Photo by Leah Ingram Eagle.
Owner Ann Marie James in March moved White House Interiors from Greystone to the former Hancock Fabrics space in the Brook Highland Shopping Plaza on U.S. 280. Beyond furniture for all rooms, there will be an in-store art gallery, lighting showroom, bedding showroom, rug gallery and floral department.
Ann Marie James has been doing the HGTV thing long before it was popular: house flipping, design and real estate. Staging houses since 2005, James would buy and sell furniture to keep her staging inventory fresh, and it grew so much it became another venture for the business owner.
“I thought opening White House Interiors would be a supportive business to the other two, but it took on a life of its own,” James said. “I had no idea we were going to grow this big.”
James originally opened a showroom for White House Interiors in Greystone in October 2017 but found herself needing to expand as demand grew. She recently moved into her new 18,000-square-foot showroom in the Brook Highland Shopping Center. She said the shopping center recruited her pretty heavily to open in the former Hancock Fabrics space, which had been vacant for a while.
“They felt like we would be the right fit to bring life back into the shopping center, and they liked that we were a local company,” she said.
All new inventory was brought in, tripling the amount she normally kept at her former space. The pieces James sells are transitional, and she describes them as “a cross between the clean lines of Restoration Hardware and the feminine lines of a classic, elegant European style.”
“These items can bridge the gap for those stuck in a traditional look, but interested in a newer, lighter, fresher look,” she said. “What we tend to do best is just the newer, simple, neutral, classic elegance.”
Because the company is doing so much in-home personal design, James wanted her designers to be able to have everything they needed at their fingertips. She has intentionally set out for White House Interiors to be a one-stop shop in Birmingham for everything a person needs for their home. Beyond furniture for all rooms, there will be an in-store art gallery, lighting showroom, bedding showroom, rug gallery and floral department.
“Our primary focus on everything we are doing is to be the best quality for the best value,” she said.
When pricing her merchandise, James said she checks prices online and tries to go below that. The store will deliver for $99 in the Birmingham metro area and farther out for an additional fee.
She said the adrenaline she had in her former career as a labor and delivery nurse helps her work under intense circumstances. Her husband is a retired banker who has worked right along with her during the process.
“He loves it. He said a million times he wouldn’t do anything differently,” she said.
Their son handles the financial side of the business while James stays focused on staging, furnishings and now the new store. She said they stay busier than they probably should and continually look for ways to find balance, some of which comes from spending time at their lake house when they have the opportunity.
James also continues working in real estate, and she and her husband, along with their son and daughter-in-law, own a small boutique real estate company. She partners with real estate agents and helps with staging and pricing, as she knows what it takes to sell a house for the most money in the quickest time.
James has her staff in place and describes them as friendly and caring people who genuinely love what they do, making every customer feel important.
“My objective is to take all the finest furnishing in home decor and sell it in large numbers at a reasonable price,” she said. “I want to appeal to the masses and offer all price points but a good value.”
The store’s mission statement is to “be committed to releasing beauty and peace in the homes of our clients as led by the Holy Spirit.”
“We set out to make a peaceful, fun and gorgeous place to minister to us and our clients. When customers come in, they say how peaceful it is. Some days it ministers to random people who come in, and it certainly ministers to us,” she said.
The store is located at 5209 U.S. 280 S., and its hours will be Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
