WELCOMING & HOMEY

WELCOMINGLCOMING &Homey

Cottage Geneva profile

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By Louise Treeny Photos by Kelly Vanderploeg Photography

Picture this: It’s a January day in Traverse City, Michigan, where Jonna and Sean Kelleher are visiting. Jonna, keeping up a running joke, mentions “my shop,” referencing a dream space where she could curate her style of home decor. Sean strayed from the usual joke. “He said, ‘Why don’t we try it?’” she remembers. Things moved quickly after that — in April the two signed a lease on a small, first-floor space inside Geneva’s Berry House. They got the keys May 1 and opened June 10 after completely renovating the space, adding new flooring, a mantel, a faux tin ceiling and shiplap on the counter. “We can tell you what the Berry House looks like at 3 a.m.,” Kelleher says, laughing. The Cottage Geneva is a mix of vintage and wholesale cottagecore home decor. You’ll find a mix of neutral everyday and seasonal goods, which this year includes warm florals, Halloween decor, velvet pumpkins and natural accents like acorns and mushrooms. Sean makes by hand all the furniture for sale in the shop, beautiful natural wood pieces ranging from a full dining room set to console tables. “It’s small but very mighty,” Kelleher says of her shop. “It’s full, and full of love.” Kelleher’s parents both passed when she was a teenager, and she remembers living in 13 homes in a four-year span. None, however, felt like home. When the two bought a fixer-upper in Geneva four years ago and began renovating, they customized it to feel cozy, warm and, most of all, homey. “If I could give this feeling to someone else, that would fulfill me,” Keller recalls thinking. This became the foundation of her shop: to create “our neutral cottagecore vision” that feels inviting and offers goods that fit seamlessly into your home. “People say they feel that,” she says. “It’s more than I could ever have imagined.” A former emergency room nurse, Kelleher feels proud to inspire Cottage Geneva shoppers who have dreams beyond their current jobs. She says she’s met “so many people who have come in, who have dreams and want to veer off.” “It’s not always about the sale,” she notes. “It’s about the people.”

 227 S. Third St., Geneva (Berry House) 847-409-5834 The Cottage Geneva (Facebook) @thecottagegeneva (Instagram) www.thecottagegeneva.com

 THE COTTAGE GENEVA