Last weekend, I was invited up to Franklin, TN (a beautiful suburb of Nashville) for a luncheon with a group of talented folks who are going to be involved with Carbine and Associates charity project this fall. Called House for Hope, Carbine is building a beautiful modern farmhouse and tastemakers, bloggers, and designers are going to decorate the whole house. Â I’ve seen the work of Carbine in the past, when they built and I got to visit the HGTV Smart Home in Nashville a couple of years ago. Â It was one gorgeous home!
They took a group photo and you can see all the designers/bloggers involved if you click on that link above and read all about it.  In a nutshell, House for Hope is a charity project for Carbine and they are hoping to raise $100K for children’s charities in the area.  They’ve been doing this since 1993 and what a wonderful cause for this  group to take on.  The house will be open to the public in October of this year and you are all invited to tour if you’re in the area or want to drive and see it in person.
I was slightly intimidated when I looked around and heard all the introductions of these talented people, feeling a bit like “what in the world am I doing here?“, but I’ve had those feelings before and will jump in with both feet and tackle this adventure just like I do everything else in life. Â Dana and Nancy, the dynamic duo behind Forest Home Media, who will be doing all the PR for this project, invited me to be part of it and I’m happy they did. Â My space will be the mudroom. Â I purposely asked for a small space, since Nashville/Franklin is about 4 hours from home and I wanted to be sure I could handle this task. Â It will be so much fun to join these other designers and make this modern farmhouse beautiful.
We had lunch at the gorgeous 1800’s Homestead Manor house near Franklin and wow, was that a treat!
In the meantime, since I was in Nashville anyway, I took the opportunity to do some antiques browsing. Â Franklin, TN is such a great little town, with rolling hills and horse farms surrounding it. Â There are some fabulous antiques shops up there too and I’ve been in a few of them before, but found some new stores to browse this time around, so I’m sharing with all of you.
The historic Franklin Presbyterian Church is always a joy to see and it was looking so pretty.
The weather was beautiful, with blue sunny skies so that was nice too. Â First stop, the Factory, which I had just heard about, but didn’t really know what it was. I was looking for City Farmhouse, which I had been in before and they moved and my GPS took me here. Â When I went inside, I found them. Â Kim, the owner, is one of the folks who will be designing the Hope House too.
The Factory is truly an old factory, now converted to shops and restaurants, so if you get a chance, definitely visit this fun place. Â It reminds me of the renovated Ponce City Market here in Atlanta.
You can see and feel the history of the building just walking through and taking in the old brick and concrete floors.
You know you’re in Nashville when you see a store full of guitars.
Wide walkways have shops on either side.
An open space has seating and plenty of places to take a break and have a drink or snack. Â With soaring ceilings and industrial feel, it was a wonderful place to browse.
I found City Farmhouse and had a great time looking at all she has to offer.
Fun to see the displays and chippy rustic pieces for sale.
I really liked this bunny runner and maybe I should have bought it. Â So cute, but I really don’t have a table to use it on. Â It would look great on a long table.
Not sure what CR-71 means, but this shop was packed full of vintage goodies.
Upcycling and renovations are in the mainstream these days.
I smile when I see old church signs like this one. Â Reminds me of growing up, we had attendance signs in our small church.
Some very neat architectural salvage pieces in here.
Next, I passed by House of Belonging and thought, I know her from Instagram! Â That’s right, she’s in Franklin, TN and has an Etsy shop. Her name is Tiffani and I had never met her or didn’t know if she would know my blog or not, but I stopped by and introduced myself. Â She did know my blog and story and we shared a nice conversation about life and faith and getting to a better place. Â She seems like a sweet lady and I wish her the best. Â She has a shop in here and paints signs and has done very well with her business. Â I’m so happy for her!
Check out her Etsy shop for inspirational and faith-based signs.
On down the way, I spotted this 70’s looking get-up. Â Hello 70’s bell bottoms!
You’ve gotta love a space with a clingy crystal chandelier hanging in the middle.
