Build your nest: Mobile boutique stocks home decor and accessories

If you’re a regular at Enzo’s table, you may have noticed a new addition to the food trucks that regularly set up shop in its parking lot each weekend. And though it may look like someone’s idea of a tiny house, what with the welcome mat and cozy, pillow-strewn interior, this 1971 Trotwood travel trailer is actually the area’s newest mobile boutique.

TWIG Home & Garden stocks an eclectic mix of home decor and accessories — think metal olive buckets, colorful throw pillows, succulents, wall art and seasonal decorations — curated by Kim and Terry Broussard and their business partner, Diane Leppert-Poss. Its name, TWIG Home & Garden, reflects the partners’ mission.

“It’s like building your nest,” Terry Broussard explained. “Part of this whole big idea is creating environments people love to be in, and helping them get there with some unique things they can’t find anywhere else.”

Kim Broussard and Leppert-Poss both have professional backgrounds in design; Terry is a landscape architect. The Broussards had long dreamed of having a store of their own and found a like-minded collaborator in Leppert-Poss.

“We became friends (and) worked together and said, ‘This is my dream, this is your dream — let’s put this dream together,” Leppert-Poss recalled.

The trailer the Broussards owned ended up being the perfect vehicle for making that dream come true. Terry spent the summer refurbishing it according to Kim’s vision, one that was inspired by the striped pillows prominently displayed on a bench inside.

“When I saw that striped pillow, the whole design was created instantly. The style was built on that one pillow. It’s kind of like how we think, we’ll see one thing and then I get a whole vision of what that can be,” Kim explained.

“We just wanted to make it (the trailer) something we could use and [make] profitable instead of something that was just sitting there,” Terry said.

It was also very of-the-moment, added Leppert-Poss: “The cost of having a trailer, running a trailer, moving a trailer is so attractive to us. A storefront, when you’re first starting, is so much more cost prohibitive.”

The trailer also gives them the opportunity to travel in search of new inventory, she said. “Part of what we are selling is lifestyle ... We travel and see what’s available in other parts of the state; it’s very inspiring to us.”

By October, the mobile boutique was ready to hit the road. So far, TWIG Home & Garden has limited its appearances to Enzo’s Table — but in just a few weeks, it has garnered a loyal following and earned new customers via word of mouth and social media. The store’s Instagram and Facebook accounts are regularly updated with photos of new inventory and news of upcoming appearances.

Current inventory includes Leppert-Poss’ favorite new find, hand painted wood retablos, or Catholic devotional paintings. Made by a New Mexico-based artist, they’re “great Christmas gifts and can be mixed into anyone’s home.”

But don’t wait too long to get yours — like the succulent pumpkins sold during Halloween, they might not stick around for long.

“When you’re in the design business, you need to be inspired. We don’t want to ever get stagnant ... so part of our philosophy is to have unique items, but when they’re gone, they’re gone.

“We’ll still have certain items that we’ll carry all the time,” she added, but changing things up is “part of the uniqueness of everything.”

“It’s not the same old delivery system,” Terry said.

Leppert-Poss agreed, and gave credit to Enzo’s Table for giving mobile businesses space to set up shop: “[It] has been so awesome and has allowed so many people [to] start a little business. It’s just a really great way to be out in the community. We get to meet so many people we wouldn’t normally meet. We’re in a trailer as opposed to in a store where we’re unpacking and unboxing. This is just such a great feel, a great way to be part of that whole movement.”

This story was originally published November 18, 2016 at 9:51 AM with the headline "Build your nest: Mobile boutique stocks home decor and accessories."