The Good Ol’ Fashioned Meet and Greet

My name is Amanda. I am the girl boss, Chief Furniture Finder, and Head of reFAB here at Creeping Fig Cottage. I am married to Jon, produce salesman by day, Creeping Fig Cottage CFO, CIO, and sandpaper extraordinaire the rest of the time. Jon and I have two amazing boys who are extraordinary in their own rights. In May 2021, we closed on the Creeping Fig Cottage, located in beautiful Eufaula, Alabama. We began experimenting with refinishing vintage furniture with some pieces that were abandoned in our attic. We enjoyed that so much that, by August, Jon’s office was wall-to-wall hopeful pieces ready for reFAB! That is the very short story! What follows is the longer more heartfelt version.

I have dabbled in a little bit of just about everything. It would take a full time blog to qualify that statement, so I will sum up something I have learned from “a little bit of just about everything.” I am happiest when I am able to express myself creatively. I like to get my hands dirty. I am a hands on learner. You might even say that I learn better by experience. Just let me try it! Win or lose, success or failure, I will be happy to have learned something.

I remember being thrilled, standing in a empty store front window, climbing up and down a ladder learning all the tips and tricks of properly dressing said windows. I loved every time I stood back to admire my handiwork in the form of a perfectly dressed and accessorized mannequin. I have participated with such enthusiasm as a beautiful new season of handbags and accessories are unpacked and perfectly placed and displayed on a sales floor. The satisfaction of seeing clients ooh and aah over all the new lovely things was well worth a late night. I always imagined we were a bit like Christmas elves preparing for the glorious Christmas morning reveal. It all sounds very dramatic and I adored it! For your reference, my formal education is in fashion merchandising and marketing. This was all in my wheel house.

In my mid-twenty somethings, I bid the world of retail farewell to try my hand at all things stay-at-home-moming and housewifery. It was while raising two small boys in our first home that I found my love of creating home and the effect that all things home can have on the human experience. Creating home is a different thing than decorating a house. Creating home is curating spaces that are expressions of the people who call that house home. Creating home is about creating spaces, utilizing furniture and accessories, that reflect our personalities, tell our stories, reflect our seasons of life, and remind us of travels, preserve our memories or experiences, or embody our loved ones.

Creating home is unique because each family is unique.

Something I underestimated was how a wonderfully created home can affect those who experience it.

During our travels to faraway places, I had the distinct honor of spending time in homes created by people who were all raised a little differently than this southern gal. Spending moments in those warm, unique, interesting, sometimes unexpected, thoughtful homes deeply affected me and have inspired me continually. Stepping into someone’s home is like stepping into their life in progress and I always consider it a privilege. I remember listening to stories about the origin of a painting, a rug, a dish, a clock, a table, a chair, or a knickknack. People love to share their adventures and it is a joy to go along with them in their memory. The objects contained within the walls of a home are all selected and placed with purpose. It was this thinking that inspires our reFABing furniture at the Creeping Fig Cottage.

When I find myself hunting for treasure at a thrift store, antique store, estate sale, garage sale, curbsides, or virtual marketplaces, I am thinking about the echoes of all the lives lived within the objects I see. I can hear the sound of family dinners around that dining table in the corner. I can see the homework being done, I can hear the conversations being had, the sound of laughter, and maybe even a few tears being shed. That dining room table is certainly not finished helping someone create home. Whether you realize it or not, our furniture aids us living our lives. It silently supports us, our regular and our extraordinary, our dreams and our endeavors, our unexpected and our struggle. This is why I am committed to finding, rescuing, reFABing, refinishing, and reviving furniture that I believe is not finished helping you create home.

I am believer that we all desire to live in a more sustainable world. My hope is that when you are creating your home you might seek out a piece of furniture or household treasure that has a story, a personality, a history, a legacy. I’m hoping you won’t settle for something mass produced, something life-less, but will embrace a one-of-a-kind piece for your home. And my endeavor is to create the beautiful, unique pieces of furniture that help you create your unique home.