Megan Conboy and Shane Briggs have combined their love of home decor, shopping, and refinished furniture in the launch of their new business — Dogwood Decor.
Open since Sept. 21 at 205A E. Main St. in Front Royal, the new shop offers cultivated, affordable home decor with a whimsical, homey vibe, the couple said.
“We want to give people a good shopping experience,” Conboy said. “It’s not necessarily about the buying. There’s something to be said for just having a nice place to go and have fun looking.
Really my favorite thing is when people come in and you see their face brighten up a little bit and they say ‘oh this is fun.’ That’s really the experience that we want to provide people.”
While the couple is still experimenting with inventory to determine what shoppers want, the store is chock full of serving bowls and platters, vases in lots of shapes and sizes, a variety of candles, glassware, and bold, unique pillows.
Vinyl floorcloths with striking patterns have been popular, Conboy said. Available in a variety of sizes, the easy-cleaning mats are ideal for kitchens, bathrooms, and dining rooms, and for homes that have children and pets, she said.
Shoppers will also notice a few books around the shop, alongside mushrooms peeking out among the wares. Conboy said she found the decorative mushrooms while buying for the store at markets in New York and Atlanta.
“We have a few different types of mushroom decor right now,” she said, adding that the white-topped mushrooms are mango wood, carved from a single piece of wood. “They fit into that whimsical, forest-y inspiration. I just thought it was something fun to add a little bit of character.”
Briggs’ refinished furniture has also been a hit, with most pieces sold in the month since the store opened.
“The fun part for both of us about the store is that I get to stay pretty decently involved with the furniture. That’s my story here. This is all her eye, her taste, her everything, and then I kind of put my little pinky in when someone buys a piece of furniture — and all I want to hear is how beautiful it is,” Briggs laughed.
He said that a group of friends helps locate furniture for refinishing projects, seeking out affordable, well-made pieces that can be sanded, stained, and repainted.
“That’s a lot harder than you’d think right now. That is the hard part,” Briggs said, adding that the projects are also very labor intensive. “The reason we do it — and the reason so many people do it — is it’s a good option for people because you get that quality furniture and it doesn’t look like it should have your grandma’s doilies on it.”
A one-man refinishing team, Briggs likes to combine painting and staining on his pieces.
Noting the prices of new furniture, Conboy said, “What you find in stores is expensive and the quality is not good — we wanted to bridge that gap a little bit.”
In fact, one of the goals of the store, Briggs added, is to stay “very affordable” for shoppers.
Conboy has experience in the boutique business, having worked after college at Sugar Magnolia, a shop owned by her mother Maryanna Conboy. Maryanna Conboy closed her brick and mortar locations in Leesburg and West Virginia and now does pop-up sales of her merchandise in the Northern Virginia area, but shoppers can also find Sugar Magnolia jewelry, bags, and accessories at Dogwood Decor, Conboy said.
Briggs, who owns Briggs Renovations, has been flipping housing for about 10 years, most recently in Shenandoah County. The couple was looking to settle someplace closer to Northern Virginia where they grew up — in a place that offered a small town feel with the conveniences of a more urban area.
Engaged since 2019, the couple considered some neighboring towns before landing in Front Royal in November 2022.
“I didn’t want to live anywhere else. Once we got the house here, we were fully committed to Front Royal because it’s just perfect,” he said.
For more information, visit Dogwood Decor on Facebook.