Chronicle photo by Vanessa McGuigan Anita Hoffman and Meredith Poffenberger.

Meredith Poffenberger, owner and proprietor of the Marketplace in Sharpsburg, Moore Marketing and Tourism and Shepherdstown Ghost Tours has opened a new office and show room for home decor on S. Duke St. called Magnolia Ridge Design Center.

“I’m tying in everything here. Moore Marketing and Tourism is an advertising and small town tourism promoter. We make trail maps that advertise destination businesses in small towns. The goal is to get people-either locals or tourists-to come into our small towns to some really neat destination businesses.”

Poffenberger’s popular tourism trail maps even have a contest where if someone visits all the destinations and has each proprietor sign the map, that visitor will be entered into a drawing to win a large gift basket from the Marketplace of Sharpsburg.

The tourism is just one aspect of Poffenberger’s new business. Her degrees in business and marketing and hotel/motel restaurant management and hospitality lend themselves to an easy transition into the field of home decor and home staging. Poffenberger stages guest houses, homes for sale and air b and bs. (Air Bed and Breakfasts are vacation destinations where the property owner shares space in their own living quarters or on their property.)

“When someone has a guest house that they want to turn into an air b and b, we stage it with all the things guests might need: bed, towels, kitchen items, etc. For example, if it is a place that advertises that it sleeps 8, then we make sure there are 8 place settings, enough seating for 8, enough linens for 8 people and so forth. And we make it homey.”

She continued, “We also want to show people that this can be done frugally and on a budget.”

In addition to the staging of rental properties, Poffenberger also manages the reservations and does inventory before and after guests leave and arranges for housekeeping.

“We’re here to help people get ideas on how they might want to decorate their own homes too,” said Anita Hoffman, Poffenberger’s business partner. “Maybe someone wants to redo a room in their house but they don’t know what they want or how to do it, we’re here to help them with that.”

Hoffman has her own research and genealogy business for which she offers her services from Magnolia Ridge as well. Hoffman is an archivist and has worked for the Department of State and the National Archives doing archiving and records management and has used her expertise to start a company called ABH Research, which can be found on Facebook.

“What I do is here is offer services for not only archiving, but research as well,” said Hoffman. “I do research for genealogy. I do historical research for people that might want a history of their house or property-it’s not a title research like a real estate company would do, but more of who lived there, what are the stories surrounding their house, etc. I also offer research services to local authors who need information for books, as well as film companies looking for background information.”

Hoffman continued, “A lot of research can also be helpful to someone who has a historical home and is looking to have their home put on a national register.”

The Magnolia Ridge Design Center will be open for sales at their showroom once a month with a different theme each month of 2017 and decor that reflects that theme.

Jan 21-23: Winter Cabin Weekend

Feb 10-12: Victorian Valentine Weekend

March 17-19: Grand Opening and Irish Cottage Weekend

April 7-9: Asian Tea House Weekend

May 12-14: Mediation/Spa Room Weekend

June 9-11: Lake House Weekend

July 14-16: Beach House Weekend

Aug 18-20: Music Room Weekend

Sept 21-23: Renn Fest Weekend

Oct 19-21: Gothic Spooky Weekend

Nov 16-18: Retro Cocktail Party Weekend

Dec 14-16: Christmas Cottage

Poffenberger, who has been doing ghost tours in both Shepherdstown and Sharpsburg for years, will offer ghost tours each weekend that the showroom room is open. She also offers private tours year-round.

The shop is located at 217 S. Duke St., Suite 101. For more information about any of the services provided, call 304-870-4744