Curated sale at Joss & Main

Hello there! I’m SO excited to tell you about a fun event I have going this evening. Well, not me personally – I mean, I’d love to have you all over but that would get a little crazy.

I was thrilled when Joss & Main asked me to curate a collection on their site:

Have you shopped Joss & Main? They are a members only online shop with AWESOME decor at great discounts. I just started shopping their site last year and it’s some serious eye candy.

I was able to pick out a bunch of fun products that I loved and felt like showcased my style for my collection. I’m not a fancy decorator – I always want our home to feel lived in, with a simple but timeless feel. I named my collection Classic Comfort because that really symbolizes what my style is all about.

Here’s a few of my favorites that will be offered in my sale:

See those trunks above? Love those things! You can see how I used one in on the sofa table in my family room photo. You can get a better look at them on this post too. 

Here’s some more shots from the collection:

How COOL! It was an honor to be asked to do this.

Joss & Main is an invite-only site, so if you aren’t signed up yet you can use my invite here. The sale is now LIVE and will be open for a week. Perfect excuse to shop for yourself family and friends!

And I hope to see you back here tomorrow for my Christmas home tour! No, I’m still not done. I’m having fun with it though and I can’t wait to show you! My son reminded me this morning that there are only FIFTEEN more days till Christmas. I haven’t bought one gift…but this is normal for me. I like the thrill of the last minute I guess. :)

Again, the link to the sale is here and if you aren’t a member you can go here to sign up.

Have a great one!

Indie Vintage Marketplace

Hey all! I’ve got a sick boy at home today so I’m keeping it short and sweet today! :)

If you’re local and are looking for some FUN shopping and unique finds, a fantastic event is happening this weekend and I can promise you’ll find both there!

The Indie Vintage Marketplace is having their first indoor event of the season this weekend and if you’re local (central Indiana) you won’t want to miss it! I blogged about my first trip here and another trip here – it was a blast both times and I have no doubt this weekend will be a great one too.

Here’s a few of the items that I loved and some that I purchased earlier this year:

I don’t think I ever shared our big metal star:

I set it up in the basement and it is SO cool! :) One of my favorite finds ever. 

This weekend it runs on Friday evening from 5 to 8 p.m. and then Saturday from 8 to noon. The folks at Vintage Marketplace are offering a few of my readers free tickets to the event! I have eight free tickets to give away so if you’re local (this will be held at the Fountains in Carmel, IN) comment here with your email and I’ll randomly pick winners tomorrow.

**Edited to add: They’ve offered even more tickets so we have 20 to give away, WHOOT! I’ll pick winners and email you by 5 p.m. EST on the 31st.

And if you’ll be there look for me Friday! I’ll only be able to stay for a bit but I can’t wait to check it out. I may have to go back again on Saturday. ;)

Restoring brass

Hey there all! Thanks for joining in on all the fun this week. :) It was a great one, thanks so much for all the birthday wishes! We’ll announce the winner to our birthday quiz tomorrow.

So last night the Bub, one of my BFFs and I took what has become an annual trip out to a local barn sale. The folks at Restyled host it every year (here in central Indiana) and it’s a fun fall event:

I only picked up a couple items and already did a little update to one. I found an old brass compote that just spoke to me – it was unique and a beautiful shape and I just loved it.

It had a patina to it but it was almost too much – I wanted it to look more like antique brass. And yes, I do like some brass. I can even handle some shiny brass in small doses. TINY doses.

It’s fairly quick and easy to get some of the original finish back! I’ve had this polish for years and it works great:

You apply it with a soft rag or if the finish is really stubborn you can use a scrubbing pad. I used both on this one.

Just be sure not to put the polish directly on the item, at least a big piece like this:

It works really well. :) (I spilled some in there.) But on something bigger like this there’s just not enough in the bottle to get the whole thing looking like that. (You’d have to put it directly on the entire thing.)

