Click-2-Listen

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Michael and Libby Kirby take a seat in their Boynton Beach home in the colorful Adirondack chairs they paint and sell through their business, Add Lib's Designs. Their boxers, Jezzabelle (left) and Joe, keep them company. The Kirbys also work other part-time jobs.

She got the idea from a chair that Michael had seen and liked.

"We were somewhere and I saw an Adirondack chair that was all painted tropical," Michael said. "She surprised me and bought one and painted it and put it in the back yard. It was the topic of conversation."

Neither of them knew then that the gift would lead them to realize their own American dream.

The chair drew lots of attention and people started asking Libby if she could make more. Then, in April 2005, the Kirbys both were laid off from their jobs at separate companies within days of one another. Faced with the prospect of finding new careers in middle age, the Boynton Beach couple knew they would have to get creative.

Michael, 55, who had worked in human resources helping others find careers and adapt after losing jobs, said he learned to heed his own advice.

"I realized when I got laid off myself that there was going to be life after corporate America," he said. "...I'd seen that happen in so many other people who had to reinvent themselves."

They turned Libby's artsy chair-painting into a business, which they named Add Lib's Designs.

Michael now works part time doing human resource work for Goodyear and is an independent career consultant. Libby, 53, works about 35 hours a week in a store called I Sold It, which is affiliated with eBay.

She spends the rest of her time painting furniture for Add Lib's Designs. Libby estimated she spends at least 30 hours on each chair, and devotes about 50 hours to the business each week. She works on the furniture from 7 p.m. to midnight almost every night.

Despite the fact that she doesn't have much free time, Libby said she cherishes her independence.

"Now I'm in control with what I want to do with my life, as opposed to somebody else being in control," she said.

Though Libby's the creative force behind Add Lib's Designs, Michael plays an equally important role. He primes each piece of furniture with white paint before his wife adds a colorful design, then he varnishes, packages and ships the pieces. He also manages the business' Web site, www.addlibs.com, handles billing, buys supplies and heads business development.

The couple have two grown sons and are expecting their first grandchild. They also have two boxers, Jezzabelle and Joe. They're big Miami Dolphins fans and Libby likes to do other craft projects for fun when she has time.

Libby said she still likes working at the eBay store, just to keep things varied. But she can't get away from her passion for painting.

"Most of my designs I've gotten by just walking around and looking at every single thing I see. I look at it as a picture on a chair."