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Progressive Floor Coverings dba Fantasia Interiors celebrates 40 years

Posted 7/19/22

Big life decisions bounced around Yvonne Wyman’s head as she looked out the train window, headed for Chicago. She was on a school field trip from her coal-mining farm town of Virden, Ill., just 25 …

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Progressive Floor Coverings dba Fantasia Interiors celebrates 40 years

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Big life decisions bounced around Yvonne Wyman’s head as she looked out the train window, headed for Chicago. She was on a school field trip from her coal-mining farm town of Virden, Ill., just 25 miles outside of Springville with a population of just over 3,400.

Watching as Illinois’ flatland flew by, Wyman, a junior in high school, wondered what she would do with her life. She had the gumption to start a new life elsewhere and wanted nothing else but to leave Illinois, but where? Fashion design would take her east to Miami. Interior design would take her west, and Wyman adored the West.

“I didn’t even know I liked interior design,” Wyman said, but she saw it as a means to travel and go all out on a new daring venture.

Wyman’s high school advisors set her on a path to Arizona where Scottsdale Community College (SCC) offered a full-fledged bachelor’s degree in architecture. With her dog Sarah by her side, Wyman packed her bags and set her sights on Fountain Hills.

Wyman grew up showing horses in small-town Illinois, but her decision that day set her on a new trajectory, one which she looks back on with delight.

Wyman moved out West on her own and her family soon joined her. She graduated from SCC in 1983 and began working for various interior design centers in the Valley before starting her own business out of her parents’ downstairs living room. After some time, a couple of Fountain Hills residents by the name of Bruce and Betty Rogers began to take an interest in Wyman’s business. Bruce Rogers, who has since passed, was a real estate broker and one of the first salespeople for McCulloch Properties, the original master developer of Fountain Hills. The Rogers were fond of the young entrepreneur in search of opportunity and told her that they wanted to help her business thrive.

“Bruce and Betty Rogers confronted me one day and asked me if I wanted to have them put me into business,” Wyman recalled. “They wanted to help me expand because they could see that I was a go-getter.”

Wyman agreed and called her business Fantasia Interiors with the slogan, “Beauty Begins in the Imagination. We Bring Your Dreams to Life.”

As the Town of Fountain Hills began to take shape, Wyman’s business took off. She included Progressive Floor Coverings to her title to attract more developers in town. To this day, Wyman provides interior design for custom homes, duplexes, eight-plexes, 16-plexes and has completed several local condominium projects including Fountainhead, Morningside, Thunder Ridge and Alta Vista. Her interior design can be found in houses from Desert Mountain to the Superstitions.

As the business grew, her work began to take her out of town to larger projects including a ranch house at the Bar Flying V Ranch, a sprawling 88-acre cowboy ranch in Springville, Ariz., and several science buildings for the renowned Biosphere 2 in Oracle, Ariz. Wyman was even afforded the chance to tour the facility before any team of Boispheriansians began their missions.

For a few years, Wyman experimented with a side business called Stellar Vision, where astronomically correct stars, moons and galaxies were painted across home ceilings. She was commissioned to paint hotel ceilings, museums and hundreds of Valley homes, honing her technique in her parents’ home where her nightscapes are found in every bedroom to this day.

Progressive Floor Coverings dba Fantasia Interiors has occupied various buildings around Fountain Hills but has spent the last eight years at its current location within the Plaza Fountainside shopping area. Their showroom is filled with creative new home improvement products and services flooring, custom window treatments, cabinetry, appliances, carpeting, tile and granite, luxe fabric, wall coverings, custom furniture and a Hunter Douglas window covering gallery.

Wyman’s design process begins with the belief that each project is different. She and her team always complete an in-home consultation to determine the client's needs and build a design concept with selections of fabrics, furniture, window coverings, and accessories.

Once the final decisions are made, Wyman works with contractors and vendors to complete their projects on schedule.

Despite her major projects, Wyman isn’t big on putting her business up on a pedestal. She doesn’t get professional pictures of her jobs, many of which take months to complete.

“I’ve just never been like that,” Wyman said. “I’m interested in pleasing the client more so than the public.”

With 40 years of interior design, Wyman’s endurance speaks for itself. She is trained in structural design and prides herself in understanding substrates and implications for plumbing and lighting – ensuring her designs work both physically and structurally. She has received numerous awards for her interior design and has been a National Federation of Independent Business member for 30 years and an International Furnishing and Design Association member for the last 20 years.

For Wyman, the best part of owning her own business is witnessing the satisfaction of her clients, “especially when they see the before and after, you know, gutting a house and then redoing it.

“The other cool thing is becoming friends with my clients,” Wyman added, telling of one client who invited her to Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wis., to catch a Packers game.

“I’m not even a Packers fan,” Wyman said. “But everybody said, ‘You gotta go! You gotta put it on your bucket list!’”

Wyman credits Bruce and Betty Rogers for their generosity and early interest in her ideas. They saw the same go-getter mindset and courage that guided her decision that day on the train to Chicago.

“I’m still here,” Wyman says, reflecting on 40 years of business. She plans to celebrate but is still deciding on how or when. “Maybe an 80s disco party or something, who knows?”

Progressive Floor Coverings dba Fantasia Interiors is located at 12605 N. Saguaro Blvd., Suite 2. The business is open Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information, visit fantasiainteriors.com or call 480-837-0650.