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reLove

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Amanda Stein’s refurbished home décor shop opens

Amanda Stein, owner of reLove in Miller Place. Photo from Amanda Stein

By Julianne Cuba

Miller Place is getting some extra love this spring with the opening of Long Island native Amanda Stein’s reLove shop and paint boutique.

The reLove shop in Miller Place. Photo from Amanda Stein
The reLove shop in Miller Place. Photo from Amanda Stein

The store, located at 87 North Country Road in Miller Place, held its grand opening on April 11 and features Stein’s own refurbished and painted furniture, along with home décor and homemade jewelry from other local artists, as well as CeCe Caldwell’s Paints, an eco-friendly line of natural chalk and clay paints.

Miller Place residents may recognize Stein’s work from Facebook, as the wife and mother, started posting pictures of her original furniture and custom-painted signs on the social media site about a year ago.

Stein, who has lived in Miller Place for about a year and a half, said her love of interior design stems from her grandmother, who collected antiques, and that she began painting furniture after she moved out of her parents’ house.

After leaving her career in real estate to look after her two children — Ella, 5, and Adam Jr., 4 — Stein said she wanted to take her passion and turn it into a business.

“It was one year ago that I started reLove from my house as a stay at home mom,” she said. “I always painted furniture for years and years, and all my friends kept telling me I should sell it. So I started with a Facebook page. It was literally overnight [that] it took off.”

Stein said she started the page with just seven pieces of furniture, but that number quickly grew as she began marketing all over social media.

Inside reLove in Miller Place. Photo from Amanda Stein
Inside reLove in Miller Place. Photo from Amanda Stein

Within a few months, Stein said she was getting booked with custom jobs and selling out of her furniture and signs.

“I did all of this from my two-car garage,” she added in an email.

reLove’s grand opening was jam-packed the whole weekend, Stein said. The store was supposed to close at 7 p.m., but people were still coming in until after 7:30 p.m.

“The opening was absolutely amazing,” she said.

For its opening weekend, reLove offered free paint samples to everyone who came in and a $50 dollar raffle for the store.

“A couple of people took the [paint] samples home and they immediately painted a piece of furniture with it and sent me pictures of the furniture they painted, which was very cool,” Stein said.

A piece of custom painted furniture for sale at the reLove shop in Miller Place. Photo from Amanda Stein
A piece of custom painted furniture for sale at the reLove shop in Miller Place. Photo from Amanda Stein

Dolores Spyowicz, of Country Charm in NYC, who has items for sale at the shop, said she met Stein through a painting group on Facebook and the two became good friends. She said reLove’s owner is a hard worker with a “beautiful vision.”

“I thought that being in a store in such a wonderful, beautiful neighborhood, my pieces would get more attention, and I’d be helping her out as well,” Spyowicz said. “I just thought it would be a wonderful opportunity.”

In addition to being a “one-stop-shop” for customers who paint and refurnish furniture, Stein said reLove will host several workshops — from painting basics to parent and child craft nights to bride nights out.

Stein also said reLove will maintain an eco-friendly and socially responsible business.

“It’s all eco-friendly,” she said. “The paint line that I sell, there are absolutely no chemicals in the paint.”

Stein said she’s thrilled to be following her dream as a business owner in beautiful and historic Miller Place.

“It’s been a wonderful thing because I’ve had a lot of positive feedback.”