Congratulations to our “Pick your Favorite, then Pick a Rug” contest winner, Carol of Falmouth, Maine. Carol was selected at random out of over 200 submissions and will choose one of our Spectrum rugs to brighten up a room! Thank you for all your great entries and stay tuned for our next contest!
We are thrilled to introduce part one of our series, “Iris and Witching Hour Farm.” Guest blogger and designer Tracey Davidson of The Furniture Solution in West Friendship, MD, shares with us the process of putting together this project – including a room inspired by a Company C pillow! Stay tuned as we watch the room transform from a blank slate to the beautiful finished product!
When I previewed Witching Hour Farm I loved the setting and knew I’d wanted to be involved. The little room on the third floor was cozy and inviting, I remembered the Iris pillow I’d seen on the Company C site and new that it would be a perfect starting point for my design.
Here is the room description:
This warm, cozy space is a place to escape from the demands of a busy life. Inspired by the pillow on the inviting chaise lounge, walls are washed in a golden tan and accented with yellow, leaf and iris. The long wall is enveloped by a hand painted mural of irises. The mural technique plays with scale – the small scale of the room contradicts, and accents the large scale of the painting. Colors are directly touching without harsh line, or linear composition. The room’s style is crisp and clean. All family members will want to linger in this personal retreat to read, write or watch the birds in the trees… 
Explore all the colorful 2010 Fall collections, then tell us what your favorite fall piece is and why. Post your comments on our blog, our Facebook Wall, or reply @companyc on Twitter by August 10 and you could win a 6’x9’ Spectrum rug in the color of your choice!
Contest Rules: Dealers, vendors, other partners, employees and family members are not eligible to win. Only entries with valid email addresses will be entered in contest. Winner will be selected based on quality of entry and a random drawing of finalists’ names. Winner will be notified by August 13 via email.
Company C co-founder Walter Chapin has been visiting with the skilled artisans from all over the world that bring our colorful designs to life. They’re busy working on our Fall 2011 Collections now and we’re so excited we just couldn’t resist sharing a preview of a textile design with you! 
We are thrilled to announce that Company C is an official corporate partner of Susan G. Komen for the Cure.
Company C will donate twenty-percent of the purchase of each of our Breast Cancer Awareness rugs, “The Sisters Rug” and “Karen’s Rug” support breast cancer awareness, research and education. The rugs will be available for sale in September 2010 at more than 800 specialty retailers nationwide; at company-owned retail stores in Hingham, MA, Portland, ME and Concord, NH; and online at www.companyc.com. Both limited edition rugs are hand-hooked 2-feet by 3-feet accent rugs made of 100 percent wool.
About Susan G. Komen for the Cure®
Nancy G. Brinker promised her dying sister, Susan G. Komen, she would do everything in her power to end breast cancer forever. In 1982, that promise became Susan G. Komen for the Cure and launched the global breast cancer movement. Today, Komen for the Cure is the world’s largest grassroots network of breast cancer survivors and activists fighting to save lives, empower people, ensure quality care for all and energize science to find the cures. Thanks to events like the Komen Race for the Cure®, we have invested nearly $1.5 billion to fulfill our promise, becoming the largest source of nonprofit funds dedicated to the fight against breast cancer in the world. For more information about Susan G. Komen for the Cure, breast health or breast cancer, visit www.komen.org or call 1-877 GO KOMEN.
We are thrilled to share some pictures of the grand opening of a new Clay & Cotton, one of our fantastic partners. Their third store in Kirkwood, Missouri creates a presence in the St. Louis area in addition to their two successful locations in Louisville, Kentucky.
For more information about Clay & Cotton, visit www.clayandcotton.com.
Today we celebrated Earth Day–a day to inspire awareness and appreciation of the Earth’s environment. At Company C, we also take the time to care on days other than April 22. Our Natural Grounds rugs are naturally beautiful in more ways than one: We use untreated 100 percent natural wool when constructing these rugs, greatly reducing the amount of dye used to make them. The less dye used, the fewer natural resources are consumed. The natural colors of wool range from shades of ivory and ecru, to medium browns and grays, to almost black. When we use natural yarn, it instantly adds warmth to the design because it’s less flat; there’s an inherent variation in the shades that adds depth.
