Host (00:10)
are you from Kelowna?

Jana (00:11)
As you can hear from my accent, I'm not. I was born and in Czechoslovakia, so from the Slovakian side. I come from a very small town in central Slovakia and I was raised in a way in how the small town kids were raised, just kind

going with the flow, but everybody kind of had of

It was all planned for the kids. you went to school, went to university, got married, and got one job and probably that was it. And I kind of always knew that deep down that that wasn't me and I didn't want to follow that path.

Host (00:54)
When you say small, the scale of small? What was the main job that most of the families had there?

Jana (00:57)
Small, 10,000 people.

There was a big hospital and my mom was a nurse and then there was a in there. A lot of people worked in there. ⁓ My dad was a programmer that place and small shops really.

Host (01:18)
So

it's kind of, was the factory big? Like the town kind of existed because of.

Jana (01:22)
around

it, believe so, yeah, but there was not much going really. So that was mid, so I was born 85, so was mid 80s, 90s, and it was still just post-communist era, people were trying to just, I think, figure out what, how to live, what to do next. Czechoslovakia just separated basically in 1993,

Host (01:26)
decade was this.

Jana (01:46)
It was very strange times. think now that I kind of look back at my parents, everybody started living in a whole new country, whole infrastructure had newly set up. The capital became new, obviously. Bratislava became the capital before it was Prague. So all these kind of little things, the mixed languages we used to

when was to watch all the Czech TV. And everything just had to built from, I think, from scratch when it comes to economy and all that. yeah, it kind of a...

Host (02:26)
That's very unique because none of us over here would have ever experienced that. So that's quite a... To think on your childhood and growing up through that, that's an amazing background story you got. So you would have 8, 10? you have memories, like you're young but you're old enough to remember everything.

Jana (02:48)
Yeah, for sure. I mean, it wasn't the separation obviously wasn't violent or anything. It was a very peaceful split between the countries. We were lucky with that. I could not say that about, you know, former Slavic countries or anything or other countries around there. yeah, I mean, I had a great childhood. cannot say that. I was at the time thinking about it by I think looking back a lot of

memories or things the way I do things, the way I was raised up. Definitely just kind of, ⁓ there's a lot of that little childhood trauma coming here and there.

Host (03:26)
So

when you say that your life was kind of laid out, I feel a lot of especially I'm born the same age as you, 85. I feel like that was the expectation you go to school, you go to university, follow the styles. Everywhere you're right. But here we were kind of the first generation I feel like my parents generation was very much

you go to school, you go to university or college and you have a profession, while the next generation like mine here was you go to school, you might go to college or university and then you don't necessarily have a profession after that. It was very much more wide open with with options for jobs I guess you could say. So what point did you or let me pause here and think of my question because because you had said that

the plan was laid out for you kind of a societal norm or expectation cultural expectation

Jana (04:20)
Expectation

for sure. That's what I would call it.

Host (04:22)
So then you felt that didn't fit with you and did you feel did did you still go to university after school?

Jana (04:29)
I sure did, yeah, I sure did, but ⁓ it didn't last for too long I started law degree in Slovakia and then I did a first little summer job in the UK.

Host (04:42)
Wait,

so did you you could go right into law from high school or did you do or you could go right into?

Jana (04:48)
Yeah, but you do have to apply and the process is kind of there's only 100 people from you know from the whole state can get into one particular university so you have to do tests and all that you cannot just apply and you're in. Did you have

Host (05:02)
to like

build up your resume with certain things through high school in order to stand out from the rest or is it more...

Jana (05:09)
It's

more of the test-based. And I didn't really want to study law, I was never like, ⁓ that's what I'm gonna do. But I still got in and that a big thing as well for my mom, she's like, you gotta do it then, if you get in. ⁓ So that was a lot of, I feel, it wasn't pressure, but yeah,

Host (05:20)
still got it.

Jana (05:32)
I got to go and give it a try. But then I got my first taste of abroad. I spent the summer in UK just working away.

Host (05:41)
And was that a little set

up through your program?

Jana (05:44)
No, no, no, no, that was completely separate. My actually have two older brothers and they at that time lived in the UK as well. And they just said, you know, why don't you just come for comfort summer, make some money, and then you come back to university. So did that. And then a too good of a summer and ⁓ I just really.

Host (05:55)
some.

Jana (06:05)
enjoyed my time and I said I'm not going back I'm gonna try and take a gap year just to you know keep my mom kind of at peace at peace exactly and then a year a gap year passed and I just wasn't ready I still didn't want to come back so I said I'm sorry but I just this is not me I can't do that. yeah I was working I was working the hospitality so I was working in a hotel

Host (06:24)
Were you working in?

Jana (06:30)
super easy job and kind of at 22 that's all you need or whatever all that was.

Host (06:38)
So what were some of the highlights? what was different about the culture, the way of life that you just kind of fell in love with? Or is love the right word? you were...

