How may I contact you?
You may contact us by phone, text, email, or mail. Please be sure to include your contact information when making an inquiry. We will do our best to answer your questions and concerns within 24 hours. Below is our current contact information:
Owner:
Melissa Lightwell
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Phone/Text:
(530) 718-2387
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Email:
inquiries@lightwellcottage.com
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Mailing:
10556 Combie Rd.
PMB 6108
Auburn, CA 95602
Where may I find you on social media?
Currently, Lightwell Cottage does not use any form of social media except for the Maker Circle app, which keeps us connected to other goimagine sellers. If we decide to create other social media accounts, we will state this clearly on our website. Please protect yourselves from online scammers who pose as big and small businesses trying to gain customer trust. We will never try to contact individuals through social media platforms for personal information or payments. We also do not offer things like social media memberships, loyalty points, raffles, etcetera. We only contact customers directly through our business email or goimagine account regarding actual purchases, and we will only contact customers by phone to return a customer’s phone call.
How do you use my personal information?
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Information collected through email or by phone is for the sole purpose stated. If you provide your personal information to Lightwell Cottage through email or by phone, this information is used for the sole purpose of providing you with customer service. Once the service is completed, customer contact and purchase information is saved on our business external hard drive for 4 years. This hard drive is for the Lightwell Cottage business only and remains secure in a locked location. This information will only be retrieved if you require future assistance or if we are required by law to assist in a legal matter. You will not receive any type of announcements or advertisements from us unless you have clearly requested to receive such notifications from us. There will never be any type of automatic electronic collection of statistical information directly from Lightwell Cottage, and your information will never be shared with or sold to any other third party outside of goimagine and goimagine's service providers such as Stripe, delivery services, etcetera. If you choose to purchase an item from us, please understand that you will be making the purchase through goimagine's online marketplace. Goimagine is a separate business from Lightwell Cottage and only serves as an online platform for Lightwell Cottage to sell goods. Goimagine maintains their own privacy guidelines, which can be found on their website. Please refer to the link below to find our full privacy statement as goimagine sellers, and please contact us if you have any questions or concerns regarding this privacy statement.
Full goimagine.com Seller Privacy Statement:
Can I purchase an item in person?
Lightwell Cottage is a home-based business that sells online, so all purchases must be made through our goimagine.com shop. You will have the option to choose "local pickup" at checkout, but please understand that this option does not include a discount. We decided to fully bear the expense of shipping, so there are no hidden shipping fees to discount. The prices listed in our goimagine shop are the set prices for both the local pickup and delivery options. If you choose local pickup, we will contact you upon processing your order to schedule a pickup time. If you choose local pickup by mistake, please let us know so that we can make corrections to your order.
Do you accept custom orders?
Wooden Items by Jeff & Melissa: You are more than welcome to contact us with a special request, and we will let you know if we can help you. Our decision will depend on the materials available to us as well as turnaround time. Although we offer handmade wooden items, please note that we do not make large furniture pieces such as armoires, china cabinets, large dining tables, etcetera. We mainly make small wooden items and occasionally smaller coffee/end tables. The type of requests we typically take are ones that request an item we already make but with a slight variation, such as wood type, a custom color, or an item's size.
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Jewelry Pieces by Melissa: You are more than welcome to contact me with special requests, and I'll let you know if I'm able to help you. For example, if you know the exact type of beads you want, I could order them for you and string them into whatever design you desire. I can also fix or deconstruct/redesign a piece you already own. If you own a special pendant that just needs some type of necklace, feel free to contact me. I may be able to help you turn your heirloom into a wearable piece of jewelry.
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Fabric Items by Melissa: You are more than welcome to contact me with special requests, and I'll let you know if I'm able to help you. I am not taking any requests for clothing, but I may take a request for other items such as bags and soft toys.
Artwork by Melissa: I am not taking special requests for drawings or paintings at this time. If this changes in the future, I'll state it clearly here on our website.
What method of payment do you accept?
If you are purchasing an item online through our goimagine shop, your payment will be processed through Stripe, which accepts most credit and debit cards.
If you are purchasing an item in person, such as at a craft fair or an art show, you may pay with cash, card, or mobile wallet. We use a Stripe POS system to process in person payments.
What is your return policy? What if I change my mind?
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Returns are accepted within 14 days from the day a package is received from a goimagine order. The return and exchange window will begin on the day the item's delivery tracking number is recorded as delivered. Buyers are responsible for return shipping costs. If the item is not returned in its original condition, the buyer is responsible for any loss in value. Otherwise, the buyer will receive a full refund for the cost of the actual item. Buyers are responsible for packing the item back into its original box or obtaining another box suitable for shipping the item safely. Refunds will be issued in the form of the original payment. If the reason for a return/refund is out of the control of the seller and the buyer, such as a lost or damaged package, we will promptly investigate the issue with the delivery carrier and will make every effort to resolve the issue through their insurance guarantee.
