All Hands on Deck: Brush and Broom

We Make Furniture Art!

Bring us your old, boring furniture and we will transform it into art!

ALL HANDS ON DECK:

Shannon and Mike Currie of Brush and Broom

story by Ashley Elvington

Shannon Currie comes from a family with strong work ethics. “I am a sea captain's daughter; my father has been dedicated to his career for well over 65 years. My older brothers are also sea captains.” While Shannon isn't operating on the high seas, she knows a thing or two about adjusting your sails due to rough waters. “My father had a drinking problem and my mother grew up way too fast, which created her mental health issues – our childhood was extremely difficult. We had a lot of physical and mental abuse; later came sexual abuse. As children, we went back and forth from school to school and had very little stability. In the prime of my father's business, he decided to sell and move us back to his hometown of Mullins, South Carolina. We grew up on the Little Pee Dee River, as I started attending Green Sea Floyds and began to flourish... That ended when I was 16 years old and left with my grandma in Wilmington, North Carolina. At the top of my class, that was my last year of school; I never graduated.” By the time she turned 22, Shannon was a single mom of three kids who was also going through a divorce. She bought her first house at age 30; this was also the year she picked up certain traits that would later help set the foundation of her business, Brush and Broom. “I worked at Beneteau (formerly in Marion, South Carolina) for eight years and learned so many trades and shortcuts through problem-solving, which is needed when it's up to you to figure out the problem. While at Beneteau, I learned the love of woodworking - I had no idea back then that my passion could turn into a job. I left Beneteau to become a framer down at the beach. It is here where I learned how to read and use a tape measure, and I also learned how to cut wood. I was the only woman, which gave me a sense of pride.” After spending a year framing houses and also bartending at night, Shannon had saved enough money for a down payment on a house. With a new home and a passion for the skills she had acquired over time, Shannon felt the calling to work from home. "I finally had enough money for the down payment on our house which led me to work closer to home." After working other jobs, Shannon made the steps necessary to obtain her GED. After two years of night classes, she received it. Two weeks after her last job ended, Shannon created Brush and Broom with her children. “It's like life just fell into place.”

Starting your own company has its challenges, but Shannon was ready to face them head-on. “Hard work has never been a stranger to me. I was on my father's boat at the age of two and I grew up working, like my older siblings, as a mate on his boat. We helped build my father's business together, so those were deep roots that I taught my children. Around that time, there was the mentality that women needed a man's help in order to succeed, so that was my first deep-rooted cord that was cut. It was a sense of satisfaction.”

Shannon admits that the first five years were rough. Brush and Broom started as a cleaning business that evolved into refurbishing furniture. In the beginning, even though her passion was paint, Shannon had to work her way up to the painting side of the business. "Painting is an expensive business where you have to generate a great name for yourself," she says. "We built the cleaning side to where we would clean 15 house per week and then we would come home and paint. I would take my client's furniture pieces home to work on them. It was a lot of work and could have been the breaking point for us, but our love carried us through those times. Eventually, the painting side grew and after five years, we were able to drop the cleaning side of the business. This was a strategic move for us and put us exactly where we needed to be." Eventually, Shannon was able to start purchasing quality furniture from auctions as the Brush and Broom Facebook page grew in popularity, love, and support. Custom orders started flying in, what Shannon calls the bread and butter of her business. As the business grew, so did Shannon. “I broke free of a shell that my past had created. Having this newfound freedom gave me the chance to take chances, to see what worked and what didn’t. Through that method, I was able to learn to paint with stains. It’s hard and tedious, and one swipe can change the whole look, but in that moment, I can create a whole bedroom set within hours by myself in my own space. I feel free every day that I get to create, it’s my life now.” As Shannon thrived, so did her daughter, Abbie. “We have an extremely close relationship. We showed everyone what we could do as 'just girls.' She was there in the beginning and she saw her mom struggle - it made her become this strong partner in crime. Not only was she helping me clean houses, but she was picking up heavy pieces, she was sanding and marketing, she was my auction partner, and she became a master at matching paint. She graduated high school with her cosmetology degree, so that color wheel she learned was priceless for Brush and Broom! The love we had, and still have, for each other carried us through the hard times. Money was tight and our dreams were big.” Shannon's sons, Robert and Jacob, were her heavy lifters. “We had to work as a family. They saw that and helped me at auctions, they went with me on pick-ups and deliveries. If they couldn’t help, their friends did. It became a community effort. We started taking our furniture to shows in different states,

and through those years, we visited many places.” While her children have lives of their own now as adults, Shannon has a new helper at Brush and Broom – her husband, Mike, who has been helping her full-time for a year and a half. He shares, “My two main roles are the woodworker and the businessman. I got a business degree from a prestigious university up in Canada, which is where I'm from, so I've been implementing better business practices. However, my main dayto-day role is repairing furniture. Most of the stuff purchased by us or brought to us is broken in some way, or many ways. A lot of my time is spent on repairs. I knew nothing about woodworking when I met Shannon. I was a selfproclaimed 'unhandy man,' but I have since fallen in love with it. When I get focused on something that I enjoy and am interested in, I go all in. I've transformed myself into a fairly competent woodworker in a fairly short time frame. To me, it was the way that would allow me to be as valuable as possible for Shannon and for Brush and Broom.”

According to Mike, Shannon operates like a machine. “She works at top speed, all of the time, yet still maintains a very high standard of work. We create between 10 and 20 pieces a week, every week. Right now, working out of our super inefficient setup, we could do two full bedroom sets a week, possibly three if they were a straightforward technique and didn't require too much repair. We could do a whole city block's worth of furniture between September and Christmas (I am only half joking!).” As for a favorite piece, it is hard for Shannon to make a decision. However, their “Cream and Kona” technique is a favorite among customers. Perhaps her favorite would be her and Mike's wedding bench, made out of an old bed. “That is a cool piece that means a lot to us.” Shannon is constantly searching for new tricks to learn. Mike adds, “If she can't do it yet, she'll figure out how!” In the meantime, she is hoping to build more pieces in the future as soon as Brush and Broom has a new shop. Shannon concludes, “I enjoy the challenge of taking something old and making it a 'new and improved' something else... Taking old, boring furniture and turning it into art.”

There is a saying that smooth seas never made a skilled sailor. Shannon has spent her time on stormy waters and through perseverance and unwavering dedication to following her heart, she has managed to drift out into a brighter horizon, coasting on the beautiful waves of life. To learn more about Brush and Broom or to see more of their work, visit www.facebook. com/brushandbroom.