Jana (06:47)
I think just the freedom of being able to make your own money and just get out with friends and travel a little bit when we could around the area. I lived in Hampshire. I think just the feeling that I can be out, can be somewhere else except the small hometown. I ⁓ think it's simple as that for me at that time.

But yeah, after a couple of years of being there, I was like, okay, I'm going to try and do the whole university again. So I applied again for law and I finished my degree in the UK actually. And then I did my postgraduate as well. And I knew that I did my postgraduate in international legal studies and I knew that if I'll go down that path.

I could only imagine working for a non-profit, non-governmental organization. So I did live ⁓ and stay in Vienna, Austria for about a year, worked in there. But I just felt like I'm not doing much sitting in the office and doing the usual 95. We worked women rights.

kind of in sub-Saharan Africa So there was a lot of hard cases as well, because it was about female genital mutilation. Anyway, I did my master thesis on that. So, and after a year anyway, I just realized that I don't want to sit in the office and do the work. So I have to, like, if I want to do it, I got to get out.

So then I applied for a of positions. They were more on a working voluntary basis. So I spent then half a year in Eastern Caribbean in a small island called San Vincent in Grenadines and then six months in Ecuador. So that was just of, know, just opening up the whole another world for me. And I just knew got to keep going and kind of travel.

Host (08:42)
And then where did life take you? Because eventually you ended up in Canada.

Jana (08:45)
For sure, yeah, let's speed up the process. I spent some time after that, I kept traveling, so I did the whole Central American ⁓ trip. I did end up in Guatemala and fast forward another couple of years, I decided to go back there.

Host (09:03)
When

you say fair, you mean...

Jana (09:04)
To Guatemala, sorry. it's in my head. That's the place. And I met Caleb, my current partner. if you know, you know. So after a week, we kind of started living together. He moved down from the US because he comes from Kansas City, Missouri. ⁓ I literally, worked for a small eco hotel on a lake at Islam.

Host (09:20)
How did you meet?

Jana (09:28)
as a hotel manager and he was in there with his dad as a part of a little kayaking trip they were doing in an Airbnb right next door and he just came over one night for dinner and you know that was it. Yeah it was super random but yeah. And at this

Host (09:41)
That's so random. Love it.

point

in life. Yeah, we have internet and you're able to

Jana (09:49)
⁓ of course. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But he literally just left home for a week and quit his job and then came back, which is a lot of pressure. Wow. Yeah. As well. the same time, it was great. we, yeah, we just kind of. Yeah, yeah. So didn't really think about it too much. Then we stayed in Guatemala for just under a year. And then we decided we want to kind of.

Host (10:02)
No. ⁓

Jana (10:13)
live in a van for a little bit. So we bought a van, went back to his home, redid that whole interior of it. It 1986 ⁓ Dodge Ram van. Just this really strange looking thing. And then we just kind of pulled out all the inside and redone it. And then we traveled the West Coast of the U.S. and then came to B.C.

Host (10:35)
So was that your first time in the States when you went to see him?

Jana (10:38)
I

was in the States before, forgot a couple of visits that I went to New York and then visit friends in South Carolina or somewhere, but I didn't do a West Coast of the US at So that was my first time in there. So we traveled.

a couple of months the States and then made our way to BC and we wanted to do a loop, go through the whole BC, do part of Alberta and then down south back to Montana and back to his home. that time we fell in love with the BC and the area. on the very last day of our

We found out I'm pregnant. This a year into the relationship. We live in a van. We have no roots anywhere. I at the time worked, had an online job working for an Airbnb and we're like, have to figure something out. Our original plan was going back Guatemala. were

just gonna buy a van and redo it and have this little coffee kind of coffee place up there. And so that was our plan. And then we quickly realized that might not be the best idea to move down back to Guatemala with maybe being pregnant and having the baby and everything. just didn't make sense. So yeah, and

He, Caleb didn't ⁓ feel like moving to Europe. I didn't feel like moving to States. So we're like, okay, we're just, you we love BC. So let's try and make it work if we can somehow. obviously for American citizens, it's much easier to kind of apply for jobs. There's the NAFTA agreement. he applied, he's a sales manager. ⁓ So he applied for the job in Vancouver and within an hour they replied. And so he flew in.

And that was, I think I was eight months pregnant at that time. He flew in, all was good. And then we literally moved in here when our daughter was three months old. ⁓ So we first made it to Vernon, just for a few months, but we didn't really feel like it was very hard to integrate into the community. I feel at that we didn't know anyone. We moved obviously without ⁓ parents or any kind of support.

Host (12:33)
So to Colona you mean ⁓

What year was this?

Jana (12:51)
So this was 2019. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Host (12:53)
Wait,

2019? Yeah.

Jana (12:57)
⁓ Yeah, so and then spend a few months in there and then moved to We decided we could we could change the location and Colana just obviously close by something like a great option a great place So we moved in here in February I want to say February 2020

Host (13:16)
So right when lockdown, had it already started or was it just?

