St. Cloud woman revitalizes furniture
Ashley Green reupholsters and fixes damaged furniture, bringing a new meaning to the term 'green thumb.'
ST. CLOUD, Minn. – Every piece of furniture tells a story for Ashley Green.
Green, owner of Green Thumb Etc., upholsters furniture, which gives pieces a newer, more unique structure.
Furniture made up 4% of items that were considered waste in 2018, the latest year data was available, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (Environmental Protection Agency).
Green said less furniture goes to landfills if it’s reupholstered. Other benefits include added sustainability when biodegradable materials are used and lower cost because new furniture tends to cost more.
“The furniture that is being made today, for the most part, is not intended to be reupholstered. It's intended to be used and worn and broken and replaced, and then with that, it just gets thrown into a landfill,” she said.
Green creates approximately 30-50 pieces per year, numbers she said would be higher if she didn’t have other commitments at her business, such as creating wedding florals.
How it started
Green has upholstered furniture for 11 years. Her journey began when she noticed she wanted a chair to complement a table she recently acquired from Craigslist. Instead of buying a new chair, Green remembered she had an old one, which became her first upholstery project.
Rather than buy new, cheaply made furniture, Green said she prefers to find quality furniture that people want to get rid of and give it new life.
“I strongly encourage anybody to find the pieces that are floating around, the pieces – and it breaks my heart — but the pieces that people are like, ‘It's old, it's ugly. We're going to throw it on the burn pile if you don't come pick it up,'" she said.
Green has accumulated numerous pieces of furniture that have potential to be upholstered, and she’s also fortunate to receive furniture donations from people who believe in her creative vision.
“There's pieces that I have … that are really cool, old pieces of furniture that I'll go scoop up, or… people will leave them outside of my store for me to adopt,” she said. “And then there's also the pieces that people have that they're like, ‘Hey, you know Grandma? This is Grandma's chair. We've had it in the family for years and years. Will you reupholster this for me?’”
The process
The process of upholstering furniture is limited to the creator’s imagination, something Green has an abundance of and encourages others to embrace, too.
“If you're a person who says, 'Oh, I just couldn't possibly have a loud print.' OK. That's because you told yourself that. So that's fine if you don't like that, OK? But if you're like, 'Oh, I love this fabric, but I just couldn't have it in my home,' that's your own limitation to your furniture upholstery – anything can happen and anything can be what you want,” Green said.
Green's woodworking skills allow her to fix furniture, something she takes pride in.
“I'm not a plastic surgeon. So can I seal the wound? Yes. Is it going to leave a scar? Yes. If it's something … for me, I like that. It's broken there, so I am going to replace it, repair it the way that I replace it, because it kind of tells more of a story that way,” Green said.
Green’s upholstery prices start at $395 for chairs and $1,500 for couches, but prices could increase based on the fabrics customers want in the upgrade. Services include cleaning, stitching, gluing, clamping, etc., and it usually takes Green two days to complete a project.
Keeping memories alive
Green said restored and reupholstered furniture can make customers feel nostalgic and transport them to a special moment in their lives.
She recalled a client who brought in a chair from her father's childhood. At the time, the man was in his 90s. His 87-year-old brother stopped by after the chair was finished, saw the updated piece of furniture, and the pair started reminiscing about their youth.
“It's not the stories of the chair," Green said. "It's the stories that the chair has seen, and the life that was lived around it.”