FEST: In My Corner with Chantal Marie Living

Welcome to Chantal Marie Living's space where she makes all her beautiful different types of bags as well as home and car accesories. My favorite in her shop would have be be this right now because I am in total beach mode for the summer. My kids can't get enough of the sand and water. So I have stocked up on my sunscreen and love stylish beach bags!!!

Chantal works in a beautifully lit area with gorgeous windows that allow lots of light in. Her wall color is yellow (does this bring back memories of my previous article in which I said yellow inspires creativity?). Her work space doubles as the diningroom and she looks neat and organized.

I love the tile floor!! I feel like tile is a must in FL, especially south FL. It is so hot the cold tile is a blessing. Also wood down here almost always bows over time because of the humidity and during rainly season you will track in mud over your carpet daily. Love the easy clean factor of tile and she was even smart going with a darker grout color as light colors never stay light in my house!!

She could not live without her commercial sewing machine. It was her first serious professional purchase and she said it has serviced her very well.

" It's an old used sewing machine that was used in its previous life as a teaching tool in a home ec. class. So I feel good that young people have used this machine for years and hopefully they learned a lot," she shared with me.

Chantal has been sewing since she was a little girl. She recieved her first sewing machine at the age of 6 and loved it. She was taught a lot by her mother, who she said is a wonderful seamtress. She also picked up a few tricks on her own after not sewing for a time period. It has been only recently after her sons stop their sport activities that she found she had nothing to do and made herself a seatbelt cover and started up again.Then she thought it would be good to sell on Etsy after she began making her Mola pillows.

"My husband refurbished this wonderful dresser that I now use to store some of my fabric. It has so many drawers and it looks wonderful in my dining room/work area. I have also picked up a cabinet one of my neighbor decided to get rid of. It works great, just needed a little cleaning and holds more of my fabrics. I cannot have too much storage room for them." I agree with her. You can't have too much storage for fabric or too much fabric (actually I just had 8 bolts dropped off from Michael Miller as I wrote that. Talk about timing) and I love the handles and dark finish on this dresser!!!

She started with one sewing machine three years ago and since then has added 2 more machines. I love this table and it remaids me of the table I really want when I have my own room. Everything closes up and is put away when guests appear.

When asked where she gets her inspiration from she said,

"I love colors and textures but I want my items to be useful. When I see a friend with a bag, sometimes it's embarrassing as I'll inspect the bag inside and out to see its details and construction. I'll go in a store and start drawing a cool looking bag just to get ideas. I love to travel and get ideas from the places that I visit. There is so much possibilities.

I come from a French island in the Caribbean and I love colors, music, the outdoor, and foods that have interesting taste. Spice up the food, try a little ginger or coconut, put some herbs, anything to give it flavor. The food in Guadeloupe is a mixture of French and island flavors, so it's the best of both world!"

She also talked about her family a lot: her sons, husband and mother and you could tell by her words that family is important to her. Thank you Chantal for sharing your space and beautiful words.

Enjoy,

Barbara