Open shelving can be a great way to fill a space and express one's individual style. But how do we design shelves in a way that is elegant, pleasing to the eye, and makes our customers jaws drop?  

Patterns

-When designing a room, shelves, or your cozy bedroom, picking patterns is the first step in deciding the energy and overall feel of the room. Decide what style you are wanting to portray to your visitors, family, or friends. Check out our fabric swatch collection to explore our wide array of patterns!

-Pattern picking is a perfect opportunity to throw some of your personality into the walls of your house or establishment. Whether it be floral, abstract, or textured designs, adding patterns will liven up a room and create a feeling of movement.

-When layering patterns, pillows, or quilts, it's important to limit the amount of patterns you are using in each space. Picking 3-5 different patterns and including a variety of solid colors throughout can reduce the chaotic look and increase the visual impact of the patterns themselves.

Colors

-Colors are an important aspect of designing shelves as it creates a sense of sophistication while also determining the energy of the room. Picking colors that contrast with the space's natural light can help make an area feel bigger than it actually is.

-While choosing your colors, look for shades that are similar in tone/tint/shade or try experimenting with complementary and secondary colors. This will help the space look more cohesive and natural to the eye.

Materials

-Adding different types of fabrics, decorations, and plants can be a great additive for anyone trying to design their shelves. Choosing the right fabric material injects texture and depth to a space along with visual interest and hierarchy.

-Depending on the season, adding or removing these textures can be an interesting way to restyle a home for winter or summer seasons.

-Adding other decorations such as plants, books, and organic materials helps break up the spaces and allows for one’s personal style to shine through.

In honor of the women we admire and the businesses they have put their heart and soul into, we are continuing our journey focusing on local woman owned companies that makes the Portland area so unique. 

Our inaugural Small Business Spotlight featured Teri Gelbar of T Project and her delicious, handcrafted teas. Visit T Project for special gift giving ideas during this holiday season and all year! 

In our spotlight this month we are excited to feature Nicole Callen owner of Norwood Lavendar Farm. Our story begins when we placed a lavender order from Nicole for our Lavender Eye Pillow and had such a joyful interaction that we knew we wanted Norwood Farms to be our next spotlight. Our Lavender Eye Pillows are part of our Katran Project where we re-purpose any leftover or flawed textiles into new products. Katran product offerings also include one-of-a-kind pillows. 

Nicole was inspired to grow Lavender in her home garden and began experimenting and exploring its uses finding Lavender naturally calming which helps with stress, anxiety and depression and can be used to help treat headache, stomach aches, and helpful for so many skin elements and so much more that she began farming Lavender.

Tell us about your farm... 

Norwood Lavender Farm is located in Tualatin, Oregon on the outskirts of Portland, Oregon where we have been farming lavender for 8 years. Lavender is beginning to be farmed all across the United States but the Pacific Northwest has the most concentration of farms due to it's more gentle weather conditions.

A great deal of attention and love gets poured into over 1800 organically grown lavender plants that help to support our online retail and wholesale business. Blooming season at the farm is our favorite time of year with the beautiful fragrant aroma and bursting purple color that extends over our farm in the months of June and July. These lavender plants are then carefully harvested at the right time to provide fully scented, brightly colored lavender buds for our high end handcrafted products.

What products is Lavender used in?  

Our skin care products are carefully formulated and designed using real essential oil, and natural ingredients that will treat your body kindly and give the attention it deserves. We also specialize in a line of lavender food mixes that extend from Lavender Lemonade and Lavender Hot chocolate all the way to Lavender cake and Brownies. But life isn't complete without a little bit of Lavender Scones or Lavender Shortbread Cookies too!

What is your favorite use of lavender? 

My favorite use of lavender would be culinary adventures. I am currently writing a lavender cookbook and am constantly surprised by how lavender can blend and mingle with other flavors. If you're new to cooking with lavender I recommend starting with a lavender cookie or lavender scone recipe and extend outward as you gain more confidence.

How do you create recipes and who are your taste testers!? 

I am exploring recipes all the time. I always keep my eyes open for ideas on Pinterest, instagram and social media which trigger ideas and thoughts about blending and combining combinations to create recipes to inspire others to use lavender. My family gets to try all my recipes and give their opinions on flavor and sometimes if it isn't what we wanted our adorable chickens get the first and second versions of a recipe until I can get it just where I want it. We have some fat and happy chickens.

What is your favorite Filling Spaces product? :)

My favorite product would be Filling Spaces Lavender Eye Pillow as it's how I got to meet all those hard at work behind the scenes of Filling Spaces who put so much dedication and attention into all of their products. I love the connection that it brings across the globe as well as collaborations locally to bring a quality product to those who can use just a little bit of relaxation and calm into their life.

A huge thank you to Nicole for providing such inspirational information, we enjoyed learning about your business!

If you are a woman-owned business in Portland, Oregon, we would love you to hear from you.