minnesota roadtrip finds...

Whew! What a weekend it was!

I had 2 whirlwind days of driving...junking...singing...and I loved every single minute of it!

To me, there is something soothing to the soul to get in the car and take a roadtrip. I stopped off in some great little towns to see what goodies I could find for Etsy...and of course found a few things for me, too.

From my last post, we all know by now the highlight of my trip was getting to spend the evening with Mr. Kenny Chesney...he rocked our socks off! It was some serious fun, and I can't wait to see him again in May! I was hoping to meet up with Jill at the concert, but my running late because of traffic combined with Kenny deciding to play an hour and a half longer than planned...well...it just didn't work out. That made me sad, because too soon she will be off to Portland.

*sigh*...there is just never enough time...

I had some great finds this weekend. I will be loading the Etsy store throughout the week, but I wanted to show you some "big" things that caught my fancy, too! I used my old point-and-shoot camera this weekend, so my apologies for my pics not being the best. But still, there was some gorgeous eye candy along the road and I just had to show you!


First up, an antique European armoire that I fell in *LOVE* with. The price was unbelievable! I am seriously thinking about going back up and buying this old girl for my dining room.

I have always had a love for old, raw pine wood. It reminds me of driftwood.

This is another piece that made me freak out a little...look at all those drawers!! It was a seed cabinet back in the day. I saw one recently at an antique mall for $3500. This beauty was just $400...kicking myself already for not buying it for my studio space.

 * sigh *

I am seriously considering this old factory table for my kitchen island. I am crazy about the galvanized legs..and the top is solid wood butcher block. I am not sure if old wood is a good choice for a kitchen top. I am going to do a little research and see if I can clean and seal it somehow, yet retain the natural look.

I just thought this chandi was so cute! I would lose the shades, but I love the simplicity and the touch of aqua.

I went to a architectural salvage store and as ususal got lost in the "door room" for quite a while. I have a thing for old doors...and this one caught my eye. Wouldn't it be fabulous on a barn door track??

No words needed here...all those baskets will speak for me.

And lastly...another cabinet just calling my name.

I came home and the first thing I told me husband was...

"We are moving. I need a bigger house."



And in a style all his own, my big, strapping hunk of husband simply said...

"Ok."

Love that man.

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

I am off to work on my guest room a little today. It has been a long time coming, but I hope to be able to share some exciting news on what has been going on with the Urban Plains Project! I am about to bust with excitement!

Happy Monday!

what a difference a day makes...

Yesterday, I started to take down 'my' barn.

And I lived to tell about it.

Here is a little background for those of you that are just joining in. This is a long post, so get comfortable.

I did a post about a month ago, telling you about this crazy idea that came over me. My sister lives on a farm in rural...very rural...Iowa. Every once in a while when I am crusing through the middle-of-nowhere on my way to see her, I feel the need to stop and ask if I can peek through a barn or two at a farm that strikes my fancy. Usually I come out with a few pieces of industrial goodness to use in my home or sell. But this time, one of those farmers called my bluff and offered me the whole barn!

Crazy, you might say...that I would want such a thing, much less participate in the tearing down of it. I cannot deny it, you would be right. Crazy it is, and crazy I am. But my husband and I love to build furniture, that is actually where my little business began way back in the day, and I am a little sad sometimes that is has been overshadowed by the painting of furniture instead. So, its back to our roots for a little while. We have a few tricks up our sleeves as to what we are going to use the barnwood for, and I can't wait to get started!

Ok, anyway...back to the barn.

 Here is where I started yesterday...

By the middle of the day, it looked like this.

I know there are quite a few of you out there that are like me. You find beauty in these sort of things, as crazy as it may be. You should have seen the look on the farmer's face when I told him some the boards from the inside were going to be made into a dining table for my patio.

It was priceless. He just shook his head and walked away.

But serioulsly, that is some gorgeous wood! Perfect vintage patina if you ask me!

I am going back next week...and this gate is going home with me for sure! Isn't is just awesome?? I am going to have to cut it in sections because it is so long.

~ sigh ~

I heart chippy white paint.

Oh, and the boards with a little white paint?? It will soon be a cabinet for my office with lots of little drawers.

I have been dreaming about this roof since I first saw it. I have a serious addiction to galvanized metal...and I would LOVE to use this on the walls in my garage. The color is fantastic, perfectly aged and weathered. Now...I just have to convince my sweet husband when we go back to salvage more wood to spend his day 2 stories up in the sky, taking it down for me.

I have a feeling some deals are going to have to be made for this one.

