“He said, 'take my needlepoint rugs and try cutting them,' so that's how I got started,” she said. “At first, I sewed them, then I found someone else to do it, contracted it out, got a cutter and grew little by little into a bigger space.”

Today, the Peykars' oldest children are parents, and Mina is regaining some of that free time so she can enjoy, among other things, her growing group of grandchildren.

Her 17-year-old company, Decorative Motif, has merged with Nourison as a new home accents division called Nourison Home. “It (Decorative Motif) had grown to a point where it was overwhelming,” Peykar said. “For two years I've been trying to divert everything to being ready-made product, but we still do a lot of custom work.”

The idea of bringing Decorative Motif under one roof with Nourison came up one day while the Peykars were enjoying an afternoon with their family. They discussed the idea, Peykar pointing out that she was already doing a lot of coordinates for Nourison rug customers. “I said that if I came on board with Nourison I could get rid of my place in Long Island and bring everything into New Jersey (where Nourison Rugs is located),” she said. “I know all of the staff and the artists, and I don't need an office because I can continue to do most of the things I need to do from my office in Long Island.”

It took about a month and a half to set up and start sewing at Nourison, and Peykar is proud of the fact that during the move, there was no interruption in shipping. Merging the inventory information into Nourison's database is a bit more involved. “At Decorative Motif, I had so many SKUs that now I'm trying to narrow it down and concentrate on volume scale,” she said. “I'm at Nourison about four times a week because we're still setting up the warehouse, but on weekends I sit down and prepare the Excel spreadsheets of SKUs and descriptions for data entry. It's going to be a while before it's completed.”

Like Decorative Motif, pillows are Nourison Home's primary product, made from panels of needlepoint and petit point, Aubusson rugs, Nourmak, and a large collection of silk pillows embellished with wire embroidery and semi-precious stone. Italian-made footstools covered with petit point and washable chair pads are also strong sellers.

Nourison Home soft launched at the October 2008 High Point Market in the Nourison showroom at Market Square. “We've kept the same phone number and are filling orders the same way, but we ship from Nourison. All of the sewing machines, cutting, everything is set up in the Nourison warehouse.” Peykar credits the Nourison family for helping to make the transition a smooth one. “Now it's all under one roof. Steven and Paul, Alex's brothers, and Andrew Peykar — everybody at Nourison has been so helpful and absolutely wonderful.”

Her energy and sense of adventure, traits she's carried with her since childhood, have also played a role in recent choices. Several years ago, Peykar acted upon a lifelong dream and began taking flying lessons, which she loved, “especially the takeoffs and landings.” But every time she landed, she'd find numerous messages on her cell phone — from a husband and children worried about their wife and mother's safety. About a week before Peykar was scheduled to fly solo, two planes went down in the airfield she was scheduled to fly from. “The whole family came to me and said please, you cannot continue, it's too dangerous. So I stopped … but I'm glad I had that short experience.”

Peykar credits her success to a positive attitude. “I've always said a positive will drives you towards a goal to achieve. A lot of things have happened in my life that I was only able to overcome through positive thinking. I think anybody with that attitude can do anything in this world.”

Now, she's ready for Nourison to help co-pilot her business, which means she'll have more time for her family. “We have three children, and four grandchildren under the age of 6, and we're expecting our fifth grandchild this Friday … they mean more to Alex and me than anything in the world.”