My passion for decorating goes back to when I was just eight years old. I come from a family of five, which includes my mom, dad, and two younger brothers. Being the only daughter, a lot of attention was focused on my two younger brothers. We were always attending baseball, football games and the like with them. Through the void, I quickly found a release in decorating. Decorating was something I could do on my own, even when the rest of the family was tied up. I spent hours in my bedroom rearranging my furniture and figuring out how pieces in my room worked together in various ways. It didn’t cost anything and I was able to gain extreme satisfaction with my creativity from my own bedroom.
Eventually, my father was transferred to Salt Lake City, Utah with his job. Boy, was this a major advancement for my decorating passion. We moved into a split level home, where my parents finished the basement and turned it into their primary suite. This left the original primary bedroom upstairs just for me. You can imagine what a dream that was! With the increased living space available in this bedroom, my decorating passion went into overdrive. At least once a month, I would re-decorate and re-arrange my furniture. My only limitation was my waterbed, but fortunately that is not something we have to think about anymore!
My family moved back to Kansas City when I was in high school. We spent the first year in my grandparent’s house. I remember a small Christmas tree that belonged to my grandparents. The tree was broken, so I used the top portion of the tree and sat it in a pot and put it on a tabletop in front of the picture window. I took the ornaments and lights off the tree several times, reconfigured, and would add more miscellaneous decorations. Through all of these examples of my early decorating passion, I’m not sure anyone really knew what an impact decorating would be in my life.
As an adult, I started a retail store by the name of Ben’s Primitives. I focused on primitive items, candles, live topiaries, and some antiques. This store was located on the historic downtown Clinton, Missouri square. How did I end up in Clinton? I met a country boy who swept me off my feet and still does every day after 33 years of marriage. Why the name Ben’s Primitives? The building the store was located in used to be the Ben Franklin variety store that my husband used to run away from his mother, and his mother would have to chase him down the sidewalk on the square. With the coming of our fourth child, we decided to close the business, but I have longed to pursue my passion since. After closing our store, I continued with decorating for several weddings. Weddings are one of my favorite places to let my creativity flow!
This takes my story to the last five years. My niece, Meagan Johnson, started the Gathering House in one of the buildings on her farm. The Gathering House has been an extended family business with several family members pitching in to help with props, staging, advertising, and manning the business when it was open one weekend each month. Meagan’s full-time job was not allowing her the time to focus on the Gathering House, so she approached me about buying the business. She laid a solid foundation and knew I would be able to continue building the business up through my passion and existing part in the business. After careful consideration and a lot of convincing my husband, we purchased the business in December of 2023. We are relocating the business to our mini-farm, which is only about 3 miles from its original location!
My hope for Gathering House is to focus and grow on the word “Gathering”. As we prepare and plan for the store, my vision is to hold monthly events that help others to grow and inspire them with ideas and décor that will enhance their living space. Additionally, we want to offer the space to those who may need a place to hold baby and bridal showers, business meetings, or simply need a space to gather.
Overall, we want your experience at Gathering House to feel as though you have entered into a space that feels like home.