Giveaway winner and more holiday goodness

Marian's candy canes, silver, sheet music, and glitter.

Thank you to everyone who entered our gift card give away in celebration of our Holiday Open House, November 4-6th.  It was so nice to read all of the comments each day!

We have randomly selected a winner for the gift certificate, and the winner is Sharon from Maryland.  Congratulations!  Sharon noted that we'll be collecting donations for a local food pantry the weekend of our Holiday Open House.  See you next weekend, Sharon!

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A few more of our dealers are getting ready for the Holiday Open House next weekend at The Old Lucketts Store.  Today, I'm bragging about Jennifer and Marian.  Not that I can take any credit, but take a look at what they put together...

Marian's sheet music wreath and great ice skates.

Marian's beautiful grey and white color palette.

Marian's stocked full of goodies!

Don't Jennifer's ornaments look almost like beautiful jewelry?

A light dusting of snow on Jennifer's winter wonderland.

Paper houses, bottle brush trees and glitter ornaments from Jennifer.

Jennifer's ornaments remind me of Victorian greeting cards.

 Until next time!

Week long round up

A lot has been going on this week, here are a few of the highlights in cased you missed anything...

Lots of new items rolled Fresh Off the Wagon this week, including this very unique and ornate chair.

Marian (aka Miss Mustard Seed) received a ten pound box of glitter last week and has been glittering like mad, getting ready for our Holiday Open House next Friday, Saturday & Sunday (Nov. 4-6).

   

Jenny V. on the second floor is also in the holiday spirit and ready for the Holiday Open House.  Her Santa collection was in full force this week and she had a tree decorated with mini license plates, how imaginative!

If you're visiting our Holiday Open House (Nov. 4-6) please remember to bring a canned food donation to benefit our local food pantry, Loudoun Interfaith Relief.  We'll also accept checks made out to Loudoun Interfaith.  Any cash donations we receive will be converted to grocery store gift cards so those in need can purchase a turkey for Thanksgiving dinner.  Each donation will be rewarded with a chance to win a gift card to The Old Lucketts Store.  This is an important cause (a large number of their clients are children) and I want Heather's van so full of canned food that the bumpers hit the ground :)

Our gift card give away ends tonight at midnight.  So get your entries in. If you haven't left a comment on this post { click here }, please do, so you can enter our $25 gift card giveaway to the shop.  If you don't live near the shop, enter anyway.  Miss Mustard Seed has graciously offered to send a few of her coveted handmade ornaments to the lucky winner in lieu of the gift card if you're out of town.

We also gave you a sneak peek at some of the rooms in our Holiday Design House.  { Click here } to visit that post.

I posted the answer to What the... What? #7 today.  So come and see what this item really is used for.  I love this game!

Ugh.... I'm so tired.  Where is that bag of Halloween candy?  I need a little pick me up!

What the... What? (#7) Revealed!

On Monday, we posted one of our items for our seventh installment of "What the...What?"  

We had a few people that just missed the mark, and a few who were right on.  Guesses included a holder for canning jars, candle holders, cornbread molds, soap molds, ink well holders, and a dog food bowl!

A lot of our guesses were close and a lot of you got the "mold" part.  You'll be excited to know that these were old Mexican wooden sugar molds.  

Please click here to "Like" us on Facebook!

2011 Holiday Open House - reveal (part 1)

It's almost time! Here is a sneak peek of how Suzanne and Amy translated a few of the general themes we showed you earlier this month.  The Lucketts Store Design House Holiday Open House is November 4th through the 6th.

Please don't forget to bring a canned food donation to benefit Loudoun Interfaith Relief for a chance to enter a gift certificate to The Old Lucketts Store.  We'll also accept checks and monetary donations; monetary donations will be converted in to grocery store gift cards for Interfaith's food bank clients.

Now on to some pretty pictures...

******Don't forget to enter the give away on our blog which ends Saturday, October 29th. ******

You can find details here on our blog. We just need you to get in the holiday spirit and be ready for our Holiday Open House on November 4th through the 6th. Just leave a comment on our blog by following this link to enter to win. Good luck!

