Woman transforms furniture from old and forgotten to beautiful again
COSHOCTON – She found a business she likes and it’s a good stress reliever.
“I grew up in a rural area and I was always artistic and enjoyed drawing and painting,” recalled Julie Ronan. “But I never dreamed I would do anything with those abilities as an adult.”
Today, Ronan is a vendor at the Coshocton Antique Mall.
“I don’t have an official company name,” she said.
“After my children grew up,” she continued, “I was finally able to start collecting antique and vintage things for my home, which is coming up on its 100th birthday. I decided to refinish an antique China buffet for my dining room and liked it so much that I started watching YouTube videos on painting and refinishing furniture for myself.
“Because of my childhood and the older rural farming community I grew up in,” she added, “I always liked old things. They were comfort and they remind of me of a different time where people took pride in the things they made, all the way down to the details on their hand-cut furniture. Crazy as it is, Victorian style and furniture gives me a familiar feeling and makes me feel happy.”
Ronan grew up in Newark and graduated from Lakewood High School in 1985.
“I got my certification as an EMT,” she noted, “and volunteered at the Madison Township Fire Department in Newark and used that certification to be a medical assistant as my paying job. Eventually I got tired of the medical field and started working as a deputy clerk for the Licking Co. Juvenile/Probate Court.
“In January of 2023,” she continued, “my husband and I got the idea from a friend to take a trip to Coshocton to check out the Coshocton Antique Mall. While we were there one of the salesclerks, Eddie Dovenbarger, started talking to us and explained the business had just been sold to Pam Chaney. He was so warm and friendly that I found myself telling him I was looking for a place to rent a booth. It was one of those times where everything just felt right, like I was supposed to be there. I also saw it as a way to have extra income and to sell my furniture.”
Her husband, Jeff Ronan, is a deputy for the Licking County Sheriff’s Department.
“Julie is very special,” assessed Jeff. “She’s a very gifted and talented person. Julie uses her imagination when it comes to putting her magic on her pieces of furniture. It’s truly an art form what Julie does to these old beaten down pieces of furniture, bringing them back to life, giving them a new life.”
“To be honest,” his wife responded, “I’m not completely sure why I decided to start selling my furniture. I think I was curious to see if it caught on, and surprisingly it did. I found myself working on projects every night after work and through the weekends starting around summer of 2021. It was a stress breaker as far as work goes. My job as a deputy clerk was to organize review hearings for children who had been taken from broken homes. The complaints would be on my desk showing what these children would go through and it caused a lot of secondary trauma just to read these horrific stories. My new hobby was a completely different world. I think God was sending me down a new path. I started watching videos to teach me about antique and vintage items and then got the idea to try selling them as a vendor through an antique mall.
“I love what I do now,” Ronan concluded. “I love turning old, vintage furniture into what it should be again. The transformation from old and forgotten, to beautiful again, is never boring. I decided to quit my job in the courts to pursue this new career. I’m truly thankful God sent me this way because I never expected to be doing this. It’s almost as if it’s too good to be true.”
Coshocton Antique Mall is located at 315 Main St. in Coshocton. For more information, log on www.coshoctonantiquemall.com.
Aces of Trades is a weekly series focusing on people and their jobs – whether they’re unusual jobs, fun jobs or people who take ordinary jobs and make them extraordinary. If you have a suggestion for a future profile, let us know at ctnews@coshoctontribune.com.
This article originally appeared on Coshocton Tribune: Ronan transforms furniture from old and forgotten to beautiful again
