Hey there,
Just thought I'd share some pictures with you from our fun outing yesterday! I've told you before about the Nell Hill's stores that we love going to. There's one store here in Kansas City and there's another in Atchison, Kansas. The owner of Nell Hill's, Mary Carol Garrity, has a historic home in Atchison right in the historic homes district of their beautiful old town and she has annual open houses where you can go and tour her home. We went to her holiday open house last fall and had a great time. So when we heard she was having a summer open house, we decided to head back to Atchison to check it out. The photo above is of the stairs leading up to Mary Carol's house from the sidewalk. Such a pretty front walkway, don't you think?
As you step out of her screen porch onto her back patio/garden area, these COOL pedestals held nuts and grapes for her guests. Such a pretty touch.
She had the courtyard set up with tables complete with adorable place settings. Wouldn't you love to share a meal with friends out in this courtyard?!
Off in the side-yard, she had a tent set up that you could shop from. She had two of these great bookshelves set up at the back of the tent to house some of the goodies she had for sale. I LOVED the contrast of seeing these beautiful old bookshelves right outside in the yard! (and who doesn't love bookshelves with a ladder!??) :)
Here's Mary Carol standing out on her front porch letting the next round of guests know what to look for in the house as well as out in the shopping tent.
Here I am with Mary Carol. She is SO nice and she's just a bundle of energy! I love seeing her in action in her stores because she's always on the go and she's always smiling!
After we left her home, we headed over to her Atchison store to do a little shopping. The following pictures are just a few that I took in her store. It's SUCH an amazing store with room after room, each decorated differently and filled to the gills with little (and big!) treasures just waiting to be given a new home.
Vintage look aprons and tea towels.
Nell Hill's even has it's own line of paint colors now, and the walls in both stores as well as the walls in Mary Carol's home are all painted with Nell Hill's paints. Love this great green apple color!
My big purchase of the day is this super cool, vintage looking, bird cage wall hanging! Is it totally cute, or WHAT?!! It's metal and looks a bit like it's worn and rusted and comes with a collection of worn-looking clothespins to use for hanging cards and notes on. As soon as I saw it, I fell in LOVE with it and knew it'd be so great in my studio!
Don't you love that little metal bird on top?!
Here it is hanging on the wall in the corner of my studio. It's got a few favorite cards hanging on it as well as some pictures of my sisters and I. You might also notice a new TV in the corner since the last time you saw photos of my studio. Bart mounted a TV to the wall in the corner of the studio to free up more space on top of my cabinets. He also hung my Eiffel Tower tin print and my Eiffel tower bulletin board, both gifts from Grace & Chris (sis & bil).
Totally love looking at this sweet, vintage-y bird cage. What a great day at Nell Hill's!!
Hope you're all having a great weekend! Some of my family are coming over in a bit (including Baby Ally & Baby Malachi!) so I'd better keep plugging away at my to-do list before they get here. I do have a distressed flower tutorial coming up today as well, so stay tuned for that!!
Smooches!
