ABOUT RAWHYDE

Hi, I’m April. Welcome and thanks for stopping by my little corner of the internet! 🙂

RAWHyde Furnishings came to be when I was looking for a change in life. I had a dream job as a marketing manager for the world-famous Grand Ole Opry here in Nashville, TN (for almost 15 years!) where my co-workers were more like family than co-workers.

But my life’s dream was to be a mama and I really wanted to try being a stay-at-home mom when the time came. I wanted to have more time at home and be able to spend more time doing the household things.

So after two years of dreaming and hoping for the day I would get to start my journey as a stay-at-home mom with no success getting pregnant and beginning the journey of infertility (read all about that HERE), my husband and I decided that maybe I should just go ahead and leave my full-time job anyway.

For a girl who has had a “real” job most of her life (since the age of 16 where my first job was bagging groceries at the local grocery store in the small Texas town where I grew up), it felt really strange to just quit my job for no apparent reason (by the world’s standards.)

So before I made the final decision to leave I began to look for something I could do from home to potentially contribute to our household and also just give me something to do that I enjoyed while I adjusted to life without a “real” job. But also, I knew the first question all the wonderful people I worked with would ask me when I told them I was leaving that dream job would be “what are you going to do?”

I felt that I needed an answer to that question before it was asked and sharing with the world my infertility journey just did not feel comfortable at the time. Plus, my inner insecurities yelled at me that this was not a good enough reason to leave a good job. So I searched for a way to make it make sense – for me and for those who would ask me “what are you going to do?”

I looked into being a freelance copy editor because my co-workers often told me I was their go-to proofreader since I always seemed to catch any errors/typos. But as I looked into it I realized that I may not particularly enjoy all of the works of writing that I would be reading through to edit. One of my main goals was to find something I would enjoy doing so I decided maybe that wasn’t for me.

I loved shopping at the flea market and antique malls and so I started to try to think of a way I could turn my love for shopping into a job. Somewhere in that process I stumbled across painting and knew I wanted to try it to see if I even liked it.

So I found a couple of chairs on Craigslist that I immediately thought would look amazing painted. I could see the vision for them right away. The details on top would be so pretty if I painted the chairs white and then highlighted the details somehow and made it look antiqued.

The chairs turned out pretty good I thought for my first go ‘round at it and I learned a ton in the process. I would go home after working a long day and I couldn’t wait to go into the garage and work on those chairs. And when they were done, I wanted to find a new project and do it again.

So I found a pair of nightstands and transformed those. I decided to see if I could sell them because I was so happy with how they turned out. As I was preparing to list them on Facebook marketplace I remember thinking that I needed a photo of them that would give someone an idea of how they might look in their space. So I staged them (which I totally didn’t even know was a thing at the time) with a little bedside clock, a couple of books, some flowers, etc.

To my surprise, they sold, and quickly too!

I have been hooked ever since. And not only has it turned into a business for me, but it has been my lifeline in a way through my infertility journey. Painting was my solace in the storm where I could go to be alone and just create. And cry if I needed to. Or listen to music. Or just be alone with my thoughts and let the paint brush do it’s thing.

Praise the Lord, five years into that infertility journey we were blessed with finding out we were pregnant! We now have the most amazing little boy who brings so much joy! Motherhood is the hardest and best thing I’ve ever experienced and I wasn’t sure how my desire to paint things might change once he arrived.

I still absolutely love creating things and the process of transforming an outdated piece of furniture. I love turning it into something that someone can love again and even make a statement in their home. And I love getting to go into my shop to create something and remember the journey I’ve been on and what a friend painting has been to me, and then getting to go play with that sweet little boy who made me a mama and all is right with the world.

If you’re still reading this, thanks for taking the time (that was kind of long, but it’s my story of how I got here!) And thanks for your support of my little painting business. Myself and my family appreciate you!