Let's Meet One Crafty Lady

I am so excited to share my friend Lindsey with you. She’s a wonderful creative who has her own business Lindsey Crafter. She’s a DIY expert who offers Branding, Merchandising, Interior Design, Hosting, Event Design and Workshops on top of her Shop filled with one of a kind earrings, necklaces and her wonderful Art!

I asked Lindsey to share some facts: “Ok well, Hey I’m 27 I live in Atlanta, Georgia in a house that is my labor of love - I’m redoing this casa from top to bottom!”

“I grew up in a very rural southern town on a farm. My father’s veterinary practice was a barbie-jeep ride across a sprawling lawn which led to a lot of interesting animal encounters for my entire childhood. I didn’t have any siblings until I was 9 so I spent a lot of time outdoors with our animals. I attended a Montessori school until I was in the 4th grade - I attribute a lot of my creativity to that style of early education.”

She told me: “I’d spend most of my afternoons crafting at home or pulling into my self-appointed parking space and setting up a table of goods to sell. My entrepreneurial path began before the age of 9, peddling pecans I picked up out of the yard and brown lunch sacks full of gravel liberated from our driveway. My sales were so consistent my parents made me a wooden shop stand to pull out in front of the veterinary clinic - the fare always changed though. In my early teens I even had custom branded hangtags and earring cards for my jewelry I printed out of cardstock.”

This just goes to show you friends - Lindsey’s creativity and focus on her brand is a part of her - to have the presence of mind to sell items with her own logo as a teenager - WOW!

The one thing I ask all the creatives I interview is to tell me about their spaces growing up: “My Room was always decorated by my mother who was very into interior design but, as I aged I was definitely included in those choices. As a teen I implemented a lot more “DIY” and magazine collages on doors - and I’ve always been interested in collectibles, junk and art since I was little.”

“For my entire life you’ve been able to come into any space I’m living in and find a “nest” set up on the floor of my latest project or medium! I’ve never really been able to adjust to working on tables - I run out of room!”

Lindsey told me she went to school in New York. “I attended the Fashion Institute of Technology in NYC and studied Fashion Design. I ended up teaching Intro to Fashion at a few different sewing studios around Manhattan which is how I got connected with my first boss Daphne Shirley. I was referred to her by a colleague to work an event at the last minute - we loved working together - so I became a permanent member of the Shirley Girl Events team. Even though I didn’t get a fashion related job - the skills I learned there were transferable into every other industry I’ve worked in. I continue to work with Daphne to this day - doing everything from wrapping presents to rigging coconuts in Christmas trees. I help figure out what type of engineering is required to get an installation done. I’ve worked on events for such brands as; Yes to Carrots, Ralph Lauren, L'Oreal and Target to name a few. In the fall of 2018 we were in Los Angles for a Garnier event with actress Mandy Moore, with the event about to kick-off Mandy’s reps were asking if anyone could sew - its seems the zipper in her dress was not cooperating; I stepped in and after attempting to fix the zipper - I decided the best course of action was to simply sew the side of the dress up with Mandy in it! This is something I will never forget - the rush of it - being able to step in - fix the problem and have the event kick off without a hitch!”

In 2013 Lindsey launched her brand and shop online, selling accessories and home goods. Over the last year Lindsey has incorporated a wonderful line of earrings (friends no joke I’ve bought a few as gifts and I currently own four pairs Ha!). Recently Lindsey was named a finalist in the Mrs. Meyer's Clean Day Hunt for the Next Home Maker, as well as one of the Top 10 DIY Profiles to follow on Instagram by Domino Magazine. In addition to crafting Lindsey offers a plethora of design, prop styling, web content and event planning services. See the images below from her site.

“Lindsey Crafter has always defined me at the most basic level as someone who can infuse creativity into anything.”

