New part-time furniture-design business building big-time customer base

By Alexandria Chhith
Murphy News Service

Bummed out customers will have to wait weeks for Madison House Interiors’ next sale.

The new store in Eden Prairie briefly opened its doors for the first time on Feb. 13.

“We hope to be open the second weekend of each month,” owner Sara Trosen said, adding, “If business keeps up, we are thinking about being open more and hiring more people.”

Half of the store’s furniture was sold during the four-day sale in February, Trosen said, pointing out that Madison House’s next sale is March 13-14.

She has lived in Eden Prairie for 13 years and has three children – two of them 5-year-old twins. The 37-year-old Trosen has appeared as a guest designer on the show cable network HGTV’s “Decorating Cents.”

Co-owner Kirstin Nicholas lives in Shakopee and makes draperies.

Madison House Interiors, 16356 Wagner Way, has a growing following on Facebook, Trosen said.

“We have about 400 likes on Facebook, which for us, I think is really good,” she said. The store had 474 likes on Facebook on Wednesday.

Trosen said she stopped design work eight years ago as she started a family, but when she met Nicholas, the two “clicked” and decided to start a business together.

The partners work everyday, even though the store is closed to the public most of the time as they prepare for their sale days.

The store’s website, www.madisonhouseinteriors.com, says the business offers new, pre-owned, refinished and locally made home furnishings, art and custom window treatments.

Nicholas and Trosen said they find furniture off Craigslist, at auctions and estate sales. They put finishing touches on furniture and design pieces before they are loaded into Trosen’s minivan and move them to the store to be sold.

“Sometimes I bring my twins along with me to the store and give them iPads to play with when I have an appointment in the store,” Trosen said.

The women say they juggle attending their children’s active lives – shuttling them to baseball games and driving their kindergarteners and teen-agers to school.

Which is why the store has occasional hours.

“The business is secondary to our kids,” Trosen said.

In between public sales at the store, customers can set up appointments with Trosen and Nicholas to see and buy the furniture and design pieces they’ve collected.

Alexandria Chhith is studying journalism at the University of Minnesota.

 

 

 

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