There’s a new business on the block, but it’s not serving up frozen desserts.

No, David Hapgood, owner of Timber + Rust, a custom furniture studio in Woodland Park, will open a retail storefront to sell and display his handcrafted work at U.S. 24, 222 W. Midland Ave.

Known by many local residents as the “old froyo place,” Hapgood, 36, is helping Woodland Park’s business scene turn the page. He aims to rebrand the former Mountain View Froyo & Smoothie Cafe location to match his business, which blends woodwork and metal fabrication into one-of-a-kind home décor pieces and furniture.

“The building definitely needs some serious love,” Hapgood said. “We are giving it a total transformation from top to bottom.”

Started in 2020, Hapgood’s business gathered a consistent following of customers in Teller County, grown mostly by word-of-mouth recommendations.

“My customers are some of the most amazing people,” Hapgood said.

In fact, that’s how he acquired the building in Woodland Park.

Over the course of commissioning approximately 20 projects at their home, Dan and Kathy Swanstrom grew to be friends and business partners with Hapgood.

Owners of several businesses during their lifetime, the Swanstroms recently sold their assisted living business and decided to reinvest their money by purchasing the building with Hapgood. They also help with some of the Timber + Rust’s administrative and marketing work.

“They’ve helped out a lot of people, and this is kind of what they do,” Hapgood said. “I’m very grateful and blessed to know them.”

Before Hapgood met the Swanstroms, or grew his network of clientele, or even before he lived in Colorado, he started tinkering with wood and metal. He was living in Oklahoma and had just built himself a cabin, but was without furniture and décor.

Quickly, he discovered the availability of quality-made furniture that matched his style was few and far between, so he decided to make his own.

After hosting friends that raved about his work, he took their advice to start crafting similar pieces full-time. So he left his job running a commercial landscaping company and came to live in Divide.

That was in 2018.

By 2020, he was marketing his work at art shows around the state. Hapgood’s work has since phased out of art shows and morphed into custom instillations for clients in Teller and Summit counties. He currently delivers his work within a one-state radius of Colorado and has pieces on display in a design center in Santa Barbara, Calif.

While he continues to create his craftsmanship at his workshop in Divide, the Cascade resident said it was difficult not to have a retail space to display his work.

But that’s all about to change.

Now Hapgood, along with help from the Swanstroms, is working with contractors, as well as obtaining permits to rezone the Midland storefront from a facility that serves food to a retail space.

“I’ve put my heart and soul into my business,” Hapgood said. “I really have big dreams of growing this business.”

Hapgood’s store will display his custom furniture made from reclaimed materials originating from Amish communities in the Midwest. Beyond that, he is also considering offering woodworking classes at his shop.

Timber + Rust will open in the next three to six months — with a goal to have the store running by the time summer tourist season ramps up, Hapgood said.