We are so pleased to toot our horn about being included in the current issue of Austin Monthly Magazine! We are listed as number 5 in the article, “112 Fun Things to Do in the Summer.” HOT DOG! Awesome sauce! We hope you’ll include us in your to-do list for summer and take a class, by golly!

Current Issue of Austin Monthly.

In other news,  we were recently asked to participate in a grassroots campaign featuring local craftspeople, artisans, and business owners by our neighbors – tech/media software development gurus Red Method. Sprucettes and our class-goers were featured in a video to promote hand-made, American-made efforts. You can check out the video below:

Isn’t that special?!! You can see more footage of Austin locals by visiting the Red Method site here. Great mission from those folks: they are using current technology via apps to urge and enable us to buy local, create domestically, and pay it forward to ourselves and our neighbors. Great job Red Method! Thanks for thinking of us here at Spruce! We’re pleased to be included. Here’s a pic from the event…

Spruce girls at Red Method.

That’s that for now. Come on by the shop and reupholster local! We appreciate your support always.

So here on the Spruce blog not only will we keep you up to date on fabric trends and styles we heart, but we are going to start a new series called, “Fabric Finds”. We are always looking for more gorgeous fabrics to carry and are also inundated by others with new fabric brands and collections all the time. Enough to keep my intern, Gabrielle, busy AROUND THE CLOCK! An exciting new launch that I have been waiting to write about is a collection from Duralee. Often smaller designers will partner with larger fabric brands to create a larger, more widely distributed fabric line. When I heard that John Robshaw of John Robshaw Textiles would be launching a line with Duralee I definitely did a double fist pump. Booyah! John Robshaw has been creating beautiful Indian textiles as well as soft goods for some time now, but due to price and availability it has been difficult for us to snag. The textiles that he currently produces are stunning and made all by hand. Take a look at this video below showing just how all his wood block printed fabrics are made.

Now with the partnership of Duralee and John Robshaw you can access designs inspired by his own collections! The accessibility and price are both very exciting with this new line. Duralee has used their own mills to produce these prints, many of which are in the United States. All of his designs are inspired by his time spent in Asia learning various techniques used there for textile design. Check out this video giving you an overall look at the new John Robshaw Collection from Duralee.

Here are a few of my favorite prints from the group!

Knowing what so many of our clients request we think this is going to be a big hit! The samples are on their way to Spruce as week speak, so come by and take a look soon. Be on the lookout for more Fabric Finds coming up from Spruce over the next few weeks!

For a few weeks now, we have had some new faces at Spruce. Each are filling different roles where we need some fresh new help! Now that they are here, it’s about time we introduce them!

We have added a new Spruceter to the workshop. His name is Brian Barnhouse, and he has taken over as head stripper around here! This face has been familiar to us for some time now since Brian is actually Frank’s son! We have gotten to know Brian since Frank joined Spruce over a year ago and thought he would make the perfect Spruceter. Father and son share similar features (check out their same smiles!), but are uniquely different in many ways. Check out some fun facts about Brian:

- Born in San Francisco
- Has four lizards, three cats, and one dog that he loves to take care of!
- Favorite movies: Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Big Lebowski, Casino
- Favorite TV shows: The Sopranos, La Casa de al Lado (Spanish Soap!)
- Favorite artists: Deftones, NIN, Goldfrapp
- Overall design style: Minimalist, loves dark rich colors
- Things Brian enjoys: Taking care of his pets, photo/video editing, and he can’t pass up a good ghost story!
- Something you wouldn’t know about Brian: He loves to write! Screenplays, novels, or shorts. I pressed for his favorite character, and he said he wasn’t quite ready to share him/her. Can’t wait to wriggle that out of him!

We are jazzed to have Brian as our newest Spruceter!

