Actor Katherine Heigl always dreamt of running a store. Maybe, she muses, a cozy knitting shop or a corner café—somewhere where she could curate items and have a space of her own design.
“It has been both exciting and wish fulfillment for me,” the former Grey’s Anatomy star tells AD of her online shop, New Lane Road Mercantile. Originally a small-scale operation Heigl put together to sell her art to benefit the animal foundation she started with her mom, it has recently grown into a full-fledged retailer with the help of Shopify.
“It’s so fun for me to curate the products and find things and share things that I have found over the years,” Heigl says. The site truly is a reflection of her tastes, as well as those of her husband, musician Josh Kelley. Heigl isn’t selling crystals just because they’re trendy, but because of a chance encounter with a stranger on a particularly scary flight. The experience turned Heigl on to the power of crystals, and she’s since developed her own rituals. Another one of her rituals, the evening cocktail, shows up on the site in the form of a few carefully selected martini sets.
Intentional living shows up in Heigl’s home as well. From her art studio and her nighttime routine, all the way to her keeping room—a space off the kitchen that originated in the Colonial era where people could make the most of the warmth from the hearth—her home is all about relaxing as much as one can with three kids.
The shop is full of small luxuries—bath soaks, leather Dopp kits, mother-of-pearl coasters—and works made by individual artists and artisans. Though it has become de rigueur in marketing copy to refer to a store as thoughtful, it really does seem like the items in New Lane Road Mercantile were sought out and considered intentionally. The products are a reflection of her life at home. It’s like that magical little shop you stumble into on vacation and think about for months after. Below, the 27 Dresses star shares more.
Architectural Digest: What city do you live in primarily?
Katherine Heigl: Oakley, Utah.
How would you describe the style of your home in one sentence?
A big stone-and-wood mountain home with concrete floors and a big four-story stone wall that runs through the whole house and big beams through the ceilings. Then I kind of came in with my softer aesthetic, swapping it up a bit.
What is one kitchen item you use every single day?
My coffee maker and my boiling-water tap so I can easily make a perfect cup of tea.
What is your favorite gadget or appliance?
It’s a sort of love-hate, but I really love our Control4 system. When we first put it in 15 years ago or so, it was like any technology, it wouldn’t work right. And now everything’s working well. And the fact that I can just touch the pad on the wall and turn music on while I cook or turn music on in my bedroom to meditate feels very fancy and high tech.