Inspiration Board No. 96: Falling for Dahlias

31 October 2012

Dahlias are one of the most beautiful flowers available this time of year, in my opinion, and so when I saw the pretty arrangement in the middle left, below, I knew I had to craft an inspiration board around it. I’ve never been the biggest fan of Halloween, so this combination feels just right for today. I love how the golden orange, bright red, and blue stone hues came together, and doesn’t that pumpkin meringue confection look amazing?!

Credits:

Orange dahlia button boutonniere from Martha Stewart Weddings, amazing deep-dish pumpkin meringue pie from Martha Stewart Living via At Altitude, Pendleton blankets, dahlia and berry centerpiece by Honey of a Thousand Flowers (photo by Leo Patrone) via Once Wed, dried leaf escort cards photo by Ali Harper via Once Wed (concept by Joy Thigpen), canning jars photo by Young & Hungry from Food & Wine, wooden invitation photo by Jose Villa, pumpkins and gourds photo by Foret via Design*Sponge

P.S. Another fall inspiration board

Christmas trees in baskets

30 October 2012

I truly apologize for discussing anything Christmas-related before Thanksgiving, and especially before Halloween, but I do have a legit reason for the timing of this post. For a few years (as I mentioned here), I’ve wanted a basket to hold the base of our Christmas tree – I prefer the look to a skirt or a plain stand. Examples:

From top to bottom and left to right: Country Living, Country Living, Country Living, unknown, Yvestown Blog, Country Living, Country Living. Clearly Country Living feels the same way about Christmas trees in baskets that I do.

True story: Last year, I attempted to buy a peach-basket type thing off of the employees at Carolina Pottery. Granted, the baskets were not for sale (they were being used to display other things that were for sale), but don’t you think they should have sold one to me regardless??

Moving on. From my research over the last few days, I found three online companies — Wisteria, Pottery Barn, and Crate & Barrel — that have a basket similar to what I’m envisioning.

1. Large woven seagrass basket from Wisteria (22″ high, 23″ wide — $105) | 2. Extra-large round beachcomber basket from PB (23″ high, 21″ wide — $129, or $150 with S&H) | 3. Basay basket from C&B (23 1/4″ high, 20 3/4″ wide — $70 (only in stores)) | 4. Basket tree skirt from Terrain (10″ high, 24″ wide at base — $49.30 with Cup of Jo discounts through October 31) | 5. 8 gallon round galvanized wash tub (8 1/4″ high, 17 1/4″ wide at top, 14 5/8″ wide at bottom — $26.06) | 6. Galvanized round wash pan (5 1/4″ high, 17 3/8″ wide at top, 13 1/4″ wide at bottom — $19.96)

If you like the look of the galvanized tubs, I’d recommend trying to find a feed store in your town. I think that look is a little too rustic for me, and besides, I like the idea of being able to use the woven basket year round to hold other things besides a Christmas tree.

More great options for Christmas trees in baskets available this year!
Woven tree basket in natural or gray
Beachy woven tree basket
Woven basket (GREAT price!)
White rope tree collar (also great price!)
Rattan Christmas tree basket

Affiliate links are used in this post!

Hiking in Asheville

29 October 2012

In order to offset all of the eating we did in Asheville, we went on several hikes! Being outside together in beautiful places is one of my and John’s favorite things, and Asheville in the fall certainly fits the bill. This year our hikes were waterfall themed, and as such, they were even lovelier than usual!

The first was Catawba Falls in Old Fort, NC, just a few miles outside of Asheville. You can find more info on this hike here and here.

This trail is ripe for discovering hidden gems. The little guy above right wasn’t even technically part of Catawba Falls, I don’t think, but was the loveliest tucked-away pool and small cascade!

Lower Catawba Falls is above. For most hikers, this is the end of the road. The trail is pretty much flat or gently sloped to this point, so it would be great for kids!

Being the adventurous sorts we are, John and I decided to hike the remaining distance to Upper Catawba Falls. And by hike, I pretty much mean rock climb, sans gear. There’s even a rope at one point! We didn’t take pictures the rest of the way up because things got even more precarious.

Cue the chorus of angels — Upper Falls!

