Owner and proprietor of The Sunroom, a vintage goods and curated gift shop of unique finds in Madison, New Jersey.
In 2020, the time had finally come for Jill to take a leap of faith and share her treasures with the world.
Faith is taking the first step even when you do not see the whole staircase.
-Martin Luther King
Jill Meerwarth has an eye for detail- for beauty- for the hidden story. Jill studied Business and Merchandizing and earned a degree from F.I.T. She took her degree and her talent and applied for work in the bridal fashion industry soon after graduating. Her creativity and aesthetic helped connect her clients with their dream dress and bridal look to curate a personal story on their wedding day. Being part of such an important occasion was a rewarding experience and tapped into Jill’s creativity and romanticism.
Jill married in her twenties and kids came early. While helping brides find their beauty and story was important to her, being a mother was her ultimate job. She left the 9 to 5 world to raise her children. Her creativity took a backseat to school lunches and carpool. Jill was very happy creating a home and rearing her children, but her creativity was neglected, and she felt a void. Jill went back to the bridal industry for a few years when her kids were young; nevertheless, her three children still needed her at home, and Jill again put her career on hold.
Home again for a second time, Jill made it a point to tap into her imagination to fill the artistic abyss. Her father was an art hobbyist and her mother loved making things with her hands. This creativity flowed through Jill’s veins. Inspired by the bridal industry, she began to embellish evening bags and sold them locally and at various vendor shows. Jill worked on the evening bags late at night when her household slept. That was her only free time- her me time.
Making the bags was very time consuming and was not sustainable in a house with young children. Sleep became an invaluable commodity. After a while, Jill pivoted to decoupage. She decoupaged home décor pieces for Valentine’s Day, Christmas, Easter, and Halloween and sold them at Colly Flowers, a magical florist shop in Morristown. Once she tapped into her creativity, Jill was not able to disconnect from this outlet.
All the while she was at home and having midnight creativity sessions, Jill antiqued. On a lazy Sunday, Jill would go to an estate sale or a garage sale she passed during her outings. She would also go to proper antique stops. She bought pieces that spoke to her; that made her happy. Jill marveled at each piece’s story and would wonder about its journey- who owned it before, how did they acquire it? Jill appreciated not only the object’s beauty but also its story, even if it was unknown.
Jill loves details and has a deep appreciation for creativity that takes time. She loved watching her mother cross stitch and has a special place in her heart for such handmade pieces. The embroidered pieces were made by someone with love for themselves or as a gift and are meant to convey a special message. Jill connects with these pieces and has many of them for sale in her shop. While their stories have been lost to time, their new owners find meaning in every stitch and weave a new story.
Jill’s love and appreciation for craftmanship was cultivated from the time she was a young girl. As a child, she visited Cape May, New Jersey with her family and would steal away to the antique shops. Her grandmother and great grandmother’s homes were filled with loving treasures that soon became antiques. Jill loves mixing old and new pieces. She learned this skill from her grandmother.
Jill’s grandmother had a sunroom in her home filled with knickknacks. This was Jill’s favorite room in the house. She felt the most comfortable there amongst the room’s curated hominess. This room, and the feeling it evoked in anyone who spent time in it, would serve as inspiration to Jill in her future endeavors.
Antiquing for years as a passion project soon left Jill’s basement brimming with treasures. She always knew she wanted to open a store and would one day sell her curated finds to others who appreciated her aesthetic. That day was someday.
On May 28, 2021, Jill opened the door to her innermost sanctum and let the world in. Leading up to the Grand Opening of The Sunroom took a lot of faith and a little push from Jill’s three children.
By 2020, Jill and her husband were almost empty nesters. Their three children were either in college or had recently graduated from college. But in the early days of the Pandemic, all her children returned home. They were no longer little children that needed her, and instead became her cheerleaders, championing her dreams. Jill kept talking about the “someday” when she would open her store, but her kids reminded her that someday needed to be today.
