Our Team

Monique Gainor

I have loved home decor since I can remember!!  My mother was a master at decorating and creating a beautiful home. I can still remember all my friends commenting on how beautiful our house was! Well, needless to say, that transpired into a passion of creating my OWN beautiful home. I remember the first time “chalk paint” hit the market and I just had to try it. I watched YouTube videos and bought an online book from Perfectly Imperfect! That was it…. I was hooked!  I started painting things and did my first sale at a booth at the Elko Flea Market. It was so successful that I felt I needed to try and open my own shop…and the rest is history! Reclaiming Beautiful was born the Summer of 2013, with my daughter Amber and Susan Tank by my side. It has been a wonderful journey and I know the hand of God has been in it the whole way. I am so incredibly thankful for the people He has brought into my life, and the amazing success of Reclaiming Beautiful! 

I love being a wife to my husband of 34 years, a mom to our two beautiful daughters, and the BEST part is I get to be a Mimi to our beautiful grand-babies! 

Psalm 37:23 – “The Lord makes firm the steps of the one who delights in him!”

Susan Tank

Ever since I was a little girl and my dad built me a playhouse with dutch doors and 6 pane windows, I was hooked on home decor. I would look at my mom’s Better Homes and Garden magazine and imagine they were coming to do a photo shoot in my playhouse...makes me giggle to think of it!  Home is everything to me and growing up in a big, beautiful farmhouse inspired me to make my home just as cozy and inviting. As a new wife and mom, I needed a way to make my home beautiful on a budget…that is when my passion began for making even the oldest, worn, and unwanted items beautiful! Flea markets, estate sales, and auctions make my heart go pitter patter!

Being a shopkeeper is a bucket list dream for me, and I thank my lucky stars everyday that Monique and all our amazing vendors came into my life.  My husband Mike and our two boys Grady and Keegan are always so encouraging and they help me make it happen with all the hauling and lifting. I feel so fortunate that we found a place in the beautiful town of Stillwater to make our own.  I hope I can continue to find you the best vintage items, paint amazing pieces, and make my candles for years to come! 

Xoxo Susan

Allison Marie Design

Allison Marie Design was started in 2009 after I was laid off and our first son was born. It’s beautiful how God knows exactly where we need to be. Creating was my outlet while raising three sweet little people. In 2015 my husband turned our dream of 'running a business together’ into reality when he left Corporate America to support my growing sign business. We hand paint and build all of our signs from the ground up in Prior Lake, MN. Thank you from the bottom of our heart for supporting our dream. xoxo.

Lisa Lueck

Hello, my name is Lisa Lueck and I have been re- purposing furniture and other loved objects for over 25 years. My Facebook page is Dahlia Cottage. I have been a vendor at antique stores and other venues over the years. I have been at Reclaiming Beautiful since they opened, about six years now. I love the "hunt" and displaying all of my treasures together. I look for unique items to bring back to life for your home. My husband Brian helps me a lot with repairs or re-engineering. My son Casey has helped me build pieces out of barn wood over the years. During the warm months, you will find me scouring the cities and coming home with a van full! I absolutely love what I do and I wake up every day excited to work on the next project! I am so thankful that I get to do this everyday.

Amy Peterson

Hi! My name is Amy Peterson. I grew up in Stillwater and currently live in Lake Elmo. I’m a wife and mother to four SUPER CUTE, mostly adult, kids and I have had a furniture obsession for many years. As a young married person with a VERY small budget I repainted and rehabbed every room and piece of furniture in our tiny house. After having our kids, I found a way to make a little extra money for our family, while staying home to take care of them! I loved to see what that old dining room hutch or dresser could be if it was just painted a different color, with some new hardware, and maybe a raw wood top! I have been part of RB for about five years, and the women I work with have inspired and taught me how to be better at what I do. I’ve learned so much about painting and refinishing furniture, and each week I’m inspired to get to work on new pieces for the following week. I’ve also been taking on many custom jobs in the last couple of years and that has only added to my knowledge and experience of reinventing furniture. I love the creativity of my work. Some days I’m sanding the top of a dining table or screen printing pillows, other days I’m hot gluing tiny trees into a miniature scene for a Christmas decoration! My business name is Skrallan. It’s a Swedish children’s book that we keep at our family’s lake place, and each year I force my kids to listen to a reading of it. I think it’s the perfect name for what I do.  It reminds me of how I was able to stay home with my kids, while bringing in a small income. It reminds me of the past and how fun it is to take something old, save it, and make it beautiful for a new person to enjoy. It’s a lot of physical work and not always easy, but I’m so grateful for the job I get to do and the people I get to do it with!

Tanya Gerald

I’m Tanya. Compass North Studio is my business, based in Stillwater and built on positive affirmations. Jewelry making is my passion, but my original career was a pilot. My experience as an Alaskan bush pilot, skydiver pilot, instructor, cargo pilot and then a commercial airline pilot is the base of all I do. Flying taught me resilience and freedom to follow my dreams. I am married to another pilot, so I retired from flying after our second son was born.
What began as metal smith classes 12 years ago has transformed into a work of love. Each piece I make is hand stamped, one letter at a time, by me. I hope the messages empower and brighten the days of the recipients. The creative Reclaiming Beautiful team has helped me to spread my positivity to more people. Thank you for your support!

Tara Cadenhead

I’m Tara. Since I can remember, I have been an art-loving, creative, re-purposing junky! After working as an HR and strategy professional in corporate America for 20 years, I decided to listen to my heart and to those closest to me, and go for it! I have a gift for turning unexpected items into something useful and beautiful, and I strive to make the process very interactive, whether it is designing a signature piece for a fundraiser or including clients' own pieces into a new creation. Marquess Studios was established in May 2014, in historic Stillwater, MN. It specializes in repurposing vintage jewelry/custom designs, gifts, and specialty items that remind people of special people, places, and moments. The studio is open occasionally for classes and open studio, by appointment, as well as private events. Surrounded by so much inspiration--especially from guests who visit and design pieces with my team & I, vintage components turn into one-of-a-kind treasures. A good day at the studio is when a client sees the final masterpiece that they inspired to tell their story.