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Living in a fairy tale land for girly-girls

Morgan Houseman's antique boutique is a magic mirror image of her.

By KAMEEL STANLEY, Times Staff Writer
Published August 18, 2007

Morgan Houseman owns Morgan @ Belleair, a boutique specializing in antiques and novelty items. Houseman, 27, painted the front doors in an antique finish, and much of the old furniture inside also gets her painting treatment, much to the chagrin of her antique-loving parents.
	[Joseph Garnett Jr. | Times]

ADVERTISEMENT [Joseph Garnett Jr. | Times] Pink is a major color at Morgan @ Belleair. Her hair once that color, Houseman says pink is an attitude and it's her lifestyle.

LARGO - Long before she had pink hair, Morgan Houseman was an original.

The niece and granddaughter of burlesque queens, Houseman learned young how to glide down a staircase and define her own fashion sense.

But creativity doesn't always pay the bills, her parents told her.

So she sucked it up, went to college and got a degree - in accounting.

It wasn't long before she found her way back to her roots.

"Pink is more than just a color. It's an attitude," she said. "It's my lifestyle. This is who I am."

Houseman, now 27, owns a boutique called Morgan @ Belleair, where she does all the things she wasn't allowed to as a child.

And she makes money at it.

* * *

Walk into Morgan @ Belleair and you feel as if you've landed in an enchanted playhouse.

The shop capitalizes on a princess theme and the increasingly popular shabby-chic design style.

Divided into five rooms, each space has a distinct theme.

The main room takes center stage with its flowered rug, beaded chandeliers and mix-and-match walls - one is painted with gold and pink stripes and the opposite with pink blotches in a checkerboard pattern.

Tutus hang from the ceiling, and brightly-colored picture frames are on almost every surface.

Look closer, and you'll see flip-flops embellished with fur, and funky cowboy boots.

Swing to your right and there's a bright room with every shape, size and color of custom-painted furniture.

"I love her shop. It's fun and all girl," said Largo resident Tammy LaBrant, whose 10-year-old daughter sells custom picture frames out of the shop. "It's not your run-of-the-mill furniture store. You can't go anywhere else and find what you can in there."

There's everything from a 50 cent nail file to a $1,500 custom-painted bed frame.

Houseman designed it to be a true girly-girl's paradise.

"It's sort of like fairy tale land for grownups," Houseman said. "My ideal is to sell and make people happy, not to keep a museum."

* * *

David and Ceida Houseman never dreamed their daughter might follow in their footsteps.

Each parent had a job with the city of Tampa - David as a permit coordinator and Ceida in the accounting department - but their real passion was antiques.

However, antique stores, auctions and estate sales didn't hold much interest for their daughter.

"When she was little, she hated it," David Houseman said.

As a kid, Morgan could never touch anything in the antique shops. And forget about altering a 100-year-old piece of furniture.

The thing is, Morgan wanted to paint them.

* * *

A few years ago, she got her chance.

She began by embellishing lamps and baby clothes.

She rented a small space in a Clearwater consignment shop. Every so often, she'd bring in a piece of furniture she'd painted.

When business got good, she decided to move out on her own.

"I was ecstatic," said Ceida Houseman, who said she always encouraged her daughter's independence. "If you don't have something you love, I don't think your soul gets fed."

In early 2005, Morgan came across the 1,200-square-foot Suite 1 at 101 Clearwater-Largo Road, formerly a lawyer's office.

She set out to put her stamp on it.

"This is my version of an antique store," she said. "I figured I'd open up a shop where people could come in and touch."

* * *

When Morgan first opened her shop, her dad was supportive but skeptical.

David Houseman, a purist when it comes to antiques, gave his daughter two solid oak dressers to sell.

Give them a chance, he asked. They're beautiful; someone will want them.

A few weeks went by with no bites, so Morgan painted them.

A week later, the first sold. A day later, the other one went.

"She proved me wrong, and ever since then she's been flying," David Houseman said.

The two have a loose deal of sorts. Now, if Dad brings in a piece like the solid wood side table he did on a recent Saturday, Morgan will let it sit in the shop, untouched, for two weeks.

If it doesn't sell, she paints it.

"She's found a niche," David Houseman said. "This is the new antique."

[Last modified August 18, 2007, 07:53:16]