A new business opened up in downtown Picayune offering a number of rustic hand painted items and other unique wares.

Rustic Elegance, located at 318 West Canal St., offers refurbished furniture, cow and goat hide rugs, restored lamps, distressed doors and windows and clothing for children.

Owner Sue Pullens said the store began as a hobby of collecting items that were brought to the family’s other business, Pullens Auto Salvage and Recycling. After posting a sign at the salvage yard of her interest in purchasing old furniture, doors and windows, her collection grew.

Prior to opening the store on West Canal Street, she sold her items through consignment at other local antique stores.

Once she realized she was paying the same amount in vendor rental space as she would to rent for her own business, she made the transition.

Now that she’s centralized her stock at one location, she said she has had to find creative ways to fit it all in the store.

Stock such as repainted antique dressers, tables, and chandeliers fill almost every corner of the store. Customers can also find 60 different colors of chalk paint from Dixie Belle Paint Company at Rustic Elegance. Pullens said she is the only retailer in town that sells Dixie Belle Paint Company products, and as such she has the ability to add the company’s newest products to her shelves.

She opened the store on Nov. 3, the first day of the fall Picayune Street Festival, and participated in the Shop by Candlelight event earlier this month. So far, response to the new business has been good, Pullens said.

Other unique items offered at the store include Milkhouse candles, which are made using soy and beeswax, reclaimed hardwood flooring, tables made from antique doors and personalized cups and key chains.

Rustic Elegance is open 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday and can be reached by calling 601-799-8977.