Today we’d like to introduce you to Deon McMaster.
Hi Deon, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
After 30 years of living my greatest dream, being home to raise my wonderful children, I now find myself in a place to pursue a new dream – To create a beautiful and inspiring space where I can help friends, old and new, to make their homes lovely so that they will be as happy in theirs as I am in mine. I am…Finely Home.
That tells my story in a very condensed version. I was lucky enough to be able to stay at home and raise my children full-time, which felt like a great blessing to me. When I found a few years ago that my last little one was about to leave for college I decided to try doing what I had always dreamed about: open a home decor/design shoppe. For years I had traveled to Utah or Arizona when looking for unique home decor and always wished that we had more options for shopping home decor here in our area. When I started looking for just the right space for the shoppe I had many people tell me that this kind of shop would not make it in San Marcos and that I should look in higher-end areas like La Jolla or Del Mar Heights. But I decided that if I was going to put my heart and soul into something, I wanted it to be in the same neighborhood where I live and where I raised my family. I love that so often the people who come into the shoppe turn out to be friends, or friends of friends or someone who went to my High School. I have met retired teachers who remember me from elementary school and my sister’s piano teacher. I have had customers share that my father was their dentist 20 years ago and that they remember my mother playing the piano for the Christmas programs at North Broadway Elementary School. I love that my shoppe is in San Marcos where we are able to mix a thriving city atmosphere with a small town feel and where customers have become family.
Our goal is to create a space where anyone can walk into the shoppe and feel inspired, refreshed and find just the right treasure to bring beauty to their space.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I feel like nothing worthwhile is ever found at the end of a smooth road! We had delays with permits, delays with the build-out, and two floods the first year we were open! And of course, we only got part way into year two and were forced to close for two months for COVID. There were several points along the way where we wondered if we would be able to stay afloat, but our wonderful customers were so kind and so supportive and continued to visit the shoppe even when we were only able to be open for limited hours. We decided that if we could survive closing for a worldwide pandemic then we should be able to survive anything, and it proved to be true! Once we got into the holiday season following the closures our customer base and sales seemed to double overnight! It was absolutely amazing to see so many new faces and to feel the excitement for the shoppe grow particularly for the Christmas Season. By the end of our third year, we had completely outgrown our space and simply could not accommodate our customers and the amount of inventory any longer, so we found a new space double the size and moved across the street to our current location. That has turned out to be the best move we could have made! The new location is so spacious and gave us space to create a design center, so we are able to meet with our design clients on site. And we were thrilled to have the added space for our Christmas season! We were able to welcome so many new customers to share our decorated Christmas trees and holiday selections! It has truly been a wonderful year for Finely Home!
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
We are both a Home Decor Shoppe/Boutique and a full-service Interior Design Firm. We opened in San Marcos 5 years ago and recently moved across the street to a larger location. One of the things that makes us most proud is that we are owned and operated by women.
Our shoppe features beautifully merchandised and carefully curated home decor items including furniture, lighting, lamps, art, mirrors, candles, and accessories. If you are in the market for furniture, we have put together a digital lookbook to help you find just the right pieces for your space. We also have a darling children’s section where you can purchase unique baby gifts, clothing, books and blankets. Our children’s vendors include some favorites like Little Giraffe, Jelly Cat, Elegant Baby, Vignette and Maileg.
We also have some unique selections of women’s clothing and jewelry and this holiday season we brought in the amazing jewelry line UNO de Cincuenta. It’s a beautiful line made in Spain and if you haven’t ever seen these pieces, it’s worth stopping in to take a look!
One of our most loved lines is Barefoot Dreams with their wonderfully soft sweaters and luxurious blankets. We also have Barefoot Dreams for babies which makes a beautiful and memorable baby gift.
One of the things our shoppe is known for is our amazing candles. One of our most popular brands is Capri Blue with their well-loved Volcano fragrance for everyday and pumpkin dulce fragrance for the holidays. We are excited to announce that this year we introduced the Voluspa line of candles. With 6 unique fragrances and their beautiful colored glass containers these candles offer something for any space.
And of course, our biggest time of year is Christmas! We completely turn over the shoppe to create a winter wonderland! This last season we had 10 fully decorated trees and a shoppe full of unique Christmas decor and gifts. Something we offer to our customers is the opportunity to have us design and decorate a custom tree for their home. We work with our customers to get a feel for the color and style they have in mind and then we come to their home and customize just the right tree to add the perfect touch to their holiday decor.
One of our favorite traditions is having Santa visit the shoppe each holiday season. Once a year we turn our Design Center into the North Pole and welcome Santa who spends the morning visiting with our customers and their children and grandchildren. This year the children who visited Santa wrote letters and mailed them to Santa through our North Pole mailbox and they were all thrilled to receive letter back from Santa himself!
We love being a part of the San Marcos family and love the relationships we have formed with so many wonderful customers over the years and look forward to making more new friends within our community.
Is there a quality that you most attribute to your success?
There is no question that the thing that makes us stand out and that brings customers back into the shoppe time and time again is the wonderful women who work here. Without exception the ladies who work in the shoppe make every customer feel welcome and appreciated. It is our hope that everyone who walks through our doors will leave feeling like they are family.
Contact Info:
- Website: FinelyHomeDesigns.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/Finelyhomedesigns
- Facebook: facebook.com/finelyhome
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/finely-home-san-marcos
Image Credits
Cody and Morgan Weaver
