Good Neighbor Podcast: North Shore
Bringing together local businesses and neighbors of North Shore
Good Neighbor Podcast: North Shore
EP #84 - Resilience Meets Chinoiserie: Crafting Beauty, Beating Odds, Loving Home
If you’ve ever walked into a home store and thought, “Beautiful, but not for my budget,” meet Susan Bott—the NYC-actor-turned-designer behind Room Tonic in Marblehead—who proves that great design can be both distinctive and affordable. From staging in New York to launching her own shop, Susan shares how craft, courage, and community built a brand with a clear point of view and accessible pricing. Her approach to high–low design teaches where to invest for impact and where to save without sacrificing style. Even when COVID hit just five months after opening, she pivoted with grit—turning Instagram into a storefront, offering doorstep delivery, and building a loyal clientele through personal service.
What makes Room Tonic special is its blend of Marblehead charm and a global eye. Susan curates chinoiserie and vintage pieces that create homes with soul—collected, not copied. Drawing on her stage background, she helps clients tell their stories through their spaces while keeping the design approachable and personal. Her honesty about small business challenges and community support makes her story both inspiring and relatable. Explore Room Tonic for design that balances beauty, meaning, and budget—and discover how storytelling can transform the spaces we call home.
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Yuan Godfrey.
SPEAKER_01:Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast. Today we have the distinct pleasure of introducing to us to our listeners Suzanne Bott. She is the owner and founder of the Room Tonic located in Marblehead. Susan, how are you doing today? I'm great. Thanks for having me. Oh, wonderful to have you indeed. Can you please tell our listeners about your company?
SPEAKER_03:Room Tonic in Marblehead, Massachusetts. It's a very unique shop. Home decor, antique, vintage, funky, fun, colorful um things. And um I also do interior design as well when time allows. And um, we're just in Marblehead having fun.
SPEAKER_01:Ah, fun is always fun. What's the backstory? How did you get into this business?
SPEAKER_03:Um by chance, really. Um I moved here after 25 years in New York City. Um I was a classically trained actor and I was working as an actor. I started doing very early in my career was doing set design and then acting as well. And then acting um fortunately took off. And then I met my now husband who's in Marblehead. Um I had um in New York City, I had a uh staging business, bot to sell. And um I got recognized by the New York Times and for some of the properties that I staged, and then it turned into interior design. And then I said, well, I can't have the business be called bot to sell if I'm doing interior design, excuse me. And um then I am also a uh uh certified elemental space clearing practitioner, it's a mouthful, which is working with the energy of a room, and I started doing more and more um clearings and design and staging, and I was like, well, I need a new name. And then I came up with room tonic because it's like the elixir. I'm I'm fixing the energy or I'm fixing the look or I'm fixing the you know interiors, and um, and then it turned into a shop here. Literally fell in my lap, um, where I was uh walking down the street and saw that there was a a uh place for rent, and uh we just went in just to see, and they said, Oh, there's five other people looking at this. And I was like, Oh no, no, no, no, I wasted your time. And then they called me and they said, We want you as a tenant, and that is how it happened. I didn't have a business plan, I didn't have anything. We we signed the contract and and painted the walls and moved in within a month, and um, that was five months before COVID lockdown. So we were open for five months and then we had to close for almost two years, but we've been winning awards and uh we just won uh Best of the North Shore from uh North Shore magazine. Um, and we're still here, so that's the story.
SPEAKER_01:Wow, that sounds like a whirlwind of a story with a little bit of hurricane, yes, but it but it all funneled in nicely. That sounds great.
SPEAKER_03:Thank you.
SPEAKER_01:Sounds really nice. So um, so tell us, what are some myths or misconceptions surrounding room tonic?
SPEAKER_03:Um I would probably say price point. Um and and for my interior design stuff too. Um I have people will go like, oh no, everything's expensive in there. I was like, no, it's not. Yeah, sure, we have some investment pieces, but for the most part, I want people to be able to afford, you know, uh stuff that they like. Um and the same with um interior design. Yes, for the most part, you know, uh it's a luxury business to be able to afford an interior designer, but my specialty, um, I feel is doing it affordably. We can do it all at home goods if you want, you know, and and I know where to invest and where to save. And I want um everyone to love their home. And I think them thinking it's going to cost too much, that's that's a bummer. So I I try to tell people like, no, we can do this exactly how however much you want to spend, or you know, not the a budget is a budget, doesn't matter. We can need it anyway.
SPEAKER_01:So I love it. You don't have to be too high end, you don't need to be too low end, you could be right in the middle. I love it.
