When Tammy Prestipino opened Home Point Lake Anna two years ago, it was a dream come true – a shop she had been planning for years.
The long-time Lake Anna homeowner had a shop and café in Maryland, so when it was time to transition to the lake full time she took the idea, evolved it, found a great location at Anna Point Marina and made her dream a reality.
“Home Point is a home furnishing store. We have a variety of style selections; “modern lake”, rustic, farmhouse, classic and contemporary furnishings are available. I truly strive to have a range of price points, so we have something for everyone’s budget,” Prestipino told Life & Times. “We have wonderful gift ideas for all occasions, a custom upholstery line, as well as two fabulous rug companies we work with. We have many vendors to order from for all areas of your home.”
Visitors to the shop will note plentiful lamps, pillows and accessories in beautifully staged groupings. Prestipino also carries quite a variety of “lake life” accessories and art.
“We do have limited space and don’t usually have back stock in store so if you see it and like it you should probably take it!” noted the design expert.
Prestipino noted that Home Point benefits from a wonderful staff of three additional, very talented locals: Marla, Cindy and Tina.
“The ladies all have a keen eye for design and Nick is our resident ‘fixer’. It’s inevitable that pieces come damaged and he can mend most anything!”
Part of the Home Point service offer is home design consultation. Prestipino can do everything from a room to whole house interior design and just recently completed a rental cottage for new owners.
“I was recently very fortunate to have been referred to wonderful new homeowners. The Castros were referred from current customers, which I appreciate so very much. It is truly a great story, Bob (Castro) calls one afternoon in mid/late May and says, ‘we are purchasing a new home at the lake, its primarily going to be on the rental market but will also be our family home. Its empty and we need everything.’ LOL. I have heard this before, but he was actually dead serious, (He’s a Marine) …. And he said they needed it finished by Fourth of July weekend to rent….”
Prestipino said, “Yes I believe I can help”, and when she hung up, she thought “what just happened?”
Next, she and her team got busy planning in her head and pricing out rooms. She and the Castros didn’t actually meet in person for at least four weeks as Bob was out of the country.
“I was able to get photos of the house from the listing, so I had a good idea of what was needed. Bob got back in touch with me and said he’d be down next week to see what I‘d been working on…. Well, I hadn’t been ‘working on it’ much since again, we had never even met.
He comes in the following week with backpack on and says; “Let me see what you have planned.’ I was totally blown away, and told him I hadn’t spent much time on it since we had never met, and I didn’t quite believe it was happening. He looked at me like “What are you talking about?’ and looked around the store and said he liked what he saw and gave me some ideas of what was needed for all the rooms, but didn’t really care. He said if it was up to him, it would be all guns and airplanes (Marine Corps style). But his wife, Alison, did have an opinion and wanted to be involved and we had four weeks to complete. He gave me his budget and asked if I could work with that. I told him I will do my best!”
Prestipino said Alison was great to work with and seemed to love everything, she just didn’t want guns and airplanes or the hand-me-down sofa from Bob parents’ house. I told her; no, that was definitely not happening. We laughed and she really liked me then. I told her I had a great idea for the new converted garage room, red, white and blue. They are both military, so it was so fitting.”
Prestipino took a deposit and got busy that very night. Using photos she mapped out all rooms and was able to get in later that week to take her own photos and measurements.
“It was a lot of work, but we made it happen. It was so fun and so very hard; we actually drove to North Carolina in my new/used box truck with no air conditioning on a 95-degree day and picked up two new sofas from our line. They do have a quick ship program but not this quick.
To make a long story short, it was a fantastic whirlwind to get all furniture delivered and installed in three weeks (with help from some local muscle, the Snyder boys.) The last few days it was “all hands-on deck” , husbands included!
In the end we did it. The cottage really is adorable, and it rented in two days for the Fourth of
Prestipino posted photos of the process on her Facebook page.
In the near future, Prestipino is planning a design time Q/A with two very talented designers in mid-August and a pop-up artist and book signing from local talent in September.
