Out of the Ashes

I loved to ask about different pieces of furniture or decor to have his mom tell me where it came from and what it was originally used for. The clock was a cast reproduction of a sculpture in the Musee Dorse in Paris they’d bartered for in Belgium. The coffee table was a century-old dinner table for a French farmer. I felt at home with people I had never met before and I was fascinated with the idea of a home filled with wonderful stories and history behind each remarkable piece of furnishing. Army, serving four back to back deployments ranging from a year to fifteen months each in Iraq and Afghanistan. He grew up in a military family, moving often and traveling the world. He taught me how to live and embrace that kind of lifestyle. We lived in Germany for seven years, in several different parts of the country, always living off base to fully experience German culture. While he was deployed he encouraged me to get out and travel to see Europe with our children. I did and quickly grew to love the people and history there. With the unpredictable life of a military family, we knew our home was a temporary and ever changing place. My husband was an avid supporter of making our home beautiful. We decided to make the inside of it familiar and comfortable, a living map of our travels and tastes, in spite of constant moving. As my family and I traveled to incredible places like the coasts of Greece and Spain, the mountains of Austria and Switzerland, the spectacular sights of France and Italy or the cold beauty of Poland and the Czech Republic, we collected furniture and items along the way to decorate our home. There was so much to choose from and so much to learn. We visited castles and saw similar pieces of furniture to what we had bought and learned how they were used in different places and during different time periods. We collected some things you might expect: pottery, furniture, carpets, blown glass, and some things you might not: ironwork, baskets, linens, hand-made puppets from the Saint Charles Bridge in Prague. These didn't come cheap or without sacrifice but my husband’s motto was “when you buy quality, you only cry once,” and we considered each piece we purchased as an investment in our family’s history. When my version of a fairy tale tragically ended with the death of my husband, I moved close to my family with three young children to rebuild a life that I hadn't planned on. I brought with me beautiful antique furniture full of our stories and memories that will last a lifetime. It took a few years after my husband’s death to decide to take another chance and bring European Antiques to my home state. I have a passion for handcrafted furniture, mixing European antiques with modern design culminating in a unique and welcoming home. I love that every piece of furniture I pick out has seen hundreds of years of living and will continue to do so if properly cared for. After growing up in an era where furniture is so disposable, the realization that this artwork has sustained the test of time is remarkable. The prospect of being able to pass my antiques on to my children and help them create beautiful homes that have history and meaning for them is very fulfilling to me. I look for distinctive, one of a kind items to help make your home uniquely yours. My home is a canvas for my life story. No one else can tell it. Everyone and everything has a story to tell whether they have a voice or not. These furniture pieces have a rich history, having seen war, triumph, defeat, sadness, peace, and love. What will your story be? Let Out of the Ashes be a resource to add beauty to your home and tell your story. My vision is to bring an appreciation and love of original handcrafted antique furniture to our area, to be enjoyed for it’s unique beauty, craftsmanship and to be passed down for generations to come. As the great architect Frank Lloyd Wright once wrote, “If you invest in beauty, it will remain with you all the days of your life.”