Green Thumbs, Great Design
at Sisters Plant Shop
and Bea Furnishings
Joanna Bea and Sisters Elizabeth Duran
and Christina Murphy Join Forces
By Tyler Hayden | Photos by Ingrid Bostrom
May 25, 2023
Read more of our Home & Garden 2023 stories here.
It was a chance meeting over glasses of wine that led to the union of Joanna Bea’s specialty upholstery store and Elizabeth Duran and Christina Murphy’s inventories of houseplants that were taking over their homes. Bea was looking for a partner tenant at her upper State Street workshop, and the sisters needed a brick-and-mortar location for their growing business. “The idea just kept gathering more and more momentum,” said Bea.
As of last fall, Bea Furnishings and Sisters Plant Shop are now one, with calatheas and philodendrons resting comfortably above a leather patchwork sofa and ficuses perched alongside a plush loveseat. “They live well together,” said Duran. “It’s a partnership that shows how the right furniture and plants can really make any home feel balanced and beautiful.”
Duran tries to carry varieties that are a little different than what you’d find at a regular nursery, she said, but nothing too tricky. They’re all “accessible,” she explained. “I want to get people excited about keeping a plant alive. I want to change people’s minds that they have a black thumb.” She sends customers home with care cards and is happy to give advice on the best way to deck out a space so that all the greenery remains happy and healthy. She and Murphy also do deliveries and pop-ups. They have one this Saturday, May 27, in Solvang.
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