Thursday, July 24, 2008

A smattering of recent finds. . .

The one e-mail or phone call we receive weekly is consistent..."What new things do you have in the shop this week?" Here is a handful of our recent finds. But please note, I was on an 8-hour buying today. With my truck full and loaded down we headed to the shop to unload around 5:30 this evening. Piles (!!) of beautiful, vintage hooked rugs, a vintage forest scene watercolor, an antique ice cream shop table with it's original vitreous china top, another Kramer urn with crusty old paint, a couple of old, painted chairs, a cast iron free standing fireplace screen, a large, old gesso framed mirror, ironstone platters and pitchers, vintage thermos - great for summer flower arrangements, a raspberry colored quilt, a primitive milking stool, just to name a few...for first viewing (and selection!) stop in tomorrow or Saturday, 10 am - 5 pm

a beautiful driftwood grey table and chairs ensemble
a fantastic vintage paper umbrella

lovely old white shirt, a perfect pairing for jeans
a one-drawer marine blue stand
a mermaid king's crown
sweet, little cupboard
summer's whites

a gathering of summer finds, ship lamp base, starfish photo spirals, irradized fluted glass vase
fabulous faux raspberry and cream snapdragons in enamelware pitcher
sky blue childs chair with rush seat
time for some tea
piles of pots

piles of summery plates and sea glass green votice holders
vintage leather suitcase for your weekend jaunts, even your luggage has Urban Farmhouse style
mirror mirror on the wall, I think I need that urn on my patio
a carved cottage door with glass
clustered fruit in urn, distressed in all the right places

Kramer Brother's "Prize" urn
layers of vintage, embroidered linens
lovely and lacy, looks great casually strewn across the foot of your well-dressed bed
vintage milkglass tumblers
pick a posie (or a pitcher)




Friday, July 18, 2008

Hot Summer Finds

With all the furniture leaving the store we last week I realized I had not mentioned all the new (and returning favorites) "smalls". I snapped just a few photos of them to share with you, most are available on the website for shipping also. If it's not pictured on the website but you see it here just give us a call and we'll see what we can do.

This is one of those that tugs at me to take it home. This circa 1910 French enamelware body pitcher has a beautiful blue color and pattern. Hard to find in this condition and unusual marking.

Attention Country Living subscribers...many of you may have read the article about Comptoir de Famille in the August 2008 issue. You don't have to travel to Boston, Paris or Belgium to pick up your favorite items as we carry line at Urban Farmhouse! Above is a sweet little tray from their Brasserie collection.
Another wonderful find, a canvas Bordeaux bucket with leather handles. Lots of possibilities here, hide a vase full of water and fill with fresh wildflowers, use to caddy wine for a casual outdoor gathering, fill with your summer's shell and driftwood collections or hand towels for your guests.
Bar stool cushions, floor pillows, seat cushions, whatever your fancy these new pillows fit the bill. Fashioned with vintage hemp linen inspiration, these 100% woven cotton cushions are tufted in all the right places.
A return of an old favorite...Farmhouse Dish Soap and Liquid Hand Soap. If you have not cleaned your hand washable dishes with this dish soap you don't know what you are missing. This New Hampshire company mixes natural ingredients in small batches to harness the most intoxicating fragrances. Washing dishes turned into an aromatherapy session! Lavender, White Lilac and now Lemon Verbena.
Vintage inspired lidded salt cellars, wonderful in the kitchen or next to your margarita machine, everybody has one, right?
LOVE this!! Vintage double gear wood mold, great industrial piece for wall art, tabletop, or make in to a lamp.
Sweet little cast iron wall pockets for indoors or out.
Burlap market tote with French graphic, an accessory that looks great and works even harder.
Cast iron pedestals with a wonderful old lead look. I use mine to serve a rustic, savory appetizer cheesecake, the pedestal adds a little drama to the table.

Saturday, July 12, 2008

What a week...



Whew! It has been quite a week here at Urban Farmhouse. So many came in to check out what was going on and so few went home empty handed. The exodus of goods culminated this afternoon. Besides the bags stuffed with apple green gingham tissue wrapped finds, 2 dressers, a farm table, a glass doored bookcase, an industrial cart table, a 4-foot corbel, a gothic cottage door, a vintage wallpaper hanger's table, plus 2 free standing 9-foot tall porch columns all found homes. The shop looks like a tornado tore through. So Janet and I will be cleaning, restocking, fluffing and tweaking over the next three days. If you weren't able to make it in this week, don't worry, you may shop on-line now or next week when we reopen with all kinds of new goods.


