Creations moves into a new Century
Our business began in 1978 and it somehow the years passed until it was almost a new century. By that time we had 22 years of experience behind us. Our dad, who was also our CPA, always pushed us to purchase a building for our business instead of renting.
We purchased the Rawson Home in the late 1980’s. We ran a second business for 11 years called “From Our House to Yours”. We specialized in home dec fabrics, antiques, eclectic junk and other great stuff. It was never financially successful and we often referred to it as our little albatross. However, when we needed to move from our downtown location, we had a place to go. (Thank you Daddy!) Without a place to go we would have closed.
The Rawson Home was built in the late 1800’s so when we decided to move Creations to this location we knew we had to renovate the house and enlarge the space.
As they started on the renovation, we discovered lots of issues as anyone does in an old building. We used our entire renovation budget on the front porch.
It was worth it as we have now been at this location for 22 years.
The house was so precious and we wanted to be known as the “Turn of the Century Add On”. We were determined for visitors to see our beautiful house and not know where the add-ons occurred. The wonderful group of people helping us did just that. No one ever says “Oh – that’s were they added on”!
We moved into our new location towards the end of 2000. We loved the challenge of display with all the high ceilings and rooms.
In those early years, we made sure we put everything we could think of in the store.
What a display challenge. We loved the mixture of garments, quilting, and gifts.
Over the years, we have definitely refined our look.
In 2008 we had been travelling for 10 years to quilt shows around the state. We did 15 years at the Houston Quilt Festival with the same 6 people going each year. What a crew we were. After 15 years, we knew it was time to stay closer to home and we purchased the building across our parking lot with the intent of building a retreat center.
It was quite a sight with the orange shutters and aqua paint!
We decided to tear it down and start again. Certainly glad we did!
It took nearly a year to get the permit from the city to build and another year to complete the job.
We were blessed to have been able to bring some great national and international instructors to The Main House. Such well known instructors as Kaffe Fassett, Jen Kingwell, Gloria Loughman, and Sue Spargo taught for us. With the arrival of COVID we are no longer offering sponsored retreats, but The Main House is open for private rentals. Each group can set their own standards of safety. If your group is looking for a place to retreat, you can check the availability: Rent The Main House
Our goal is to continue to provide our customers with a great shop and retreat center. With your help, we will continue to write the next chapter, although it will be much shorter!!
We are always so grateful to those who have stood by us through the years.
1. Two of the gals, Corine and Val, were working with us before we moved to our current location. (That’s over 22 years.) A special “thank you” to Ginger Cullins for keeping pictures. If it was left up to us, this post would be much shorter and without any pictures! (She was part of Creations for over 20 years)
2. To Linda Coffee, who was our Project Manager at The Main House and who is still here as the property manager.
3. To our Mom and Dad who made it all possible with their support.
4. To Sharon Dinsmore who has kept us up with technology for over 30 years. Believe me, we would have folded many years ago without her support.
5. To Maisie Meredith who worked with us for 36 years.
6. To all our wonderful customers and friends who have gone with us on this “adventure”.
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