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Our Story

Harmony Haus began back in 2008 and has always been based in Evanston, Illinois. I combined my lifelong experience as an artist with my knowledge of home improvement skills and tendencies towards being handy, both traits I picked up from my mother and decided to give it a go and strike out in a completely different field than the career path in the hospitality industry I had been on for the past decade.

Moving to Evanston from Chicago in 2007 had really helped my appreciation and awareness of the environment to flourish; living sustainably, being conscientious, and being aware of my carbon footprint. I was already an avid cyclist, having lived carless for many years, so I bought a trailer that hooked up to my bike and began pedaling my services to local residents. At this time there was an amazing store on Main Street just blocks from my house, Healthy Green Goods, and the owner carried truly environmentally friendly home goods. She carried a line of paint, Yolo Colorhouse as it was called back then (Colorhouse today) and I fell in love with the color palette, the mission of the paint company and I loved its non-toxic properties. I phoned Marnie, the owner of Healthy Green Goods, and asked her for a meeting as I wanted to talk to her about my plans of starting a paint company using Yolo Colorhouse exclusively. She was instrumental in helping me start my business, the very day we had our meeting, two ladies shopping overheard our conversation, took a business card, and called me later that day to schedule estimates. Marnie graciously displayed my handmade business cards next to the paint display so often times when people were picking up paint they just called me too. Everything magically fell into place, I could bike around town, buy paint down the street from my house while supporting small business and get to do something I loved doing every day!

I didn’t think much past that first summer when I just began but as business took off, my service area expanded, jobs grew in size from a room or two to whole interiors, seasons changed, the weather became inclement; I had to change my approach. I teamed up with another local company, I-Go car-sharing, and worked part-time as a marketing intern in exchange for using their cars to haul my gear in and bike the rest of the days.

From the start, I had discovered something I was passionate about, that I loved doing every day and it was important to me to take a mindful approach to an industry that can be very wasteful and unhealthy. When I ended up joining a trade association, Painting and Decorating Contractors of America, that’s when I really became a paint geek. Before then, I didn’t have any friends that were painting houses and suddenly I was taken under the wings of some of the best and finest painters across the country and I still have to pinch myself from time to time, that I call the very best craftsmen in my trade friends, colleagues and mentors.

I have since discovered my true passion for historic preservation and restoration. Every opportunity that presents itself to learn more and expand upon my skill set, I take. I regularly travel around the country for workshops ranging in window restoration, paint stripping, plaster repair, and anything else pertaining to construction that strikes my fancy.
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