Published: August 17, 2008 12:28 am            

Rebecca Stubbs: for the well-dressed home

Rebecca Stubbs has been in the interior design business for at least 20 years, but this year has marked a huge milestone in her career.

For years, Stubbs worked from her vehicle, keeping home decor items in a warehouse and getting jobs through word of mouth. But last month, she was finally able to open her own home decor shop, where clients can comfortably browse through bedding, furniture, vases, candle holders, and anything else they might want to make their homes more beautiful.

Stubbs named the shop Rebecca Stubbs Home Couture because couture means "well-dressed" and she is looking to fill the area with "well-dressed homes."

Stubbs has already made a name for herself across the state as a home and commercial interior designer, but she thinks the shop will grow her business even more.

"As my business grew, I needed assistance and I needed a place to display my merchandise," she said. "I want to have a place where people can come and really enjoy things."

Stubbs is the wife of Modern Garden and Landscape Design co-owner Eric Stubbs, and is the former owner of the Reflections of the Modern Garden gift shop, which she sold five years ago in order to focus on interior design.

Rebecca Stubbs Design is for everyone, she said. She'll do any job from designing the interior of a new commercial business to helping a client re-arrange the furniture in their apartment.

"We like to do re-design," she said. "We like to go in and use their things, and move things around. We will work with what the customer has, we will add to it. We well take away."

No one, she says, should feel their job is too small to call in the interior design team of Rebecca Stubbs and her assistant, Andrea McClellan. Doing so, she said, can save a lot of time and money because professional designers can get the job done faster, and re-design can eliminate the costs of buying more furniture.

Even customers who come into the shop just to buy a few items get design consultation. Stubbs will help them buy items that work well together, or can help the find the items that will fit best in their home.

"The design is in the details," she said.

Stubbs said the best thing about having a store is having the help of talented employees like McClellan.

"It's been so great to have help of talented, creative people," she said.

Stubbs said she did not go to school for interior design, but always had a knack for it, and learned the business from her mother-in-law, Helen Stubbs. "She was my mentor," she said.

Stubbs said that, though her new store is located just down the street from Reflections, she means to complement, not compete with, them. "We carry different kinds of items, like bedding," she said. "I've tried to open up with things that nobody else has."

Rebecca Stubbs Home Couture is open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and on Saturdays by appointment. They will have a drawing for a $100 gift certificate at the end of the month.

For more information, visit www.rebeccastubbsdesign.com.

        

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