Meet the Chair Stylist, Wendy Conklin!
Artisan • Designer • Educator • Entreprenista
Wendy is the Creative Director and thought leader behind the Chair Whimsy movement to live more creatively.
She helps her online course students tap into and cultivate their creativity, giving them permission to "play" and upgrade their joy. Her teaching style makes the challenge of learning a new craft feel accessible and fun!
Her business programming helps other artisans and makers leverage their knowledge, skills, and finished work to build and grow businesses supporting their families and providing financial and creative fulfillment.
You can still purchase from her inventory of exclusive reupholstered chairs and indulge in the multi-sensory feast of her unique pattern play and design aesthetic.
Whether she's building a greenhouse in her backyard, revamping her vintage camper, or upgrading her design studio, Wendy brings her audience along for the ride.
Her growing Instagram following goes wild for her sneak peeks, tips, and sourcing links.
Her work is featured in top-shelf publications, including HGTV Magazine, Woman's World, Cottages & Bungalows, Where Women Create, Cottage Style, Austin Home, and Austin Woman magazines.
Wendy lives in the Austin, Texas area with her husband, two daughters, and little furry friend, Maui.
Expert Topics:
The art and joy of crafting antique chairs
How to take a side hustle and catapult it to a full time gig
How to be a more creative thinker
- Featured in -
TV & Magazines
ABC 10 Your California Life: DIY Ugly Chair Challenge
Austin Home Magazine: Sitting Pretty: Chair Whimsy Offers Customizable Chair Creations
Austin Woman Magazine: What Inspires Wendy Conklin's Whimsical Chairs
Better Homes & Gardens: Chairs Featured in Cottage Style Magazine
Chicago WGN Channel 9: Wendy Conklin, The Chair Stylist, Shares Tips on How to Design and Upholster Your Chairs
Cottages & Bungalows: Chairs featured in A Great Romance
Cottages & Bungalows: Transform any space in your home with amazing, creative, custom chairs
HGTV Magazine: February 2022: Your Flair Everywhere
Good Day Stateline: Making Over Chairs That Need a Little TLC with Wendy Conklin
News Channel 8: Bringing Old Chairs to Life
News Channel 9 WSYR-TV: An Ugly Chair Challenge: No Sewing Required
Where Women Create Magazine: Ways I Practice Mindfulness in the Studio and Expand My Creativity
Who Des Moines: How to upcycle a chair
WishTV.com: Ugly Chair Challenge: The Chair Stylist turns ugly chairs into works of art, teaches how you can do it too
Cottages & Bungalows: Turning Dreams into Reality: How antique building materials and upholstery courses transformed one woman's world.
Podcasts
Side Hustle School: Crafter Fashions Upcycled Chairs into Six-Figure Shop
Stories of Change & Creativity: Chronicles my journey from side hustle to entrepreneur and how I turned my hobby into a full-time gig.
Mental Health News Radio Network: Wendy Conklin - An Encore Career Specializing in Creativity and Fun.
Make Space Podcast: Spills the beans on how I style fun chairs, mix and match prints, and make eclectic chairs work together as well as amazing tips for giving furniture pieces a makeover.
The Design You Podcast: How to be a Creative Thinker with Wendy Conklin.
Thrift Diving: This Woman Makes Six Figures Reupholstering Chairs!
Diversified Game: Wendy Conklin Gives the Game on Chair Whimsy her Boutique Chair Design Co
Newspapers & Blogs
Apartment Therapy: Here's How a Pair of $50 Vintage Bistro Chairs Became the MVPs of My Tiny Apartment
Austin American Statesman: Chair Whimsy Owner Donates Table and Chairs to Lugo Family
BuzzFeed: 26 Furniture Pieces That Reviewers Say Are Gorgeous, Stunning, Or Beautiful
BuzzFeed: 52 Pieces Of Furniture And Decor That Basically Say "Why Yes, I Am A Sophisticated Adult"
Create Whimsy Spotlight: Wendy Conklin Artist and Chair Designer
First for Women: Make Money With Your Hobby: Sewing Blankets, Hosting Book Events, and Flipping Furniture
Forbes: How Second Act Entrepreneurs Turned Their Side Hustles Into Businesses
GoDaddy: Tips for scaling up your Etsy business
NextAvenue: How to Run Your Side Hustle Like the Business It Is
Thrive Global: Wendy Conklin of Chair Whimsy: "Add fun books stacked on a table"
US News & World Report: How to Make Money on Etsy
Women's World: How One Woman Makes Up to $14,000 a Month Refurbishing Chairs
X99News: How to Make Money on Etsy | Personal Finance
