Confession

Confession time.

I AM TOTALLY, UNDENIABLY IN LOVE WITH SUMMER CAMP.

And the freedom it brings my life. Sadly, the last day is tomorrow so I'll now be the one figuring out what kinds of summer fun my kids have from 9-4pm everyday...all day...UNTIL THE END OF SUMMER!

But before I start crying on the keyboard, I'll take a step back. To the year 2003. It was the year I became a stay-at-home mom after leaving my marketing job at A&E and The History Channel. It was one of the hardest, most depressing years of my life. I was supposed to feel so gleeful and head-over-heals happy that I was now a stay-at-home Mom but to be honest, I had a really hard time transitioning. To add insult to injury, I felt so guilty for not instantly falling in love with my stay-at-home life. I had always wanted a career and always wanted to be creative in some capacity that didn't involved glueing dried beans to a piece of paper. And yet I also wanted to be a mom who was there more than my corporate job would allow. So there I sat in my big house trying to reconnect with my son (then 5) and really get to know my baby Grace, (then 1.) More or less, I was trying to figure out who I was without my job.

It eventually got easier and we made the move to LA where I was forced to think about how to bring in an income but by that time, was SOOOO not wanting to go back to long hours and worries about daycare and all that jazz so I became a nanny to two incredibly adorable babies. It turned motherhood into a job for me so I treated it like that. We had a schedule, park dates, museum trips, etc. and I just plugged away like that for two years.

I'm now at that stage in my life where I have a full-time job working from home and for the most of the year, my kids are away at school during the day-time hours. Aside from really NEEDING time for my business, I feel like I really need time for myself.

Which brings me to.....AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! Summer Camp is ending!!!! I have to plan outings, playdates, swim days, in between furniture building, client meetings, Facebook time, and rereading the Twilight series over and over again. I will somehow figure out how to work this job all the while limiting my kids TV viewing to less than 3 hours a day, so help me God. Ok, less than 5 hours a day. When would I have time to check Facebook if it was just 3 hours?

Pregnancy and Newborn Magazine: The Sequel!

I opened my mailbox to find another Pregnancy and Newborn magazine yesterday. And for a second, I thought someone was trying to tell me something. Then I remembered something about my furniture being in the summer edition. Low and behold, it is!

Thanks to Pregnancy and Newborn Mag for including the Noah Owl Box! And thanks to all the pregnant ladies out there looking at it and somewhat considering it for their babies' rooms.

Canada, Oh Canada

Mod Mom is international! A new Canadian modern baby store (launching at the end of the summer -- more info to come later) ordered 15 toy boxes to be driven by truck to Canada. I've been working on regular orders but have also had some help from an amazing local woodworker to help me produce all 15 in time for the launch. I am THRILLED beyond belief with this order for two reasons: 1.) the owner of the new store is a former client. She ordered them after receiving her Owyn Toy Box a couple of months ago. Nothin' better than that, right? and, 2.) it's one order for 15 toy boxes. At the most, stores generally buy two at a time.

I'm slowly, with loads of fear in my eyes, trying to figure out where to go from here. I'm getting requests from Italy, England, Australia, etc and have no idea how to fill them and make it worth their while monetarily. No surprise that shipping is through the roof.

So I'm slowly seeking out ways to partner with other furniture companies. Being such a design novice, I have no idea what I'm doing but I'm sure to get schooled on the internet, the way I do when I diagnose someone with a deadly disease that they don't have. Should be a piece of cake, right? Right?

Dwell Magazine - Product of the Day!

The Bertie landed the coveted Product of the Day spot on Dwell Magazine's online website. Many thanks to Jordan for seeking me out!!!

Here's the link: http://www.dwell.com/products/bertie-box.html

Happy Father's Day, Scott and Dad!

My two favorite men. Thanks for putting up with me. :)

Dad, I will always laugh at your jokes no matter how many times I've heard them.

Scott, I will strive to reduce the amount of sawdust and dirt that ends up in our bed. That's how much I love you.

The Real Deal

You're not going to believe the workshop make-over my husband did while I was fishin' (well...really just laying on the blanket) and eating beef sticks in Ohio. I was speechless when I saw it. Something tells me this guy still likes me after 13 years. He doesn't even seem to mind that I've fallen totally in love with Edward Cullen from the Twilight series that I read and finished over a four day span in Ohio. (No joke, all four books. And I normally can't get through a whole People Magazine.) Anyhow, back to the garage.