Of course I could never have done all this work by myself. I had sisters, brothers-in-law and even a few unexpected helpers yesterday. I have a great benefit plan for those that help me. Pizza...beer...oh, and we do allow time out of your day to play with Thomas the Tank every few minutes when the real work gets to be too much.

He did a fair amount of supervising, as any 3 year old nephew should, but most of the time he was too busy looking cute. He did try to show me the ropes of farm living, thinking maybe I had forgotten since I had gone "urban" in my new life.

(Oh, and don't tell his mom about the giant pieces of gum I was giving him. Our little secret, ok?)

And for those of you that are worried...the kiddo didn't stick around once we started working. He was there to see the project get underway then it was home for a snack and a nap. Hmmm..sounds like a couple of other suervisors I have had in my lifetime.

A couple of the site supervisors were of the 4-legged variety. It was so funny how they felt the need to "inspect" everything we did! At the beginning of the day they just could not understand what we were doing...but by the end of the day they were stuck to me like glue.

The cows were fascinated by all the action. I was watching them from the top of the barn, and one by one they would come over to the water tank to take a drink...or shall I say...pretend to take a drink...but would really be watching us out of the corner of their eye.

This big guy did not seem amused by any of it.

Then there were the chickens. What is it about chickens, anyway?? They look suspicious of everything that goes on around them. This one watched me with an Eagle eye like I was stealing from him home. Unlike the horses, he could not get me out of there fast enough!

I ended up taking a couple dozen eggs from his house, so I guess I did steal from him a little.

My little burro buddy made the whole day worth it. He was my side-kick all day. He would watch me as I tore boards off...and follow me as I carried them over to the "nail removing station". Isn't he just the cutest little thing?? My nephew named him Burrito. Love it.

But then there were those that insisted on pitching in...even though I would never ask. My beautiful 74-year old Mom even got in on the action. We would take the boards down, and she (and my Dad, too) would take the nails out. Can you believe that?? What a woman! Raised 8 children, took care of our little farmette, spoils 20 grandchildren and still has the time and energy to knock rusty old nails out of barn boards. I would say you no longer need to wonder where I get my "sure, I can take your barn down" attitude.

~ smile ~

I just love her.

This is about a third of the nails her and my Dad had removed by the end of our day. I saved them...I felt it was right to give them a home in a beautiful antique jar in my office. There was just too much history there to throw away. First, the years they held up this beautiful structure, then all the sweat that went into taking them back out.

Go ahead. Call me crazy again. I totally deserve it.

By late afternoon I decided to try to get the doors and shutters off the top of the barn, so I scaled this tiny little thing they called a "ladder" (have I mentioned I hate heights) and was so taken in by the scenery. I was tough, I scaled back down that little, old ladder to retrieve my camera.

I wish you could have been there. It was about 67 degrees, and the air smelled so good. I just sat there with my legs dangling out the hole where a hay door once was taking in what was before me. The sun was setting and everything had a golden cast to it.

It was truly a beautiful sight.

The timing could not have been better if I planned it. I didn't see a single car (or tractor) all day...and right as I was taking a few photos, this one came rolling down the road. I guess it was just meant to be!

And I can't forget my all-time favorite find in the barn so far. By the door there were some boards with numbers written on them. I asked the farmer what they were from, and he said he remembers when he was a little kid,  his Dad figuring out the price of corn on those boards. How cool is that??






So there you have it. One girl decided to take on a project that seemed waaaay over her head, and she conquered. We were all tired and dirty by the end of the day, and we LOVED every minute of it.

Memories like this are rare and I will keep them forever.

Oh, and did I mention I stepped on a rusty nail?

Yep. Straight through my shoe and over an inch into my foot. I better wrap up this post, because I have a doctor appointment in a few minutes and I have a feeling this one is going to hurt. If you don't hear from me for a couple of days that is because I am still crying like a baby over it.

Just a day in the life of a girl that lives in the city and misses her farm roots.


Happy Wednesday, girls!

today is the day...

It feels like Christmas morning! After all the anticipation, today is the day I am takin' down the barn!

 We were up early...the house was chilly and I wanted to stay snuggled under my down comforter, to be honest. I have been fighting off a terrible case of Bronchitis since my visit to Junk Bonanza over a week ago, so that should make it interesting. But, it is now or never. The owner is getting anxious to burn this baby down, so I have to get it while I can!

Wish me luck! I'll be back with photos of our progress tomorrow!

I'll pop on that...

Ok, so if you watch American Pickers...I KNOW you have heard Mike say that about a billion times.

