Fly Away Home is here to stay

Fly Away Home is celebrating two big happenings - the home décor business has landed in its permanent home at Cottonwood Square Shopping Center and will be offering the talent of another local business, Zone913.

Kathy Trauner, owner of Fly Away Home, has signed a two year lease for the corner space that started out at first as a pop-up holiday season shop. A steady flow of customers getting hooked on the unique home accents proved to Trauner that there’s demand for the reasonably priced decorative items she’s drawn to.

Trauner said owners and employees from other businesses in town have reached out to help with everything from painting the store’s walls to imparting sage advice, all with the intent to help Fly Away be successful.

“The business community here,” Trauner said, “has thrown its arms open to Fly Away Home.”

As of Saturday, June 1, the store will have expanded its offerings to fill up the 800 square-foot store with among other items - pillows, candleholders, vases, and blankets. Consigned furniture pieces and artwork by local artists such as Lamya Deeb and Donlyn Arbuthnot will also play big roles in the space.

“The bulk of what I have here is things you’re not going to see elsewhere,” Trauner said. An antique mining trolley turned shelf is the first example of exciting furniture finds to come.

The other big news is that Zone913, owned by long-time Niwot resident Victoria Thomas, will be onboard with Fly Away Home. Curated artwork, including spectacular abstract photography by Thomas’s husband David Bjorkman, will fill the lengthy back wall of the retail space.

“I love the creativity of art,“ Thomas said. “I love the colors and the tone and the mood of fine artwork, and I began to realize that the images you live with represent home with a capital H, to you.”

The first installation Thomas has planned is titled “Shape of Water.” Bjorkman’s oceanic images with orange and blue hues, rippling textures and lighting redolent of sunrises and sunsets, will share wall space with California artist Shima Shanti’s impressionistic encaustic sea and sky paintings.

Thomas wants to share the sense of calmness that water brings to our lives. Viewers have the opportunity to bring the beauty of the featured artwork into their own homes.

A spin-off of the original business, Fly Away Home Market is operated by Fly Away Home co-founder Linda Vehrenkamp. The store-within-a-store concept at the Niwot Market means that every day of the week, you’ll find shelves of home accent pieces for sale.