If you've spent much time on Pinterest lately you know painted furniture is more than a trend in home decorating.
We count Woodstock Market blessed beyond measure to be the headquarters of one of the very best up and coming furniture paint lines and its furniture showroom.
Rethunk Junk by Laura's paint is no-prime, no-sand, affordable, durable and beautiful. Owners Laura and Tom Whitlow developed the formula themselves and have proved its performance on the thousands of pieces of furniture sold through their Woodstock Market showroom.
WM: You have an extensive line of paints and frequently introduce new colors. What are the latest and how did they come about?
Laura: Latest colors are Lily Pad and Cherry Blossom. Politically correct answer? I listen carefully to customers’ needs and closely follow decorating trends and came up with colors to compliment every decor. Real answer? Got bored using black and cream and wanted some color! Haha!
WM: We see you hunting and rethinking all of your pieces, photographing and sharing them with fun stories on your blog and your Facebook page, developing your paints and teaching paint classes.
What’s your favorite part of what you do?
Laura: First of all….the correct term is “rethunking” pieces. Heehee. Favorite part of what I do…..hmmmm….I have been told by my husband whose name I shall not use (ha) that I have some control issues. There could be a wee bit of truth to that because I LOVE seeing the transformation rethunking can make, I find a great deal of joy in making something ordinary an awesome thing, I can’t control a lot of what goes on around me but I CAN control how that dresser looks. Also, I am always amazed that people read my blog….but love to share our dysfunctional family stories. Makes me feel more normal. And lastly, although I hate hate hate being up in front of people, I love the social interaction of teaching paint class and seeing someone finding that same joy I feel as they rethunk something.
WM: It’s so great to see your whole family supporting you in your workroom and storefront at Woodstock Market. What do you hope your kids are learning from watching their mom’s hard work and success?
Laura: Hope they are learning to go to college, graduate, and do something easier to make money. Ha! Not sure they are watching my success…although I appreciate the compliment….but I DO think they are learning to work hard. A lost art in the world of video games and TV and texting. And I also think they are learning the value of a dollar. We went to a restaurant recently and all five of them chose water to drink because as they said,” Mom works too hard for us to waste money on sodas.” Rarely have I felt more proud!
WM: Your pieces get people thinking creatively about their spaces. We’ve had plenty of opportunities to chat with your customers and they are excited about your product. To turn the tables, we’d like you to channel your inner Oprah and tell us five of Laura’s Favorite Things…
Laura: Five favorites……hmmmmm…..what comes to mind first is chocolate, mashed potatoes, white cake with buttercream frosting, Diet Coke and barbecue…..but that probably wasn’t what you had in mind, Hahaha. Sooooo…..
Not in any order….
1. Family time!
2. Playing the piano.
3. Going to the movies.
4. Painting furniture. (I truly do love it)
5. And Diet Coke.
Oh wait….Tom says I got the last question wrong. I have no time for Oprah….he obviously does….so this is what he said you wanted….
1. Dollar tree paint brushes so I don’t have to wash out expensive ones.
2. A high powered fan to make pieces dry faster.
3. Old fashioned carbon paper for tracing designs to paint on pieces and The Graphics Fairy website to find aforementioned designs.
4. My Festool sander and the duster sucker upper contraption that goes with it.
5. And a fountain Diet Coke to keep it all running happy and smooth.
Thanks, Tom. The second favorite things list with Tom’s input makes us wanna shout, “You get a car!” “You get a car!” “You get a car!” But we have no Pontiacs so we’re giving away fabulous slideshow of Rethunk inspiration instead…
Laura tells us two brand new products are coming soon. Stain Top is a product you just roll on and it looks like you sanded and stained the top of a table without all of the work. The Paint Personalized Kit contains all of the special ingredients needed to turn any color latex paint into a no-sanding, no-priming fabulous furniture paint.
You'll want to follow Laura on Facebook and sign up for her mailing list on the Rethunk Junk website so you will receive her blog stories and news on upcoming classes.