Jana (13:21)
I think it was in March. So we

literally moved in and we're like, trying to make some friends here and still, you know, still gonna stay home.

Host (13:33)
Okay, so you're in Kelowna, you're now locked down, you have your new... Oh yeah, and don't have any family, you don't have any friends. Oh, that is tough.

Jana (13:42)
That was a big one, yeah, for sure. Well, that's how the whole furniture side hustle started, some point, our was still a few months old, so in between the naps, Caleb was like, let's try and, we're home anyway, let's try and...

Host (13:45)
How'd you get through that?

Jana (14:01)
do something, a little project, because we're always handy. He's always been, he's very crafty human and So I remember he bought this old rudder some garage sale and he's like, repaint this and make it all nice and shiny. somebody can hang it on the wall and you know, he paid $15 for it. I'm like, yeah, sure. Rudder, know, like a boat. Sorry.

Host (14:22)
a rudder? Okay,

I thought that's what you said. Yes.

Jana (14:28)
Yeah, I was just a very random, but it's very

random. Yes. And he's like somebody.

Host (14:33)
He just randomly comes home with a boat rudder from a girl.

Jana (14:38)
Yep, that's Kail. But it just turned out to be this really pretty thing that it could hang on the wall and we posted it think on marketplace and immediately some lady just messaged back and and she wanted for her husband for his birthday because a he was a sailor for years and now he retired and there's just this whole story behind it. So that was so beautiful anyway and ⁓ man this is so cool and you know.

can make some money and we actually enjoy doing this so let's just keep doing and keep trying, buying stuff and refinishing it. So then we started small side tables and then it went kind of bigger, we went for dressers. So we were at the time still doing it kind of together. I was learning a lot from him and imagine this was in like a

We lived in a basement suite at that time, so we had no garage. It was just like tiny mud room where we painted. so was when I look back, I'm like, how did we even make this work? I was sanding when, obviously in warmer months, I sanding outside, but when minus 10 came or something, I remember just still being out there because we had no other space. ⁓

I want to do this, this is fun. And it was just such a good time in between the naps and after bedtime. It was something creative to do, just really good outlet. And then after COVID kind of, know, Caleb had to go back to work after everything opened up. he's like, he just handed me over this whole thing. He's like, you gotta, gotta do it now by yourself. And then I just started.

really kind of going for it. Still at home as a kind side thing.

Host (16:20)
you still, you had mentioned that you had you were able to work online for a little Airbnb business while you were doing your van travels? Were you still able to work online during that?

Jana (16:32)
I quit that once I think I was eight months into pregnancy. then I just focused. And I'm so glad I did. I think it's such an important part. And I'm so grateful that I could stay with my daughter for as much time, two and a half years, until she went preschool. But yeah, it was wonderful.

Host (16:42)
Yeah.

So tell me more about your transition that you went through from... because I'm assuming you're no longer outside at minus. So what was the next step after he handed you over the like, run with us, make it yours?

Jana (17:07)
No.

we moved to a bigger place and that was good. have, we're still renting, we have a place in North End, so with a bigger garage. And then I also have a, you know, the problem was with this as well, that you couldn't really gather too much furniture with like, cause there are some good things you find on marketplace or auctions, but sometimes it's so hard to store it because it's huge. so, and one time our really good friend,

from North End said that he's a little storage kind of Carriage house that he can rent and I can use that So I store all the furniture there now and I use our garage to do the work So that works, yeah

Host (18:01)
So can you expand more on where you find your furniture and your pieces?

Jana (18:05)
totally. So mostly obviously it's marketplace finds and then also a lot of times it's auctions. You can find some good stuff in there. Even thrift stores if you go to a restore or places like that. It's getting harder and harder nowadays on marketplace though because people are ⁓ charging a little more because I think people are realizing that it's such a good ⁓

or understanding the value, I think, as well of the antique old pieces or mid-century modern pieces, because I kind of started doing more of that. I just really love mid-century modern furniture and I love seeing it transform into its original condition rather than over it.

there's a lot of so many talented ⁓ refinishers here in Colón as well in Indio Canagan And everybody has their own kind of niche ⁓ but my one I just I just fell in love with ⁓ with a whole restoration process and Yeah, we just kind of fixing the little the little damages and it's just such a rewarding process

Host (19:15)
Why

did you, you said auction, is this an online auction?

Jana (19:18)
Yeah, there are a couple of online auctions here in Cologne or in the Okanagan region. So there are the estate sales or then there's one that just brings a bunch of stuff and there's furniture in there often. But you gotta be really quick as well. It's just like marketplace. have to really, if there's a good piece, you just gotta go for it. And you end up in some weird places sometimes, but it's all good. It's just a part of the experience.

Host (19:36)
it.

you have a memory of being in a weird place that you can share?

Jana (19:47)
I just remember driving on old Fernand road and a really separate house and then I to go even further out into a foresty road and they have these containers in there. This guy met me there and opened this container and ship, ship, that's what you call it. shipping container. and yeah, this,

Host (20:07)
Okay.

