Lisa Dawson has always been artistic. And as the years went by, she channelled that artistic energy into her home, decorating and re-decorating.

?I?m a Martha Stewart round the house,? she said, laughing. ?I drive my husband crazy with all the stuff I keep on buying.?

And now, after years as a frustrated interior designer, she has set up House of Style, a furniture and interiors store on Gorham Road with her husband Dwayne.

?We always wanted to have something of our own that we could pass on to the children,? she said.

?It is a very good feeling to run your own business,? said Mr. Dawson, who is still working with D & J Excavating while his wife takes care of the day to day running of the firm.

The store opened at the end of November in the former site of Adventure Travel and already the couple have had several big commissions, including fully furnishing three apartments at the nearby Woodbourne Place.

?It was hard to do three apartments in a month, but it was worth it,? said Mrs. Dawson. ?We put in a proposal to do the apartments and we won the contract. We put in everything from carpets to curtains, beds to cutlery and bedspreads... everything.?

The couple said they had done very well since they opened the store, almost selling out of inventory before Christmas and customers buying blind from orders coming in before they had even seen the goods.

?There seems to be a big demand out there for the kind of stuff we are bringing in,? said Mrs. Dawson. ?We have just got the contract to do Pottery Barn stuff and we are now doing Murphy Wall Beds (tilt away beds in built-in cabinets). But business has been very good.?

The store sells mid-range furniture, with lamps starting at $50 and prices going all the way up to $6,900 for a carved dining room set.

?People come in and request things, so we can order in or we can help them look for what they want to,? she said.

The couple are also offering interest free credit on small amounts for short terms to allow their customers who are paid week to week to afford to buy new items.

?Not everyone has lots of money,? said Mr. Dawson.

?We understand what it is like living from one pay cheque to the next. So we are trying to help out here.?

The couple, who have been married for 16 years, have just opened up a bridal registry at the store so that newlyweds can furnish their homes with the help of friends and family.

?You can end up with a lot of junk you don?t need when you get married,? said Mrs. Dawson. ?And you still have to furnish your house. We had our first bride in this week and it seems to work very well.?

The couple are also starting a wedding planning service as part of their growing business empire. ?We can do the planning, the catering, the whole nine yards,? said Mrs. Dawson.

?We hope this will become something regular and will be something we can grow with.?

Mr. Dawson said that without the help of family and friends they would never have got off the ground, with everyone pulling together to help gut and paint the store to get it opened on time.

The couple are upbeat about the prospects for the year ahead, having had two very profitable months. ?It always takes about a year for a business to get off the ground,? said Mr. Dawson. ?But we are very pleased with the way things are shaping up so far, and hope that the business keeps on growing.?