So put it on the rag or sponge and then buff like crazy, then rinse and dry. It’s really very easy, just takes some muscle. But eventually the original finish will start to come through:

I didn’t want it to be too crazy shiny so I tried not to scrub too hard.

Some parts are shinier because they had some more damage on the surface. To get rid of that I had to work harder with the scrubber:

I have found that the thinner brass shines up easier (the bowl part) and the thicker metal (the base/handles) keeps it’s patina a little more. So just watch for that if you don’t want too much shine.

The handles I barely touched:

Seriously, how cool is that? It’s a fish handle. The fish head is kind of angry looking but I still love it. ;) This is certainly a piece you’re not going to find just anywhere and that’s what makes decor interesting and unique. If you’re into unique that is. ;)

Of course I had to add some fall touches with the white pumpkins:

Who doesn’t love white pumpkins? Nobody, that’s who. (If you don’t don’t tell me.)

There you go – a quick fix to brighten up an old piece. Before (I forgot to take a pic) the finish was almost too dark, it looked dirty. A little polish brought back a little of it’s original glory. ;)

Fall is such a fun time for outdoor barn sales, festivals, all that good stuff. Do a search for your area and you may be surprised at how many you find this weekend! Have a great one!

Franklin, TN

Hey y’all. I’m talking about the south today so I can say y’all, right? I always want to spell it “ya’ll” by the way – must be the northerner in me. ;)

Last weekend I took a quick trip to Nashville to meet up with the Haven team – we were regrouping after this year’s conference and doing a little planning for next year. After meeting for a long while we took a break and drove to Franklin, TN to eat and shop just a bit.

I fell in love with this smaller city because, well…it was super cute and the shopping was amazing. But it also very much reminded me of the area we live in too. Felt like home in a way.

I just had to share some of the places we stopped along Main Street. The stores are not cheap – by…a lot. ;) But there was SO much inspiration, it was worth it to just walk around and take it all in.

We started by eating at 55 South, and didn’t realize till the end of our meal that we actually sitting in a place called Cork and Crow. I think they must share a menu. The food was amazing but the decor was what I was mostly focused on. This wood wall was so cool:

The meat cleavers even add a little something. ;) I loved the look of the wood in combination with the really delicate glass chandeliers. Just stunning.

On the other side of the room was a bottle light fixture that I loved too:

Not a great picture, sorry. I noticed while there how beautiful the light is coming through those bottles – it truly glows in ambers and greens…really cool.

We walked around a bit and one of my favorite spots was a shop called The Iron Gate. As soon as we walked in I knew I would love it:

It was a mix of industrial and glam with a little bit of shabby chic thrown in. None of which are necessarily my style, but I loved every bit of it.

They had a lot of older pieces, like these massive old doors:

They were perfect as they were – no paint needed on those!

This clock was just massive – probably five feet across? Maybe more?:

Loved the huge clock hands. :)

Like I said, they had some shabby chic decor and it was beautiful. I loved the touches of gray and purple on this bed:

And this one was just dreamy. Seriously, let’s not thinking about dogs or cats or kids getting it dirty for a second and just think about falling into that every day:

Lovely, right?

I thought that large metal table next to it was awesome too:

I thought it would look so cool on a big front porch. I can just see it.

The lighting in their was spectacular! Any one of these could have gone home with me:

If I a.) could have fit it on the plane and b.) had eleventy million dollars and c.) was cool enough to pull off that funky starburst one. None of which happened. ;)

Of course there was plenty that we would see and whisper to each other “Do you KNOW how easy this would be to make??” I’m sure the shop owners love people like us. :)

This nursery art was just adorable:

And…they were $44 each. Get a coupon for a canvas at the craft store and you could make this for less than $10 (if that). Just saying. If you wanted to. ;)

And I just loved this display of coral:

It was just so delicate and beautiful – they had some HUGE pieces. That blue one on the shelf really struck me and we determined it looked as though it was painted. (Is blue coral a thing?) Makes me want to grab some chalk paint and have at it.

