"My name is Nicole Goncalves and I am the The New England Girl. Not only am I a small business owner, I am a writer and artist. My business specializes in furniture re-purposing & Interior Design, however my website thenewenglandgirl.com encompasses all things “New England”. I enjoy traveling and writing about the local places I visit. I was born and raised here in New England, and we currently live full time in Litchfield County Connecticut. We spend our summers traveling between our Vermont House ( a small cabin built out of 100% reclaimed materials) & Westerly, Rhode Island, with a visit to Maine’s beautiful rocky coast from time to time.
As a child, I was taught how to grow a garden, can & bake from scratch. I spent a lot of time with my grandparents where I was shown how to keep up a household, and how to budget / “buy on a dime”. I completely credit my thrifty-ness to my grandmother Marie. As for the re-purposing & wood working both my father & his father John enjoyed building from scratch. I remember as a child my grandfather building my cousin & I all types of wood rocking horses and other types of toys!
My family’s heritage is primarily Polish & German so my grandparents listened to a lot of Polka music, however on Saturday mornings we faithfully listened to bluegrass on WWUH Listener Supported Radio from The University of Hartford. This is one ritual that has stayed with me after all these years, and nothing makes me happier than hearing some good ole’ bluegrass banjo.
After college I felt a disconnect from the world and had a difficult time putting in hours at a menial job. So I started finding furniture to re-purpose. Eventually one thing turned into another and I created a website and started offering other services such as Interior Design & Organizing. I recently moved my shop to a beautiful barn space in Lakeville, Connecticut. The 1800′s barn sits on 40 acres of rolling lush pasture and looks out onto the Housatonic River and Music Mountain.
Ultimately I feel an amazing connection to my community and I am a huge supporter of small and local business. You will typically hear me end my emails & comments with the saying “We Love Local”! It isn’t often that you hear people say that they genuinely LOVE what they do, but I do. However with the support of my family & friends, my husband Vinnie & my amazing community, I have made my dreams possible."— Nicole Goncalves, Furniture Repurposer & Designer
The New England Girl
203-826-4317
thenewenglandgirl.com
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