Danielle Platzer moved to Boston to work in finance five years ago, but it wasn’t long before she got the itch to do something more creative. The Pennsylvania native was walking in the Back Bay one day and found the place to scratch that itch: Suffolk Design School.
“I’ve always been into DIY; I’m a crafter and a painter,” Platzer says. “My fiancé renovates houses and I found I did a lot of helping out with choosing paint and fixtures. I thought, this is the career I want. So, I started taking classes at Suffolk and worked part-time at Tony Cappoli Interiors in the Seaport.”
From there, Platzer became a buyer at Joss and Main, the Boston-based online home design retailer, where she broadened her experience with textiles.
“I loved that, but I was always painting my own furniture, and friends would ask me to do pieces. So, I started selling at SoWa Open Market. It went so well I decided to do it full-time.”
Neatly Nested Design & Décor opened this past September, just five months after Platzer and her contractor fiancé finished renovating their house nearby “It was a big year,” the 28 year-old laughs. Platzer hopes the store will be a one-stop shop for home design consultation, custom-finished furnitureand window treatments. The store is stocked with pillows, throws, rugs (including names like Berkshire-based Dash and Albert) and Turkish towels. There are also smaller items like candles — “giftables,” as Platzer calls them.
“I also work with a lot of local artists,” she adds. “I saw the neighborhood’s potential and I wanted to be an early adapter, rather than do something when the rents go high.”
“Not that they’re cheap here now,” she laughs. “I realized there was nothing like this in South Boston and people were looking for somewhere to shop locally.”
Events!
This month, Platzer begins Monday evening crafting nights at the store, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. “It’s not really something that makes a lot of money, but I want to engage the neighborhood. We provide materials and do demonstrations. There’s wine and snacks. Our first one had 22 places and 90 people tried to book them.”
If you go
Neatly Nested: 373 West Broadway, Boston. 609-923-4459. neatlynesteddecor.com.
