INSPIRATION: terrain style chalkboarding

We all need it in our lives. 

Inspiration to come up with new ideas, new plans.

To live our lives.

To make dinner

To get dressed.

To pick pillows.

To pick wall colours.

In my business I need it almost daily to make my brain turn over into the ideas and displays that create the environment I want people to experience when they enter the shop.

From the music you hear walking in the door, the scent that enters your mind and the displays that give you the visual stimulus to bring ideas you need for your own home.

One of my main sources of far away inspiration is Terrain. 

The garden store run by Anthropologie. The closest one to me is almost a 6 hour drive and I have plans to visit this spring in person and wander around with my mouth hanging open.

Now this little shop of mine is small in comparison to Terrain.

And of course small business owned so the sheer volume of product they have is for the moment not close to possible in our small region but I try to blend together the outdoor plant loving lifestyle into all aspects of the shop.

Once it was time for the red to get dropped in the back of the shop and spruce up the chalkboard wall for spring, I stayed after the shop closed one night and ripped the stock down to put it back up.

The fun part of this wall was actually nothing new at the time had come in to make this happen. I just moved and re-jujjed the products we had to go from winter to spring.

***please note that this wall was completed a couple weeks ago and stock has changed/sold so may not be exactly the same when visiting ***

Jill keeps laughing every time I come in from finding vintage and antiques because everything seems to have a weird  wonderland "alice through the looking glass" vibe lately.

I have come across so many rabbit items, top hats, giant heavy pocket watches from yesteryear that I think there may be a white rabbit following me around.

Or maybe that giant clock was a reminder that I should probably set my clocks forward 10 minutes so I am on time.

So who's feeling inspired for the next season.

I say every upcoming season is my favourite but truly I think it is just the bit of change and freshness each new season brings that is really the favourite part.

Have a great weekend everyone,

Don't forget to change your clocks

Meg

Oliver and Rust at home: winter living room feels

Happy Tuesday morning all.

As we approach spring in these parts I thought it high time to share how our living room has been looking and feeling for the winter months. Simple tones, lots of plants and of course lots of textiles.

I did put the few baby items away for these photos but so far we are not drowning in baby bits. Her leaf chair is black and grey and fits right in and we just invested in an activity centre that also isn't hideous. So far mommy isn't losing her head with the bright goodies.

our full winter mantel. a mixture of geometric terrariums, woven demijohns, trophies, brass and african. 

i brought out the lightbulb sculptures that trevor makes for an airy looking display. i love that black and brown looking dish which is actually petrified wood. it's so unique looking and i like it just sitting empty.

 namaste mr. buddha

this is one of my new favourite simple green plants. it is called fittonia [when i was proof reading this post, the damn auto correct kept changing the name of this plant so fingers crossed it comes out alright] and always looks great in a mound. i used an old parts drawer and made a long display. it also isn't a light fussy plant and seems to be doing just great in a semi-low light situation

the barrel table in the front hall is a little bit more on the eclectic side than usual. i brought out one of our large double sided african helmet masks, our collection of chinese calligraphy brushes, ostrich eggs and our bamileke hat [from the same people as the now famous juju hats you see everywhere]

So that's our little bits of vignettes in our main living space for the rest of the winter months until it comes time to start pulling out the spring birds and flowers which I'm feeling like might be soon.

We are actually hoping this coming weekend to do a little redo in our front hallway as the crates that have been used as shelves for a few years need to go prior to a little one starting to walk and pulling them over onto herself. Plus you know, I want to paint so it's a good excuse.

Have a good day everyone,

It's a fun filled day of greenhouses and dirt at the shop as the first of our trio of terrarium classes commences tonight.

Meg