Whiskey and Cigars at The Muse

The final feature in the series of styled shoots at The Muse Whiskey and Coffee was my floral brainchild on the drive home from touring the event space upstairs. The room’s decor consists of photos of classic cars on the way up the stairs, and over the fireplace in the library room is a photo of a man with a cigar. The space itself is versatile, with a modern bar and the beautiful red brick wall, but I was already thinking about leaning into a masculine look as I had a few vintage “props” in mind.

As I was driving north out of Everett, I was passing over the Snohomish River and the various sloughs of North Everett, where the natural landscape is filled with cattails, reed grasses, and trees with bare branches and nesting birds. My inspiration immediately thought of how a cigar visually resembles a cattail, and how cool would it be to pay homage to the area where the Weyerhaeuser building has resided (the building itself has had multiple locations/moves since it’s construction.) So in collaboration with Melissa of Little Blue Bird Events and The Muse to also create a whiskey bar/tasting set-up, the whiskey and cigars look was born.

Vendors

Photographer: Julie Natalie Imagery

Coordination, Design, Decor: Little Blue Bird Events

Venue, Whiskey Bar: The Muse Whiskey and Coffee

Florals, Design, Decor: The Copper Dahlia , assisted by Art in Bloom Bespoke

Decor Rentals: Parlez Soiree

I knew I wanted to do one long piece as an installation, and make it wild and tall. I wanted to pull in the reds from the brick wall, the natural tones of brown from the cattails, and also some blues in order to pair well with the rich teal color of the chairs upstairs at the venue.

I feel this design is a really great representation of the way I approach my floral work. I work the best using the natural shape of the elements I’m working and letting the piece grow and transform. The branches, the lean to the reeds and horsetail, and the organic feel to the install as a whole are all very Jamie.

I got a little witty with some of the floral components, because if you’re doing a cigar theme, how can you not use smoke bush and nicotiana (tobacco flower)!?

So, for the taller components I used local madrona branches, cattails and their greens, water reeds with brown flowers, horsetail with the fringe removed, and dried dock/rumex. Look out for a blog post on harvesting wild cattails in the future, I learned a lot this year!

The florals mixed throughout were white nicotiana, brown cymbidium orchids, Koko Loco roses, and a coreopsis in a pale yellow/cream with burgundy center.

The additional greens mixed throughout were a standard long grass with a yellow/green tone, variegated boxwood, blue hebe, blue hosta leaves, blue sedge grass, and the smoke bush flower with its natural burgundy tones.

Parlez Soiree provided the whiskey tone goblets for the table as well as the vintage free-standing ash tray as a beautiful prop to this set-up. I had a few other vintage containers set out for holding the cigar accessories- which I will honestly tell you I pulled out of my husband’s golf bag the day before the shoot (thanks sweetheart.)

The linens, plates, and tableware were provided by The Muse, and I’m so glad that we were able to emphasize and pull in the red accents on the orchids, coreopsis, and smoke bush with the red napkins.

Over on the bar I used simple greenery to accent the whiskey tasting display on the bar, and decanter display. The bar upstairs has a heavy vault door that opens against the brick wall that is so neat!

The pieces over on the fireplace were part of my vintage prop collection that made me want to lean into the cigar theme as decor. My personal history in the floral industry goes back 5 generations. My great-great-grandparents started a floral wholesale business/florist in Wapato, WA in the 1920s/30s (Same era as The Muse!). I would visit my great-grandma when she ran the florist and remember playing in all the little random floral accessories kept in various boxes in the storeroom/back shelves. Some of the items were stored in old cigar boxes, and when supplies were cleared out, some of the boxes were salvaged and my grandma has been using them to store her own craft supplies for years.

I envisioned accent pieces for bistro tables, or on this fireplace, inside the cigar boxes- the cattails were a great visual, with their resemblance to a cigar. In addition to the cattails were nicotiana, coreopsis, brown cymbidium orchids, a Koko Loco rose, blue hebe, and smoke bush flowers.

This personal history with these props, combined with my late grandfather’s love of 1940's Fords and the photos lining the staircase at The Muse, made this project and look especially close to my heart.