Sleepy 19th Ave welcomed former Pioneer Square florist Megan Mary Olander to the neighborhood with open arms when she moved in earlier this month.
A sixth grader from St. Joseph’s brought the floral staff a batch of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies on their first day of business in a new shop at 19th and Aloha. When Olander realized that, in the midst of moving that she didn’t order Mother’s Day greeting cards, a local greeting card entrepreneur sent over a batch just in time for the holiday.
“The neighborhood has been so welcoming and wonderful,” said owner and florist Megan Olander. “It’s really been a great move for us.”
Megan decided to move her shop from the Pioneer Square location after almost 29 years because of what she describes as a dwindling downtown economy.
“It is a neighborhood people don’t really want to come to anymore,” said Megan. “There’s a lot of sadness there… we have a lot of great friends there and had some wonderful memories, but the neighborhood has lost a lot of vitality.”
Megan Mary Olander specializes in European-style floral designs and makes all arrangements on special order. Olander goes to Pike Place Market and buys local, but she says she also has relationships with fair trade growers around the world, like her rose supplier in Ecuador.
The shop also features handmade gift items from local and international artists. Olander said she chooses vendors who use sustainable, recycled materials and have a unique, high-quality craftsmanship hard to find anywhere else. She is interested in featuring the work of local artists, too.
One of Olander’s featured vendors is LiT, a contemporary lampshade store just a few blocks away. It’s not all growth on 19th Ave, however. Retailer Hermitage closed their doors this last September (owner Jennifer June has moved her storefront online, where she operates it out of Ballard). But LiT “is booming” according to owner Dawn Bassett.
“LiT is doing better and better as we are so fortunate to offer more and more in our sweet little shop,” said Bassett.
LiT offers custom-made lampshades, fabric and wallpaper. Now, you can shop for specialty ceramics pieces, handmade jewelry and whimsical, vintage chairs at the 19th Ave. location.
It’s hard to find room in the average budget for specialized home décor, but Bassett is a convincing advocate for the power of interior beauty,
“Inviting beautiful objects, fabric, furniture and lighting into your home transforms your inner spaces into the languid and lovely rooms that inspire you, relax you and create the nest you look forward to inviting friends and family into,” said Basssett. “What joy can come from an uninteresting table bought online that you have seen at dozens of other places? The joy of finding something that brings great [happiness], or references a memory, will be one you never tire of.”
Bassett recommends thrift shopping for those on a budget. If you find a great lamp base, bring it to LiT for a custom-made shade. Also, she recommends framing a single roll of wallpaper as a wall accent to add depth and pattern to any room.
Now through June, LiT is offering 20% off any custom shade using Designers Guild fabrics. In June, all “off the rack,” pre-existing shades are 30% off.
The joy of that uninteresting table bought online is that it is more likely to fit into the average budget.
– Speaking as an adovocate for the power of afforability
seems nearly anything new on the hill is not really affordable/sustainable/eco, most of my coworkers here on the sprawly East Side love to tell me every Monday about all the bargains they scored in my neighborhood home-shopping over the weekend. Shop where you want, spend where you want. Gak.
“The terrorists hate us for our freedoms.” Maybe a whole lotta other people on the planet hate us ‘cos we indulge every whim, consume a majority of the resources (per cap)? Consumption of unneeded items will hasten the death of this planet. Enjoy your trader joe’s.
Dawn at LiT recommends thrift-shopping for a lamp base and embellishing it. She also recommends embellishing one wall with wallpaper as an affordable accent.
Great, affordable, ideas from a an artistic gal with a sweet, if not always cheap, shop.
I don’t “indulge every whim”. In fact, the whole point of buying something handmade, local, WELL MADE- is that it is special, and will last far longer than anything bought from a mass producer. And to do that you must be patient, observant, and creative yourself.
Local and handmade do not always equate with well-made. Mass produced does not always equate with poorly made.
yeah, and a $50 lampshade is not what most people are in the market for…I am all about supporting the local scene and all but stores like LiT and Nube Green are false representations of ideas we all know need to be adhered to–reuse, recycle and consume less. I would sincerely worry about running a business that purports to be aligning itself with these notions–Bill the Bitcher is a perfect example.
I am sure all these businesses benefit from out of hood shoppers–which is perfectly wonderful–all are and have always been welcome on Capitol Hill, regardless of where you live.