Several years ago, Monica Walters’ late aunt asked her to paint a hummingbird onto a stool. Being from an area in Texas that has a hummingbird festival every year, she thought it was fitting to have decor with the celebrated bird.
Ever since then, Walters has found herself painting and repurposing furniture. Now, she has a storefront in Nashville for that very purpose.
Walters and her husband moved to Brown County from Greenwood six years ago. She has done a little bit of everything; she has a bachelor’s degree in psychology and is a licensed real estate agent.
No stranger to small business, she also owned and operated a store in Trafalgar for two years. Though she didn’t expect to open one in Nashville, this past January, she got the keys to a studio and storefront space in Franklin square, now the home of her business, Gypsy Garage.
"Even though I told everyone I wasn’t going to do this anymore, here I am," she said.
After leaving the store the night of Jan. 30, she rolled her vehicle four times on icy Bear Wallow Hill and ended up in a creek. She was home for about a month — and had been hibernating because of COVID-19 as well, she said — but got busy in her store in March.
Though the traffic of shoppers is different in Nashville than in Trafalgar, Walters said her store has the same kind of things, offering a little something for everyone. She does furniture painting and repurposing and sells Iron Orchid Design and Wise Owl supplies.
In addition to her own works, Gypsy Garage features the handmade goods of woodworkers the McAninch Brothers and blow-torched jewelry from her fellow real estate agent, Angie Hornsby. Oil paintings are also on display and for sale, the works of Bargersville artist Diana Porter, who’s designed parade floats for the Indy 500.
Her store isn’t just shopper friendly; she also is scheduling Furniture Painting 101 classes.
"We’re going to do others," she said, having done terra cotta pot decorating, papier-mâché pumpkins and more in the past.
With a lack of activities happening in Nashville past five or six in the evening, Walters said her classes will be an option, two nights every month.
"It’ll be fun," she said. "It’ll be a lot of work, but it’ll be fun."
She is looking forward to interacting with customers and sharing interests with like-minded people.
"Painting and creating is fun," she said. "You can just get into a zone. I would rather be able to play with whatever I’m doing.
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Location: 91 W. Franklin St. in Franklin Square, Nashville
Hours: Wednesdays through Sundays, noon to 6 p.m.
Contact: gypsygaragellc.com, 317-752-3110
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