Outdoor Fall Decor. Porches, Decks, Patios and Doors.

As we're preparing for our Fall sale, October 16-19, we're browsing Pinterest to see what the hot fall decor trends are this year. Here are a few favorites, and some items we'll plan to have on hand during our sale!

Check out these great outdoor fall displays (photos link directly back to source blogs):

From http://www.wildruffle.com, this cute, understated front porch style. Milk cans, old wooden crates, pumpkins, and mums available at Carver Junk Company for October's sale!

From http://www.stonegableblog.com/, this autumn-colored tartan blanket inspired us to hunt for some vintage plaid and wool blanket for the cooler weather that's on its way in! We always have baskets and crates that will be perfect next to an old rocker, for displaying gourds and pumpkins!

From HGTV's list of favorite fall decorations, this adorable little bench, with a birdhouse and pitcher of leaves makes a great statement on a small porch! We have birdhouses in a variety of colors, lots of enamel, and various vases, along with some small benches!

From http://organizedclutterqueen.blogspot.com. Consider us officially on the hunt for old, rusty birds! We do have framed, rustic bird art painted on burlap, though! And multiple old wagon wheels, milk cans, and antique scales. And a great handmade bench with antique wagon wheel ends! 

Let's just stop and talk about how much we LOVE this porch from LizMarieBlog.com. It is so perfectly fall, without all the leaves and orange and over-the-top decor. Swoon. Drool. Covet. While we just sold our 8-foot church pew, the great news is that we have more coming into stock! We haven't decided whether we'll rent them or sell them yet, but stay tuned! We also have some great burlap pillows, blankets, and baskets. And how about that vintage leather ottoman? I want to live on Liz's porch. 

What's the story with your porch decor this fall? Are you going rustic? Over-the-top colorful? Understated and vintage? We'd love to hear about it, and any items you still  need!

Collect Junk You Love!

Some of the things in our home that we love, and are authentic to us:

Los Angeles Pottery Co, "Cookies All Over" cookie jar. It's not beautiful, and it's not modern, but it was my grandmother's. It is the cookie jar that I used to steal those little rectangle-shaped waffle cookies with the cream filling from when I was four. And now it's a great spot to store dog treats!

Nescafe Vintage World Mugs. They are not hand-me-downs, but they are vintage. And they are the same as the ones my grandma {my Mamo} used to make chocolate pudding in when my cousin and I were young. I found two sets of four mugs at a vintage sale two years ago. I immediately called my Dad {before leaving the store} to make sure my six-year-old memories were remembering the same mugs. Before I even finished describing the "mugs Mamo used to make pudding in," he responded with "those Nescafe mugs with the World on them!"  I bought both sets, and gave one to my cousin. We use them as espresso cups in our house, and one day, I will serve chocolate pudding in them to our children.

Our styles are a mix of more traditional and rustic (Chad), and more vintage and modern (Me). Our compromises are many, in that we choose most things in our home together. And they are few, in that when we find the perfect piece, neither of us usually feels like we've compromised our own style. Our curtains are an awesome example. We looked for months for the right curtains for the dining room of our previous house. And found nothing. So, I convinced Chad to let me make some, if we could find the perfect fabric. He was apprehensive {admittedly, he'd never seen me sew anything at this point....}, but agreed. And then I went out on a limb and suggested {one of hundreds of suggestions} a fabric I thought he'd hate. He LOVED it! And now, this fabric is the basis of our living and dining room decor:

Oh yeah, we were SO ahead of the trend on the suzani pattern fabric. {and we're humble, too} See that pop of aqua in the fabric? We've pulled out a brighter version of that for our TV stand, and our soon-to-be kitchen island stools. This is our kitchen inspiration {apologies, don't know source, it's from Pinterest}:

The kitchen is a work in progress, but someday we'll get some photos up, so you can see how we're progressing against our inspiration piece, vs. what we've changed to be more authentically "us."

