Painted White by Alice W. art. home life.

Even though Painted White is currently only an eCommerce store, we run our business as any brick and mortar shop would. Our hours of operation are: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from 10am to 6pm, Eastern Standard time. We refrain from conducting business related work and corespondence outside of these times. Saturdays, Sundays and Wednesdays are set aside for family and personal time. This includes customer care emails, website design work & correspondence, and processing of new orders. Please see our Policies for more information related to our business hours.

I try very hard to create unique website designs and graphics. Many of the elements that I use are from my own collection of ephemera, vintage finds, and my own digital creations. I also incorporate royalty-free images in my work. While my style may look similar to other designers out there, I do strive to give each a uniquely "Alice W." look and feel. I am most inspired by vintage, French/Parisian, shabby chic, cottage style, altered art and feminine themes, which is most often found in my work. This is not all I am cabable of, however, so if you are looking for a custom design style that is not listed here, I enjoy and am up for the challenge!

With custom design work, I will try my best to create a look that is fitting to the client's style and preferences. I do get requests for designs similar to pre-existing websites or graphic designs...and while I can use these as a reference for a design, I will not replicate or copy any design already out there.

You may notice that in many of my designs the same graphic elements or styles are used. While I strive to create unique designs, I do reserve the right to use graphic elements in other designs as I see fit. I will make every attempt, however, not to have any look too closely related to each other.

Please keep in mind that this list is only a partial list based on my own experience with owning and operating a website. You may find that you need more than what I have described here. To run a website that is compatable with one of Alice W.'s website templates you will need:

Below are a list of terms that we frequently use in describing website and graphic design work. Since many of these are often confused, we have given definitions to these terms as we mean them. This is only a partial list that may be added to in the future and should only be used in reference to our website and graphic design work. We have borrowed some definitions from Dictionary.com which you will find in quotes.

Template: refers to the overall layout of a website design that is reproduced on each page of a website. The code of a template is put in one area of your web manager, with specific codes, to allow your content to appear on the specified page. For our purposes a template typically includes two background patterns or colors, a header/logo image, sidebar graphics with links to other pages and categories on the left hand side, and your content on the right hand side. Copyright information is typically placed at the very bottom of the template.

HTML Code: stands for HyperText Markup Language and is the "behind the scenes," so to speak, of a website design. Our designs are created in html coding language, that will show up as graphics and regular text when published to the web. You do not need to have html knowledge to have your own website if you are using one of the hosts that we work with. We do, however, provide you with a Notepad document of your template's html code after we have installed it for you in your web manager, for you to keep as a backup should you ever need it in the future.

Graphics: refers to "computer-generated images" that are used for website and print designs (such as business cards, postcards or hangtags). For website designs, all of the graphics are created individually and are then put together in a template design.

Button: refers to a graphic that links to another page or shop category within a website template. We often put page link buttons, horizontally, below the header graphic in premade website designs.

Sidebar: refers to the content on either side of a website template or blog layout. We typically only include a sidebar on the left hand side for website templates, but both for blog layouts.

Sidebar Headers: refers to the graphics located on the sidebar that describe the links below them. Typically two are included in a website template - "Shop" with category links below it and "Details" or "Information" with website page links below it. Sidebar headers are not the actual links and should not be confused with "buttons."

Host/Hosting Service: refers to the company that hosts your website, web manager, control panel, images, content, etc. For our purposes we work with these three hosting services. You are required to sign up with one of these in order to purchase one of our website designs. Mistakenly, people often believe that we will be helping them add photographs, products, text/content, website pages, shop categories, etc. - this is all managed, by you, through your host, which is why we strongly encourage you to thoroughly research these hosts and check out their demo stores/sites before purchasing any of our designs. We generally do not offer help with website management outside of what directly pertains to your template design.

Premade Design: refers to a website or graphic design that is made by us and offered for sale without any preconceived ideas or graphics from a client. We offer both premade OOAK and Limited Edition designs. These are generally more affordable than custom designs.

OOAK: stands for "one-of-a-kind" and when referring to website designs and graphics, it means that they are unique to only one purchase. After a OOAK design is sold once, the design is not offered again.

Limited Edition: refers to a website or graphic design that is made by us, without any preconceived ideas or graphics from a client, and offered a specific number of times for resale - generally five (5) times for website designs. These are typically the most affordable website designs, however, your website design will not be unique, as other businesses may have the same design depending on how many of one design sells.

