Carver Junk Company — Carver Junk

Our March sale is just over a day away, and we are still piling furniture and other goodies in the door! Take a peek at what will be in store for you this weekend {and remember, we re-stock and re-fill every day, so you won't be missing out no matter which day you stop out to shop}!

Our Minneapolis store, located in the lower level of 4049 Minnehaha Avenue, is open this weekend and full of awesome new {er, old} junk!  Hours are Friday - Sunday from 10 am to 6 pm each day. We bet you're wondering what kinds of junk are in-store....so we came prepared. Check out the sneak peek below! Minneapolis store hours, sales information, and available pieces can always be found on Facebook: Carver Junk Company Minneapolis.

We have too many couches {sofa, settees, upholstered furniture in general}. But I am addicted. I have the hardest time passing up amazing antique and vintage upholstered furniture, when I can see so much potential in the gorgeous lines of these old pieces. I've scooped up all the ones in perfect condition that fit my {our} price range, and we use them for vintage wedding, event, and photography rentals. It's a great way to satisfy my addiction, without ending up with a furniture-hoarding situation in our already-too-small house. Then I saw these gals {there are two of them - matching}. Their lines are perfect, their size is perfect, their fabric is far from perfect. But they were only $75 each! How was I going to justify this? I've never upholstered anything more difficult than a bench! [caption id="attachment_140" align="aligncenter" width="665"] The cushions aren't pictured here - trust me, even if this fabric looks ok in the photo, it's stinky and dirty.[/caption] Fate stepped in. I swear. A fellow SW Metro crafty-person on Facebook was looking for a space to hold some upholstery classes, and I had a space and some things to upholster. Surely a trade was in order, and lucky for me, she loved the idea too. So I bought two loveseats, and they sat in the garage for 2 months until I could find the time to meet with Lauren, and soak up some of her magic skills. We started our lesson {Part 1 of 3} this weekend. About 3 hours worth of time pulling staples, trying not to mangle the fabric as we deconstructed, some coffee cake and a few backaches later, she was down to bare bones. Well, she still needs some of her staples removed, but we'll get there. I'll take the next 2-3 weeks {an hour or two here and there} to finish removing staples, purchasing fabrics & supplies, and getting everything back into the workshop so Lauren and I can cover cutting our patterns, installing foam backing, and stapling on the back pieces in early April. [caption id="attachment_141" align="aligncenter" width="665"] The bottom was in good shape, after we pulled off the worn, dirty fabric hiding the springs. Lucky, because I hadn't really checked for the quality of the springs when I purchased these![/caption] [caption id="attachment_143" align="aligncenter" width="665"] We started by pulling the cording, fabric, and batting off the back side. It was sewn into three panels that spanned the whole back.[/caption]

This gal should be ready for the May or June sale in Carver, all reupholstered, repainted, and ready for a new home. Here are some inspiration photos from Pinterest {who am I kidding - we have a whole board for sofas - here}:

I still haven't settled on what color to paint the wood, and which fabric and cording to use - modern? neutral? bold? contrasting trim & fabric? so many options.... What would you do??

So you’re wondering how the heck we pull off finding & refinishing & making all those handmade items each month? We don’t do it alone, that’s for sure. We are so proud to have an amazing, incredible, talented team of people behind the Carver Junk Company brand. They each have a different style, personality, and strength that they bring to the team, and we want to let you get to know them all a little better! We’re writing up a series of Dealer Spotlights. The first few that we share will be focused on our “dealers”  -the folks that regularly and religiously fill space in our stores, re-stock new pieces as things sell, support our crazy ideas, expansions, and who have become our friends through the journey that has been CJC. We’ll also feature the artisans that bring in a few perfect pieces here and there, and that make all of those one-of-a-kind handmade-in-MN items for which we’ve become known. There are over 40 different individuals and businesses that come together behind the scenes to create Carver Junk Company. Let's meet Aimee. She was one of our very first dealers, taking on a large open space in our previous Carver store {the back half of the big back room, for those of you who visited us in our old home}. Aimee's got such a great style {she describes it well, below} and she's not only a fabulous hunter, picker, sign maker and furniture refinisher, she's an amazing decorator. She's got a great eye for staging, putting the right pieces together, and achieving "the look."

Tell us about yourself: I am a mom to two boys, 7 and 5.  I like gardening, traveling, spinning, and mostly hunting for vintage treasures! How did The Vintage Estate Start: I guess I have always been a scavenger at heart, before my husband and I were married, we would make weekly trips to the Banks store (a store like Petters) in Mankato to see what we could find.  We would bring home the best stuff and our families would just laugh!!  Fast forward a whole bunch of years after our kids weren't babies anymore, I had some more time to fill and I said to my husband one day, "Wouldn't it be fun to find all kinds of vintage stuff that people like to decorate with and sell it?"  Our first "pick" was in the grove of our family's farm that has been in my family for over a hundred years!!  I kept some of the old glass medicine bottles as I knew they were from my great grandparents!  I have been selling in occasional stores ever since and it is truly the perfect fit for me! Where do you find your inspiration?: I find lots of inspiration from the internet, like most people do, but I find most of my inspiration from Pottery Barn and Restoration Hardware and the way I feel when I am there... I walk into those stores and I want to move right in!!  It has become one of my passions to create that "look" without breaking the bank!

What is your favorite thing to collect?: Right now, it is anything to do with deer antlers.  My husband about fell over when I told him he could put a deer mount above the basement fireplace...under the condition that when I was sick of it, I could take it down!!  I definitely go through phases, so wait a few months and ask me that question again and the answer will probably be different!! Do you have a photo/story of a favorite piece you've ever done? My favorites are usually the things I am currently working on, I feel like I learn something after each piece I do and each piece is just a little better than the one before it.   Right now, I am LOVING collaborating with my dad making some restoration hardware inspired tables out of iron frames that he welds for me and reclaimed barn wood.   I also really enjoy making signs and have lots of favorites of those!

Find Aimee and The Vintage Estate on the Internets:

http://www.thevintageestate.com

http://www.facebook.com/thevintageestate

http://www.pinterest.com/acbuss/

So you're wondering how the heck we pull off finding & refinishing & making all those handmade items each month? We don't do it alone, that's for sure. We are so proud to have an amazing, incredible, talented team of people behind the Carver Junk Company brand. They each have a different style, personality, and strength that they bring to the team, and we want to let you get to know them all a little better! We're writing up a series of Dealer Spotlights. The first few that we share will be focused on our "dealers"  -the folks that regularly and religiously fill space in our stores, re-stock new pieces as things sell, support our crazy ideas, expansions, and who have become our friends through the journey that has been CJC. We'll also feature the artisans that bring in a few perfect pieces here and there, and that make all of those one-of-a-kind handmade-in-MN items for which we've become known. There are over 40 different individuals and businesses that come together behind the scenes to create Carver Junk Company.

Editor's note: I {Brandy} actually went to the person's house who was selling this cabinet, with the intent of purchasing it, saw the condition, and decided it was WAY too big of a project to undertake. Two days later, Kirsten sent me these two photos, and I almost died. Some swear words may have come out of my mouth - it's the SAME cabinet, and somehow she turned it into this?! Amazing.

Editor's note: This sold on Facebook within minutes. We thought there might be a riot.