{Photograph} by Beck Rowe.
You possibly can store for books, vegetation, and classic decor at three small companies below a single roof in Takoma Park. Laurel Leaf, which opened in March, is a collaboration between Orly Keiner of HouseMouse Books and Classic, Heather Rowe of Cheeky’s Classic, and Agnes Traynor of Indigro Plant Design.
The trio turned mates whereas working their companies in Takoma Park. Keiner and Traynor operated storefronts within the neighborhood, and Cheeky’s Classic started with pop-ups in Takoma Park earlier than opening a location in Hyattsville. Over time, the homeowners realized their merchandise match collectively in a single area.
“It was placing to me how comparable our imaginative and prescient was,” says Keiner. “After I talked to Agnes, I used to be like, ‘Wouldn’t or not it’s nice if we may have a primary flooring boutique, and it might be actually built-in, vegetation and books?’ After which I’d speak to Heather and we’d have the identical dialog: ‘Wouldn’t or not it’s nice if we may do the classic and the books?’”
As a collaboration between three companies, the shop affords an eclectic combine of products. There’s a big choice of mid-century fashionable furnishings, together with classic glassware and tables, which Rowe procures from auctions and property gross sales. Bookshelves are lined with titles starting from classics to new releases, and the small assortment is fastidiously curated by Keiner. Lush cabinets burst with tropical houseplants, which Traynor sources from an area greenhouse.
The store is situated in a former financial institution relationship again to the Thirties. (An space that was as soon as a cash-drop processing room is now a youngsters’s studying nook.) Coming into the shop is like stepping right into a Pinterest board: a woodland forest is painted on the wall, show instances maintain small trinkets equivalent to matchboxes and classic Metro tokens, and a reclaimed Thirties sink is stuffed with verdant vegetation.
Traynor discovered the sink at Group Forklift, a salvage retailer close to Hyattsville, and refinished it. It’s now a DIY plant bar in addition to an area for repotting providers and plant care consultations. Different planters are sourced by classic curator Rowe. “It’s about having one thing within the retailer that might’ve been in a landfill,” says Rowe. “I actually consider in bringing these items again into individuals’s worlds.”
Past their wares, the companies are additionally internet hosting occasions on the store, a few of which will probably be acquainted to longtime prospects. Traynor is continuous her terrarium workshops, and Keiner is planning to relaunch Escape the Bookshop, an escape sport primarily based on native mysteries.
