01.26.09
Posted in Interior Design, Main, Mind Wanderings at 2:01 am by carrie
My usual definitive sense of style is hiding from me. I used to think I was locked into a shabby-chic-beach-cottage-vintage-kitsch vortex but as of recently I’m gravitating towards more modern and sleek furniture with scary elements of the 60′s and 70′s oozing out. Maybe it’s because I’ve been watching the Brady Bunch before bedtime? I think this started with my collection of acrylic grapes. My grandmother, Bobby, had them all over their lake house and I used to sit in the corner and fondle them when I was a kid. A week ago we had a two year old in our living room who was just as fascinated with the drift wood laden acrylic balls and I told her father, “Yep, in about 25 years she’ll be looking for these on Ebay… just like I did. We now have a new fan”. I need to point out, these handmade gems go for at least twenty bucks at thrift stores now. Ugh. Are we all products of our grandmothers’ taste? ;) And like many of you 30-somethings, I’d naturally pick up a magazine from the 60′s and fall in love with every over-the-top representation of pattern, color and gelatin product.
House and Garden, May 1965
I like the modern twist on the 60′s that we’re seeing a lot of these days. Very similar, but taken down a few notches. The moment I stepped into the Viceroy Hotel in Palm Springs, I wanted to live there. The trifecta of yellow, black and white was unusually comforting in my little blue/green-centric head. They call the style “a modern interpretation of the Hollywood Regency style”. Love it. (And ohmigosh you can buy chic hotel interior stuff from the Viceroy and other hotels on Kor Hotel Group’s website! Only $300 for three rolls of wallpaper!)
And take a look at the similar style at the Santa Monica Viceroy location (below)… too cool.
And all the color in design these days… the deep blue hues, rich pooling draperies… so neat… this calls for a montage.
In the past, more than one customer has come into the store with several decorating elements very seriously wanting to know the decorating style they are trying to achieve. “Is this French Country, English Country or Farmhouse?” Ohmigosh. I have no idea. Toile curtains, blue walls, ocean elements and white wood and you live in a 1930′s California ranch house bungalow. Ummmm… Catalina French?? I dunno! Makes me so nervous to put a label on such things. But it’s all sorts of entertaining.
With that said, would you say the above is this Rococo modern with elements of Victorian, Georgian and a twist of Minimalist chic? ;) In my house we call this “eclectic”… I was quoted in the local paper as saying my store was a baby nursery meets Fantasyland at Disneyland meets… was it…. a Tim Burton film? Wow. How very out of touch of me :)
So, I will continue to obsess on design… and hope to evolve with it :) Or, with my incredibly short attention span, I’ll be onto the history of sod tomorrow. Never can tell.
Hope your weekend was splendiferic!
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09.07.08
Posted in Art Journal, Main, Mind Wanderings at 10:53 pm by carrie
More Swirls… Very fun… love to see the colors mix and dance with each other.
Paint, pen, charcoal, pastel or… pudding… to paper… once a day, whatever it is, even if it’s a duplicated or simple design. Yay :)
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09.05.08
Posted in Art Journal, Main, Mind Wanderings at 3:15 pm by carrie
I love these flowers. It reminds me of the sunflowers I used to draw over and over and over in high school… I even put them on my posters as I was running for a Senior Representative in student council. I should find one of those posters… cah-lassic lalapalooza/snapple/organic seattle feeling :)
So, the message I’m trying to give myself here is again, to use more color. And in my line drawings, I’m trying to practice that really popular screen printing look. The shape blobs of color go down with lines on top to define the style a little more. You can’t go into Starbucks without seeing something like that. I have a book on vintage wrapping paper… a lot of it looks like the flowers up top. I love it :)
So, after 5 months of letting my hair grow like a weed, I broke down and went to a great little salon in downtown Cary. At first, I thought the name was the Space and Hair Museum… I heard the recommendation wrong. It’s really called the Hair and Face Lounge. I think I will go to a salon based on the name now… there’s something so telling of someone who will be creative with the name… as long as it’s creative and not too obvious… just MHO.
