While growing up in Perry, furniture maker Heather Peebles had conflicting feelings about woodworking. While she was intimidated by the power tools her father used as a carpenter, she loved wood and the smell of sawdust. Heather’s love for the latter led to an unexpected vocation-furniture maker-and, as such, she had to get past being intimidated by the tools of her trade. Heather is the owner of Penelope’s Farmhouse Furniture in Byron. While she builds the furniture in a home shop, Heather has a storefront which features home décor in a103-year-old building that initially housed a birthing center known locally as Dr. JB Clay’s clinic. She said they lovingly refer to it as the Cottage. Keeping the older theme, Heather is expanding her business in early May to a 102-year-oldcarriage house building near her first store. She described it as a solid brick structure that’s in excellent shape and will feature, appropriately, a carriage. “I will offer classes on furniture making at the new, old place. These will include decor projects, pet beds, hand-crocheted blankets, macramé, plant hangars, and other projects that can be completed in two to three hours. ”Heather said they’ve even considered one-on-one sessions at her home shop where participants could “rent” her out and build something to take home while receiving her guidance. “I need my schedule to calm down a bit before taking that one on,” she said .“Having a management company, being a realtor, building furniture, owning a home decor boutique and soon-to-be hosting classes, keeps me running enough as it is, lol. ”Using power and hand tools, Heather makes wood furniture. Her specialties are farmhouse tables and barn doors of various sizes. She also does queen bed systems, conference tables and bars. Right now, Heather is working on a bar system for Hazards, a restaurant in Perry. She works with her sister, Tiffany Gordy, in her shop on two to three projects at a time and has orders backed up for 10 to 12 weeks. Jeremy Lassiter purchased Heather’s first piece-a farmhouse table. Since then, he’s added tables, desks, custom bunk beds, a toy box, and the “largest coffee table in America.” “I’ve probably bought more than anyone,” said the Perry resident. “I’ll probably buy more. ”Jeremy, who owns Alpha Insurance Company, has known Heather for a long time and is glad to be a repeat customer. “Her furniture is all custom-made,” he said. “She’s not buying stuff. She comes up with the design. Every piece is different. ”That unique look is reflected in his coffee table...“The wood looks like something out of a 1900’s house, ”Jeremy said. “It looks aged. ”When he bought a farmhouse, Jeremy told his wife they needed some stuff done...that included buying furniture that would go along with the farmhouse look. “It’s cool to have stuff no one else has,” Jeremy said. “It’s a beat cheaper than what you buy at the store and of a much higher quality. I’ve sold40 pieces for her from people looking at my stuff. I told her I need to be paid a commission. It’s pretty cool being a woman in that line of work and local. ”Another satisfied customer is Skip Malcom, who owns Edward Jones on Houston Lake. He was looking for some rustic, farmhouse furniture for his new office and found out about Peebles through one of her previous clients. Skip gave Heather a list of the items he wanted and asked her to work her magic. She came back with some design ideas and suggestions, which they tweaked, and then she went to work, sending Skip pictures of her progress. While a picture is worth a thousand words, the furniture, which includes a conference room table, two work desks, a waiting area bench, several small coffee tables and a sliding barn door, elicited four words from Skip when it was delivered. “I was blown away,” he said. “They were exactly what I needed. Heather was able to take my basic ideas and needs and transform them into beautiful, well-made pieces of art. I’m constantly getting compliments on all of the wood pieces when clients come in. I highly recommend Heather for your wood furniture needs. ”It all started with a farmhouse table two years ago .Heather was working as a realtor and property manager for several hundred homes when the pandemic spread and impacted lives and jobs. For Heather, that meant a downsizing at the property management company where she worked. With public contact limited, her job as a real estate agent took a hit as well. Staying at home and looking for something to occupy her time, Heather decided to build a farmhouse table. Although she and her ex-husband had tinkered with various home projects, she said they never did anything remotely close to building a table. She went to the Internet for help, watching a YouTube video on building a farmhouse table. “I got some design ideas and tweaked it a bit,” Heather said. “I made it sturdier. ”Emboldened by finishing and selling her first creation, Heather graduated to a barn door. Soon, due largely to word-of-mouth, she was backed up on orders for various furniture items and opened up shop in the former birthing center. The first word in the store’s name has a long history in Heather’s life. When she was in her 20s, Heather and her sister would go out and be approached by would-be suitors asking for their names. She came up with the moniker Penelope so she wouldn’t have to reveal her real name. It became more ingrained after a friend of her boyfriend, Shawn, couldn’t remember her name. Heather said just to call her Penelope. She started using the name in everyday life and, over time, that became her new identity and was eventually shortened to P. Peebles said only family and close friends who know her as Heather. Speaking of Shawn, she remarked she’s blessed to have a man who happily sits back and let’s her be herself and supports all her “crazy ideas,” such as building her first farmhouse table. “Family is everything to me,” Heather said, “and I’m blessed with mine. ”After about a year in business, with orders continuing to come in, Heather brought her sister on board to help with the furniture building and other assorted tasks. Tiffany, who had worked as a server and bartender, embraced her new job and the chance to work with her sister. “I enjoy working with her more than serving,” she said. “It’s always an adventure. We have a good time. I’m dealing with people who are happy to see me. ”Tiffany, like Heather, had to get acquainted and comfortable with tools. “I didn’t know anything about tools,” she said. “I had never operated a drill. I’ve come a long way. I’m good at this. We’ve built really cool stuff. It’s been a great journey. ”Heather described her shop as chaotic-“just the way I like it.” She takes an average of five days to complete a piece, most of which are made of pine. “It’s more cost effective,” said Heather, who also uses metal in her pieces. “It’s also sturdy, strong, and lasts forever. If you use the right kind of stain and technique, you can make it look like another wood. ”Tables remain Heather’s signature piece and best-selling item. Getting the 2x4 and1x4 boards from Lowe’s, she cuts them down to size, planes the wood and glues the pieces before smoothing them with a huge orbital sander, giving it a hand and hewn look. She then stains the wood, giving it the illusion of being old and rotten, and fills knotholes with clear epoxy. The final step is applying multiple layers of polyurethane. Not only do the sisters, both around 5 feet tall and 120 pounds, work with wood and furniture weighing several hundred pounds and employ power tools that they once considered intimidating, but they also deliver their creations. When “two little girls” walk in with a breakfast nook, Tiffany said they earn respect, especially among any skeptical men who may have doubted their capability of handling such work. “They don’t have much to say after that,” she said, noting their customers are made up equally of men and women. Before Leslie Sharpe and her husband opened the Saltwater Outpost last summer, they looked around for someone to build a checkout counter. Actually, it wasn’t much of a search, as Leslie knew about Heather and her furniture-making from the latter’s Facebook page. Leslie pulled several pictures together and sent them to Heather, along with a design idea and measurements. Leslie said Heather didn’t hesitate and created a piece that earned her plaudits and the promise of future work. “It was huge,” Leslie said. “A lot of her pieces are. She pours her heart and soul into each piece and it’s beautiful stuff. I told her when I get rich she will build all my furniture. It’s just amazing how hard she works; her ambition and motivation are admirable. ”Heather’s work demands she no longer be intimidated by power tools. She’s retained her love of wood and the smell of sawdust while pursuing a profession that she never envisioned doing in her wildest dreams. “I’m doing something women typically don’t do,” said Heather, who operates the aforementioned property management company and works as a real estate agent for Keller-Williams. “Never in a million years did I think I would do something like this. I love the creativeness of it. I have a 15-year-old daughter, and I want to show her there are no limits to what you can do. If you work hard, you can accomplish it.”