Surviving September

Hey friends! I’ve been missing you! When September approached and I looked at my commitments, all I could think about was that song “wake me up when September ends” but instead this past month surprised me. It was packed full of love, life and good times!

Nothing like kicking off one of the busiest months on your calendar with a road trip back to Michigan (which is a very LONG way to go for a LONG weekend. I’m pretty sure I grew horns by the time we arrived, maybe a tail). But it was great family time and I worked in a very successful trip to one of my favorite little antique malls, right in my home town of Flat Rock, called “Motor City Antiques”. I feel very lucky every chance I get to go.

Walking in, I just loved this wheel barrel overflowing with a great color combo, especially the dark, almost black, petunias. I’d like to plant something like this next season. Notice the pretty iron etagere sitting behind it.

Picked up this guy for $28 and will give it a proper make over. The wide seat, casters and little circle detail on the arms were just part of the draw. He’s living with us now.

Yes, $45. I could of furnished an entire home with all the things I found in the new back room of Motor City Antiques. You locals need to check it out!

This amazing mail sorter for $125! The possibilities.

Couldn’t help but think of Kelly Wearstler when I saw this. You know she’s selling one similar at Bergdorf for ridiculous money. 

Only because Grandma Hehl had one just like it and packed it FULL of candy bars for our train trip to Toronto. I was sick on arrival.

The pair for $28. This fool didn’t grab em. They were a nice size too.

Ten bucks and thought just the right height for next to a tub, to break that visual plane/line of the top of the tub, in a new color perhaps.

Kinda of like this one from my hero Mary…how many times have you come across that same table in an old cherry Victorian looking finish. Uh huh. She’s our girl.

This guy would of made an excellent lamp base…I recall him being dirt cheap as well.

equally excellent coffee table trunk

My memory is going, but I’m pretty sure these were $75 for the pair, $125 tops. I was ready to make a 911 to all my local friends and be like somebody needs to come get these a-sap. Flip those cushions out with a killer pattern. Good stuff, great value.

Don’t you think we ought to bring the punch bowl back??? So pretty! I saw this and thought maybe I should serve punch at my designer luncheon later this month? Spiked – of course.

Killer vintage T for the hubs, but too small. ;-(

Check out this amazing bar cart (which are totally on trend right now), along with the chest, table and like eight chairs….are you ready…$150 for the whole set! I’m not kidding when I say we could furnish a totally hip cool house with all the finds here.

Picked these up for Sophia’s room for $10. You had me at orange flowers and I’m in a serious Asian phase. I want some of those tall white thing-a-ma-bobbers. Oh I can’t think of their name. Pagodas! That’s it! Oh and I picked up a bunch of other little goodies that I will share with you as I work them into the decor. The ladies were like wow, you’re finding all kinds of deals!

Then it was onto Ann Arbor where the whole family went to the Big House.

I lasted through the first quarter and couldn’t stop thinking about the vintage clothing stores, a chilled glass of wine on a hot Summer day and some swanky air-conditioned restaurant, calling my name. Plus I’m a State fan and could CARE LESS. So I walked through campus, into downtown and landed an amazing, amazing velour vintage cheetah dress, that if I wasn’t so lazy, would run upstairs and take a picture of right now.

I’ll give em this, they do have beautiful buildings on their campus. I’m always in awe of how wonderful the craftsmanship was back then and how people gave a rip about architectural integrity.

That roof, to die. I take my hat off to roofers, they really do create a work of art in their work. I know that when I get mine redone, I’ll go to the site that has incredible roof samples with as much character ad beauty as this one. I’d like a paint color match for every shingle. The terracottas, the golds, the blue grays. You could design an entire room around those three colors.

More nostalgia photos from the weekend. The hill I walked up every day to elementary school, in full-on snow boots, snow suit, the whole garb. We’d all huddle together in the corner vestibule to keep warm until they’d let us in. On really cold days, they’d let us stand inside the breeze way. Oh thanks, thanks for that. And come the end of the day, Amy and I, would stand at the top of the hill, make like Laverne and Shirley and yell “schlemeel, schlemazel, hasenfeffer incorporated” and run as fast as we could down it.  

Walked by these all Summer, thinking man what great side tables you all would make!

Mom’s hostas were in full bloom and have taken over this side of the house. I finally hauled some back to Atlanta. They are officially in the ground and hopefully will root so I can split em and share em with everyone down here. I bet Mom had no idea when she planted the first three they’d end up all over the country. Way to go Mom.

Look at these lovers! Celebrating Dad’s 70th birthday at Mario’s in Detroit. An old school five-course Italian restaurant that serves some of the best Chateaubriand.

And that was just Labor Day weekend (I’m not sure we’re going to make it to the end of this post).

I celebrated riding next to this guy for the last 13 years and bam, back in the car again, this time down to the beach with the kiddos, where we dined at the new Havana Beach Club restaurant. My one piece of design advice for them: dim the lights.

Pretties!

love, loVE, LOVE (and missed the other cool kids that couldn’t make it).

The party was a hit, and I’m feeling really good about that skill set I mentioned earlier, thanks to all the love they showered me with. I could go on and on about these guys and what a blessing they are and what a sweet and special connection we all have with one another, but you all are probably half asleep at this point. Another time. For sure. It also didn’t hurt that my girl Sherry wrote an entire post on her very popular design blog “Design Indulgence” that blew me away. The road hasn’t seen that much traffic since my feed stopped working on Joni’s Cote de Texas blog roll last February. I was amazed.

“Hey Mom, guess what, something exciting happened at school today!” – Jack

(Totally cried after reading).

And finally the last big hoo-rah, goal, to-do on my list for September…

Was to have our home professionally photographed by the lovely Jennifer Kesler, which will be submitted for potential publication. We shall see where that road takes us but I’m perfectly content with the trip so far. 😉 I’ll be sharing the pictures with you all soon on my NEW WEBSITE AND BLOG! BTW don’t you think two tall white pagodas would look great on the console table, paired with my new drapes?

Love you guys! Thanks for hanging in there! Next up, we’re getting our spook on at Chez Schoenberger but if you cannot wait, check out last year’s digs HERE.

xo,
Jen

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