SPEAKER_03:I've done stuff with Costco with clients, like let's just go find that's that's my that's my jam of let's make it look really high end, but let's not spend the money.
SPEAKER_01:So yeah, yeah, I love it. Um it sounds comfortable as well for those who don't have those deep, deep pockets, but they really want something nice.
SPEAKER_02:Exactly.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, nice. So how outside of work, what do you do for fun, Susan, when you're out there helping people and designing and creating? What do you do for fun?
SPEAKER_03:Um, I'm very lucky that I have uh a group of friends here that make plans for me because uh as the saying goes, when you own a business, the business can own you. Um there's always something to do. But uh I'm lucky enough if they're like, okay, tomorrow night we're going for a boat ride. I'm like, okay, you know, so I'm lucky that I have uh my little schedule schedulers that will um make plans for me because I'm not very good at taking time off. So I'm lucky enough that I I'm up for anything, I just can't plan it. But when they say, you know, we're going out, I'm okay. So that's how that's how my fun goes.
SPEAKER_01:It's nice to have um understanding people around you who are able to understand yeah, yeah, your schedule like that and still work around it or yeah, find a way to get you from being so focused to doing something fun for you.
SPEAKER_03:That's nice, or they'll show up with sandwiches at the shop and I get to have a something like that. So I'm lucky.
SPEAKER_01:I'm lucky. Yeah, oh yeah, definitely blessed, wonderful. So changing gears, Susan, can you describe one hardship or one of life's challenges that you have rose above and can now say that because of it, you are better and you're stronger. What comes to your mind?
SPEAKER_03:Um, well, personally, there's way too many, but professionally was absolutely um putting my life savings into opening a shop and only to have it close because of COVID lockdown. Um, that was such a financial nightmare. Um, we're still struggling to get back, but we'll get there. Um but during that time too, I had to get creative and I won another award during COVID lockdown for um from Home Accents Today magazine. And just that how I had to get creative with how I can still try to keep the shop open or do personal shopping or you know, uh Instagram posts and I'll leave it on your doorstep or just try to hustle and and see how you can, you know, not be forced to close because I saw so many other businesses that were forced to close. So um I think that's that's a pretty big hurdle that I got over. So and we're still here.
SPEAKER_01:So yeah, it's a testament also to your fortitude.
SPEAKER_03:Well, I wasn't I wasn't about to give up, you know, because when I moved here, I was an actor, and there I was I had to find something else to do because there aren't any union jobs up here. So I I was I had to make it work. I you know, failure was not an option, so and you had the support. Yeah, yeah, been very lucky.
SPEAKER_01:Which goes a long way. Yeah, Susan, can you please tell our listeners one thing they should remember about room tonic?
SPEAKER_03:One thing they should remember about room tonic. Um, if you want to come and see something that you you've never seen before, come to room tonic. That's I love hearing people come in. First of all, I love that I am not for everyone, I will just say that. With because I moved here and all I saw were starfish and seashells and anchors, and my my shop is very chinoisery, um, which is what the all of the fish um the sea captains would bring back, um, the Chinese exports. So it's very marblehead, very, you know, Asian eclectic and stuff. So I like it when people come in and say they want, oh, they love everything in the shop, and oh my gosh, I've never seen anything like this. So that's that's what I love. I love finding things that people have never seen before that are unique and that no one else has. A lot of I have a lot of one-of-a-kind things in the shop too. So that's um what we're getting known for too. So that's fun.
SPEAKER_01:That is fun. That is fun. So, how can our listeners learn more about room tonic? Do you have a website?
SPEAKER_03:Oh, yeah, I got uh roomtonic.com. We're at room tonic decor on um Instagram, and uh we're on Facebook as Roomtonic, and um I don't do TikTok, I haven't been to TikTok yet. I'm I'm a dinosaur, you know. There's too many platforms of social. I'm like, I'll get there at some point, you know. When I have a full day off, maybe I'll get on TikTok. But for right now, Instagram at room tonic decor.
SPEAKER_01:Sound like you have your hands full, but that's that's the case with um uh most small business owners, you know, trying to make sure that they handle it and hold it down.
SPEAKER_02:So yeah, I need a staff. Unfortunately, I don't have a staff. I'm I'm wearing all the hats, so I hear you.
SPEAKER_01:You're handling it though. That's wonderful. So, Susan, we really appreciate you being on the show with us today. We certainly wish go ahead. My pleasure. We wish you and uh Room Tonic all the very best moving forward. Thank you again.
SPEAKER_03:Thank you. Take care.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnpnorthore.com. That's gnpnorthore.com. Or call 857 703 9406.