The doors of New Orleans Custom Linens were first opened on Magazine Street in New Orleans in the Spring of 1995, and soon we were recognized as the premier specialty linen shop in town. As we ‘mastered’ linens I realized that other parts of the home deserved equal attention and the shop was expanded to include furniture, accessories, books, and all things that enhanced the beautiful linens that were our genesis.

Our website was introduced in 2003, and I immediately found our audience to be far wider than expected. It has been my intention to develop this part of the business for several years—it has been a matter of time and planning until I felt ready to make the leap into cyberspace. Early in January 2005 New Orleans At Home became a reality. The website was registered, and plans were made to convert our business on Magazine Street, New Orleans Custom Linens, into one that encompassed all areas of the home and included items for all spaces. After returning from market in New York in August our new logo and designs were approved and everything was ready to move forward. Just a few short days later, everything was put on “hold” as Katrina roared through New Orleans leaving an indelible mark across her path.

All our plans were forgotten as we dug in and worked to re-open the store so that our customers would still have a resource for those things that they now needed. Our doors swung open on November 1, 2005—even while the broken windows waited for replacement. We all worked long and hard hours to help as much as we could to get business and Magazine Street back on its feet. Every time an old friend walked through the doors, it was a reunion. I never realized before just how precious each of them was to us. My plans to close the business and become an online enterprise would have to wait.

Katrina led all of us to take a hard look at the business in an effort to decide how it could survive. Sometimes it takes a storm through your life to remind you what’s truly important. I saw that the business in New Orleans was gone as it had been, and what was left was its spirit and heart.

And when I looked closely at that, I realized that what I most loved about my business was that it connected me with New Orleans—it’s people, it’s traditions, it’s history, it’s personality—it’s very essence. So, New Orleans Custom Linens is now gone. In its place I offer you New Orleans At Home—your online source for hand-selected products that embody our city’s essence, a facet of her beauty. Treasures—our mementos let’s call them. Items that will connect with you in some way to remind you that no matter how far away you travel, she’s never far from your heart. No matter where your house is now, you can always have New Orleans At Home.

In December of 2006 we closed our doors with the commitment to reopen them as New Orleans At Home, a bricks and mortar store now located in Baton Rouge, and as an online lifestyle store and magazine. After months of waiting for our new “old” shop to be ready, we moved in and began the task of adjusting to our new location. While living in Baton Rouge all these years and driving to Magazine Street several times each week, I never really envisioned what it would be like to try to relocate a “lifestyle” or a “way of perceiving those everyday things around us”. My greatest thrill was hearing new customers say “this is so great—just like it could be on Magazine Street”.

Now we are ready to open our doors “online” and let everyone, no matter where they might be, have a little New Orleans At Home as we showcase those things that have a New Orleans flavor and spirit. We look to fill our pages and our store with things that are a part of New Orleans life wherever we are living it. As always, the things that become a part of our store all have a certain quality that contributes to the character and personality of our store. When you have lived in New Orleans you know when something is “right”—when it is the perfect piece to complete your picture. It may be from New Orleans or places far beyond. It is the heartbeat of each item that determines whether it is for us, not its land of origin. New Orleans shares many characteristics with other places, but puts her own stamp on them in the way she pulls them together. That is what we do in our homes and gardens. That is what we do at New Orleans At Home.