(gentle instrumental music) - Will you consider this?

You have grown up here and you have all kinds of interests.

You end up having several, several incarnations, and this woman is a perfect example of all of those incarnations.

This is Nancy Davis.

And you're a hometown girl, basically?

- Yes.

- Grew up in Bartonville.

Alright, and you're a limestone rocket.

- Yes.

- Alright, so you've been happy staying here, and then, well, you didn't go to school here, you didn't go to college here, you went then?

- I went to ICC.

- Okay, alright.

- And then transferred to University of Illinois Springfield.

It was Sangamon State at the time, - Okay.

- but transferred to the University of Illinois Springfield.

- [Christine] And what did you study there?

- Healthcare administration.

- Alright, and therefore you were in that field for a while?

- Yes.

- And tell me about that?

- Started out as legal clerk at Proctor Hospital, and then transferred to Methodist, which is now Carle, spent seven and a half years there, and I got into working for a research board, it's called the Institutional Review Board.

And then my job went over to the University of Illinois College of Medicine and I was the director of the research board there.

- Okay, so all of your training in college set you up perfectly for those positions?

- Yes.

- Yeah.

And you loved it and you did that for years, and years, and years?

- Yes.

- Okay.

- It was very interesting and challenging.

- Alright, so what was challenging about it?

Because you were coordinating, you weren't actually - Yes.

- doing any of the research, but you had to get all those ducks in a row.

- Yes, and our board was a new concept for research boards.

Our board was number nine in the United States that was created.

And our regional dean at the time, Dr. Michael Bailey, have visited with the dean at the University of Texas at San Antonio.

And what they did there, they had nine hospitals in their consortium.

And so the doctors, if they wanted to do a research study, had to go to each hospital to get approval to do their research study.

So they created this board.

So they had two boards where the doctors could go and present their research studies and be approved.

And it was a time saving thing, but also gave the patients, that would be involved in the study, access to the hospital that would be most convenient for them.

So Dr. Bailey assigned me to this project.

So that board included the University of Illinois College of Medicine, St. Francis Hospital, Methodist, and Proctor.

So all of them would come to one board and the doctors would present and the study would be approved, so they could use it at all the hospitals or maybe just one, their choice of where they wanted to do it.

- Which made sense, for the patient especially.

- Absolutely.

And then we had a request from a cardiologist that practiced in Pekin to do a study.

So that took us back to the beginning again.

And we had to go through the whole process, and contact the FDA and the healthcare organization that oversees the boards.

And we added Pekin Hospital to our board.

So it was much more convenient.

So that worked out really well and it was very successful.

- Wow.

So then you did that for almost three decades and then you retired.

And you thought you were going to see the world, take some time off - Sure.

- and do whatever you needed to do.

- Yeah.

- But instead you went into retail.

- Yep.

- Okay, now tell me a little bit about that?

How did that come about?

You were just bored outta your mind or what?

- Yeah, I was bored, wanted something to do, so I applied for a job and started working in it, and it was fun.

We did some style shows along the way and spent 10, 11 years in it.

And in the interim, I always had wanted to be interior decorator when I was younger.

And my mother taught me to sew when I was 10.

So I love fabric and looking at it, and buying it, putting it in a drawer.

(laughs) So.

(both laughing) - Someday I'll get to this, that was your someday aisle, right?

Okay.

- Yeah.

Yeah.

- Okay.

- So, I saw this lady on internet, Chair Whimsy, her name's Wendy Conklin, and she showed these chairs and how she revamped 'em.

And she'd tear a chair apart, and she'd sand it, paint it, and just completely redo it.

And I'm like, "I can do that."

So I contacted her, signed up for my first course.

I've taken seven courses and I'm on a waiting list for two more courses and then- - [Christine] These are all online courses?

- All online.

- And how long is each one?

- It's self-paced.

- Okay.

- So you can work at your pace, however it is.

And then she has a real fun one called the Five Day Ugly Chair.

And that is really a challenge.

I didn't make the Five Day Ugly Chair, because my chair was- - It was too pretty.

- No, it was a big challenge.

- Oh, okay, alright.

(Nancy laughing) - So we didn't, - [Christine] You didn't complete that one.

- we didn't complete that one.

(laughs) - But you might still, there's time.

- Maybe.

(laughs) - Right.

- So I've done seven courses with Wendy, and like I said, I'm signed up for two additional ones.

And then I met Andrea Winkler that owns the Wink House, and talked to her, and I took some chairs out to the Wink house.

And then she told me about the Smart Start program for small business development at Bradley.

So I signed up for that and I've been going through the program and- - [Christine] What does that involve?

