Barnaby's is a Homeware and Furniture store with two locations; there is one in Battle High Street, and another store in Guestling Green in East Sussex. There are also many online shopfronts on Etsy, Vinterior, LoveAntique, etc. for Barnaby's. The purpose of the website was to first and foremost unite the two sides of the store (Homeware and Furniture) so it was obvious that they were part of the same business - a lot of the online shops are listed as "Lovage" from a previously named shop. Secondly, the website needed to act as a big business card in the sky for any shop visitors to be pointed to, and for online visitors to be directed to the high street location. The target audience was mainly local residents and families aged 35-55 years old.

Challenges & Requirements

One of the biggest challenges was working with the Homeware side’s online tools. They use a service called Faire for buying and managing stock, and Faire connects to a free website builder called Square. We looked into adding Faire’s inventory system to our own custom website, but Faire’s tools weren’t reliable. So we decided to build the Homeware page using Square directly, since it worked better with their existing setup.

This decision helped us stay within the client’s tight budget, but it also meant we had to work around Square’s limits. Another important goal was making sure both the Homeware and Furniture pages looked the same, even though they were built using different tools. Addtionally, there were some early issues with the domain name. Their old domain, barnabysofbattle.co.uk, was still linked to an outdated site. We helped the client get access to it and then redirected it to the new site, saving them the hassle.

Planning & Strategy

We started by designing a simple homepage with two buttons: one for Homeware, one for Furniture. This made it clear there were two parts to the shop, but also that they belonged together. We used subdomains (separate web addresses under the same site) so we could link to the Square-built Homeware page from this central homepage.

We kept the structure of the site simple: an About page, a Contact page, and a Products page. The Homeware section needed proper eCommerce tools, including a shopping cart. The Furniture section was more like a product gallery. It didn’t need online checkout, but we included links to Etsy and Vinterior for anyone who wanted to buy something online (these were optional for the owner to add for each product).

Initial sitemap of Yes Dental website.

Design & Development Process

We originally built the Furniture site using Payload CMS, but the client asked us to switch to Directus CMS, which they were more comfortable with. Since only two staff members were working with us, decisions were made quickly, but replies took time since the shop was always busy.

Each side of the website had to feel the same, even though they were built in different systems. We matched layouts, fonts, and colours so visitors wouldn’t feel like they were jumping between two unrelated sites.

For the Furniture section, we made it easy to upload 10 to 15 photos per product. We also made sure the client could quickly copy information from Etsy or Vinterior when adding new stock to the site.

The client preferred to write their own content, as they had a specific tone and style. We supported them with the setup but left the text and keywords to them. Since the focus was on local traffic, we provided guidance such as the need to use keywords like “Battle” and “near me” regularly.

Styleguide of Yes Dental website.

Feedback & Quality Assurance

As mentioned earlier, feedback took time because the staff were so busy. But once we got it, it was very clear and helped move things forward.

The main requests were:

• Switch from Payload to Directus
• Make product uploads faster and simpler
• Adding bulk uploading for photos
• Remove some extra features on each product listing

We tested everything across devices and made sure it worked well on both desktop and mobile. We also checked the speed, navigation, and overall layout to keep it as easy to use as possible.

Wireframe of Yes Dental website.

Results

Even though the budget was small and there were limits on what we could do with Square and Faire, the final result met all the client’s needs. The website now:

• Connects the Homeware and Furniture sides of the business clearly
• Guides online visitors to the physical stores and vice versa
• Lets the client update product listings quickly and easily
• Matches the look and feel across both sides of the site
• Keeps the original domain name, now redirected properly

The client was especially happy that we helped them avoid paying for extra tools they didn’t need and that everything was designed to work within what they already used.

Yes Dental website statistics recorded on 23rd March 2025.

This project shows how we can work within tight budgets and still deliver a website that works well and looks great. By keeping things simple and listening to what the client needed, we built a site that ties the two halves of the business together and makes it easier for customers to find and shop at Barnaby’s, both in person and online. Additionally, it shows that we were flexible to the client's requests since we had to change to a new CMS midway through the project. Since there was a lot of time between feedback, it meant that a lot of progress would be made and potentially all be reverted.