Anniversary Month & 20 Favorites of our Second Year!

It's only been two years? It's already been two years? Is it possible to feel both of those things at once? Throughout this month, we'll be sharing anniversary-related updates, revealing the fun plans we have for the coming year, and giving away some free stuff! Be sure to follow the blog by subscribing on the right side of the page, to ensure you get all of the updates, and the opportunity to win fun stuff this month! First, let's do a year-in-review by taking a look at our 20 favorite furniture pieces from the last 12 months!  {aka, the 20 things we wish we had kept for ourselves!}   Here's why we love them each so much! 1. These reclaimed, live-edge, black walnut slab tables were made by Aaric of Rubbish Rebourne {more coming about them in our Dealer spotlight later this month.}  These tables were stunning, and the prices on them were less than you'd usually find on a single slab of black walnut alone! Swoon.... 2. This media stand by White Butterfly is one of our favorite repurpose projects of the year. It was sooooo popular on Facebook, we've been begging Kirsten to find another vanity to turn into a TV stand! 3. Hands down, the coolest desk we've ever seen. And we've seen a few {check out # 13 below}. This is an antique partner desk from a bank in North Dakota. Another White Butterfly find, this has the original leather on the top, and wrapped around the sides, as well as the original knobs on the drawers - which are on BOTH sides of this massive desk! We debated taking it home to use as a dining table, but at the time of posting this, it's still available at the store! 4. This classy, chicken-wire curio cabinet by The Vintage Estate. It's not often that you can use classy and chicken wire in the same item description, which is part of the reason we love this sooooooo much! 5. This cabinet is a favorite because we've never seen another quite like it. So functional with the legs Aimee added to the bottom, super cute, and really modern-looking for a vintage piece - our favorite combo! 6. We're not sure what this was originally used as, but it made a great bar cart. Before we started CJC, we had been on the hunt for a red metal cart to use as a bar in our previous home. If only we'd known Jen & Erica from Redefined Design in those days.... 7. We have a rule about not offering pre-sales on items we post specifically for upcoming sales. It helps to make sure the customers that drive a long way and line up at the door get all of the best finds when we open for the weekend. This piece from ReclaimedMpls made us question breaking that rule, and buying it ourselves. We didn't, and it went to a great home with a family that drove THREE HOURS to purchase it. We're still kicking ourselves... 8. Brandy is a horse lover, and the month this rocking horse sold, she told Allison she was taking it home if it survived the sale. Of course, it sold that day. It was hand-carved and had the original tail hair still in tact. Baby Delainey would have had the coolest rocking horse in the world... 9. We don't know what it is about this tall chest-on-chest dresser that makes it a fav. We've had other, similar pieces in the store nearly every month, but the craftsmanship on this one just stands out. Not to mention the painting! The drawers were in such perfect condition {even inside} that FabRehab just couldn't paint them - and if you follow us at all, you know we're suckers for that two-tone vibe {see also, #14}!   10.  County Tables started as our exclusive Farm House Table Builder in 2014, and we couldn't be happier! Our favorite set to-date? This pub table and stool set! We're halfway through the list. Take a minute to wipe up the drool before we move on. And remember, if you're in the market for something specific for your home, we do custom work. Email us at info@carverjunkcompany.com with some inspiration photos, and we can hunt down and finish a piece for you! 11. Gabe from Cotton Seed is another new face to CJC in our second year in business. Her quality is superb, and we love her attention to detail, because she brings us things like this antique lawyer's bookcase {barrister} that she painstakingly took apart, rebuilt the mechanisms for, painted in Milk Paint, and staged so brilliantly. 12. And then Gabe brought this in, and it was instantly one of Brandy's favorite pieces. She's been on an Apron Strings {Milk Paint color} kick since we found out we were having a baby girl, and this piece would have been perfect for their nursery! And, hello, two-tone plus birdseye maple? LOVE! 13. Remember that desk we mentioned above? It's this gorgeous beast from the Union Depot in St. Paul. Finished on all sides, with the original brass feet and a framed train schedule from 1940, we were glad this one stayed close and went to a home in Carver. We haven't visited it yet, but we might.... 14. In other two-tone news....this dresser inspired the first-ever CJC blog post {over on our old blog} and was in our bedroom for over a year. We only got rid of Chester when we decided to remodel, which meant ripping up our upstairs down to the joists, and since we didn't have a place to store him in the meantime, we sent him off to a new home. We still miss him. 15. Though not technically furniture, this huge lot of vintage sleds ranks right up there with our favorite finds of the past year!  We weren't sure we'd be able to sell them all in one winter, but they flew out the door in a single weekend! We're hunting for more for this winter... 16. Oh, the scoreboard. Chad is still crying. 17. This polka dot rocker might not be the most incredible piece of furniture you've ever seen, but it did spark a lot of conversation and a fun new game we play at the store. Chad hates polka dots. Brandy adores them. The agreement was, she could reupholster this chair in polka dots, but if it didn't sell, she had to re-do it for the next sale. Even THAT agreement took a lot of sweet talkin' on her part. And then it sold about 15 minutes after the doors opened! So we've agreed to disagree on some of the things we bring into the store, but now we take small side bets on those things to see how fast they'll sell {ie, how quickly we can prove the other person wrong...} Totally healthy relationship behavior, right? ;)   18. We didn't have a ceiling tall enough in our house. For real. This antique cabinet had the coolest wood front, metal-frame drawers of all sizes. It was from a bicycle shop in Chicago, and will forever be referred to as "The Bike Cabinet that Got Away." 19. FabRehab finds the best chairs. These yellow upholstered beauties are our favorites, and they look even better in their new home - thanks to their owner for sending over a photo so we could reminisce! {we love "where are they now?" photos - feel free to email them to us at info@carverjunkcompany.com, so we can add them to our FB photo album!} 20. And this. This is the one we ACTUALLY kept for ourselves. An antique counter, found at an estate sale in Minneapolis, that was originally in an elementary school in South Minneapolis. It's huge, and gorgeous, and the perfect storage/checkout counter for our current Carver building. We found it a week before we opened in the historic fire station, and it was clearly just meant to be...   Which one is your favorite? Let us know in the comments below. We'll be hosting a giveaway this week on the blog! Don't forget to sign up for email updates on the right side of the website. No spam, we pinky swear!