One person’s trash may be another person’s treasure, but for furniture store owner Michele Rivard, they might need a little help to become true gems. When Rivard finds a piece of used furniture, whether it be from a garage sale or Craigslist, it requires Rivard’s knack for transforming furniture from shabby discarded items to chic, vintage-inspired pieces of furniture.
Rivard, 32, opened her furniture store a little over a year ago in Glendora’s downtown, specializing in refashioning secondhand pieces into the shabby chic look.
Shabby chic, the art of achieving the antique look through paint and distressing, is becoming increasingly popular in interior home design and even in weddings and parties.
Rivard attributed the popularity of the look to a difficult economy and everyone’s desire to find budget-friendly but quality alternatives.
“Shabby chic is economical, but a great way to achieve a very unique look,” said Rivard.
Rivard, a Glendora native and Glendora High School graduate, said the concept for Knot Too Shabby was born out of her passion, or borderline compulsion as she calls it, for scoping out garage sales for unique furniture finds.
She would bring them back into her garage and transform them into shabby chic gems. When she accumulated far too much to fit into her garage, she decided to rent a small space in Glendora’s downtown. When her items began to outgrow even that space, she moved across the street to a larger space to the store’s current location, the site of the former Blue Chair Children’s Bookstore at 177 N. Glendora Ave.
Rivard’s favorite garage sale find was a six-foot dark walnut wood church pew she found at a garage sale for $75. She loved it so much, Rivard decided to keep it and put it in her living room.
“I love being able to see beyond from what the furniture is to what it can be,” said Rivard. “You’re not going to find an organ painted and converted as a writing desk anywhere else. Whatever you get in my store is one of a kind.”
Rivard said she loves combing through local garage sales, Craigslist, Ebay and even alleys for what she calls “hot damn deals.”
“The used stuff is sometimes made a whole lot better than the new stuff,” said Rivard.
Aside from her store, Rivard also sells her items online on her website and on her Etsy page. Rivard said she rents furniture for parties, weddings and photo shoots, with some of her items landing in Hollywood productions and theatrical plays.
Customers can also send their furniture items to the store for a custom paint job.
The store also hosts furniture painting classes and sells paint to those hoping to achieve the shabby chic look on their own.
For more information, call Knot Too Shabby at (626) 914-1600.