Jana (20:10)
dresser set in there. I'm like, okay, this is on, you chickens everywhere and literally in the middle of nowhere almost in the forest. So that's always funny, but yeah.

Host (20:21)
Do you ever feel worried or anything when you're... It's been good so far. Yeah.

Jana (20:23)
No, Yeah, for sure.

I think it's important not to allow yourself also to go to those places. try and like, you know, I don't know, maybe it's... Yeah, yeah, but yeah, I don't think bad things will happen. just like, or I thought, you know, yeah.

Host (20:35)
meet somewhere.

people trying to haggle a lot or is it pretty like over the price?

Jana (20:51)
Or is it pretty You mean when they buy from me or when I buy from Yes. I do sometimes, yes. But when I see the piece is absolutely worth it, then I don't...

Host (20:55)
I guess you would be the hagu. Exactly. you, hagu.

So, and then how do you get these pieces? Do you have a truck? You must have a truck or a trailer or something.

Jana (21:11)
Yeah,

we do have a track now, yeah.

Host (21:14)
Did

you get the truck because of that? Yeah.

Jana (21:16)
Yes,

it's also because obviously Caleb, his side hustle requires the bigger track space as well, so he needs to move the cold plunges around as well.

Host (21:27)
So it all works out. So we win. Yeah. So and then can you take me through kind of your standard like process of how you would even begin to go about restoring your typical furniture piece that you'd buy?

Jana (21:43)
⁓ sure, yeah. So after I get it, if I do a mid-century modern piece, obviously it would be fully restored. If I find another piece that I'm thinking about painting, I always try and get the idea before that. Oftentimes when I see the piece online already, I kind of know exactly what, if it's gonna be painted, what color I wanna use, how I wanna, what I wanna keep as wood.

Because sometimes it's harder for me when I bring it home. Sometimes I just stare at it and I no clue. So that's why I sometimes leave pieces on the side until I actually know what I want to do with it. But if it's, let's say, restored piece, I would just sand it down completely to with 120 grit and then 220. And then I have now

I watched a lot of and followed a lot of Instagramers who do a really beautiful restoration work. So I think I have kind of my system and how I do it. So I then patch all the damages wood filler and stuff staying in the piece. And then also I

really small, you have those wood ⁓ colors now. And that's for me a very meditative process. So because you have that discoloration on many pieces, if you lose, let's say, some part the sideboard and the veneers chipped or something, then you have to create and ⁓ build up the color that's going to look the same as the original, if that makes sense.

So that's a lot ⁓ fine kind of painting but that's my favorite kind of part because I think it's just such a creative

Host (23:28)
Talent to get that color right how do you even go about doing?

Jana (23:32)
You

know, I think it was just work of trial and error on many pieces, obviously. you get exactly. Yeah.

Host (23:40)
So are these pieces, you said veneer, so these pieces from the mid-century, they are, for some reason I was thinking they'd all be solid wood.

Jana (23:47)
No, actually, actually a lot of people think that. A lot of people think that even. I mean, they're still built very well, obviously, but a lot of even when you have walnut mid-century modern pieces or teak mid-century modern pieces, they still, yeah, they still would be a thin, most of them would be a thin layer of veneer and then a wood, thicker wood under.

Host (24:13)
You keep the veneer.

Jana (24:15)
yeah, yeah, yeah. But that's like, I think that's the really intricate process, that you can burn through it very easily, with what I'm talking about, I'm talking about sanding, so you have to sand it really finely and...

Host (24:29)
So veneer is wood, it's like a thin, it's real wood though. The veneer is real wood. For some reason I was thinking it was like, what is that called? What's that called when you get, there's something on top of the wood and it's glued down but it's not real wood, it's I was thinking laminate. Yeah.

Jana (24:33)
yeah no no no ill press wood but

⁓

It's thin so you just have to work with it carefully, ⁓ obviously, because it can be damaged really easily. Exactly, it's just a few kind of...

Host (24:59)
There's not much there.

Which is why you can build it up and then stain it. it's, yeah, it's wet. Yeah. do how do you when you're sanding, when there's a routered edge, is there ever a routered edge where if you, if you can't really sand it or else you're damage the bevel or something? Yeah. What do you call that?

Jana (25:20)
⁓ and it's like,

like a really detailed pieces. There's a lot of hand sanding involved or also you can obviously use a stripper if you have a paint stripper or and then you just use brush. there's different metal brushes that you can buy and then you just kind of ⁓ fine scrub it in a way to get that get the top off. So yeah, you can do that now because the brushes are can be, you know, very

Host (25:41)
without ruining the music.

Jana (25:46)
can be softer so you don't really damage the detail on the pieces but when you still do the work.

