From Empty Nest to Full Purpose: How we became Covered In Sawdust!

It was May of 2022 when the alarm bells started going off.

Our youngest daughter was graduating from high school, college-bound and on her way. I was staring down 50 — what we jokingly call "a freshman old person" in our house — and wondering what on earth comes next.

The house was getting quieter. The calendar was getting emptier. And I was beginning to feel… empty inside.

At the time, I was two years into perimenopause (if you know, you know), still processing the strange aftermath of the COVID world, and preparing for life as an empty nester. I told myself all the positive things: Now I’ll have time to grow my business. We’ll travel. I'll Roller Skate; one of my favorite past-times---- maybe I'll  even bring it back in style! I’ll get in the best shape of my life. I’ll start something new.

But that’s not how it went.

Instead, I found myself slipping into a fog of anxiety and depression. The rush of parenting, the pace of life, the purpose — it all stopped. And in the silence, I spiraled.

My hormones were a mess. My hair was falling out. I had no appetite, except for alcohol, which became my nightly coping mechanism. The business I once loved now feeling a lot like a grind.

My phone became a lifeline and a trap. I stopped wanting to go anywhere. I stopped caring. I was deeply tired — physically, emotionally, spiritually.

But something inside me wasn’t done.

I began talking to God and searching for peace. I turned toward spiritual growth — not religion, but something more personal. I read books that changed my mindset. I started lifting weights. I ate clean. I learned from other midlife women who, like me, were frustrated by doctors offering antidepressants and birth control as the only solution.

Eventually, I found answers — including hormone replacement therapy — and with it, clarity and strength.

Not just in my body, but in my soul.

I began to ask: What do I want the rest of my life to look like?

 

The Shift


My husband and I both came from corporate careers — mine in sales and marketing, his in IT. Once our kids came along, we chose a different path. We walked away from the stability corporate careers and built small businesses from the ground up — mine in cleaning, his in landscaping.
It wasn’t easy. But it gave us the freedom to raise our kids the way we wanted. I went from Corporate Road Warrior to Sports Mom. And for nearly 20 years, we ran businesses that let us be there.

But as we hit our early 50s, we started asking a new question:

What does freedom look like now?

We’ve still got energy, passion, and purpose — but the physical grind of our work is real. And let’s face it — retirement isn’t guaranteed. So we started thinking:

What’s next?

What can we build that allows us to live with more flexibility, not less?

Where do our skills and passions meet?

The Sawdust in Our Story

That’s when the answer became clear — because it had been sitting in our home all along.

For years, my husband has quietly filled our home with beautiful, heirloom-quality furniture. He’s spent winters in our garage building custom pieces — end tables, beds, dining tables, cedar chests, a beautiful live edge kitchen bar and a show-stopping barn door made into a monster sized pantry that serves as a focal point to the entry of our home — each one a work of art.

I looked around and realized: We’ve been living in a make-shift showroom.

What if I applied my marketing background to turn his craftsmanship into a business?

What if we could source other quality pieces to scale and support him without wearing him down?

What if we built a brand rooted in our values — quality, beauty, resilience, and high level customer service — that could grow with us in this new season?

And just like that, Covered in Sawdust was born.

Why the Name?

Because sawdust is what happens when you build something real.

It covers the floor of our garage, it sticks to our clothes, and now — it tells our story.

Covered in Sawdust isn’t just a furniture brand. It’s a second act. A creative revival. A chance to build something with our hands, our hearts, and our hard-earned wisdom.

We’re not just making furniture.

We’re creating meaningful pieces for people writing their next chapter — just like us.