Inside her shop/studio, the designer Megan Temple tinkers with color, pattern, furniture, and décor. The Dollhouse—a gray Craftsman house behind Baumann’s Fine Meats in Brentwood—gives Temple the freedom to be herself.
“It’s another spot that I can play and show what I’m feeling—what I’m seeing—in a creative way, with no limitations,” she says. “I can only redesign my house so many times.”
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Temple’s passion for retail is one of the reasons that she decided to open the store in the midst of the pandemic last year. “I love stuff,” she says. Her style, which she describes as eclectic, can be hard to find in St. Louis. The pandemic made sourcing the items she’s drawn to more difficult. Many of the places she likes to visit—West Elm, Crate & Barrel, and Target, to name a few—weren’t receiving any new inventory.
When the previous owner, a friend, offered to sell her the house, Temple jumped at the chance. The friend had used the space to design dollhouses, and the two referred to the building as “the dollhouse.” After a rehab with all-new finishes, The Dollhouse came to life, giving Temple a place to highlight the decorative objects that she loves—as well as her own design studio—in a setting that feels like a home.
“It’s all about making things comfortable, making things feel finished,” she says.
Her two businesses—the design firm and the retail shop—complement each other.
“I love showing who we are as a studio and giving people an idea of what they might get from us,” she says. “[The space] acts as our warehouse and studio. We can shop for hours for a needle in a haystack, but now we just load up our car with stuff from The Dollhouse and style our projects.”
Temple takes a thoughtful approach, informed by her background in product design, to curate goods for her shop. With a bachelor’s degree in communications, including an emphasis on advertising and a minor in fine art, from the University of Texas at Arlington, she began her career at Fossil Watches. After working for four years on their women’s leathers team, Temple assumed a position as a belt designer at Circa Corporation, in San Francisco. When she moved to St. Louis with her husband, Temple spent eight years in the footwear industry—working at Elan Polo International before moving into a brand management role for a subsidiary, Dr. Scholl’s Kids.
Her process for buying items for the store is as thoughtful as her interiors. Once she’s completed an order with her vendors, she prints it and reviews it for overlap.
“I sit on the orders for about a week to see if I still like them a week later,” she says.
The shop is also open for small private parties. “They get pretty wild,” she says—and that’s precisely the point.
Says Temple: “I want people to feel comfortable here. I want them to feel like it’s a place to hang out.”–a.v.
