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WESTERLY — When Ali Pendola was laid off from her waitressing job due to COVID-19 restrictions last spring, she grew philosophical. Then she drew on the wisdom of her grandmothers.
"I always knew there was something bigger for me," said Pendola, 37, a Westerly native who graduated from Westerly High School in 2001 and from Curry College four years later. "I just didn't know what it was."
But she did often think of how her fraternal grandmother, Dorothy Pendola, used to cart her along to thrift stores when she was a little girl. And she did remember how she watched her maternal grandmother, the late Anna Serra, make beautiful wreaths and other crafts.
So, back in the spring, out of work, with time on her hands, and the inspiration of her grandmothers, she looked anew at her life and her possessions, including the unusual furniture she had collected over the years that was stored in her basement.
"I had some beautiful pieces of furniture," said Pendola with a laugh, "but it was beginning to look like a Raymour and Flanigan showroom."
Then Pendola had an idea — why not bring the pieces to life?
"So I sat in my basement and I began creating," said Pendola, who started stripping, refinishing and repainting her treasures while her 3-year-old bulldog, Daisy, kept watch by her side.
She reupholstered stools and repainted benches and chairs and when she had finished, she posted photos of the refurbished pieces on Facebook.
"All twelve pieces sold in two days," said Pendola with a bit of amazement. "Then people started calling me and asking me to make things for them."
Suddenly she had 500 followers on Facebook.
It was an encouraging sign for the entrepreneur, who decided to give her business a name: Ali's Attic. She calls it "mainly a furniture refinishing business ... with customization and specialty custom decor items."
Pendola said soon after her first success, she searched for a mentor and began asking questions of everyone she knew.
"I just started networking," she said. "I connected with a woman in Colchester (Conn.) named Kimberly Perry who taught me so many things."
"I love what I do," said Pendola, who has since returned to her job as a waitress at the Mystic Diner but works on her creations when she's not waiting on customers. "It's my passion ... I use my imagination to create one-of-a-kind works of art."
"I search for perfect pieces and then I customize them," said Pendola. "I give face-lifts to old, sentimental pieces."
She even came up with a slogan, she said: "You imagine it, I create it."
When she was invited to be part of a craft fair earlier this fall, she created growth rulers, address markers and seasonal yard pegs, so she'd have plenty of items to sell.
"People loved them," she said, explaining that the growth rulers can be customized to include the child's name and date of birth.
She painted candy corn on one of her custom Halloween yard pegs, she said, and will custom design pegs for any holiday.
When Beth Williams of North Stonington learned of Pendola's skills from her daughter, Nicole, she immediately thought of her 7-year-old granddaughter, Peyton.
"Peyton needed a desk," said Williams, "especially now with all the virtual learning."
She asked Pendola to help, and before long, Petyon had a custom desk and matching chair.
"It is the cutest thing," said Williams. "Ali bought an old desk and turned it into a perfect, awesome, new one. The chair has Peyton's name across the back, and it is just wonderful."
"Ali is dedicated, committed, and determined," said Pendola's mom, Debra Serra Pendola, a retired educator who was the principal at Bradford Elementary School for many years.
"What a satisfying feeling knowing that my daughter has discovered a personal passion," she added; something she is able "to dedicate her time, talent, and energy towards."
Pendola stressed how much her daughters' two grandmothers influenced Ali's Attic.
Ali is spot on when she "reflects on the role her two much loved grandmothers," Pendola said. "They both inspired her ... conditioning her personal talents along the way."
Perhaps Pendola's biggest fan is her brother, Nicholas, a teacher at State Street Elementary School, who owns two of his sister's creations — a hand-painted decorative stool and a Bermuda pantry.
"Ali’s creativity never ceases to amaze," he said. "The drive and ambition she puts in to these pieces is unbelievable. If you want one-of-a-kind conversation pieces, shop at Ali’s Attic."
Pendola has samples of her work on Facebook at facebook.com/alipendola83 and on Instagram at attic.alis.
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After a pandemic layoff, Ali Pendola found her passion: refinishing furniture - The Westerly Sun
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