Anywho, I sat down in a bright red boxy retro chair with tons of padding, and Toni worked magic on my roots that were now 5 inches long. I have to admit, I’ve been missing my fantastic hair guru, Michele (If you are still in La Crescenta, GO TO HER… she ROCKS), back in LA, so I was a bit hesitant, but Toni did a great job, and she is so sweet :) The salon is a converted house, with bright turquoise, pink and orange walls… with funky mannequins and wigs everywhere. It’s like Shag meets the 60′s… and a hint of Love American Style. Oh, and they have a sweet little mascot dog running around named Cooter. Ah, the Dukes of Hazard…
So, no word from Hurricane Hanna… our can and bottle openers are on the ready though! Come on, give us an excuse ;)
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07.28.08
Posted in Main, Mind Wanderings at 2:46 pm by carrie
I’ve heard about what people can do with old schools… there’s been some buzz about abandoned elementary schools in Kansas and other parts of the country. I’ve read of people completely restoring them into totally different sorts of living spaces. I thought… how cool, but I’m not moving to Kansas.
I didn’t know there was one in my backyard. (It’s only 3.8 miles from Scott and Alicia… hey guys, want to spend the next 7 years cleaning chalkboard erasers and grading science projects?? hehe)
Behold… for $325,000 you can buy a 46,000 square foot school…
From above…
Neat!
Look at what Mike and Brian McMenamin did in Portland to this old school from 1912…
The Kennedy School has been a center of lively activity for the Northeast Portland neighborhood since opening in 1915. Over the years, thousands of kids have congregated here to decipher the three Rs, eat macaroni and cheese on Mondays, and climb hand over hand up the gym rope to ring the bell.
It was a sad day indeed when at the end of the 1974-75 school year, school officials, faced with declining enrollment throughout the district, closed Kennedy, declaring it too old and crumbling to repair.
Mike and Brian McMenamin presented just one of several proposals for reviving the condemned property. Other ideas ranged from a retirement home to an indoor soccer facility. After receiving the approval of the city and the support of the neighborhood, McMenamins launched its renovation in the spring of 1997, infusing the 80 -year-old structure with new life. In particular, a river of artwork was created from the stories of generations of Kennedy’s students and teachers.
On October 22, 1997, the original principal’s bell was rung on the front steps at 7 a.m. sharp to herald the old school’s new beginning as McMenamins Kennedy School. Offering a unique and fun lodging, dining and meeting experience, Kennedy remains a lively gathering spot for neighbors and newcomers alike.
The front of the school
One of the bedrooms (note the chalkboard headboard!)
The Theatre
One of their courtyards
The pool!!
The Detention Bar
The Gym… for events and square dancing
The Honor’s Bar (hehe)
One of their restaurants
Check out their
website…you can totally get lost in its awesomeness. I guess the “school” even has its own
microbrew beer that’s famous in the area! Oh, and they are green! I’ve never been to Portland, but here’s another reason to go visit! How cool and totally charming is that?!? :)
I’ve currently been passively looking at real estate that could fit my needs for a little shop. Still have some research to gather, but I’ll share that all with you soon. Obviously, 46,000 square feet is a lot of floorspace to fill… and I don’t have that many jars of bath salts, but wow… how fun is it to dream? That’s what makes like fun, anyway… dreaming (or plotting, in my case) about what you could do!!
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07.19.08
Posted in Main, Mind Wanderings, business-a-go-go at 7:59 pm by carrie
For the past few months, I’ve been sort of sulking around… missing the store and Southern California. I’ve been busy doing odd jobs, some art and unpacking… but I really miss the old routine. I suppose that’s totally normal… but I feel like I should pursue having another store.
So, over the next several months… I have some goals…(posting it here makes me accountable!!!)
- Learn HTML, XHTML and CSS… so I can make a killer website, and make websites for others. I already know a fair amount of basic HTML, but bringing it into this decade would be great :)
- More graphic design and art. More painting, more vector art… more using this smarter-than-I-am tablet.
- Put together a resume website with art, web and animation stuff.
- Get the website back up by mid-August… I have no idea what to sell… any ideas or suggestions?
- Amazon shop? Ebay or other auction site? (Ebay, why have you forsaken me??)
- Research on the area as far as opening a store. I’m finding that the farmhouse, darker wood and rich-colored accent pieces are more popular here than the kitschy-whimsical shabby chic styled items. So, I need to figure out what the area likes before I even venture into the idea of having a store. Also, do I want to rent a tiny retail space or get a small cottage? Lots to think about.
If anything… I find that doing the research super exciting. I light up just thinking about having a store… the possibilities, the decor, the items I’d sell… I love the idea very much. But, I need to be realistic with the economy the way it is… gas, housing prices etc etc. So, I think I’ll just give myself homework to do a little research and post it here… I know there are many of you out there who read this because you want a store or have a store. I’d like to shed some light on the process :) I am, by no means, an expert on how a business works. I just kind of learned the hard way as I went along, and I’m very very thankful for the people who helped me along the way.
