Vintage charmer
September 30, 2024
Holly D’Amico brings back the beauty in old furniture.
by Michelle Boudin | photographs by Amy Kolo
Holly D’Amico has had a penchant for old furniture since she was a young girl. While she grew up in Virginia, she often spent summers with her grandparents in Hickory, where they sold vintage furniture and had a booth at an indoor flea market.
“I would visit all the factories with them, and then we would go thrifting,” D’Amico recalls. “That’s how we spent weekends — at yard sales and antique markets — so it’s a nostalgic and warm feeling for me to work with old pieces … It’s something I’ve done my whole life.”
D’Amico has spent the last nine years rehabbing old furniture — turning dated dressers and tables into like-new, showstopping pieces — through her business, Renew Home Charlotte. She still loves the hunt, often finding things to refinish and sell to customers, but she also takes in client-owned pieces, giving them new life with lacquer, fresh paint and updated hardware.
D’Amico learned how to identify quality furniture from her grandparents. “They taught me to realize the value in things that other people are donating or throwing away,” she says.
Despite her background, D’Amico didn’t immediately lean toward rehabbing furniture as a career. She worked in the restaurant business in her 20s but took a design job in 2011 that nudged her toward a more creative path. After a quick stint in England and a brief marriage, she moved back to the U.S. looking to reinvent herself.
“When I came back in 2015, I wanted to do something on my own and different. I started thinking about flipping furniture, and I started hand-painting things.” She rented a space and started with small pieces — end tables, chairs and nightstands — then began posting about her business on Facebook.
After just a few months, the business took off and she needed more storage. She bought a 1980s-era house in Matthews with lots of extra rooms and a detached garage. She quickly filled every space with furniture to work on. The budding business quickly outgrew her home, and she moved into a leased space in NoDa.
These days, she works with a handful of trusty “pickers” — people who do the thrifting for her.
“I have people who clear out estates and just drive around and find stuff. They text me pictures, and I say yay or nay.”
Dressers, nightstands and credenzas make up the bulk of her work, with the occasional china cabinet thrown in. Her process varies depending on the age and condition of the piece. Even the weather plays a part — humidity can really slow the drying process.
“I start by disassembling it, taking off the hardware, taking out the drawers. Then I give it a once over and identify what damage needs to be addressed and decide what needs to be done aesthetically.” Next, she cleans, sands and fills in scratches before priming and adding lacquer. Depending on the color, some pieces require six or seven coats.
In the process, D’Amico often uncovers the thoughtful details involved in crafting vintage furniture.
“Underneath some of the old coats of paint are beautiful wood grains, and it’s really neat to see what materials they were using and how they assembled it… and to bring that beauty out again,” she says.
Sarah Porter, a mother of two who lives in SouthPark, is a repeat customer of Renew Home Charlotte. Porter says the most meaningful piece is a dresser in her daughter’s nursery. “I was able to customize a beautiful chinoiserie-style dresser in a perfect pale pink. Knowing I could have a classic, sturdy and beautiful piece to put my daughter’s first clothes in was very special,” Porter says. “[D’Amico] does an absolutely beautiful job restoring furniture that will have a long life. She embraces color and finds energy in each piece that has helped me build meaningful spaces where my family lives.”
D’Amico estimates she’s refinished more than 1,000 pieces of furniture over the last decade. She typically has six or seven different pieces going at a time.
As she works, she’s mindful of the fact that many of the client-owned pieces she works with are cherished family heirlooms. “I’ve taught myself the skills over the years to take it in and not worry that I’m going to ruin an heirloom. Now I feel confident taking something in that means so much to someone, and I’m really proud of that.” SP
