Sherry Yaeger, co-owner of Sherry Yaeger's Renaissance

Sherry Yaeger feels as if she's come full circle.

The Cape Girardeau shop that began as Renaissance in 2001 is now Sherry Yaeger's Renaissance -- Art. Style. Living.

"Initially, I started the store to showcase my art. When we bought the building [139 Main St.] in 2002, the business basically exploded, and my husband, Mike, who had been in the insurance business 20-some years, stepped in to help in the operational side of it. I was doing the creative side of things. Renaissance was the by-product of myself changing over the years," Yaeger says.

Beginning in 1987, she did commissioned paintings and decorative painting and had created 2,000 custom portraits of individuals' homes in two years' time.

After the store's initial success, and though hampered by some challenges during the period of recession, the progress of Renaissance led the Yeagers to feel as if some change was called for.

"I had less and less time to do my art. It came to the point I realized I had to have my studio away from the business, so we moved our home to Madison County, and my studio is in a big shed out there," says Yaeger.

As a result of the refocus on her artwork, the store this fall has metamorphosed beyond its generous offerings of vintage-inspired items, handbags and jewelry, bath and body, decorative pieces and unique accessories into a space featuring inspirational home décor and gift product lines. Renaissance Relics is a collection of hand-cut, hand-carved and hand-glazed wooden blocks in various sizes with graphic representations of faith. A collection of wooden hangings called Wall Whispers is a series of inspirational and encouraging sayings rendered in calming colors and tone-on-tone neutrals.

"If you want to get someone's attention, you whisper," Yaeger says.

Another line, Sunbeams, is made up of "big, thick chunks of beams with inspirational quotations on them. Everyone needs a little more sunshine in their life," Yaeger says. The wood's smooth texture is finished with glazes that almost give it the appearance of water-worn stone.

In addition, the store features Yaeger's decorative framed calligraphy works and her fine art in acrylics, watercolors, color pencils, oils, and pen and ink.

Yaeger describes the store's new direction this way: "In a sense, it's Renaissance's renaissance. It's Sherry Yaeger's renaissance, too. The store became my new canvas of artistic expression, so to speak. The store was the completion of me in the sense that I came full circle … I've gotten back to my art in addition to doing the store."

Personally, Yaeger says she's motivated by her faith in God and others.

"I simply believe everybody has a purpose," she says. "I'm doing what God created me to do. There's nothing better than connecting with people and developing relationships. The store lets me do that."