Fawn Brook Home Market

Once Griffin, Georgia, native Rhonda Cobb and her husband, Tonja, made the decision in March to open a home market on State Route 49 near Dadeville, the ball rolled quickly toward their opening last month.

In those few short months, Cobb left a medical career that spanned more than 25 years. She moved fulltime to the StillWaters condominium the couple bought five years ago and filled a 1,700-square-foot display space just outside of StillWaters with homey, comfortable lake furnishings and accessories. And she named the new endeavor after the Georgia street where she grew up.

“Fawn Brook is the street I grew up on in Griffin. My best childhood memories happened on that street, and here, I feel like I’m playing every day,” Cobb said.

She filled Fawn Brook Home Market with casual furniture – simple cabinetry that she loves and cream colored sofas with lots of pillows and cozy throws in the muted tones that area homeowners love.

“These hues make me feel good. They’re comfort colors,” Cobb said.

She added a soothing variety of blue accents in the table settings, vases and accents that she loves to change out on the dining tables to keep the displays fresh. She also offers an array of faux greens, beads and garden statuettes to draw on the lake penchant for bringing the outside in. And she has plans to expand.

“I’d like to double the size of the store. With a bigger footprint, I want to add outdoor furniture and carry dishes. We started small to put it together quickly, but we want to do more,” she said.

With her exuberant smile and all of 4-foot 11-inch height, Cobb feels like she’s landed in a beautiful space that is poised for growth.

Casual Comfort

Rhonda Cobb opened her home market store near StillWaters to make homey styles more accessible.

“The location is very visible, and that’s only going to get better as more businesses take up residence. We have an Italian restaurant coming in and a car wash,” she said. “It’s wonderful what the developer has planned here.”

Those two businesses alone will be unique in the Dadeville business market. In addition to Fawn Brook Home Market, severak other businesses opened in the shopping complex at the end of May.

The Cobbs and their two daughters discovered Lake Martin some 20 years ago after they bought their first boat.

“We put the boat on this very small lake near our home and thought that was fine, but some friends kept wanting us to come here. We resisted. Why in the world would we want to travel that far when we had the little lake only 2 miles away?” she laughed. “When we finally came here with our boat, we never took it anywhere else. Our girls grew up coming to this lake.”

The Dadeville community also was a big draw for Cobb.

“I like the smallness of the town. It’s friendly. Everybody knows everybody, and they’re so nice. They’re genuinely happy we’re here,” she said.

It’s a welcome change for the registered nurse who started in orthodontics and later moved to a position as an ICU nurse at a Griffin hospital. Later, she became director of a nursing home facility with 197 beds.

“I can tell you that there definitely is a nursing shortage,” she said.

All the while, she was buying furniture and accessories in Georgia for the weekend place in Alabama because there were no home stores in the StillWaters area.

“Tonja and I kept saying we should open a store in Dadeville,” she said.

When the couple decided they’d had enough of the long hours and late nights, they did just that. Cobb said they signed the lease for the Fawn Brook space the first week of March, and she put in her notice at work the following week.

“From there, it just snowballed,” she said.

The business is a natural for the location, Cobb added, and while it isn’t something she’s always dreamed of doing, it is something she loves.

“I always loved doing my own house, and friends would ask my opinion for their houses. I loved this line, the homey style. It fits a lake house,” she said. “A friend in Griffin has a store where he carries the same line, and he guided me.”

Since the opening, Cobb’s life hasn’t slowed down. The store has been busy with visitors and wellwishers, and the new merchant is delighted with the response.

The Fawn Brook Story Top: Rhonda and Tonja Cobb are transitioning to fulltime life at Lake Martin; Middle: The store features casual, comfortable furnishings in creamy hues; Pops of color in the inventory add interest.

“We’ve met so many people, and I feel like we’re becoming part of the community,” she said. “I love that.”