Our
Story
eep your eyes on the stars,
and your feet on the ground.
K
We are Bill & Olivia Lewandowski. We are Meraki Living.
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μεράκι [meraki]
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The name 'Meraki' Living came about when we discovered the Greek term μεράκι [meraki], which describes the piece of you that you leave in your work. In each piece we build or restore, we truly leave a chunk of our heart, soul, blood and sweat. The 'Living' portion of our name encompasses μεράκι as our way of life. Whether it's our work, raising our family, cooking a meal, vacationing, or anything else, we are passionate and do our best in all that we do, living μεράκι.
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It was summer 2016 - it all started as a weekend hobby. I was a nurse and Bill was a finish carpenter. We were looking for a new hobby that would help make some extra money to help pay for our daughter on the way. I happened to discover 'furniture flipping' on Pinterest. Bill thought I was crazy! Our first project was a dresser set that we picked up on Craigslist, painted it a farmhouse white, distressed it, and listed it on Facebook Marketplace. It sold the same day. This opened our eyes to a whole new potential.
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We started out in our condo garage and basement, doing a piece or two a week when we could find extra time. It eventually consumed our life. I developed an addiction for used furniture! It eventually got to the point that we realized it would make sense for Bill to leave his full-time job in 2018 to pursue our business full time. When our work became too much for our condo space, we bought our home and shop, and hired Bill's dad full time.
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In 2019, we decided to start an Etsy shop and build our first dining table and create our first Etsy listing with it. It was a HIT and it catapulted us into custom furniture making and design. We now build and ship our furniture NATIONWIDE. We have hundreds of pieces in all 48 continental states!
We have a true love for our craft. We use only the best hand-selected hardwood boards for our furniture, locally and sustainably sourced from our Appalachian forests. We donate all of our scrap lumber to our local Ohio community for firewood.
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Our goals and aspirations continue to grow. We hope to soon be a strong contributor to our local economy and job-force, as well as revive the demand for real, solid, hand-crafted furniture. 'Made in USA' means more to us now than ever before.
