I heart the fancy farmgirl...

I am so in love obsessed with Tiffany's photography.

I mean, to say the girl is amazing is the understatement of the year! Really.

Did you see her post today? I about fell off my chair.

It is a sweet little story about a gorgeous young girl. Her husband is in Iraq right now and she wanted to send him a few speical photos. I am a lover of anything old Hollywood so these totally rocked my world. I swear I was born in the wrong era sometimes. I love the romance of the 1940s...Bogart & Becall, black and white photos...old WWII planes.

~ sigh ~

Enough words. Go visit Tiffany's blog and take in some seriously gorgeous eye candy.

Here is a sneak peek...

Happy Monday, girls!

I am off to do finishing touches for my LAST show of the year. I can't believe how fast the time has flown by!

Come see me this weekend...Kane County Flea Market in St. Charles, IL. So many of you have emailed to ask, so if I can fit it in before I load my trucks, I will try to give you a little photo preview...but no promises on that. Things always get a little crazy the week of a show!



Junk Bonanza 2010



Whew! What a weekend it was!

I drove 700 miles in 36 hours. I would say that falls into the "whirlwind trip" category!

But, I have to say...what I saw of Junk Bonanza...was FANTASTIC!! I am going next year, for sure.

Anyway, on to the fun stuff.

The bonanza of junk.

I loved every last drop of it.

This is going to be a very random, crazy post, but tomorrow I will show you 2 of my favorite booths.

Industrial lighting was everywhere! I would say my style is farmhouse coastal with an industrial twist...so these were right up my alley.

(And yes, you read that right...I did say farmhouse-coastal-with-an-industrial-twist. Don't even try to figure it that one out!)

I was crazy about these frames...isn't that old aqua paint fabulous??





Oh, and the clocks. I can't forget those! I have a little "thing" for them. Old beat-up looking silver ones are my favorite.

I am kicking myself for not buying this one. $12!! Only $12 and I didn't get it?? Ugh.

Love these, too...

This barn door reminded me of my up-coming barn-tearing-down project. I can't wait to get my hands on a few of these. I am planning a giant armoire for my husbands "man room" with doors like these. I think it will be a perfect things to hide his giant TV. Ahhh..chippy and beautiful. We will both be happy.

I thought this old cart would be nice parked in the woods behund my house. I envisioned white flowers spilling out the top. It would be dreamy, don't you think?!

Can it get any better??

Why yes, it can. And it did.

Friday night I met up with a few familar faces from blogland. These girls are all beautiful and just as sweet as I had hoped.
(Sorry...photo is a little fuzzy but you can still those gorgeous girls!)

(me, Traci, Becky, Jen, Suzanne)

I was actually really nervous about going to the party. I am not a "party girl" by any means, it is just so much pressure, you know? Will I be what they expect?? Will they be what I expect?? But, I have to say...they were all fabulous! I wish I would have taken more pictures!


And on a totally random note...I just had to let Becky know I was thinking of her yesterday! Yes, Miss Becky I am talkin' to you! This is a response to your post yesterday saying I never post photos of myself...so here you go!

My husband and I took a walk in the woods yesterday morning so we did a couple just for Becky...cheesy senior portrait style!!

Yes, these are meant to be a joke. We were laughing so hard when we were taking these. I don't pop my head through trees and give my best broken-neck tilt for just anyone. So Miss Becky, here you go. Photos of me...bad hair and a hoodie sweatshirt. This is how you will find me on a normal day.

Ok, now you know why you never. ever. see photos of me on my blog. I just love you girls too much to put you through that.

~ smile ~

Happy Tuesday, girls!

trash talkin'

This is such a strange statement...

 my city has the best trash.

(I can't believe I just said that.)

On a weekly basis I find the most beautiful things...ornate furniture, chandeliers, cool old metal boxes and trays, gorgeous old doors with chippy paint...it is simply amazing to me what people will throw away! Like anything, some weeks picking are better than others...and I know just what area of town I like to visit to find the era of stuff I am looking for, what night their trash goes out, etc. Now that I am putting this is writing, I sound like a total freak stalking people's trash...but I am ok with that. There is a science to this trash-picking stuff, you know!

I am just so swoony over my finds from Sunday night...so I had to show you.


My favorite find of the week...an old wood medical cabinet.

She's got chippy gray paint, lots of drawers on the front and the sides, too...

And her solid oak top is perfectly weathered and worn...

~ sigh ~

Isn't she pretty??

Ok, maybe all of you won't think so...but I do!

