Made In Vienna: Valerianne

When Aimee Wedlake Lange moved from Scottsdale, Ariz. to Herndon in 2007, she was leaving a job at a popular linen boutique Valerianne, a business her mother had imagined and created.

“My husband is a home builder in this area, and we met at a wedding and did the long-distance thing for a while,” she said. “When I moved here, I took a job as a creative director that did bedding for catalogues and local furniture stores. I got to be on the other side of the business.”

But with 14 years of experience at Valerianne, Wedlake Lange’s heart was in the retail side of things, and she decided to open up her own store as a complement to the Arizona locale.

“I spent a lot of time in this area and saw that it was limited for what was available for home linens and textiles, and saw a need for the market,” she said. “I had done this [for 14 years] in Arizona and missed working with customers and in the sewing room."

After an extensive search, Wedlake Lange foundthe store opened its doors about three years ago.

“The store in Arizona is 1930s adobe with a garden outside and a beautiful place to visit so I was looking for a space to recreate that,” Wedlake Lange said.

Tired of seeing strip mall after strip mall, Wedlake Lange said the Church Street store offers a great area with wonderful natural light shining through the window.

In addition to offering luxury linens for the bed, bath and tabletop, the store also offers a range of unique accessories and gifts that are carefully selected by Lange herself.

Bedding is a big part of the business and the staff works hard to help provide the perfect sleep covers—be it by Egyptian cotton sheeting or the covers and linen that are most comfortable.

“We work with the customer utilizing our library to create a concept for each client based on how they sleep and their lifestyle,” Wedlake Lange said. “Everyone sleeps differently. Husbands are hot, wives are cold; we want to give them the best sleep as well as a great look.”

Valerianne also deals in tabletop items such as napkins, dish towels, cloth and dishes from Peru. For the bathroom, the store offers towels made from bamboo, soaps and other fun accessories.

Being in Vienna, Wedlake Lange did have to adjust to some of the differences between Northern Virginia and Arizona customers.

“It’s a different market and different aesthetic. Homes here are older and rooms tend to be smaller and scale of furniture is different,” she said. “On the West Coast we deal with a lot of texture and mooted tones, while people are more inclined to play with patterns and color here, which I like and makes it fun to work that in our collection.”

One thing that is similar is for the most part, she said, everyone likes to sleep well and appreciates nice textiles.

Wedlake Lange’s mother passed away two years ago after a battle with Lymphoma and the Arizona store is no longer owned by her family. Still, she considers it a blessing that she is able to carry on her mother’s passion.

“My mom taught me well. She had a beautiful eye and great taste and passed on a lot of information to me,” she said. “It’s nice to have this here and still be working in something that she loved so much and was a passion of hers and mine.”