- It is a complete design - [Christine] This is for your business plan?

- of your business.

You develop a business plan, you do marketing, you do your financial projections for the next two, three years.

You look at what is really needed for your business, if your business is a good idea and just, and what you want to do with your business.

You know, is it something that's more of a, an online thing or is it a physical one where somebody's going to be coming into a shop and purchasing an item or ordering an item?

- Right.

So again, like a brick and mortar kind of thing.

- Right.

- Alright.

So what you're doing right now is, I don't know if you can see, see these lovely chairs that she brought in?

I don't know how heavy this one is but, - That one's pretty light.

- Look at this guy.

I mean, look how beautiful that is.

So this is, where do you get your base for these things?

You just go - I look.

- Thrifty?

- Yes.

- Or you go down people's and people are always putting this stuff out at their driveway on trash day.

- Yes, yes, I have a pair of chairs that I got at the roadside over in Pekin, and they were real heavy, their beautiful chairs, but the seats are all pouring up, so I'm gonna redo those.

- Okay.

- But yeah, I go thrifting, friends look for chairs for me.

And once a year I go to a very special resale shop in kind of antique store in Berry, Illinois.

It's between Pittsfield and Hannibal.

And my cousin and I always go in there and look for chairs.

And that's where I found this one.

- That guy over there.

Can we get a shot of that chair or, I, you know, I think we might have a slide of it or something, but that's the fabric on that, it's beautiful.

That makes that one just pop.

- Yeah.

And it's mate has a red seat.

- Okay, yeah, so, so you're just always on the lookout.

And what's your next big challenge then, and what do you wanna do in your business plan?

What do you wanna do with all of these creations?

- I want to find them homes.

I do have a chair right now that I'm trying to decide whether to paint it, whether to resand, it's Victorian chair from the 1890s.

It has beautiful carvings on it.

And I took the seat apart and on the cover under the upholstery, it was all needlepoint.

And under that cover was a stamp from the place that had done the chair in 1957 with the man's name and the man's date.

It's really cool.

I'm going to save that and put that - On the bottom.

- Over, (Christine gasping) I'm gonna put it over the new batting and stuff, because I want that to stay a part of the chair.

So I'm trying to decide whether to paint the wood or to stain it, because it's just beautiful.

- Yeah, well, it's beautiful solid wood like that from back in the day.

- Yeah.

- You also, you were telling me that your daughter served in - The army.

- the army.

- She's a Iraq combat veteran.

- Alright.

And as a result, you have created some chairs for for the Purple Heart?

- Military or the Purple Heart I'm working on a chair.

I'm doing a flag chair for them.

We're gonna put it up for auction later, but I volunteer for them.

And right now we're getting ready for the golf outing that happens every year over at Pine Lakes, in fact, it's next Thursday.

And we get donations from businesses around the community for the Purple Heart that raises money for the veterans.

All the money stays here in Peoria and it buys them whatever they need, whether it be a bed, a walker, wheelchair, a coat.

- Taking care of our veterans.

- Yes.

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

- Which is a beautiful thing.

- Yeah.

- So back to, well, fundraising and being able to, so what has been your biggest headache so far of this?

It's like I'm rolling up my sleeves and by golly, I'm gonna do this.

I'm going to do my DEEzign.

So that's a cute name too.

How did you come up with that?

- Dee is my middle name.

- Okay.

- I was named after my aunt.

So when I was trying to think of a name, a friend of mine, we were just tossing things around and I just, it's like, what am I going to use, you know?

So it was just like, it came to me in the middle of the night.

I woke up and it's DEEzign and I wrote it on a piece of paper (chuckles) and stuck it in my nightstand drawer.

And I woke up in the morning.

I'm like, that's it.

- That was it.

- That's it.

I know.

Isn't that a nice inspiration?

So what has been your biggest headache challenge in taking this on?

I mean, the ugly chair is one thing.

- Yeah, I have a set of chairs that I purchased, you know, (chuckles) purchase online from Facebook marketplace.

And getting all of the tacks, all of the nails out has just been so hard.

I've had to put it, put the chairs aside.

I've really struggled with it.

- So they're upholstered chairs, - Yes.

- like this then?

- Well, or it's, it was a dining room chair, but it has a piece in the center, in the back, and, yeah, it's really hard.

And then it has places on the arms.

You know, because the front is wood and then padded arms, and then the upholstery comes around the front and it's been really, really hard to get all of the old - Just to get 'em down.

Just to get 'em down to bare - To the bare wood where- - and then you can work from there.

- Yeah.

- And then how do you go out and choose the fabric?

Well, you go into your someday all drawers.

Right.

Have you used any of that fabric yet?

