LDS Sentinel

It was kinda fun this past week to be called and interviewed for this local online Sentinel. Here is the portion that chatted about me! Kinda fun!


Ari Anna Johnson, also in the Spokane Stake but no relation to Kristin, laughs at the idea of paying money for something.

"The only thing in my house I have spent money on is my furniture set," AriAnna said. "Everything is either handmade or a free find that I've redone."

Most of those "free finds" are abandoned items that she's picked up off the side of the road. Once she finds a piece, she'll bring it home to her small workshop and start giving it a new life. Old windows and crates are turned into coffee tables; rusted out benches are scraped clean and given a fresh coat of paint and discarded cupboards are sanded and painted until they become a child's play kitchen. The items that she doesn't keep are bartered or sold though her small business, Character Corner Creations, a process that has saved AriAnna thousands of dollars over the years.

"[Upcycling has] really helped me, because I'm self-reliant," AriAnna says. Then, with a laugh she adds, "And at the same time, if my house burned down, most of it was free anyway."


Ready to get in on the upcycling trend?

Start by looking around your house. A can of paint can do wonders in changing the look and feel of even the dowdiest of objects. Check thrift stores, estate sales, craigslist, and the ubiquitous "side of the road" for other great finds. And don't worry if you don't know how to fix something up. There are tutorials online that can take you step by step through whatever you want to learn. And keep in mind a final thought from AriAnna Johnson: "If you see potential in it, don't pass it up...If you can spray paint it or redo it to match with your décor, you'll basically be in love with it."

To read the whole article you can put this in your URL

http://spokane.latterdaysentinel.com/archiveStory.asp?theArticle=444