Coming Home to Roost

roOst

Urban Country Design

40 Front Street

Salem, MA

Kate Leavy's creative and outgoing personality has come home to Roost in Salem.  Her nest  at 40 Front Street is lined with carefully chosen design books, candles, pillows, and other home goods, and demonstrates her and husband Jamie Metsch's flair for combining, among other new and retro styles, "old farmhouse" with "repurposed industrial" to created a warm,  funky, and nostalgic environment.  For a very modest price, she and Jamie will share these treasures with you.  They are also not just interested in sharing these items, however.  They want to invite you to  share their space whether it's to shop or just visit and relax on the comfy couch and read a magazine.

 Kate Leavy, co-owner of roOst

 

"We specifically waited until after October to open," Kate told me regarding the opening of their shop, Roost, Urban Country Design, last fall. "We wanted the people of Salem to know we were here for them."  For those of you not in the know, this refers to the calm after the Halloween madness when the residents of Salem dare to take to the downtown streets again.  "For us, success is creating an environment where community is important," Kate added.

And successful they have been.  Part of this success is due to Kate's presence at the shop, which is her home away from home.  After working for years in restaurant management, and then as a spa manager in Beverly, Kate was searching for something new.  Not only that, after a summer of reading, thinking, and creating jewelry, her husband told her to get a job.  She was on her way to a job interview at Pottery Barn for which she would have been a shoe-in, had a change of heart, and canceled the appointment.  She came home and told Jamie that she was going to open Roost.  Thirty days later, Roost, with its warm colors, chalk-graffitied walls, and charming tchotchkes  was ready to open.

Most of the wares, letterpress to hand-screened cards, organic soaps and body products, bath linens, jewelry, indoor gardening supplies, are under $20, making this a wonderful place to pick up a last-minute gift.  They occasionally have funky old furniture for sale too, again reflecting their urban country chic.  Kate has reined in her willingness to sell all of the furniture however.  "I used to sell the display furniture.  Then everything ended up on the floor."

Stay tuned for part two - Kate and Jamie are opening a second shop next door called The Beehive.  For now all I'll tell you is that the Beehive should prove to be Roost's sassy younger sibling.