Local Business: Stylish Patina Celebrates 15 Years

Happy 15th Anniversary to one of Falls Church City’s most successful small businesses, Stylish Patina – a “modern vintage,” locally-owned, home décor, gift, and retail services boutique – at 248 West Broad St., owned by Falls Church City native and resident Kelly Thompson, a Virginia licensed realtor with RLAH Real Estate in Arlington, Va., and proud mom of five.  

“It’s ok, you can splurge a little!,” the curated boutique says on its website. ‘Shop Local. Shop Handmade. Shop Eco-Friendly. Impulse purchases without any of the guilt.” 

According to Visit Falls Church, Stylish Patina “features a curated collection of home décor, vintage furniture, and unique gifts, focusing on supporting local artisans. Owner Kelly Millspaugh Thompson combines her passion for home design with real estate expertise to help clients create spaces they love.”

While Stylish Patina might appear at first glance to be a small, cozy, sustainable, home knick knack shop, however, it’s actually an expansive and thriving retailer pursuing an innovative business model using highly effective, business-savvy techniques. At the same time, it’s dedicated to environmentally sustainable practices, where folks can repurpose old furniture “to fit the modern household,” instead of purchasing from Big Box shops, and they can shop for non-wasteful, locally-sourced home décor gifts and items.

The Falls Church Independent was invited to stop by the shop for Stylish Patina’s 15th Anniversary “Sip & Sparkle” party this past Friday evening, May 16, to help celebrate and to meet with the business’s founder Kelly Thompson. We were curious how Thompson’s business model has led to so much success, while other beloved local shops on West Broad Street, such as the Falls Church Antique Annex, Dominion Camera, and Brown’s Hardware, have had to close shop.

With a huge crowd all around the beautifully-appointed, ideal-for-browsing shop, Thompson and I chatted in the back, near the luscious food and wine spread –  where, naturally, I gravitated.

“So, it’s been 15 years?,” I asked, thinking I had only seen Stylish Patina at its current location once occupied by the Falls Church Antique Annex for a few years. “Yes, I’ve had three locations right here in Falls Church City,” Thompson said. “I’m from Falls Church City, so it’s kind of near-and-dear to my heart. Both my parents are here tonight. They also still live in the City of Falls Church. So, I’ve literally had girls that work for me who are daughters of people I grew up with. It’s just very much a family affair.”

As the schmoozing, cheerful crowd squeezed in with drinks and finger-foods in hand, Thompson estimated that perhaps “over 100” people would stop in for the Sip & Sparkle, given how many had RSVP’d. With a beaming smile, she said, “So, it says a ton about the community and it’s just amazing!”

Success Through Community-Building

“What accounts for the success of this shop, assuming you guys have been successful?,” I asked. Without hesitation, she responded, “Yes, it’s fair to say that. I think probably just the fact that I’m very community-focused, so I really like to be a part of the community. We like to focus on things that are relevant to the community at-large, and we like to post events, we like to lift up other small business owners, I’m always looking to collaborate and to help other business owners to be successful. So, I think that’s a big part of it.”

“I think it’s really about people and it’s about fostering relationships with people in the community and understanding what they’re looking for whether that means products or services and then offering that to them,” Thompson said. “So, that’s why we are very multidimensional. So, yes, we will paint furniture for you, we will give you interior design services, we will help you find a gift, we can help you buy a home, we can do all of those things for you because we want to be part of your life as a whole. So, it’s a holistic approach to serving our customers.”

A Three-Pronged Business

Reviewing Stylish Patina’s website and social media, it’s clear Thompson's response isn't just empty business rhetoric. Her innovative business model for the shop offers a host of services far beyond the shop’s walls. 

As a local business, Stylish Patina provides Thompson’s licensed realtor services for buying and selling homes in the area, in addition to consulting with customers on designing and outfitting their home interior spaces. Inside the shop, customers can come to browse and purchase home décor-style items and gifts, and see examples of her custom furniture refurbishment services; but the shop experience is just the starting point for Thompson and her store employees to gather ideas about what sort of broader services their growing clientele might wish for.

“We’re always asking people, ‘What are you looking for?,’ ‘What can we help you find?’ Often, we may not have the exact piece in the store, but we’re always looking for things people want or need,” Thompson said.  

Real Estate Services: Prong 1

Stylish Patina’s “Real Estate Services,” offer a “modern, holistic approach,” with “all the fun,” but “none of the stress,” including “staging, marketing, renovation, and design.” So the site posts listed homes for sale.

“Falls Church City is my hometown and my husband is from Arlington, Virginia. If you are looking to relocate to Northern Virginia we can help you find the perfect area for you and your family!,” Thompson says on the website. “If you have grown out of your home and need something larger or [are] looking to downsize and are overwhelmed by the process, let me help!”

Home & Gift Shop: Prong 2

For their “Home & Gift Shop,” they offer, a “uniquely curated retail boutique of home decor & gift items with a focus on small makers,” to provide “shopping without guilt!” With an external warehouse and constant acquisitions and curation, they can also promise customers a chance to explore “new goods with every visit.” Such wares include fashionable vintage clothing (to “reduce your impact on the earth”), scented candles, bath bombs and soaps, and DIY paints for home and furniture refreshing.

Services for the 'Design Lover:' Prong 3

And, for the “Design Lover” component of the business, Thompson writes that she “saw a design trend in the vintage furniture and decor space 15 years ago and jumped in,” and now it’s “evolved to offering “furniture transformation, interior design, and more.” 