Thank you everyone for your wonderful well wishes, support, blog comments and congratulatory notes. How touching it was to time and again find my e-mail inbox full of your devine feedback! It is so encouraging to know that my labor of love brings as much joy to others as it does me. Thank you again for your words and support.

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Welcome and thank you for stopping by!

A long (and sometimes exhausting, especially for my very patient family) project has finally come to fruition. I have been savoring a secret and it's been VERY hard to keep it under wraps. Today, after many months of dreaming, creating, imagining, and planning, planning, planning...I am finally ready for the big reveal, I think. By nature, I am not a patient person. I have wanted to tell everyone for quite some time (since February!!) but I knew, in the interest of not confusing customers into thinking we were closing, writing and submitting press releases, tweaking the website 37 gazillion times (and counting), plus all of the other "little things you don't think of" that take "more time than you thought" to change...I had to be patient.
Ever since taking over the reins of White Cottage I have felt a desire to change the name and also the look. DON'T WORRY...there will always be a place in my heart AND shop for white furniture. I absolutely love the look of a newly painted piece and a recycled life born again. However, this was someone else's concept for a store not mine. The time has come for me to follow my vision. So several months ago I began the process of defining "my look" to myself. I would analyze and scrutinize everything that caught my eye in a magazine, while shopping or antiquing and even driving. What was it about that weathered 1951 Ford pick-up that called to me? Why do I purposefully turn the A/C off and open windows to let me white gauzy curtains blow in the breeze? And that vintage porch glider in town with layer upon layer of it's annual summer paint jobs beckoning it's lucky owner to sit a spell with a glass of iced tea with a mint sprig from the garden, what about that Amish clothesline (on the eastside of St Rt 13 on the way to Lake Erie, you know the one) that stretches from house to barn with blue jeans and glorious old, sun-faded quilts flapping in the wind? Then I had acknowledge my love of packaging. My husband has always said I am a marketer's dream in regards to packaging. You could put a rock inside a box, design a sleek, simple, gorgeous packaging concept for said box and I would buy it. There is something about a well dressed product that just speaks to me.
It was just as important to note things that did nothing for me...I would have to know exactly what I did not want in the shop thereby curbing any impulsive buys. First and foremost, anything plastic, (unless it's been recycled and repurposed into a new and useful product). Next, anything with deep, dark brown stain under shiny lacquer. I prefer the look and ease of pieces with original paint. The striations in the paint, the crackling and timeworn areas, the gray over the aqua over the pink, and each color making himself seen...makes my heart sing. (It might surprise some of my customers to know that I only have one piece of furniture in my house with new white paint...all others proudly wear their perfectly patina'ed, ages-old paint jobs.)
I still prefer what I would refer to as a muted palette, not only for a more relaxing home environment, but also in the store. It is my intent to ensure that every shopping trip to Urban Farmhouse is, and always will be, an experience that relaxes and refreshes. I have heard it too many times (and would be a fool to ignore it) from so many of my wonderful customers that "being in the shop" is therapeutic to them. The last thing I want to do is assault you with a riot of overbearing colors that makes your head spin when you come in the door. So old original paints, old raw woods and a sprinkling of new white all mingling with vintage, decorative finds completes one part of the new look...the farmhouse part.
I am so excited to see designers and "to the trade only" companies incorporating vintage details into brand spanking new products. Some stay true to reproducing a replica, others become more sleek and clean in line while still others spin a classic design feature into a new product. Case in point, some gorgeous new pendant lamps I recently ordered and anxiously await. Streamlined, little mercury glass shades house a 60-watt bulb. Beautiful, simple, elegant...urban.
And so...an Urban Farmhouse was born. I do hope you will enjoy the adventure right along with me.
Oh, hey, it's not a secret anymore...so feel free to pass it on to two or three (or twenty!) of your most deserving of friends, they, and most certainly I, thank you for it.



P.S. Bookmark or add to your favorites the Urban Farmhouse website, you never know when you might need a little retail therapy, sometimes it's at 3 in the morning. Also, bookmark or add the new blog to your favorites, this is where I will post everything you want and need to know about on-goings at the shop including photos of new arrivals. Thanks again! Hope to see or hear from you soon!

Friday, July 4, 2008

Home of the Brave

Happy Independence Day to all! Thank you to all the men and women (and their families) in our armed forces who give and have gave of themselves so generously so that each American enjoys the freedoms we hold so dear.