There were two other gals enjoying the view when we arrived, and we were surprised to see a group of six middle-aged people arrive while we were resting. (Because of how challenging the description of the latter part of the hike was, and how challenging our ascent was, we hadn’t expected to see many other hikers.) The late arrivals had entered the pool in a different way than we had, which made us curious, so once we were ready to go, we set off the way they had come. After only a short (and fairly easy) distance, we joined up with our original trail. Cue face palm. We had taken a wrong turn at this point on the way up, bypassing this moderately difficult trail in favor of a much more life-endangering trail (really not exaggerating). Needless to say, the rest of our descent was uneventful.

If you attempt the hike to Upper Catawba Falls, make sure you stay to the left at every chance you get, and make sure you can always see the Falls/gorge – we got out of eyesight range when we took our wrong turn. (The only exception to this might be in summer, when there are more leaves on the trees.)

Our second hike was Crabtree Falls, at milepost 339.5 of the Blue Ridge Parkway. It was less taxing and a bit more dramatic than Catawba Falls, though I didn’t think quite as lovely. The hike is also oriented so you’re moving downhill on the out and uphill on the back, which is not my preferred mode.

For our hard work, we were rewarded with a moody sunset over the Black Mountains as we drove back down the Parkway.

I hope you enjoyed our Asheville adventures! If anyone has been to Asheville or Western North Carolina and has a hike to recommend, we’re all ears!

Note: Hiking around waterfalls is inherently dangerous. I’m sure it goes without saying, but do NOT attempt to hike directly up a waterfall, and use caution at all times whenever you’re in the vicinity of one. Also, even though we made the hike to Upper Catawba Falls more difficult than necessary, even the “easier” route is quite challenging, and should only be attempted by experienced, fit hikers.

Antiquing in Asheville

26 October 2012

On our fifth visit to Asheville, John finally agreed to go hunting for vintage goodness with me. WAHOO! We compromised on one hour, and the clock started the minute we stepped foot into the Antique Tobacco Barn :) I had read about the Tobacco Barn on Trip Advisor, and from the reviews, I was prepared for an expansive space (77,000 square feet!), disheveled displays, and not bottom-of-the-barrel prices.

All of these things turned out to be largely true. The space WAS very large, and the displays were pretty jumbled. Usually this means great prices (like at a flea market), but unfortunately, the prices weren’t good enough to make me bite on this particular day, though there were several pieces that caught my eye. Granted, I’m pretty stingy, so some of you might very well have happily snagged some deals! Here are a few of the things that caught my eye:

The outside of the space (not really a barn) and some neat vintage-looking crown hooks – would be sweet for a little girl’s room!

A ginger gar vase has been on my running “flea market wish list” for awhile, but this one seemed a little steep at $28. I thought the giant metal stars would make neat Christmas decor!

Also on my flea market list: a natural container/basket to hold our Christmas tree. The one on the left was not quite the right size, and was a bit too much at $65. More on this search next week – I might have a lead. The colorful, oversize (about 12 inches tall) metal letters were awesome, but they were also $35 each.

I loved both of these wooden storage pieces! I thought they’d be perfect for a craft room, where there is no end to the little bits and pieces that need to be filed away. The one on the right was $295, and the one on the left was $175.

A pineapple lamp is also on my wish list, and the Tobacco Barn had quite the collection. A pair was $200, which seemed expensive to me, but maybe in retrospect isn’t so bad? I also loved the bittersweet wreaths, but we just don’t have a place to store one in our apartment in the off season – they’re a little wild and crazy.

One thing that frustrated me about the Tobacco Barn is that I would assume some of these prices were negotiable, but very few stalls seemed to have proprietors in the vicinity (unlike at a flea market), so I wasn’t sure how to go about bargaining. Boo!

Once we had left the Tobacco Barn empty-handed, we drove down the road just a minute or so to visit Oddfellows Antiques and its sister storefronts, all lined up on a loading dock just off the road (you can’t miss them). The Tobacco Barn reviewers had recommended this group as having more reasonable prices and better merchandising (an interesting combination). I found the merchandising to be true, but I’m not so sure about the prices. We moved pretty quickly through these shops, and the only thing that really caught my eye was the lovely 4×6 wool rug above right, priced at $235. The tag said it was hand-knotted in Afghanistan. I don’t think the price was too bad, but since we’re likely going to be making a major change in our living quarters in the next few months, I don’t want to buy any major pieces before we know what the new space looks like.

For those of you that have been to Asheville, any antiquing recommendations to pass along? Fellow flea market connoisseurs: what do you think of these prices?

P.S. Vintage shopping in Virginia