Well Woven Stories with Lynn Owens

featuring Lynn Owens

Welcome to "Well Woven Stories," a new series from Well Woven where we interview our amazing customers and get to know them and their favorite spaces. The Well Woven mission is to create compelling, unique and innovative floor coverings that inspire us all to furnish our space with love while maintaining affordability. We can't think of a better way to accomplish that mission than by sharing our favorite stories from customers who inspire us. Have a story of your own to tell? Email us at hi@wellwoven.com or shoot us a message on Instagram @WellWovenRugs, we'd love to hear it!

“Note to self: Don’t get discouraged that you can’t afford every thing the influencers post. Don’t get discouraged when your squares don’t match someone else’s! Use what you have. Make it the best you can!”

We met Lynn Owens when she tagged us in her Instagram story. She had spilled a flavored red drink on her Well Woven rug and found it surprisingly easy to clean! We love hearing stories like this so we reached out to thank her. That’s when she let us know that not only does she own seven of our rugs, she’s also a mother of seven and a master decorator to boot. Well, that part’s our judgment but we think you'll agree. We had to know more about Lynn and her family, so we got in touch by email to talk about her style, inspiration, and life as a homeschooling mother of 7 who fills her time with DIY projects and furniture flipping.

"We started going to our church where our friends said they let the Lord plan their family size. We were like ‘Oh, ok. How many could you get?’ A lot, you can get a lot!”

“Lynn currently lives in a three-level home in Ringgold, Georgia, with a golf course in the backyard and no end of DIY projects inside. She describes her style as “Eclectic French Farmhouse-ish on a budget! I lean towards farmhouse but I just do and collect things I love!”

We asked Lynn what she considers her dream home.

"Getting to work on it and make it function better, look better, is dreamy to me!"

“It would be a large, beachy farmhouse with wood and shake on the outside. Full of shiplap on the inside and a pool in the backyard because seriously have you ever loaded up 7 kids to go to the neighborhood pool?! By the time you get there, someone has to pee, someone is hungry and someone just needs a nap...usually me.”

For Lynn, though, the real definition of a dream house is blooming where you're planted.

"Being a family in our home is what makes a dream home to me."

“In all seriousness, I don’t know that I believe there is a “dream” house for me because our needs are always changing as the seasons change! My dream home when I had two toddlers 13 months apart looked a lot different than it did when they were seven and under. And that looks different now that I have kids aged 7-18. Bloom where you are planted right! Being a family in our home is what makes a dream home to me. Getting to work on it and make it function better, look better is dreamy to me

She has a similar philosophy when it comes to which room in the house is her favorite.

“My favorite room in the house changes to whichever one I have updated last ha! For a long time, it was my laundry room! My first big girl DIY! (My husband was out of town, which is when I do all my projects.) I decided to faux shiplap the laundry room. I went to Lowes, had them rip the wood and bought a nail gun, but then I needed some smaller pieces so I went and bought a table saw. I was scared to death of it at first but now we are besties!”

My first big girl DIY!

“Currently, my favorite room in the house is not actually “in” the house! It’s a paint booth in my garage! My bonus dad built it for me for my birthday but because I’m extra, I shiplapped it and put shake-ish in the front! I used every scrap piece of thin wood in my garage!”

Lynn’s #sheshack paint booth.

You’d think someone with so many creative DIY projects has to have been in the same home forever, but Lynn has moved more than a few times in her life. Through good times and tough, she has built her life and her family, making each place she lives along the way feel not just like a house but a real home. After marrying her husband, a civil engineer a client of hers set her up on a blind date with during her former life as a hairstylist, they “ended up moving to a mini farm outside Nashville TN, with our two littles. Girl and boy, we were good! We started going to our church where our friends said they let the Lord plan their family size. We were like ‘Oh, ok. How many could you get?’ A lot, you can get a lot!”

“Sadly, we ended up losing our home (after having just remodelled a couple of years prior) we decided to have a fresh start in Chattanooga, TN. We rented a home for a year before moving to Ooltewah, TN (after a traumatic experience) and living there two-and-a-half. In both homes, I painted, I did projects, I made it HOME! People would ask why I spent time, energy and money on a rental. My answer was always, I will make this home the best I can for our family while we are living here!"

“We now live in Ringgold, GA. We have gone from mini farm with chickens and goats to a golf course with golf balls!”

