A Deadline for Success

Pauline started refinishing furniture as a necessity when the only pieces of furniture she owned was a bed for herself and a bed for hr daughter. At the time she was living in Las Vegas and she went to a swap meet and bought a night stand for $3 and refinished it herself. "That is what is good about this stuff," said Pauline " I know how to correct these things and if I don't like it, I can go back and do it again. Everytime I work on a piece of furniture, I'm thinking about how much hard work it to the people who made this to do it by hand," said Pauline. Stanley learned what he knows of refurnishing from shop class.

Pauline and Stanley look for their ATM pin number. "It is hard to remember when you don't use the bank very often," said Pauline. Stanley and Pauline have not sold a piece of furniture in two weeks, making them reliant on Pauline's alimony payments. "Sometimes we don't even make money on this stuff (furniture)," said Stanley.

Pauline expresses her dissapointment with Stanley for bringing a dog into their house only to turn around again and give it away after Pauline became attached to it. Stanley and Pauline only leave their shop once a week to get groceries and admits that sometimes working together and living together sometimes gets a little tense. "We have disagreements but it never gets into a major argument," said Stanley. "I'll usually let him go and do what he wants to do, then I'll go back and fix it," said Pauline.

Stanley Maj towels off after washing his hair and taking a sponge bath in the sink of their shop. Maj and his partner Pauline don't have showers yet in their living space. "Sometimes you just have to be willing to take cuts to do what you want to do," remarked Pauline regarding the sacrifices they are having to make to get their furniture refinishing business started.

"We go at our own pace," said Stanley Maj, left, taking a break from his refurnishing.