Given this three-pronged business model, Thompson devotes an entire page on the shop’s website to “Falls Church Lifestyles.” As a “small business owner… I wanted to create a place to highlight our small town vibe known as The Little City,” she says on the page. “Feel free to email me with the things you want to see featured!” 

Remarkably, the shop’s site provides extensive listings and boosts links to local restaurants, entertainment spots, health centers, dentists, doctors, lawyers, parks, entertainment for the kids, and even an interactive map of Falls Church City restaurants and businesses nearby.

Networking Success

Adding the real estate prong to Stylish Patina’s business model has vastly expanded the business’s networking success. “About 7 years ago I got my real estate license. So I added that service to Stylish Patina as a whole,” Thompson said. “So basically whether or not you need something like design assists for your home, or furniture for your home, or gifts for your friends, or a home to purchase or re-sell, I can help you with it. So, I love the fact that I can service people in all areas of their lives, whether it be a gift for a dear friend, or to sell their homes.”

So, how does Thompson balance the real-estate side of her business with the shop side? “I will say that at this point now, I probably do more real estate on the day-to-day, and so it is my primary focus, but this store is equally important to me, and I just have a manager that helps me run this on the day-to-day.” Thompson's store manager, Catherine, runs daily sales while Thompson stops by “all the time.” Thompson has four employees at the shop and two for her real estate work.

With over 20,000 followers on Stylish Patina’s Instagram site, and over 12 million friends on Pinterest, it’s clear Thompson’s social media networking is top-notch.

The shop is always hosting classes, events, parties and other community networking opportunities. “Stylish Patina is home base for Kelly Thompson, who also offers interior-design services as well as classes in furniture-painting and photography,” Washingtonian magazine reported. On June 7, 2025, per Instagram, the store will also be hosting a Candle Making Workshop, with “Vintage Vessel Candle Pouring,” where attendees can “pour two beautiful candles into vintage vessels while sipping cocktails and enjoying the creative process. Perfect girls’ night or solo treat!”  

Thompson's online warmth, personability, and flare are major components of her social media success. Subtly, she's very effective at lifestyle branding, though she wouldn't use that term.

Last October, Thompson posted to Instagram: 

“Hey there! I’m Kelly Thompson, your Falls Church hometown Realtor, balancing life as a mom to 5 energetic kids, owner of Stylish Patina Boutique, and lover of all things business and community!

Here’s a little about me…

🍷 Meiomi Pinot loyalist

☕ Never enough coffee to fuel my busy days

🦮 Anatolian Shepherd mama (my furry sidekick!)

🌳 Obsessed with getting outside and exploring our local trails

🚀 Passionate about helping other women bring their biz dreams to life

I’m here to help you fall in love with Northern Virginia as much as I have, sharing real estate insights and my favorite spots and tips for living local.” 

Business Acumen

So, how did Thompson become so business savvy? 

In an interview with Root & Vine, she revealed how she acquired such acumen. She "blazed a successful path in the corporate world, through operations and marketing. She earned an M.B.A from the Smith School of Business where she met her husband, 'We got married in six months, kind of a whirlwind.' When the company Kelly was working for was bought out, she started a consulting business from her home and found she had more time on her hands to do the things she loved to do. ‘Going through that process, having flexibility working from home, I started buying and painting furniture and dreaming of this idea of owning a business, and then I found this paint line that was becoming very popular and my business brain just said, ‘Hey, no one’s selling this where we are. This could be an opportunity,’” 

Creative Passion

At the bubbling “Sip & Sparkle,” I recounted to Thompson how the first time I had entered the store a few years earlier, she was in the back painting and refurbishing an antique piece of furniture on a dropcloth.

“Yes, I love vintage furniture!,” she said. “My parents, they basically rehabbed their house in Falls Church City in the Broadmont area over 45 years ago – actually longer than that, maybe 50 years ago – and they kind of inspired me to start this because I grew up in an environment where things were not just purchased at the local box store. We went and found things they loved and they had character just like our home did. So, that’s kind of what spurred the love of vintage furniture.”

“The shop is always evolving with new vintage furniture and home decor since that is what we love,” Stylish Patina’s website says. “We enjoy helping our customers find those unique items for their home or to give as a gift. We love to transform furniture with paint so we always have new furniture pieces in the shop that are for sale. We are always happy to help you find the perfect items for your home.“

It’s clear, Thompson’s a Renaissance Woman pursuing her bliss. 

“Kelly Millspaugh Thompson was born to be creative,” Root & Vine wrote. “Growing up in Falls Church City, Kelly experienced the magical transformation of her childhood home from gutted fixer-upper to heritage family estate. In the process, she learned to prize old forgotten furniture for its potential beauty and innate authenticity. As an adult, she’s taken the family tradition and turned it into a sparkling enterprise, offering the Falls Church community and beyond the opportunity to join her in the pursuit of creative restoration with Stylish Patina. Whether as real estate agent, design consultant, DIY coach, craftswoman, curator, or most importantly, mother of [now 5 children] … Kelly brings a joy to the art of living that is uniquely her own.”

A Love of Hometown in the City of Falls Church 

Asked what she thinks about her hometown, the City of Falls Church, Thompson said, “I think it has the charm of a small town, yet it has access to Washington, D.C., so it gives you all the job opportunities and the access to art and museums and so forth, but in Falls Church you feel like you're living in a small town and I love that.”

By Christopher Jones