Naperville mom anxious to open Paint It Yours

Tammy Hockett knows a little bit about craft projects.

When you're looking for ways to stay close to your 10-year-old twin daughters and keep them and their friends entertained, you get used to working with paint and paste, stencils and stamps.

Tammy Hockett knows a little about adversity, too.

When you're a divorced mom who's endured 16 surgeries since a 1987 car accident, you tend not to shy away from challenges.

So here she is, just a day or so before she's about to open her first store -- Paint It Yours in Naperville -- and she couldn't be more upbeat.

Oh, sure, it's taken a little longer than she planned to convert the former chiropractor's office into a 1,700-square-foot shop where adults and kids will be able to use a variety of paints, rhinestones, sequins and more to design and decorate their own shirts, hats, bags, banners and just about anything else they can think of.

And, yeah, the plumber's still got a little work to do and the tables she wanted weren't in stock and the chairs she ordered didn't ship on time.

But despite all that, she knows the store's still on track for its opening at 10 a.m. Friday and she's positively quivering to get started.

"This is all new for me," she says. "I'm very excited. With all the anticipation, I just want it to open."

Hockett says she's a firm believer that creativity should know no bounds. Which is why she's convinced both kids and adults will find their way to Paint It Yours at 1292 Rickert Drive, Suite 128, to let their imaginations run wild.

"There is no such thing as too big of a mess when you're creating your masterpiece," she says in her promotional materials. "There's no telling when a budding Vera Wang or Tommy Hilfiger might emerge."

Even if a Vera or a Tommy never materializes, Hockett believes the store will be an ideal spot for both walk-ins and parents planning celebrations.

"Naperville moms are always looking for things to do with their kids and places to throw birthday parties," she says.

This is Hockett's first stab at running a business, but she says she checked around and believes she's hit upon a unique concept. Oh, there already are places where you can paint penguin sculptures and stuff like that, but nothing quite like this.

"I'm hoping to be the first and only," she says.

That optimism spills into her view of the future, too. She hopes to have a second store -- maybe in Lemont -- in just three to five years.

"You have to think big," she says.

But Hockett also knows how to think small -- especially when it comes to her twins, Murphy and Maddie.

Make no mistake, Hockett is starting this business with one eye toward creating her own financial independence and the other on staying close to her "M&Ms" and someday helping secure their futures, too.

"I was looking for a way to keep them with me," she says. "There have been so many changes in their lives, and I didn't want any more."

The store is just a minute or two from their home, which Hockett says will help her balance her new role as entrepreneur with her more important job as mom.

"I'm hoping someday to be able to pass the business down to my children when they become mothers," she says. "I want them to have a place to bring their children outside of day care."

If you go

What: Paint It Yours

Where: 1292 Rickert Drive, Suite 128, Naperville

When: Opens Friday; official grand opening Oct. 27-28

Hours: 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday; 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday; 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday

Info: (630) 355-6036