Whether you’re seeking flowers at The Potting Shed Florist or to furnish your home with an item from It’s All About You Interiors, you might just find more than you set out for—and you’ll certainly find two shops in one.
Jennifer Dodson and her mother Linda Baxa hold their respective shops at the same Boutte location, working in tandem for the past 10 years. Dodson, a florist, oversees The Potting Shed, a full-service florist, gift shop and home décor retailer. The store specializes in floral design, weddings and events. It also offers wedding and sympathy items, weekend fresh bouquets and flowers by the stem, deliveries and much more.
Baxa, an interior designer, is the mind behind It’s All About You Interiors, a one-stop shop for a variety of furniture, fragrances, jewelry and home décor items. It offers a huge variety of special order furniture, including Hooker furniture, Bassett furniture and Craftmaster furniture brands. It’s All About You also offers cabinet refurbishing.
“The flowers and gifts, we cater to whole living experience,” Dodson said. “It’s not just a certain thing or just gifts and little trendy stuff. We want to make and offer things that will have staying power. We try to stay with the classics and that seems to do very well.”
The mother-daughter pair will also teach you a thing or two. Baxa hosts a painting class while Dodson holds floral and wreath classes.
The interior look of the store reflects the respective talents of the two women, who truly enjoy having the opportunity to work together.
“We get along so well,” Baxa said. “We both pretty much have the same ideas.
“I can’t help her with florals, but she’s very visual and helps me with so much. This place is fabulous. The arrangements she builds that you see all over our store, that’s a big asset to me.”Dodson said the partnership, as one might imagine, is a natural fit.
“We have a great relationship,” Dodson said. “I get to work with my best friend every day. It’s pretty awesome.” They decided to go into business together after each found herself at a crossroads. Dodson was working in New Orleans and tired of commuting, while the company Baxa worked with folded after 125 years in business.
“She said, ‘we’ve got to do something different,’” Dodson said. “And I was excited. I said, ‘let’s do it! Why not?’”Dodson noted their family has lived all over the country — in 12 different states, actually — as her father’s job as a specialist engineer required it.
But Dodson and Baxa have now lived in Hahnville for 18 years, making St. Charles Parish the place they’ve had their longest stay—it’s now home, Dodson says.
“It’s a charming, small town,” she said. “The people here are wonderful and very giving.”
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