Lindsey told me how she got into design… what grabbed her about it: “It’s always been something I appreciated about spaces or environments, before I even understood what was involved in the design processes I wanted to recreate those feelings for myself. Like the first time I went into an Anthropologie store during high school - it felt like the expression of my personality and I wanted my space to emulate that. Also, my mom was always “styling it out”. Our family home had lots of planned out vignettes and highly designed spaces without feeling pretentious. That definitely set the stage for a life of designing for others."

In 2018 she contributed two projects to the book Loome Party: “It was such a blast!”

I asked Lindsey to share the moment she understood her career path: “Well, I mentioned I met Daphne because I was working in a few sewing studios in the City. She was my first boss and Daphne TOTALLY gets 100% credit for naming me Lindsey Crafter. It was how she introduced me to people - I was her crafting engineer for the most FANTASTIC events in NYC. Being on such a small production team handling such high visibility clients provided a wealth of knowledge you can’t pay for at school. It was high stakes, high stress and high style work. This job made me realize I could be a professional crafter and do creative work for corporate brands. Although whatever I’m working on is consistently changing, Lindsey Crafter has always defined me at the most basic level as someone who can infuse creativity into anything”

“I got bold a few weeks ago and started painting portraits in acrylic - it’s some of the work I’m most proud of and I’ve really surprised myself with how they’ve turned out. The support and response to this body of work has been really exciting and I can’t wait to see where these chicks take me!!!”

Feta is Lindsey’s cute and crafty sidekick!

I asked Lindsey what her goals are for the close of 2019 and what’s on tap for 2020.

“The list goes on and on. Short list: finish my home reno. I’d love to expand my retail offerings online - beyond statement earrings. Next year I’d love to write a crafting book or to contribute to one again, that was a lot of fun. I’ve had a lot of feedback about my Instagram stories so I might start doing longer tutorials and videos there too!”

Pop over to Lindsey’s website and check out her wonderful shop. Lindsey is offering my readers a discount off their items.

Use the code CHALET20 for 20% off your purchase.

You can follow Lindsey on Instagram: Lindsey McCord & her shop feed: Lindsey Crafter

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I hope you have enjoyed getting a peek at this talented lady. I know she is definitely someone to be on the look-out for - she has a long successful career ahead of her.

Til next time friends!

Southern Lady ...

This week I’m introducing you to my friend the funny, straight-shooting southern lady Christina Kelly; she’s the proprietor of Southern Mesa Trading Co. I met Christina a few years ago through mutual Instagram friends.

I asked Christina to share some details about herself: I’m 35 years old, grew up in south east Alabama but, moved 2 hours south to the panhandle of Florida for a work promotion. During that part of my 12 year career with Bath and Body Works and was overseeing 3 locations for the chain.

I have been best friends and roommates with my husband (Mr. Mesa) since I was 19 but didn’t marry him until I was 31.

Marvin is my rescue dumplin’ who’s about to turn 12. I named him after a Pulp Fiction character and I’ve had him since he was 8 weeks old and could be cuddled in one arm. Now he’s an 80lb teenager that sleeps all day.

I asked Christina to tell me where her spark for Home Design stemmed from: I grew up a military kid and the oldest of my clan of 3 misfits. We moved from base to base all throughout my childhood. I think it helped me make connections with people more easily and I wouldn’t trade that for anything. I was, and still am, the kid that marched to a very different (very 80s 🤣) drum. I’ve always enjoyed art and creating and learning how things fit together. TV was definitely the baby sitter during the summer with a working mom and I stumbled upon Martha Stewart, Bob Vila and Design on a Dime and fell in love with the idea of making a house a home. 

Christina has tackled her share of renovation projects in her current home - the Kitchen complete with custom concrete countertops she created, the Bath with amazing banana leaf wallpaper, the Master Bedroom with an ode to surfing with a magnificent mural and most recently her dining room with one of her Southern Mesa Trading Co. custom made dining tables (she’s manufactured almost a dozen for clients).

