When I was a little girl, I longed for community. My life growing up was not easy, and often times I felt very displaced. When I grew older, my desire to plant roots only grew stronger.
This little historic town of Snohomish, Washington has captured my heart, in many ways. Adopted as one of its own, I have quite literally fallen in love. My husband, Ky Elliott and I met here over fifteen years ago, a place that his family established roots in generations ago.
First Street, Snohomish WA.
As I drive through town, I see many familiar faces, I am reminded of my 15 years plus of memories, and I feel this deep love and admiration for the history and a strong need to pour out my affections into the only place that has ever really felt like home.
Victorian Gingerbread House, Snohomish, WA, built in 1887.
We don’t want to waste our time here, and we want to be pouring ourselves into something good, planting roots. The Maple House Collective, was founded on all good things. With the idea of creating safe and meaningful spaces, gathering beauty and craftsmanship and an eye for antiques to curate meaningful moments in our lives.
Coming from generational brokenness, abandonment, growing up in poverty, a scrawny little Puerto Rican kid with big curly hair, bushy eye brows, and crooked teeth…with a bit of angst, struggling my way through grade school and well into early adult life...I never expected to be someone featured in magazines, watching my business grow from that measly few bucks (I happened to take into the thrift store that one day ten years ago) hoping to make a few bucks back.
I’ve carried a strong conviction to push myself hard towards the dreams I feel called to, even when I feel like I’m not good enough (and I feel it often). Sometimes those dreams feel so far out of reach, and coming from almost nothing, even impossible. I think there are many times I would have laughed if someone would have told me, “you are going to reach your goals one day”.
Of course, over the years I have learned that a huge part of reaching goals is not giving up, while simultaneously learning to slow down, open clutched fists, and let go of the things that were never meant to be ours, or at least, not ours forever.
The last ten years we have worked towards a big goal for our business. One that I so strongly felt called to, but hardly believed in its fruition. The last year and a half we have experienced a glimpse of this and learned so much, gained so much in our local community, and our vision for this goal has only grown.
With growth comes change, and often times change means pruning and allowing for more growth… with that being said, we are sad to share that the monthly markets at the barn will be ending after our August market.
While this has been a hard decision for us to make, it is allowing us to finally step into our ten-year goal, which is….
...to open a storefront!
We are officially opening a full time brick & mortar shop this Fall in Snohomish, WA…the small town my husband grew up in, the place I found home over fifteen years ago, where we met, where we have chosen to establish our own roots…and it feels surreal!
We are blessed to have such an amazing team, and the support of our local community. Erica, our Director of Operations will be taking the lead on running the storefront, and we could not do this without her! The online shop will continue to remain open and grow, and you will soon be able to find all of your favorite Maple House goods (plus some new finds) at our store which will be open all month long.
We look forward to sharing all of the details on the new shop really soon, including location (hint: walkable from first street) and another secret project we are working on (hint: it will give you even more reason to visit this sweet town)!
The new (old) shop needs a little bit of our loving touch, and we plan to share that entire process with you all as well! It was built in 1950, so it has some history of its own which we are looking into learning more about. Thank you for your patience as we take on the biggest thing our business has ever taken on, a culmination of everything we have been working towards for years, and we cannot wait to share in this with you!
It has been a winding road to get here. Many opportunities we have turned down, trusting our gut while believing in this dream… it was all just a matter of the perfectly right time, the right place, and the right people. Trusting in God's perfect timing, the doors opened, and we stepped forward.
What a magical season we have had watching this big beautiful heritage barn (which I was drawn to all those years) come back to life, sharing in our amazing local community, becoming a part of her history. Thank you so much to everyone who has participated in these markets!
(Stay tuned for our plans for use of the heritage barn)
You can read more of our story in the upcoming 2023 Holiday issue of Country Home Magazine.
Our plan is to take all we have learned and shared in at our markets and many years of selling online, and carry this into our new store. You may notice some new and exciting things over the coming months as we continue to grow. The Maple House Collective will be stepping into a new era, and we are so excited to share in this with our community!
Sign up for our email list to get first alert on all shop happenings and announcements! We cannot wait to share more so so soon!
Thank you for being here with us, it means the world!
Filmed and produced by Ky Elliott
Read an interesting story on how this year began... It's hard not to think that there is a sense of completion with this new endeavor ahead: https://www.themaplehouseco.com/post/where-shoulders-rest