FarmHouseUrban

exciting news and the coolest new place for all things vintage!

I've been sooo excited to tell you all about this, and now the time has come!!!

A few months ago I was contacted by a person I had never met about a new business she and her husband (and a host of others) were creating.  She described it as a marketplace for all things vintage - cars, jewelry, clothing, homes (yes homes!) and of course, home furnishings.  They were selecting "Style Makers" who each had a certain look and style, to showcase their wares under individual storefronts on the website.  At first, I didn't think it sounded like the right fit - I pictured a giant virtual flea market - or worse - a garage sale!  After a few phone meetings, and emails I soon realized that was not the case.  Far from it.  Second Shout Out was created to for the hip consumer who has an appreciation for the finer things that have timeless beauty and permanence. 

The site just went live, but the official launch is not until mid-September.  

Please hop over to spend some time and peruse all the wonderful treasures on Second Shout Out and let me know what you think!

FarmHouseUrban online shop is here!

I am thrilled to share with you, my lovely readers, FarmHouseUrban Home Store products are now available online! This has been a long time coming, so I'm very excited to finally share it with all of you. Every piece is chosen because it reflects the FarmHouseUrban lifestyle. My only rule of thumb when selecting an item for the store or website is that it be something I would personally love to have in my own home.  

We actually 'soft' launched a couple of weeks ago, but were waiting to announce our debut with other big news. That will come a bit later, so here we are! I hope you like it!!

We will be adding new products often, so make sure to check back and/or 'like' us on Facebook, where we will be posting each new item before it's online! In addition, I'll highlight pieces here and there on the blog and will have a pin board of all our products on Pinterest. We're going big with tabletop for fall - lots of fresh and fun ideas coming your way! 

Thank you all for reading and supporting FarmHouseUrban!!! 

To shop FarmHouseUrban: click www.shopfarmhouseurban.com.

To follow us on Pinterest click here.

Our new shop hours where you can reach us with questions are M - F 11:00am - 4:00pm.

Contact us @ 415.464.8610 or email info@serenaarmstronginteriors.com.

The week in review

It's been a whirlwind around here this past week!  Take a look...

Saturday - Margaret and I attended the motherlode of estate sales. Here are just a few of the treasures we scored...

It turns out the house belongs to George Lucas and the occupant was his personal Assistant for the past 30 years.  The most incredible part was that he wrote Star Wars on a legal pad in one of the upstairs rooms!  Goosebumps, I tell you. I look forward to sharing more soon.

Sunday - Father's Day

Monday - Met with reps to see new products for the store and clients. New smaller items - tabletop, accessories and hostess gifts coming!

Placed orders for a new client's 'FarmHouseUrban" living room.

 

Beachy Striped Wool Dhurrie

Simple Slipcovered sofa

Awesome Coffee Table 

Tuesday - Went to a former client's home to start working on a new project. Great to be working with her again and her gorgeous home.  

In the early evening, I headed up to St. Helena to visit girlfriend Cristine. Tuesday's is her Bocce Ball night, so I met her at the Bocce Ball park.  They take Bocce very seriously in wine country. 

Afterwards, we went to the new restaurant French Blue, designed and owned by Howard Backen (the architect whose work I have admired for.like.ever.)

Wednesday - Margaret and I worked on the online store.  Fine tuning the look + feel, getting all the product images uploaded, the descriptions written, making sure measurements and pricing is accurate takes a loooong time.

 

Still tweaking the logo...

In the afternoon, I made a stop to my woodworker's shop to check on the prototype for a new piece for the FarmHouseUrban Home Collection.  Here is a sneak peek at the FarmHouseUrban dining table!

Thursday - Stopped in to check on the status of a kitchen and family room renovation I've been working on. It's been a really fun project and I can't wait to show you more photos when the space is complete.

What to do with a monolith of a fireplace when the client doesn't like stone or wood? Raised panels in a geometric design!

Deciding which shade of warm gray...

Friday - Made a quick trip to the city to my favorite discount fabric store to look for a tweedy woven for an ottoman.  I didn't find anything, but did end up in the waaaay back intrigued by these retro (retro as in they've probably been here since the 60's, not new retro) Hawaiian prints.  Perhaps it has something to do with watching "The Decendants" recently?

I'd love to make big pillows out of these for outdoors.  They're not made of acrylic fabric, but at $8 per yard, even if they lasted one season it wouldn't be a huge loss.  My sewing skills are a bit rusty (plus, hello, I have no time!), so I guess I'll have to pass.  