Christina shared that she’s always been a bit of dare devil: I remember finding a mattress on someone’s curb for trash day and concocted a brilliant plan. I rounded up some boys in the neighborhood to help me drag it home to my play house on stilts. I was going to try and roller skate off the roof and use two umbrellas (like the Penguin in Batman) to help slow my decent. I had not learned about angles and inertia yet and the cast I rocked for 9 weeks afterward was a fun reminder that an object in motion remains in motion until met by an opposing force. Ha!

Like most creatives I speak with - Christina shared that she too - rearranged her bedroom as a teen and spent one of her first paychecks on a bucket of paint, some candles and a new bedding ensemble. Christina added: I actually wanted to go to college for interior design but my parents thought that was more of a hobby and a trend that wouldn’t produce steady income. I got a scholarship out of state but never made it to my dorm room that fall. We had a family emergency and I had to stay behind to help. Days and year ticked by and I never went. I actually just passed my Florida Real Estate License and signed with a Broker. I was secretly working on it all summer. Since deciding to focus solely on my own business last spring - I realized my other passion is Real Estate.

Next I asked Christina to tell me why she created Southern Mesa - what made her say Yes, I’m doing this! I had enough people push me and I’ve always enjoyed being creative and making things. And I really respond to someone telling me I “can’t do something” or “it won’t work”. Let’s just say proving Mr. Mesa wrong is a favorite pastime. Then she added: I am constantly dreaming up new ideas and I’m still blown away that people click add to cart. It means the world to me. What started with a few custom dining tables and signs made with left over lumber - now includes apparel, plants stands, seasonal offerings as well as custom artwork.

Christina is the force behind the Just Chill Nation friends… it’s one of the first items she created at Southern Mesa Trading Co. and continues to be one of her most popular - so popular she’s expanded to include a T-shirt and Sweatshirt with the same motto.

Christina and I discussed how being shared on social media through large accounts can be both phenomenal and disconcerting. It’s always fun to see yourself in print or on a major platform but I’ll be honest... that comes with a lot of negative feedback as well. The bigger the platform the less like a human - people will think you are. My banana baño (Bath Reno) is a controversial space apparently. I believe one comment was “Blanche Devereaux on acid”. I guess haters gonna hate hate hate. 

“Just know that a real person (me) makes every piece. I work so hard to make each one special and the best that it can be. ”

I asked Christina what her goals were for the rest of 2019.

To launch a kick-butt holiday collection, finally finish the front door and staircase project I’ve been putting off at the Mesa casa and sell my first property as a Realtor. I think that would be a great way to close out 2019!

She added that she has a few bigger goals too: To become a Real Estate Mogul and to land a show on HGTV!!! Bahahaha! Kidding but, hey…

Friends I believe this lady will accomplish anything she sets her mind to!

Visit Christina’s Pinterest page Instagram feed and make sure you are following her in both. Go visit Southern Mesa Trading Co. and use coupon code: THX10 for 10% off your purchase.

There’s still time snap up some of these groovy Halloween goodies.

Til next time.

Give Me Moore

Sometimes you meet someone and think - they’re awesome! So much so - that you want to share your little corner of the Interweb with them!

So please meet my friend Teri Moore. An Interior Designer living in Nashville with her wife, daughter, two cats and two fish. She’s very funny, talented, extremely helpful and likes wine - I’ve already said she’s awesome!

I asked Teri what she was like growing up. “I was always one of those kids who wanted to be with adults. I craved attention from teachers, aunts, women in roles of authority my entire childhood. I abhorred being around people my own age. I have distinct memories of being forced to play with the other kids at social gatherings and thinking to myself that their conversations were so boring and remedial - AT AGE FIVE!

I think I came out of the womb as a 40-something.”

Kitchen and family room In Previous home

She went on to add: “Similarly, when the other girls my age were only focused on caring for their dolls, I was busy organizing and decorating my playhouse. No joke: I hung my first piece of framed artwork over the baby’s crib in my childhood playroom. I was probably six at the time and I found a hammer and a nail and installed it by myself.”

