Crash! Calliope Paperie

First of all, it's been a while since posting a "Crash!" so let me briefly explain/refresh your memory.  I invite myself and camera into a home or local store that I love and share with you!  So without further ado, I bring you, Calliope Paperie!  

This installment of "Crash!" has a double meaning.  Just a few short months ago,  Calliope Paperie looked like this, a very literal crash:

Photo via Calliope Paperie

After less than a year open, in a senseless road rage accident, Calliope's front window and front half of her store were completely smashed.  Luckily, everyone was ok, but the store took several months to rebuild.

I'm lucky that this awesome store is right around the corner from my house and has quickly become the place to get cards.  The owner, Kristina, somehow is able to find the most amazing, quirky, and often local cards.  Not just a card shop though, Calliope also carries, planners, notebooks, an impressive collection of pens, pencil cases, and gifts from local makers like candles and jewelry.  In addition to allowing me to share her shop with you, Kristina also answered a few questions :

Calliope started with your online shop, Crumple & toss- when did you first open online?  And what about Calliope's brick and mortar store?

Online store opened in June of 2014.  After a one-week pop-up shop in Cambridge went over like gangbusters in November of 2015, I found a great spot in Natick the following Spring! I opened Calliope in June of 2016!

What inspired you to start your own business?

A love of cards and paper literally my entire life is what inspired Calliope. At first I thought I might want to have a scrapbooking/paper crafting type store but the more I thought about it, it was really cards and letter-writing that had my full attention. There is still a huge love for stationery across all ages. People think paper and writing is dying but it 100% is NOT.

How would you describe your store?

Calliope is a place for people who LOVE paper. I love when people come in and say "But do you have any gifts?" ha! YES!! EVERYTHING is a gift for someone who loves stationery like I do.

What is your favorite thing about your store?

My favorite thing is my card wall. Is that cheating? There's nothing I love more than shopping for cards and curating my card wall.

Thanks, Kristina for letting me and my tiny sidekick come by and photograph your shop!  I love having a place like this so close by!  If you aren't in the Natick area, you can still shop all the awesomeness at Calliope Paperie's online store!

Would you like to see your home featured on Crash!?  Is there a local shop you think would be perfect to share?  I'd love to hear about it!  E-mail me your ideas @ blog@copperdotinteriors.com

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Nessie the Flip House: Week 9

I hope you enjoy these weekly updates as I navigate through the business of flipping houses one house at a time!!  Check in each Friday to see weekly update of how this house progresses!  To catch up on the progress on Nessie, check out her previous posts here.  If you’re new here (Hello!!!),  or just enjoy walking down memory lane, you can see my 6 previous flip houses here.  Thanks for coming along for the ride!!  

I feel like this house is a tortoise right now- slow and steady.  Steady progress is a good thing, so I can't complain too much.  This week, central air and all the ductwork was installed.

My electrician also got busy placing recessed lighting, locating outlets, switches, and working on rewiring essentially everything.

The most visible change, however is the framed out basement laundry/powder room!!  It's feeling like a room!  The pocket door still needs to be framed in, but it's pretty exciting to see this space.

At this phase, I'm racking my brain to make sure that I take every necessary item into consideration while the walls are open and things are still easy to tweak.  I'm eager for finishes, but there's lots of 'necessary evil' to take care of first behind the walls.

After a longer wait that I would like, I've been assured that the patio and exterior hardscaping repairs will be starting by Wednesday at the latest.

And on we chug, chug, along.

Happy autumn and have a great weekend!

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Nessie the Flip House: Week 8

I hope you enjoy these weekly updates as I navigate through the business of flipping houses one house at a time!!  Check in each Friday to see weekly update of how this house progresses!  To catch up on the progress on Nessie, check out her previous posts here.  If you’re new here (Hello!!!),  or just enjoy walking down memory lane, you can see my 6 previous flip houses here.  Thanks for coming along for the ride!! I need to feel more accomplished this week since we're already at week 8 and I feel like progress is still at snail speed, so let's start with a list of what's happened in the last 2 months on this flip:

• Building permit acquired!
• Health department approval for new bathroom
• New septic system installed
• Electrical clean-up began
• Old plumbing removed
• All demo DONE
• Ordered: Kitchen cabinets, bathroom vanity, faucets, lights, mailbox
• Re-framing of necessary walls/ceilings- 50%
• Hardscaping to happen next week (postponed due to weather)
• Air conditioning being installed TODAY

I know once we get rough sign-offs and we can start hanging drywall, this place is going to come together pretty fast, but right now she's still an empty shell of a house.  Not that it shows hugely in the pictures, but my contractor, plumber, and electrician were all out at the house this week taking care of business.

In the small hallway that goes from the kitchen to the main bath and 2 of the bedrooms, several walls got reframed.  We made the hallway 6" wider because a 30" hallway is pretty claustrophobic and the rest of the walls required reframing because they were pretty sorry excuses for walls previously and weren't properly framed and lacked fancy things like 2x4s and regular studs.  It was easier for my contractor to reframe them all together then to try and fix the existing.

And even though the tiniest bedroom has the biggest closet, the medium sized bedroom has gone almost 100 years without a closet.  Until now.

Even the basement room (aka the "bowling alley") got some new framing.  The existing framing was beefed up so that we have room to properly insulate the concrete wall.

I usually have one pet project in each house that I really dig my hands into (with the exception of Shorty since I was busy baking a baby instead).  In this house, I'm planning to create a mud room area, or has Hubby has named it, a fud room (fake mud room).  I have my sights set on the wall to the right as you walk in the front door (on the left of the pic as you're looking at the door).

The lower section of floor needs a purpose and creating a landing spot for shoes, coats, etc should be just the trick.  This is the section of wall that I've been envisioning some sort of entry-way built-in complete with storage and a bench.

After pricing out a few options including IKEA, I came to the conclusion that it will be the least expensive, probably look best, and most fun if I build it myself.  I've already enlisted Handy Dad's help and need to start planning measurements and details.  This is the general plan- cubbies floor to ceiling on one side with storage above and below a bench with several wall coat hooks.  I love it when I have an idea in my head and am able to find an image that accurately illustrates the concept that I'm trying to explain.  This mud room from Z+Interiors is pretty darn close to how I see the finished product (sans the barn board):

I have a feeling the next few weeks will also be dealing with a lot of the "guts" of the house and getting the appropriate sign-offs, but at least we've finally hit a steady stride on progress here!  Onward!!

Have a great weekend!!

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