We had such a lovely time walking around and ohhing and ahhing at everything. Then, being the DIY/thrifty girls we are, we headed over to the antique shops. :) I found a little old copper pot that was in my post earlier this week: 

It’s the one on the candlestick table by the chair – I lined it with some plastic and put a plant inside. LOVE it.

Later that night we took in downtown Nashville and it. was. crazy. We even had an Elvis sighting:

:)

I’ve been to Nashville a few times before and it was NOTHING like last Saturday night – so busy but fun!

So have you been to Franklin? We didn’t have time to visit many of the stores that I wanted to so I may have to check it out again sometime soon. It would make for a great girls weekend, that’s for sure.

Have a great weekend…y’all!

House happy

Hey hey all! Good Friday to you! What do you have planned this weekend? Not too much here – I’m trying to convince my sis to take a trip to IKEA with me at some point. Whoot!

It’s been awhile since I’ve done one of these posts so I thought it was about that time. I love sharing goings on from Pinterest, Facebook and Instagram and around the house every once and a while.  

A few days ago I was downtown Indy for lunch with friends and stopped by one of my very favorite spots, Midland Arts and Antiques:

It’s probably been at least six months since I’ve been in, maybe even a year? Wow, the prices have gone up a good amount. But the fun of it for me is the search (and there’s a LOT to search there), so I had fun just walking around.

I found a couple things I loved but couldn’t figure out where I would put them, so I left empty handed. The next day I couldn’t stop thinking about them and figured out a spot for both, so I went back. ;)

This old Japanese glass float was one of them. I LOVE these things and this is by far the biggest I’ve found:

I’m rearranging these shelves a bit but I think this will stay on here. I LOVE.

I also stopped by the Habitat Restore while I was down there and as I said on Instagram, it’s where all the brass fixtures go to live:

See all those lamp shades? A hotel must have cleared out of brass wall sconces cause there were TONS. I picked up two and will spray paint them – who doesn’t love a wall sconce? AND they were only $4 each! Walk don’t run my fellow Indy folks!

Speaking of light fixtures – do you like the look of a lamp on a kitchen counter? I do. I found this little lamp at Target a few months ago and I love it in our kitchen:

Now I’m on a search for a little one for our laundry room too. I love little bits of low light like this! Now that the days are getting shorter again I’ll be using them quite a bit.

So have you been to JC Penney’s lately? I stopped in a couple months ago and was a little surprised with what I found:

SUPER cute. It wasn’t the most inexpensive stuff I’ve found, but it was different and fun and unique. Loved it. Have you been in lately? Do you know if this line goes on sale? They have a whole Martha Stewart party section that was fun to look through too.

I’ve continued my decluttering rampage and found all of these tools that made it into our dresser in the foyer:

I keep some tools in there for easy access, and one of the knobs on a drawer has broken twice – a sure sign I have too much CRAP in there. These were all in that one (little) drawer. Obviously I’m too lazy to walk out the garage. :)

And that tile? I’m getting up the courage to tear it out soon. It is going to be a HUGE mess. Trying to psych myself up.

By the way, this mess is what happens when you declutter rooms in your house and ignore the other ones:

Seriously, who am I kidding? It’s like this all the time. I shared this on Facebook and you all made me feel very normal, thank you for that. ;)

I went in to Bath and Body Works a few weeks ago to get a gift for a friend and stuffed this candle in my face a few times:

The leaves scent of theirs is my absolute favorite. I pulled out my candle and smelly stuff from last year and my house smells heavenly now.

I pinned this gorgeous vignette my friend Myra created and it has me so excited for fall decorating:

She did SUCH a lovely job on this! I love the green desk with the painted lamp with all the textures – it’s just a beautiful spot right?

And speaking of Pinterest, I shared this one on Facebook a few weeks ago too:

The truth, right? I mean, who doesn’t love a good PB&J though? One of those and some salty chips – that’s the lunch of champions right there.

