Actress Mary Steenburgen’s welcoming Santa Monica shop is a family affair.

Why did you decide to open rooms & gardens?
I’ve always loved design, and I’ve always loved to help decorate homes for my friends and family. It’s an opportunity for me to show creative expression in a way that’s completely different from my day job. My business partners are my friends Jami and Eric Boulgaris.

How involved are you in the store?
Very. I go to the Atlanta and New York gift shows. I travel to the markets in Paris, and I shop flea markets and antiques stores all over the country. Rooms & Gardens is a family affair. My daughter, Lily McDowell, works in the store, and my oldest stepdaughter, Kate Danson, is helping create a new Web site. 

How would you describe your style?
My style is romantic bohemian. I like borrowing ideas from different cultures—Asian pieces, Indian patterns, and French antiques. I’m also obsessed with color. I am a painter, so for me, it’s a huge part of who I am. I can see a color, hold it in my head, and match it a month later. 

What’s the biggest mistake people make when decorating?
Not connecting their heart and their life to their home. It needs to feel and look like them, not someone else’s idea of cool or pretty.

What do your customers love?
We carry wonderful fortune balls. They’re covered in antique Chinese fabric and ribbon and bring good luck. They make great housewarming gifts. We also carry shell-topped bottles that are handmade by my business partner Eric’s father. Whenever we come across an old bottle, we send it to him. 

When did you open?
We opened the store last year in October. The day before we opened, we were unpacking boxes, when my phone rang. It was former President Bill Clinton, he was in town and wanted to stop by. We looked at each other and screamed. We frantically put away boxes, vacuumed up the packaging, and pulled it all together in 20 minutes! I wish we had a video of us.

What did he buy?
He bought a couple of presents for Hillary’s 59th birthday—one of our fortune balls and a dreamscape painting by Collette Cosentino. 

Do you have a favorite piece of furniture from your store?
Actually, I have two. I love our Seagrass chairs—we make them ourselves and use vintage French fabric on the cushions. The other is our Estate Sofa. It’s a beautiful and super comfortable couch—perfect for tall people like Ted and me. It’s the kind of couch that you can’t help but fall asleep in.

Explain the crystals you have in your store.
They’re quartz crystals that I brought back from a mine in Little Rock, Arkansas. Children love them. They come in the store and immediately they go to the crystals.

What kind of decorating advice do you give to clients?
One of the first things we do is get a sense of what makes them laugh. I think you need to addf a touch of humor in decorating. We like to include items that make you smile.

What do you look for when you go to flea markets or antique stores?
Right now I’m into these wonderful reverse glass paintings from India. It’s funny because Jami (my business partner) and I will go to a flea market and there will be a thousand things, and we’ll go to exactly the same item. I think it’s because we have the same birthday (February 8th).

What did you get her for her birthday?
I did a painting for her.

You and your husband, actor Ted Danson, are known environmentalists. do you have any green tips?
It’s important to help the environment in little ways. For instance, in the store, instead of using flimsy throw-away bags, we give customers sturdy reusable bags (www.onebagatatime.com) from my friend Lisa Foster, who made it her mission to reduce the impact of plastic bags on the environment.

What would people be surprised to find out about you?
I had a friend from Arkansas come and stay with us and afterwards she said, “I was surprised. I thought there would be butlers!” I’m pretty hands-on. I’ve chosen to live my life in a way that I could still recognize where I came from-—the little girl from Arkansas whose dad worked for the railroad.

Where do you keep your Oscar?
It’s sitting on a shelf in our home next to all of Ted’s and my other great awards.

How do you relax? I love to paint. I put on my favorite CDs like Virginia Rodrigues and Ben Harper, and lose track of time. And I love just hanging out with our kids, cooking dinner all together.

Rooms & Gardens, 1311A Montana Ave., Santa Monica, CA 90403; 310/451-5154.