Constance Longworth Collection
Constance Longworth has returned to Mountain Brook and she is thrilled to be back.
The onetime Mountain Brook resident moved from her Cherokee Road home to a horse farm on Highway 119 years ago to offer her daughters more opportunity to ride their horses.
“I was driving back and forth to the stables and decided it just made sense to live on a horse farm,” Longworth said.
Longworth was in the cable television business with her husband, Daryl Harms, and then in the very early 80′s, started traveling internationally doing advance work and design for a royal family, and that graduated into designing for diplomats’ homes and embassies. A 20,000 square foot penthouse overlooking the Nile in Egypt was the last project abroad. It was completed in 2009. There is another one to follow in 2011.
“I decided to put the suitcase away and not travel so frequently,” Longworth said. “A bit of retirement, I thought? I found I needed and wanted to stay busy so have now opened my third location. I am very happy to have the opportunity to have a storefront in Mountain Brook Village. It is a delight, indeed. I am excited every day to open the door of my wonderful store.”
Constance lives at Brookfield Farm, which was the 2004 Alabama Symphony Decorators’ ShowHouse. She has been involved in civic organizations in Birmingham for years, having hosted many political fundraisers at her farm.
She is well known to many Mountain Brook residents, but until this fall has had a store in the Greystone area.
The store has a full line of home furnishings including furniture, chandeliers, rugs, lighting and wonderful bedding and window treatments.
Longworth’s background is in architecture and design and has traveled the world extensively through her work. “I have designed buildings from the ground floor to finished interiors, both commercially and privately,” she said.
Some of the brands offered at Longworth Collection include Drexel-Heritage, Lexington, John Richard, Harden, Pulaski and Bradburn Gallery, to name a few.
“I love what I do, love the excitement of clients when they get just what they want for their homes,” Longworth said. “And I also love the joy of getting to know all the people on the level of helping with something as personal as their homes. I always strive to make sure that everyone is completely beyond a doubt happy with their purchases from my store.”
In addition to the fine furnishings, one is also guaranteed to see one of Longworth’s three Standard Poodles (Rudy, Bo, and Teddy) who take turns coming to the store with her each day.
“The business that I love changes year to year, but one thing is always for certain, if the client stays headed towards the traditional, they will always have their monies worth for years and years to come,” Longworth said.
Visit Constance Longworth Collection at 2408 Canterbury Road in Mountain Brook Village or call the store at 803-4040.