Hey everybody! I’ve got a new friend and she does what I do, only in Houston, TX. Last year I noticed a company selling ottomans on etsy, just as I was. As all good businesses do, I had to delve deeper to find out more about this so called “l+j Industries”. I emailed them right away and received the nicest, most complimentary and generous response. I love it when that happens. And I love to share upholstery love, so see for yourself what’s cookin’ in Houston.
So, I went about my business, opened my studio, and lo and behold, now I see that l+j is offering upholstery classes. I’ve always said, the more the merrier, so I wrote them again to find out how classes were going.
Lynne (She’s the L of the twin sister team. J is Julia) told me that it’s hard to reach the kind of people who want to “do” instead of “have done” in her area of Houston. I get that. When I first offered and advertised upholstery classes, it was as if I had three eyeballs. People heard the words upholstery classes, and I immediately saw the back of their heads running the other direction.
Now, the story is quite different. People write me daily asking to wedge into my at-capacity classes. It takes time to reach those kindred spirits who want to roll up their sleeves and get down and dirty in chair guts.
My advice to Linda is to hang tough. Eventually, word will get out and those hands-on Houston-ites will ooze out of the woodwork. For crying out loud, you should have seen my first legitimate upholstery class. I had three ladies and we trekked through a back yard pool house in sweltering heat to upholster in a pool house!
We’ve come a long way, baby!
What caught my attention last week was l + j’s Facebook post of these X ottomans. I’ve always obsessed over this design. I tried to make an X sewing table, to no avail. But when I saw how gorgeous these turned out, I had to write her again and ask about them.
Instead of paraphrasing her email to me, I hope she doesn’t mind that I’m just going to post it word for word.
Once I read about her grudge at not being able to take Shop, I knew we could be friends. Here’s the story of the X benches.
“I think my determination to make them came from my long held grudge of not being able to take wood shop as a teenager in high school. So with my collection of woodworking tools that I have accumulated over the years, I set out to make them with only the dimensions based on Jonathan Adler’s. Boy, did my lack of geometry skills rear its ugly head on the first few tries. Next try was with some CAD drawings that a neighbor graciously made for me. Still no luck.
I was just about to give up when coming back from Dallas, my sister and I pulled off the highway and headed into Ferris, a small East Texas town. We stumbled into the one and only antique store and magically there was one tucked under a table! The owner was puzzled at first that we inquired about it but after we flashed the credit card, she was willing to part with it.
Now that I had one, I was able to take it apart and get the angles right. They are still a bit time consuming, but I’m glad my persistence has paid off.”
If you know anybody in, or around Houston, who is the DIY type looking to learn how to upholster their own flea market finds, send them this link.
And remember, if you’re in or around Indianapolis, yours truly is teaching her fingers to the bone right here at ModHomeEc.
