More than 25 years ago, a mother and two daughters with a flair for design and a penchant for rearranging furniture started an antiques and decorating business in a tiny shop in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Today, daughters Beth Hughes Sachse and Sallie Hughes continue at SR Hughes, the thriving interiors business they helped found and named after their mother, the late Sara Rogers Hughes. In 2000, their nephew and Sara’s grandson, Brian Hughes, became the third-generation partner at SR Hughes. Other Hughes family members also work and help out at “the shop.”  SR Hughes’ membership in RugMark guarantees the responsible, child-labor-free manufacture of the rugs in their showroom, which is a selling point with today’s socially conscious consumers.

SR Hughes presently combines a showroom with an interior design studio in a spacious, light-filled venue in the historic Brookside area of Tulsa, where furniture stores have existed since the 1950s. With time, the business has shifted from importing English antiques to offering more contemporary lines. The airy 4300 square foot showroom, arranged (and rearranged) in vignettes, stocks furniture by Cassina, Giorgetti, Alias, Knoll Studio and Kartell. Also shown are Flos, Artemide and Ingo Maurer lighting, Odegard rugs and Flou bedding. Interesting ethnic antiques and primitive objects, gifts, books and fine art complete the display. This eclectic mixture reflects an overall philosophy that layers classics of traditional and contemporary design in a simple, functional and elegant way.

Odegard rugs, with their lovely textures, colors and patterns, mesh perfectly with the SR Hughes aesthetic. More importantly, SR Hughes applauds Stephanie Odegard’s ongoing efforts to help the hundreds of thousands of South Asian children who are exploited by the handmade carpet industry through her affiliation with Rugmark.

The SR Hughes family likes to think Grandma would be pleased at how her little venture has grown and prospered. She might have exclaimed, “Oh dear,” at some of the changes, but she would have come to appreciate the look of her lovely antiques next to things like Le Corbusier chairs. Certainly she would be delighted that her children and grandchildren have carried on her love of fine furnishings and beautiful homes.

For more information on SR Hughes, visit www.srhughes.com.

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