Give Me Shelter

One of my favorite scenes from a movie took place inside a house-tent in The Royal Tenenbaums.  Richie and Margot sat listening to "She Smiled Sweetly" by The Rolling Stones and shared a real moment. It was an illuminated hideaway in their otherwise chaotic childhood home.  I think I've secretly wanted a little tent in my house ever since.  Fast forward 11 years.  My son Wylie has the tiniest shoe box of a room.  It holds a crib, a small dresser and wardrobe.  It's never been a place for him to hang out. His birthday is today and I presented him with his very own little teepee tent for his room.  I've been working on it all week. It's made from eco-felt, dowels and twine. I tried my hand at a little hand textile design using an oil based fabric pen  I'll put up a tutorial update to this post soon. For now, here's some more pictures...

Prefabulous

Jens Risom House.  Image courtesy of LIFE magazine

So...you may have noticed that you are not reading Make Do. Welcome to Poppy Haus!  For several reasons it was time to take the look and feel of my blog in a different direction.  When I started I just needed to get typing and the name Make Do worked, but it is ubiquitous and I'd never be able to do more with it as a brand.  I am also beginning a new chapter in my life.  After 5 years, I am striking out of my own so to speak.  My wonderful creative partner and I have parted ways. She will run Jasper Hearts Wren and I will pursue whatever this will become. 

While beginning the process of reinventing my creative self I had to accept that I have a good eye for design but not all the technical chops to create.  I looked to Etsy for a little help and found this beautiful blogger template. I'm a huge fan of prefab.  The process is streamlined, and often customizable.  I'd love to replicate the house above, maybe to live in, maybe to vacation in, I just need to get a hold of the kit plans. It's the Jens Risom Home. For those of you who don't know him, he was Knoll's early design partner, and struck off on his own and made beautiful things like this prefab home and color paneled credenzas that I will surely hack. I guess I'm looking to him right now as a source of inspiration. 

The name...  Poppy was my girl name. I didn't have a girl, instead I have two crazy haired boys. Haus is obviously German for House. Urban Dictionary claims it is also a term for someone who is really good at something. I kind of think they made that up, but I like it. This is a blog about the homestead, and being of fraulein descent,  I also love myself an A-frame. I've been kicking around these words for a while and decided to put them to good use.