Flowers, home decor, vibrant colors: Inside GR’s newest shop

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — The night before her wedding, Nicole Ludema was overwhelmed, pulling an all-nighter to finish the flower arrangements for her big day.

“I don’t recommend it,” she said. “I can’t say that I regret it, because it is what introduced me to the love of color and to the love of flowers.

“But yeah, I pulled an all-nighter the night before my wedding. Not everything was finished, because a bride shouldn’t be responsible for those things,” she said with a laugh. “I learned a lot and I had a great time, but I should have slept more the night before my wedding.”

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Doing the flowers for her own wedding sent her down the path of becoming a florist. Over the next 11 years, she learned the ins and outs of the flower industry while also working as a registered nurse. She got an apprenticeship before starting her own business making flower arrangements for weddings and events.

She later went down to Montana to help her brother open a shop. She had dreamed about owning her own store as a kid, so two years ago she officially started working toward that goal.

Now, she has opened a flower and home décor shop at 121 Ionia Ave. near Oakes Street in downtown Grand Rapids. Niksi Home & Floral — named after the nickname Ludema’s grandmother gave her — has its own storefront in the same building as the Arts Marketplace at Studio Park, a nonprofit that features women- and minority-owned businesses.

Niksi Home & Floral officially opened on Valentine’s Day.

“It seemed like a good flower day. Apparently, I love to punish myself,” Ludema joked. “It was a really great time. A lot of people came in for flowers and it was just a joyful day.”

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Driven by her passion for color design and flowers, Niksi offers home décor accents, ready-made flower bouquets and made-to-order flower arrangements.

Ludema’s goal while designing the storefront was to create a spot where customers feel like they’re “walking into a colorful wonderland.”

“(I want people to feel) invigorated and excited,” she explained. “I have had people come in and say, ‘I’m getting such a dopamine rush right now,’ which just feeds my soul to hear.”

The walls are dark peacock blue with pink accents. There are rich, wooden arch pieces she got off of Facebook Marketplace, with a mix of modern, handmade and vintage items for character.

The store is sectioned off into different color palette collections, to help customers feel out how something would fit into their home and to see how the colors work together.

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Because Ludema specializes in color, she will have rotating floral color palettes that brings in seasonal flowers. She sources flowers from all over, with a lot coming in from California, Colombia and Ecuador — though she will prioritize local flowers in the summer.

Ludema said she is also happy to help people with any design questions they may have.

“I had somebody come in the other day and she’s like, ‘This is the couch I got, this is what I want,’” she said. “I love to engage those sorts of things. Design is a passion of mine, so if you need help, I’m just really happy for you to come in and ask for it.”

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Ludema hopes her shop will grow to become part of the fabric of the downtown community.

“People are excited to have this in downtown in particular, to bring more life down here, add to what’s already happening and bring flowers to a place where we didn’t have a flower shop before,” she said. “What I really look forward to is getting to know people that live here that are coming in (so) that we know each other by name. And that this is a place of warmth and joy and safety, that people come in and just feel seen and feel joy.”

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