HIGHLAND — When it comes to frames, Kristie Harker is a novice. Harker, however, is learning a lot about life as she runs This Old Frame, a business she started to give her high school-aged children a chance to work from home.
"I have to say it's not a profitable business," said Harker, who has made 120 antique frames in the year since her business started.
"Our wood comes to us filthy dirty, with splits, sometimes warped. It's just a lot of work to build one of these because you have to clean it and you have to get pieces that look alike. It's a tricky little business."
Harker got the idea for her framing business in 2003.
She was searching for materials for a new frame when some antique wood caught her eye.
Upon inquiring about the wood, Harker discovered it had been removed from the Hotel Utah when the building was remodeled and renamed the Joseph Smith Memorial Building in Salt Lake City.
"I love antiques," Harker said. "I absolutely love old things. I'm absolutely taken with history of any sort. I just came that way."
After several people expressed admiration for Harker's Hotel Utah-wood frame, she brought more wood to the frame shop and made another, which also drew attention.
Harker then realized she could start a business and sell her own hand-made frames, so she returned to the place she bought her first frame, bought all of the Hotel Utah wood available, and set up a Web site — www.hotelutahframes.com — to display her wares.
Although Harker does have a few handmade frames that are not made out of the wood from the Hotel Utah, more than 90 percent are made from the historic lumber.
As a result, Harker has imposed an expiration date on her business that is contingent upon her Hotel Utah wood supply.
"When it's done, I'm done," Harker said.
According to Harker, her main motivation for starting the business was to provide her children, Lacey, 16, and Corey, 17, with a way to make money working from home.
Both of her children are in high school with busy schedules, and Harker said she wanted to make sure that school remained the top priority. At the same time, she wanted them to learn about discipline and hard work.
Although Harker said she does most of the labor, her kids say they like the hands-on work the job requires of them.
"Every kid needs a job, and (building frames) is kind of different," said Lacey Harker, Kristie Harker's daughter who cleans, sands and joins the corners of the frames together as her part of the business. "This isn't your typical teenage job. It's new and fun to learn how to do these not-so-normal-everyday things."
E-mail: achoate@desnews.com