Magnolia House: The Calm Without the Storm
By Bruce Collier January 30, 2003 Issue

“We are a lifestyle store,” says Nancy Veldman, owner of Magnolia House in Grayton Beach. Elegant and soft-spoken, Veldman sits serenely at the counter, pointing out her stock in trade.

The store is an old-fashioned Florida style A-framed house, sitting in tree shade slightly off the road. The stock is everywhere, from front yard to porch to interior to back rooms, and up the walls to the ceiling. On display are decorative prints, furniture, linens, make-up, scents, soaps, books, CDs, pens, playing and greeting cards, tiles, photographs, and numerous objects that defy
classification. No space is wasted. Even the restroom contains items for one’s consideration.

Dominating the furnishings of the main room is a gleaming white piano, where Veldman sits comfortably for part of the interview. This description might imply a discordant, bazaar-like clutter, but it all harmonizes to eye, ear, and nose.

A native of Memphis, Tenn. Veldman has lived in Destin for 11 years. She opened Magnolia House nine years ago. Prior to all that, she earned her living on a Mississippi cattle ranch, performing embryonic transfers from top quality breeding bulls to improve stock. An interesting job, she says, learned by doing. Moving to Destin to be near her retired parents. Veldman did office and retail work before opening Magnolia House. Her father’s death led her to
discover a hidden talent for music and piano, up until then only a passing interest.

“I play what I hear, I don’t write it down. It’s easy listening” To date she has recorded six CDs, and is working on her seventh. All are privately released and sold at Magnolia House. Veldman’s soothing and unobtrusive music is also heard in school classrooms, operating rooms and cancer treatment centers.

In addition to composing and playing music, Veldman is a watercolor artist, painting portraits, botanicals and still lifes. She also has written three books of her thoughts and poems, which are available at the store.

Veldman is far from the only artist represented in the store. Magnolia House showcases the work product of artists from all over the United States and the world. There’s even an in-house artist in the person of watercolorist Margrete Barnes. The singular “memory blocks” of Sid Dickens adorn a hallway wall. Browsers can tempt themselves with the luxurious texture of Egyptian
cotton towels and blankets from Peacock Alley. Thymes brand bath oils; soaps and scents perfume the air, which is also filled with music from one of Veldman’s CDs.

Retail stores often operate with no mission beyond that of selling products to the public. Veldman’s intent seems to be to create a comfortable space in which customers can choose the tools to create their own relaxation.

“What I love best is meeting people, and maybe touching their lives.” Not surprisingly, her busiest season is from March through October. Though the
majority of her customers year round are women, Magnolia House gets its fair share of male attention. Typically, men make their first appearance escorting a woman, or browsing solo for the perfect gift. Many of the products, including bath oils, soaps and scents, are unisex.

“Men are often awkward in here at first,” Veldman observes, “but then they get comfortable.” She adds that feeling Egyptian cotton blankets seems to work wonders for the reticent. It always worked for Linus.

Expressions like “rat race” and “frenzied” have probably never been applied to Grayton Beach. In these days of dramatic eastward expansion, this area has managed to hang onto a consistently laid-back and relaxed quality. You can find at least one example of this fast-vanishing atmosphere at Magnolia House, purveyor of “Gifts Beyond Imagination.” You can take your own break from the space-time continuum at Magnolia House.

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