Ladies and gents, let me introduce you to #Hashtag... I consider myself an Austinite, even though I was born above the Mason-Dixon Line. My parents moved to south Austin when I was two and this great city has been my hometown ever since. I did move away for about five years to Colorado Springs, Co. and even though it's a beautiful state with so much to do I couldn't wait to get back home. I worked the corporate world for several years and was fortunate enough to work for a company that allowed me to bring my son with me to work right after he was born. One Friday afternoon I was packing up, ready to head out for the weekend, when my boss asked to chat with me, I quickly realized what the chat was about. I was jobless! By Monday I had processed this change and was now thanking God that He had answered my prayers and desires to stay at home with my then six month old son. Fast forward a few years and my family had grown once again, we had a beautiful little girl that completed our family. After adjusting to being a family of four I began to want to scratch the itch to bring home an income. That's where Hashtag began. Jessie and I started turning our creative wheels and making home decor out of anything we could get our hands on, from items left on the curb to friends and family begging us to take pieces off their hands. Since we started, less than a year ago, not only has our company evolved but we have grown in so many ways. Kasey LaBorde

Born in Alabama, raised in Louisiana, grew up in Dallas and settled in Austin and don't plan on leaving. Sorry mom! I have always had the "junk" bug. I can remember decorating the front room of our house when I was 15 with old suitcases, photographs and vintage clothing. It was a useless room but to me it told a story. I wondered who had this stuff before me and why did they throw it away! I met my husband when I was 17 at a church camp in Dallas where I lived and we dated long distance for 7 months before I decided to move to Austin. Austin and I belong together. Weirdos at heart! I was having a group of moms over to play with, well, they brought their kids too, but it really was about the moms hanging out. Looking at all my friends sitting on the floor of our playroom, next to a window with no curtains, I felt ashamed and embarrassed. I realized I had put our house on hold to raise babies...well, time was up. I didn't want to go blow tons of money on decorating and neither did Cody plus, like I said I like "junk"...pretty "junk". I went to a thrift store, found some really cool old floral print sheets and decided I was going to make curtains with them. I drug my three boys into the woods and set them loose...mission: find mom a 6 foot stick to repurpose into a curtain rod and that they did! Is it weird to use a stick and old sheets as curtains...not in Austin! Everyone raved about it. It hit me then that people like to use things in ways they are not supposed to be used, along with saving money! Hello! #Hashtag was born...Kasey and I started selling small home decor items we had repurposed in an antique shop in Plano and when I say the rest is history, I mean, we haven't had time to look back since! We let God take the reigns and we are just holding on tight during this crazy, amazing, shocking, fascinating, rewarding ride.

Somehow this blog entry never posted...so here ya go!  Happy customers! So, we finished the Craigslist customers living room, dining room, entry way and kitchen. I would like to thank the Academy and God and my manager...wait, that's my other life. But seriously, I would like to thank our families for putting up with the long hours of not seeing Kasey and I ...as she would say, "our built in babysitters." Cody and Jonathan really are amazing husbands and dads. They are up for rent. Remember everything is for sell! Completing this project really confirmed that you do not need a huge budget to have a complete, beautiful and personalize space. Mixing new and old pieces is truly the key. Say you hate your huge entertainment center you bought off the side of the road in 2000....like everyone else did that year. Don't throw it away! Think of ways to give it a facelift. You could chop it half or maybe turn it side ways...definitely paint that big boy! For the customer's end tables in the living room, we used an antique saw horse and a table made from an old suitcase. The coffee table is a cabinet door attached to a metal thingy with wheels I found at a junk yard. It turned out to be the perfect height! Instead at adding a traditional love seat to match the couch, we found a chase lounge. Just as much seating but with an different look. The small table by the sitting chair did not have a drawer face when Kasey bought it. She was able to customize the color of the fence wood, nail it to the front, which added a pop of color to the room. Yes red, but a small, tiny, inzzie binzy bit of red. Most of the bigger pieces of furniture was either in our garages or found on Craigslist. Their entry way table was an old sewing machine repainted with a cool duck egg blue color and a black stain. The entertainment center is an antique buffet. So cool! You just are not going to find a piece like this at Pottery Barn...for sure, a one of a kind! We used an antique foot board that someone had added a board it to make a shelf behind the couch. Chippy paint and all. Once we had the big pieces in place, we wanted to personalize their home based on our first consultation. On the fence wood entryway wall, we hung up a picture frame with chicken wire for photos.  If you look way up high you will see that we burned their initials on one of the planks like you would see lovers do on a tree. I could go on and on about the projects we did for these guys but the pictures really explain themselves. On to stage 37... The office. ~Jessie

Crystal Bridges is one of those girlfriends who 1. Loves diy and 2. is a small business owner. Therefore is my friend! (Plus she is one the sweetest people I know! ) She has offered be the bridge that brings #Hashtag to the "north of the river" customers. Pun intended;) For those who do not live in Austin, there is a defining line of travel in our city. And it's that river...granted it is only about 20 minutes driving without traffic...it doesn't matter....not going! Crystal owes Luxe Body Spa and they offer array of services. *Chemical peels *Botox injections *MicrodermabrasionLaser hair removal *Body contouring *Laser spider vein removal *Filler treatments on lips, forehead Teaming up with Crystal and Luxe Body Spa allows our customers, you guys, to shop for more for #Hashtag products without crossing that beloved river. Please bring cash or checks and call before heading out to make sure someone is available to unlock the door. Luxe Body Spa 3921 Steck Ave Suite A117 Austin, TX 78759 512-298-4367 http://www.austinmedspa.net/

Stage two of the Craigslist Customers...sounds like a title to a horror story. Pppsssttt...ask Kasey if she was really scared when I hid in one of the empty rooms and jumped out a scared her. Oh, good times. Remember that budget, lets just say it saved us! So many times I would find a perfect piece ..refer back to budget...and then put that perfect piece into someone else's basket because it deserves a home and wasn't coming home with me. However, I do have to say the hard work of weeding through the too expensive and "yuck that's red" paid off!