How our woodworking business began...

Are you like us and after buying your first home told yourself you would decorate and then put it off and put it off just to find out how expensive those big name brand pieces of home decor and furniture are? If so, we are going to get along great! Hi! We are Mandy and Corey Schmidt and 3 years ago we created Beauty & the Badge Wood Co out of our two-car garage at our home. We are a husband and wife woodworking team and what started as a hobby to create products for our own home has now turned into our passion.

For years our home was bland and bare with a few pictures on the walls and nothing that really brought life to our home. While browsing the interwebs one day Mandy saw an adorable wooden front door hanger that we liked. It was made of thin cheap wood and was very small for the creator's advertising price. I thought to myself, “I could make that so much better.” I think every husband at some point says that about one thing or another. Fast forward a few days later and we were creating our first wooden door hanger. And it was… nice. Let’s be honest, it was a mess and I considered quickly abandoning our aspirations and just buying the one we saw before. I thought to myself, no I can do this, and after several failed attempts we finally had our first wooden door hanger on our front door!

After bragging about how “easy” they were to make our friends and family began asking for wooden door hangers for their homes too! Our very first large run of wooden door hangers is pictured front row and center on our website and we are still very proud of that picture to this day. 

After mastering cutting wood into circles we decided we were expert craftsmen and decided to tackle more complicated wood projects such as small furniture and cornhole boards, which were all the rage. We quickly learned that we were still very much woodworking apprentices and there was going to be some serious trial and error. After wasting what felt like $100’s of wood, we produced our first commission hand-stained American Flag cornhole boards purchased by one of my wife’s coworkers at the time. Man, I felt like we had made it. We were literally taking ugly plain wood and turning it into a masterpiece of a backyard cornhole game. Little did I know that there was a large competitive market for cornhole boards and they didn’t exactly “fly off the shelf.” Little by little our small door hanger and cornhole side hustle grew and grew locally and we decided to brand our business. 

Choosing a business name was harder than trying to get our 3 and 5 years old at the time to brush their teeth twice a day. We wanted our business to be something that stuck out and still meant something to both of us. To back up a little, I am a deputy with our local Sheriff’s Office and have been in law enforcement for a while now and my wife, well, she is the one with the good genes in the family, let's be for real. While bouncing ideas off each other one night it just hit Mandy, Beauty and the Badge… it quickly stuck and the rest is history. 

We truly love our creations and seeing our customer’s visions come to life. Our product line is ever-expanding from laser-engraved products to drinkware and even furniture. We are even moving into a dedicated space soon to take our woodworking journey to the next level. We hope you come along with us as we try and make Beauty & the Badge Wood Co. a household name!