April 24, 2017

Meet Marc Rodriguez of Vintage Rehabs in Marietta

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Marc Rodriguez.

Marc, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
Originally from Los Angeles, CA, it all started when I was 15 years old and started my first job at a radio installation shop back in 1996. I learned how to work with wood, fiberglass, paint and electronics in cars. I was there for 4 years until I decided to leave and start a new adventure in the corporate world. During this time, my dad was a General Contractor but I was never interested in learning his trade, I had a few corporate jobs that I had to dress up in a tie and suit attire, which I thought was best the thing ever. I always kept resigning after a year’s work. After a few years, I landed a great corporate job as a Compliance Quality Associate for a Medical Device company out in Irvine, CA. The pay was great and I had my small cubicle but I always had an itch that wouldn’t go away. After four years, my girlfriend and I moved in and had our little girl in 2012. During this time, we were watching a whole lot of HGTV shows and one episode showed a furniture flip. That’s when I told my girl “I can do that”. We went to the flea market and bought a dresser for $50. I painted the dresser and sold it for $450. That was the start of Vintage Rehabs. I didn’t know it at the time that It would be a business, I just thought it would be a hobby to make extra cash. We kept on buying and selling furniture and before we knew it, we had several orders and the garage was used for inventory. We then started shipping across country and we would make deliveries on the weekends. I was able to coordinate all this while I was working in my cubicle and sometimes during my lunch. I hope my ex-boss doesn’t read this article, lol.

In one particular delivery, the client loved the quality of the dresser so much that she asked if I would be willing to paint her kitchen cabinets. This kitchen was huge and I was terrified of painting all those cabinets. I asked my dad for help and we did it. The kitchen came out amazing and the client loved it! I started brain storming to see how we could make it work with our business. I had to re-design the logo so it wouldn’t be specific to just furniture. I also wanted to get my girlfriend (Nancy) involved and since she a knack for colors, I thought it would be a great idea if she came in during the consultation and helped the client with colors. Who knew there were so many shades of white. From then on, my girlfriend took care of the color consultation and I focused on the labor. Our customers loved the idea of having a color consultation, keep in mind we were doing all this while still working at both our corporate jobs and taking care of our new born Stella… I was determined to make this business grow.

At this time, I was celebrating my 7th year mark at my corporate job and quite frankly, my mind was never there. I was always making deals and sending texts to clients. Plus, I could not stand another meeting or hear someone else complain. During this time, my girlfriend was working remotely for a company in Midtown, GA and she would fly back and forth a few times. She said GA was so beautiful and that the housing market was much more affordable than CA. Even though I had never flown before, my little 3 yr. old and I boarded our first plane and headed for Atlanta. She was right, it was beautiful and we could afford a home here, plus having a basement would be great for our business. She wanted to move here but I was not on board with moving across country. However, I made a deal with her and told her I would move on one condition, I would quit my corporate job and focus on Vintage Rehabs full time, it was a real quick YES. We came back the next month and looked for a home with a large basement so I can use as a workshop. We found our home in Marietta and put a down payment on the house. I informed my manager that we bought a house in Atlanta and I would be resigning in a month, finally free from the corporate BS.

We moved to Marietta, GA in October 2016 and started working as soon as we moved. I really made and effort to focus our business on customer service and quality. I want to make sure the customer is satisfied with the quality but at the same time it’s affordable. We don’t sub out the work or send a whole different crew. I’m there from start to finish. We offer color consultations along with custom furniture, kitchen cabinet painting and interior painting as well. We are also planning on adding other home services in the future.

Has it been a smooth road?
There has been challenges as far as making our designs different from everyone else. We see a lot of shabby chic stuff where the paint in slapped on and call it a day. We wanted something different, we started combining metallic paint with chalk paint and the response has been unbelievable.

There were challenges, mostly while our baby was born. There were times when we had many orders and we would be up till midnight painting while our little one was sleeping on the couch. Or sometimes I would load the truck with a dresser at night and would have to wake up my girlfriend to help me unload it. We got through it and eventually ended up hiring an intern to help with the loading and painting.

So, as you know, we’re impressed with Vintage Rehabs – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
Our business was first focused on furniture. Since then, we’ve grown and made it into a design studio. We bring our color swatches to your home and help you find the right color for that special dresser, kitchen cabinets or just the right shade of color for your walls. We specialize in paint for furniture, kitchen cabinets and interior. I’m proud that we are a family business that is growing. My girlfriend and daughter always come out to the color consultation with me, it really is a family business.

One thing that really sets us apart is that we offer color consultations. We educate our clients on how colors can change depending on the environment. The type of light bulb in your home can change the color, the amount of sun your home gets affects the color. I’ve had experience on my own where we hire a painter and they have no clue about colors, they are just there to paint.

We also provide high quality paint from Benjamin Moore and Valspar, which we used a lot of in California. We want to be able to give the client options instead of using what everyone here in GA uses Sherwin Williams.

We do all our work in our basement and keep an inventory of dressers as well as buffets. You can view our inventory on our website. The client can also bring us their own dresser for paint.

Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
I love the trees, there are so many trees. I think our home has like 30 trees in our backyard. Our backyard has more trees than the entire street that we lived on back in LA, lol. I also love the rain, everything looks so beautiful.

I also like how friendly people are. They are always waving at you and are always willing to stop and have a conversation. I think here in GA is more about family instead of trying to climb the corporate ladder like other states. We only live once, I want to follow my passion and have fun doing it. It’s not so much about the money like I thought it should be, but its more about quality of life.

We’ve only been here 6 months so far, but one thing that I really miss from LA is having the options of hundreds of restaurants in a mile radius. But, we did find the best whole in the wall Southern food here, it’s to die for.

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