Does it bug you as much as it does me?? He really needs to find a new phrase. It is like nails on a chalkboard to me now.

Ugh. I can't belive I found it coming out of my mouth earlier this week.

Here is a little background that leads up to the story I am about to tell.

I have so many facets to my crazy life. Some day soon...when my shows are over for the summer and I actually have more than 10 minutes to compose a blog post one measly time a week, you will see I am a girl of constant contradictions. I love to get my hands dirty, but I get a mani-pedi every other Wednesday. I am happy digging around in a barn of old junk...but I may have designer jeans on when I am doing it. You will find I have a serious case of wanderlust and actually spend oodles of time cruising backroads looking at cool old farmhouses and barns. I love them. They remind me of home.

Once in a while....I fancy myself to be a "picker"...but I didn't know that was even a term until I saw the show. You know the show on the History Channel...with these two guys...

Anyway, I am quite at home in the 'small farm scenario' so I rather like stopping when I see someone outside. More times than not, they are more than happy to let you poke around their outbuildings and I love...I mean TOTALLY LOVE when a cute old farmer shakes his head at me when I ask to buy a crusty old table I found buried under stacks of old feed sacks in his barn. The head shake is usually followed by a "Sweetie you can just have it...if a cute young thing like you is willing to crawl around in the dirt the way you do, you deserve to have it".

Well, that is when I know that poor man has spent waaay too many years working in the hot sun, because I am neither cute or young. So I have no choice to force cash on him, because the guilt would kill me slowly if I just took things I knew to be treasures.

During these little adventures, I climb over 100 year old machinery...through tiny spots to get into a hayloft that hasn't seen footprints in 50 years...I have even met an angry mama racoon or two that set up camp a little too close to crates of gorgeous vintage milk bottles I just had to have!

Very rarely do I come across a barn that is set up as nicely as I found this one. Primed and ready for the pickin'! The dirty part was already done. But it was no nearly as fun, I have to admit.

I have met some of the sweetest people on the Earth during my adventures. Truly good people. The salt of the Earth, as they say. There is nothing I love more than a farmer that has worked his life with his hands so we can have food on our table and his wife that daily wears an apron faded from 40 years of baking bread and making meals. I take away good memories of each and every one of them.

But the other day...one of those farmers from rural Iowa called my bluff.

I had already "picked" their barn, you see. I found doors with old pink peely paint...two gorgeous old farm tables...a green glass bottle pile that made my head spin...you get it. Good stuff.

But today...he didn't want me to pick the barn.

Nope.

He wanted me to take the WHOLE barn.
 (ok, actually it is a corn crib, but for this post I am going to call it a barn.)

Whaaaaat?????

Ummm...yeah..That is exactly what I was thinking when he asked me.

But, before I knew it...the words just flew out of my mouth.

"I'll pop on that!"

Again...Whaaaaat did I just say?

What the heck am I going to do with a barn?

Well, take it apart piece by piece, apparently. You see, it is coming down...either in flames...or by my hands.

 It kills me to see a barn come down. They seem to be dropping like flies. Replaced by the new metal versions that I know are so much more functional and efficent, but I just don't love them like I do an old wood one. It won't have the smells...or the creaking floors...or the rafters you can see bits of sunlight peeking through. So, I guess it is up to me to let this barn live on...even if it is piece by piece.

So, this girl is going to have to get an extra manicure...because I have a feeling my french tips are going to be chipped. I have rounded up friends and family, bought enough hammers and pry-bars to go around and we are going to grill out, make some margaritas and have a barn-tearing-down party!

So here is the question I have for all of you.

What in the world am I going to do with old barn wood that has white paint on it...gates...barn doors...everything in the photos is soon going to be owned by me.

And I have no idea what I am going to do with it.

Do I build furniture?

Make signs?

Use the doors and gates around my house?

Sell it?

I am here to pick your brain.

And I hope to grow one of my own...because this idea was just plain crazy! 

have you ever cried over a refrigerator??

I almost did today. And I am not a crying-kind-of-girl.

Did I ever tell you one of my favorite salvage stores here in my town is in a huge old brick warehouse...and in that warehouse they used to manufacture refrigerators waaay back in the day?? Well, I have a deep love for old industrial warehouses, I always have. The architecture, the huge freight elevators...the creaky wood floors, the 25 foot ceilings. They feel so well used and well loved to me. I love wandering through them.