As far as other things we LOVE: white leather couches. Have I mentioned we have three dogs? Oh yeah, we have. And we STILL LOVE white leather couches.  We had these ones in our old house {you get a little peek at our old home before and after}:

And when we moved, the two separate, matching sofas wouldn't fit into the configuration of our new house. Boo!! We loved the setup the previous owners' had, which included a sectional in the corner of the living room. So we got this:

But it just wasn't "us."  It was one of those compromises where we both felt we compromised. And so we sold it, and bought this {whoops, only have photos of it that include the dogs sitting on it. proof that it's durable!! .....and proof that our house is sometimes messy well-lived-in}:

Ahhhh.....so much better. Oh yeah, and we painted the walls gray to make the white trim "pop." And yeah, we have a photo canvas on the wall of our three dogs sitting on the {old} white leather couch. Because we love them. And that photo. And that couch. And they are a huge part of our lives! 

So that's the rundown of just a few of the things that we collect and love around our house. We have moved twice in the last few years, which has provided us a great opportunity to de-clutter and remove the things we don't truly LOVE. Which has led to a house full of things we DO love, and a lot of things that tell our story.

What's your favorite, most-authentically-you, loved item in your home?

May Sale, 2013

Whoop! Our May sale is just one day away! {and we have so much yet to do, but that's another story...}

Address:  300 Broadway Street, Carver, MN 55315

Here are some fun photos of what you'll find at the store this month. And much, much, more....consider this a little visual teaser. Stop in, say hi, and check out all the fun new {old} junk!

A Two-Tone Furniture Craze.

I'm going to hell. The special place reserved for people who willingly take away the natural beauty of a {nearly} pristine piece of antique furniture. I painted a dresser that didn't need paint. Here is what I keep telling myself to justify my sins:  "It was just sitting there, all lonely in the store, with no one to take it home and love it.  You were just helping it find a home."

It's true. And perhaps I feel slightly less guilty because this painted piece looks absolutely incredible. Different from some of the other styles we've done, it's a little chippier, a little more distressed, and a lot more full of character!

We're on a two-tone craze with our furniture these days. Chad picked out the colors/design on this guy - it's similar coloring to the primitive piece we use at home as our TV stand. The lines were so different than our own piece though, that I wasn't sold on the color choices. But, because I love him, and I realize that sometimes my ideas aren't the ONLY good ideas, I went with it. Aaaaaaand, I love it. We love it. It's perfect, and amazing, and beautiful, and I want to keep it. We need a bigger house.

I didn't take any before shots. Trust me, you don't want to see them. Just know this:  There was some slight veneer chipping all around. One of the drawer fronts had a crack through the veneer, and at one point, the entire side of this guy was repaired, and the innards of the bottom drawer replaced. Yes, I'm still justifying....

Without further ado, here he is:

He's painted in our own specially-created version of turquoise {color matched to a clock we bought to match our favorite custom-made curtain panels}, a creamy grayish-white on the drawers, and all finished with clear and dark wax to seal it up and make it buttery soft and smooth.

Do you love the two-tone look as much as we do? What color combos would you like to see on an old empire-style dresser in the future?

Dorothy the Dresser gets a little makeover

I'm not paint-happy. At least not overly paint-happy. I swear. I appreciate a good, pristine piece of wood without any colored stuff on it as much as the next person. In fact, maybe more than a lot of people. Looooove me some walnut wood, in any shade or shape.

Buuuuuut, I also know a lady in need of some makeup when I see one. Let's face it, I have lots of practice looking in the mirror each morning. {I kid, I kid. I rarely wear makeup either.}

This lovely lady came along to us in early January. I named her Dorothy. Anything I spend more than a few hours with, getting to know as intimately as this, deserves a name. Remember Chester?  Anyway, Dorothy was actually in pretty good shape structurally. Except, her left side was a little wrinkly. I mean, that's natural. She's nearly 100 years old, if I have her dates right - I'm thinking 1920s. Her veneer was all chippy, wavy and peely on that right side.

