Farmhouse Charm Shoppe offers handmade goods

By Olivia Hajicek Assistant Editor

Farmhouse Charm

Shoppe in downtown Hillsdale is a local family’s venture to share their creativity with the community.

Brad and Larissa Hovis, and their oldest son, 17-yearold Hunter, recently started running the business out of their shop at 77 N. Broad Street. Their products include original designs and custom orders of handmade furniture and home decor.

“Our style is rustic, chic farmhouse,” Brad said. “You’re not going to go to any of the box stores and buy anything that we make, because our stuff is solid wood, it’s handmade, no two pieces are the same.”

Brad said that he, Larissa, and Hunter personally hand-make every piece they sell.

“Nobody else touches them,” Brad said. “I build it. My son and my wife fill, sand, stain, paint — whatever needs to be done after that.”

Larissa said the business that became Farmhouse Charm Shoppe originally started as a side hustle.

“He built me a farm table, and I had, of course, posted about it on social media, and all of a sudden, we started getting inquiries from friends and family,” she said.

Brad said they started the business from their home in 2019.

“She started posting pictures and things for her friends online, and it just kind of blew up from there,” Brad said. “So we were online for four years, and then we just opened the store downtown like six months ago, and now we’re starting to get into more decor and things like that.”

Larissa said this has allowed them to offer something within everybody’s budget.

“You could find a really cute $8 item, or you could go up and get a really nice piece of furniture,” Larissa said.

Larissa said she comes up with ideas in her head, not from looking up pictures online. Besides their own creations, they build custom furniture to meet customers’ specifications.

“We’ll build anything to your specifications and your measurements,” Brad said. “If you have this space in your house and you can only have a 4-foot-3 table, well, what are you going to do? You call somebody that makes you one, and there’s not very many people out there that do that. So we kind of homed in on that.”

Brad said that with just the three of them working and orders flooding in, they are usually booked out six to eight weeks.

“I draw a picture of it right there at the desk in front of you,” Brad said. “Six to eight weeks later, I bring it to you, and it’s exactly what you wanted. Your colors, your measurements.”

Brad said Larissa handles the financial parts of the business as well as advertising their products on social media.

Larissa said since they opened the store, she has become friends with quite a few of their customers, which she hadn’t expected at first.

“I’m kind of a shy person, so opening the store — I had some anxiety over that, because typically I was online behind the scenes,” Larissa said.

She said she didn’t see customers very often when their business was only online.

“Since opening the store now, I get to,” she said. “It’s really helped me come out of my comfort zone completely, which I absolutely love. I love seeing my customers.”

Larissa said the hardest thing for her is balancing the needs of her family with the demands of the business.

“I have eight kids, and one is still a little baby, so one second I’ll be feeding the baby, and then I’m holding her, then I’m painting something,” Larissa said. “My phone goes off constantly, so I’m having to respond to customers, and I am a very quick responder too. I kind of pride myself on my customer service.” Larissa said she homeschools her oldest son Hunter. least for a little while. their current home, an Amish farmhouse they used their construction skills to renovate. They also built all the furniture for the house.

“He loved that after the pandemic happened,” she said.

“If I were to get some other job, it would probably be somewhere in the woodworking business because I’m so familiar with it at this point,” he said.

Brad said he has enjoyed building things since he was a child and has worked in construction his whole life. He said he and Larissa have run several construction companies.

“It was a new build, but it had no amenities because they were Amish,” Brad said.

He said he and his wife took some time off to do the renovations.

Hunter said homeschooling gives him the opportunity to help with the family business by sanding, filling, and staining finished products and sometimes running the shop. Brad said his son is his right-hand carpenter.

“It’s better than going to some other job where you barely know a coworker or your boss, for example,” Hunter said. “It just feels more at home.”

Hunter said he plans to stay with the business at

When they launched their business online, they had been looking for a job that would allow Brad to be home with his family.

“Our whole game plan was to live in the middle of nowhere, debt-free, and not have any neighbors,” Brad said.

He said they purchased their first farmhouse eight or 10 years ago.

