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The Journey Begins

Welcome to my blog! I’m in love with furniture. I’m in love with the way a cabinet or a bench or what-have-you can instantly call to mind memories of people and events and feelings. I love how a special piece can change the whole feel of a room. I love surrounding myself with the history older pieces bring with them, even when that history isn’t mine personally. I love seeing the potential in a piece ( or many component pieces), and seeing that vision become reality. And I love, love, LOVE giving new life to something that is so far gone that many people would throw it out. I want to help you love it too!

I’ve been flipping furniture most of my life, starting out with my mom at around the age of twelve. At that time we didn’t call it “flipping furniture” or “upcycling.” We called it “necessity.” 🙂 With many kids and one income-earning parent we couldn’t just go out and buy a new dresser or dining chair or what-have-you when there was a need. Step one was looking at what you had and seeing if there was some way to fix or alter it to fit the need. If you didn’t have anything, you next scoured garage sales and thrift stores (of which I don’t think there were as many as we see now – at least not as I recall my childhood). And THOSE items were stripped, painted, repaired . . . whatever was needed so that it would work. This continued into my married years. Imagine me painting THE most bug-ugly mustard-colored dresser in our living room that was so small it almost couldn’t accommodate the project. Even though our financial situation became more stable over time, I continued to prefer the treasure hunt over buying something new in most cases. $250 for a medicine cabinet? I don’t think so! I used to think I was cheap. It turns out I was just ahead of my time! I’m GREEN! Saving the planet! But I digress.

I’m very lucky. Not everyone has a mom with the desire to upcycle items that have outlived their original usefulness and/or the knowledge of how to do it. I learned from her how to tackle these projects, just as I learned to cook without burning the house down, do laundry without everything turning pink, and landscape without everything dying the first week. But not everyone has that blessing. That’s why I started this blog. I want to share with people how to look past the bug-ugly of these amazing treasures and then . . . how to give them a whole new life.