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Rikki Coleman is a self-taught artist and decorative painter. Born and raised in Vimmerby, Sweden, she traveled extensively in Europe before settling in the U.S. In the 1990s, the young wife and mother of three worked as a part-time preschool teacher in Coppell, Texas, to supplement the family income. Seizing the opportunity to be creative, Rikki painted murals in several of the classrooms, while at night she was busy experimenting with textures and faux finishes in her and her husband Tyrone's newly purchased Corinth, Texas, home. By the time her children, Joakim, Mattias, and Linnea,were all in school Rikki had a flourishing decorative painting business on her hands - the aptly named One Free Hand, both for her freehand designs and her multitasking lifestyle. That lifestyle included frequent forays into thrift stores (and yes, the occasional dumpster and curbside trash pile) which yielded sofas to be slipcovered, dressers to be painted, white china to be collected, as well as original art, great jeans, and miscellaneous junk to be transformed and incorporated into her light, casual, Swedish cottage decor. Sooner or later, every junker runs out of room. With a burgeoning garage and an exasperated husband, Rikki went in search of an outlet for some of her pieces. There was a new store in town, and it was said to mingle old and new. Intrigued by the great junk on display out front, Rikki walked through the door and into Cheryl's Cottage. And the rest, as they say, is junk history... |
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About Rikki