Hope you have a great weekend! We may go do some apple picking tomorrow – let the fall festivities begin!!

The thrill of the thrifty hunt

Hey hey all! Hope you had a lovely weekend! I got a ton done on the powder room, just one more coat and then I get to start “fluffing” – finally! I’ll show you this week! I seriously cannot believe the room is finally in a (mostly) finished state.

This weekend a girlfriend and I went to a local barn sale and found a few goodies that I wanted to show you, and I realized I hadn’t shown you a few others I’ve gotten while thrifting over the past few months.

I love the “hunt” – I think it’s so much more fun to shop antique malls and consignment shops and second hand types of places! You never know what you’ll find and what you find is most likely something that’s unique to your home.

I got these big marquee letters a few months ago and still haven’t decided on where they’ll go:

I’m planning on putting them in two different spots, and I may try to light them! (There’s a hole in the back where I can slip in some lights.) How fun is that?

I found these beautiful coasters this weekend and couldn’t pass them up:

The bonus is we actually needed coasters. ;) So we’ll use them a lot. Aren’t they pretty?

I got this one a while back, I can’t remember where, but I love changing up the use for things. This vintage floral “frog” sits on my desk and holds pens and pencils:

Including my DIY flower pen that the Bub made me for Mother’s Day. ;)

My friend found a little succulent in a vintage container this weekend, and I was inspired by it’s cuteness! I grabbed a succulent at the nursery and stuck it in part of a vintage creamer set I found at Goodwill:

Adorable, eh? I love it!!

I found this old oar recently too, and I have an idea for a little redo:

It’s in rough shape, but I like it that way. ;)

I LOVED these old wood window screen/frame things I found this weekend:

I’m trying them out in a few places and will let you know where they end up. They’ll get a paint job eventually too. It’s so hard to find big art and these are awesome to fill a big space!

I found a cute hanging basket too – perfect for a few (of my meeellions) magazines:

I swear I looked it over so well and missed a broken part at the bottom, which doesn’t really bug me. Then I got it home and realized the whole top row was busted up. So I just cut out some of the slats that were still there to make it look like it was supposed to be like that. ;) 

So there’s a few of my favorite thrifting finds lately – do you love the hunt too? If you don’t know of any sales or shops near you, do a quick internet search -- you may be surprised at what’s nearby! Some of my favorite places are little spots that I found just by searching “antiques” on my iphone map!

I’ll be back with the bathroom reveal this week! Holla!!

The man nook

Hello there and how are you this lovely Wednesday? So, I’ve gotten SO much done in the powder room but it’s practically all I’ve focused on for the past few weeks. It was time to take a little break and work on a little something different. I needed the distraction!

Remember that one time when Target asked if I wanted to show you all some of their new Threshold items and I squealed like a little girl and screamed said YES?! Well it’s been a few fun months, and I’m finishing up today by showing you a little comfy spot in the bedroom. 

This spot has been deemed the “man nook.” I mean, what man doesn’t want a little cozy nook all to himself? Well, kinda to himself? With a wife, kiddo, two cats and a dog hanging around?

Well, my man actually loves it – way more than I thought he would. He sits in this spot ever night and decompresses from the day a little bit. It makes me happy. :)

It started out as a kind of black hole in our bedroom. All I have is an awful cell phone pic and our bed isn’t made (it never is) so just ignore that part:

That black armoire was from Kohl's years and years ago when they sold furniture in the store. It was just SO big and bulky, and we really didn’t need it anymore, so it went to live with a friend.

I decided to make this a little spot for the hubs when I moved things around a few months ago. The chair that used to be by the fireplace was moved over next to his side of the bed in the corner:

That lamp? I know. I ADORE it. It looks all Restoration Hardware, eh?

