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Published: May 09, 2008 11:41 pm
Decorator puts skills to work
BY KECIA BAL
SOMERSET
Growing up, Jami Holt watched her grandmother constantly decorating.
She would use silk flowers or the real thing, grown in her greenhouse. She was known for stringing Christmas lights around the house, no matter the season.
When her grandmother, Ivaline Lehman, fell ill, Holt did the decorating for her. The gift stayed with her.
“I’m the decorator,” the 22-year-old Friedens woman said at the country gift shop she runs with her mother, Becky Holt.
“I always have been.”
Now, her grandmother’s ideas – with Jami’s twist – adorn the quirky shop of candles and hand-made, functional keepsakes.
Holt and her mother went into business a few years ago.
The talks started as Holt was graduating from high school, though it took a few years for the pair to find the right fit.
The two opened a consignment shop along Plank Road in Somerset about two years ago.
They started with nothing and expanded to three rooms of merchandise – one for decorative items, one for clothing and one for furniture.
Holt’s talents blossomed in the decorating room, and the two decided it was time to get out of the consignment business. In September, they opened Holt’s Country Collectibles, closer to town along Plank Road.
There, customers can buy pieces that Holt hand-painted, displayed on tables she made with her father, Larry, and big brother, Chris. One such table – one of the few items not for sale – was built from boards out of an old barn floor.
“Just since we moved here, they took up woodworking,” Holt said, standing next to a decorative mantle and faux fireplace, lit by candleholders filled with Christmas lights.
Becky Holt said her daughter always has been focused. Homeschooled through high school, she kept her mind on what she wanted to become – an entrepreneur.
“She has always been independent, doing things on her own,” Mrs. Holt said, admitting that she leaves the store’s decorating to her daughter and business partner.
“That is all Jami,” she said, adding that both sides of her family have a knack for decorating.
“My mom could take anything and turn it into something beautiful.”
Now, the mother and daughter team spend days off looking for new finds, going to area auctions or making the trek to Lancaster to scout for more old furniture.
“I think, because she is so focused, it’s really easy working together,” Mrs. Holt said. “We do get along really well.”
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