It was love at first sight. The kind of love that made me nearly have a heart attack when I realized it was so heavy there was no way I could load it in my truck by myself! The 6 minute car ride from the curb where I found it back to my house to grab my big strong husband nearly felt like an eternity!! I was convinced it would be snapped up while I was gone.

But she was still there...waiting for me...

While I am talkin' trash, I may as well show you some of my other finds.... 

A gorgeous vintage chandi with all the crystals...(they were nice enough to put them in a ziploc before throwing them away. I felt like I needed to leave them a little thank you note!)

Here is a tip from me to you on how to find these...I frequent the section of town with the gorgeous turn of the century homes...you know the kind...they were practically mansions in their day but now have pretty much turned into slums. It makes me sad to drive through that part of town, but since I can't save a whole neighborhood, I may as well save pieces of it, right??

Well, I have learned that if you can find out which houses are being renovated or torn down...you just have to pop yourself into the jobsite one morning with a big box of Krispy Kremes and a smile...then the guys just might leave you the chandeliers sitting by the dumpster rather than throwing them in.

~ smile ~

Krispy Kreme really brings out the love, doesn't it?

This little beauty is going to have a new home in my bathroom.

And I have no idea what I am going to do with the wood pullys I found...but I have always been crazy about industrial pieces so they will find a place somewhere. They were in pile of trash from a garage that was cleaned out.

Oooh...and I am crazy about those metal bins!! I love the holes, because I find all things polka dotted, white and metal to be dreamy. The fact that they are all 3 is amazing!

Oh, and CDs fir perfetly inside! (You will see one poping up in an office reno coming up very soon!)

But here are the two pieces I love probably as much as the cabinet in the first photo.

I have no idea what they are. Old chairs maybe that have the backs cut off? I see marks where it looks like something was attached at one time.

They are large, so if they were chairs they were b-i-g.

I LOVE the metal...zinc maybe?? Zinc-looking anyway. They are going to be awesome in the wooded part of my backyard with cascading container plants on top of them next year.

So there you have it.

I am a  girl that loves to pick through people's garbage.

Ok, I don't really pick through it. I just look for a pile that may have potential, get out of my car and look to see what is on top. Most nights I can come home with 5 or 6 things and have a whole bunch of laughs with my sister while we are doing it.

Keeping beautiful things out of a landfill...just another way I am helping save the world.

I just have to know...am I the only one that does this sort of thing?? Please tell me there are some fellow trash-pickers out there in blogland!

farmhouse love...

I spend way too much time looking at real estate listings...tonight I am tired...my eye lids and heavy and I have an early day tomorrow...but I couldn't go to bed without showing you this beautiful home!

I have always had a love for architecture, especially historic homes.

But usually, I find myself sifting through the listings of new construction homes...condos...houses that have not seen a coat of paint since 1976 with their blue shag carpeting...I come across one that stands out from the rest and totally makes my search worth it.

Here is today's "stand-out"...

I introduce you to...

103 Broad Street

a 1780s New England Farmhouse that has me drooling all over my keyboard!

It just looks so peaceful...I can almost feel the breeze...

The gardens are fantastic...and the little dog is pretty cute, too.

I would have to change the color of the shutters...I am seeing something lighter.

Gorgeous gardens...

And that fence? How cute is that????

I am crazy about this room. I already have a vision of it decorated in all white at Christmas time!

I would like to get my hands on both the mirror and that chandelier...

Oh, and this chandi, too!

Love how every room has a fireplace!

Even the dining room!

Look at the size of this one!

If this was my house, I would have to put in the fine print that all the chandis were coming with me...not staying with the house!

Should I call and ask if the frame and that dresser are for sale??

I want those in my house!

L-O-V-E the staircase!!

In my book, there is no such thing as too much white!

Ooooh...and the wide-planked heart pine floors are incredible!

Beautiful.

My guests would never leave if I put them in a room like this!

I believe it is a rule that you must "bathe" and not "shower" when you own a tub like this.

But seriously.

This is when renovating goes horribly wrong.

Don't get me wrong, the kitchen on its own is very nice. But it does not flow with the style of the house at all.

This was such a disappointment to me.

Sad. Very sad.

Such a missed opportunity to capture the spirit of this house with a spectacular kitchen!

But I love me some little buildings with old white siding!

 I am seeing my little shop set up out there!

Now...if only I had an extra $795,000 laying around...

Oh, and an extra $50,000 to give it the kitchen it deserves!