Hurray, it’s Friday? What will you be getting up to this weekend? I’m off to the Missing Goat Blueberry Farm with the kids for a fun little outing with a friend today, which I hope to share with you very soon! The rest of the weekend has quickly filled up with activities and a healthy dose of shop progress to fill in any spare moments. Gabe will be riding in his first skateboarding competition on Saturday, which we’re all super stoked about! He’s getting really good and I get so proud watching him from the sidelines at our local skate park…I fit in really well with all of the teenagers too ;) Since I was in a bit of a travelling mood this week, I thought our Friday pit stop would be this cozy lakeside cottage in New Hampshire. Come away with me…

All photos by Max Kim-Bee for Country Living

At only 500 square feet of living space, this waterfront cottage was extensively renovated to make it the perfect weekend getaway for a family of six. The 1970′s panelling and dropped ceilings were taken down to the studs and a sleeping loft was tucked up into the cathedral-style rafters. This home is another great example of how to make a small and dated space work for family life!

All photos by Max Kim-Bee for Country Living

Lakeside living at it’s finest, wouldn’t you agree? How I dream of living on the water…one day, maybe! The first day of school is inching ever nearer on my calendar but I’m hoping to squeeze in at least a few more little day trips wherever possible. How will you be spending these last weekends of summer? Let’s start by having a fabulous weekend :)

Elsewhere this week: Come dream of more dockside getaways featured in my guest post over at Poppytalk today…

Setting up a new shop isn’t for the faint of heart and I am so thankful to be doing it with four other partners! During a loooong meeting yesterday afternoon, we all agreed that a weekend retreat to dig in and get the business side of things wrapped up would be the perfect plan. It may be an unrealistic dream but if it were to magically happen, I’m thinking we should all whisk ourselves away to this holiday home in the South of France…

All photos by Richard Powers for Snoop

 This tropical oasis in St Jean-Cap-Ferrat, France belongs to Irish fashion designer John Rocha and his wife Odette. The spare modern design is accented with flea market finds (albeit, Parisian flea market finds!) which keep it from feeling too stark. These combined with warm wood tones, bright accents and the lush landscape surrounding provide the perfect backdrop for a blissful holiday, wouldn’t you agree? Sometimes, when my head feels as full as it does these days, I can understand minimalist decor a little more and this home is definitely free of visual clutter…

All photos by Richard Powers for Snoop

Although my kids have been amazing despite being shuffled to and from the store (having Tracycakes a few doors down helps!) , we’ll be heading to the library and the skatepark today before I dig into any more planning for Spruce. I am so glad that we fit a lot more of the family “fun” stuff into the earlier days of summer! Any work-from-home mamas out there? How do you juggle having the kids at home while gettin’ ‘er done? Any and all tips welcome…have a wonderful Wednesday!

Yep, that was another busy weekend, one of many to come for the next month or so I’m sure! Things are moving right along at the new shop…Brad’s building us some great shelves out of reclaimed barn board from his parents farm (what a guy!), painting will get started this week and we’re off on a little field trip to the city today to check out some wholesalers and check a few more things off of our never-ending list. I’m excited to spend a whole day with my new partners…we’ve been joking that we’ve all been speed dating or have jumped into an arranged marriage of sorts! But I have no doubt that we’ll know far too much about each other very soon…some of our back and forth texts have kept me chuckling for days! We’ve been gathering inspiration like crazy, especially for our new classroom, and several of these harvest tables had me drooling on Pinterest the other night, as did the wine bottle chandeliers and those amazing shelves. I just had to share…

All photos Maison Estate via Miss Design

Maison Estate is a vineyard which houses a tasting room and bistro-style restaurant, all nestled in The Valley of the Huguenots. Designed by owner Chris Weylandt (who also owns a well known South African home decor and furniture store, Weylandts), I love the attention to detail and natural elements throughout. Soothing, isn’t it?

All photos Maison Estate via Miss Design

Now if only it was a little closer…I would love to sip a glass of wine on that patio! Did you notice anything different here on the blog? Several months ago, Rachel and I moved forward with plans to redesign and freshen up our blog. While we did put our bigger blog plans on hold for the time being, our talented designer Tabitha Emma came up with some great new concepts for our logo. We didn’t want to go overboard with any drastic changes to our “brand” but were looking for something simple with just the right amount of pretty mixed in for good measure. And (with a little drumroll, please) this was the final choice…What do you think? We’ve always been drawn to apothecary labels and love hand-drawn lettering and fonts so I’m loving this modern take on vintage styling. I may make a few more small tweaks to the blog to tie things together but, don’t worry, no major facelifts are in the works and you’ll still recognize us! Have a great Monday and I’ll see you again Wednesday :)

Is it really Friday already? I can’t believe what a complete whirlwind of emotions and activities this week has consisted up! Let’s break it down, shall we? Our family started the week off sunning ourselves and running wild for days at the cabin of our dear friends, where we had such a fabulous time! As I’ve shared many times before, the ocean is my happy place and being beachside with family and friends is the ultimate! Our weather was perfect, our hosts were even better and it felt so great to be outside all day, to share meals (ok, feasts!), wine (lots!) and nights around the campfire. The calm before the storm! As we made our way back towards the border on Wednesday afternoon, I left my family for a little antiquing detour into Lynden with Monica before picking up the shiny new keys to our shop. It felt so surreal to be inside the empty space and to realize that, yes, we’re actually doing this! Yesterday, we got down to work and between the five of us, I have no doubt that amazing things will happen. Our creative juices are overflowing and I cannot wait to share the shop’s progress with you along the way. I did get really emotional yesterday though, reading Rachel’s farewell-for-now post, and can’t even begin to express how much I miss having her nearby. For now, I’ll focus on happy thoughts and thought you’d enjoy a little sneak peek and a few Instagram pics I snapped of the new storefront…

Did you see that to-do list? Good thing I left the full roll of craft paper attached because we’ve added many a task to it since! Our timeline feels extremely tight but with the amount of creative talent between us (not to mention our spouses!) I’m actually feeling confident that we can pull it together in time. Can’t wait to show you the after pictures of Spruce Collective and you’ll looove the logo that Jessica‘s been working on! Have a great weekend everybody…I’ll be posting Monday, Wednesday and Friday next week. Cheers :)

Birch + Bird elsewhere this week: 

• Bright yellow inspiration in our guest post over at Oh Hello Friend! on Wednesday
• Indoor/Outdoor living at its best in my guest post on Poppytalk today
• Plenty of new “likes” over on the Spruce Collective Facebook page

Well, this is my last post for awhile and like Lily said, it is bitter sweet.  Next week we’ll dive right into the routine that we’ve all been craving for so long.  I haven’t decided what I’ll do with the extra time once I’ve tackled my long to-do list but I hope it includes taking care of my family, meeting new friends, volunteering at the girls’ school, refinishing some furniture, exploring the vintage and antique gold mine where we now live and planning my next move.  My step back from the blog is to gain some perspective and focus.  I won’t be too far away though, I can’t wait to watch Lily’s new adventure unfold.  Life is always changing, isn’t it?  Here are some neutral spaces that are calm and serene…just what I need.  How about you?

Whitecliffe Imports

Hope

Apartment Therapy

Femina

Martha Stewart

Agent Bauer

Volang

Incorporated

Farewell for now and take care!