What the...What? (#7)

We have a special phrase around the store when we find things in our travels that are particularly unusual, odd, confusing, or sometimes hideous.  When we come across one of these items, we like to use one of our favorite Lucketts-isms, "What the... What?"  Here is one of those items from the store.

See if you can guess what this is and leave us a comment if you think you know!  We'll reveal the item's true identity and purpose later this week.  

Can you identify this item from The Old Lucketts Store and tell us what it was once used for?

What the... What?

Leave a comment if you know!


*********Don't forget to enter our give away which ends Saturday, October 29th. ********* 

You can find details here on our blog.  We just need you to get in the holiday spirit and be ready for our Holiday Open House on November 4th through the 6th.  Just leave a comment on our blog here and enter to win.  Good luck!

Gift Card Give Away

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ENTRIES!  THIS GIVEAWAY CLOSED ON OCTOBER 29TH 2011.  PLEASE FOLLOW OUR BLOG FOR ADDITIONAL NEWS AND FUTURE GIVEAWAYS.  HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL!

Cue the music... "It's the most wonderful time of the year..."

In celebration of our Holiday Open House on November 4th - 6th, The Old Lucketts Store is giving away a $25 gift certificate to the shop!  (For those readers not in the DC metro area, we'll mail you a cool gift instead). 

How to Enter: Visit one of our Holiday Open House related links { links below }.  Come back here and let us know one cool fact about the Holiday Open House and post it back on our blog as a comment to this post.

• Read our post about our food drive for Loudoun Interfaith. { click link here }
• Visit our YouTube video. { click link here }
• Check out our Open House pictures from prior years on our website. { click link here } 

To increase your chances, you can also enter the following ways (just be sure to post a comment back to this post each time letting us know what you did): 1) follow our blog by clicking on the link on the right of this page; 2) post the details of our Holiday Open House on your own Facebook page; 3) post the details of our Holiday Open House on your own blog; 4) follow @luckettstore on Twitter; or 5) follow us on our Facebook page.

We will select one comment at random to win a $25 gift certificate to our store in Leesburg, Virginia.  For out of town readers, we'll mail you a gift, so be sure to have a valid email address so we can reach you.

This giveaway ends Saturday, October 29th at midnight EST.  We will post the results on our blog and notify the winner by email on Monday, October 31st.

Come on, we know you want a gift certificate to the greatest store on earth!

Holiday Open House - Themes & Colors

I was able to grab Suzanne for a few minutes last week as she was getting ready for the Holiday Open House starting November 4th.  Lots of items have been sorted and the major room themes have been selected. There were some new pieces of furniture including comfy sectionals... perfect for a long winter's nap.

The polar icecaps are alive and well upstairs (a bunch of polar bears were hanging out on a couch) --- wait, maybe not so much if they're hanging out in a Virginia farmhouse.  Aside from the traditional red and green, expect to see mercury glass, a woodland Christmas themed room, and silver and glass accents.

Here are just a few inspiration pictures.  More to come this week!

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Also, please don't forget that we'll be collecting canned food and monetary donations to support Loudoun Interfaith this holiday season (to learn more about Interfaith, please read this post).  This is a wonderful local organization that really uses every cent for its programs and to feed the hungry.  If you'll be at our Holiday Open House November 4-6th, please drop off a canned food or monetary donation and enter to win a gift certificate to The Old Lucketts Store.  Let's have so many donations that Heather has to buy new shocks for her van after she drops everything off.  Thank you for your support!

Giving back during the holidays

The Old Lucketts Store and The Design House will be collecting canned goods and monetary donations November 4th through November 6th to help the less fortunate.

We have partnered with Loudoun Interfaith Relief Inc., a local non-profit and food pantry.  Last year, Loudoun Interfaith prepared more than 790,000 meals and served over 75,000 individuals. Nearly half of Interfaith's clients are children.

If you are stopping by during our Holiday Open House, please bring a few cans of food for Loudoun Interfaith (see the wish list below).  We will have collection boxes at the doors.  This is a great way to help others in need put food on the table for the holidays.  Thank you in advance for your donations!

