“My business is called ‘It’s Sharondipity.’ I started it a few years ago. People like to rescue animals; I say, ‘I like to rescue furniture.’ I find things on the side of the road, or people will contact me and say, ‘Hey I have this old piece, can you do something with it?’ And I am very happy to take it. In our world today, everything is very disposable, and very temporal, and I don’t like that. I like things with history, so I create things out of pieces that have been around for a while, and I usually leave a part of its history in there. I will leave scratches and dents and little things in the finished product.
“There was an old coffee table I was working on, and I had to get the drawer out, and in order to get the drawer out, I had to take it apart. I turned the drawer over, and on the bottom is a crayon drawing. So some little kid literally was laying on his back, and was drawing underneath the table. And I’m like, ‘I can’t cover that up. I can’t erase it.’ So I still have that coffee table, I use it for myself, and underneath there is still some artwork from some kid from many, many years ago, and I absolutely love it. I wish I knew whose it was, but somebody found it on the side of the road and gave it to me. What I found is that when people give me things that are old, I learn the stories behind the furniture, and it is very meaningful to me.
“My father-in-law was quite handy, my husband is quite handy, and I learned how to do this with a lot of trial and error. There is something very powerful about women in particular who know their way around power tools. I have shown my daughter how to use power tools, and to do things outside of her comfort zone. My son came home from school – actually both of my kids came home from school – and within two days of each other they told me that one of the things that remind them of home is paint and polyurethane. And I told them, ‘It’s funny because in most homes it is usually the smell of mom’s cooking or mom’s cookies or something.’ There is a sense of empowerment you get when you build something yourself. My goal is to get a workshop for myself one day.“
To see more of her work, please visit her Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/ItsSharondipity/
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