The unabashed fearlessness of her children in pushing her to pursue her dream supported Jill as she began the business of starting a business. It took a while to get all the pieces in place as government agencies were backlogged and her legal paperwork was at the bottom of the stack. While this was frustrating, in hindsight, it was a blessing. With the ball rolling on the business aspect of her business, Jill was able to hone in on the creative side of the business.
Jill wanted to create a comfortable store that in many ways felt like a home away from home, that was beautiful but unfussy. She wanted it to represent not only her happy place, and the home for her treasures, but also her prospective clientele’s happy place. She wanted to create the feeling of her grandmother’s sunroom.
Jill carefully chose wall coverings and paint colors that created the ambiance she was looking for. While the paperwork was in bureaucratic limbo, and her aesthetic was taking shape, Jill needed to find a brick-and-mortar location to showcase her treasures. This too seemed like a long process, but in hindsight, the roadblocks in her path worked in her favor.
A room should feel collected, not decorated.
-Albert Hadley
Jill looked everywhere to find the perfect location. She liked a few spots, but the landlords were not responsive to her queries. One day, while driving around, frustrated by her fruitless search, she stumbled across a handmade sign in the window of 21 Kings Road. The store was tucked away- not on the main street, but extremely accessible. There was storage, and enough space to display Jill’s vision. It was understated and a diamond in the rough. While nothing in life is perfect, this was the perfect place for Jill to put down roots and cultivate her dream of owning a small business showcasing her love of new and old.
Jill’s father was ailing, but he was still well enough to help put up the wallpaper Jill painstakingly chose and paint the walls with a happy and welcoming robin’s egg green color. He bestowed to Jill a large photo print of Marie Wainwright, an American actress of the stage and screen from the Victorian era. The print once hung in Jill’s grandmother’s house and its provenance and story is lost. But in hanging off to the side, in an unassuming corner, the print watches over Jill and her dream and tells a new story of family, of love, of pride, of passion and of faith commingling and shared with the world in the form of The Sunroom.
When asked what she would tell others when contemplating a new journey, Jill does not hesitate- “don’t listen to the nay-sayers” she warns. Many of Jill’s friends thought she was crazy to start a business now- at this stage of her life, while the Pandemic was in full swing. The Sunroom is the tangible representation of her dreams; dreams that were put on the backburner while she was rearing her children. Jill has so much more to give and needed an outlet to express herself and share her joy and passions.
If one has courage, nothing can dim the light that shines from within.
-Maya Angelou
There is no time limit on following your dreams and breathing life into your passion. Jill doesn’t want to plan too far into the future. She has never been a planner and doesn’t plan on starting now. Her journey has never been tied to a timeline, and she honors this philosophy.
She takes one day at a time- antiquing on her days “off” from the store, and relishes in finding other creative types whose new products she showcases in her shop alongside her vintage finds. Ever attentive to detail, Jill spends many evenings creating music playlists to play in the background while her clients shop. Jill is ever curating an experience- whether one to purchase and make part of your home or just the experience of shopping at The Sunroom. Every detail is thought of. You may not realize it, but you certainly feel it.
Jill has honored her grandmother’s legacy, in bringing the magic of her sunroom to everyone who stops by The Sunroom at 21 Kings Road.
By doing what you love, you inspire and awaken the hearts of others.
-Unknown
Sometimes making lemonade from lemons is realizing there is no time like the present. Take a leap of faith and bet on yourself.
Xoxoxoxo,
The Sunroom’s website is: https://www.thesunroomnj.com
You can also follow Jill on Instagram at: @thesunroomnj
P.S. Has Covid or some other life-altering event changed your trajectory and helped you follow your dreams? If so, I would love to hear from you.
If you enjoyed learning about Jill Meerwarth from The Sunroom, you might also enjoy learning about these other inspirational go-getters who birthed a sweet pivot born from a sour note:
