A well-spotted opportunity, Potted celebrates its 10th year

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Potted co-owners Annette Gutierrez, left, and Mary Gray recently expanded their Atwater Village home and garden store. (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times)

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At the entrance to the Atwater Village home and garden store Potted, a custom garden stone provides a friendly greeting. (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times)

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Ten years later, the once forlorn Los Feliz Pottery has been refashioned into a vital, beloved neighborhood destination. (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times)

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Loll lounge chairs ($440) and an outdoor Navajo rug from Mad Mats are made from recycled plastic. (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times)

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Gutierrez and Gray also added an elevated stage to the front of the store to showcase different home and garden accessories. (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times)

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Ceramic air pods designed for air plants are $20 each. (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times)

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Annette Gutierrez and Mary Gray recently expanded into a former storage space at the store, adding a skylight and installing warm weathered wood walls. (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times)

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Colorful bistro folding chairs by French designer Fermob (starting at $108) hang in Potted’s new showroom. (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times)

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A skull planter, $49.50. “We try to find really cool pots that you can’t find everywhere,” said Gutierrez. “You’re not going to find these pots at Home Depot.” (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times)

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Metal birdhouses are made from recycled license plates. (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times)

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Air pods and Tentacle planters make striking vessels. “Tillandsia are insanely popular,” Gutierrez said. “It’s a fad, but it’s a fad that’s not going away.” (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times)

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A modern Jack Planter -- which resembles the shape from the classic game Jacks and Ball -- from Steel Life. (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times)

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Potted’s Circle Pot, in orange ($95). (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times)

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Steel City wall planters by Potted (starting at $198). (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times)

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Gutierrez and Gray found a vintage truck planter at a flea market. “Trucks are a great way to get boys in to gardening,” said Gutierrez. “They see things that are relevant to them.” (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times)

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A small glass terrarium planter from Chive costs around $15. (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times)

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Gutierrez and Gray have filled Potted with unique goods, including outdoor furnishings by Loll and French designer Fermob, graphic wool frazadas, handcrafted birdhouses and fire pits, their bestselling pots, even their own designs. (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times)

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Pots are Potted’s biggest sellers. (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times)

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Furniture and garden accessories mix at the front entrance to Potted. “That was the point -- to create an environment where people can see how things work together,” Gutierrez said. “People don’t get that you can put a mirror in your garden.” (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times)

By Lisa BooneStaff Writer

Nov. 7, 2014 12 AM PT

For the nearly 10 years that Annette Gutierrez and Mary Gray have owned the Atwater Village garden store Potted, the women have built a reputation for having a distinctive eye for outdoor home décor and accessories.

Now, in celebration of their 10th anniversary, they have expanded the store to offer more tools for what they like to call “exterior decoration.”

In a recent interview, the amiable pair said they were a little surprised by the store’s longevity.

Potted is located on the site of a formerly rundown pottery store. “I walked in to Los Feliz Pottery trying to sell them my tile pavers and walked out with a store,” Gutierrez said with a laugh.

Why so surprised? For starters, Gutierrez, a screenwriter, and Gray, a set decorator, had purchased the pottery store with no prior retail experience.

“We didn’t know what we were doing,” Gray admitted.

They may have been “clueless,” as Gutierrez described it, but they knew they were on to something.

“When we started, we realized there were not a lot of choices for outdoor-themed lifestyle stores,” Gutierrez said.

They took a year to sell off the store’s existing pottery and statuary, and focused on creating a design-centered garden store.

They started by opening up the ceiling (where they discovered dead animals), plastering and glazing the walls and adding vintage furnishings. They eventually found pottery distributors and introduced succulents and houseplants — “anything that can be placed in a pot,” Gray said.

As the store began to take shape, they considered what type of goods best suited Potted. “Color, small vendors, and furnishings and accessories that resonate outdoors,” Gray said.

They filled the space with goods you wouldn’t find everywhere: vibrantly hued outdoor furnishings by Loll and French designer Fermob, graphic wool frazadas, handcrafted birdhouses and fire pits, their bestselling pots, even their own designs. They painted the exterior a cheerful greenl and allowed the outdoor furnishings and accessories to spill outdoors, just like they would at home.

But the key component for Potted’s success, said landscape designer and longtime customer Kathleen Ferguson, is its appeal to three types of consumers: gardeners, designers and do-it-yourselfers.

“I go there for myself, for gift giving and for my clients,” Ferguson said. “It’s great to go over there and get inspired. It’s a lovely spot for milling around. And Annette and Mary set the tone. They are so welcoming and warm and knowledgeable.”

Ten years later, the once-forlorn Los Feliz Pottery has been refashioned into a vital neighborhood destination. Something that is not lost on two women who opened a retail store without any business experience.

“It feels good to still be here,” Gutierrez said. “We’re really proud of ourselves.”

For more information on events and classes at the store, at 3158 Los Feliz Blvd., please go to pottedstore.com.

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Twitter: @LisaBoone19