Nonetheless, I was willing to give this lovely lady a shot at a new home just as she was. I asked for some opinions when I posted her on Facebook, and the responses were mixed. Some said paint, some said "don't you dare." Mind you, I didn't post a photo of her wrinkles...so she looked pretty good to those folks. Oh well. I left her be. She sat in the store for 2+ months, with no luck finding a home. So, I decided to give her a little makeover.

Here's how it went down {I am an ultimate picture-taker. Except when I need to be. Then I forget.}:

1. Homemade chalk paint, made from a can of oops paint I picked up at Home Depot for $2.00. I call it creamy gray.

2. Peeled, sanded, patched, sanded her rough spots on the side.

3. Painted two coats of homemade chalk paint in creamy gray. I think it needs a more glamourous name. Perhaps Dorothy Gray from now on? She looks delicious! In a non-edible kind of way. But also a little like a mime, if we're sticking with the makeup theme. {ie, super white and ....white.}

4. An orbital sander with 220 grit sandpaper across her detailed bits, and the edges of the drawers. Whoop, she's coming alive! It's like we just added a little blush and mascara!

5. Now for the bronzer and eyeliner. {Am I taking the analogy a bit too far?} I coated her distressed self with a clear wax all over. I let it dry about 10 minutes, and then used a soft dark wax - a little more around the edges and details, a little less in the open parts. I left the dark wax on for literally about 30 seconds, and then wiped it with a clean rag. I buffed it until I liked the way it blended into the details and feathered out to the creamier gray in other areas, then coated it with another round of clear wax. This removed even a bit more of the dark wax, and evened it all out.

6. Let 'er dry about 20 minutes, and buffed her to a beautiful, waxy shine!

And now, her big reveal. Meet Dorothy!

I just love how the gold/brass hardware plays so nicely with the dark waxed detail and the wood showing through where she's distressed!

What do you think? Have you done any furniture makeovers lately? What's your favorite way to distress and/or wax a piece of furniture?

Linking to: http://www.cozylittlehouse.com/2013/04/tweak-it-tuesday-37/

Instagrams from January Sale!

A quick update - if you're looking for info on this month's sale:  We are open Thursday - Saturday January 17, 18, 19 from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM.  We are located at 300 Broadway Street, Lower Level   Carver, MN  55315. And, as always, we'll be open by appointment between sales!  We hope to see you!

Here are some Instagram photos from our January sale:

French-Kissed - A Little Dresser Before and After

French kissed. Clever, huh? Maybe that's what we should call our new paint color creation, which we mixed up just for this french provinicial-style dresser we madeover last weekend. Or...maybe we should stick to junking, and painting....and not clever-blog-title-writing....

Here's her before {oh, and don't ask how I decide which furniture pieces are "he" vs. "she" - I just use whichever seems right at the time...in this case, she's curvy, flirty, and just downright pretty. So, she's a "she."}

Before: Pretty good shape. Clean. Boring (please don't be offended if you love her Before. she hung out in the store for 3 months in her Before state, and no one loved her enough to give her a new home).

After.  Homemade chalk paint, mixed with our own version of Tiffany blue paint (now known as French Kissed), and white painted hardware. Two coats of paint, a couple coats of wax, and she's officially made-over!

Within an hour of posting on Facebook, she was sold! She never even made it back to the store, but we're so happy she's going to a 9-year old girl. What an awesome Christmas surprise! {though we're sure this was just an add-on to the rest of her more typical 9-year old gifts!}

Have an awesome pre-Christmas weekend. Happy Holidays from our family to yours.

Linking to:
http://www.sugarbeecrafts.com/2013/04/take-look-tuesday_22.html?m=1
http://www.salttree.net/2013/04/salttree-social-51.html?m=1