Here's to a relaxing Sunday! Hope you have a chance to put your feet up today!

New FarmHouseUrban market totes!

Between moving to a rental house this past week (yes, we moved and it was just as horrendous as I remembered it to be- they should make prisoners do it instead of jail time!) and client presentations, Margaret; my awesome Assistant and I had time for a little office silliness.  It was sparked by our new arrival - FarmHouseUrban market totes! Yippee!  We love them!

Here's Margaret rockin' the denim bag.

The burlap version (we only have two left!).

And the light denim version.  John our office neighbor came out of his office to see what was up.  He's a Naturpathic physician who specializes in joint pain. It's very convenient having him next door!

I met the maker of these bags during my last trip to New York.  She designed them for urban dwellers who need to carry lots of heavy things in as small a bag as possible. I was gaga for them the minute I saw them! Made of heavy weight denim or burlap with upholstery binding for straps. There's a large pocket inside to keep phone and keys handy.  Price is $60/ea.

Super cool vintage kaftan

I've been on a major vintage scouting binge lately (more on that coming shortly...)  Normally I skip over the clothing booths, but this time something caught my eye and I knew I had to have it.

To me, this is the Hampton's circa 1969.

Love the sleeves. One pocket.

The fabric is so frickin' cool I'm tempted to make it into pillows...

It's a size 6, which is a joke because I could barely zip it. It's going on the shop website when it goes live in two weeks, so if you're interested before that, email me.

colors on the cusp: gray + lilac

It's a beautiful thing when colors collide creating something completely ambiguous...

Vincente Wolf via House Beautiful

Blurring the lines and softening the edges.  

My current favorite mash-up is gray and lilac.

Atlanta Homes & Lifestyles

Phoebe Howard

I don't often remember or even know where the seed that started the inspiration flower to bloom originated from, but this time I'm absolutely certain it was from the room below.

It's the nyc apartment of Canvas Home and Ochre owners Harriet Maxwell Macdonald and Andrew Corrie featured in Elle Decor almost two years ago.  It was the first time I recall seeing this sexy combination in a living room.

As a matter of fact, I've stared at this photo so often, I think I've memorized every detail.   

The bulletin board in my studio...

A vignette in the shop in gray + lilac + silver.

Have a wonderful Sunday and i'll see you at Alameda tomorrow!

The week in review

 

Wow, sorry for the radio silence.  It's been far too long since the last post and I feel way out of touch. Needless to say, things are hoppin' around here.  We (as in me and my new Assistant; Margaret who is AWESOME!!!) are busy getting the store Spring-ified, sourcing and designing the debut collection for the FarmHouseUrban Home Store online, working on several hefty design projects and... dare I say it... our house plans are...no, actually I won't.  I look forward to sharing all the details in the upcoming days and weeks, so please stay close by! If you care to subscribe to FarmHouseUrban and recieve every post in either your reader or inbox, you can do so by putting your email address in the box to the right.  ------------------------------------------>

Make sure to complete the process by opening the confirmation email that will arrive shorty thereafter. 

Anyway, onto the week's recap...

Despite the winter-like weather we had last weekend, our first seasonal market was a success!  A huge thank you to Jennifer of Sweet Life Bakery who provided a most delicious spread of breakfast pastries, artisan breads, cookies and cupcakes and the BEST almond croissant I have ever had this side of the Atlantic. 

My idea with the seasonal markets is to not only offer substantial discounts on items from the previous season, but also throw in some fun things that reflect the current season. So in keeping with the Spring theme, we set up a flower stand with fresh blooms for self-serve flower arranging.  I think just about everyone took home a big fat Spring bouquet!

Vintage pieces I've picked up at estate sales or antique fairs always seem to be the first to go. There are still a few pieces left, so I thought I'd share them with you. We ship anywhere in the US and Canada!

Red Wing urn. I believe it was a milk jug, but the seller had no knowledge of it's history. I originally thought I'd have it made into a lamp - wouldn't that be cool? But I love how the Cherry Blossom branches look in it, so I think I'll leave it as is.  These American made crocks look fantastic in a group or collection. Very FarmHouseUrban! Price $150.

Set of 8 vintage French linen napkins monogrammed with the initials "DH" or "HD". They are softened to perfection, creamy white and are absolutely lovely.  Price $50.

Blue Mason jars.  These are old! The date on one says November 30, 1858. Price $65 ea.

