ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, July 17, 1996 TAG: 9607170012
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: DUBLIN
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
They are a generation apart, but Charlotte Carroll and Becky Cullip have much in common, such as a talent for home decorating, wedding arrangements, wallpapering and interior painting.
"And now we are taking up catering," Carroll said. "Dublin is kind of small so we'll probably need every bit of it to make a living."
Carroll opened her own shop last year in downtown Dublin, covering all of the above.
"My sister wanted me to call it 'Charlotte Takes A Holiday' because I do decorations while people relax," Carroll said. She shortened that to Take A Holiday, which is what her customers do while she fixes walls, meals or decorations in their homes.
Her shop is in the same downtown Dublin building where Pulaski County Commonwealth's Attorney Everett Shockley has his offices, and offers a wide variety of home decorating products. It is open from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday and Friday, and 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday.
One of her frequent visitors was Cullip, who was starting a stained-glass business out of her home called ABC Custom Works. The letters stand for her husband's name (Andy), her name (Becky) and their last name (Cullip).
Cullip has been working with stained glass for about 11/2 years, starting with her own kitchen cabinet doors. She liked stained glass but could not afford to buy it so she learned to create it.
Carroll remembered Cullip as a member of the Sunday school class she taught at the Community Christian Church in Newbern. "She was my youth leader," Cullip said. "And I can remember when Becky was born," Carroll added.
"She'd come in and we'd talk," Carroll said. "We have a lot of things in common and we've known each other for years."
"We just like the same things ... I brought some of my stuff in, my stained glass. That was when we started talking," Cullip said. "We kind of feed off each other." They decided to start working together on some of the Take A Holiday projects like wallpapering and catering.
Carroll said the catering will include take-out meals, continental breakfasts, luncheons and wedding and dinner parties in hers or Cullip's homes. "It's really fun, because we both got our own houses at about the same time," Carroll said, some three years ago.
For 17 years, Carroll had worked in food service at Radford University where she was assistant manager. She took advantage of the state's early retirement buy-out last year. "I said all right, I'm gone. And not sorry. Broke, but not sorry."
LENGTH: Medium: 57 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: PAUL DELLINGER/Staff. Charlotte Carroll (left) , ownerby CNBof the Take A Holiday shop in Dublin, and her collaborator, Becky
Cullip, who works with her on redecorating, catering and other
projects.