COVINGTON Va. (WVDN) – In downtown Covington, Virginia, you will find the beautifully decorated, furniture and handcrafted delights shop, owned by Lori and Chris Conner. Not only is it a festival for the eyes, but the carefully selected stock of hand-crafted sundries is indeed a blessing. For five years now, Chris Conners’ hard-working hands have created personalized items, custom farmhouse tables, and wreaths. Sympathy wreaths are a specialty. The couple offers delivery of sympathy wreaths to local funeraries in the Covington and Clifton Forge areas.
Craftsman and Police Officer Chris stays busy flipping furniture; taking a piece from its’ perhaps dilapidated or worn state and making it shabby-chic, new again, with paint or restain. For a decided fee, one may bring their own piece in for re-staining or painting.
Also available are custom signs, home decor, women’s clothing, hats and shoes, Myra Bags, Judy Blue’, and Kan Can jeans, jewelry, personalized cups, blankets, shirts and more. Now until Dec. 20, personalized ornaments can be made by calling the shop or stopping in.
“Unique finds are made with lots of time and love,” says Conner. “It’s a cozy, fun atmosphere that we pour our hearts into. My manager Angie Poague is always available to help while she wears her many hats.” This small business is anything but small. It’s a labor of love.
Lori Conner spoke about her business saying:
“Barnwood Blessings is a handcrafted collection of wooden rustic farmhouse decor, furniture and accessories for any home or business. They also carry women’s clothing, shoes, accessories, jewelry and Myra Bag items. We are striving as we grow to offer more and more in the way of gift items to meet every gifting need here in the Highlands.
“Our little business was created because I loved to create beautiful signs from an old piece of scrap barn wood. I found a passion for making signs and then grapevine wreaths with signs and have ventured into flipping furniture and building furniture alongside my partner, my husband, Chris.
“We started out doing many craft shows in the Highlands and surrounding areas. God has shown me every little step and I’ve moved in faith when He said move. I took the leap from working fulltime and crafting to working part-time and much more crafting and opening a “She Shed” at our home offering a monthly sale. This lasted for about a year, and we realized the need to be much more accessible. We decided to rent and renovate the former Main Street Shoppe in Covington. This happened right in the middle of the pandemic, but the community support was overwhelming. We quickly ran out of workshop and retail floor space. The move to our now much bigger location was essential to sustaining what we had built and to further grow our business, not only here locally, but in the online presence. Most everything we do now is under one roof with few things still being done from our home. We now have ample store, a large workshop and paint booth in the back of our new shoppe.
“We are very humbled and so appreciative of the amazing outpouring of love and support this community has shown us in the past several years and only pray that we can continue to do what we love to do and eventually to be able to even more as we grow! The sky is the limit!”
You will find Barnwood Blessings at 376 Main Street, Covington, VA, 24426, during the business hours of Tuesday-Friday 11 a.m.-6 p.m. and Saturday from 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Call the shop at 540-962-7544 to speak with Lori or Angie and order something over the phone using your credit card. You may reach them by Email at bblessings1@yahoo.com and can find them on Facebook at facebook.combarnwoodblessings. Their website is under construction but when completed, shipping items or local pick-up orders will be available.
