The start…

Several people have asked me - if I wanted to tell the story of how it all started. It is now 18 years since Jeanne d'Arc Living had its young start. Back then, we were two good friends who each had an overriding interest - Lonnie in gardening and flowers and I in interior design. We were also both into all things creative and loved recycling. We had small children, I was on maternity leave with the youngest.

The money was always small, but the creativity great. There were many things we wanted to do, but didn't have the money for and so we had to find another way to cultivate our hobby. We often found old furniture for recycling, or were given it as a gift by family, friends and acquaintances. They were painted and patinated - a lot of time was spent experimenting with stains and sandpaper. We often joked that we should make a book with the title "Home furnishing for poor people" - because that's really how it was. The "kitchen" on the left was one of the first pieces of furniture we redid.

At the same time, I made a lot of food from scratch, from everything I could get my hands on for free. Baked and pickled for the big gold medal, to save. However, it was also really nice, because I had the children with me for the whole thing.

We came up with the idea that we would write an article and try to send it to some magazines. Lonnie had heard of someone who had done that and she had also sold some flower photos to a magazine. As always, we thought, "how hard can it be" - and jumped into it! It was really fun. I clearly remember the first article we did together, where we bought a new cheap iron bed - painted and patinated it - among other things by hitting it with iron chains! - so it came to look old and worn. We styled it on Lonnie's terrace, using whatever textiles we had, flea finds and flowers from the garden. The article was sold! For the Danish magazine Isabellas. We were proud of the Pope and of course got the courage to do more. Many of the first articles were about the garden, room transformations and transforming old furniture and giving it new life. Before long, we were regularly writing articles for the Norwegian magazine "Vakre hjem og Interiør" and a couple of Danish magazines for parents of young children. Here we made articles about everything creative with children and decorated children's rooms. Very practical when we now had 4 small children ourselves. They also had a party that year! Before we looked, my maternity leave was over and we had to decide if the adventure should continue or end there! At the time, Lonnie made a living sewing wedding dresses and I worked at a dentist's office. Full-time employment and three small children could not be combined with being self-employed. The thought of being able to work at home and wait to send the kids out and be looked after every day from early morning until night appealed to me. So did the dream of eventually being able to make a living from what we were passionate about. We took the plunge, lived on a rock at first and suddenly everything went very fast. We started publishing books about interior design and gardening and it turned into quite a few books over the years. We took many of the photos at our own home, and at someone we knew who lived in the same way.

A wholesale company also saw the light of day, with all the products we thought were needed to furnish the home and garden, in the French/Nordic country style. After five years, coincidence meant that we also took the leap to publish our own magazine, in our own small publishing house. The company grew rapidly in the years we had hit a niche. We expanded with many more products and a clothing line. Started to have goods produced abroad and sell to many other countries. More than 80% were exports. When our own paint brand "Vintage Paint" came along, it went completely crazy and we had some really busy, but also exciting years. Erik from Holland, bought into the company and it is he who runs "Vintage Paint" today. In those years, there were 24 people who came daily to Tjørnegaarden, where we ran the company from. There were also sellers in many countries. One of the wilder projects over time was when we bought an old, really dilapidated farm "Tingdalgaard" - completely renovated it and made articles in the magazine about it. I will tell you more about that another day. :)

There were many good ideas in those years, some successful, others not. It was really fun and creativity flourished. But unfortunately our paths had to part and when the Pandemic came, the company was right after one and in the middle of another change of ownership. It was a turbulent time for everyone. It became a struggle to try to maintain the turnover and the many expenses for, among other things, staff, lack of supplies, etc. meant that we couldn't make it through the cuts. In 2021 was a turning point. Fortunately, it was possible to save the publishing company, which I now run alone. It's a completely different everyday life, but I thoroughly enjoy it. For many years, the working days went by with more and more operational things, problems that had to be solved - and all the creative things were downgraded.

Today I do what I am most passionate about. The pay isn't nearly what it used to be, but I love every single day that I get to make the magazine and also have time to make this new website that I've been dreaming of making so much.

It's no secret that it costs "blood, sweat and tears" or in each case hard work, many sleepless nights and periods with little money, to live out the dream of a life as an independent. But, on the other hand, it gives so much in return that I would recommend you jump into it at any time if you dream of it. It's a journey I - in no way would have been without. There are many things I would have done differently along the way if I had had the knowledge I have today. It will probably be like that for everyone. But I regret nothing. It's been insanely exciting and full of lots of good experiences.. I'm proud of what we all built together and all the fantastic people I've met on my way over the years. The sum of all that is what has brought us to where we are today.

THANK YOU for supporting Jeanne d'Arc Living. - Hug Vivian