When you spend years as a photo stylist and then open up a retail store, as Debbie Dusenberry did, the experience of that career shows. Dusenberry opened Curious Sofa, a unique retail boutique in Kansas City, KS, in 2000 after pursuing a 20-year career as a photo stylist. Her eye for detail and her history of creating extraordinary environments can be felt immediately upon crossing the threshold. Curious Sofa is the kind of store that makes you ache to take home just one piece of the world Dusenberry has created through her careful styling, which is at once artfully precise and casually elegant.

The store's tagline, “less than serious surroundings,” is supported by an informal mix of comfortable furnishings, uncommon objects and offbeat gifts.

“Think Anthropologie, but with a neutral, European Country mix,” says Dusenberry.

Both new and antique goods keep customers' interest piqued in the categories of home furnishings and décor, garden, seasonal, bedroom, office, bath and body and jewelry.

“We hear over and over that customers want to move in because our store is tranquil and comfortable but still has a specific style,” Dusenberry remarks. “It isn't matched to death or too serious, but yet we put a finish on our store.”

The store is divided into nine “rooms” in a horseshoe path for customers to wander through, finding different themes in each room. The two living rooms are clean and masculine; a kitchen area is decorated in a French utility style; a stationery area is more urban; the bedroom is simple, white country; the boudoir features bath and body products, and is floral and feminine; a seasonal area brings the excitement of the next upcoming holiday and a final room is dedicated to jewelry.

“I shop hard for the unusual and my eye always has the store's brand in mind,” she admits. “I will forgo a best-seller from a vendor if it does not fit my look. I also know our one-of-a-kind items keep customers returning because they never know what I may bring in — they do not want to miss anything.”

“I buy key pieces to design around, and shop all year for seasonal antiques, which I store away for special events,” says Dusenberry. “I can be like a mad scientist when it comes to changing for the seasons; my staff never knows what I will come up with. Sometimes making what is in my head work in the store is my biggest challenge.”

For the summer, Dusenberry had a large garden shed built in the center of the entrance to create breathtaking themed vignettes for the customer right when she walks in, including a garden shed, fisherman's shed and seaside bedroom.

Dusenberry also hosts an event nearly every month to keep customers coming in to the shop. She fine-tunes her database weekly and sends direct mail for each event, whether it is a Spring Open House, Gypsy Jewelry Show or Summer Art Show.

“I have learned customers want to be invited to an event or know about a special something,” she notes.

“Retail is the perfect venue for all the talents I've been given — theatre, acting, photography, advertising, graphic design, set design, antiques, shopping, display and self-employment,” says Dusenberry. “Looking back, it was inevitable I took this path.”