By: Deborah Johnson Wood
The storefront at 138 East Main Street in Zeeland has showcased the artistic designs of numerous jewelry makers for nearly 100 years. Now, for the first time, it's about to showcase a different kind of art.
Chris Heiler, owner of Fountainhead Gardens, is busy creating a 225-square-foot landscape design studio with a 375-square-foot showroom for European garden furnishings. Heiler, a 14-year veteran of the landscape business, specializes in designing gardens that reflect the architectural style of the period homes they surround.
"I re-do overgrown gardens for homes of distinctive architectural styles, for example, English Tudor or Italianate, or Victorian or Arts and Crafts," Heiler said. He also works with architects to design gardens for new homes that are built to look old.
To create the right atmosphere for the studio and showroom, Heiler pulled down the plaster walls to expose the original brick. The store's original wood floors have been refinished, and a jeweler's safe, still mounted in the wall, is a permanent fixture.
The decision to open the showroom came about because Heiler had such a difficult time procuring high-end garden furnishings locally. He has since become an authorized dealer of British-made Haddonstone cast stone garden ornaments and will offer them in the store.
Beginning March 12, Fountainhead Gardens' showroom and studio will be open by appointment.
Source: Chris Heiler, Fountainhead Gardens www.fountainheadgardens.com
Deborah Johnson Wood is the development news editor for Rapid Growth Media. She can be reached at [email protected].
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