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!
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)