Custom Design: refers to a website or graphic design that is created with specific ideas/graphics/preferences given to us from a client. We attempt to take the information given and create a design that suites your specific needs and desires. These are typically the most expensive designs.

Orders are processed on a first come first serve basis. Typically my premade website templates will be installed within 2-7 business days (excluding Wednesdays) after I receive payment and the information I need for your design. I will send an email with these requests in response to your order. This time frame only applies where no changes to the design or graphics are needed - if these are required then your order will be worked on after all of my current design work is complete.

Please keep in mind that I am only one person and can only complete so much within certain time frames. I try my best to be speedy with my design work, but I do have other responsibilities and the rest of my website to manage. I appreciate your understanding in this manner.

At this time I am ONLY available to communicate with my design clients through email (paintedwhitebyalicew@gmail.com). During the day (and most nights), I am near the computer and typically respond to new emails as soon as I have read them. I will make announcements of any time off or away on the home page of my site to keep everyone informed of my availability. If you prefer to work by phone, I suggest that you look for another designer, as this is not practical for me at this time.

How much does it cost to add customization or graphic changes to Premade Website Templates? TOP

The fee for any customization or graphic changes that are not included with the template design, will be based on the individual request. If you see a template that you like, but want changes made to it, please contact me with a very detailed description of what you want altered/added/changed, etc. and I can send you a quote. The more details given, the easier it will be for me to give an accurate quote. Please note that not every request made will be accommodated. My own discretion is used in determining which ones will be. And please keep in mind that design change requests will move your installation to the end of my current schedule of designs.

This depends on many factors including but not limited to: the level of complexity involved in the web design style; amount of graphics desired; how quickly correspondence is made between myself and the design client; and number of revisions that needs to be made to each graphic element (typically three is included for each element before addtional charges are applied).

An average custom design takes approximately one month to complete, but with that being said, I have had sites take anywhere from two weeks to six months.

Each custom website design is quoted individually based on the needs and desires of the design client, level of complexity of the design, number of graphic elements involved, and estimated amount of time that will need to be spent on the design.

An average custom website design starts at $400 for a basic template and goes up based on individual preferences/needs of the client. A non-refundable deposit is required for every custom website design and is half the price of the total design fee. The remainder is to be paid upon completion of the design. The website design will not be installed until the remaining payment has been paid in full.

A basic template design (same design on all pages of your site), includes the following: a main header/logo design with your name and slogan, up to 5 "quick links" to other pages on your site, the following sidebar graphics and buttons: "shop", "details", "view cart", "add to cart" (text can be changed to your preferences), two background layers, and two banners for web advertising and link exchange purposes.

It does not include the following which can be added for additional fees: a splash (entrance) page, category buttons and headers, page buttons (other than the five mentioned above - all of your pages will be listed below "details" and are added by you in you management area), or page headers. These things can all be added but the charge depends on your needs and preferences.

Payments for custom design work can be made through my website. A listing is put up for the specific design and will have your name or business name in the title. I will contact you via email when your listing is up and ready to be paid.

No work will be started until payments are made, with the exception of Custom Website Templates, which require half payments up front and the other half upon your final approval of the design before it is installed. The design will not be installed until the final payment has been made.

Typically, I have a two to four week waiting list for any new custom design work. You will need to contact me, however, to verify an accurate time frame.

Why do I see blue/gray/black boxes around some graphics? TOP
Some of my website template designs (including my own) are created with .png file graphics that have a transparent background. Some browsers and/or computers, however, do not support these files, and therefore, they may have a blue/gray/black area where the transparent part is. If you are seeing this in any of our designs, then you are not seeing it as it was actually created. I highly recommend viewing them in the latest version of Internet Explorer whenever possible.

I am a self-taught graphic designer and coder and make no claims to be an "expert" in these fields. I was, however an art major in high school and art minor in college. It has always been my passion! When I was introduced to Photoshop a couple of years ago, and later to Dreamweaver, I became "hooked" on graphic design work. Out of this new passion, a career in website and graphic design was born. I am still learning, however, and discover new skills and design abilities all the time. I currently create my designs in Adobe Photoshop CS2 and Corel Photo, and my website templates in Macromedia Dreamweaver. I have not yet taken up learning flash animation, so I do not offer these in any of my designs or for custom work.

Do you do flash animation for website designs/graphics? TOP
At this time, I do not do flash animation. I do not have enough knowledge in this field to include it in any of my design work.

Do you print business cards? TOP
At this time we do not offer printing of any design related items including business cards, letter heads, stationary etc. We highly recommend 123 Print for your printing needs.