AlleyCatDesignSt

I have always been creative and curious about the world around me - whether it was people, writing, painting, photography, sewing, baking or trying my hand at something new. I like to learn by watching and speaking to others, by reading books... or better yet, simply jumping in and getting my hands dirty.
Interior and architectural design, art, color theories, space planning, principles and techniques and how all these things affect the way we live and feel have always fascinated me.
At six years of age my parents purchased 70 acres of land to build a house on. I poured over my parent's house plan catalogs like they were storybooks and watched closely as my dad built our home from the foundation up. I memorized those layouts and even scribbled notes/drawings on the pages of the changes that I thought would improve the look and flow of one room into another. With a child's eye, I would sketch detailed images of these rooms filled with furniture and artwork.
Years later I managed a paint and wallpaper store that was involved in helping homeowners restore Victorian homes to their original, historical colors.
I would fall asleep and dream of those colors and end up redesigning the whole house in great detail before I awoke... even down to the artwork that hung on the walls.
But losing a job I loved as a commercial copywriter for a local TV station and not being able to find another definitely played a huge role in my decision to open a shop on Etsy... and to finally make my creative dreams a reality.
What did Alexander Graham Bell say - "when one door closes, another opens..."? Well, let's just say I faced a lot of closed doors before I finally stepped forward, grabbed the imaginary handle and impatiently yanked one of them open for myself!
Funny thing - it was literally a bunch of doors - kitchen cabinet doors to be exact - that grabbed my attention and pointed me in a new direction.
It had been years since I had last visited our local Habitat For Humanity Re-Store and what propelled me to stop in that day is pure serendipity.
But there I was, wandering the aisles of the Re-Store when I stumbled across stacks and stacks of these beautiful unfinished kitchen cabinet doors of every shape, style and size imaginable. Immediately I thought..."the possibilities of what these doors could be is endless! I could make chalkboards! Bulletin Boards! Boxes! Signs! Wainscoting! Wall and coffered ceiling treatments!"
Long story short... fast forward several years to today... and I've turned those doors, along with a bunch of other creations, into a business that is constantly evolving... like me.
But I didn't do it alone.
Alan, my sweetheart and husband since 1977 - is Alley Cat Design Studio's greatest asset. With more than forty years of construction experience under his capable tool belt, his knowledge, energy, creativity, strength and encouragement is boundless... as are his really, r e a l l y bad jokes.
(Seriously, he's had me declare him Employee of the Month... every month!)
All kidding aside, we both love nature and enjoy being outdoors, especially camping and canoeing on area rivers year round. The beauty of the Ozarks constantly fuels our creativity and is a driving force behind our desire to keep good used building materials out of our landfills.
The picture above of the Mulberry River in western Arkansas is one of our playgrounds. It scares us to think what will happen to these beautiful forests - and many more like them - if the world's ravenous appetite for new lumber continues to grow.
So instead we tear down barns, sheds, houses that storms, neglect and time have weakened or damaged beyond repair and salvage most everything we can - from doors, windows, flooring, lath and scrap lumber - to even those being thrown into dumpsters or burned by folks who don't care or simply don't know what else to do - to create our genuine reclaimed wood artwork and home decor items.
Now just because the wood we use is salvaged, please don't assume we are talking about trash or that the wood is bad or rotten. We are talking about perfectly strong, viable, beautifully textured, silvery-grey weathered, valuable wood - many from the 1800s that were milled from old growth trees - that had no business ever being thrown away... or burned... and will last for many more decades... if not centuries!
Simply put, we both hate senseless waste, always have, and am certain it is part of my DNA. My mother composted, replanted, propagated, re-cycled, up-cycled, re-used, re-invented, re-purposed and made the most amazing things from scraps of paper, fabrics, bits of yarn, wood and boxes and everything else... long before it was cool or anyone called it being "green". For her, growing up in southern France during WWII, it was a necessity - truly a matter of survival. She's taught me to look at ordinary things and see them with new eyes. I'm proud of my mama and still try to learn by her example everyday.
So that's our backstory in a nutshell. We encourage anyone shopping for artwork or home decor to please consider the importance of buying vintage or products made from reclaimed goods. Not only will the history of these items add interest and character and soul to your home... it's good for us all. It's good for the Earth.
We thank you for stopping by Alley Cat Design Studio. Feel free to drop us a line, tell us a joke, or share a story. We're a friendly bunch and we'd love to hear from you!