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Plush Fabric Studio - Cedar Park

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Written by Susan VanDeWater Wednesday, 07 June 2006

Fabric store fills home decor niche

Susan Albright got into sewing by chance.

“I wanted to decorate my classroom,” said the then-fifth grade teacher. “My mom gave me a sewing machine as a gift. Everything after that seemed to come naturally.”

Her mom taught her a few tricks, but the rest, she admits, she picked up on her own. Ten years later, she’s the owner of Cedar Park’s home décor fabric store – Plush Fabric Studio.

Nestled in the heart of the city on Old Highway 183 where Henry’s Grocery used to sit, Plush Fabric Studio specializes in upholstery, window treatments and bedding, and recently added custom nursery bedding. The studio also offers a growing selection of home décor fabrics, as well as thousands of special order materials.

“We are a service-oriented studio with a fervor for helping people put a room together,” Albright said. Photo of Susan Albright, owner, Lisa Rutledge, Mark Moore, Amy Waters and Kim Gardiner with their fabric samples in the workshop area of their store.

Albright and her three employees help customers find fabrics that complement one another in both texture and color, and then help them plan how the room will pull together.

“My staff is really great about honing in on fine details that make a design fun,” Albright said. “They get to know each client and take each project personally.”

After graduating from The University of Texas at Austin, Albright headed to Seattle, where she met her husband, Mike, a carpenter. When she and Mike moved back to Texas, Albright began teaching in Round Rock. They started a family and Albright left teaching to take on the full-time management of Mike’s remodeling business.

“Managing Mike’s business gave me the experience I needed to pursue my dream,” Albright said. “When the opportunity arose to buy the store, it felt like a natural progression.”

Albright hopes to one day combine her business with her husband’s talents and sell handmade furniture and accessories. In the immediate future, however, Albright and her staff are offering a series of home decorating workshops.

“My ultimate goal is to create an environment where people feel comfortable playing with different elements and using their creativity to come up with great ideas,” Albright said.

A Bit of Cedar Park History

In 1968, Artie and Betty Henry opened Henry’s Grocery, Cedar Park’s first grocery store.
Artie’s sister, Aneda Ward, ran the store until the Henry’s son, Buz, took over. They sold the store in 1974 to the Cantwell family, who continued to operate it for several years.
“We built the store by hand, Artie and me,” said Betty Henry, now 76. “Most of the materials we used were second hand – including the red rafters which Artie salvaged from an old Covert Buick dealership.”