“Because of the condition of the house, we were able to renovate it and make a large profit on it,” he said.

Brad said that after flipping a few houses, they were able to pay cash for

“It would generally take somebody, you know, six months or better,” Brad said. “We did it in two weeks because we have a family of 10 and we needed to move in two weeks after closing.”

Brad said the best part of running the business is being able to be home with his family.

“If the mood strikes me,

I can stop what I’m doing and go help Larissa make lunch for all the little kids, or breakfast. If Larissa’s not feeling well, I can watch the kids for her,” Brad said. “So being here, a full-time dad, with Larissa, is probably the best part.”

College Baptist plans piano recital

"Running Low On Fumes":

Child Abuse Prevention and Awareness will host a 5K run and walk with food trucks at 3 p.m. on Saturday, April 15, at the Hillsdale County Fairgrounds.

Citizenship Awards:

The annual Jonesville Citizenship Awards reception will honor local citizens for their contributions to the community on Tuesday, April 18, at 7:30 p.m. at the Sauk Theatre.

Overtones Concert:

Upcoming in the city: Correction

The Overtones from Lafayette, Indiana, will perform for the opening night of the 2023 concert season on Saturday, April 22, at 6 p.m. in The Gospel Barn.

By Quinn Delamater Collegian Reporter

Local musicians Kristi Gautsche and Debbi Wyse will perform their annual piano recital at 8 p.m. on April 14 and 15 at College Baptist Church.

The duo has collaborated each spring season since 1985 to bring the community a night of music, a themed event in recent years.

This year’s theme, “A Musical Box of Chocolates,” was inspired by the box of chocolates that sits between the two friends that they share during rehearsals together. The concert will be free of charge and open to the public.

In the April 6 story "Council plans library board, budget votes," a quote said the Hillsdale County Democrats published a controversial video. Individuals, not the party, did so.

The concert will feature selections from composers Debussy and Gershwin, and Gautsche and Wyse have given their different movements names based on the theme. Some of the movements feature titles such as “Parisian Bonbons,” “Cartoon Caramels,” or “A Chocoholic’s Dream.”

Wyse said she and Gautsche think it is important people see how they play.

“Our pianos will be in the center, turned so that people can see us,” Wyse said.

The set list promises to be about 90 minutes long, including 75 minutes of playing, with a few breaks for a spoken narration by Wyse’s husband, Ned, that will consist of poetry, interpretation, and recitation.

The concert will also include an intermission, according to Gautsche.

“We try to make our programs fit our audience so that they can enjoy the evening and the music,” Gautsche said.

Gautsche said she has seen the way in which music affects others.

“What’s important to me is the way that music can change and work in the lives of kids especially,” Gautsche said.

Wyse agreed.

“If I think about music as a hobby, it is a way to bring people together and connect. We have a blast when we play together,” Wyse said. “But the central thing is that we want to dedicate our lives to serving the Lord through music. If we don’t have that, we have nothing.” always incorporated it into their lives.

Both women are active members of the community. Wyse is the accompanist for the college’s Chamber Choir and a former private piano instructor in its music department. Gautsche is a music director at the Sauk Theatre in Jonesville.

“I played for a voice professor in college, and then got into the classical stuff, and then played for a gospel choir for 14 years,” Gautsche said.

Wyse and Gautsche said they both enjoy a variety of music. Wyse sings, plays the harp, and has experience playing the violin, and Gautsche plays the organ.

Anne Schmitt, who will serve as the page turner for Gautsche during the performance, said the audience can expect a classical, fun-filled performance.

The pair met in a Bible study in 1980 and have been friends ever since. Gautsche attends College Baptist Church, where she plays the piano on Sunday mornings, and Wyse attends Free Methodist Church. Both Wyse and Gautsche have been playing the piano since they were girls and have

“When they perform these duo piano concerts, it is a real treat. Their musicianship and performance are aweinspiring and I feel very fortunate to be able to be a part of this,” Schmitt said. “They also do a great job of combining truly amazing classical music performances with a bit of humor and fun. Those who attend will be treated to a musical and artistic delight.”