Loudoun Interfaith's Wish List Includes:

~ canned fruits and vegetables
~ canned tuna or chicken
~ peanut butter and jelly
~ gravy and stuffing
~ baking items
~ cereal
~ 100% juice
~ grocery store gift cards

**Checks made out to Loudoun Interfaith Relief, Inc. will also be accepted.  All monetary donations we receive will be converted to grocery store gift cards.   Each donation made during the Holiday Open House weekend (November 4-6th) will get a ticket to enter our drawing for a gift certificate to The Old Lucketts Store.**

Holiday Open House video

Okay, so we tried our hand at creating our very first video slideshow to get you in the mood for the holidays. 

Here are some pictures from last year's Holiday Open House with some cheerful music.  We're still unpacking our sleighs (sounds better than tractor trailers of stuff, doesn't it?), so as we unpack and decorate, we'll be posting and sharing pictures from this year too.  We promise it will be magical!

You can watch the video below or please click here to go directly to YouTube to view it.  Enjoy!  The holidays are creeping up on us sooner than you think!

Glitter in the air...

Did you know that Heather brags that she was the first dealer each year for eight years in a row to sell the first holiday ornament at The Old Lucketts Store?  Well, her record hasn't been broken.  Last weekend, Heather  made it year nine with a great truckload of holiday items, and the first ornament sale of the season.

Gold glitter trees being watched over by a regal reindeer.

Vintage pottery and kissing balls in an antique walnut pie safe.

Handmade wooden reindeer ornaments made from antique encyclopedia images.

Glittered Santa ornaments.

In other news, we took our chances and created a short holiday YouTube video for you.  We'll debut that early this week to get you in the mood for the Holiday Open House (November 4-6).

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As we're getting ready for the winter holidays, we still have some great Halloween items.  On the first floor, Jennifer's space is decked out, and Suzanne has found great furry spiders and these fabulous witch hats, that our wildebeest couldn't resist.  (check out our groundhog mascot in her Halloween finery in the background - is she singing The Monster Mash?)

Have a great week!

Two holidays and lots of new items

Our crow's inspecting what's commonly called a peanut pumpkin.

The holidays have officially begun!  Yesterday we began the mass migration of Halloween items used to decorate The Design House over to The Old Lucketts Store....boy those pumpkins can get heavy.  We're pairing unusual pumpkins with some architectural salvage items and throwing in some mums and spooky spiders for good measure.

It's funny how the fall months creep up so quickly on us and we have to decorate the store a few months in advance so that customers have ample time to shop a particular season.  Although we're doing fall decorations now, exactly four weeks from today (November 4th), we'll be having our Holiday Open House.  There is so much prep involved, actually it takes months to accumulate vintage holiday items.  You can't wait until October to start looking for antique sleds or vintage ice skates to decorate; you need to grab 'em when you see 'em, which could be in April.  So really what I'm trying to say is that we get ready for the Holiday Open House all year round.

As we put away Halloween and get ready for the holidays, we'll post some pictures from our prep on this blog.  Our Holiday Open House is November 4th-6th and we promise to have lots of great things to keep you toasty and accessorize your home for the holidays.  One thing we've already done is gotten our website ready for the holidays.  For pictures from last year's Holiday Open House, please click here to visit our website.

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Lots of new items Fresh Off the Wagon this week, including...

(1) awesome kitchen island (MOMO)   (2) red iron door (JAN)   (3) spectacular antique shell / curiosities cabinet (AFS)

(1) great pair of pine doors with green metal work  (PJM)   (2) solid walnut pie safe with punched tin doors (HAR)   (3) pre-1920 concrete capital (RMB)

For more pictures of this week's Fresh Off the Wagon items, please click here to visit our website.

Lucketts finds living in Washington, DC

A few weeks ago, we posted a few stories here talking about where our finds end up when they leave the shop.  We had a really nice email from Melissa B., a civil rights attorney in Washington, DC who has featured a few of her Lucketts finds on her blog, Vintage Afterthoughts.


