When Sunday Burquest, a self-admitted DIY devotee, got the itch to do some redecorating in her home, she started scouring Goodwills, thrift shops, and garage sales; every place she could find that would afford her nice pieces of furniture and décor accoutrements that just needed a bit of love and elbow grease to make them sparkle.
Well, let’s just say she couldn’t stop herself even after her house was finished.
“My kids would say, ‘Mom, why do you keep bringing all this furniture into the house when there’s no room?’ And I’d say, ‘I know, but it would be so cute if I did this or that’,” says Sunday, with a laugh. “I just loved seeing the possibilities.”
At about that same time, Sunday’s sister, Kelsey Moore, and their sister-in-law, Jennifer Farrand, were looking for something to do to use their skills and earn a few extra dollars. So the three of them decided to parlay their gifts (Sunday as the creative, Kelsey as the web/marketing whiz, and Jennifer as the business guru), into a business that focused on turning tired and underwhelming pieces of furniture into inexpensive, high-end-looking beauties. And Sweet Transformations was born.
The gals started refurbishing pieces in Sunday’s garage to sell at the Antique Mall, but quickly outgrew the space; not to mention the garage floor was looking something like a Jackson Pollack painting, what with all the multi-colored lines, drips and splatters of paint.
After considering leasing a storefront of their own, the ladies decided to rent 280 square feet on the second floor of the Antique Mall of Rogers, located smack dab on Main Street.
“It was a wonderful choice for us,” says Jennifer. “We could bring our things in anytime we wanted to, which a lot of other places wouldn’t allow, and the owners were really great.”
So, in June of 2011 they kicked into high gear, hitching up trailers to trucks and rummaging every thrift shop, garage sale and Craigslist ad from the cities to Brainerd, to have enough inventory for an October opening. Once the items were procured, it was “full-on painting mode,” says Sunday, who reveals that one of their best investments was an industrial paint sprayer although it came with a steep learning curve. “We laughed until we cried trying to get that thing to work,” she says.
The soft opening was a hit; the grand opening that coincided with the annual Rogers Antique Sale last November, was a phenomenal success.
“We’d bring pieces up here, and ten minutes later they’d be going out the door,” says Sunday. “It was crazy.”
Now, the gals keep their space nicely stocked with furniture that has been put through their four-step process that includes cleaning, priming, painting and protecting, and priced anywhere from $36 dollars for a small end table to $150 for smaller dressers, to beautifully refurbished hutches, which are a great deal at $300.
Their creativity and shabby chic sensibilities come into play as old stereo consoles are gutted, painted, bedecked with coordinating fabrics (toiles, plaids, ginghams) and transformed into trendy bars. Headboards become entryway signs complete with hooks and a chalkboard greeting, retro coffee tables are brought into the 21st century with the perfect shade of grey, blue, red or black, just to name a few.
And it seems this talented trio has bigger plans as they recently found a space for a large workshop in a local farmer’s outbuilding; custom orders might soon be on the horizon.
“This has been a wonderful learning process,” says Jennifer. “We don’t want to get too big, just big enough to be able keep busy and keep having fun. Yeah, we really want to keep having fun.”
