m o l l y ' s    w r e a t h 

a n d

t a k i n g   a   b r e a t h

I wanted to re-share a great felt wreath my dear friend Molly made a few years ago {did you know this  blog has been around that long?!}.

I adore anything felted, and I am in the crafting mood so let's check out Molly's tutorial.

Are you ready for another Christmas idea? I'm all about thinking ahead this year.  Actually, I was intending for it to be a Christmas wreath, but I like it so much I think I need to change the ribbon so I can keep it up all year. 

Okay...let's get to work! Here's what you need:

Wool felt (I used about a yard and a quarter for mine)

Scissors

Hot glue gun/glue

Straight pins 

Foam wreath

Step 1: Cover the back of your foam wreath with felt. I simply traced the wreath onto my felt, cut it out and hot glued it on. 

Step 2: Cut out little petal shapes like this: ( I just free handed it)

Step 3: Fold your petal into quarters like this:

Step 4: Use your straight pin and attach to wreath:

Step 5: Keep going- this part takes a while!

And the final product....

                                                                                                                  -Molly

Actually reading this post from Molly made me kind of miss the quiet of the "before the store". When I could paint and take my time, spend more time with my friends and family and when my bathroom was clean.

The last few weeks, in the busiest time of the year, all of the Poppy & Co shop girls decided as a group to enjoy our lives more. The shop was taking over. We are all sort of type A, busy ladies, really working hard to make a go of this store. 

We all realized at the same time. You can work really really hard, be a stress mess and you could ultimately have the same outcome {sales} as working slower, with a focused outlook and pride in your work.

So basically, we are are all slowing down {still working hard-but not frantic} and taking a more balanced approach to life. This might be not the best idea to do right in the middle of the holiday season but it is right for us.

If you have kids you know the phrase "one step backwards, two steps forwards". I have great dreams for The Modern Cottage Company. Things are changing next year and I can't wait to share them with you.

And the changes that are happening with Poppy & Co behind the scenes are beyond exciting. 

So I am stepping back a bit before we sprint into the new year.

m c c   s t a l k s    t h e    m l s 

This home is so soft and lovely. I adore the muted tones and white planked walls.

listing here

It is really all about the kitchen.

And the view. Stunning.

t h e   w i n d o w   

There are so many things I love about my home. All of the windows, the high ceilings and the open space.  

I had been wanting to create more definition between my living room and entryway and this became even more necessary when I put my white sofa smack in between the two. 

I guess I should back up and tell you, yes, I moved the leather sofas into the family and put the white in the living room-AGAIN! The biggest reason? I was so tired of washing the darn white slipcovers. The sofas in our family room get a lot of use {way more than the living room sofas} and it is perfect to have the leather in there. 

Ok back to the new living room arrangement. I like the large sofa where it is now but I needed to create more of a "wall" between the two areas. It was just weird to have the back of my sofa the first thing you see when you walk into my home. The window not only creates that separation of the two areas but allows the light to shine through. I also put a boxwood wreath on either side of the new window. I needed a little greenery in the room.

I guess since I am showing you my living room, you should see the new library table I painted. 

Isn't she sweet? 

I also took home an armoire I had at the shop for three months and really wanted. Every time someone considered buying it I secretly hoped they wouldn't. Now it is mine!

So far the kids haven't bothered to touch the window but I can't say the same for the kittens.

{Don't worry I screwed the eye hooks into a ceiling beam, nothing is going to knock it down}

One problem. Now I have to figure out where to put the Christmas tree. Hmm...That will be a blog post for next week.

s t a r t i n g   t o   d e c k    t  h e    h a l l s

I spent the week down at the store doing some much needed painting and a little holiday decorating.

I painted the front door, the floor tiles and added potted trees to some urns to make more of an entrance to the store. We have on our "store bucket list" either a black and white stripe awning or curtains flanking the urns. Maybe add a cute painted welcome mat too? I would like to cover the top of the door with painted beadboard to match and light the trees. One thing at a time though.

{something like above picture for the awning, found here}

I have a pretty ugly dropped ceiling in my section. I started hiding it this week by putting up beadbord wallpaper, cut to size and stuck on with heavy duty carpet tape. I only got the front done. Hopefully sometime before Christmas I will get the actual ceiling finished.

I brought in a tree and some bunting.

This week I painted the back wall beige and adding a few holiday touches here and there. The black door is getting a curtain sometime this week. I am running up to Home Goods today so maybe they will have something for me. 

What I really want is a ruffled burlap curtain like this.

{found here}

I don't have the time to make one though, boo.

Today I am taking a much needed break from work. Lots of cleaning and painting in my own home today.

p o p p y    &   c o    p i c t u r e s 

As you know my shop Poppy and Co is a co-op run by myself,  Merri of Nest, and Crystal of Euphenmeral Designs. We also have Devon of Bride on a Bike as a contributing vendor.

I adore these women and I know that we couldn't run this store without one another.

I also realized I hadn't taken pictures of the entire shop, not just my own section, since we moved in!

So here you go, just enough photos to get you to want to come in!

A few of my space. I sold a ton last week so I scrambled to get new stuff in this week.

 Isn't this buffet of Devon's beautiful!

We now have a neutrals and primitives section that Crystal and I contribute to.

And some shots of Merri and Crystal's spaces. There are more of Merri's only because when I was taking pictures there were customers in Crystal's shop and I didn't want to freak them out by taking their picture.

So come by and visit! We are open Th-Mon 11am-5pm 765 Broadway Tacoma, WA 98402.

Oh and one more thing, the other girls are stocking their Etsy shops this week!

p u t    a   w i n d o w    o n    i t 

I found a really great place for salvage windows and I have been going nutty decorating with them. 

Coincidentally I also bought two buffet/console tables in the last month that didn't have tops on them. 

  {weird right?}

I measured the tables, headed over to the salvage shop and pickup up a bunch of windows.

This one I brought in to the store last week and sold in two hours.

I have two that I am keeping for my home.

One is a sofa a table.

And one is a coffee table. Also, this coffee table is the base of an armoire that is in my entryway. The top was sitting on the base and I thought it would be better served as a coffee table.

I also hung a few on my walls.

I am sure you are going to see several window projects from me in the next few weeks. I am going through a window phase.

linked up.
http://missmustardseed.com/2012/11/furniture-feature-friday-favorites-a-link-party-13/