10/20/2021
Change is hard, but sometimes necessary
I posted awhile back about changing The Painted Chair name, but realized I did so only on my personal page. Here’s a little back story for you. If you read to the end, I would love for you to leave a comment on how you came to follow me. Old and new friends and followers, you are all so appreciated and have been a huge part of my journey. You were all what kept me going and excited for my next project.
In 2013 I bought five very old broken caned chairs. I had seen a picture on pinterest (of course), of these chairs made into potted plant chairs. I loved this idea!! Yet the chairs sat in a heap for months, like most of my projects waiting for the inspiration. One day my husband in one of his purge modes asks, what we are doing with the pile of trash in the back yard. I yelled not to touch them, “I have a plan”...I always have a plan. My husband loves this ;). Eventually I was given a push to do something or they needed to go. Generally how the process goes each time. I painted all the chairs bright colors, filled them with potted flowers and dropped them off to friends and family for mother’s day gifts. After receiving hers, one of my best friends insisted I could sell these. So the hunt began for more chairs and The Painted Chair was born.
Working in the operating room at night and painting during the day while my kids ran around, was my kind of crazy...ask my friends. I started experimenting with painting my own furniture while selling my garden chairs. One craigslist ad led me to Vickie, now a lifelong friend. I went to her house to pick up a chair and I could see she was a much more experienced furniture rehabber than I could ever hope for. I ogled over her pieces and picked her brain on her homemade chalk paint and now a monster was created. One minute she’s a stranger from a craigslist ad, the next we are doing house cleanouts in hopes to snag some goodies. Vickie then goes big and decides to open a shop. There was intention for me to partner with her, but the timing in my life wasn’t right..sigh...isn’t that always the way. I continued to help her open, work the shop and display my stuff for sale. An amazing time I will always hold in my heart. Her passion drove my passion.
My house was FULL of stuff. It was heaven...for me. I was busy with more paid pieces, and even connected with an old friend and an amazing interior designer who commissioned pieces with me for her designs. Life was good!
All of the sudden our world was about to change. We moved halfway across the country for my husbands job. This was exciting and of course sad as we left our family and friends. St. Louis has been good to us. My business slowed as I navigated our new life as a new stay at home mom, but life was still good! I decided to follow my nursing school dream in 2017 and painting came almost to a halt.
Fast forward to now. I graduated Nursing school last December! So what do we Girards do when all the crazy dies down? We add more!! We bought a lakehouse! And of course one that needed LOTS of love. What’s the fun if it’s already done?! But now I have a whole other home to fill with my stuff! Haha!! Jokes on you hubby!
Ok let's get to the name change! Well while signing papers at the title office for the lakehouse, I looked across the street and low and behold a big ole sign reading The Painted Chair. My heart sank a bit. It was so close to our house, I knew I needed to do the right thing and change the name if I ever wanted to get more active in my flips. Furniture girl code with some legality sprinkled in lol. I never secured my name in the move and sat on it too long. Kudos to them for taking a great name and building a legit business. I intend to go in and introduce myself and tell them this story!
Now here we are Wicked Vintage LLC. Wicked for the Massachusetts roots, Vintage for the love of all things old. It’s just gets me all in the the nostalgia feels :) My husband and I feel the name leaves us open to other avenues in the future. I hope you continue to follow as we put our heads together on new projects and try to finish some old ones. We are both crazy dreamers, so who knows what will come. Drop a comment below on how you came to follow the original Painted Chair! It will help this post be seen and get the word out on the new name :) Lots of love to you all.
