Because IT’S SO GOOD

Also, Rob is co-teaching another Home Design/Build course in Vermont (starting this Sunday), and we’ve been spending the week getting ready for our departure.  I’m so excited to get to Vermont to see our friends and be in an incredibly peaceful and beautiful place.  I’m also looking forward to spending a little time at the cabin. On the way up to Vermont we’ll also be stopping to see our families in DC, and then New York to have our first Shelter photo shoot!  More on that soon…

I’ll be trying to keep up with the blog while we’re away, but I’ve closed up our online shops until we return at the end of May. See you then!

Last weekend Rob and I celebrated two of our good friends’ birthdays by going with them to Joyce Kilmer Park, an old growth forest in the Smokey Mountains. The plan was to have a picnic in a tree.  Brandon is an expert tree climber (he used to design and install canopy tours!) so he was our awesome guide, and Anna imbued the hike on the mountain and hike up the tree with her kind and wild spirit, which are some of the best qualities a person can have, right? At least in my book.

On our way we stopped at Haywood Community College, where Brandon is in the woodworking program.  This school is well known in the south for its textiles and woodworking programs, and has had (ahem, HAS) some of the most incredibly talented students.  (Brandon is the one that made the box that Rob designed for me). Besides being an excellent designer and seamstress, Anna has worked in ceramics, and as we toured the ceramics facility, she explained more about how different kinds of kilns and firing methods work.

Some of the trees at Joyce Kilmer are 400 years old and way over 100 feet tall, which is rare for Western North Carolina.  Our tree was perfect! To get the first rope up in the tree to start climbing, Brandon had to use a GIANT slingshot.  He shot a tiny beanbag with a string attached right over the beginning of the crown of the tree.  But our tree was SO TALL, we didn’t have enough rope to get us all up there at the same time, so we all took turns climbing until we were so high in the tree our hearts were in our throats and we started to have out of body experiences (maybe this was just me).

Thanks, guys. We love you!

 

Head over to Supermarket today – I’m the Guest Curator! I had fun digging through awesome stuff to find my favorites.  So many choices!

ps – I climbed a really tall tree yesterday with some of my favorite people in honor of one of their birthdays.  There were harnesses involved!  Photos to follow.

 

I’m a total pack rat (though considering quitting) so my mini piles of little things all over the house probably sparked the idea for Rob to design this BEAUTIFUL box for me. It’s SO NICE!  He commissioned our good friend and incredibly talented woodworking friend Brandon to make it, and he did such a lovely job.  The outside of the box is veneered with a mix of walnut and wormy spalted maple.  It’s a cube that has a single cut that opens up into a sort of display case and shelves.  There are all sorts of fun drawers that make you feel like you’re putting together a puzzle.

I love how the thin line of the maple veneer contrasts with the walnut when you close the box.

The back of the box – cute little drawers!

I like it so much! But not as much as I like Rob. Thanks dude, you’re the best.

If you live in the Charlotte area, come see us at the We Heart Handmade event at west elm March 31st, 1-6pm. We’d love to see you!

RSVP here if you know you can make it!

Even though it’s been 60 degrees here in Asheville nearly everyday for the past month, for some reason getting into spring has been slow going for me.  I hibernate hard for the winter and then can barely believe it when spring actually arrives.  But here is the proof that spring is happening RIGHT NOW!  I am so ready to be barefoot and sit on a beach. Rob and I have been planning a mini camping trip to the panhandle for the past YEAR, and finally getting around to it next month.  But have to finish some major projects and orders first! Better get to it!

I’ve been adding new items to the shops, slowly but surely.  We have some fun new designs (more to come), new fabrics, and lovely new leather colors (made in the US!)

Happy Monday!