Press

Proprietors: Ann Stubblefield and Geri Mullin

Type of Business: Retail Home Décor Store, specializing in high-quality lampshades & bases (both in stock and custom made), frame recovering, rewiring & lamp repair.

Other Store Features: Heritage Lace Curtains and Table Lace, new and antique furniture, designer & antique jewelry and a complete selection of home interior accessories and unique gifts.

Special Store Services: Geri & Ann, both decorative artists, will be happy to assist you with all your home décor needs. They hand make many of the lampshades and suggest you bring in your base for a custom fitting. You may also bring in your window measurements and they will help you design a very special treatment. Geri Anns offers good old-fashioned service in pleasant surroundings which reflect the charm of Frankfort. They are open 7 days and weekday evenings until 8:00 p.m. People in the photo are Donna Muhr and Geri Mullin.

Article from: The Pennysaver July 13, 1999

Catch Ann Stubblefield or Geri Mullin at home in the evening and it’s a good bet you will find them doing the same thing – making lampshades. “That’s what we’re doing at night in front of the TV”, Stubblefield said with a laugh. She and Mullin, a resident of Frankfort, own GeriAnn’s Lampshades & Accents in Frankfort. They opened it, the second of their Frankfort shops, two years ago. While running GeriAnn’s Gifts there, they learned that people were looking for lampshades with vintage appeal.

“A lot of our customers were restoring or decorating old houses,” said Stubblefield, of Peotone. “We heard they weren’t able to get lampshades.” The partners, who each have a background teaching decorative arts, decided to solve the dilemma. “We took old shades apart. We studied the fabrics and the techniques for making them,” Stubblefield recalled.

Now the pair makes vintage-looking lampshades that feature beads, fringe and lovely fabrics that are in keeping with the Victorian era. They can be custom-ordered and range in price from $50 for a table lampshade to $300 for a floor lampshade.

The store also sells antique lamps.

“All antique pieces have been rewired so they’re in good working order, “ Stubblefield said.

Customers with old lamps in need of repair can bring them in to be restored and rewired. Even old parts such as broken globes can be reproduced.

Crystal chandeliers, lace curtains and tableware, wooden mantel clocks, antique jewelry and furniture round out the store’s merchandise.

Stubblefield said they often research the old pieces they carry so they can tell customer of their history. An oak carved curio cabinet was owned by a woman who decided in her 50s to become a missionary, Stubblefield said.

“Everyone feels closer to a piece if they know its history,” she said. “It’s not just an old lampshade or piece of furniture.”

Article by:
Annemarie Mannion
Special to the Tribune