As the founding editor of more than 40 Better Homes and Gardens publications, Petersburg's Beverly Rivers has spent her whole career designing rooms until they're photo-ready. But when Rivers relocated to the area five years ago, she found that her passion was creating rooms that are not just chic but also comfortable and livable.
"I like creating a room somebody is really going to live in," she says, noting that real-life design can be more rewarding than working hard on a project only to have it dismantled immediately after a photo shoot.
Today, Rivers offers interior-design services from her five-room shop in Old Towne Petersburg. Rivers' Edge Interiors is housed in an 1814 building that was originally Hiram Haines Coffee House, which included a hotel where Edgar Allan Poe spent his honeymoon in 1836.
Her 12 W. Bank St. boutique hosts a stylish collection of antique and new furniture, along with a healthy selection of home décor (mirrors and interesting lamps are among her most popular items). Rivers says that her favorite aspect of the work is giving customers fresh ideas for how to reuse items. She points out a small Queen Anne-style table with scalloped edges, noting that it can double as a centerpiece.
"I have sold more accent tables off of the top of dining tables than where they are supposed to go," she says with a laugh.
For more information, call 722-0505 or visit riversedgeinteriors.com.
