Painting with mustard pickles? Meet a woman honouring her roots through paint names
Hauling out a jar of Mustard Pickles always makes Sonia Whalen-Miller think of home, right before she brushes it over a piece of furniture.
Unlike its sticky sweet namesake, this jar of bright yellow paint is part of a whole line of furniture finishes Whalen-Miller has named in honour of her home in La Scie, N.L.
"It's the whole thing of you can take the girl out of the island but you can't take the island out of the girl," she said with a laugh.
Whalen-Miller now lives in Pittsburgh, where she and her husband, Matt Miller, run their own company, Junk Monkey Paint.
Creating her own home furnishings and starting a paint company wasn't on the radar when her husband wanted to move back to his home country but Whalen-Miller believes everything happens for a reason.
She started painting furniture in 2005 when she moved to the United States to ward off loneliness. She didn't know many people, wasn't yet allowed to work in the country and money was tight, and she started spending time at barn auctions.
"You go there and basically everything and the kitchen sink is for sale," she said.
Whalen-Miller bought her first piece of old furniture, took it home and painted it in her own shabby-chic style. She was hooked.
"What first started as just having a lot of fun, then realizing that I could design my home on a budget, make it beautiful with second hand treasure," she said. "Then I painted my house full and then I started painting for other people."
Busy transforming old shelves or chairs from 'brownie-frownie," Whalen-Miller soon discovered that not all paint is created equal. She wanted to improve her creations by using better quality paint but the high price tags literally brought her to tears.
Then her husband had a wild idea. He'd make the paint for her.
Whalen-Miller was skeptical.
"I'm like, 'Who makes paint,' right? Like, who even knows how to do that?"
Whalen-Miller says her husband, a chef by trade, started experimenting with recipes.
"He worked with me as a painter, as a creative, and we were able to make a paint that eventually I would go on to put on all these pieces of furniture," she said.
With the new paint, Whalen-Miller was able to cover anything and no longer needed to prime or sand her projects.
Her customers noticed the difference too and started buying up her leftover paint. In 2014 she and her husband both quit their day jobs to pursue Junk Monkey full time.
Today, Whalen-Miller estimates they sell around 70,000 cans of paint each year as well as merchandise and supplies. She also posts daily videos teaching others how to create their own unique pieces of furniture and has signed on to give tutorials with Hometalk, an online do-it-yourself community with millions of followers.
But no matter where she is or who in the world she's talking to online, Whalen-Miller loves to bring her Newfoundland roots to her work.
"Honestly, every time I pull out a paint colour, I like to tell my audience … why I call it this colour. So it's really like an education," she said. "Just sharing my love back home."
And for Whalen-Miller, there's no doubt that this is love. Through the loneliness and challenges, she and her husband have created this new life and lifestyle for themselves.
"It's bigger than a can of paint," she said. "This is a community."
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