Here’s the thing – I saw this lamp while Christmas shopping at Target months ago. I quite literally stood in front of it for 15 minutes, trying to decide if I should get it. I didn’t really NEED it, but I LOVED it. But it was Christmas, and I figured it wasn’t the time to spend on a lamp we didn’t need, so I walked away.

It hurt, it did. So since then I couldn’t stop thinking about it, and every time I went in to a Target I looked for it. I even kept checking on my app to see if it was anywhere nearby and no luck. EVERYONE loved it, obviously.

Finally in March I checked again on a random trip and there was one lamp left. I frantically loaded it in my cart and got that sucker home ASAP. It was meant to be! (Here it is online.)

This wall in our bedroom is a BIG one – it goes up to a pitched ceiling so it’s always stumped me. I already have a big art piece in the bedroom and a gallery wall, so what do you do? It’s the one room in our house with a lot of wall space and I am challenged to fill the walls in there.

So I decided to do something a little different – go small. I wanted it to stay intimate and cozy, so I went on a search at Tarjay. I eye this piece every time I’m in there:

I am really drawn to it for some reason. It works GREAT with the colors in the room as they are right now, but the whole space is getting a redo soon (sooner than I planned!) so I wanted to think ahead.

I loved both of these mirrors:

But we already have plenty of big mirrors in here, so I passed on those.

I also have loved this big clock for months:

But do I really want a big clock in the bedroom? I’m thinking no.

So I actually took a trip down the actual art aisle, which I never do – I haven’t bought wall art from a store in a really long time. (I’m always DIYing stuff instead.) But this floral print was really lovely:

I kept going back to it over and over – it was the right size, the right price and the colors will work great when the room changes. You can see I couldn't resist a few mirrors too – they are small so I gave myself a mirror pass. ;)

Those of you who have been with me for awhile may remember the story of that black table. I’ve had it for years, it was actually a road kill rescue. I LOVE it but haven’t found a great spot for it for awhile.

It looked great next to the chair but it was wayyy too high, so I cut down the legs. This isn’t the first time I’ve done some trimming of legs and I have the process down to a science now.

I taped them off with Frogtape where I want to cut (to keep the cut clean on the saw – it helps keep the jagged edges away) and then mark where I want to cut with a marker:

I hauled it out the garage and used my saw to cut them down and it was perfect!:

I still love this little table so much! Now I’ll be able to use it pretty much anywhere – the taller height made it hard to use next to a chair or sofa.

I didn’t do much to accessorize the table, just added a frame with a photo of us from long ago:

Babies. :)

The roses are from my garden. LOVE.

I broke the art hanging rules and hung everything much lower than usual – it looked odd otherwise and I wanted it to stay cozy:

I know art is supposed to be at eye level, blahbity blah blah…but sometimes you just get to do what you want to do. Cause it’s your house.       

That plant next to the sewing table is a palm variety and it does great in here – no direct sun but it loves it. You just have to watch it cause it will cut. you. For real. It’s palms can be viscous if you grab them wrong. So I just don’t grab them anymore. :)

Here’s a view of the before and after again, my favorite! The totally crappy before picture:

My son hated that dark hutch – he’s not afraid of much but it totally freaked him out. I think at night especially it just looked like a black hole in there.

My style in our bedroom has always been a little eclectic. It doesn’t always make a lot of sense but it’s that one room I like to try to mix metals and textures and I love it:

OK, so it’s not totally manly for a “man nook,” but totally manly decor isn’t going to happen in the bedroom anyway. It’s a great spot for the hubs to relax and it’s all for HIM, which he loves. He especially appreciates the roses, I’m sure.

BIG changes are coming in here soon! I’m so stinking excited but it’s going to keep me busy this summer.

Have you seen the Threshold items at Target? I get giddy when the aisles change up every few months…it’s like a toy store for a decor lover. It’s been a blast showing you some of their awesomeness. To see past posts, go here for the foyer, here for the basement family room updates and here for the bathroom.

Have a BEAUTIFUL day!!