The Cottage, a home decor and gift shop, recently opened in downtown Wheaton.
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The wooden floors are original. There is an antique hut on the brick wall. The table was made by her husband. Candles made in the Midwest have refreshing scents like lilac and jasmine.
When Jonah Kelleher's customers visit her new shop, The Cottage, in downtown Wheaton, they may feel like they've wandered into her living room.
For those accustomed to scrubs and blood pressure cuffs, Kelleher seems a far cry from a hospital emergency room. But it's not that different from her job as a nurse.
“I take care of people in the hospital and I take care of people here,” said the Geneva resident. “I want you to come out of the ER healthy, happy, and calmly feeling like you're okay. And it's the same here.
“I want people to come here and think, 'I feel like I'm at home.'” I feel comfortable. It makes you feel warm. I feel like I could lose myself here for hours. ”
This cottage has a new, spacious home at Hale and Wesley Streets in downtown Wheaton.
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Her store has a pleasant mix of vintage and new furniture, lots of cushions, botanical prints, ceramics, and tableware. Kelleher recently moved The Cottage to Wheaton after her business outgrew her “small but mighty” space in Geneva.
“The addition of a home goods type store has been very well received,” said Allison Orr, executive director of the Downtown Wheaton Association.
When a corner storefront near the hustle and bustle of the outdoor dining scene became vacant, Orr reached out to Kelleher, who was on the waiting list for a retailer looking for the “perfect spot” downtown.
Jonah Kelleher, an ER nurse in Geneva, enjoys a coffee blend at his homely shop, The Cottage. Her Wheaton Association downtown helped her find space for her expanding business.
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“She was ready to make the leap from a small space,” Orr said. “Her space in Geneva was really, really cute. But it was about 450 square feet.”
The current cottage is about three times the size. Kelleher has a room where she displays a 12-foot-tall antique sideboard she found in Michigan. “This is a very statement piece,” Kelleher said.
She is too humble to call herself an interior designer. But it's clear that Kelleher's creative side, her love of antiques, was inherited from her mother Jill.
“She is truly an inspiration. I will miss her very much,” Kelleher said. “When she opened it…she wished she was here.”
Kelleher's mother died of breast cancer when she was 12, and her father died of sepsis when she was 16.
“I know how people feel,” she said of choosing ER nursing as her career. “They're scared. They don't know what's going on. And I just wanted to help. I just wanted to help make a difference for one person and help them with the trauma that they're going through. If you can, it means a lot.”
“We always went antique hunting together,” said Jonah Kelleher, owner of The Cottage, who described her late mother, Jill, as a “creative soul.”
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After losing her parents, she moved from house to house. When people ask Kelleher how she got here, she admits, “It's not a happy story.”
“But I definitely hope this story inspires others, that while things can get tough, if you try hard, you can get through it,” she said. Told.
She has worked in the ER since she was 19 years old, first as a secretary, then as a technician, then as a nurse. Elmhurst Hospital could be considered her home away from home.
Jonah Kelleher
“I'm still an ER nurse. I still work one day a week, and I'm very proud of that,” Kelleher said.
She pursued her dream of opening her own store in 2022. Ms. Kelleher developed her “cottage-her-farmhouse” style while renovating her home with her husband Sean and helping her neighbors decorate their homes.
“I know what it’s like to not have that,” she said. “That's why we want everyone who comes here to feel comfortable and feel comfortable talking to us and feel like we're friends and family.”
Her very warm and homely Yorkshire terrier, Maisie, was curled up on the floor on a recent morning. This Friday night, she will host a medical appreciation event during National Nurses Week. All healthcare professionals are invited, regardless of specialty. Enjoy snacks and store discounts.
“It will probably be as big as our Christmas event,” Kelleher said.
She also spotlights nurse- and veteran-owned brands at The Cottage, such as Craft+ Foster candles. Her husband, a teacher, made the dining table. She already has repeat customers and the store has become a “go-to place” for gifts, Kelleher said.
“It was truly more than we could have dreamed of.”
