Photo courtesy of Jamason Burchard
Coral Stewart throws herself into the up-cycled décor process in her personal workshop.
Allison Kronberg
Murphy News Service
When Coral Stewart couldn’t pay her mortgage, she decided try to renovate some of her furniture and sell the end results on Craigslist. Then, she did it the next year, after working in day care and hair styling left her just a little short again.
About 13 years later, Stewart has made a business out of what she used to do just to get by. Shoppers in the Forest Lake area come to her up-cycled furniture and décor store, Coral Stewart’s Shop, and nearly empty it out during the first Thursday to Sunday of every month.
“This was always my passion,” Stewart said. “I just never thought I could do it for a living.”
She bought the business’s first location outside of Blaine a couple of years ago. Stewart put an ad on Craigslist looking for other furniture renovators to share the space and sell their goods.
That’s how Beth Gamache, one of the 16 vendors that work for Stewart, began selling at the store.
“I thought maybe it’s time to jump in and do it as a hobby and make a little extra money,’” she said.
Submitted photo
Coral Stewart’s Shop in Forest Lake sells renovated, vintage and antique furniture and home décor items.
Gamache remodels “smalls,” she said, or smaller décor items, such as picture frames. It started as a hobby with her daughter outside of her work as an art and health director at a senior living community.
She’s learned a lot since her first sale with Stewart, when she only made roughly $100 in sales. Now, she usually makes eight or nine times that each sale.
She said moving to Forest Lake last fall has helped, too.
“In Forest Lake, people seem to be looking for the highest quality up-cycled goods, and they’ll pay a little extra for it.” Gamache said
Stewart said she always wanted to move to Forest Lake, so she bought a building there as soon as she could afford it. She wants Forest Lake to become a destination for people who are shopping for reclaimed items.
“It’s just a more hometown feel there,” she said.
Coral Stewart’s Shop, or C. Stewart’s Shop, opened in September at 767 Lake St. S., taking the place of what used to be the Dazy Maze, a smoke shop and blown glass store. Stewart, who still lives in Blaine, said her store has something for everyone.
“We get every probably walk and style of life in (the shop),” she said. “It’s everything from college kids to people with lake homes.”
Prices vary from $1 to $400, with more on the cheaper end. Styles include mid-century modern, antique and vintage. Stewart also takes requests.
One of the store’s frequent customers and stay-at-home mom Karla Rud has five kids. Her 5-year-old twins love cowboys right now, so Rud told Stewart to keep a lookout for cowboy-themed furnishings.
Rud said Stewart has remembered to let her know every time she comes across one, just like she remembers her frequent customers’ names.
Rud’s twins aren’t the only ones in the house who appreciate what Stewart has made for them. Rud recently bought a refurnished ladder from Stewart on which to hang her grandmother’s afghan.
Rud said the furniture was just her style.
“I’ve never fit into a box very well as far as the things that I enjoy and like to look at,” she said. “’I thought, this is more the type of thing I like – reusing things and looking at them in a different way.”