Category — AnTIQUES WeeK & JuNK-O-RAMA PrOM

“come to london. kettle on for tea.” said the text that came into my phone at 4:46 am.

a dear friend had just touched down in London on a jet plane straight from LA. it was 4:46 am here in America, 10:46 am in London. this is one of the things i dearly love. texts. texts from friends in far-flung corners of the world…even in the hours before dawn. 

it is a simple little gift. a text. even at 4:46 am.

i happened to be awake.

{photo credit - http://www.flickr.com/photos/good_day/}

so as I drifted back to sleep, i envisioned her gracefully stepping off the plane in a pair of beat-up cowboy boots. fog heavy in the air. steam wafting up from iron grates on the tarmac. gently throwing an old cashmere sweater over her shoulders and brushing her dirty blonde hair back from her freshly Californian tanned face and smiling as she felt the feeling of home wash over her.

 and then i envisioned her getting in a big black taxi, the old-fashioned kind of course, and watching as all the sights of London passed by the window. her gentle grey eyes blinking back jet lag as she anxiously awaited settling into her wonderful English flat.

and then I envisioned the creamy white walls of her flat and the worn-out wood floors as her old cowboy boots shuffled across them , the twinkling of the tiny antique French chandeliers that i know must hang from the tall ceilings and the well-worn, soft pink slip cover that surely swallows up a big down-filled sofa. the hand-written quotes on tiny scraps of paper that peek out from old oil paintings, the photos of her children, and mementos from across the world.

i see all the details of a much-loved home.

all the details of a life well-lived.

all the fineries of a purposeful existence.

 i see the beautifully tattered little details that could only be the mark of one person. . . of one of my icons, of one of my dearest friends, of one of  the most selfless people I’ve ever been privileged enough to know . . .

meet Rachel.

Rachel Ashwell.

{RaCHEL...surrounded by peace and beauty}

my love affair with Shabby Chic and hence Rachel Ashwell began many years ago when I first began my journey into junkdom back in 1998. when i first began hopscotching across the country seeking out all that is tattered and worn and junky and funky. and i will never forget the first time i saw Rachel. it was on the cover of her second book, RACHEL ASHWELL’S SHABBY CHIC, TREASURE HUNTING & DECORATING GUIDE.

i saw this person sitting atop an old table in old jeans and older cowgirl boots and well . . . I fell in love! i snatched up the book and read it from cover to cover! i wagged it around from fleamarket to fleamarket as if it were a bible, alongside wrinkled road maps and scribbled-in journals. it was as if Rachel herself was my co-pilot.

a few years later, JuNK GypSY was no longer a dashboard dream of mine, it had become reality. and on my bookshelf sat every book Rachel Ashwell had ever written. still years later, she was an icon to me.

{RaCHEL in the early days...the thrill of the hunt}

 and then one day, in Warrenton, Texas while selling all things junky at the fleamarket  in walked none other than Rachel Ashwell herself. as she said, in her deliciously decadent British accent, “would this happen to be Junk Gypsy?” i looked up from my job of folding t-shirts, as if in slow motion, and said “yes, it is.”

“hello, I am Rachel Ashwell, my friend Mary Emmerling said I should look you up. Would you happen to have dinner plans?”

so that night us three Junk Gypsies, 3 little junk dealers from Texas, dined with junk royalty, with the QuEEN of all things shabby, the world famous, Rachel Ashwell.

{accessorizing before RaCHEL's first JuNK-O-RaMA prom}

then our tremendous friendship ensued. years of texting about anything and everything, phone calls about business, about life, about love, about love lost. about children. about parents. about deaths. everything else falling away except the friendship between two women who set out in search of wonderful junk . . . and ended up finding wonderful lives

{a dinner party at RaCHEL's MaLibu home...heavenly}

and we learned her back story. dropping out of high school. leaving London as a teenager. coming to America. getting married. Having two children. getting divorced. and with a small loan, and two babies, starting something that was a dream, Shabby Chic. building it to a multi-million dollar empire out of nothing but sheer determination, brilliant creativity, and a good heart. a golden heart.

{we love this pic...it's just soooo....rachel. we snagged it off her blog...which you MUsT READ!}

in her exact words, “I never had any formal training in anything, life has been my school.” and for that, all of us can be thankful. Shabby Chic is neither manipulated nor planned, it is organic. it is real. it is built out of Rachel’s ongoing love for the prettiness of imperfection.

