Ashley Morrill is a busy woman. From co-starring on Maine Cabin Masters on the Magnolia Network, to designing the cabin interiors on the show, to co-parenting four furry family members, to designing for and running her new home decor line, Rustic County by Ashley Rue, Morrill has her hands full. However, she’s used to this demanding schedule—in fact, she welcomes it. For Morrill, illustrating and designing don’t feel like work, they’re passions she’ll fit in anywhere, even if she’s only stepping away from filming for a few minutes. Working with close-knit teams for both MCM and Rustic County makes Morrill’s mental and physical loads lighter, and having loyal fans always cheering in her corner renders all the hard work she’s doing completely worth it.
One of Morrill’s goals with the recently-launched Rustic County line was to be able to give her fans more than just the design inspiration they get from watching the show she co-stars in with her brother, Chase, and her husband, Ryan. Through the products, Morrill wants to provide avid watchers with the opportunity to decorate their own homes with some of the same pieces she uses to complete the cabins.
Right now, Rustic County consists of two throw pillow lines. But, Morrill has been working on ways to incorporate more of the show itself into her designs. If you’re a longtime fan of MCM, then you won’t be surprised to hear that Rustic County pet products—specifically dog gear—can be expected in the future.
Morrill and her husband are gigantic dog lovers, having recently adopted their third pet, Trigger, who has road-tested and approved of the Rustic County sample pieces Morrill displayed in their home in his own special way. “It just happens to turn out that this puppy loves to chew up throw pillows,” Morrill explains.
While she’s not about to start designing mini throw pillow chew toys for our furry friends, Morrill can definitely see other dog-inspired products in the future. Always the supportive husband, Ryan has been suggesting some ideas of his own for a durable, waterproof dog bed that he can take out on job sites or their boat that won’t immediately get water-logged. There’s a chance you’ve already seen a sneak peak of another piece from a future dog product line on Rustic County’s Instagram—that lobster print on black lab Gus’s collar looks a bit familiar!
Lobsters aside, the crow on the Rustic County logo is possibly the most important symbol for the brand. Morrill explains that one of the reasons this entire brand exists is because of the support of her biggest fan—her father, who passed away before Rustic County launched. “He had loved crows his whole life,” Morrill says of her dad, and he’s still finding ways to show her his support. Since he passed, Morrill says, she and her brother find a solitary crow flies over their heads and caws at them during every single MCM cabin reveal. She sees that bird as a loving message from her dad—and feels the same way about two black birds that wait outside her door each morning.
Though starting a brand can be extremely stressful—and Morrill has already run into her fair share of problems with finding and keeping a reliable manufacturer—she’s nothing but optimistic. “I’m looking forward to adding different products to the company and to giving back to the community,” Morrill says. “That’s one big thing for us, especially with Maine Cabin Masters, is just being community involved and giving back.” Even if you’re solely part of the MCM online community, Morrill looks to the fans and the comments on social media to let her know what kind of products they need, steering Rustic County in the right direction.
“We’ve been asking [the fans] what designs they’d like to see, what kind of products they’d like to see,” says Morrill. “We are just in the process right now of developing a loon pattern because everybody said they wanted a loon.” As a Maine loyalist, Morrill jumped at the opportunity to create this pattern for her From Maine With Love collection. “Loons are huge in Maine, but they’re also just a beautiful bird everyone loves,” says Morrill. Though not the official state bird, the loon is a a symbol of Maine’s natural, wild beauty which Morrill and her MCM team work so diligently to capture.
Whether or not you’re a fellow citizen of the Pine Tree State, if you’re active in Rustic County’s social media comments, there’s the possibility that you’re, um, Maine Idea could inspire the next product or design. We’re sitting at the edges of our seats to see what’s officially coming next down the product line next.
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