Next, we have had an addition to the front of the shop in the form of my newest intern! We got connected through one of our fantastic customers, and I am seriously glad we did. Her name is Gabrielle Stein, and she couldn’t be more fantastic! For the last few weeks Gabrielle has helped us overhaul our fabric section. She is quick as a whip and super friendly, just what we love in a Sprucette! Check out a few things to know about Gabrielle:

- Grew up in Dallas
- Got her degree in Studio Art, specifically painting and print-making
- When she is not helping us at the shop, you can find her at the new, delicious eatery, Elizabeth Street Cafe.
- Favorite music: Indie Rock, Old school Honky-Tonk (we were destined to like each other because of this one!)
-  Overall design style: She is still developing what that is, but her home would be described as eclectic. She has a prized possession from her grandmother of a lime green tweed sofa, love it! She loves to collect vintage pieces with personality and build around those items.
- Has spent some time creating beautiful copper plates for print-making, and is excited to possibly be joining a print makers co-op in Austin!
- Has a biz of painting pet portraits! Check out her site here.
- Something you wouldn’t know about Gabrielle:  She loves to boot scoot, a true kindred spirit! She can’t get enough of the local dance halls (Don’s Depot, the Spoke) and two-stepping. I am sure she can dance circles around most folks with her background in dance, as well!

Our little family is getting bigger, and we couldn’t be happier about it. Next time you are in the shop, be sure to say hello to the newbies. I know they will appreciate it!

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After all the hub-bub this last week with our anniversary party and the Design*Sponge even at Anthropologie, we finally have time to share with you the results of our October lampshade class! The Sprucettes love this class as it is so much bang for your buck. You bring your fabric (or we can order it for you), we set you up with the materials, build it together, et voila…a lampshade is born! If you make one lampshade you can make another easily at home in any size – large or small – to re-vamp every lamp in the house. Check out our class-goers’ shades!

Class in progress...

Taping the rings to the shade...almost there.

Classy shade! Great job!

Two sisters' shades - each with their own awesome style.

A fun, bright lampshade - ready for the sun!!!

A lovely finish.

Remember that this basic shade can easily translate into a cool pendant lamp!

A long-gone Paul Smith for Maharam woven stripe lampshade. We can re-create this anytime for you!

Be sure to visit the “Classes” section of our blog for a list other classes still available. The October 20th BYOC (bring your own chair) class is nigh!!! We’ll see you at the shop!

Please always feel free to call us at the shop for inquiries, details, and info. We’ll be happy to help you!

Hope everyone is having a great week! We are busy busy around here making sure we get all our work done so we can party like it’s 1999 on Friday. And if you don’t remember….it’s our Anniversary Party wahoo!! Over the last few weeks we have been working on some great customer furniture AND new Spruce pieces. It is so fun for us to be able to put some of the fabrics we have been drooling over on our work! Take a look at the transformations.

This sectional was quite the find! Amanda drove out to west Austin to rescue it. We ended up refinishing the wood in a warm brown and upholstering it in this GORGEOUS Robert Allen fabric, called “Horizon“. It has great feminine colors, but the look of menswear. Totally obsessed. Check out the pieces in our online shop here.

These next chairs were picked up from a local church and had tons of potential. The original fabric has some interesting quilting that sadly had to go . We decided to go more neutral with the set, but to make sure it had a dynamite weave. We chose to use another Robert Allen fabric, called “Bennet“. The weave has a diamond pattern, very reminiscent of what you might see in a beautiful Kilim rug! These chairs are not only stunners, but are crazy comfortable. I could sit hours in these guys. Check them out on our website here. Also, are few new pillows made it into the mix, super cute!

Our new furniture has not only livened up our space, but helped to bring a unique look to another home! A couple of months ago, Spruce was asked by Rauser Design to furnish one of the homes on the AIA Home Tour. Well we jumped at the chance! The home was the Springdale Farmhouse, which is the location of a fantastic local farm committed to growing sustainable and safe produce for Austin. The home is a gem, and we were so pleased with how it all turned out. Take a look at some of the photos below of how everything fit together in the space!