New thrift shop, longtime furniture store get in on colorful DIY trend
The upcycling and painted furniture trend just keeps on trucking and there’s a few more businesses in town that can help you do it.
Last week I told you about 3 Oaks Studio opening its first Fresno store at the Pavilion West shopping center selling paint and teaching people how paint furniture.
If the thought of painting your own furniture fills you with dread (really, it’s not that hard) you can buy the already painted furniture — and a lot more — at the newly opened 3 Vintage Souls Boutique at 312 Olive Ave., on the corner of Palm Avenue. The two-week-old store sells upcycled furniture, thrift shop items and things in between.
“We have a funky, eclectic mix of nice stuff, junk, new, used,” says owner Cheryl Forster.
She has chairs, dressers and dining sets that have been repainted and reupholstered. You can also take items to the store to be painted. 3 Vintage Souls works with The Little Couch, a local business that paints furniture and home decor. You can look at a catalog with paint colors and examples of already-painted furniture at the store. The store can also do simple reupholstering jobs.
But there’s a lot more than furniture at 3 Vintage Souls, too. A local man makes crosses from reclaimed materials such as fence posts and doorknobs. And there’s paintings on corrugated metal too by local artist Matt Olson.
The store has more traditional thrift shop items, too. And you’ll find lots of items that might show up in a salvage shop, such as old metal doorknob face plates, shutters and wooden spindles.
The 3,400-square-foot shop is in the former Kirby store and repair shop at the corner of Olive and Palm avenues. You’ll see some remnants of it, with vintage signs on the walls advertising belts, bags and hoses.
Details: (559) 425-8586 or www.facebook.com/3VintageSoulsBoutique
Beautiwood Unfinished Furniture
Another place that’s riding the DIY trend is Beautiwood Unfinished Furniture. The business has sold new but unfinished furniture for decades, most recently at 7183 N. Abby St. near Home Depot.
Employee of 18 years Kevin Large and his wife, Jennifer, bought the business earlier this month. They’re vowing to continue selling the same real wood furniture, but also recognizing their place in the growing DIY trend.
While decorating shows often feature a person discovering a great antique by the side of the road or on Craigslist, that doesn’t always happen in real life, notes Jennifer Large.
Beautiwood furniture is new, but “that’s not to say you can’t make it look antique,” she says. “It’s real wood. You can do whatever you want with it. You can paint over it. You can stain it.”
The store sells General Finishes products.
“They’re the ones that sell that gel stain everybody is going crazy for,” Large says, including the dark espresso-colored “java gel” that people are applying to tabletops and pairing with white legs on Pinterest.com.
The gel stain can be applied over existing stains. Customers are increasingly looking for it to redo their cabinets in their 1950s homes, she says. It can be applied so the wood grain still shows through, or painted so it’s opaque.
Beautiwood also sells General Finishes milk paint, which has a matte, shabby chic look and comes in all kinds of colors, including blues and greens.
The store can help customers find stains or paints that match existing furniture and they will finish furniture purchased at the store for a charge.
Beautiwood also works with John Lawson of Reedley, who makes furniture from scratch if customers can’t find a piece they like.
“He produces these works of art,” Large says.
Details: (559) 432-9663 or www.facebook.com/beautiwood.furniture.
Flea market
The last Fresno High Flea of the season is May 2. The monthly flea market during the school year runs from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the corner of Echo and McKinley avenues.
And since the market falls on the same day as the Kentucky Derby, organizers are having a little fun with it with a hat contest with prizes at 1 p.m. (Check in at the info desk to participate.)
As for the flea market, expect to find vintage items, jewelry, garden art, repurposed items, plants, soaps and more.
Food will be available from the Whoa Nellie Bakery and food trucks Sno Cafe shaved ice, Bravo Bites, Melt Down Bistro and Britz Tacos.
Details: Check out the Fresno High Flea Facebook page.
This story was originally published April 26, 2015 at 12:04 AM with the headline "New thrift shop, longtime furniture store get in on colorful DIY trend."