The experience Lynn alluded to, a persistent gas leak in her home, had its lasting effects. But Lynn found peace in simplification, finding herself unable to deal with knick-knacks or clutter.

“After my traumatic event, I sold almost every piece of furniture we owned. I replaced it with all IKEA, no vignettes or knick-knacks allowed. My brain could not handle anything but simplicity. Clean and simple. That season is mostly over. I am constantly striving for less clutter and less stuff, the paint on some of our walls crushes my soul but the super high ceilings I have been afraid to tackle.. so far!

I am always changing things up! We bought our house last March and I have plans to re-paint my girls’, boys’ and guest bathroom(s).. for the second time!”

Rug: Maxwell Vintage Blue

We asked Lynn what someone with her passion and drive does in their downtime.

“I don’t have downtime, the man that owns the antique store where I have a booth just asked me last week if I ever take a break! No, unless I am super sick or hurting (I have Rheumatoid Arthritis) I am doing something! I paint furniture as my stress reliever. It’s how I furnished most of our house! Buying pieces that weren’t maybe perfect but would work, painting them, using them, selling them to get something that would work just a little bit better!”

With so many rugs in her home, we asked Lynn what she looks for in one.

“With 7 children and not working outside the house, I am going to be honest, cheap; I look for cheap first because if, I can’t afford it, I have nothing! We live near Dalton, GA where they manufacture rugs and I have on occasion run down there and grabbed several. Tried them and sold what didn’t work. I was absolutely thrilled when I had just sold a few pieces and you guys had a sale! Erin from Cotton Stem had a coupon code! I ordered several! Then Natalie from Vintage Porch had a coupon code too. I was in Heaven!! I ordered several more!”

“After price is look. I have always looked for something to mimic the high-end things I would see on Pinterest or Instagram. I chose 3 of my rugs because I had seen them in Cotton Stem’s house and loved how they looked! The other ones I searched through the vintage sale ones!”

Although price and look are her top factors, Lynn’s recent experience with an errant liquid has her rethinking those priorities.

“After spilling a flavored, heavily dyed water on my rug last night...sheer panic set in when I saw red all over it. But it came right up, sooo quality is moving up my list!”

After hearing so much about Lynn’s life, style, and philosophy we wondered if she had any tips or tricks for other DIYers out there.

“Tip: When watching for Facebook and Craigslist finds, look for things that can mimic what your dream item would be. Get creative, want a coffee bar but don’t want to spend $300 on an antique cabinet, start with an inexpensive china hutch. Paint it, use it, sell it and upgrade! Repeat until you have the perfect one! Then sell it when your style changes...again!”

“Note to self: Don’t get discouraged that you can’t afford everything the influencers post. Don’t get discouraged when your squares don’t match someone else’s! Use what you have. Make it the best you can!”

“Tip: Need a large living room rug but even 1/2 off and a 25% off coupon, you still can’t afford the large rug...Layer! I have an inexpensive large rug and I layered my awesome Well Woven 5x7 On top! My Goal is to get that big rug but, for now, it gives me a beautiful quality rug that the eye is drawn to while still filling the space!”

“Tip/Trick: For furniture flipping to upgrade your items, staging is everything! My furniture pieces aren’t any better than any of the other furniture flippers’ around here.

The difference, the staging! Taking a picture of the hutch you painted and want to sell in your garage with trash, paint cans, furniture turned over and a mirror showing your hot mess reflection is not going to sell as fast as an identical piece...staged!”

Rug: Maxwell Vintage Blue

“This is my garage. With one of my two favorite Well Woven rugs! This one requires work because I have one in the garage for staging but I drug this from the living room”

“Tip: Get all the rugs and I am not just saying that! Rugs are probably my newest obsession...besides coffee makers because...coffee I have had 6 rugs in my office in the last year! 3 were Well Woven! If you have neutral walls and you have the winter blues, throw a new rug down and it completely changes the space! It’s like a new room!”

We asked Lynn for a photo of her coffee maker. Her reply? But which coffee maker...I have 5.

So much gratitude to Lynn Owens for sharing her story with us. The openness and warmth she radiates have really made us think about what’s important in our own lives. We can’t wait to see what project she’s working on next.

To see more of her beautiful home and family, follow Lynn on Instagram at @lynnsowens or head to @thefleamarketfarmhouse for more of her stunning furniture projects.