Host (25:53)
There must have been quite the journey of collection of tools when you first started too,

Jana (25:58)
For sure.

is, again, it's just such a process and progress that I've been through in the past three years. And I'm very much ⁓ a perfectionist as well. it's kind of... Yeah, it's... I've always needed to do that. Every piece 100 percent, otherwise I wasn't happy. And... Yeah, yeah. So I always wanted to learn more.

a journey. And it's always so rewarding. now I get a lot more commissioned pieces. So a lot of people bring their old, you know, loved gems that have been in the family for, you know, 80, 100 years. ⁓ wow. And I, yeah, I've done a couple of those and that's always such a rewarding process to see or have piece of furniture.

in front of you that's like 100 years old and it's been in the family and you know it's going to be passed on again because it's really treasured. it's, it's yeah.

Host (26:53)
That's I'm trying to think, my mom loves watching this show on the telly that ⁓ a European show and they, it's all these master craftsmen who work out of the shed and people bring, have you seen it? And people bring their old family heirlooms in and then they'll have a master person restore it.

Jana (27:15)
no, I

haven't seen that. my god.

Host (27:17)
What's it called? And it can be anything from like old dolls to old toys to instruments to paintings that have been ripped and it's the most fascinating show and they go kind what you said you just do where they take the time to bring it back to life and then that moment when they reveal it and give it back to the person. So it's tear-jerking every time. like, ⁓ so great.

Jana (27:39)
And people are so thankful. It makes me feel good to do that. it's at the end of the day is really just, I think, being of service. I think all of us that are doing this kind of work, you just really want to be part of a community and be of service to people and just do good things. And then when you see them happy and just really appreciating the work that, you

Host (28:04)
Yeah.

What is juxtaposition of the lawyer lifestyle in the cubicle with the paperwork sitting there, right? And now I just visualize you completely covered head to toe in sawdust and you know, in your workshop and with your hands and that's, ⁓ that's like, that's really cool.

Jana (28:25)
Yeah.

Yeah, it's fun. And I never thought I would be doing anything like that, but it's just sometimes you gotta, you know, take on things that are challenging and...

but rewarding at the end. But finally, my brother actually owns a furniture business. He builds furniture though from scratch. he buys this. he back No, he's back home in Slovakia. He decided to move back and he raised his family there. But yeah, so he has his own furniture business. So it's funny how it came kind of full circle that you're doing this.

Host (28:48)
still in the UK.

Your mom's

a nurse, your father's a programmer. They had three children and two of them are in furniture.

Jana (29:09)
Yeah, yeah, it's funny. And my mom is like, you know, it's funny always just when she's in the of yours, you're working too hard for it. this mentality that she has. I'm like, Mom, I'm happy. It's I would not be, you know, better off in the office. I just couldn't do that.

Host (29:27)
Isn't

it interesting too, our cultural norms of what we think of as work? I would imagine that you probably don't even think of it as work because you enjoy it and it's fun and it's meditative and you're filling your you feel good while grinding it out in the office. That is work, you know?

Jana (29:32)
Yeah.

Yeah, yeah. And obviously it's not for everyone. Everybody loves their... Yeah.

Host (29:53)
How did you come up with your name for it?

Jana (29:55)
That was a long time ago, that was old Caleb as well, because he's very much of a doer, I'm a thinker, or overthinker. So if I was thinking about the name, would probably be thinking for months. You'd still be thinking? Yes, exactly. So he just did it, he did the logo, the very first one, which is very different obviously from now on. ⁓

and then set up the Instagram was was perfect because he started it because otherwise I would I would probably just overthinking it too much yeah until he's yeah he's uh very talented and supportive yeah so it's been yeah

Host (30:34)
He sounds very supportive,

a little one and does she like to come and help out and get dusty?

Jana (30:47)
Yes, when she was little, when she was maybe around 3 4, she always wanted to help. I'm trying to find the balance of like, sure you can not take the tool away from her or anything like that, but then I'm just looking...

Ooh, she's gonna scratch to it. She's taking a deep breath. So she would want to help a lot. And she was like, you know, hand sanding a lot of pieces when she was smaller. Now, not as much. she's just, okay, this is what mom does. But when she was little, was pretty sweet. Yeah.

Host (31:24)
would imagine too that you're putting so many hours into some of these pieces. What do you think is the longest amount of time you've put into a piece?

Jana (31:33)
It's really hard to tell. I can only tell in hours, I think, because...

Yeah, it is a long process though. think, I want to say that a lot of ⁓ the refinishers here around the area as well, think generally are underpaid for their work or they just put out, you know, the pieces that are in cheaper value and I think it's such a hard work. do, you know, we do all this sourcing.

We have to be creative on how to refinish these pieces, creative on changing the hardware. You pick a new hardware, you sometimes have to patch all the holes all move in it, taking photos, all the work in between obviously to make it look functional, not look functional, make it functional.

So the drawers worked perfectly and you pass on a piece to people that they can actually use. So it's a lot of like, there's a lot of small parts of this whole thing that people don't see often. that's why I think people think that it's just putting a paint on, putting a little bit of paint on a dresser and then trying to sell it. But there's just so much more behind it. And I think, and I hope

that people will start understanding it, how much work goes into it and start valuing the refinishers, I think more on the marketplace and not haggle, I guess. That's the most important thing.

