbrella White House "Designs for Life" to encompass all five entities since they all work together for the benefit of the public.
Her latest venture is a state of the art Hunter Douglas Design Gallery in Paramus, NJ which opened in August 2020.
In addition to presiding over these businesses, Karen still takes time to do what she loves, interior design. She has designed homes in Hunter Mountain, Lake George, Beverly Hills, and all around the tri-state area.
Arakelian has been honored with a number of awards, including most recently the 2018 Home Furnishings Association Trailblazer Award and was named Retailer of the Year by the Greater Metropolitan Home Furnishings Association. She was named the Citizen of the Year by the Montville Chamber of Commerce and the Lakeland Hills YMCA. Her philanthropic work with the Gloria Foundation was recognized most recently by the Jersey Battered Women's Service in 2019 and she was awarded a Partner in Hope Award by Partners for Women and Justice in 2018.
Arakelian's businesses have been recognized as well. White House Furniture was named Suburban Essex Magazine's Reader's Choice 2014 Best of Essex for Home Furnishings (Gold) and Design Consign (Silver) for Best Consignment Shop; and, Best Website and Billboard from the Metropolitan Builder's Association. Recently White House "Designs for Life" was named by Furniture Today, the business newspaper of the furniture industry, as part of "Beyond the Top 100" home furnishing stores in the nation.
Karen is a proud mother of two sons, Dennis Arakelian, a marketing and hospitality professional in NYC, and Zachary Kahn, a hip-hop artist and Hunter Douglas expert.