A Treat for Good Taste: Tournesol's Luxury Linens from Around the World

Barbara Reilly has created an international wonderland of fine table linens and designer dinnerware on Walnut Street to reflect her love for world travel.

“That’s the whole idea to celebrate the world,” Reilly said. “I have a little bit of everything.” 

While Tournesol officially opens for walk-in customers today at 425 Walnut St., Reilly said the village’s latest business has been in operation for nearly a decade.

A former attorney, Reilly left the legal world to start the business nine years ago after some encouragement from her husband while the two were in France.

Reilly remembers wanting to go from town to town to purchase new tablecloths. Eventually, her husband said, “I don’t mind doing this, but why are we doing this?”

She explained that it was hard to find a decent tablecloth in Pittsburgh, so she had to buy them in France. That's when he suggested she start her own business — an idea she took to heart.

“It was really one of those times in your life where a door opens and you have to decide do you walk through or not,” she said.  

Reilly stepped through that door and opened a store in Mt. Lebanon. Three years later, as business continued to evolve, she on Ivy Street, where the business remained for six years.

As a Sewickley resident whose adult son and wife also live in the village with the grandchildren, Reilly said it made sense to bring Tournesol closer to home in downtown Sewickley. Tournesol started a website two years ago and has continued taking online orders from customers in between the move.

Located in the space formerly occupied by Bailey and Bailey, Tournesol offers quality home goods that hail from around the world — from Italian and South African ceramics to French and Indian tablecloths.

The store also is the shopping mecca for tablecloth lovers.

“There’s a tablecloth for everyone,” Reilly said. 

Reilly said Tournesol was one of a few stores in the United States that carries Lisa Corti, a type of rich and colorful Italian-brand tablecloth that Reilly calls “spectacular.” 

The store also carries specialty linens such as Chilewich, a wipe-off place mat from India, and Garnier-Thiebaut's new "Green Sweet" line of stain-resistant cotton tablecloths on which liquid beads immediately form and are easily wiped away. The stores’s top seller is a French polyester tablecloth that can easily wash and dry.

“We do custom tablecloths too,” Reilly added.

Other well-known luxury brands include a new line of contemporary Indian prints from John Robshaw and the linen and bedding line by Sferra.

Sferra is one of the top linen companies in the world, and Tournesol offers its 101-color palette for dinner and cocktail napkins, tablecloths and bedding. Sferra even has an iPhone application to help customers pick out the right colors to match their needs.

“Sferra is just classic luxury,” Reilly said.

Different styles appeal to different tastes. For someone looking for a little more glam, Ann Gish fits perfectly, Reilly said. For someone who wants contemporary prints, Robshaw is the brand. 

“I’ve chosen them because they’re all different. They’re going to appeal to different people,” Reilly said.

Reilly said she doesn’t want customers to feel overwhelmed. She said everyone has their own style, and she’s there to help them through the selection process. Customers can also leaf through catalogs from the different brands, and Reilly said she'll let indecisive customers take tablecloths from the store to try out at home in order to get a better feel.

“I’m really big on giving people choices on tablecloths and bedding … People don’t necessarily get overwhelmed because if they want a certain thing, we can go through that brand.”

Gifts for weddings and anniversaries are also available. They include French glass, 90-hour soy-based candles, place tiles for seating arrangements, reversible aprons, jewelry and picture frames. 

Tournesol plans a grand opening May 10 to May 12 on Mother's Day weekend.  You also can shop online at www.tournesolgifts.com