Time for change!

I had my brick and mortar when Covid broke out. Thank goodness because my training and development business stopped dead in almost a single day. My store customers were thrilled, they had somewhere to go and get supplies and stay busy at home creating. Some customers had lost their jobs and started paint businesses repurposing furniture. I was very busy teaching others the craft and making people happy. I got Covid in September 2020 (the first time I had ever been sick in 70 years) and was in bed for 3 weeks...it was very intense, but I had no lung or breathing issues...just pain, vertigo, and exhaustion. Two of my best friends minded the shop while I was in bed. It took me a couple months to get back on my feet, but when I did, just went back to living.

Now that Covid is more of an afterthought here in Texas, I am back to facilitating leadership development for companies here and mostly in the construction industry in Texas...the store unfortunately has just dwindled down to a nonprofit business. As a business consultant I am smart enough to know when to cut my losses…retail can be a wicked business and I just believe God decided He needed me somewhere else, so I have made a strategic business decision to move the shop to three booth locations with Painted Tree Boutiques. I am still in retail, but I have reduced my risk and have increased sales. I still have everything WoodUBend (largest retail inventory in the country,) Posh Chalk, Dixie Belle, Prima Redesign, and several other lines. I am just cutting out a lot of the middleman and government expenses and the tremendous amount of time it takes in running a retail business to focus on building the business a different way. You all can still call me for coaching or to learn anything I can share with you.

I am now moving my art supplies to my three home studios, (each has a different purpose, floral design, paint in different mediums, and accessory and jewelry design) and I am quite excited because for 5 years I have not been able to create art except for custom orders...I miss creating and I will not miss the business of a full time store...at 72, I do not want to miss this part of my life creating...and I do not want to shut myself from all those whom I love. I have made so many friends through the store and I am still here for you. I am going to focus on creating, making videos, Instagram and Tik Toks. My website is still very active with all products on it. I am also committed to getting back to writing, I have put it off too long. I will continue to sell, continue to influence, continue to teach, and continue to create! The good news, I am still here, and I am excited about getting back to doing what I do best and running successful businesses.

Why a Store?

I am sure many people have wondered why I decided to open a store...it actually was not my first intention. While living in McKinney, Texas I had intended to have an online store and do shows. After my husband retired from his company in Dallas, he took a position in Corpus Christi and it only made sense to move back to Spring. The drive from Corpus to McKinney was much too far to do every week. So, once the decision was made to move back to Spring, Texas I was hit with the reality that I had to move a lot of "stuff." If you saw all I had accumulated in six and a half years living in McKinney, you might have accused me of being a hoarder. I had never intended to move the stuff, just sell it from there. With Spring being a different market, I knew I would have to open a store...that was 20 months ago.

It has been quite a process unpacking the "stuff," and there are at least 50 boxes to go. I have had to make jewelry and glasses, paint furniture and unpack and sort about 200 sets of china. The 2nd set of movers packed everything in a disorganized manner...and broke a lot! So, as you might well understand, it has also been a very painful process as well.

I am approaching two years in four months and still trying to get the store open, only to realize...I do not have enough space...so before I really get going I will probably have to expand. So why a store...I have a lot of "stuff."

Re-Imagine - Re-Deign - Re-Love

My obsession of objects of the past really began in the closet of my bedroom on the 4th floor of our home in Ingomar, Pennsylvania in 1955. The home was built in 1903 with 4 bedrooms, the largest being the entire 4th floor. At the top of the stairs was a closet that was set into the eaves of the roof. It was papered with antient Egyptian motifs. As a five-year-old, I thought that closet had ties to the Great Pyramids and my love for things old began! I spent many hours hidden in there fantasizing about life at those times. I read books and watched documentaries and truly dreamed of being an archeologist and digging up hidden treasures...little did I know I would spend years searching for and collecting antique treasures to remake or sell.

The first floor of our home had beautiful build-ins on each side of the fire place and the house was graced with beautiful hardwood floors and full of charm. I knew one day I would own an old home...and I did. Our home also had a basement...a little dark and creepy but I knew there had to be treasures buried down there...and there were, from my father’s machine shop.

I was constantly caught rummaging through metal scraps and shavings to pair with the pretty quartz rocks I found outside and create bright and shiny things out of anything I could find and glue together. I made many paperweights and I did not realize until recently that I was creating assemblages by the age of nine.

Entrepreneurial at heart (I always knew I would be self-employed and I am) I sold these to my grade school friends for pennies. By junior high I was creating jewelry and always getting into trouble for sneaking down to the basement to use my dad’s drill press and sander, although I was smart enough to stay away from the bandsaw which could cause me major damage.

I moved to Houston in the early seventies, got married, and had four children. By the late seventies I had this need to be creative again and developed a love for flower arranging and opened the first all silk shop in Houston, Texas. All our flowers were handmade and as a designer, I was way before my time. My style did not really hit popularity until the early nineties, so I was often stuck with producing the current and boring trend. In the early eighties

I also became obsessed with collecting and selling vintage jewelry much like my mother wore and probably had one of the largest collections in the city. But by the early nineties life got serious and I was pulled in another direction, being the sole bread winner. With the sudden and tragic passing of my children’s father, I had to be more serious about creating income, so I took over our management consulting firm. Blessed with enormous talent and human understanding, it was a natural fit and I have spent the last twenty-six years assisting companies and their leadership go to the next level of success. Although I know I have made a difference in the world, my heart still aches to design and create art.

Art and jewelry making may have become a hobby out of necessity of making a serious income, but my collecting has not and has continued for the last forty years...no, I am not a hoarder...I just continued preparing to come back to my art when life allowed me...and here I am, an artist again and limiting my consulting to my favorite clients.

After a six-year stint living in beautiful home built in 1904 in McKinney, Texas just north of Dallas (for my husband’s job,) I have moved back to Spring, Texas just north of Houston. I have leased a store front and have named the business Patina Lane where I am curating it to showcase and sell my creations. I still love antique and vintage pieces, but I love giving them a new life even more. “Re-imagine, Re-design and Re-love” anything old is my moto, my focus and my love. Now that I am almost an antique myself, I have even a deeper appreciation for the art of the past and keeping old things out of the city dump. I want to appeal to the desires of the present-day buyer and must put a new twist on every old treasure I collect. That’s who I am and that’s my art!

Patina Lane - Specializing in curated, miss-matched vintage china, glass and crystal, jewelry, linens, re-purposed furniture, art, accessories and a line of custom re-designed vintage champagne, pilsner and toasting glasses for weddings and special occasions, holiday and gift needs. Opening in September 2019!