City Farmhouse: Franklin antiques

City Farmhouse - Franklin, TN - Antiques and Vintage for Urban & City Living - Westhaven Home Tour - Big Design on a Small Budget

Who doesn't love decorating for the holidays! Especially, when you get the opportunity to decorate someone else's home for a holiday tour benefiting a fabulous cause - the Hillsboro Middle School Band - of which my grandson just happens to be a member. We're so proud of him!

I was so thrilled that I was selected to decorate the home of Robin and Patrick Evans. I knew I would have “good bones” to work with since Robin has such a great eye. There was never a doubt that her home would be filled with amazing unique pieces tastefully and artfully arranged (after all, she once was a stylist for Ralph Lauren Home stores).

Robin and I thought it would be fun to design the home using elements found in nature. Not only is nature's bounty beautiful this time of year but it can also be gathered from most yards, winter gardens, along fence rows, and simply from walks in the woods. AND, it's simple to work with naturals and inexpensive too - anyone can do it, no matter what the budget.

We collected branches, greens, dried flowers, nuts, leaves, pods, and berries to create most of the designs throughout the home. Using Robin's collections of silver plate teapots, creamers (and the like), mercury glass vases, ironstone, and pottery vessels, we were able to style every room on the tour for basically no money!! How fun is that!!

In fact, we designed the entire dining room for about $10.00, which was the cost of the paperwhites and tapered candles. We made the placemats from burlap that I found crumpled up in a trash bag. I simply pulled the edges all around several times to create a fringed look. The pieces were wrinkled from being stored in the bag but we decided we loved the look and chose not to press them.

How beautiful is this house?

We wanted the tree to be natural and airy, just like it would be at its home in the woods, so we kept the ornaments light, clear and sparkly. We spent money to purchase the tree but it was minimal. To adorn the staircase I snapped some magnolia branches from a tree and Robin added pine and other greens, topped off with Christmas bells. I loved that little jingle!!

We both agreed above the fireplace in the family room would be a perfect place to create a Christmas tree made from twigs. It was so easy to construct. My friend Cindy over at Discovering Franklin wrote a blog post about it. You should go over and read about it here. Cost: $0. Yay!!

How do you make this Christmas tree out of three sticks? Go here to see my tutorial!

Robin and Patrick have an aaammaaazzzing courtyard!! Just see for yourself!

I hope you enjoyed the tour.... I bet Santa is going to LOVE coming through this door!!!

Merry Christmas, y'all!!!

Dear StyleBluePrint editor,

I'm not 8 years old anymore. But still, I have to ask... some of my friends say there is no Santa Claus! My love told me if you read it on StyleBlueprint, it's so. Please tell me the truth: is there a Santa?

Virginias Everywhere

Well, wouldn't you know it--StyleBlueprint responded lickety split, and this is what they had to say:

YES, it's true! Well, maybe not the real Claus, but who needs Santa after this, because.... City Farmhouse has partnered with StyleBlueprint of Williamson County to give away a $500 shopping spree to our shop in Franklin, TN!!! I know, I know, we're excited for y'all too! All you have to do is click here to enter your name + email address before January 1, 2014, and you're in it to win it.

Merry Christmas, y'all!

"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication."

- Leonardo da Vinci

Below are several simple yet creative ways to arrange your finds, put together from items we have in the shop right now.

Each season, thousands clamor for the Country Living Fairs hosted across the nation—after all, it’s the ultimate hunting grounds for vintage and new finds!

The next Country Living Fair will be held in Columbus, Ohio, on Sept. 12-14, with more than 150 vendors showing off scads of antique scores, plus an array of jewelry, art and made-in-America goods. I’m so excited to announce that City Farmhouse will be a vendor too! We are looking forward to meeting many of you there!

AND, in addition to being an exhibitor - I will be a guest at the Fair! On Friday, September 12 at 3.p.m. and again on Sunday, September 14, at 11 a.m., I will act as your personal shopping tour guide as we weave through all the amazing booths filled with beautiful home furnishings, accessories, and unique curiosities. It’s your chance to learn first-hand how to create Country Living Style in your own home. We’ll meet up at the Pumpkin Tower on the Village Green where you can register for $100.00 in shopping bucks, a one year subscription to Country Living Magazine, and a cool City Farmhouse tee.

The Country Living Fair will take place on Friday, Sept. 12 through Sunday, Sept. 14 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Tickets for early buying—8:30 a.m. entry on Friday and Saturday and 10 a.m. on Sunday — are $40 per person. Regular admission is $13 per person in advance, and $16 the day of. Weekend passes are $15 per person in advance and $20 at the gate. Tickets include entrance to the show as well as the how to’s and presentations.

Tickets may be purchased at the gate, or in advance by calling 1-866-500-FAIR.

I get the question a lot: so, what is a picker?

As owners of a vintage and antiques "only" shop we get the majority of our inventory from "pickers." A term that has been used in the trade since time began, but most recently has become more widely known due to the popularity of the hit TV show American Pickers.

Folks are intrigued by the word - "pickers" & "pickin"- it sounds like you've just gone out and dug up the most fabulous things. And, sometimes that's exactly what happens.

Pickers love digging through old dusty barns, dilapidated houses, old forgotten store fronts, sheds that are falling to the ground, and country auctions, most in rural locations. WARNING - you can't just go out and start digging in these spots, a picker, first, must get to know the property owner. These coveted pickin holes are the only places in the modern day world where time really does stand still.

There are those of us who just melt at the site of an early original piece being pulled from a leaning barn - never mind that it's covered in 100 years worth of dirt and is filled with things that should never be there in the first place; like old nuts & bolts, canning jar lids, old pencils, spiders (both dead & alive) yada yada yada ... you get where I'm going. And, the story of what caused it to be abandoned in the first place is often times just as interesting as the piece itself.

One of my all time favorite pickin stories was about 10 years ago - a picker in southern Alabama was cleaning out a barn when he pulled out what he described as a "tall table" out of the barn's corn crib. From the photos we could clearly tell that this was in no way just a tall table. It was an early 1800s Alabama Slab or Huntboard (as they are also called). For those of you who don't know, a Huntboard is a Southern form of furniture with a short narrow case and tall legs. Legend has it that the furniture pieces were made for easy transporting to the lawn of plantation homes. The men, riding horseback, would then belly up to the Huntboard to partake of food and liquor. The intended purpose was to keep the men from soiling the dining room after a long day of hunting.

The picker actually wanted to leave it behind to be bulldozed down with the barn, but his wife insisted that they take it to sell. He was so mad that he threw it atop of a pile of lumber on an open make-do trailer and off it went into the sunset bumping and bouncing and almost falling off several times, as it traveled down the dusty gravel road toward home.

That evening, the pickers wife put the "tall table" (with that exact description) up for sale on eBay. One morning I was perusing eBay's ending auctions when I saw the description and the photo. It had an opening bid of $100.00. To make an already long story short, there were others out there who recognized the Slab/Huntboard under the disguise of a "tall table" . When the dust all settled and the bidding ended we were the lucky winning bidders of a $5,000 tall table! Which we promptly sold for $15,000.00. As you can see being a picker or buying from one can be rewarding.