He surprised me with this complete redo. And now I'm freakin' out because it looks so damn official. Like I really AM a business. He even wants to put a TV out there but I said no. I can just watch TV on my laptop...or the Twilight movie over and over again for months on end until I realize that the movie isn't real, and those are just actors playing roles, and Robert Pattinson won't be walking into my garage workshop to help me sand furniture while he stares broodingly into my eyes. Sigh.







(Scott, you know I love you more than Robert Pattinson, aka Edward Cullen. Thank you for being you. And for working your ass off in my workshop. )

In Ohio!

We're in Ohio this week visiting my parents and my sister and her family (who are also now Californians.) I'll be back next week with more wood working craziness but this week it's all about Bob Evans, Friendly's ice cream, and everything else I love from my childhood in Defiance, Ohio.

Off to eat more beef sticks and real midwestern cheese!!!

Career Day Photos!

As I walked up to the line of Kindergarteners today, I heard, "There's Grace! She's a furniture builder." It was the cutest thing EVER! And then I said, "You look AWESOME!" to a handful of girls dressed in their finery. Thank goodness they said, "I'm a teacher!" And I said, "I know (but I didn't)...you look just like a teacher! So great!" They all looked so cute I wanted to bite them. You know that feeling?!?!

I'm happy that she Grace won't have to withstand the awkward "what are you?" questions like I've endured for so many Halloweens (Flo from Alice, Mrs. Kotter from Welcome Back Kotter, the list goes on....)




(Notice the pencil in her hair. Classic.)

Update: Career Day

I totally messed up last week. Apparently, Career Day is THIS Friday so I promise to have photos of Grace for you. She's running around looking for a pencil to put in her hair as I write this. It'll take Little G two days to get her outfit together to look like me. Which is exactly how long it takes me to get ready every day. :)

Shelterrific Featured The Owyn Toy Box

Oops I did it again. This was posted in April and I just saw it today. But it's still cool. You'll see my response to the pricing/design comments made on the post. Good to know people are still talking about this on mod design websites/blogs even when the design is three years old.

But I do have one note about the comments section. I always find it to be a tiny punch in the stomach when someone makes a comment like the one at the bottom of this article rating my work. But then I remember, it's a big world and there will always be haters. Thank goodness there seem to always be WAY more buyers than haters, even in this economy.

How zen am I today?!?! Maybe I should eat more of those chocolate covered espresso beans get me ramped up a little more.

http://www.shelterrific.com/2009/04/22/an-eco-toybox-with-enviable-style/

UPDATE: I don't think my response to the comments has been approved by the moderator yet so you won't see my response at 11:23am on Wednesday so I'm posting my comment here.

Hi Bay!

Thanks for the great write-up! I really appreciate it. As you may or may not know, I am a mom (who designed that very toy box almost three years ago based on what my kids needs were/are) so my goal was to combine aesthetic with functionality. The lids are wide enough for most toys and the scale is low enough that it’s easy to get to those buried toys. I’m thrilled to say that the Owyn Toy Box won the Etsy Handmade Kids Challenge Award in 2008 and was recognized for good design in London-based Thames and Hudson’s book, Designed for Kids, by Phyllis Richardson.

As for the price, the $495 sticker includes shipping so if you’re in NYC, you get a beautifully handcrafted, eco-friendly, heirloom-type storage piece completely assembled with wood dowels (not flat packed for you to put together) all the way from LA. Shipping alone normally costs roughly $125 to get it across the country. It usually takes me anywhere between 8-10 hours from start to finish. I still build everything myself and rely on this income for our family. I’m happy to report that I’m currently booked through August with 3-4 orders per week. I mostly sell to those who regularly purchase (or have their interior designers purchase) modern design from sites like Modern Nursery, Design Public and NYC boutiques like Capucine Maman.

Thanks again for the article! I sincerely hope this helps give more perspective on the design and the pricing.

Sincerely,
Kiersten

Kiersten Says: Your comment is awaiting moderation.

May 20th, 2009 at 9:56 am
One more thing….thanks to your feature, I just received three orders from Modern Nursery. THANK YOU!! I’ll be sure to post it on my blog.