Yesterday marked one full year since I opened the Cotton & Flax Etsy shop! Celebrated at home with a delicious chocolate salted caramel cupcake, and spent the evening reflecting on what I’ve accomplished in one year. There is so much I want to do in Cotton & Flax’s second year, I hope you’ll come along with me as I continue to grow this little home textiles business.
Living with your significant other can provide all sorts of decorating challenges. For my boyfriend and I, that’s meant finding a way to display his many collections, while also finding space on the wall for the various art pieces I’ve collected over the years.
While I don’t consider myself very girly (I’m pretty sure I don’t own any pink clothing…), it has been tricky for us to compromise between decor that leans towards the masculine or feminine. Even for couples who have similar taste in decor, it seems that there is always something contentious about decorating your home together.
As a couple, we can agree on a few things: we prefer clean lines and neutral colors. I put together a little collection of items that I think we’d both love to incorporate into our own living room.
*The best part of this collection? Everything was made in the USA! Except for that little ceramic planter, that’s from Belgium, but I loved it too much not to include it. You could certainly find a unique ceramic piece that’s similar on Etsy!
1. Painting from Jeremy Miranda (I believe he’ll do custom pieces)
2. Mulberry Tripod Floor Lamp from Schoolhouse Electric
3. Petrie Sofa from Crate & Barrel
4. & 5. Pillows from Cotton & Flax
6. Amersley Coffee Table from Schoolhouse Electric
7. Ceramic Planter from Terrain
Just a couple iPhone photos of work in progress. Working hard to get things finished to photograph this weekend, I have a little photoshoot planned.
Lots of activities like this happening around the studio lately: stamping the interiors of pillow flaps with the Cotton & Flax brand. No itchy tags here, you can rest your head easily on my pillows.
I have been spending some time today working on my product descriptions over in the shop, and I keep stumbling over how to describe this fabric color. It’s such a beautiful fabric, and has consistently been one of my best sellers, but my customers all seem to describe it differently. Some say it’s a mustard color, some say olive… all I can say for sure is that it’s a gorgeously saturated yellow-green.
How about it, readers? Feel like giving me some suggestions on what to call this color?
I was thinking, yesterday, about how long I’ve had my sewing machine for. It was a gift from my mom in my teenage years, and it’s a very similar model to her own machine, which she used to teach me to sew. I remember how frustrated I initially was while she taught me how to thread the machine, how complicated it seemed. Now I could do it with my eyes closed.
I am lucky to have had my interest in craft nurtured in this way. I’m also lucky that this sewing machine seems to handle whatever I can dish out, and with regular oiling, has yet to have any major problems (knock on wood!) I know there are fancier machines out there, and it’s possible I could work faster with an industrial sewing machine, but I’m going to keep using this one for as long as I can.
I’m excited to share a limited edition tea towel that debuted on Pennyweight Goods today! This was such an enjoyable project, Elise gave me lots of creative freedom to create something special for her readers. I found a lovely grey linen, with the heathered look of chambray, which I turned into a fun variation on the brushstroke tea towels I sell in my shop.
I particularly love the way Elise styled the towels in her photoshoot! I will be trying to emulate her effortless style in my own photos in the future. Head over to Pennyweight Goods to take a look at the sale, and check out the Pennyweight blog to check out the interview!