Host (33:01)
Yeah, you know, it didn't even cross my mind about the drawers.

Jana (33:05)
Yeah,

there's a lot of times you gotta redo things, gotta glue, gotta just fix a lot.

Host (33:13)
There's gotta be so many little tricks of the trade to get things to slide properly or this or that.

Jana (33:17)
⁓

Exactly. And again, I'm thankful to have Caleb by myself so he can actually, he could help me before. Now there's a lot of things I can do by myself, but a lot I learned from him to make the pieces the way they should be. So that I'm proud to pass it on to people and I can, you know.

Host (33:37)
Do you ever leave a little thing hidden inside? do you autograph it or something?

Jana (33:41)
No, shouldn't. Not

yet. No, not yet.

Host (33:44)
You know like a builder will sometimes leave a note on a stud or something or a little message that might never be found but might one day. Little Easter egg? Yeah, so I guess you probably don't do one piece from start to finish then. You do jump around from piece to piece.

Jana (34:02)
I try and do one piece at a time now. Maximum I want to two pieces in the garage to maybe work in between when I get tired of a detailed work or something like that. But generally I like to see the process through on one piece at a time. But there is no right or wrong way. I have a lot of friends actually that this is another thing, great thing about the community.

⁓ that you get to know people that are doing this kind of work as well. And I have a really good friend as well, Grace, that ⁓ does refinishing work too. we just, you it's not a competition, I think, when you understand that we can talk and help each other and support each other in the same business. There's a space for all of us here rather than thinking about

how can I compete with the other person and I think that's a beautiful thing and it works I think every area of life. What are you thinking about coffee shops here? What do you think about breweries? So it's truly That's cool.

Host (35:08)
the reason I was wondering about how long it takes you to finish a piece, because I was wondering if there is ever a time when you've spent so many hours of love into a piece that you found it really difficult to then turn around and sell it to

Jana (35:22)
because I ⁓ I can't do my. No.

Host (35:24)
Yeah. Have

you kept any for yourself yet?

Jana (35:27)
No, but I so want sometimes when I get some pieces, I'm like, this would be great to keep, but there will be a time when I will keep a few pieces. other, again, like area of life or industry, just you work and make beautiful things for other people. And then you come home and like, oh, I should finish this table over hours. The kitchen table needs it, but it's, you know, it can wait. So we'll do it later.

later and then year again passes and then you'll never get to it.

Host (36:00)
Yeah, that's just life. Can you think of a story of have you ever had any bloopers that you've done that you're ⁓ man screwing something up and then having to fix it while you're working on it

Jana (36:12)
goodness there has been a lot a lot of failures for sure i'm i don't know if i can remember anything in particular but there was a lot of times

imagine finishing the piece off and you're almost done it sits in the garage and then we move it in the wrong way and then it gets it happened to me before that it gets scratched or ripped or something the the side of let's say side of the dresser kind of bonked so then you yeah yeah even that or when obviously

Host (36:42)
Just take it.

Jana (36:46)
for photographing I have to move it from the garage to the living room to take the photos and then so that sometimes happens. And I also sometimes I'm very hard to ask for help so I try to do things by myself and lifting things I shouldn't be lifting so that's on me. And a lot of times you have dresser where you just have you you want to change the hardware to make it look prettier and then at the end you realize that.

you have to measure the holes properly so you make sure that you get the hard way that actually fits or you have to the holes, the original holes and you have to drill the new holes for... It's very hard to...

Host (37:27)
It's centered then if yeah. Cheese

or or if the hole is too close to the other hole then the holes could join in as one.

Jana (37:37)
Yeah, so it's all these little things that kind of you just really have to think ahead before you start working on a piece.

Host (37:45)
Do you have you done any with glass?

Jana (37:47)
I have and scratched a glass a couple of times so accidentally.

Host (37:53)
How

did you go about finding, how do you go about finding glass?

Jana (37:58)
Yeah,

you gotta call into specialized stores and then they measure it for you. It's cheap. gotta say I messed that was a long time ago. I messed front door actually. I was doing a front door and I scratched, scratched it with a sander. I put it accidentally on it and didn't tape it anyway. So there were sander twirls were on the window on the glass. Yeah. So there are a lot of deep

breaths you need to take at times. But there's less and less of that, thankfully, now. It's just really a learning curve and part of it as every other venture.

Host (38:34)
Or sometimes the glass put in and then the wood to finish it so that you can't just replace the glass.

Jana (38:39)
Sometimes

you sometimes you simply cannot yeah, there are pieces that I work a sideboard or like a hatches and stuff Sometimes you can lift you can take the glass out you work on the piece and then put the glass back in but there are pieces that somehow were Built around the glass. I don't know. Yes. Yeah, so you can't I could not remove the glass and then I go There are certain things I for sure look out for and like well

Host (39:01)
for that now when you buy it.