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To decrease the chances of returns and exchanges, we have made every effort to provide detailed listings and clear photographs in our goimagine shop, which show multiple angles of our items. Please take the time to examine the photos closely and read our descriptions fully before making any final decisions. Our items are all handmade and some items are made of organic material, so we ask that you take into consideration the natural "imperfections" and variations that often occur in handcrafted and natural items. It's also important to understand that some of our items are left rustic on purpose. For example, we appreciate natural cracks, knotholes, and inclusions in wood to where we often highlight them rather than hide them. We view natural "imperfections" as part of the unique design, so be sure to examine the listings closely because we do explain these things in detail. We also provide customers with multiple ways to contact us directly, and we welcome any questions about our items.
How long have you been in business?
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We have been giving away our work and making occasional sales throughout our lives, but it wasn't until recently that we decided to try selling to the public under an actual business name.
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05/2023:
Created Lightwell Cottage to sell handmade goods.
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05/2023:
Our first time selling from a public event ("Music & Art in the Park") in Auburn, CA.
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11/2023:
We opened an Etsy.com shop to start selling online.
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05/2024:
We closed our Etsy shop and moved to the goimagine.com marketplace.
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05/2024:
We attended "Music & Art in the Park" in Auburn, CA for a second time.
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Are all of your items truly handmade?
Yes, all of our items are truly made by hand. This is one reason why it takes us longer to restock our inventory. Each item in our shop is crafted one at a time. We do not own or use any automated (CNC) machinery or AI software that allows us to quickly mass produce items. While we rely on certain power tools such as saws, lathes, rotary tools, sewing machines, etcetera, none of our tools are capable of doing the work for us. We sketch our own designs and are then required to use our own hands to fully guide our tools to bring each piece to life. We are not against technological advancements. We just prefer to craft in our own unique way through a combination of hand tools and power tools because we enjoy the variations that naturally come with handcrafting. While power tools can help with precision, slight variations still occur due to the fact that we are the ones guiding the power tools. Please visit our “About” pages to learn more about who we are as self-taught artists.
Where do you get your materials?
Jeff's Response: I do not buy perfectly cut boards from mills or hardware stores. I prefer to get my material from trees that have naturally fallen in storms. I clear the trees myself, cut them into rounds, stack and dry the pieces, and then use it all for woodworking. Occasionally, I'll use reclaimed wood or gifted boards for a project, but most of my items come from local oak trees that have naturally fallen. Because I use freshly fallen trees, it takes a long time for the wood to dry out. It sits for about one year before it can be used for a creative project, so I'm constantly cycling through different rounds of gathered wood.
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Melissa's Response: I use a variety of materials to create my items. For wooden items, I use wood that my father has gathered from trees that have naturally fallen, but I also use milled boards. These boards mainly come from reclaimed wood, but I sometimes use brand new boards, which I purchase from a small local business. Other materials I use include basic art supplies, fabric, and beads. These items come from both new stock and new old stock such as unused quality vintage supplies. My materials are bought from both small and large businesses, but I especially enjoy supporting smaller craft suppliers. I also try to reuse or repurpose supplies whenever possible. For example, all of my favorite beading needles and paint palettes were purchased from a small local thrift store. I always enjoy finding and using old but perfectly good supplies.
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How long does it take to make an item?
This depends on what is being made. Some of our smaller creations only take one to two hours, while a larger piece could take four to eight hours. We also have more labor intensive pieces, such as our wooden natural edge decorative bowls and sculptures, which can take one to four weeks to complete. No matter how long it takes to create a piece, the process is what we enjoy the most, and we hope the time, energy, and joy that go into each piece are apparent to customers.
How do you price your wooden bowls?
You may notice that our wooden bowls have several different prices. This is because we use a formula that takes a bowl's exact height and width into consideration. The larger the piece, the higher the price will be, for it involves more material and more labor. We use this formula for the majority of our wooden items, but there may be times where other things are taken into consideration. For example, pieces that are more unique and artistic tend to take us longer to create. Even if the piece is smaller, we may decide to price it outside of our typical formula. The natural edge decorative bowls, for example, are far more labor intensive than the lathe turned bowls, and we tend to view these pieces as unique sculptures that happen to function as bowls. Because of this, we may decide to price them a bit differently than our everyday houseware items.
What is the story behind your name?
The name Lightwell Cottage came from myself, Melissa Lightwell, and it’s simply meant to describe a small online business that creates thoughtful handmade gifts from home. The name Lightwell is something I adopted for myself and the business as part of my own personal growth process. I’ve always been fascinated by and have felt connected to the literal and symbolic meaning of lightwells or skywells. The idea of dark spaces being illuminated by natural light has always inspired me to remain hopeful during difficult times and to move through life with a compassionate light.