Gardenia Cottage Interiors
Home interior decorating/retail biz provides a path to share Christian faith
“The name, Gardenia, is in honor of my mother-in-law, who just accepted me into the family right away,” Davis said. “She was just so kind and so warm.”
So, when Davis’ mother-in-law passed a few years ago, she was memorialized in the shop’s name.
The retail shop, which opened Thursday, Sept. 8, sells home décor — furnishings, kitchenware, doormats and more — along with specialty food and children’s items.
“I try really hard to source a lot of the items in the store locally,” she said. “I don’t like to ask people to shop local and not source local myself, so our honey here is made in Tennessee.
“The same with our candles, and our potpourri is made by a local family business,” Davis added. “(The potpourri is) apple jack and orange blossom, and they actually slice up the fruit and dry it … it’s a generational family-run business.”
She also locally sources Tennessee-based books, a barbecue sauce and other Tennessee-related products including tumblers, canisters and etched cutting boards.
In addition to retail, Davis also decorates homes in Farragut.
“I have been decorating homes since 2008,” she said. With that, she has a four-year Bachelor of Science degree, along with additional training.
“My style leans more traditional,” Davis said. “What I love most about traditional design is how warm it is. It’s multifaceted with layers.
“Instead of just being a couch, it’s a couch with a throw and throw pillows,” she added. “It just makes a room feel very warm, so when you walk into a room you feel like you’re receiving a hug.”
The shop also provides a deeper meaning with a prayer tree.
After the second year of business, Davis said the Lord laid it on her heart to give her business a deeper meaning than simply selling home décor and decorating homes.
“People can come into our store and write in our book if they want to share where they’re from, and they can fill out a prayer request and hang it on the tree,” she said. “And if the Lord leads them, they can also take a prayer request with them on their journey and pray for that person.
“In Ephesians, we’re told to bear one another’s burdens,” Davis added. “That is a great way to bear burdens.
“It also has created an environment where people recognize our family, who owns this business, that we are Christ followers, and it allows them to feel comfortable to share verbally what they’re going through.
As a result, “It is nothing for us to stop and pray share and hug them,” she said.
Davis and her family had been living in Sevier County since 2017, having two stores in that county — but her husband worked in the Farragut area.
“As the (three) children got older and more active in sports, we just needed to consolidate, so we moved down our family last year and then moved the business here,” she said.
The store is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday; from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Saturday; and closed Sunday.
For more information, call 865-236-3414 or visit its website, gardeniacottageinteriors.com