Just looking at the pictures below… what the store looked like the day it opened… to the last Christmas we were open. SO different. It grew organically… on its own… I almost feel like I had nothing to do with it. It’s really curious how it became it’s own living, breathing entity. It sounds crazy, but it’s sort of true… and it sometimes got out of hand. If I do this all over again… I want to take my time and be extremely methodical and realistic about it.
So, for me… what are the seeds that started the idea for the store? I did the following:
- I stockpiled tons of inventory. I was already doing street fairs and boutiques… having those 20-something boxes of inventory ready to go and already paid for was key for me. And, when we first opened, 80% of the items were handmade by myself, my Mom or my friends… we grew very slowly from there and added vendors, consignment (not sure if I’d do that again) and vintage items.
- I read every book I could find on having a store or business. I think I had over 20 books. I had been reading them for a few years at least. I think I got 50% of my information from the books and then the other half from just having the experience and being thrown into it.
- Work in retail. I have over 7 years of retail experience under my belt before I even thought of opening a store. It wasn’t until I started hosting my own small boutiques that I felt I wanted a store (for some reason).
- Look at locations. Crunch the numbers. The first space I looked at was huge… in Sunland. I wanted it to be a coffee house/gift store/venue for bands. I’m SO glad I didn’t pursue that space. It would have been a commitment that I wouldn’t have been able to handle (Confirmed later by Tyn and her sister’s attempt at a coffee house… egad!!!). The nearby Starbucks and restaurants would have killed my coffee business… and there is no way I could have worked 6 am – 2 am every day or every day we had a concert. Phew. So, at least I was able to find out how much the rent was, how much the new plumbing would have been… all the equipment and supplies. The loan would have been outrageous. But, now I know. You have to do your research :)
- I would suggest asking other businesses how they do it, but alas… most of the businesses in your area probably won’t share their knowledge. I have to say, I completely understand why. Hours and hours of research… years of getting to know your customers’ wants and needs… it’s a science and an art. Juggling what to buy with what to spend… each business owner has their own secret style. You learn the hard way… and fast. And if you put in years of sweat and tears into something, it would be hard to give away your trade secrets :) Just as if you had a successful restaurant for years and years, you wouldn’t give out your secret recipes. I have gotten bits of information from other business owners… and I’m so glad they were kind enough to share. Some of them were too late… “don’t order those candles! They’ll collect dust!” So, I guess I learned that the “hard” way? :)
- Put together a business plan. Find out how much the rent is… try to find out how much the utilities are. In my experience (don’t quote me on this!)… if rent is X, overhead (phone, internet, electricity, water, alarm, credit card processing etc) is just about half of X. So, if you pay $1000 rent, expect to pay $500 minimum in overhead. This isn’t counting usage tax, inventory, startup costs or anything like that. And I had the bare minimum…. so, if you like fancier lighting, flawless air conditioning, 14 phone lines etc, you’ll pay more :)
I’ll go over things like this more in detail as I get into the nitty gritty of it all…. and if you have a question, please let me know! There are so many things I didn’t know I needed until I got deep into it… my 20 business books mentioned this… unexpected costs… there are SO many of them!!!
I’m laughing at myself as I type this… do I really want to do this again??? Ugh…
So, join me as I dare to start up another retail gift store… or talk myself out of it? hehe! At the very least, you’ll learn something, I’ll learn something… and I’ll get to know my city better :)
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06.25.08
Posted in Main, Mind Wanderings, Sharing the Handmade Love at 1:53 pm by carrie
Trying to push myself to do more art. It’s tough! Nathan got me some awesome watercolor colored pencils for my b-day so having this new medium/tool has been helpful.
I added another dimension by gluing on acetate cut-outs and lime-green flowers. Eventually, I would like this sort of work to evolve to dense, covered mixed media… with found materials and bits of vintage papers.
By searching for new patterns and color palettes for inspiration, I’ve become somewhat interested in vintage fabric and wallpaper. I’d like to start a little collection… I already have a massive stack of vintage hankies that I’ve been collecting, but what box are they in? eek! I have to admit, I’m not completely unpacked and I’m so far from organized. But, I’ve been working on a web design project… so I have an excuse to not be organized :)
It’s taken a few months, but I’m really starting to feel the loss of not having the shop. It had a built-in passion… it came with the desire to create. Each day I would open the door and be inspired. It’s so much harder to feel the need to create here. I had tangible items, an audience and instant gratification… and input. I miss it so much.
