With the launch of our website and shop this month I'd like to do a post for each of the series in our Home Collection. The first is our Chevron Series wood wall art and home decor made from reclaimed wood. This series was born the day my husband tore down our fence. Yes this really happened but a few things happened because of it. The first is I got a way better fence! Our yard feels so much bigger now that we can see the seemingly endless green forest and blackberry bushes!

Another thing that happened was that I now had a huge supply of wood! I wanted to make something with it but wasn't sure what so we covered it up and waited for an idea to develop. Fast forward a few months later: I'm browsing Pinterest, as usual, and find this cool way to display Instagram photos.

I decided I'm going to do this and use the wood from our fence! Only...it doesn't happen. Somewhere between me ordering the photos and buying the paint I started getting inspired by quilt squares. Random? Yes. But this is how my brain works. I was noticing how in quilt squares you have a little pattern or shape that works with the others around it. I started thinking about my squares of wood in this way. I could see modern & bohemian patterns emerging as the pieces came together. I had my carpenter husband cut me a few squares and these samples were born.

The first editions of the a Chevron Series used gold foil tape but I later moved to gold paint.

From there I kept having what my husband called design orgasms. I started getting more ideas for home decor and art to go along with these wood squares. Shelves, candle holders, blanket ladders (coming soon) and more!

I could see a collection in my mind and wanted it so badly to become a reality. The only thing left to do was to make it happen. From there Cottonwood Canopy and our Chevron Series emerged. I now have a website, an etsy shop, a blog and I'm almost up to 200 followers on Instagram! I realize that some people have tens of thousands of followers but for me this is amazing! I think social media is a wonderful way for artist to get exposure and it's really encouraging to see people from all over the world like what I'm doing.

So that is how the Chevron Series came to be. You can now add shelves to the wall art and order custom sizes from our Etsy shop. You can even use Command strips to install them if you are in a rental or dorm. Check out the gallery to get more ideas on how the Chevron Series can be displayed and subscribe to the right to stay in the loop on when we release new items. Thanks for reading!! Use CHEVRON10 for 10% off any Chevron Series item in our shop! Happy shopping!

Perhaps I should call this a letter to my family and few close friends because that is probably who my readers are! (For now at least.) Anyway welcome to Cottonwood Canopy's first blog post ever! My name is Natalia and I live in beautiful WA state. I have been a stay at home mom of two for the past 2 years. Being a stay at home mom has been a blessing but it can also do strange things to a person. For example I recently got a strong urge to start a business and blog! Not that I have tons of time on my hands with two wild kids or anything but my creativity was calling. I haven't really embraced it fully so perhaps that is what I'm doing now. I heard once that if you work a job doing what you love then you will never work a day in your life. That is my goal.

I have been pondering what I would do with my life when my kids start school full time and I always come back to design. I have a degree in art and prior to becoming a stay at home mom I worked in high end kitchen and bath showrooms. I would assist interior designers, builders and homeowners in making selections for their projects. I don't have an interior design degree specifically but I have my eye and my experience. One of my top clients once told me "you don't need a degree to do this." She was self taught and very successful. Would I like a degree? Maybe if I had the time and an extra load of cash sitting around but I don't. I also don't want the fact that I don't have a degree to stop me from moving forward so that is why I'm doing this. It took a little nudging from a few good friends and an inspirational walk on the Mill Creek trail for me to start believing that I could do something. For me that is the most important step. Believing in yourself. I've already made a ton of changes to what I want Cottonwood Canopy to look like and I haven't even launched my site yet. But I'm okay with that and I hope that you come along this journey with me to see what will be.

Natalia

Wood Wall Art | Chevron Series

A LETTER TO MY READERS