Blue Ridge Country March/April 2020 - 51

that's exactly what we wanted to pay. So
we bought it right then."
She now focuses on acrylic abstracts
and word paintings with sayings like
"Home is where my boys are," "You belong here," and "Savor it," which she sells
primarily at Knoxville Chocolate Co. and
Bradley's Chocolate, also in Knoxville.
"I feel like, through my artwork, I'm
able to communicate some universal
truths and encourage people to take steps
toward living an authentic life that suits
them and not play by somebody else's
rules," says Simeone, who describes herself as empathetic and an "extroverted introvert" who loves people but needs to be
alone to recharge. She is currently homeschooling her son and nursing a foot injury before she hopefully runs a half-marathon. Her spouse has started his own new
construction and remodeling business.
Instead of upcycling discarded wood
into furniture, Simeone now uses it to
frame her artwork. The Knox Heritage
Salvage Shop, a nonprofit initiative that
works to keep donated historic building

materials out of the landfill, contacts her
when they get a 200-year-old mantel or
pieces of ornate molding from an abandoned downtown structure.
"There's something so satisfying about
using reclaimed wood, just giving things
another life," she says. "Maybe it's just
that I've gotten older, but I feel like there's
innate, cherished history down here and
a reverence for things that have a story. I
love the idea of keeping something for another use instead of just trashing it."
But the greatest payoff may be the
feedback from customers. "I get an enormous amount of emails and phone calls
and messages from people who've either
ordered something or been gifted something or bought it at a store, and they give
me a full rundown of why they needed a
reminder like this or why they love it,"
Simeone says. "I don't take that lightly,
and I'm really grateful. Furniture was fun,
but this is really fulfilling."
For more info see Joanna Simeone's
Milk Moon House Facebook page; a new
e-commerce website is in the works.

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Blue Ridge Country March/April 2020

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