Building Home: Currently Chic and CC Moveables grow alongside a life shaped by family and uncertainty

Lance and Brittany Taylor are the owners of Currently Chic and CC Moveables, creating home décor and furniture from their shop in Van Buren. Photo by Madison Mabry.

In Van Buren, Currently Chic and CC Moveables are familiar names in home décor and custom furniture, with pieces appearing in homes and businesses across the community. What began as creative outlets for Brittany and Lance Taylor has grown into two full-time businesses.

Where Currently Chic Began

Before Currently Chic and CC Moveables became established businesses, the work started with home projects. At the time, Brittany was working at a bank and looking for something different. She began painting furniture and making décor pieces that fit her own style, without a plan to turn it into a business.

It all began with a small, wooden pallet sign with “Baby it’s Cold Outside” that Brittany painted for their home and posted a photo on social media. After she shared her work online, others began asking for their own.

“People kept saying, ‘Well, I want one. Well, I want one,’” Brittany said.

In those early stages, neither Brittany nor Lance had formal experience in woodworking or design. “We didn’t have a skill set at all,” Brittany said. “We didn’t know what we were doing.” They said they relied on trial and error, using pallets and basic tools to figure out how to create each piece.

Lance helped gather materials and assemble pieces while Brittany focused on design and painting. Much of the work happened in their living space, with projects spread across the house as they worked through orders and new ideas.

“She would hand-paint [signs] just on the coffee table watching TV with a little brush kit from Hobby Lobby,” Lance said.

As more people requested custom pieces, the workload increased. They adjusted their process to keep up, marking the first of many changes in how they worked.

Brittany Taylor began Currently Chic in 2014 as a hobby and now runs the business full-time, decorating homes throughout the nation. Photo by Madison Mabry.

A Shift in Direction

As Brittany’s business continued to grow, Lance’s career was becoming less stable. He had been commuting to Jonesboro, Arkansas, for work. After a larger company acquired the business he worked for, his role began to change, eventually shifting into a new position. “I was working six days a week, and I would leave at dark and get home at dark,” he said. Not long after, Lance lost his job.

Around the same time, Brittany’s business was continuing to grow and she had committed full-time to working on Currently Chic and was looking at opening a storefront. “My end goal was always to have a store selling my prints and selling other people's handmade things and decor,” she said. However, the timing and uncertainty made them question whether opening a storefront was the right next step. “We were like, 'Do we even still do this?’” Brittany said.

They decided to move forward with opening a store in Van Buren, creating a space to sell Brittany’s work and other handmade goods. “That was a total move of faith to go ahead and open the store when his employment was on the line,” she said.

CC Moveables Takes Shape

After opening the storefront, both Brittany and Lance became more involved in the day-to-day work of Currently Chic, each taking on different roles as demand continued to grow. While Brittany focused on design and production, Lance began building furniture, starting with pieces for the store itself like displays and custom storage pieces to fit the space.

Soon, customers visiting the store began asking for similar items and those early builds turned into paid orders. “I didn’t have a skill set for this,” Lance said. “I looked up plans on the internet.”

Orders for custom furniture continued to increase, and Lance began taking on more projects while still working another job that he had picked up in town. “I got like eight to 10 orders, and I just told my boss, ‘I’ve got to jump,’” Lance said.

With support from his employer, he left his job to build furniture full time, launching CC Moveables.

Brittany continued expanding her product line in Currently Chic, eventually moving from hand-painted pallet signs to other materials like birch and later canvas that allowed her to keep up with demand.

“I figured out, because I was getting so busy with orders, how to not have to sit and hand-paint all of them,” she said.

Not long after making the move to Van Buren, Lance discovered a skill of and passion for refurnishing and building furniture. He now owns and operates CC Moveables. Photo by Madison Mabry.

Crafting Meaningful Pieces

As their businesses grew, so did the kinds of projects they were asked to create. Many orders went beyond décor or furniture, carrying personal meaning for the people who requested them.

Brittany said some of the most meaningful pieces she creates come from handwritten notes or messages that customers want preserved. In one instance, a customer asked her to recreate a handwritten poem from a mother to her daughter.

“It was her mom had wrote this poem about her sister,” Brittany said. “She sent me the video of her sister opening it and crying.”

With CC Moveables, Lance has restored furniture and family heirlooms that have survived floods, aging and other events that have caused wear. “It’s my most favorite thing,” he said. “It makes me so happy to take [old furniture] back to what it was when their grandparents had it because then they get to pass it on down.”

Through both businesses, their work often becomes part of someone else’s story. “It's so rewarding,” Lance said.

A Shift at Home

As the businesses continued to grow, the demands of running a storefront while producing inventory and managing employees became difficult to sustain.

“There was so much overhead at the store,” Brittany said. “With me having to make the products, I had to pay somebody to be there full time so I could be here doing the work.”

At the same time, both Brittany and Lance’s work had reached a point where it could continue without a physical storefront. Online orders were steady, and Lance’s furniture business remained consistent.

They made the decision to close the store in 2021. “I loved the store. It was really fun for a lot of years and I still have a lot of local customers,” Brittany said. “Maybe one day in the future we will consider a store again.’

In the years that followed, their home life continued to take on a larger role in shaping how they worked. The Taylors later adopted their three children, and Brittany said their priorities shifted as she took on the role of homeschooling.

“Family is at the heart of everything I do,” she said.

Working from home allowed them to build their schedules around both their business and their children, often blending the two throughout the day. “It’s such a blessing to be able to have the kids and work here and I’m not just gone,” Lance said.

The Taylor's basement often operates as an office and sometimes a classroom where Brittany homeschools their three children. Photo by Madison Mabry.

A Leap of Faith Amid Uncertainty

Even after years of running their own businesses, the uncertainty has not gone away. Their work continues to depend on demand, timing and the willingness to keep moving forward without knowing exactly what comes next.

“Honestly, every new month, it’s a leap of faith for us to keep trying to continue what we’re doing,” Brittany said.

That uncertainty shows up in different ways throughout the year, with some seasons bringing steady work and others requiring them to wait for orders or adjust their schedules. Still, they continue to rely on what has sustained them so far.

“My goodness, God provided for us again,” Brittany said. “Another month like this is still working.”

For the Taylors, the structure of their work has changed over time, but what it allows them to prioritize has remained consistent. “We’re making a happy childhood for our kids,” Lance said.