Meet Caroline Sima of Aunt Eeeks Furniture with Flair in North Phoenix

Today we’d like to introduce you to Caroline Sima.

So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
As a young girl I have always enjoyed painting and making crafts. My mother use to create fabulous pottery pieces and beautiful stained glass so I guess the artsy part of me came from her. I rekindled my passion for creating when I went to a few canvas painting events with friends about 7 years ago. At that time I also found Pinterest and all the amazing ideas that one could do. These two things combined, helped catapult my desire to create even more. The first piece of furniture I painted was a vintage writing desk by a big brand name maker that I found in a neighbors bulk trash pile. Someone had tried painting it white and let’s just say it didn’t go well for them. I researched chalk paint and fell in love with the concept of no sanding or stripping. I gave that little desk a makeover and it found a new home (with a writer that fell in love with it). The feeling of saving that beautiful solid wood piece of perfectly good furniture and giving it new life was the BEST! That success gave me the motivation to conquer my entire kitchen and bathrooms. I painted our boring oak cabinets with a variety of fabulous colors of chalk paint, applied stencils, image transfers and more. And again, being able to transform my own things helped boost my confidence that I could do what I love and maybe others would be able to love and appreciate these pieces as well. I spend countless hours on researching products and techniques. I find it very rewarding to always be challenging myself to be better and to try new and more complex techniques and to try different products and mediums.

Has it been a smooth road?
I definitely have struggles and the road has not always been smooth for me. I strive to be the best wife and mom I can be and yet still be an able to put out amazing furniture, the artist part of me seems to always get put on the back burner. There are times I just want to escape to my work room for the day, listen to my music, get my groove on and just paint. Then I’ll have to stop, clean up my mess, change out of my painting clothes and go back to looking like a normal person and go pick up the kids or fix dinner or run errands, etc. And it totally kills my creative mood. Sometimes it’s hard to get back into the mood. It can take weeks if not months to finish a piece. I only create when I’m completely focused and in the zone. I usually work on a few pieces at a time because I can be painting one piece and decoupaging another and then repairing or staining another piece. There always seems to be an abundance of things to do in my work room. Finding the time to balance my home life with my work can be very challenging, for sure.

I also struggle with technology, aka, internet marketing, websites, social media. I don’t have a computer oriented brain so trying to get my pieces seen by the masses over the internet has been very challenging for me. Luckily, I have joined a few social media outlets that have wonderful people that have helped me tremendously with staging, marketing, shipping and getting my pieces out there. I feel very blessed to have so many wonderful people willing to help a fellow artist out and not feel like we are competing with each other. My fellow Phoenix artisans are a big group of wonderful people. Much love to you all!

So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Aunt Eeeks Furniture with Flair story. Tell us more about the business.
I started up Aunt Eeeks furniture with flair a few years ago, I specialize in vintage and antique furniture restoration and beautification. The name Aunt Eeeks is a play on my favorite type of furniture, “antiques”. And the “with flair” part is exactly what it says. All pieces I create are ALWAYS one of a kind, unique, and so out of the normal/popular types of painted furniture out there today. I hand paint all my pieces. Chalk paint is my go to because of the texture, ease of application and durability. I am very picky on what I purchase to refurbish/beautify. I look for unique, old, sometimes historic pieces with character and loads of personality. I love interesting furniture. I feel my style is a mix of grandma, shabby chic, vintage, lace, glam and rustic elegance. I really enjoy hunting for those special pieces, once I find my unique piece, it will get a thorough cleaning and repair what is needed. After they are cleaned and repaired they usually sit in my home for a while so as I can get a feeling of what they need. Paint colors, patterns, stamps, texture, do dads, what nots and their mood. I guess you can say that I must wait and let the piece speak to me. Once I get a feeling of what a piece needs, then the fun can begin. My mind, heart and hands go all in, to hopefully create something so amazing that it will be forever cherished in its new home. This is the reason I don’t do custom pieces. I must feel the furniture in my soul before I ever lay my hands on it. I can honestly say that each piece I create will always carry a piece of my heart with it. I truly love what I do and feel so blessed to be able to create at my own pace and in my own way. I am most proud of the quality, craftsmanship, uniqueness and beauty of each piece I create. And I feel my individuality sets me apart from the rest.

How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
I think there will always be a market for custom painted furniture. Our individual furniture styles can really help make our homes feel warm and inviting. The world is so awesome because of all the different styles and personal tastes out there. I feel there are always going to be people who really enjoy personalized pieces. It may be a color they choose, a particular style, bold, tame, a statement piece, a conversation piece or just something beautiful to look at. And I feel antique furniture which has been around for over 100 years was built to withstand the test of time. This era of furniture being constructed from beautiful hardwoods, master craftsmanship, and attention to detail that went into each and every piece, of course it will be around for many more years to come. Old furniture is so durable yet classic, sometimes a little facelift can do wonders for these sturdy old beautiful pieces of history. I see more and more people that are trying out their hand in painting furniture each and every day. I feel there is so much furniture out there that could use something to update it or help it flow better with someone’s personal style. I feel we are going to see more and more beautiful old painted or updated pieces of furniture in the years to come.

Contact Info:

• Email: aunteeek@earthlink.net
• Instagram: Instagram@aunteeeks
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/aunteeek

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