𝙷𝙸𝙻𝙻𝚂𝙱𝙾𝚁𝙾, 𝙾𝚁𝙴𝙶𝙾𝙽 | 𝙴𝚂𝚃𝙰𝙱𝙻𝙸𝚂𝙷𝙴𝙳 𝟸𝟶𝟸𝟶
Antique Furniture Refinishing and Restoration Prize Winner • Founder • Home Decor • Photography • Baking and Homesteading I love to recreate something new out of something old. Just because something is dusty, doesn't mean it is unworthy. WORTHY. I am located in the Beaverton/ Aloha/ Hillsboro area just outside of Portland, OR. I am a girlfriend to a wonderful man and a mama to the most beautiful girl, and along with them, I am a mama to our furbabies, Lulu Mae the dog, Memphis and Juniper the kitties and Opal, the guinea pig. We live in a cute ranch style home with ranch style home decor - the same home I grew up in and along with painting, decorating and crafting, I have a love for gardening and renovating things in my home. I have always had a knack for decorating, designing and crafting things, but really discovered a love for refinishing furniture in the late summer of 2020. It was something I had always wanted to learn but never had the time or the resources. Needless to say, I made the time and I found the resources! I love working with my hands. I started revamping my own homes, especially our current one after my folks moved away and moved to the Nevada desert and we moved into their home when empty. It started with watching Fixer Upper with Chip and Joanna Gaines, Property Brothers with Jonathan and Drew Scott, I thought, we could do this or that in the house like Chip and Drew did, and decorate it like Joanna and Jonathan have. That is where I found my love and my own style in modern farm and rustic ranch design. I have always been a "country kid" and it naturally, just fits my personality. Why not intermix it with decor and design? Then, I was painting walls, rearranging furniture and adding accents. Then revamping our bathroom and then wanting to refinish and rotate out furniture - and so on and so on, and so on. I had bought 3 refinished pieces from a gal in Salem and opted to taking one of her refinishing classes to start learning the ins and outs of refinishing, basic techniques and soon after, began my venture with furnishings. I continued my learning by watching How To tutorials on YouTube, watching live videos by artists on furniture paint brand pages and following other artisans across the Instagram platform. It was when I branched out and started doing this newfound hobby more frequently, finding my niche and honing my craft, creating this page and painting away. It was then that folks in my area were seeing my items in marketplace, on my page, etc and started asking if I had a website to view and wanted to refer back to something every so often to see what was in the shop, "The Arena" (aka my home dining room I transformed into our showroom lol) and from there, I created one and kept growing. The more I painted and created, the more I saw that I found a therapeutic and creative outlet to kick my anxiety and depression. I started to find comfort and solace in it, then reconnected with interests in art and painting. I love learning new techniques and learning them from a variety of places. I am thankful for each mentor who's helped me in person, or even over social media platforms. Whether they are aware or not, they have taught and inspired me more than they will ever know or imagine. I have learned so much from in person mentorship and by binging artists and techniques on YouTube. I would love to pass on any knowledge I have to anyone that is interested or even someday, offer up a session or two to show others how to create something beautiful. I love turning a piece that is and ugly duckling into a piece that becomes a beautiful, majestic swan. This is where the magic happens! This is where the mental, emotional and sometimes physical transformation in me happened. I found myself through my art. I found a passion in finding and restoring dated furniture by transforming it into a piece that will be loved for generations in any home or business - and in that, I found my true self as well. God and partially the COVID19 pandemic lead me here. I work with all solid woods: Birch, pine, maple, fir, oak, cedar... WILDwoods. I named this hobby something significant to me. My last name is Birch, a type of wood. I chose "Wildwood" from the wild variety of woods I work with and from one of my favorite songs, Wildwood Flower by June Carter. Wildwood Flower was written by her father, Ezra Carter. Country/ country gospel music is my life. My grandmother use to play her vinyls for me and I remember Wildwood Flower she played for me when I was young. It brings back that memory when I'm working with my projects. She also had furnishings in her home like the ones I recreate. Secondly, I chose the "Rose" part for Portland and Roseburg, rose cities that are HOME to me. I live in the Portland/ Metro area and was born in Roseburg. Both are called City of Roses. Home has always been very important for me. It's always been a safe, warm and beautiful place. That was all reflected in my upbringing when my mother created those staples in her decor and furnishings for us. I want to pass that on to my child and everyone's family homes. Houses are just houses until you furnish them, furnishings are needed to make a house a home for loved ones, so I wanted to entangle that in too. I went with my truth. I want my brand to be humble, kind and honest. The swirls of my logo also resonate with plants, roses or wildflowers growing from the soil, much like my venture is. New is not always better, With furniture, they don't make them like they used to! Dovetail joinery, sturdy craftsmanship, solid wood. All those furniture pieces in your storage unit, your garage, your home, or even the ones you pass by on the side of the road with a cardboard "FREE" written in black Sharpie ink sign taped to it can still have life breathed and revived into them to transform them into new pieces that will be loved for generations to come. Refinishing is so much more than a can of spray paint. It's proper preparation, cleaning, quality paint, stain and wood revival with wax and polish for added protection that does the quality job. If you are in my area or surrounding area, please follow and share my page with your friends and family. If you ever need a piece revived and reloved, I would LOVE to be considered! Thank you for being here and for allowing me to share my art with you all, for your endless love and constant support in my little shop. Hopefully you see the same beauty I saw in each originally antique piece as well! Xo!
-Samantha. "Be as wild as the roses in the woods."