Jana (39:08)
I definitely don't get pieces anymore that are super cheap very like in a horrible condition because I think I've learned my lesson that it's gonna take so much more work. It's just yeah the drawers you know some things are fixable obviously but not always so I learned my lesson to just not.

Host (39:21)
Stop.

Jana (39:31)
get every single piece out there or that somebody leaves on the side of the road or something. Now obviously I'm very different pieces that I do, when we started, know, like, shall we take this? But you realize.

Host (39:43)
Have you been driving down the road and seeing furniture for free and just pulled over and grabbed something?

Jana (39:48)
I

have not done that, but it's funny enough because all my friends know us, know me, so sometimes I get random messages or my partner get random messages from our friends and they said, hey, I've seen this, you know, this table or this chairs on the side of the road. You want me grab it for you? And they just send the picture. like, no, it's full. I don't know. I don't want I can fix things, but I can't fix everything.

Host (40:12)
upholstery too, furniture pieces with fabric.

Jana (40:15)
I've done a few of those, but again, it's just not, yeah, it's not, and I would not want to get into that too much. I always now, not fully. I can pick and choose now. So it's really good to know what I want to do. And again, I want to enjoy the process, ⁓ not to just do everything before I would just take and do anything. But at the end, I realized it's not something I enjoyed maybe.

by the end of it. yeah, try and be selective.

Host (40:46)
And so my next question as a self-employed business owner, how do you go about selling them? where do you do, is it all Instagram? Do you post them? How do go about finding somebody for your piece? Do you line them up before you finish? Do you wait till it's done?

Jana (41:03)
So I majorly obviously sell on Marketplace. That's always been the best place so far. And then through my Instagram now as well, since the following grown a little bit, people just find me. And then I also have a lot of people, again, sometimes through the Marketplace, even if I sell a piece, people want the next piece that I'm gonna like.

I now am in a place which I'm so grateful for that if I had enough mid-century modern pieces there would be people who could buy them. It's just getting much harder to source them, I would say. But yeah, those are main kind of main places. Just market place and Instagram. A couple of times that I had people from somebody from Vancouver wanted a piece, let's say. So now we had to find a way to transport it. They wanted to come.

So, and you just find this really, you know, weird ways transport a piece. We, I don't know if you know the app that's called Popparide. So there are people who you can share ride, go into a different place.

Host (42:09)
As soon

as you said it, don't know if you know the app, like, probably.

Jana (42:13)
Anyway, I've used it a couple of times, but the people sharing rides to like, let's say somebody who wants to go from Colona to Vancouver, don't want to use their own vehicle. they, know, yeah, it's really neat anyway. And save it sustainable, obviously, don't try your own car, like everybody sitting in their car. So it's really handy. So I had someone literally picking up a piece, driving it to Vancouver instead of, you know, instead of the people, I guess.

Host (42:39)
Can I trust you not to bang it?

Jana (42:42)
Yes,

I had. Yeah, that was one thing oh, I hope that's That's a big stressor, would say, transporting. So then I prefer nowadays picking and dropping off the piece when I sell it, because I know what we do and how we load

Host (42:59)
very intimate with the piece and how it's yeah yeah right yeah yeah that is so cool is you've really built a really unique and interesting thing up just from a boat rudder to this hey

Jana (43:01)
moved

Yeah, but we've always been like, I've always been very aware the sustainability piece and that's very important for me. In every area. In every area of life. think when you travel, I think more and more you can connect to yourself and to nature and you realize how much waste there is around us, whether it comes to the food or clothing.

and even the those are little things that we can change, I think, bigger scale because, I think people are realizing more and more even with the furniture that there's so much more value in the old pieces, right? And rather than going to IKEA, nothing wrong with that, but.

they want to have older piece at home that is heavy and well built and at the same time saving few trees probably, right? Because otherwise those pieces would probably eventually end up in a dump, which is so unfortunate. So, yeah, I think it's just such an important part of the work that people value that ⁓ and understand

sustainability, think is the future. We've got, I've always, you know, thought about and I obviously still do think about what I wear, majorly, you know, 80 % of my clothes is definitely from thrift stores. Around the house, we always make sure there's not, you know, avoiding plastic just really being mindful of that.

We also built sauna. We always wanted a sauna in our own sauna in the backyard. So 90 % of that is also recycled materials. So we waited for Kayla to it from scratch. And we always ⁓ were really mindful of sourcing. So everything that came was built, you know, it came from either marketplace, whether it's the door, it's the old windows, it's all the cedar.

So yeah, and it's doable. we can all do our little part to kind of help the environment in a way. Yeah, that's pretty cool.

Host (45:20)
You also got a really cool thing because you're flexible with your job. when your little one's sick from school or your appointments that you're able to, that's so valuable in itself that you're doing something that you can put your paintbrush down or put your sander down and you're able to be there for your kid, you know.