- I have.

- Have you been?

- I actually have.

- And do you picture when you see the chair and you see the fabric you're going through and it's like, aha, that this is gonna work?

- Yes.

- Like this one, with the black, so you painted that chair black?

- I painted it, it was walnut.

- Okay.

- And I sanded it and then painted it.

It has two coats of paint and then it has a coat of sealer on it, and it has these antique brass pieces.

And I painted those gold to highlight 'em, you know.

But yeah, I wanted to do something that was really a statement.

And I think that is.

- Definitely is, yeah.

- Yeah.

And I look at the design of the chair to see if there's something in the fabric that will flow with a design of the chair.

If it's an antique chair, I take into account, you know, the way it's been created and a fabric that will go with that.

- So this also comes with your training, your online training with Wendy?

- [Nancy] Yes.

- And so she teaches you how to, and not everybody can do that.

- That's true.

- Not everybody can, I mean, a lot of people have to hire an interior designer to put their room together because they have not a clue.

- Yeah, that's true.

And she guides us.

There's one whole module that's all about choosing the fabric and how to present it on your chair.

One of the things that she does is like, fabric has a nap, and if it has a design or if it's plain, you want to make sure that fabric goes the right way so that when people sit on that, it doesn't look funny.

- Right.

Well, like suede.

- Exactly.

Yeah.

- Interesting.

- Mm-hmm.

- And I mean, did you realize all that before you started this because you were sewing from the time you were young?

- Yeah.

- So you knew that and okay, and then we were talking about piping.

- Yes.

- So let's talk about that.

Now that black chair has some piping on it.

- Yes, it does.

- And, if you know what piping is, it's special, it's special rope that's covered in fabric, - It's rope that's covered.

And when you make that piping fabric, you know, runs up and down.

But when you cut the fabric across, that's called cutting on the bias.

- Right.

- And, you have to cut your fabric on the bias for the welt cording, and you sew it, and when you sew it, you have to keep it very tight.

And then when you put it on, this is glued on, you're using a hot glue gun.

And you stick it down in there with another tool, it's called a renumerator.

It's long, it's metal.

And so it sticks down in there, but you cut that fabric on the bias so that it stretch when you go around the curve.

- Okay, yeah.

And then it's not gonna crinkle or anything - Right.

- too.

- Right.

- So where is your work space?

In your basement?

- It's in my basement.

- Okay.

- And in my screened in porch.

- Okay.

And all throughout the house.

- Yeah.

I have chairs everywhere.

- [Christine] Do you?

- I did a set of chairs for my daughters.

Some of the first chairs I did, Duncan Phyfe chairs, that were very popular in the forties and the fifties.

They have the roses carved in the back.

Probably your mother or grandmother, aunt and uncle had that dining room set.

- Exactly.

- with curved legs.

- Exactly.

- So I did a set - Mid-century.

- they call that.

- Mid-century, and I think mid-century the 18 hundreds.

But that's just me, so.

(both laughing) - Okay.

So I purchased a couple of books about it because you see so many chairs, you know, in the thrift stores and just out.

And then there's one that Duncan Phyfe created that has a lyre back on it, and it's the music stand.

- Yeah.

- And you'll see that in the middle of a chair.

So I found a pair of those that I wanna do.

- Okay, well, so you enjoy this more than these types of chairs?

- Yeah.

I don't do these.

- Okay.

You don't do this.

- I don't do this.

- Don't ever, you really don't want to.

- Mm-mm.

- Okay.

I don't blame you for that.

That seems like an awful lot of work.

But then will you, so you've just been doing this for maybe a year?

- A year, a little over a year.

- All right.

You still have some training to do.

- Yeah.

- And, are you going to have people come to you and tell them, you know, they'll tell you what they would like and you could do that for them as well.

Okay.

- I also have some chairs and a bench at a shop in Peoria Heights called Sweet Caroline's.

And I'm gonna, you know, trade some things out.

So yeah, it's fun.

- So this is all just a big adventure for you.

And what a leap from the medical field and everything that you were doing.

- Yeah.

- Did you imagine that, that you would be - Doing this?

- working something like this?

- No.

- And, it was just one of those, you just happened to see it pop up?

- Yeah, I did.

And Wendy Conlin is so creative, she's so talented.

And after you had invited me to do the show, I sent her a message and she said, "I can't wait to see this."

- Okay.

- So.

- [Christine] Where is she located?

- She is outside of Austin, Texas.

- Okay, interesting.

- Yeah.

- And how long she been doing it then?

So this is trial and error for her, basically.

- It was because she was a school administrator and was getting frustrated and wanted to do something creative.

