I heard from several Mompreneurs, “You should meet Dorrie. She’s a mom in Holly Springs with a large Facebook group and working on building a new furniture business.” That certainly sounds like my kind of girl. Dorrie Buccafusca does have a very successful Facebook group for the Holly Springs community and while raising a family of five (5!) children, finds pride and enjoyment in her work recreating beauty in old furniture pieces. She was nice enough to let me interview her.
Tell me about yourself.
My husband, a native New Yorker, and I, a Jersey girl, have been married for almost 11 years and had been living in NJ for 10 years. [In 2012], we were just about to have our fifth child and knew we needed a change. We decided to take a trip to NC. It won us over completely! We especially loved that here was such an emphasis on family and community in Holly Springs.
Where does the passion for your work come from?
I first started refinishing furniture about 14 years ago, but we come from a family of painters and decorative refinishers. My husband and I were on a budget and my mom had my old dresser in her basement collecting dust. We got it cleaned up and low and behold it was my first masterpiece done in a lavender, faux wood grain effect. From then on, I was hooked! There was always some sort of painting going on in our home. Prior to coming to NC, I had been a skin care specialist for 10 years and also had a small business doing cosmetic tattooing. Always an artist, just a different “canvas”. When we made the decision to move, my husband and I agreed that I would stop working. This was a tough decision for me to agree to, as work had always been a time for me spent doing something that I loved, was separate from being a stay at home mom and made me feel as though I was a financial contributor.
In the meantime, we had just moved into our newly built home that was substantially larger than what we’d had previously. I started scavenging the thrift stores trying to find beautiful pieces of furniture that would make our home feel cozy. I began refinishing for our home and decided to post my projects on my personal Facebook page. Interest piqued from there and refinishing for others just seemed to happen overnight. It gives me an identity outside of being a mom and is such a magnificent creative outlet and stress reliever, the only limits being my imagination. My husband, God bless him, is the most supportive man I know. He is definitely the more cautious half of our team, but we’re an awesome balance.
Tell me about your business partner.
My sister Amanda and I are on this adventure together with the support of our awesome family! She [recently moved to Holly Springs]. We knew this was the perfect opportunity to make our long time dream of owning a business together a reality. Manda is definitely much more tech savvy. She handles all of our web stuff. I’m the more wordy, outspoken one and do the majority of our posts. We both refinish! We are only online at the moment, but our hope for the very near future is to open a shop offering one of a kind refinished furniture, unique home decor and textiles and workshops to teach others how to refinish their cherished treasures.
What makes your business unique?
There are so many refinishers out there, some just doing this as a hobby and others just looking to make a quick buck. We put our hearts and souls, and lots of time into every piece we produce. We strive to create exceptional, one of a kind pieces. We are not in the business of furniture flipping. We are in the business of transforming and updating furniture into pieces that will be loved and will be of the highest quality so they can be passed down from generation to generation.
You lead a large Facebook group for Holly Springs, tell me about that and has it influenced other business moves?
When I first moved here, I found that there were so many local buy/sell/trade Facebook pages, but nothing where local women could go to ask questions about where to get a great cut and color or have general chit chat. See a need, fill a need! Ladies of Holly Springs was born and has been great! It was from that group however, that my sister and I decided to create our Facebook page, Simple Southern Charm. We have also been working with a designer, and [have launched a] blog! We created [our website] SSCharm to share our projects and our tips and tricks for refinishing furniture and tackling DIY projects. We have a very large community of DIYers here in Wake county and wanted people to feel as though projects, no matter how big or small, could be tackled with great success. We’ve done the research. We know which products rock and which leave a bit to be desired. We want to share that information and save others the hassle and money spent on trial and error so they can just get to paintin’!
You can find Dorrie and Simple Southern Charm on Facebook and SSCharm.com. Follow closely, they are busy with a series of giveaways!
Cary HeiseFounder of Vend Raleigh
Founder and Director at Designed For Joy
Cary is the founder and director of Designed For Joy, a transitional work experience for women coming from trafficking, homelessness, time in prison, overcoming addiction or other vulnerable situations. DFJ provides living wage work hours while building confidence and refreshing resumes. We are launching equipped women into the marketplace.
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Comments
Thank you so much for the awesome write up! I’m so honored and thankful that you wanted to feature us.
Although this write up is lots about me and my start with refinishing furniture, I did want to mention my amazing sister Amanda. She is a MASSIVE part of the business and truly my soul sister in this awesome journey. She left a very successful career as a behavior analyst working with autistic children, to dedicate the time and energy into establishing our business. She is really the best friend and best sister anyone could ask for and I’m so happy to have her by my side!
Thanks again Cary! You did a great job on the article! xoxox
Very sweet. Noted how amazing your sister is!
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