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Photo courtesy of Robyn Gayheart.
Hammer & Stain patrons show off their crafts. Owned by Robyn Gayheart, the store recently moved its location from Riverchase to the Village at Lee Branch.
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Photo courtesy of Robyn Gayheart.
Hammer & Stain patrons show off their crafts. Owned by Robyn Gayheart, the store recently moved its location from Riverchase to the Village at Lee Branch.
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Photo courtesy of Robyn Gayheart.
Hammer & Stain patrons show off their crafts. Owned by Robyn Gayheart, the store recently moved its location from Riverchase to the Village at Lee Branch.
Crafters and creatives can make unique decor at the newly relocated Hammer & Stain at the Village at Lee Branch. The store originally opened near the Riverchase Galleria in October 2019 but made the move to the 280 corridor this past October.
Owner Robyn Gayheart and her husband Mark moved to Shelby County from Indiana in July 2019 to be closer to Mark’s brother. Mark is a pharmacist by day but enjoys woodworking as a hobby, so he creates all the items for the shop at their home.
“He loves woodworking, so that’s why we got into this business,” Gayheart said. “It’s his therapeutic quiet time.”
A typical day for Gayheart is dropping off her twins at school, working on behind-the-scenes responsibilities like office work and printing off vinyl for customization. She also teaches classes in the evenings, along with two other instructors.
The concept of Hammer & Stain is to take a raw piece of wood and transform it into a wall-worthy piece of art to be displayed.
Customers visit the website and pick out their project. Once they arrive at the studio, their custom-made piece is waiting for them, along with all the supplies to create it. A guided instructor teaches the class and helps customers as needed.
Other workshop options include pallets, framed signs, knit blankets and more. During the workshops, everyone doesn’t have to do the same project; customers choose what they’d like during their registration.
Gayheart said in addition to items in their workshops, they can also do custom orders that people find on Pinterest or other sites.
The most popular item at Hammer & Stain are the round boards. They are completely customizable and can become door hangers, lazy Susans, trays and more.
“You paint the background of the board or stain it, and then apply the vinyl of other customization. After painting over the vinyl, you have a perfect crisp, clean project that you created,” she said.
Gayheart also offers at home kits, hosts birthday parties and corporate parties at the studio and does fundraisers as well.
“During COVID, we have been doing off-site kit fundraising,” she said. “We put everything together in a kit, and the organizer picks them up and distributes them. A certain amount as decided by organizers is given back to an organization of their choice.”
While she has scaled down quite a bit on size of classes during COVID-19, she has also pivoted the business and created take home kits called “Hammer at Home projects.”
She is gearing back up to do her monthly subscription boxes. For January, she has planned for a wooden pedestal with a customizable wood plank sign hanging off of it. The kit will arrive with everything needed to create the project except a hot glue gun.
Gayheart said the response at Lee Branch has been wonderful since the move.
“Most of my classes are people who have never been before,” she said.
Most of the projects are between $40 and $70, and guests can bring in their snacks and beverages of their choice. The workshops usually last one-and-a-half to two hours.
The studio is open by appointment during workshops and private parties. Times are arranged for people to pick up their take-home kits.
All ages are welcome at the workshops, but Gayheart suggests younger children be able to do the project on their own without any assistance and have a supervised adult with them.
Hammer & Stain is located near the Taziki’s at 611 Doug Baker Blvd. For more information, visit hammerandstainbham.com.
