"Anything that can be saved from the landfill and turned into something beautiful " is Frankie's motto.
Frankie Coffelt was born in the Gizzard Cove in 1945. Her love for creativity came to her creek side as a little girl, collecting colored rocks and painting anything that got in her way. She moved to the back of Signal Mountain in 1952 and has seen a lot of changes in the mountain over the years. She noticed people wanting to throw away furniture that was broken or old. Her desire to save anything from going into the landfill is what fuels her creativity. She begins by repairing; sometimes having to rebuild, furniture that she finds at thrift stores or yard sales. A lot of times, people will just bring their dated furniture to her to paint or "rethink" the piece. She has turned sleigh beds and headboards into benches, dressers into shelves, stereo cabinets into buffets, and wagon wheels into kitchen islands. She has a unique aesthetic and eye for detail. She has now paired with a young lady named Marissa Ballinger from M's Monograms and More to create primitive items as well as up-cycled "Pinterest" items. Visit their booth down at Vinterest in Hixson, TN out on the patio for ever-changing items of interest. They have also paired with a friend down at the Reliks location in East Ridge, TN behind Cracker Barrel. Between both locations, all your needs can be covered. Everything from hand-poured candles, monograms, embroidery, primitive furniture, antiques, custom T-shirt design and much much more. You can also call and order one-of-a-kind pieces to be built. The girls can even come out and measure the space and help you decide on your next beautiful addition to your home.
Music I started painting lettering cars when I was 15 years old. I've never stopped. Music I lived eight breathed race cars and so instead of doing school work for 12 years, I sat and drew race cars. Music My uncle had a race car back in Springfield, Missouri, ran it at the Fairground Speedway. The story goes that I was so excited the first time they took me to the races when I was four years old that I threw up. I was that excited about racing and I've made my living with race cars ever since. Music They would have exhibits at the art muse Every time they had an exhibit, I had something in there. I don't know how I graduated from school, but I did, so I don't know how I did it. Music When I figured out there was model cars to be made, I started making model cars. Funny cars, top-kill cars, love Can-Am cars. I made model cars of everything and sat and lettered them. We had some friends that when I was 15 years old that had a car they were being built for this 1969 season and I took all these model cars in and put them in his lap and said, I lettered all these, will you let me letter your race car? And I had him in front of my mom and dad and what could he say, right? Music It'so much fun to paint something that's historic. Getting to hand letter Daylearn Hart's very first Wrangler car was a real thrill at Bill Rhine'shop. And then Rusty Wallace's Gatorade car and Kale Yarborough's 28 Hardee's car. We can spray a lot of these cars and that's great. It's a race car, but man, the history of those cars, that's the cool part. I'm a history-aholic and I love history and to me, the historic race cars is right at my alley. Music I asked for as many pictures as photos as I can get. I'd love a side view of the car and how big the n And I try to study on that before I start to see the proportion. That's a big deal. The trait of any sign painter is you've got to copy what you see. So that's just what you're doing. You just see, copy and what you see. I've been asked before, have I got an apprentice to teach this to and I honestly don't know if you can teach that. It's not just the being able to scale something or know how to apply the paint, but you can't have a shaky hand and do that. Music Since I raced and that's been my whole life, I appreciate what Aaron's doing, that he's taken these old bodies and tweaked them and put them on a modern chassis. That is the coolest thing ever. It's one thing to restore a car because It's But Aaron's taken it into the technology deal and I think that's the coolest thing ever. Music I've been doing this since 1969 and getting to see those cars. I'm really proud of that. That's pretty cool. The history of them is what I guess if I had it to do all over again when I was 16, I'd have left Missouri and come over here and worked on a NASCAR team because I loved it that much. Music