It's a well known fact that birds + branches are my thing. It was, after all, the decorative theme of my wedding! I guess that's why one of my friends told me I should check out what Robert and Erica Karleskint are doing. And I'm glad I did! Because some of my other favorite things are good design and vintage furniture. The Karleskints combined all of my favorite things into a furniture re-purposing business that is aptly called Anew Nature. I had the great privilege of interviewing them to find out more about what they are doing.
How did you get started in refurbishing furniture?
We bought a piece of furniture off of Craigslist when decorating our living room, the girl we bought it from bought old furniture and refinished it. We thought "We could do that!" but did not really take action for several months, everyone was doing the "shabby chic" thing and we really wanted ours to be unique. I (Erica) really got into birds, trees, anything nature really, I painted huge trees on the wall in my guest room and did a mirror surround in our kitchen. We thought how great it would be to incorporate these two things together, and voila!
What is your process (both creative and technical)?
I think it is mostly searching out a piece that is appealing, having good curves and structure and then letting the creative process go from there. Definitely the piece inspires the idea of what will go on it. We lightly sand and then prime all of our pieces with the best stuff ever, BIN, love it, and go from there depending on what the piece calls for, painting, glazing, distressing etc.
Where do you find your furniture?
Most of our furniture has come from craigslist but we also look at estate sales.
Where do you find inspiration for your pieces?
Well, nature :) there is just something so powerful about it. It is old and new, it is beauty and joy, it is God's gift to us. Here is how we chose our name, taken from our FB page. Anew Nature is about taking the old, broken, and ugly and making it into something new, beautiful, functional, and lovable. When choosing a name for our side project, Robert and I really wanted to convey this idea of a new creation, a transformation of sorts, something God has done in our lives. Taken us from the broken people we were and made us anew. "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new" (2 Corinthians:5:17).
How long does it usually take to finish a piece or set of furniture? Do you have multiple projects going at once?
On average it takes us about a week to finish a piece, and we always have more than one going, it is constant chaos, but organized chaos, Robert is really good at keeping me organized. Our house right now is so cluttered with furniture it is crazy! We work in our basement and so in addition to our home furniture we have about 9 or 10 extra pieces hanging around!
Do you see this as something might eventually do full time?
This is something we would love to do full time, is that doable? Not yet, but we can dream : )
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