Who, What, Where Wednesday – Rustic Touch

Hi!  What was once somebody’s home, is now our little store.

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It’s a really cute craftsman style bungalow that has everything we need.  We’ve got the front three rooms for the showroom space, a large back room for classes and refinishing.  There is also a large basement that stores all our extra little furniture pieces and a great workshop area.  My husband even helped convert the old coal chute room into the “Wine Mine”.  There is a two car garage that stores all the larger pieces waiting to be refinished.  Our kids can walk here from school if they need to.  We’ve got a room upstairs dedicated to our vinyl cutter and t-shirt press. Oh and did I mention the amazing backyard that has a pond, “junk” wall and fire pit?  It’s the perfect spot for hosting off site events.

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I’ve always been attracted to the rustic look.   I think I came by it naturally.  After all I grew up in a log cabin my family built out in the country and raised many animals.  My mom was very creative in her decorating style.  She always saw the beauty in pieces that might not normally be used for decorating.  She had a way of making it work and look cool.  Being out in the country, there wasn’t a lot to do (besides chores).  We had to be creative to make things and entertain ourselves.  Looking back, I’m glad I was raised the way I was and wouldn’t change a thing.  I wish I could give my kids that same simple experience.

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It wasn’t until I was pregnant with my first child that I tapped into my creative side again.  It all started with painting the nursery.  After my second child, I started doing faux finishing and murals.  That kept me busy for about ten years.  I started having shoulder and neck problems and decided I should quit that before things got worse.  About the same time I was playing around with painting furniture.  I started getting requests from friends to paint some of their furniture.  I started toying around the idea of refinishing and painting furniture for a business.  I was picking up pieces at the local Goodwill to repaint.

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After lunch with a friend and a discussion about a dining room set I saw at Goodwill, we decided to take the plunge together and turn this into a business.  I’m not sure I would have had the guts to take the leap on my own. We found the house that had the perfect “feel” for the store we had in mind.  Within a couple months, our doors were open and we were in business.  We had acquired several furniture pieces to paint and sell.  We found a chalk and clay based paint we wanted to use and invested in that line.

After a few months, we heard about American Paint Company Chalk and Clay based paint.  It really had everything we were looking for, especially MADE IN THE USA. 

We quickly switched paint lines and have never been happier.

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We are very passionate about its community and tries to give back whenever it can. One thing we are very proud of is our partnership we have formed with Love Inc Lake County Southwest.  They get some furniture pieces that aren’t nice enough to pass on to those in need.  We pick them up and refinish them and sell them at our shop, splitting the profits with Love Inc Lake County Southwest.  We are hoping to work more with them and teach how to paint, retail and customer service.  This will help them to better themselves and hopefully give them the confidence to get back out into the workforce.

We offer many services to our customers.  We can paint just about anything with our American Paint Company products.  We repurpose items into lights, tables, coat racks, you name it.  With our vinyl cutter, we are able to custom cut any design and put that extra personalized touch to any piece.  Here are some items we have transformed:

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We celebrated our one year anniversary in December.  It’s been a great year!  Not without it’s ups and downs of course.  Running a shop for the first time is hard.  I was familiar with the service side, but the retail side was completely new.  We are still learning as we go and feel we know a little more of what to expect this year.

Comments

  1. Love your style, treasures and all your displays. Great to meet you, virtually!

    Best wishes on your new venture. I think you’re going to be very successful!!!!!

  2. Awesome shop! Nice to meet you! 🙂

  3. Thank you! So glad to part of the American Paint Company family.

  4. Love your story!! Thanks so much for sharing… my partners and I are in our first year of owning a retail shop and your story has some similarities. We are learning as we go, as well, but hey you can’t learn to swim, if you don’t jump in. Your shop looks amazing and I love all of the pieces you shared; so beautiful, fun and creative!

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