It's an effective pairing of flora and furniture that benefits both companies. For the furniture maker, there's the added interest provided by the colors and textures of seasonal blooms and preserved greenery. For the floral vendor, it's a way for buyers to visualize how a silk bouquet can provide the finishing touch in a foyer, dining area or casual living room.

“It also helps give a better sense of scale,” Nolan said of the arrangements, which tend to be large and dramatic. “Try to pick up this one — by the base,” she said, referring to a large centerpiece on a table in Furniture Classics' High Point showroom last spring. “A lot of our pieces are weighty. For some, these start out as props, later to be sold at retail. They have to be well-made.”

At Artistry in Silk, that means making each piece one at a time in the company's Lawrenceville, Ga., facility. “We don't cut corners. I would rather have less profit,” Nolan said. “We put the preserved in with the silk, each piece individually, in high quality containers. I take a lot of pride in picking out those containers to get the right look.”

Then there's the issue of making sure the arrangement comes out of the box looking like what the customer ordered. “We have the most expensive opening order because I'm only going to ship freight,” she said. “Something like this piece — three would come on a pallet to make it cost effective.

“In the beginning, I spent many sleepless nights trying to figure out how to ship a silk floral arrangement … but I did it,” she said. “Now, they're packaged so well that we've only had one breakage in a year and that's because someone put a forklift through the box. We've also made them easy to unpack and are seeing a lot of reorders as a result.”

After listening to Nolan discuss freight, operations and the door-knocking that made her company the success it is today, it's surprising to hear she had no formal education in business or design. She started her craft in the basement of her home as a stay-at-home mom.

“I had a friend with a fabulous house with gorgeous arrangements all over the place,” she said. “I knew I couldn't afford them so I went to a floral shop and bought all the pieces and just started making them.”

In about 1987 she began to get serious and, after courting local stores, landed several nationally-known furniture store accounts in the Atlanta metro area. Nolan began expanding into markets outside her home base, moved the operation into a commercial facility, grew the staff and saw things really take off when one of her creations landed in The Horchow Collection.

She recently added a master designer. “That was a big step. I was doing all the design until Anna came on board. She's done this all her life and brought a hundred new designs to the company this year.”

Nolan has never borrowed a dime for her business and, as a result, operates debt free. She credits her upbringing for the thrifty mindset. “I grew up in the inner city where everybody paid cash for everything,” she said. “That was just the way of life.”

She also credits her faith and the biblically-based financial course she's studied and taught for close to five years. “That's what has made the biggest difference in my business. It's about getting to know God and finances so that when challenges arise, you react from your heart — you're guided by truth and not what's going on around you.”

Those challenges, Nolan said, are based in fear and are especially prevalent today. “That fear grips immediately,” she said. “I just say, 'turn off the news, take a fast from television and stop listening to all the negatives.' We're a nation of industrious people. America always picks itself up and turns itself around.”

For Nolan, Artistry in Silk is not so much about getting rich, but about getting enriched by giving back. The company supports 10 missionaries working in Guatemala, Mexico, Israel, Africa, India and China. “We go to a church that teaches that and gives a tremendous amount each year to mission work. It's a way of life now because I've seen what a little bit can do. When you're debt-free, it frees you to be more giving to your family and to others.”

She's also enriched by the time spent with her family, which includes two grown children, two grandchildren and a very supportive husband. “The older you get the wiser you get. You realize what's really important in life. If you can get into that place of faith you can do anything.”