I was joking with my friends that I need to have a wake for all the items that I left behind, and that I’m mourning the loss of. An old radio cabinet, my very old couches, a mop, sheets of plexiglass that I really could have made into something cool here… a laundry list of little pieces of the store… five years to put together and about 6 weeks to dismantle. *sigh* Well, I’m hoping, at the very least, to take these emotions and put it into my art… celebrate the joy that the shop created… and some of the frustration, too. Perhaps I can bind it all together and make a book about having your own little store… the mundane business paper pushing, the overwhelming responsibility, the joy, how rewarding it was and also all of the many annoyances. Towards the end, so many things seemed unfair… the joy was slipping away… and having to deal with outside forces… it seeped into my little magical fairy world and destroyed it. Next time… if there is a next time, I will make sure that my business is protected from the negative, that way it will thrive and grow, the way I intended it to. (And I may hire a bulldog to run the store while I get to just create… I’ll be the first to admit that I’m uber-hyper-sensitive to anything negative… or anyone who is negative, for that matter).
And here is a work in progress… I think I’m going to journal on it a bit… let vab know how much I miss her :) I think once I find closure on the closure, I’ll be able to get the website up and running again… I can once again share my passion for art and pretty little things :)
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04.25.08
Posted in Main, Mind Wanderings at 2:56 pm by carrie
I’ve never seen a Robin’s Egg before… that wasn’t plastic or in a Martha Stewart magazine..
In the front of our new house, a nest with little blue eggs… my favorite blue color in the whole wide world, actually :) I had no idea this color occurred in nature.
Wow… this year. I’m the first to admit that I’m frightened by change… so I assume that’s why I changed half-a-dozen major aspects of my life in one swoop. It’s like taking off a dozen bandaids… at once. Sure, it hurts… but only once!
North Carolina is different… but not as different as I thought it would be. The air is cleaner, but a tad thicker… it’s a bit humid right now. The people are incredibly friendly… and I’m so accustomed to people waving to me as they drive by that if someone doesn’t wave… I take it personally ;)
As everyone knows, moving is a chore… we’ve been here a week and there are still boxes everywhere, I can’t find any scissors, I still have bills to pay from Los Angeles and the store… but which box are the stamps and envelopes in, or… the company checks?? *sigh* They’ll turn up… along with my marbles ;) Pictured above is Meg guarding our new front door which has a clear glass “screen” door… for bird watching ;) She loves it… and she loves this house. The second we got her into that yard she pranced around like she owned the place then went up on the deck and I could swear I heard her say… “mine”. She runs up and down the stairs and all of her toys have made their way to the top of the stairs, where she likes to perch and keep an eye on things.
Our going away/wedding party was wonderful… so many faces that I haven’t seen in over a decade. The photo booth was a HIT, and I would recommend using Capital Photo Booths to anyone because it really was a lot of fun! Darin, the owner, was so nice and had a great sense of humor. I’m getting the disc with all the pictures from the photo booth “sittings” and will post some later :)
Here are some pics of the party setup:
We had blue, green and white hydrangeas on each table… along with a welcome card and candles with custom matchbooks.
Sprinkles cupcakes… in 7 flavors.
Little tags on each cupcake grouping.
I got this idea to do a picture tower/may pole thing with lots of ribbons and hanging black and white photos of Nathan and I as kids… but… it looked a little messy… but we got a lot of color in there! We also made these rose balls and hung them on there… which I LOVE. These were the lemonade roses… a yellowey-green rose that smelled divine, they were so gorgeous!
I just love lime green and robin’s egg blue together… even the house is getting that color scheme…
Well, it’s going to take me a while to get back into some sort of routine… I have several business ideas but not sure where to start :) We’re going to the
Raleigh Flea Market on Saturday to get furniture and ideas… pics to come in a few days. Thanks so much for following me on this journey… and now into the next chapter of my novel here… we can write it together ;)
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02.09.08
Posted in Main, Mind Wanderings at 12:40 am by carrie
So, for YEARS… I had this dream of being #1 on google.
If you googled “Violets are Blue”, it came up #2 or #5… but today….
We’re #1!!!
And we’re CLOSING.
That’s funny Universe, really funny.
I beat out amazon.com, James Patterson and poetry how-to sites. All in the last 3 weeks of having a store.
At least the website will be #1 for a wee bit. (And my website says Merry Christmas or something dusty like that).
After the zaniness dies down… re-vamp of EVERYTHING cyber. Woo hoo!
To bed now… hope you have a wonderful weekend!!!! Your homework… google your name (full name)… then google your name with “quotes” around it.
What do you find???? :)
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