Homes on a Limb

Kim and Bobby Dunlap.

~story and photos by Paige Langenderfer

Six years ago, Bobby Dunlap had never heard of Nashville, Indiana. Today, he and his wife Kim not only live here, but also own and operate a business in downtown Nashville called Homes on a Limb and Little Sister Candle Company.

“One day I asked him to take me to lunch in Nashville and he said, ‘Where’s that,’” Kim said. “Two weeks later, we bought our house down here.”

Kim and Bobby, who were born and raised in Munster, Indiana, moved to Nashville and quickly began working on creating their business.

“It was always a dream of mine to open a store to sell my woodworking projects,” Bobby said. “So, when we moved here, I retired to start the business.”

Homes on a Limb sells meticulously handcrafted birdhouses, bird feeders, handmade candles, walking sticks, and other beautiful artisan home goods. Everything in the store is made by Kim and Bobby.

“A lot of the community has embraced us,” Kim said. “They say we take it back to how Brown County was founded; stores selling handcrafted items.”

Bobby said the birdhouses have become what some might consider a collectors’ item.

“We have numerous repeat customers,” he said. “They keep coming back and buying more. They love the birdhouses because each one is unique. We have customers who are collecting them and keeping them in their homes.”

The demand for the birdhouses has made it difficult for Bobby to keep the store stocked.

“Every year we close a few days before Christmas through March so that I can make the birdhouses and restock the store,” he said. “We are sold out again before April.”

His other projects also are in high demand. People from all over the country travel to Brown County for his work. One customer commissioned Bobby to build a table topper to be shipped to England. Another table is in California.

“Each project takes a long time, so it is hard for me to keep the store stocked,” Bobby said. “I can’t just order something out of a catalog and wait for it to come in. I have to find the right wood and hand craft it exactly the way the customer wants it.”

The custom work has become extremely popular, Bobby said, accounting for 75 percent of the business.

He is currently crafting a live-edge kitchen island topper out of Spalted Ambrosia Maple, with a turquoise epoxy inlay. Live edge is a style of furniture where the artisan incorporates the natural edge of the wood into the design of the piece.

Bobby uses local wood for approximately 90 percent of his projects, with much of that coming from his own property. He also never uses wood from healthy, live trees. He only uses wood that has already fallen to the ground or from trees that were cut down because of disease.

“I take what God has put on the ground and work with that to make something beautiful,” Bobby said. “I find these really cool pieces of wood and think of projects I could make with them. God has really blessed me and I love sharing His beauty with others.”

He recently shared his talents with his son-in-law for a very special day.

“He asked if I could make a sign to help him propose to his girlfriend,” Bobby said. “One side of the sign said, ‘Will you marry me,’ and the other side of the sign said, ‘She said yes.’”

Signs are a relatively new addition to the store. Bobby bought a digital wood carver last year.

“I can make anything from a sign with your family name and address, to an American flag, to a cross with a Bible verse. Really, anything you want,” Bobby said. “It has been fun making the signs.”

Kim is also an artisan. She makes the candles that are sold at the store. There are nearly 50 scents in rotation, with Autumn Delight and Apple Maple Bourbon being the most popular.

Customers immediately smell the most recent project when walking in the doors. The candles are made in the back of the store, letting the rich scents waft throughout the store.

“Most of the scents were made because a customer came in and asked if we had that scent,” Kim said. “We listen to what customers want and try to provide it if at all possible.”

Kim, who still works full time, said she looks forward to the day when she and Bobby both work in the store.

“We work really well together,” she said. “We are just really supportive of each other.”

Even though they grew up literally right next door to each other, the two only recently reconnected.

“It’s life you know? We both married other people, but then we found our way back to each other,” Kim said.

In fact, they got married in their backyard in Brown County, on a wooden stage built by Bobby.

The store is located in the Main Street Shops Complex on Old School Way next to Foxfire Boutique and near Brown County Winery.