A Store Called Sanctuary

For one thing, Lisa and Cai have a lot of friends, and all of them showed up for the opening. But even more, Sanctuary had been a long time coming, and their friends knew the story. The two had talked about opening a store for years, but it wasn’t until Cai was diagnosed with breast cancer that the idea moved out of the talking stages. “The deal was that we would start the store right after Mom recovered,” Lisa says. “We made a pact.”

Lisa loves to cook and entertain. So of course she also loves to set a beautiful table. She stacks plates for impact and drama, and then warms the table with pewter flatware. “I love pewter,” she says, “because it has a richness that silver doesn’t. And pewter has a warmth and weight that makes it wonderful to use without being too serious.“

A pressed copper frame, perfect for any room and any décor, draws attention to some very beautiful—and very ingenious—Italian goblets. These jewel-encrusted stems by Edgar Barebi, who crafted jeweled picture frames for the Vatican, are as practical as they are lovely. Use them every day. No, really. The bowls screw in and out of their stems—you’ll never cry over a broken glass again.

For any other mother-daughter team, this might have been a really bad idea—sweet but impractical and a good way to lose a lot of money. But Cai had solid marketing experience, and Lisa had 10 years in high-end retail to bring to the table. Lisa earned her undergraduate degree at Columbia University. She was the visual manager for Crate and Barrel and Pottery Barn. She also worked for Waterworks as a designer. In all, their experience qualified them perfectly for a home and design store.

These days, the store is mostly Lisa’s to manage, though she and her mother take buying trips to Europe together. The merchandise is a mélange of English, Italian, and French; antiques and reproductions; and furniture, linens, china, and accessories. And while the furniture and accessories are largely traditional, words like “fresh,” “urbane,” and “shabby chic” come to mind, though retail-speak is (as usual) inadequate. “We want the store to feel like home, so our philosophy is to only carry things that we love,” Lisa says. “From each linen napkin to the Votivo candles.” Dallas seems to love it, too. Sanctuary will celebrate its third birthday this summer.

PROFILE: LISA CARLSON

Hometown: Dallas, but she went to school on the East Coast because she “thought it would be interesting.”

Favorite pastime: cooking (she cooks every night!) and entertaining friends. “I go home, get barefoot, turn on some music, drink a little wine, and cook. I love to make my own pasta—and anything Sicilian. My family is from Sicily.”

Collects: china. She has six different patterns—all that entertaining, you know.

Can’t live without: new husband Brent, good cooking utensils, family photos, linen sheets from France (she sells them at Sanctuary), and good music. “I love jazz, Harry Connick Jr. and Frank Sinatra. But I’ve recently discovered Diana Krall.” 
 
Favorite piece of furniture: an old rope bed handed down from her stepfather. He found it in Pennsylvania. Lisa says she loves it because “it’s a little piece of history.” She keeps the rope bed in a guest room.

Design (and business) philosophy: Lisa never buys something just to fill a space. She’s an impulse buyer; she buys things that she finds intriguing or that have meaning. “Your home should be filled with beautiful things. Thus, our name, Sanctuary.”

This leather chair and ottoman are modeled after antiques from Holland that Lisa fell in love with, but she made a few improvements to the design to create “antique-looking but not antique-feeling pieces that are functional and comfortable.” The beaded and embroidered French throw and pillow are reversible—silk on one side and velvet on the other.