We finished the San Fernando Valley Rescue Mission a few weeks ago, followed by a ribbon cutting and a small press event celebrating with all the sponsors. First off, I’m having a ribbon cutting for all projects from now on – even my new nursery or when I finally get around to fixing the laundry closet doors. It might just be me, Charlie, Brian and The Mayor (you must have a mayor at a ribbon cutting ceremony) but it’s going to happen. Mainly because you get to hold VERY large scissors that make you feel like a very small person and right now anything that makes me feel small is a very good thing.

The family shelter had a lot of people/companies who gave tens (or hundreds) of thousands of dollars to help build and staff it after the fire, which is who we celebrated at the ribbon cutting, but I still have a few smaller companies that were just so generous with their product that I wanted to make sure they got a public shout out as well.

Beach Blaze by Lindsay Megahed | Confetti by Blair Culwell Staky | Morning River by Lauren Adams | Distant Island by Julia Contacessi | California Dreams by Alexandra Nazari | Bits by Katie Craig | Upside by Alexandra Nazari | Hexagons by Yao Cheng | The Blues by Adriana Rojas | Blousey by Katie Chang | Grace In The Winds by Emily Jeffords | Cloud Observations by Stephanie Goos Johnson 

Minted has been blowing up everywhere and for good reason. Good art and beautiful fabric patterns, through collaborations with real artists. They gave a lot of happy beautiful art (that you can see above) as well as yardage of fabric that we used as curtains for all of the family bedrooms. Stay tuned – they are so pretty and really set the tone for the rooms.

1. Always Be Brave Pillow 2. Foxy Throw Pillow 3. Blue And Orange Polka Dots 4. Mrs. Bear 5. Mr. Bear 6. Une Femme Duvet Cover 7. Mr. Fox 8. Leela Navy Duvet Cover 9. Retro Geo Blanket

Deny Designs is a super playful and young company that collaborates with artists to print their work on a variety of things – bedding, furniture, trays, etc. Some are NUTS and some are subtle. Many are wonderful. Go check it out and support a company that was very generous supporting us.

If you have ever lived in New York you know of Strand Books. It’s a wonderful new and used bookstore in Union Square that is HUGE and generally just wonderful. Back when I read literature (Paul Auster, Joan Didion, Curtis Sittefield and Margaret Atwood are my favorites) I would go their all the time. Ugh, I used to even read the classics, and they had a rare book section upstairs that had first editions that I would splurge on. What I’m getting at is that I used to be cool.

Anyway,  Strand‘s library designers blew us away with the assortment of  books they kindly put together. One of their services is to curate book collections by the foot for every reading taste and style and they gave us 10 boxes of PERFECTLY curated and customized books for the shelter. Tons of books for the kids and also pretty art books for the living rooms. Some of them were so beautiful (and expensive) that I was very jealous, but ultimately I know that these books will get flipped through and inspiration will be absorbed. Strand offers their customization service at no additional cost – you only pay for the cost of the books you order. So, thank you so much Strand for not only donating, but donating REALLY REALLY good books for both toddlers, teens and grownups.

1. Magnolia The Spring Bunny | 2. Ruthie The Deer | 3. Henry The Fox | 4. Magnolia The Bunny | 5. Eleanor The Bear | 6. Chester The Raccoon | 7. Margaux The Kitty

I love Walnut Animal Society’s animals SOOO much. They are made here in LA, by hand, with each one being cuter than the next – and #6 being just ridiculous. Lauren Bradshaw (the founder) is supremely talented at needpoint and I love that no two ‘members’ are identical. Also she calls them members which is very adorable.

1. Happy Mice | 2. Butterfly Kisses Pillow | 3. Endless Meadow Pillow | 4. Carpenter’s Star | 5. Endless Meadow | 6. Big Imagination

I quilted a lot as a tween  – I was raised mormon in a small town in Oregon so it’s kinda not my fault and it is something that I plan on subjecting my own children to. But these are WAY better than mine. Thank you so much Wintergreen and the Bee for adding these beautiful quilts to the family shelter.

1. Woven Sofa | 2. Flokati Rug | 3. Floor Lamp | 4. Lacquer + Metal Desk | 5. Grass Baskets | 6. Cowhide Pouf | 7. Throw | 8. Telulah Chair | 9. Rattan Chairs | 10. Plate

Meanwhile World Market, a major player in the home retail business, came through with a lot of pieces that we needed. The roundup above is of a lot of their new pieces that I love (which weren’t necessarily right for the shelter) but they are great and I wanted to highlight them. You can always count on World Market. That teal deco chair and that pouf are ridiculously good for those prices.

You now know that Minted gave all of the fabric for the Shelter curtains, which was desperately needed in the space – those rooms were looking like sad little corporate dorm rooms before these happy, bright patterns donned the windows. But as many of you know getting custom curtain panels sewn can be very expensive (nearly $80 a panel) which would have made it more expensive than if we just bought readymade curtains. But once we had seen the fabric that we could choose from (and receive for free) we really just wanted to make it work.

So of course I was all I can sew these!! But I can’t – I have neither the right equipment, space, skills, time, talent or patience to get it done.  So thank you very much Pamela Bullock,  Carol Ann Sparks,  Ariel Thomke and MacKenzie Cleveland for volunteering two days of your lives to get this done and a BIG thank you to Jamie Brown who initially reached out to us and organized all of this. You are wonderful.  All these talented ladies are freelance theatrical costumers that work all across LA on various TV and Theater shows. And last but not least, thank you to Joann’s Fabric who let them use their classroom space for the day.

On behalf of the team over at the shelter we’d also like to thank KB Home & Triomphe Design,  The Pacific Companies,  Oakridge Landscaping,  California Home Builders and California Pizza Kitchen for their donations and contributions throughout the process.

Thanks again to everyone that helped. We have written a few other posts about all the generosity which I’d love for you to check out here and here, as well as the Shelter introduction, and update.

We are shooting the family shelter very soon and will have a full reveal in a month or so. Stay tuned and thanks again for following along on this project.