After many years of collecting and building quite the personal inventory of decorative elements such as furniture, florals, seasonal items, and home decor accessories, Vicky Thomas’ home attic was her decorating playground. Vicky’s personal creative escape began to establish a reputation and life of its own. Jokingly, friends and family started to ask her, “When can we come shopping in your attic?”

Thus, From The Attic: Home and Seasonal Decor was born. Vicky’s son, Lance, after finishing up a stint on an HGTV reality show, moved back home from Los Angeles and joined up with Jamie Lewis, an accomplished interior designer of 20 years to become the lead creative forces behind the From The Attic.

What sets your business apart from others like it in Lake Charles?

From The Attic’s mission is simple: Service. With every team member a Certified Interior Decorator, we strive to be much more than a retail store. From the in-store experience to the on-site decorating executions, we can ensure our clients with expertise, attention to detail, and most importantly — unparalleled service.

Where do you get your merchandise?

Our team travels all over the country to markets in Las Vegas, Dallas, Atlanta, and High Point to name a few to find the most unique and stylish decor items. Many of the items in the store are also created in house or by local undiscovered artisans in the Lake Charles area. Such items include custom monogrammed linens, pillows, hankies, and tea towels for any occasion — perfect for wedding, birthday, seasonal or baby gifts. We also carry a line of custom lamp shades by Mindy Shwarzauer of Three Blind Mice designs. Much of the artwork and antiqued furniture pieces and accessories, floral arrangements and wreaths are all created in house as well.

We are a onesie, twosie, one- of-a- kind sort of store. We steer clear of retailing multiples of one piece on shelves. We hope to make all of our merchandise special, because there is nothing worse than investing in a nice piece and walking into a neighbors home to see the exact same piece there. We want our guests to fall in love with an item and not leave without it because it may not be there tomorrow.

What services do you provide? What classes do you offer?

We provide full interior decorating services for the home, both seasonal and everyday. We provide a Christmas tree decorating and rental service as well. We also teach decorative painting classes with our top of the line Maison Blanche decorative paint. Other classes being added to our schedule will consist of floral arranging, wreath making and editorial gift wrapping for the holiday seasons.

How would you describe the style or feel of the store?

The style and feel of our store is unlike any other retail store. It feels as if you are walking in to someone’s home. All of our merchandise is showcased in stylish and editorial vignettes to really capture the beauty of our merchandise.

What seasonal decor do you offer? When will you offer it?

We offer decor for all seasons from Christmas to Mardi Gras, Spring to Fall. Our seasonal decor will always be integrated into our vignettes year round. We hope to inspire the guests of our store to experiment with seasonal decorating and hope to showcase new and inventive ways to decorate for all seasons.

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Send your Businesswise suggestions to Lance Traweek, American Press, P.O. Box 2893, Lake Charles, LA 70601; or email suggestions to ltraweek@americanpress.com .

Business Snapshot

• Location: 3505 Country Club Road

• Owners: Vicky Thomas, Lance Thomas and Jamie Lewis

• Services: Interior Decorating and Design, Home and seasonal Decor, Painting Classes, Custom arrangements and furniture refurbishing.

• Hours: Monday-Friday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Sat. 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., extended hours closer to the holiday season

• Time in business: 4 weeks

• Employees: 3 Certified Interior Decorators

• Phone: 656-2878

• Email: Lance@fromtheattichome.com, Jamie@fromtheattichome.com, Vicky@fromtheattichome.com

• Website: www.fromtheattichome.com

The From the Attic team travels all over the country to find unique and stylish decor items. Many of the items in the store are also created in house or by local artisans. (Rick Hickman / Special to the American Press)

Rick Hickman