These old zinc buckets are from the Europe container sale that I went to a few weeks ago.  The small one sold, but the large and medium are still available! There are so many possible uses for these... They'd be great for kindling next to the fireplace, storage for rolled up towels in the bathroom, or a recepticle for cleaning products in the laundry room. Price $60 for the large and $50 for the medium.

Vintage ginger beer bottles from England.  I picked up a bunch of these awhile ago - I believe at Alameda.  The color combination is perfection. I have these two left.  As I took the picture I was thinking they would make great candle holders for an outside dining table. Picturing them with dark turquoise candles. mmm. Price $8/ea.

One of the highlights of the day was a visit from my BFF Cristine (the fashionista who I've been friends with for 20 years, who moved to St. Helena 2 years ago from Europe, whom I blog about often).  She brought her friend Heidi Godoff - my new friend too - who is also the designer/creator of the BFF bags that I blogged about here.  If Heidi's name sounds familiar, you may have read about her on the Remodelista blog.  She was one of the vendors for the Remodelista Market's in the Bay Area and Los Angeles.

Heidi has a blog and kindly wrote about her visit to the store. To read Heidi's blog click here.  Thank goodness I happened to be wearing my BFF bag (made and designed by Heidi) that day!

Have a fabulous Monday everybody! The sunshine's shining here - yay!

FarmHouseUrban - Spring Market this Sunday!

Lots of great finds to be had!  If you are in the area, please do come by!

Art breaks

It's been a crazy week with several projects in the hopper all requiring creative attention at the same time. I get overloaded when I have to switch gears too much in a short period of time. Getting lost in a mini art break really helps me reboot.

I recently discovered an incredible blog of American art. It is so well curated with paintings from present day to over a century old, you could spend hours falling into it.  Grab a cup of tea and take a look - americangallery.wordpress.com.

Bo Bartlett

 Amos Sewell

Andrew Wyeth

Another favorite art escape is Etsy.  Most of you are probably familiar with this website that sells only handmade items individually listed by the artist, but if you've never visited, you're in for a real treat. My favorite way to explore Etsy is to keep the search as narrow as possible.  These came up when I searched for "original watercolors".

Juri Romanov 

Louise van Terheljden

Dear Pumpernickel

 

Recently, I met with a new client and stopped in my tracks at a painting in his living room by one of my all time favorite artists - Tony Scherman.  The painting was a black still life that looked similar to this one.

Sometimes great art (as in art you love) can be found in completely unexpected places. Today my son and his jazz trio had a 'gig'  at an art show/reception for the winners of a high school art competition.  

Redwood High School jazz trio - my son Luke on bass guitar :-)

The art on display was very impressive especially considering the artists are all in high school. 

This one won best overall.  Digital illustration with ink. I encourage you to click on it to enlarge. I adore it, and fortunately it was for sale! 

I've been on the lookout for local artists for the store lately and have a few great ones targeted. If you know of one (or are one!) please contact me.

In the meantime, I have only one painting left in the store!  It happens to be my favorite - 'Silver Lining' by Seattle artist Bryan McGuffey.  It was slightly hidden in a corner, so I'm posting it for anyone who might be interested. Price is $2,800 and measures 36" x 36".  We ship anywhere.

Happy start to a new week and hope it includes an art break or two!

New York International Gift Fair: Part Two

There were so many lighting options that I was looking up almost as much as down. This was one of my favorites. I like the industrial chic + wine barrel look.

This amber glass lamp with matching hurricanes is even more beautiful in person. I love this color with dark grey.

Not the best photo, but I wanted to remind myself of the broad spectrum this line carries.  If there was only one booth I could buy from at the whole show, it would have been this one. I just wish they would respond to my inquiry!  

Walking through the aisles, the opportunities to be inspired are endless.  These batik fabrics didn't just catch my eye for their beauty, but the knotted display got me thinking about ways to hang fabric samples in the studio.

When I saw these denim and chambray pillows at the Pinecone Hill booth, I immediately pictured them on a white slipcovered sofa or a gauzy bed and was transported to a beach house in the summertime.

A trend that was apparent in many collections, was jute accessories. 

I really like this jute mirror, but don't have a place or client for it. Debating whether or not...

These baskets made of rubber tubing are great for bathrooms or outdoor areas. 

Saving the best for last... simply perfect in scale and proportion.  Coming soon to a store in Marin!

Have a great long weekend!