One of the best parts of my job is meeting kindred spirits. Connecting with interesting people who walk into my store or stumble onto one of my online venues is, quite frankly, the motivation that keeps me moving forward in this crazy and exhausting business.
So when I happened to sell four items within three days to three different customers . . . all within Brooklyn, NY . . . well, I took that as a sign to make some connections. Certainly, a road trip was calling, and I needed a breather. So instead of shipping off their items (purchased from my ETSY stores), I packed them up and made a New York City weekend out of personal deliveries.
Thought I’d share some photos with you of where a couple pieces of the store’s garden furniture ended up — Forrest Point Restaurant and Bar, located on the outskirts of Brooklyn.
When I pulled up to this place my mouth kind of dropped. It has that certain something that completely draws you in, which I think stems from an undeniable element of pure authenticity. This business owner knows exactly what he likes down to the bone, and he isn’t afraid to express it — at all.
Once inside, I was immediately taken with the space’s raw and powerful sense of expression. I couldn’t quit looking around. While I was talking with the owner my eyes were everywhere, and I actually had to apologize. Of course, he loved my response, and we had a great time while he showed me around.
But before I go on, I have to say that these photos are not mine. Like a fool, I accidentally trashed my iphone photos of the entire trip, But oddly enough, the photos I found online of the restaurant are pretty much of the same angles that I snapped. This is an inside view from the bar . . .
Can you see how Darin (the owner) and I (of course, most of you, too) share a love of completely blurring the lines between indoors and out? In such an effortlessly cool way, he combines salvaged, repurposed and reinvented items with incredible imagination, but without an ounce of “trying too hard”. Check out those antique wooden birdcages that he had repurposed into chandeliers. That cage reflected in the mirror above is about 3.5 feet high. Awesome.
The bar top , which you can’t really see here, is made of some of the neatest old crates I’ve ever seen. So upset that I lost my picture of the surface.
Here’s a view of the outside front, which faces the main road. Love how he used the wood stadium chairs outside for group lounging. Darin said when items get too trashed from the weather, he just replaces them. He’d rather keep the look fun and fresh and worry about damage later. I like that. I don’t want to see things get ruined, but some of these items that he salvaged would have never been re-used if he hadn’t rescued them. So at least they are getting a 2nd chance at life.
He told me he’s always busy looking out for cool stuff (yay!). And he keeps the local artists busy, too. . .
This is a hand painted wall mural to the right of the main entrance door. Isn’t it amazing? What’s even more cool, he commissions different artists regularly to change out the scenes on the artwork walls. There’s original artwork and graffiti everywhere.
Obviously, he’s a huge fan of bird cages, too. Here he’s taken some license with plant “cages” to make outdoor chandeliers. The upper left side of this photo shows how the inside bar connects to the outside decks and patios. Of course, that’s been done before. But what this picture doesn’t show is how he used all salvaged material to create the opening. Here’s another angle of the outdoor space during the daytime . . . and at the bottom of the photo, yes, those are swing set chairs.
Really, such a nifty place filled with a palpable spirit of warmth and creativity. So much inspiration everywhere I looked . . . but that’s NYC for you.
Thanks for reading!
~ Mary
(photos)
Garden Style Living 