When you’re a child, they say there is no better place than grandma’s house. For me, there couldn’t be a truer statement. My grandmother was kind, loving, and everything that I could ever want in a grandma. Her house was magical, and it is where I first dreamt of Grey Barn Boutique.
Like many of you who grew up in the south, I spent my summer days playing in the yard with my cousins. Whenever we would visit my grandma’s house, we would all race to the broken down barn in her yard. It may have just been an old grey building to everyone else, but to us it was magical. My cousins and I began a running game where we would turn the old barn into our own general store. We would stack cans, make cereal boxes, and hang old clothes to make our store as lifelike as possible. It should come as no surprise that I insisted on working in the clothing section.
From those early days I dreamed of owning my own clothing store, but life seemed to keep getting in the way. I married a wonderful man, and had two beautiful children who are still the light of my life. I started a career in nursing, and I was very honored to spend my days making people feel better during a difficult time in their lives. Every now and again I would flip through a fashion magazine, and dream of the day when I would start my own business, but it always seemed so far away. It took the passing of my father in 2016 for me to realize life is too short to wait for a moment longer.
I started Grey Barn Boutique with a few boxes in the corner of my home before we upgraded to a beautiful brick and mortar store here on mainstreet in downtown Haleyville, Alabama. I’ve come a long way from styling my cousins in my grandmother’s old aprons! Now I spend my days helping women feel beautiful in their own skin. I especially love helping women who feel past their youth, but aren’t quite ready for elastic waistbands find their own style.