Merci, Grazie, Muchas Gracias, Danke, Arigato, Mahalo, and 

Go raibh mile maith agaibh!

Thank you SO MUCH to all of our wonderful friends who came to shop & say hello at Sand Point this weekend. We love seeing you and catching up with your adventures, and we appreciate your support of Retreat. Thank you for your encouraging words about our products & displays - you really have no idea how much they touch our hearts! 

A lot of effort goes into Retreat - and not just the furniture & decor accessories we create & sell, but our presentation style and marketing, as well.  So many lovely people commented on our 'look' and our 'shoppe', we had to have just been beaming like idiots! {for one: Thank you Emily, and we WILL be in touch about that story for your program!} We found that our newly-designed product hangtags really did the job of educating people about what it is we do, how, and why - a big improvement over 'they paint furniture'! {ACK!} I guess we are also known for creating tents, too, hmmmmmn??!

To all of the new friends we made & wonderful people we met this weekend who are visiting here for the first time, welcome to our little world! We'll be sharing sneak peeks in the coming month of our 'secret project' {make sure you are on our mailing list!} and also of the shops that we will be delivering some of our furniture & accessories to. And that includes products heading to the BarnHouse Online Marketplace for March!

Until next time:

recycle. reimagine. redecorate. relax. Retreat!

Today has been a BANNER DAY for Retreat! No, we haven't inked a book deal (yet) or appeared in a magazine (yet) or signed up for another show or store space... but today we made some discoveries and decisions about where Retreat is headed from a design standpoint. A drive, a bit of research, a lot of conversation, some decisions and a plan, and here we are. We sure can accomplish a lot in four hours! We have a refined outlook for our presentation style and our product lines, and a marketing plan that has us hoppin'.

As the great philosopher Roseanne Roseannadanna said, "It's always somethin'. If it ain't one thing, it's another..." She was so right! And we mean that in a good way - there is always somethin' going on that is grabbing our attention, driving our imaginations, and inciting a riot of creative ideas. Our life is our business is our life and so on in a circle, and every part and parcel of it is our passion. We love how it entices us, draws us in, pulls us along to ever bigger & better things.....and OH! Are we excited! We can't wait for you to see what we have in store for you at our upcoming shows..... and we thank you for being with us on this amazing journey.

Our theme for the BarnHouse Flea Market was 'Beach Cottage Retreat', and so we gathered materials, designed & created furnishings & decor accessories to inspire you to relive your summer vacation every day in your home. Now, that being said, I'm not advocating that you 'theme' your home decor like we theme a booth display in our 'over the top' fashion! But just as a jar of shells gathered on a beach will remind you of a wonderful trip, a table or chair or cabinet or lamp that expresses the cool, calm, relaxing feel of being in a beach cottage can bring peace to your soul and functional beauty to your rooms all year round. That is what all of our seasonal collections are designed to do.

Bob outdid himself with one of a kind designed tables, cabinets, and hall trees (which he calls 'Butler's Tables' but I have never seen a Butler anywhere around here....), plus reconditioned dressers, and chairs. Our pre-show photos of each design show the incredible details he puts into every piece:

We do have people at shows who see a table in our space, haul their hubby over, and say something along the lines of 'Oh, we can do that, it's just a door'. They could put some legs on a door, sure. What we know those people miss is that it's the attention to detail, quality of construction, and use of antique, vintage, and reclaimed materials paired with impeccable finishes that make Bob's furniture stand out above the rest: That table is, indeed, a vintage door. It's also a fabulously carved set of Eastlake legs that were missing parts and have been re-milled, plus some 1920's clamshell moulding with original paint to add depth and balance to the table's scale, all combined with excellent construction to last a lifetime. It's not a thrift shop find slapped with paint and glaze! He's a cabinet & furniture maker extraordinaire, and I just love seeing the amazing things he designs and creates. Judging from the responses at shows, so does everyone else!

Our home decor accesories, like signs, lamps, wall pegracks, chalkboards, and more, all coordinate with each of our color schemes and seasonal themes, so that even if you can't fit a table into your room or budget, (or car!), you can take a bit of our Retreat home with you.

And at shows, it all comes together to create a magical setting that transports you to another place and a favorite memory, where all you have to do is sit back & relax. Welcome to our Beach Cottage Retreat! More photos of our space next time.