Welcome to Yardartrus.com

Thanks for visiting here at Yardartrus.com. I'm Connie, our digital content creator and I would like to introduce you to Bruce & Mary Amick.

Mary, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
My husband and I started out painting yard art in the 1990s for a little extra money. Gradually, we painted enough yard art to command a presence in Pearland and became known for holiday yard art which was sold by Roger and Louise at May Products located at 1705 Broadway St in Pearland. We specialized in painting Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter yard art. In 2011 Roger and Louise wanted to sell the property and the business. In January of 2012, we bought the business and property and changed the name to Mary Mays. Since 2012, we have expanded our line to include poly furniture, metal art, talavera, wind spinners, and we now My daughter Ashley & I offer online painting classes.

Has it been a smooth road?
It has definitely been a rough road. In 2013 the house which sits on the business property burned due to an electrical fire. The previous owners still lived in the house and they became homeless due to the fire. We rebuilt the house, and they moved back into the house. In December of 2014. Our workshop burned to the ground and it was a devastating loss. Due to the age and condition of the workshop, it was not insured. We lost all of our equipment and inventory. We had many sleepless nights while trying to decide how to move forward. Fortunately, our customers continued to buy the inventory that was left. More importantly, many customers spoke words of encouragement and prayed for our recovery. When a loss like this happens, you have to decide how to move forward and also how to give yourself some sort of encouragement to help yourself put one foot in front of the other. We chose to be grateful that no one was hurt or harmed and that everything we lost was only material items which over time could be replaced. Little by little we worked on rebuilding our workshop and improving the property. Many folks were involved in rebuilding–plumbers, electricians, engineers, surveyors, and a number of other contractors. Every time one phased was finished, we were encouraged to begin on the next.

So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Mary Mays story. Tell us more about the business.
Outdoor decor is our specialty. Our hand painted Christmas yard art items are the core of our business and is what we are most known for. Halloween and Thanksgiving are also high demand items. Since the yard art is one of a kind, customers know they won’t find it anywhere else. All year long, we sell poly furniture, decorative planters, art poles, wind spinners, wood furniture, and many more items. These items are hard to find items because they are not available at most stores.

How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
We are planning on expanding our poly furniture line and moving some of our hand painted items to vinyl printed items. We are also looking to buy a new CNC machine with the capabilities to giving our customers custom engraved signs.