And she went to an antique sale and bought some chairs and just thought she'd try to do something with them.

- Well, you know what- - She's been in the business over 20 years.

- Really?

- Yeah.

- She's fabulous.

- So she knows.

Well, every once in a while I think you kind of need to do something creative.

- Yeah.

- And so how many hours a day are you doing this right now?

Or, I mean, are you pacing yourself or are you putting aside, okay, I have to do this today for four hours or whatever.

- No, it's just kind of when I- - You're having fun doing it.

- I'm having fun doing it.

Yeah.

- Okay.

Yeah.

- So what do you look forward to most?

I mean, doing a set of six dining room chairs for somebody or if you're so lucky to find something like that in an estate sale.

- I think doing, finding a great chair and doing it, that's what's fun.

And when I get to the point of connecting the cushion to the chair and having it finished, that's the, "Oh my gosh, I love this."

Yeah.

- Good for you.

Good for you.

So you're not gonna do any couches, but you'll do benches?

- No.

I'll do benches, yeah.

- You'll do the seats for the benches.

And then do you do any that are just, you know, plop on, you'll finish the bench and then just do the cushion for on it?

Or do you attach them all?

- Yes, I can do just the cushion that is like screwed onto to the top.

- Okay.

- Yeah.

- Alright.

And what do you think your big challenge is ahead once you finish your next two classes, your next two instructions, what will those include and what will they entice you to do?

- Well, the next one, (Christine laughing) and as a matter of fact, the class I'm going to, it's called a t-cushion.

Like if these chairs had the cushion came out.

And has a tea, a lot of of older chairs will have that.

I bought a chair at a thrift store (chuckles) and it is stripped down to the bare bones and it has a t-cushion.

- Okay.

- And I did a tutorial class on it last week, but the foam has to be cut - A certain... - exact way.

- And so do you have a foam cutter or how do you do that?

- [Nancy] An electric knife.

Electric kitchen knife is what I cut my foam with.

- Oh my gosh.

- And in fact, Joan's Sewing will sharpen your blades, so does Nina's.

- For your kitchen knife?

- For my electric knife.

- Oh my gosh.

- So with doing that t-cushion, you have to measure your fabric to be a certain way and then your cording.

So that's my next class.

- Okay.

Yeah.

And does that seem like it's gonna be overwhelming to you or... - In a way, but I watch a tutorial so it makes a little bit more sense to me.

- So the tutorials, you said that you can do it at your own pace and everything, and as a result, then you can back up again in case you weren't paying a whole lot of attention at that particular moment.

And that's really nice to do.

- Yeah, it is.

Because if you have a question about the way the foam should be cut, where your fabric or your corning what you need to do to make sure it's just all perfect so you don't have gaps.

Where it's not large enough.

So it's very helpful.

- Were you always really particular about those kind of, you know, OCD about all that stuff too?

Because you said you started sewing when you were younger.

Your mother sewed too.

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

And boy oh boy, if that zipper wasn't put in just right, right?

- [Nancy] Rip it out.

- Yeah, exactly.

(Nancy laughing) And today you can't find things that have- - No, and when we would make things that were plaids or striped, - You better match 'em.

- Oh, they had to be matched perfectly.

And you'd go into a store, like we would go into Bergers and you'd pull a skirt off - And you couldn't buy (indistinct).

- of the (indistinct) or jacket.

And nothing was matched down the seam.

- I know, I know.

My mother was exactly the same way.

So you get to use some of those antique (both laughing) standards - Yes.

in what you're doing.

- Yes.

- So, if you're gonna do plaids, same thing in your chairs.

- Oh, it has to be matched from the back all the way down to the front.

- Mm-hmm.

- Yeah.

- Good for you.

So bucket list, what do you look forward to most then, in this big adventure that you're on?

From medical to design and hands-on DEEzign.

- Having an assignment to do a set of four chairs that are just shockingly beautiful, and just to enhance someone's sunroom or dining room.

(gentle music) - [Christine] Okay.

Well this is definitely sunroom.

This looks like it needs to go to Florida, (Nancy laughing) you know, I spend a little time in the Florida room, so.

Okay.

Where can people find you?

- They can send a message to my email or call my phone.

It's delightfulchairdeezigns@gmail.c.

(bright music) - Okay, delightfulchairdeezigns, D-E-E. - D-E-E-Z-I-G-N-S. - Okay.

- @gmail.com.

- Okay.

Well it sounds like fun.

I can't wait to see some more of your creations.

- Thank you.

- Thanks for being here, Nancy.

- Thank you.

It was wonderful to be here.

- Yeah.

I hope you enjoyed it.

I know, I sure did.

Be well.

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