Our Natural Grounds collection includes four rugs–Sachi, Wentworth Floral, Yukata, and Yuri. The overscaled chrysanthemum designs in the Sachi rug are fresh and modern. “Sachi” is a Japanese name meaning “Happiness,” and this rug will surely make you smile. Wentworth Floral boasts an arresting floral pattern in all natural shades of gray. The Yukata rug was inspired by the brightly colored kimonos worn in Japan. By layering vibrant red, teal, wasabi and gold colors on the black bean ground of this rug, this rug is a true statement piece. The Yuri’s Ikat patterns in brilliant colors make for a dramatic contrast against the dark charcoal (and natural) ground.
And don’t forget our Natural Grounds rugs are GoodWeave certified, assuring you that your handmade rug was created without the use of child labor. Join us this month to celebrate these naturally beautiful rugs. Enjoy 25 percent savings on our Natural Grounds rugs. Make a statement in your home–be naturally beautiful today and every day.
A Colorful Evening with Matthew Mead!
We were lucky enough to host Matthew Mead, celebrity lifestyle and entertaining expert, a couple weeks ago at one of our Company C retail stores. We all got together to support Matthew in his new venture and celebrate the launch of Flea Market Style, his new decorating and lifestyle magazine.
Created in partnership with Ki Nassauer. It’s premiere Spring 2010 issue is now available on news stands. Follow the making of Matthew’s magazine on his popular blog www.fleamarketmag.blogspot.com.
Check out this short video from our Colorful Evening!
We hope to see you all again this winter when Matthew returns to present Decorating for the Holidays …..Follow us on Facebook, www.companyc.com/colorfulliving for news on our upcoming events.
We DARE you. Go ahead, defy the social norm. Dare to live colorfully. Here at Company C, we challenge ourselves every day. It’s easy to get caught up in mundane day-to-day activities. It’s hard to put down your Blackberry. Time eludes us all. We know. That’s why we dare you to unearth and truly embrace Colorful Living.
Sara Joncas - Create Your Own Adventure
In January, we announced a Facebook contest asking you, our fans, to post a photo and short description illustrating what Colorful Living means to you. What a refreshing few weeks we’ve had here at Company C! Through reading your posts, we reaffirmed that we all share the same vision–to be inspired by the joys of Colorful Living every chance we can. Thank you for being so bold!
All that said, it was very difficult to choose a winner because there were so many uplifting responses. Not to mention that Colorful Living is meant to be personal; each one of us sees the world through a different lens and has a different outlook on life. Our focus was on the posts that embodied Colorful Living as a lifestyle. So, drum roll please…
Mary Kate Goodwin-Kelly - Go out on a Limb
The winner of the 6′ x 9′ rug of choice is Sara Joncas, who believes “Colorful living is… Creating your own adventure.”
And drum roll again…so many posts were so inspiring that we couldn’t help but choose runners up, who will receive a 2′ x 3′ accent rug of choice:
Mary Kate Goodwin-Kelly “Living colorfully entails going out on a limb every once in a while.”
Brenda - Energy for Creativity
Brenda “Every day, I have authentic color in my life. I am an art teacher of young children. Through their artwork and their energy for creativity, I am happily surrounded by color!”
Make Colorful Living your standard. We dare you.
Have ideas for future Facebook contests? Post your ideas on our wall at www.facebook.com/colorfulliving.
Our tag line at Company C is “designs for Colorful Living.” We’re often asked how did we come up with this statement?
Just before starting Company C, Walter and I listened to a cassette tape —Live Your Dreams by Les Brown. We both love design, love business and love to travel… so how could we live our dreams—and create a business out of them?
I can remember listening to the tape as if it were yesterday. Our son Alex was 6 months old (he’ll be 17 next month!) and we were traveling in our white Isuzu Trooper on our way to our family cottage in western Massachusetts with our golden retriever, Major, happily catching air out the window. We listened intently to the tape and were very inspired…that trip set in motion our dream to create our business—Company C!
Walter and I both love adventure. Traveling. Living in the great outdoors. Skiing in the Rockies. Kayaking on Frenchman’s Bay in Maine. Cooking fabulously colorful meals (Walter). 
Mixing paints by the ocean (me—and trying to make a painting out of them!). 
And we share these adventures with our two teenage sons, friends and family. So living colorfully needed to be an important part of our business.
We love color and it’s our signature at Company C. Our design team experiments with many color combinations every day. We add adventure to the combinations, always keeping them fresh.
Colorful Living has a double entendre for us! So…Dream…with your mind soaring to the sky, imagine what you can create.
What’s Colorful Living mean to you?
Chris & Walter Chapin
