We recently connected with Elaine Childress and have shared our conversation below.
Elaine , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Earning a full time living from one’s creative career can be incredibly difficult. Have you been able to do so and if so, can you share some of the key parts of your journey and any important advice or lessons that might help creatives who haven’t been able to yet?
I have absolutely been able to earn a modest full-time living from my creative work of refinishing furniture, interior decorating, as well as resale marketing of vintage and antique objects and home decor. The journey started small, out of necessity, and bloomed into full time work after several years of doing the same thing over and over. Day one started with refinishing my first piece of furniture (old dresser) and selling it on Craigslist (which still works today by the way). From day one I was hooked, landing my first sale of a large piece and turning my initial investment of a few dollars into four times the money had me sold on the idea of flipping furniture for profit.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
My name is Elaine Childress. I have a B.S. in Hospital Administration from Texas State University. I am the cliche of having a degree in something that has nothing to do with my full time, self-made career! Out of necessity I started finding budget friendly bedroom furniture for kids, re-painting, and redecorating my own home. Pouring through shelter books, magazines, and of course Pinterest became an obsession. Realizing I could accomplish the same results, finding the absolute best product to achieve those results (Annie Sloan Chalk Paint® and wax products) landed me full blown into the art of refinishing furniture and resale shopping. Fast forward about 6 years and I opened my own retail shop with Judy Tackett (The Grateful Gardener) and we created Portilla Home & Garden LLC. Our shop is now the premier distributor in the greater Fort Bend County area for the Annie Sloan line of furniture and home accent refinishing products. With Annie Sloan paints, finishes and artistic tools we have restored boring brown furniture into works of art for many more years to come. I am attempting to inspire others to use what they have, avoid “fast furniture” and keep our environment and landfills safe from excess household waste. Our shop is a daily flurry of buying and selling furniture, art, antiques and plants, most of which have been repurposed into new life and set into new vignettes throughout the shop. Walking into our shop on any given day, you will never see the same thing twice.
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
We have built our audience on multiple platforms of social media, the obvious first routes were Facebook and Pinterest. Over time, Etsy was used to sell furniture, as well as Instagram have been most successful in spreading the word to the broadest audiences. For all of the platforms, consistency is key. Prepare your brand look and feel ahead of time, photograph appropriately, and never defer from your “look” for best results. Those that want to follow you will do so because they love what you have to offer visually first. I made the initial investment of professional cameras and software to achieve the best results possible. It was one of the key tools to help build the audience along the way by allowing an amateur to present the most professional look possible.
In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?
Society as a whole can best support creatives by shopping for what they have to offer to create beautiful homes! Fast furniture and fast “art” or home decor will not stand the test of time, do not hold up to the rigors of daily life in most cases do not have the same charm as vintage or repurposed items.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.portillahg.com
- Instagram: portillahg
- Facebook: mdportilla
Image Credits
Elaine Childress