Mike reinvented himself more than 6 years ago focusing on building hand-crafted tables in order to apply his finishing expertise that he had perfected and developed over 40+ years that evolved from his experience and ownership of a paint company. Mike built his reputation providing high-quality finishing services for new home builders – annually finishing over 100 homes. Over this period of time as the market shifted to lower quality requirements, Mike downsized that business to focus on other opportunities. Mike still does some painting of new homes today but decided because of his reputation for high quality finishing and painting, he would instead focus on providing those finishes to hand-crafted furniture that he would build and start to sell at local shows.
He started putting together his wood shop, buying a 13-inch planer, jointer, table and radial saws, wood clamps, and many other tools necessary to build small hall/entry tables so he could finish them with high quality colors and surfaces. At his first local craft show, in 2015, at the Iowa State Fairgrounds, his 12 tables sold out by the noon on the second day, but that got his attention and that of many customers who took his business cards. He started getting custom orders not only for hall/entry tables, but then he branched out with kitchen/dining/coffee tables, Console units and many other pieces. Since 2015, he has built dozens of large tables, with all types of surface finish techniques that customers throughout the 515-area code continue to enjoy today. custom made wood furniture