 

"I picked up this really cute curved bench seat / trunk at Lucketts.  (I asked mi amiga what she would call it, and she said "a cutey patootey."  Lots of help she is).   When I purchased it, the dealer told me that she had found it years ago, loved it, gave it a place in her home, and then had given it to her friend.  Her friend reupholstered the top, kept it at her home for a while, then sold it in her space at Lucketts.  Now, it is mine :)   Here is a small bird I picked up and used on my faux mantle."

Melissa used our numbered hooks to help identify doors in a confusing hallway.  She purchased a cool keychain and ceramic bird, and scored this feed sack lampshade for only $20!
 
You can find Melissa's original blog posts here, here, and here.  Thanks Melissa for sharing your story.

If you have an item purchased at The Old Lucketts Store or the Design House and would like to share how you used it, please email us and put "blog" in the subject line.

A BIG thank you

We would like to extend a HUGE THANK YOU to all of our customers who braved the rain and the cold and came out and supported our Design House event weekend September 30th - October 2nd and shopped at The Old Lucketts Store last weekend.

Redoing an entire house each month is a lot of work and takes a huge team that our customers usually never see.  Over the last few months, we've been trying to give you quick glimpse into what it takes on our blog, but most people only see the final product.

We've done this for a while now and know we can count on how great our customers are, but you still have those lingering thoughts in the back of your mind before the event....Will we ever get done on time?  Will everyone like what we've purchased for them?   Have we created a unique shopping experience?  Will people respond to how we've put things together?
 
Our customers were so supportive on Friday lining up to get in, and through the weekend's cold rain, we saw customer after customer step in with a smile on their face and with very kind words to share....and that is what makes it all worth it.

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In the midst of everything going on this past weekend, we finalized our plans for our next event - our Holiday Open House, November 4, 5 & 6 at The Old Lucketts Store and The Design House.  This is a customer favorite and a great way to get in to the holiday spirit.  We are already hunting around architectural salvage yards for our porch decor and we just posted pictures from our 2010 event online as a sneak peek.  Be sure to stay tuned and we'll update you as we prep for our next event.

Car in a bar?

Our truck is right at home now in a bar in Pittsburgh.

A few weeks ago, we posted a few stories here talking about where our finds end up when they leave the shop.  We had a really nice email from Jill B. in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania who bought one of our favorites, our GMC truck front end.   

"My husband and I bought the GMC truck front end at the August 2010 Design House weekend. My husband is a car dealer and our bar in the house has a car theme. We had been looking for something to go behind the bar for a long time. We stopped at Lucketts during the May show house purely by accident on our way to Dulles airport. He saw this and loved it. Luckily it was still around by the time we came down in August. He originally intended to hang it in the dealership (we sell GMC trucks) but then we realized it was the perfect piece to hang behind the bar."

Here was that same truck hanging on the side of our barn, where Jill found it.

Thank you Jill for sharing your story! 

If you have an item purchased at The Old Lucketts Store or the Design House and would like to share how you used it, please email us and put "blog" in the subject line.

Fall decoarting with pumpkins

Pumpkin & mums outside The Design House.

What item goes with any decor, comes in a bunch of gorgeous colors, shapes, and sizes,  and you can throw it out guilt-free if you tire of it?

Of course I'm talking about the fall staple - the pumpkin!  Suzanne & Amy love to use unusual pumpkins and gourds around the Design House and The Old Lucketts Store to add color and texture.  With the variety of colors, sizes, and shapes available, you really can find a pumpkin to fit with any style or decor.

Since our shop is located in Loudoun County, Virginia, we have a lot of local farms offering unusual varieties of pumpkins this year.  Check out the pictures below for some favorite varieties.

We encourage you to visit your farmer's markets this fall and pick up some of these beauties, and more importantly, DECORATE with them!

Row 1 (l-r): Jarradale, Orange Smoothie, Sweet Lightening, Galeuse D'eysines (Peanut), Captain Jack.  Row 2 (l-r):  Casper, World of Color, Flat White Boer.      Photos from Siegers Seed Company.

Martha Stewart (or more likely her staff) meticulously arranged these heirloom varieties.

Get Inspired!

We are pleased to announce that The Old Lucketts Store was featured in the premier issue of Inspired magazine!