bringing in the season at Watershed pub and Kitchen

This collaboration for Watershed is a new demographic for me--businesses! Fortunately I had the wonderful pleasure of working with Ben and Kelsey Curran. Watershed Pub and Kitchen had quite the first year, filled with refinement and accolades. They were voted King5's Best New Restaurant of Western Washington and always see friendly groups of people visiting. Ben and Kelsey have found their stride and in their second year, they wanted to bring in a little more character with more intentional seasonal ambiance. 

I met Ben and Kelsey a few years ago through Ben's sister and my friend, Alexis. Immediately I was taken aback by how refreshingly positive and welcoming both of them are. They have been planning Watershed as their biggest dream.

 I love when people dream big and go for it. 

To me, they are inspiring. And, they also have a great sense of humor. If I can laugh with you, we'll work well together. And then you add in a familiar bond of trying new wonderful microbrews, and I am completely sold! Seriously check out their rotating taps. (Try Bainbridge Island's Pumpkin and 7 Seas Winter Ale!) I feel honored and privileged to work with them because they truly believe in helping their community and working with people locally. Their attitude and approach is to always positively impact the community around them. It's honorable and shows tremendous character.

When decorating for any business there are two people to impress: the proprietors and the customers. As such, I wanted to ensure Ben and Kelsey were a part of the vision. It's their business and as they should, have very specific ideas for Watershed and its brand. Even better was being able to hang out with them on a Monday afternoon at a large craft super-emporium playing with autumn and halloween decorations. I love that this is my job--to spend time with good people and help them breathe into life vision. The other consideration for decorating seasonally is to impress the customers. Autumn is my favorite season because of all the natural colors that vibrantly show off for these months in the Northwest. I am always inspired by nature and the bountiful sustenance she provides us.

But what about holidays? How do you respectfully inject that? 

Because decorating can be considered an "extra" (but man, does it connect to Spirit!), I encouraged Ben and Kelsey to make investment in items that they can reuse year after year, and pieces that can be used for both Halloween and Thanksgiving seasons. The big ticket items to use as a transitional foundation for both these holidays was the garland and wreath. Since day one, I have been obsessed with Watershed's front door. The Tree of Life symbolism, and wood grain that looks like a phoenix rising, I knew the door itself could punctuate the decor with just a little something classy, a wreath. From there we added gourds and pumpkins to reflect our harvest season. We then went from there to add the Halloween: a few ghosts, a few monsters, all which could easily be removed the day after Halloween, and the basics will transition nicely for the remainder of the season. The tip for decorating for holidays is to remain fairly neutral, that's why a lot of my seasonal decor emphasizes natural change in the seasons, playing off of what nature creates for us. Then less is more. I prefer subtly for sensational--if you look closely there are witches brooms in planters, and ghosts tucked in hanging plants.

The decor shouldn't be the main focus, it should be a part of experiencing why Watershed is always a great place to be. 

Thank you, Ben and Kelsey for trusting Hammer Designs with your decor! I am super thrilled to bring it all to life for Winter.

Watershed Pub and Kitchen is located at Thornton Place in Northgate: 10104 3rd Ave NE Seattle, WA 98115