ROCHELLE — Nathan and Cheyenne Uhl were planning on building a small workshop for blueflamedecor, LLC on their property where they live.

They ended up with a full workshop and storefront in downtown Rochelle in the old Stone’s Hallmark building at 400 Lincoln Hwy. The owners of the home decor business plan to continue to sell handmade signs and more at the location including handmade furniture. Nathan works as a farmer for Rick Kennay, owner of Kennay Farms Distilling and the building the Uhls will rent. 

“I brought it up to Rick that I was looking at putting up a building,” Nathan said. “He told me he had one in downtown Rochelle that would be perfect for me. This is a big building. Part of Cheyenne's dream has always been to be able to do all kinds of home decor, not just signs. I'd be able to build furniture and sell it here. That kind of accelerated everything that we ever hoped and dreamed for. We were thinking in five years we'd be in a building similar to this.” 

The inside of the business has been under construction as the couple tries to get it ready to open. Nathan said the front part of it will be partially open for the Friday (Dec. 3) downtown Christmas walk. 

“Not everything is going to be completely finished, but we're going to let people come in and they'll know who we are and what we're doing and what some of the future plans are,” Nathan said. “The front part will be the storefront. The back area will be the woodshop. That's where we'll make everything. Then it'll be sold out here."

Cheyenne started the business in Jan. 2019. She started making wooden signs for the couple’s home after they got married. She was proud of her work and posted it on Facebook and people started asking if she could make them something. It grew over the years until her work started to grow too big for their basement.

She said she’s passionate about blueflamedecor’s work because she enjoys being artistic and creative. She never expected it would grow as soon as it has.  

“It's been awesome,” Cheyenne said. “It's definitely been unexpected. We were planning on just having a shop in our backyard. It's going to be awesome to have a workshop and people can watch me make the signs. It's going to be fun. I'm excited.”

Cheyenne believes there’s a market for blueflamedecor’s products in the town and area and she hopes it can help the downtown to grow. She grew up in Rochelle and Nathan grew up near Amboy. Their dog, Scooby-Doo, will be the shop’s mascot. 

The couple has seen downtown Rochelle develop over the past few years and is excited to be a part of it. But, they say taking the leap from doing business out of their home to a storefront like the Stone’s Hallmark building has “been scary.”

“It's been nerve racking,” Nathan said. “Doing something like this, you have no idea if you're going to make it or not. We don't have a whole lot to start with, so we're kind of putting ourselves out there in a way that we never really thought we would. At least not at this point. It's been very scary, but we're excited about it."

Nathan enjoys woodworking and building things with his hands. When the couple got married, one of the things he wanted to do was make their bed frame by hand. After a bunch of different trials and trying to decide the finish on it, the couple took a propane torch and burned the wood. Cheyenne liked the finish, and started doing that with the frames of her signs. 

“We settled on the name because of the blue flame that comes out of the propane torch,” Nathan said.

Nathan called blueflamedecor’s time as an online business “interesting.” He said it came with some hassles and the couple is looking forward to doing more sales in person. Blueflamedecor has done craft shows in the past once COVID-19 made them possible again. 

Having in-person sales will showcase blueflamedecor’s strength: its quality. 

“For people to actually be able to see it, look at it and touch it and see what kind of quality she's putting out, that makes a big difference to me,” Nathan said. “Seeing something in a picture and being able to hold it in your hands are two totally different experiences. When you're picking up something that does have a high level of craftsmanship, you have to hold it in your hands to tell that difference."

The Uhls plan to stock the store with as many homemade products as possible. Some will be brought in from vendors. In the future as they grow and learn, they want to incorporate more things like handmade furniture when time allows. 

“The thing about a place like this, when you really sit down and start thinking about it, the possibilities are endless,” Nathan said. “We've talked about being able to host maker events here and bring in members of the community who want to learn a trade or craft to teach them and use some of this space not just for us but really for the community.”