Jeremy Ratliff
Reporter
Thanks to the crafty mindset and motivation of Dianne Kucirek and Daughter-in-Law Alicia Kucirek, shoppers now have another option in downtown adventure, with the opening of The Painted Door on Aug. 25.
As Dianne explains, painting for the sake of re-vitalizing furniture has been a hobby for the pair over the last couple years. The eventual outgrowing of their work space led them to pursue a storefront of their own.
“A few years ago we started painting with England-based Chalk Paint® By Annie Sloan, which is a type of paint specially designed for furniture painting. It wasn’t long after word began to spread about what we were up to, that we ended up with a basement full of furniture to be painted. We were both working full time at the time and we were running out of room. It just so happened Alicia and I had often talked about finding our own storefront and doing this full time. Last year we decided the time was right. It was something we always wanted to do, so we decided to give it a shot.”
The pair found the former Blooming Wishes storefront in February and went to work preparing The Painted Door. One example of such preparation was attending a 3-day Annie Sloan Stockist training session in New Orleans, in mid-August. As part of their training, Alicia and Dianne learned various furniture painting and waxing techniques as well as tips on maintaining a successful business with Annie Sloan products.
“We give things a second chance by refurbishing or beautifying furniture that may be old and dated by using Chalk Paint,” Alicia adds.
“And sometimes there may be furniture owners out there who want to do something to freshen up a piece of furniture, but they are not sure how, or they may be a little intimidated by it. That’s where we can help with classes we offer, or sometimes they just stop looking for a few tips. We want to be here for our customers to help any way we can”
Along with offering classes in both basic and advanced furniture painting, the Kucirek’s offer a full range of in-store services including; refurbishing and repurposing of furniture, a retail showroom adorned with a range of items from dressers and hutches to various types of tables, chairs and benches as well as a variety of home décor.
Despite filling a rather unique niche in a relatively rural area, both Dianne and Alicia readily admit the response from the community has been very positive and encouraging.
“Our classes have filled up pretty quickly, much quicker than we expected,” Dianne said with a smile.
“Overall our customers have been very excited to have a local DIY (Do-It Yourself) studio. We have heard many times from people coming in both locally and from surrounding areas, how happy they are we are here, which is pretty encouraging for us.” Alicia adds.
“We welcome anyone to stop down! Whether it be artisans with questions on a project, a knitter looking for ideas or someone who is just curious, come on in! We will have a cup of coffee together and see what we can do to help.”
The Painted Door, located at 820 E. First Street, is open Mondays 9-5, Wednesdays 9-5, Thursdays and Fridays 9-8 and Saturdays 9-1.
Alicia and Dianne can be contacted during regular business hours at (715) 722-0950