By the time Teri was in school she realized all the “good” TV came on during the day - when she was forced to be away - totally bored at school. “Learning came naturally for me. I was always the first to finish my lessons and the lack of stimuli really annoyed me. So I became very good at feigning illness.”

Teri and her older sister were latchkey kids because their parents worked two jobs. Teri often stayed home alone and spent her childhood “sick days” watching Martha Stewart, Christopher Lowell and Debbie Travis. “I baked myself cakes and pretended I was the head of the household. Have you ever known a child who spent her free time reorganizing the kitchen? No. Well, now you have! That was me!”

Teri can look back now on her early years and see she was destined to be a designer. At the time, however, it wasn’t her life’s passion. From the youngest age she’d always wanted to be a performer. From about 5th Grade she made a plan to become a stage actor and spent all of her free time working towards that goal. By 18, she was working as a professional actor and also teaching improvisation classes with a local group. She enrolled at Columbia College Chicago to study Theater but, only stayed a few weeks before having to leave and head back to Nashville to find a job due to finances.

At the same time, she began experiencing what she now knows were panic attacks. As her anxiety grew, she could no longer perform onstage.

“I would feel a shortness of breath - even at the thought of being in front of a crowd. By my early 20s, I’d stopped acting altogether and had taken a job as a Sales Director for a local publishing company. My sales career was a successful one, though short-lived.”

entry hall in previous home. Teri Diy-ed the console table

In 2007 Teri bought her first house: a 1920s Craftsman Bungalow in desperate need of repair and renovations. Shortly after she and her partner began working on it, the recession hit and Teri lost her corporate job. It would be three years before she was able to find steady employment.

Luckily, Teri had honed a lot of renovation and DIY skills during the remodeling of that first house. Thanks to knowledgeable retired contractors at the local hardware store and a plethora of up-and-coming DIY blogs, she was able to teach herself how to use both hand and power tools. Those skills sustained her life during her unemployment.

While Teri was still job hunting she had a brainstorm - she started walking up and down the alleys in her neighborhood looking for discarded, broken furniture.

“I brought each piece home and lovingly restored and resold them. It wasn’t an easy gig but, it put food on the table and it left me feeling a real sense of accomplishment and fulfillment for the first time since I’d quit acting.”

Teri working on the diningroom in their previous home

In 2010, they’d sold that home and were living in an apartment; that didn’t really leave room for furniture refinishing projects. Teri took a job in Corporate Healthcare, she loathed the work both mentally and morally; but it allowed her to work from home. Because her panic attacks had become debilitating during her 20s, she couldn’t drive. As a result, she staying in that position for seven years! “To offset my boredom at work, my wife Christine and I began buying and renovating houses. We sold each house for a profit after the renovations. Once again, a lot of the work in each house was completed by us. Our friends and neighbors noticed that our homes were always beautifully designed and would ask for our decorating sources and contractors (spoiler: it was me!)”

Teri in her beautiful finished design

She went on to say that for six years she assisted friends and family with renovations and designing their spaces. Still she never once considered doing this for a living. She didn’t think anyone would actually pay her for the work she was doing. After all, she had no formal education in design.

I asked Teri if this was when she made the leap and started T. Moore Home - she paused and said it’s wasn’t a direct route.

Teri openly shared her struggle after giving birth to their daughter. “After our daughter was born, I suffered a long bout of Postpartum Depression that kicked my anxiety into high gear. For nearly two years, I could barely leave our home at all without a panic attack. My mental health was in shambles and it was taking my marriage with it."

Finally in 2017 Teri sought help from a doctor who was able to differentiate her symptoms from Depression. The doctor immediately took her off her Depression medicine, diagnosed her with Generalized Anxiety Disorder and prescribed an SNRI (Serotonin–norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor).

“I cannot stress this enough: That small switch has completely altered the course of my life. After a few months on the SNRI, I was able to see in vivid color again. I could feel joy and anticipation wasn’t marred by dread. I felt as alive and energetic as I had in my teen years.”