The city of live in was once the manufacturing capital of the US - and yes, I am serious as silly as that may sound. Before everyone pulled up stakes a few years ago and high-tailed it for cheap labor in foreign countries just about everything you used in your home was made here in my city in little ol' Illinois. Every day when you open your kitchen cabinets, chances are your handles came from here...your washers, your dryers, your Rubbermaid totes, even your fine antique furniture. You name it, we made it here.

So, back to the story about my salvage store. It has a home in one of the formerly-abandoned beautiful old brick warehouses that used to manufacturer refrigerators. Today when I was there, I decided to ask more about the building. What used to be made there?...how many years it was open?...I just like to know the history of buildings. I have no idea why.

The story I was told was a short one, as the person telling me didn't seem to care one ounce about this building. So let me get straight to the part that made me want to cry.

When the salvage yard took over the warehouse a few years ago, the basement was still full of retro aqua, pink and yellow fridges.

BRAND-SPANKIN' NEW, and original to the 1950s.

The factory closed before they were ever shipped to a store.

There were over 100 of them down there, frozen in time.

So....guess what they did with them............

Did you guess??

They trashed every last one of them.

Trashed. As in garbage. As in perfectly painted, never used and scrapped out for a landfill.

Uh, HELLO stupid salvage people, did you ever think of putting them in your store and making about a million dollars on them??? Yeah, go ahead and sell scrap wood and broken windows for $2...and throw away the goldmine you had in the basement. Good idea!! (Yes, I said that all with sarcasm. Sorry. I am still a little bitter. I only learned this about 4 hours ago so have yet to get over it.)

Ugh.

Sick. Sick and very sad.

Do you ever get the feeling you need to run the world?

Today was one of those days I wished I could rewind the clock and take over.

(photos # 1& #2 - Coastal Living #3 - unknown)

i heart salvage yards...

I have to admit something to all of you.

I am not a girly-girl.

Maybe I am...I don't know. But yesterday, I was not.

I was climing through piles of old junk...getting dirty and loving every minute of it.

It was one of the most fabulous, fun days I have had in a long time! I am happy down to my toes today...and it is all thanks to a whole lotta JUNK and a drafty old 6-story warehouse!

I love how the men in the place are in awe of a girl that loves junk. A girl with french-tip nails, and a super-cute bag on her shoulder, that is. At first they always think I am going to require their "help"...I just thank them and continue on with my digging.

As most of us do, I have an adgenda every day of my life. A long list of "to-dos". I work too much...usually 6-7 days a week...sometimes 8 depending on how many orders I have go get done that week. Did I ever tell you I have my own little business painting furniture?...I really need to do a post about it sometime. Oh, and we build furniture, too. Out of salvaged materials...and I love, love, love it! I don't sell those pieces at my shows...usually I sell those to stores...but this year I think I may bring some and see how it goes.

Yesterday, I needed a break from my paintbrush. We were just spending too much time together lately. So I headed out for a little inspiration at my favorite architectural salvage warehouse.

Did you know you can find beauties like this at a salvage yard??

I was climing over piles of old ceiling tin, tripping on old door trim and making my way through 100s of old chippy doors trying to find the ones that needed a new home. It was heaven to a girl like me. But cold as a meat locker...that part was not fun after a couple hours. But you should see the doors I came home with! Worth every minute and every frozen toe! I snagged chippy painted doors in pale blue, cream, white, pink, pale yellow...and think there is an old aqua or two in the mix.

 The building iteself was incredible. It is a beautiful old thing from the 1800s. Exposed brick walls...old creaky wood floors...floor to ceiling windows. In its prime it was a factory for millwork. They had photos on the walls. Some of the most incredible fireplace mantles, doors and mouldings came out of that place. As I looked around at all the reclaimed goods I couldn't help but wonder if some had found their way "home" again. 

*sigh*

 I saw chippy, layered paint...thick beveled glass...and some of the most stunning doorknobs I have ever laid eyes on! As I am typing this...I can't help but wonder if I am the only person that has ever used 'stunning' and 'doorknobs' in the same sentence.

There were old wavy-glass windows as far as the eye could see. And old ornate ceiling tin...it was everywhere! Stacks and stacks of it! There was one room dedicated to sinks, toilets and bathtubs. Seriously, even the toilets and sinks were beautiful back in the day!

If you have a place like this in your area YOU MUST VISIT!

You never know what you might find! I brought home old keys, antique hardware for my furniture, a fabulous mirror. a couple chandeliers and loads of doors and windows! Oh, and 2 English Ironstone pitchers now have a permenant home in my kitchen, too! When the weather gets a bit warmer I am going to build a few armoires with those old doors, so I will be sure to keep you posted!

I'm off for another day with the paintbrush...

Happy Friday!