Maybe that’s why she loves us, she believes in the “prettiness of imperfection.” :)

and in spite of being copied over and over again, the real thing, Rachel Ashwell’s Shabby Chic Couture, continues to survive. and thrive.

you can shop her  Rachel Ashwell Shabby Chic Couture stores  in Santa Monica, SoHo, or London. or you can shop for Simply Shabby Chic at Target.

her 6^th book, Rachel Ashwell Shabby Chic Interiors: my rooms, treasures, and trinkets, tells the story of a huge transformation in Rachel’s personal and professional life over the past two years. it was written at a crossroads in her life. purchase one HERE (they will also be available in our tent at warrenton)

and now,we three junk dealers from Texas are honored to host her FIRST TEXAS BOOK SIGNING at our JuNK GypSY tent in Warrenton, Texas at the Zapp Hall Show. Come join us 11-3pm on September 30, 2010 for a wonderful question and answer TeXAS sit-down with our favorite London cowgirl, Rachel Ashwell.

{her new book...Rachel Ashwell ShABBY CHIC Interiors}

 Godspeed Shabby Chic.

XOXO, the junk gypsies (sisters in all things shabby, tattered, and torn)

ps – the most recent text I received from Rachel “need good home for my grand white sofa from Malibu house. handing it down to the Junk Gypsies. if you want it. hope you don’t mind – Pamela Anderson, Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, and myself have all slept on it.”

will someone please pinch me?

LaWDY, LaWDY…it’s been sooo long! as y’all may have guessed, our ‘out in the middle of nowhere’ internet connection left me the day after the last post, never to return. soooo here we are, [a hundred years later it seems] back home…sorting through all the good timin’ memories of yet another show. 

there’s so much to tell…from the AiRSTREaM REveAL & MirANDA’s ReACTion, from TeNT set-up to FleaMARkeT FINDs,

from JUnK-O-RaMA prom to tons o’ good times… 

{SuNSET at the RoADSiDE BArS & PinK GuiTARS AiRSTREAM reveal}

 her first reactions… 

{amie moving aside the FLeaMARkET velvet rope....MirANDA's first glimpse}

 and of course…the FiNALLY finished product… 

{interior shot the night of the reveal...sooo many more details to tell you about!}

 MiRaNDA lovin on the ‘JUsT liKE a gypSY GuiTAR with WinGS’ sconce….(more on this later, we promise!) 

{AmiE & me with RaN seeing her 'JuST LiKE A gypSY' sconce for the first time}

awww…. group hug… 

{sharin' the love with a group hug}

 to all of our GreAT FLeAMArKET MeMORIeS… 

{the somewhat completed tent set-up}

{SyRIAN chandelier above the counter...with our super-sized CaT canVAS in the background}

{yep, that would be our sweet AmY ALLeN...on a mechanical bull...beside a teepee...just your everyday, ordinary kinda scene}

 and of course, no WaRRENTON antiques week is complete without pics in the WonDERiFFIC JG ouTHOUSE turned photobooth! 

{strikin a pose the day after prom}

 and speaking of JUnK-O-RaMA prom….

{night falls on the FLEaMARkET as the JOhN EvANS band gets the party started}(thanks to anthologieimages.com for the pic)

We’ve got a long ways to go and a short time to get there but here’s a little peek at what’s been going on the past few days… (and by the way, out here in the cow pasture, our internet connection is about the speed of molasses soooo i’ll probably keep this post short & sweet) 

we’ve shopped… 

{amie found this 1951-ish vintage diner-style jukebox-a GREAT find!!}

{we are soooo lovin this cAt CaNVAS!}

{one of my faves...how great would this look in the kitchen?!}

didn’t buy these but i just couldn’t resist taken a few pics…

{old DoLL factory molds}

{we've said it once, we'll say it again...there ain't nuthin you can't find at the fleamarket!}

 we’ve caught up with GreAT friends…

{JoE PeTE...our favorite & ELuSIVE INtERNATIONaL MaN of MySTERY}

and always a priority in our book…EaTING!

{JaniE ordering at LEGAL TenDER}

seriously, their homemade pimento cheese sandwiches are ThA BeST!!! 327 different kinds of cheeses on homemadE BrEAD (and have i mentioned how much i loooooove bread??!!!!)! deeee-licious!!!!

{behind the counter at the LeGAL TeNDER saloon}

and of course…our daily couple o’ stops at the CoFFEE bUG!

{simpLy the best cup o' JoE on EarTH}

and here’s what the tent looks like as of yesterday….

{yep...a long ways to go and a short time to get there...}

at the end of every day, we’re just happy to be here…and finding great junk that makes us smile is just icing on the cake!

**for more play by play action…y’all be sure to check out our twitter page…uploading pics alllll day long!**

so here we are … down in WaRREnTON, teXAS … where the antiques are endless, the country air is deliriously intoxicating, and the junKers are all just happy to be here.

every spring and fall, after the trailers are loaded and hitched, the truckbeds are strapped down piled high with good junk, and our umpteen bags are packed…it’s the best feeling in the world to hit the road and head towards WaRRENTON…the homeland, the MoTHerLOAD of all things junky.

