Sorting. Packing. Shopping? uh oh.

Project HOMEWARD  - our new house - continues to move forward, 

with lots of visible progress on the job site and also with our packing.
oh, Lord, the PACKING. Mom's been in this house 36 YEARS. I feel like this photo most days.

I promised you that I'd show you the FIRST thing we purchased for the new house...
Be patient... there's a story there!

I am totally into vintage industrial style. LOOOOVE it.
One day about seven years ago, I got a huge vintage scale FREE on Craigslist.
please don't hate me. she nearly broke my arms carrying her, if that helps!
She lived in my little seasonal store for awhile, and then we moved her into my kitchen:

Four years ago, I left my dream home and my island, and came back to SoCal.

 I've admired industrial style decor from afar since then,
because it's just not something I can do while living in my parent's home.

Well......... that's changing!
Mom has been watching HGTV's Fixer*Upper with me. And it's rubbing off on her!

Like so many of you, we love JoJo's style. 
It's very much like my own, and Mom has seen how I decorate my houses over the years...
 but honestly, when it comes to making design choices for the new house, 

Mom is amazing me by broadening her views to include a more industrial, farmhouse style!
We won't have a house that looks like Joanna decorated it, 

but similar components - like the white cabs and wood flooring and stainless appliances

and vintage accessories that tell OUR story - will certainly be part of it.
Shiplap? Maybe ;)

so...
Back in January, we were at a flea market (Trading Post 1908 here in Southern California)
and as we perused the vendor booths, we saw a few scales for sale...
we found a scale that was actually exactly like the one on Joanna's kitchen counter.

But we kept walking. I wasn't 'feeling it' and Mom wasn't, either.
We knew we WANTED a scale for our {{huge}} new kitchen island,

but it had to be the right scale and look.

Then we headed toward the last booth at the show
and all of a sudden Mom started walking faster.
She was makin' a beeline toward something, and I just tried to keep up.

She went to the far back corner of the booth and stopped, and then I saw it...
and I gasped. Really. Because I knew it was perfect. And so did Mom.
It was sitting there holding a ceramic bowl of bright yellow lemons
and had us at hello:

We can just picture it in our kitchen, 

holding a stack of vintage cookbooks and a jar of cookie cutters, 

or a terra cotta pot of basil - or a bowl of lemons.

Honestly, it's a smaller twin of the one that I used to have!

And the BEST part? the story.
 That's what homewardFOUNDdecor - and project homeward - is all about:
Telling our own stories through the way we decorate and celebrate!

Like what you see in my photos?

Learn about those FREE shelves made from upcycled cabinets !
Make your own giant chalkboard using my tutorial!