Living Simply - A junker, her couch, bed and (finally) a can opener!

I am a junker. Living simply has never quite been my motto. I drive a pick-up truck because I know good junk can be found everywhere and I want to be prepared. We junkers never think one of anything is enough – a box of 100? Now that’s more like it!

Unexpected career opportunities have allowed me to experience simple living. And I am here to tell you that YES, even a junker can embrace a “less is more” lifestyle!

I moved into the charming duplex, I now call home in Minnesota, and purchased just the basics – a couch, a bed and a kitchen table. Slowly, I am adding the accessories that make my home uniquely mine.



Addicted to white bedding, I dressed my bed in crisp white linens and added a couple of the Nancy Polacek pillows featured at Bachman’s. Aren't they darling? The pillows are a perfect compliment to my freshly painted walls – “Wheeling Neutral” by Benjamin Moore.



I also have my favorite American Legion wine glasses along with recycled soda bottle glasses purchased at Bachman’s. Until just recently, I could serve my guests a glass of wine, but forget about cooking dinner! I didn't even have a can opener! Thanks to my friend Patty I am now equipped to open cans! Oh my, I have no excuses...'cept no pots and pans in the cupboards yet. Looks like it will be take-out for a while.




The curious painting above is a gift from my friend Jane – I have had my eye on it for sometime in her shop, Mustard Moon – or maybe he has had his eye on me! I am trying to find just the perfect place to hang him where he won't creep my guests out.



My hand-me down-television - well, let’s just say for now, this is working. I am definitely on the hunt for just the right cabinet! Maybe need to shop the local used restaurant supply store.

This week I am busy finishing up the last projects which will be featured in Bachman's Idea House. Be sure to visit their website to purchase your tickets.

Cheers!
Ki

Get Your Junk at Bachman's!

If there is one thing I have learned in life is that change is inevitable, often unpredictable and wonderfully exciting all at the same time!

Remember my plans to spend the winter in Florida settling into the bunk house on my parent’s horse farm? Well, my “stuff” is in Florida but I have spent the better part of the last six months in Minnesota working on an exciting new project for Bachman’s – a family owned Minnesota floral, gift and garden center retailer.

I was approached by Bachman's in the fall of 2009 and asked to help the 125 year-old retailer implement a new and different retail strategy, incorporating vintage wares, artisan exclusives, and remade “junk” into the gift and home décor spaces of six of the Bachman’s locations.

So just when I thought I could kick-back and enjoy the winter months in sunny Florida, I was back in Minnesota, calling on talented artisan friends and junkers to help me create and find fabulous products for the Bachman’s stores. A big thanks to Cammie Metheny and Jane Hall for their support and good junk! Larry Pfarr and I managed to travel to seven states hunting for the best (and most) treasures we could find. Not an easy task in the middle of winter. It has been an adventure!



The concept made its debut a couple weeks ago at the Bachman’s Minneapolis store on Lyndale Avenue. We grouped the products into five lifestyle departments, Modern Country, City/Loft, Cottage, Euro and Kids. You can find items ranging from vintage tractor seats, soy candles, locker baskets, old cupboards, Nancy Polacek pillows created especially for Bachman’s, Lisa Souers jewelry, exclusive paintings by Sue Wolfe and Suzanne Theisfield, candle trays made from recycled wood by Tom Howland, silverware plant markers by Brenda Weber, spectacular hand crafted tables of recycled wood and architectual tin from West End Salvage, and much more. Our goal for each department is 50% vintage products mixed with 50% new, with the exception of the kids department where vintage works best as decorating items.

Professionally, this project is the perfect fit for my unusual skill set, I have been working day and night and I love it! My creative juices are definitely working overtime. However, with all the work and traveling I have been doing, I had been feeling a little, well, unsettled personally, that is until I moved into a charming duplex and bought a bed and couch. I sort of feel like I am 18 again, embracing the simplicity of it all while having a ball! (I can't buy canned goods since I don't own a can opener.)

Along with the Lyndale store, Bachman's remarkable visual and buying teams just finished filling the retail spaces at both Bachman’s Plymouth and Eden Prairie stores (3 more stores scheduled for the end of summer.) I should be taking a breather you say? Not for a couple more weeks as on April 8th we will open the Bachman's Idea House located on the Lyndale Bachman's campus that incorporates all our fabulous vintage and vintage-inspired products and showcases real ideas for the decorating your home.

Who was it that said “Life is what happens when you are making other plans.”?

Cheers,
Ki