Like most kids who grew up in the Midwest, I learned from my parents that if it’s broken, it can–and should–be fixed. This sense of stewardship to reclaim stuff before tossing it in the landfill resonates to my core, especially when I see an old chair sitting on the curb, just begging to be plucked, pieced back together, sanded, painted, reupholstered, and ultimately revived. 

 

As a single mom, I wanted a flexible job that also flexed my creativity, curiosity, and insatiable need for more color in this world. So, after living in the Southwest for a number of years, I moved to Denver and enrolled in Emily Griffith Technical College, got hooked on reupholstering furniture, graduated in 2006, and launched Violet Mae Upholstery in Durango, Colorado. 

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The name, Violet Mae, comes from my love of color, in particular the Violet in my daughter, Sophia’s, middle name. Mae isn’t a color at all (well, that I know of…) but it is my middle name. In those early days of her childhood, it was just the two of us, peas in a pod. With the addition of my love, John, in 2010, our second daughter, Indigo, in 2015, and an established garden in our backyard, I’m now surrounded by colors that bring smiles to my face daily. Smiles that I hope to replicate through my redemption of exhausted furniture.  

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These days, my greatest joy is working with the bones and structure of yesterday’s furniture to match it with a wild pop of color, texture, or both. I love preserving the old to make it current, relevant, and functional for your lifestyle. Together, let’s turn your every-day furniture choices into family heirlooms that’ll hold stories and the imagination for years to come. 

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Emily

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Emily Lloyd, vintage furniture curator