DaY 1…and so it begins

{puLL on yer work gloves, girls! it's time to bring on the juNK!}

by Friday afternoon (with a little luck and a lotta hard work), this empty tent will become our cow pasture store…stay tuned for the final producT…or better yet, load up and hit the road! 

we’ve been a little wrapped up in the AiRSTREAM project this year so exactly HOW we’re gonna pull this one off is still a bit of a mystery to me!

We started the day with BuNNY resCUE 911…AmiE happened upon a burrow of baby bunnies smack dab in a high traffic danger zone for the week. So we did a quick little rescue with the help of our neighbor junkers, found a good home, and saved the day! happy EaSTER!

{MiSSIoN: BuNNy rescue...no bunnies were harmed during the taking of this photo}

a little shopping…

{oLd car name plates at Mylissa's}

out on the grounds….

pull up a chair and stay awhile….more to come!

For those that have been to JuNK GypSY JunK-O-RaMA prom, you know all the magically crazy, wonderfully beautiful, and sublimely ethereal stories you hear are true…and for those that haven’t, here’s a little history on how it all got started…a little ProM 101. 

ThE LEgEND & LoRE of Junk Gypsy Junk-o-Rama Prom…the beginning…  

{JuNK-O-RAMA ProM} (thanks to KeeLY MaRIE ScoTT for the image)

What started as a simple ode to the forgotten prom dress magically took a life of its own one night at the fleamarket.

{AmIE, MoM, & me in the OuTHOUSE a few years back}

JunK-o-RaMA Prom has become a cultural crossroads of sights and sounds and people. ANd, we firmly believe, the happiest place on EaRTH for one breath-taking evening in Texas. Under the big ol’ southern stars you will find a celebration for all ages and all walks of life, an evening where everybody is somebody!

{ELviS LivES! (and lives...and lives...and lives....and lives!)} (thanks to antholgieimages.com for the pic!)

During the antiques show several years ago, we noticed the forgotten glory and beauty of a pile of vintage prom dresses aNd decided to pay tribute by hosting our own little JuNK-O-RaMA Prom a few nights later. We scavenged the grounds, scooped up vintage dresses throughout the week and all played dress-up under the stars that one night.

{FiRST JuNK-O-RamA ProM - sprinG 2004}

There were a handful of customers and several junkers (aka – vendors) ..we drank sangria, took silly pictures, practically danced holes in our boots, had lots of laughs and were completely oblivious to the fact that JuNK-O-RaMA PRom would soon become a legendary twice yearly event.

{dancing under the twinkle LiGHTS and the teXAS staRS}

It is now much larger than a ‘handful of folks’…nowadays you probably couldn’t stir ‘em with a stick!

{AmiE, JoHN EvaNS & me at prOM}

It’s a magical evening..complete with a makeshift stage for the band, made out of our latest, greatest fleamarket finds, a million and one twinkling ChriSTmas lights, and glittery chandeliers hanging out of the trees near our tent in this Texas cow pasture.

{PrOM nite for the young and the young @ heart!} (thanks to anthologieimages.com for the pic)

 AnD of course, everyone’s favorite – the old outhouse turned photobooth!

{chandeliers, vintage fabrics, architectural pieces & a disco ball adorn our FaNCY SchMANCY PhoTO booth!}

YeP, it’s the original OUTHouSE from ZaPP HaLL grounds…and bein LoVERs of all junk, we just had to put it to good use. soooo, now it famously (and infamously) stands as our OFFiCIAL photobooth! It has been retrofitted with posh, tattered velvet cushions, old oil paintings and its own little chandelier making it the most happening outhouse on the planet!

{the early years...mingling outside the outHouSE}(photo courtesy of CounTRY LIvING magazine)

So this evening that culminated out of not much more than a pile of dusty old prom dresses and our desire to just have fun, has become something that we are just happy to be a part of! There’S been rumors of star-studded guests (MiranDA LamBERT, WiLLIE!, RachEL AShWELL), it’s been featured by CounTRY LiVING magazine, the ToDAY ShoW , and by UT film students working on a documentary & we just feel really darn LuCKY to be a part of something that makes us all so happy !

 So for as long as we can . . . we are gonna be dancin’ in our cowboy boots underneath the starS at JuNk-o-RAmA Prom!

JuNK-O-RaMA PRoM…THurSDAY, ApRIL 1st…TwiLiGHT at the GypSY tenT!

ANTIQUeS WEEK: MArCH 27-ApRiL 3

MoRE good stuff coming! AntIQUES WEEK! a soul vacation!