At that same time, the family moved into a home that didn’t need any renovations. However, their new next door neighbor had completely gutted his house after a fire and was in the beginning stages of renovation. After a few weeks of chatting casually about his design plans, he asked Teri to oversee the project as the Lead Designer. She was thrilled and shocked! “He wanted to pay me to do that thing I’d always just done for free!?!”

Teri and her wife Christine in their previous homes office space

Within a month, Teri had gotten her business license, registered an LLC and built a website. Without even discussing it with her wife Christine, she began calculating business costs and building a new dream for herself.“It took me a while to feel confident enough to leave my corporate job and there are times when I still feel the pressure of running a business by myself and being solely responsible for producing income. But in 2018, I decided to focus all my energy on my business and left the corporate world behind.”

I complimented Teri telling her that not only did I love her design work but, that I am so impressed with her as a blogger. She offers a plethora of DIY knowledge along with information about websites and the back end of blogging to her readers. I asked her if she’s always had this easy I’m here to help philosophy. “Aw, thank you! That makes me feel so good! That’s exactly why I do it, I’m sure! I love praise at some inherent, visceral level. Ha! But seriously, I grew up in a house that wasn’t a home. I dreaded walking through the door every afternoon and I couldn’t wait to build my own life with a home that felt like a sanctuary for me.”

Powder room in previous house

Teri went on to share: “In my adult life, I’ve extended that theory that everyone deserves a home that evokes solace through my business. However, I don’t believe that right is exclusive to those who have a lot of money. I keep my rates as low as I possibly can without bankrupting my family. Even then, I know the majority of people still can’t afford to hire someone to come make their homes beautiful. So I like to provide tips and tutorials for people so that they can experience the luxury of having a beautiful home, regardless of ability to pay for it.”

She went on to add that she’s going to her grave as a DIYer. She likes getting lost in a pile of scrap wood and coming out the other end with something she can be proud of. Since she’s doing the project anyway she muses: “Why not photograph them and let other people get inspired to tackle their own projects?” She did admit writing the blog is a ton of work and might stop some day. But, for now she’s enjoying it and while not massively financially rewarding, it makes her happy to do it.

Client Concept Board

I asked Teri what her goals were for the rest of 2019.

• When I started my business, I was offering only eDesign services to nationwide clients. Slowly, the business has evolved and I’ve begun taking on more full-service, local design projects. My goal for 2019 is to shift the focus of my design work to 90% local design. 

• I also plan to open a very niche service that will assist in designing, organizing, and planning home offices for the large portion of Nashvillians who work from home. Working from home can be difficult without a good plan in place. Since I have so much experience with the ins and outs of telecommuting, I want to pass along my knowledge to those who find themselves in this lucky position. 

• On a more personal level, I want to simplify my life. The past few years have been really hectic. My work hours have been kind of crazy and I’m finally in a place with my business that makes a more traditional 40-hour work week feel achievable. 

New Home in east Nashville

• We recently moved back to our beloved neighborhood of East Nashville, where my home renovation journey began over 12 years ago and we bought a much smaller house. Our house is almost 100 years old and needs A LOT of work. While I’d really like to start tackling projects straight away, I want to take it all in first. I want to walk to the park with my wife and daughter; to enjoy evenings on the front porch with friends. I want to get back to living again. I love my business - I really do! - but I love my family and I’d love to see them more. 

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T.Moore Home Logo

I want to share with you all that Teri is always accepting new design clients. Her phone consultations are free and all rates are posted on her website.

For free design tips and project ideas, everyone can follow the blog at T Moore Home.

Teri LOVES her Instagram family. She’s a huge fan of supporting other designers, bloggers (I can attest to this - she has shared me and her logo in my sidebar). Her actual family is also super funny, she shares a lot about her personal life in her Instagram Stories. Teri also looks to amplifying the voices of the undeserved communities worldwide. She offers mindful talk about many subjects the human race struggle with. Follow her here.

I hope you have enjoyed getting a peek at this talented lady - I’ve enjoyed introducing you!

Til next time friends!