Jana (45:39)
It truly is, yeah. And I think we live in a society now where we, I struggle with that sometimes because I feel like I am so grateful that I do this kind of work and I can actually, like you said, pick up my daughter when she's sick or whenever she needs to, you know, go anywhere for any games or something, I can just go with her. And I think there should be more of that. More of us should be allowed to do that with our kids or just be more flexible. Because there's just,

Just living in the society where everybody's kind of overworked, doing too much. So I'm trying to find that beautiful balance of being thankful, because sometimes I feel guilty at the same time to like, I should, you know. Be working. Exactly, you know. it's, it's, yeah. It's a struggle at times, but I'm realizing I should be grateful for this because it's really a cool thing to be doing.

Host (46:32)
Looking forward, how do you see the it's only been a few years. You've come so far in a few years. When you look forward, what do you see?

Jana (46:42)
I'm not sure, I don't think furniture is a forever thing for sure, but I think staying in a line sustainability or being part of community and helping. We always had this dream to kind of maybe build little sustainable cabins somewhere and creating this of little wellness retreat place and or I had another idea. I always dreamt about having a coffee shop where all the

like, no, the material, everything you use in there would be mostly recycled. So whether you use the chairs, the tables, the cups, bought secondhand, the coffee machine, like, would be just, you know, sustainable and secondhand and recycled. Cause we can do there's so much stuff around, so we don't need buy new.

Host (47:29)
So does this tie back? Because earlier in our conversation, you had made a comment about at the end of your van life trip, before you found out you were pregnant, you were planning on going back to Guatemala with Caleb to open up, you said a van, was it a coffee shop that?

Jana (47:47)
We were dreaming about, we kind of thought about, let's be cool too. Buy a little van and just have a little coffee shop out of a van, with little chairs outside. Yeah, you know what? is, it is. So we'll see.

Host (47:52)
It was some sort of.

kind of circling.

interesting.

That would be so cool. I feel like that's an attainable goal. For sure. And the cool coffee culture here is... I've been doing a lot of coffee podcasts a lot. Okanagan Coffee Fest And they all have these amazing stories. I'm like, ⁓ this, you know, you can be part of this. That would be really neat. Like, are you interested in roasting beans and all that stuff or more of the more of shop side?

Jana (48:18)
Yes, I love it.

I think I love the shop side. I love coffee. learned, think I just, again, going back to Guatemala, I think there's such an amazing coffee in there, obviously, one of the best coffee in the world. And I think that's where started to appreciate the coffee culture and how different coffee can taste. So, but I have a background in, know, customer service as well and just hospitality. I, yeah, exactly. And I've done a lot of, ⁓

Host (48:58)
Tell

Jana (49:02)
lot of work like that as well.

Host (49:04)
You could have a coffee shop with your workshop in the back. Wouldn't that be cool?

Jana (49:10)
It is very interesting you say that because that's Caleb's dream. That's like, yes. my like, it would be so cool to have a, like this glass window. That would be like a coffee shop at the front and then the workshop at the back. you could have, you could see in and then have like some, you know, kids maybe coming in and do a little project as well. Like, I think we need to get kids back to like, waterworking and just,

Host (49:23)
I like it.

You could do an after school

kid like Sherilyn from heirloom behemia does an after school sewing? Do like an after school woodworking somehow thing whatever that might be.

Jana (49:47)
think it

will be good for kids for sure.

Host (49:52)
you got something going here. I feel like this is something. It is so unique. And that could also be like a revenue stream, these classes. And part of that, could, you know, like, ⁓ And then every piece in your store would have a story. And you could kids' corners. So it's the piece that they've restored. And it could the kid corner piece of the month or something, you know?

Jana (49:53)
You

Love

it.

Host (50:17)
Have all their little picture of all their little faces up there and they could sign sign underneath or something. Okay, this is okay. So when you set this up in a few years, you can come back on.

Jana (50:23)
Cool.

Totally. I'll tell you all about it.

Host (50:31)
about

it. This would be so neat.

Jana (50:33)
Well, I'm glad that somebody thinks so. Well, it's like, you know, it's just this vision that you have, distant vision, but at the same time, like, is that ever like, can, you can really make it work. You can really. yeah. So we'll see what future brings. It's exciting though. Yeah.

Host (50:48)
yeah, there's so much you could do with that.

Yeah, very cool. Is

there anything else you want to touch on or talk about during your time here on the podcast?

Jana (51:02)
I think we've covered it all, ⁓

Host (51:06)
Okay, well you've left me on such a high, I'm so excited. My brain's going a thousand miles an hour. You could do this, you could do that. Which I'm sure you've done yourself. Well after we turn this off though, write down all my crazy ideas. Well thank you so much for coming on. It is so nice to hear your story, get to know you. This is cool, thank you. ⁓

Jana (51:09)
I'm

But no, I'd love to hear.

Fisher.

You're so

welcome. Thank you for having me.