Our Story

THE HOBBY
I began woodworking as a hobby just before our first daughter was born, on the tiny porch of our fourth-floor apartment. I found some very cheap tools on Craigslist and my only goal was to build a couple things for our house. Once I started, I quickly discovered that I not only loved it but had a knack for it and an eye for color and design. By my fourth or fifth build I was writing up my own designs/plans rather than using ones I found online. It quickly became a full-blown hobby that I documented on my personal social media, just for fun, with no aspirations for anything more.

THE "REAL JOB"
I had a college degree and a “real” job. My wife and I worked for a nonprofit, first as houseparents, and then as directors for a safe house program for underage girls rescued from sex trafficking. It was going well and we had met with the president of the largest foster care organization in the state, twice, to discuss starting and overseeing new safe houses all over the state. Our career was laid out for us, it seemed, but things changed once the baby was born. The stress, long hours, and being “on call” all the time while still adjusting as new parents soon made us realize we needed to step down. It was an experience we’re so glad we had (we remained on the board of directors for eight years after), but we also don’t regret the decision to step down.

THE ACCIDENTAL LAUNCH
In early 2014 we moved back to my hometown of Sarasota, FL. As I threw resumes around, I thought that maybe I could sell a couple tables in the interim, so I casually posted on social media, “Anyone want me to build them something?” without giving it much thought. Little did I know, I had just started a business and career with that post. The response was immediate and overwhelming and, from that point on, people haven’t stopped asking me to build them things. I was working full time at it pretty much right away. I didn’t even realize this was something I wanted to or COULD do, but the sales just didn’t stop. I’ve been told that this is an amazing way to start a business, but the downside is that no business plan or structures were in place, which made for a messy few years of being constantly behind and overwhelmed.

THE BEGINNING YEARS
I started locally, building whatever was asked, but I really wanted to build and sell my original designs alone. Etsy seemed like the best option for that, but I had never sold anything on there and wasn’t sure it would work. It DID work. I was blown away by how quickly I started selling my original designs once I went on Etsy. I started by renting out a small space in my father-in-law’s countertop shop, but outgrew that, so I moved into a 450 SF garage, then a 1,000 SF shop, then 1,800 SF, then 3,400 SF, then 5,500 SF, and we’re now in a huge 16,000 SF building that I’m hoping will fit us for a while, because I hate shop moves more than I hate spiders or papercuts (meaning I hate them a whole, whole lot).

THE MOVE
In 2019 we shocked our family, friends, and my three employees when we announced we had decided to move away. We longed for space and land, something we couldn’t afford where we were living. There was nothing easy about moving our four daughters away from their grandparents and cousins, but it was the right decision for our family. We ended up in rural north Florida (almost Georgia) in a small town named Monticello, where we knew no one. I was able to hire some excellent people and get my new shop set up. With a larger shop space and the new team in place, we got caught up, got through the 2019 Christmas rush, and got ready for another year, with no global pandemics on our radar whatsoever. (Update about our little town: We now have friends and community AND a lot of our family has moved up here… four families from my wife’s side, and my parents have a little piece of land up here too.)

THE PANDEMIC
THEN, COVID-19. The virus decimated so many people’s livelihoods and dreams, and took many, many lives. It was rough. More than rough. But as much of the country began to work and do school from home, they all needed a surface to work on and looked to the internet to purchase it. And as the larger retailers closed production down or sold out, we were over here in our small town with our already separate and well-ventilated work areas and a team ready and willing to get work done, able to keep production fully going even as the world shut down. So, things REALLY exploded for us. Like really, really exploded. Sales more than quadrupled in just two months’ time (they quintupled) and they stayed there well into 2023. I hired people as fast as I could and am so very thankful that I continued to find (or be found by) really excellent people. With the help of the team we already had and the ones we added to it, we were able to build and ship close to 3,000 desks and tables in 2020. We also had to move to a larger shop in the middle of it all and got quite behind (at one point we had over 650 desks/tables on order) and it was all quite stressful, but we handled it.

THE LAST COUPLE/FEW YEARS
We’ve now sold over 27,000 tables and desks and been featured by the Spruce, Bob Vila’s website, and Better Homes and Gardens. We are smaller than we were during COVID, but still building and shipping high-quality, custom tables every day of the week. And, personally, I’m sober and incredibly proud of that, deeply in love with my wife, and raising five wonderful kids who I think are the best. Our youngest is three years old and is a foster son who we’ve had since birth, while the youngest of our four daughters is eight and is a T1D warrior kiddo. We just recently celebrated her bravery and strength on the two-year anniversary of her type one diabetes diagnosis (read about that here). I took the day off and she had the whole day planned, and we gave her presents like it was her birthday. This job lets me do that, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Our twins are 11 and our oldest is 13. My wife puts her elementary ed. degree to good use homeschooling them all. We live in the country on 15 acres with our 26 animals as pets and fellow troublemakers (dogs, cats, rabbits, pigs, hamsters, a bearded dragon, guinea pig, donkey, sheep, and goat).

I’m so thankful for everyone who has purchased from me/us over the years. If that’s you and you’re reading this: thank you. Some folks took a chance at the very beginning and I trust those tables are still holding up. Many of you are repeat customers who keep coming back for more. And some just purchased recently (or are still deciding) and I hope those tables last you another 50 years. Regardless, I hope it’s a quality piece that is both functional and beautiful, like I designed it to be.

–Tyler Appel