New downtown retailer repurposes aging items
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POLSON — Savvy power tool skills can help repurpose aging pieces into useful items — just ask Tasha Avison.
“Shop was my favorite class in high school,” she said.
Avison’s new store in Polson, called Perfectly Imperfect and located at 305 Main Street, speaks to her passion for fixing things. The store’s a mix of old refurbished furniture, custom signs, gift items and vintage things.
Avison does all her own sawing, drilling, sanding, painting and hammering in her workshop in the back of the store, where she fixes up furniture and builds new pieces out of weathered barn wood.
She gathers her pieces from the curb for free, or at garage and estate sales; things that might otherwise just waste away in barns or sheds.
“In a way, I’m kind of preserving history,” Avison said.
One of her more interesting finds was “the forgotten workbench that nobody wanted” at a garage sale. Avison repurposed it into a kitchen island.
Tables she’s made from wood rounds, vintage dressers painted interesting colors, shabby chic windows and old teacarts furnish her store. And every flat surface is fair game for vintage or vintage-inspired items.
For customers who have something specific in mind, Avison paints furniture and creates custom signs.
To maximize the store’s appeal, she has an Old Time Photo Shop set up in the middle portion of the store, complete with a saddle, a saloon, a settee, a jail and other backdrops.
She and her husband, Ryan, always get old time photos taken when they’re on vacation, so they decided Polson needed one.
Racks of costumes — from saloon girl dresses to southern bell hoopskirts to western hats, guns and even red long handles — tempt folks to sit for an old-time photo.
Avison will also take photos of children with Santa Claus at the Cove Deli on Dec. 12 and 19 from 5 to 7 p.m.
Hours at Perfectly Imperfect are 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Saturday. For more information, call the store at (406) 253-4522.
