Patrice Davis has a vision for Hollister residents.
It’s not exactly world peace or the end of famine and
disease
– though she’d probably like that too. Rather it’s the
opportunity for people to bring great style and comfort into their
homes without breaking the bank or succumbing to the traditional
decorating constraints and she’s doing it with her newly opened
business, Heatherfields, on Sixth Street.
Hollister – Patrice Davis has a vision for Hollister residents.
It’s not exactly world peace or the end of famine and disease – though she’d probably like that too. Rather it’s the opportunity for people to bring great style and comfort into their homes without breaking the bank or succumbing to the traditional decorating constraints and she’s doing it with her newly opened business, Heatherfields, on Sixth Street.
A first visit to the showroom can be empowering. The engaging arrangements, such as a chandelier draped with upholstery trim, or a pastel-painted garage sale table scattered with mismatched china could cause some people to ponder, “Oh, you can do that?”
Of course you can, Davis believes. In fact, she encourages people to break the molds of interior decorating when making a house a home.
“It’s your home!” she said. “There are very few rules. Go ahead and hang that lamp upside down from the ceiling if you want to.”
In addition to debunking old-school decorating rules, she demonstrates many of the design methods that she has taught herself over the years. Even clients for whom money is not an obstacle often enjoy using their own creative abilities to finish a wall or floor with Davis’ guidance.
So often, people looking to improve their home decor rely on age-old methods that are widely practiced, yet hardly efficient, such as the classic fabric swatch book.
“How can you tell anything from a 9 inch by 5 inch piece of fabric?” she asked. “You need to be able to see it, look at it, take it home and live with it.”
To make this possible, she buys samples of at least one yard from fabric suppliers as well as larger pieces for customers to examine. Many of the pieces festoon the furniture and other objects in her retail shop.
The store itself acts like a portal to her services.
And while Davis says everything is for sale, people often drop by the store to get closer look at the furniture, table settings, art and other design ideas used by other families she works with.
Patrice’s evolution into a home decorator began when she couldn’t afford the artwork she wanted for the walls of her own home. She took up watercolors to create the pieces that would fit perfectly. After awhile, an artist friend told her she could sell artwork after seeing it and for several years she sold her watercolors in galleries and other shops.
From watercolors she moved on to painting in oils and from there to decorative finishes such as faux painting, Venetian plastering and other surface treatments.
As she learned more about decorating, she grew to love the colors and textures of decorative fabrics. The furniture in the store comes from estate sales and flea markets, but are given new life via the refinishing skills of Christy Dohm, another local artist.
Davis and her mother had co-founded the first Heatherfield’s in British Columbia in the ’80s.
After moving back to California, then to Hollister ten years ago, she was inspired to re-launch Heatherfield’s here. Patrice timed her opening in November of 2004 to coincide with the Hollister Downtown Association’s Lights On celebration.
“Lights On was great,” she said, “and since then we’ve been overwhelmed by the community’s warm support.”
As for her vision, Davis would be the first to stay the future looks bright.