This rocking chair reminded me of Edith Ann (tell me you remember her?), so of course I had to climb up there and take a picture.
In another corner of the Factory is a pretty large antiques space, with vendor booths and that was fun to browse too. Â There was a lot of beautiful antiques in there, some pricey English pieces that were a few thousand dollars, but it was nice to look at.
Now this is a rustic bench. Â Looks like you’d have to watch your heiny on this one to be sure you didn’t get splinters!
I love to see good brands of furniture and what happens to them when they are out of vogue. This beautiful dining set from Baker Furniture was a pretty good buy. Â Even though cherry traditional sets like this are not longer popular, they are still classic.
You can see from this sign the original price it sold for and what they are asking now. It looked to be in great shape too, so $2,950 for this a pretty good bargain.  I forgot to take a closeup of the tag for the chairs, but the armless chairs are selling for $650 each.
Blue and white and spring make a good mix!
Mossy bunnies always get my attention too.
Next stop, Scarlett Scales antiques, which I’ve visited before. Â Always a fun place!
More bunnies! Funny how these little guys come out this time of year.
More blue and white.
Some fantastic lighting.
A rustic chippy armoire in the corner.
I ran into a sweet blog reader in Scarlett Scales who recognized me and it was so nice to chat with her. Â If you ever see me out, please say hello, it makes my day! Â I love to hear from all of you out there who read my blog. Â She told me to check out Winchester Antiques mall too and she was right, it was another great place to browse.
That’s a day of browsing in Franklin, so hope you enjoyed tagging along with me! Â I still can’t buy much, so had to leave it there and enjoy looking.
I love all the pictures you share with your readers. It’s like we are actually experiencing your adventures with you. Thank you for sharing with us.
It was nice to see you last week at the meeting. I have to say you weren’t the only one feeling like “what am I doing here!” I’ve followed your blog for a long time so I know you’ll do an amazing job with the mud room. I look forward to seeing you again as the project gets started!
HI, Angie, thank you so much! I see we were standing by each other. I didn’t know that many people, so we will have to catch up again when I’m back up there for this project.
I really enjoy your Christian based blog, it makes my day. I’m sure if we were to meet, we would be great friends.
Oh Rhoda, this was so close to my heart. First of all Franklin Tenn is one of my favorite places ever. I have visited it maybe 15 times or so. Now my youngest is ending his sophomore year at Unniversity of Tennessee in Knoxville and we have made maybe 7 or 8 trips to Knoxville to see him so needless to say aside from my home Tennessee is my favorite state. But Franklin is truly picturesque. I love it. Now the times I have gone were before my son was college age and in all honesty my taste hadn’t evolved. I wasn’t excited about antiquing as I live for now. This post is truly inspiring. We are going to pick up my son first week of May in Knoxville and normally we stay a few days before in Blackberry Farm but they were booked for that week. So you have inspired me to stay in Franklin once again but this time see the factory. Omgosh I am giddy. We could stay two days in Franklin and then drive the 2 1/2 hours to Knoxville. Brilliant!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you Rhoda. I don’t know if my husband will thank you but I’ll thank you for him. LOL
Hi, Lee, your comments made me laugh. So glad you got inspired to stay there, Franklin is such a beautiful little town. Such a throwback to the good ole days. If ever there was a place that I could live, it would be Franklin, TN. So much to see and do and those rolling hills get me every time.
Rhoda, so excited about your involvement in the House for Hope. I love reading your blog, especially looking at Franklin (and the shopping) through your eyes. And YES!!! I remember and LOVE Edith Ann 🙂 🙂
Thank you, Dana, for inviting me to join! I’m honored to be part of the group and can’t wait to see it all unfold.
You looked so adorable (and stylish!) in Edith Ann’s chair! That was one of the best tours ever…all the fun of browsing without the sore feet and wallet!! I remember my brother having that Texaco tanker ship as a toy back in the 50s. What does it say when even your toys are antiques?!? Between your bathroom renovation and the mud room you are going to be one busy lady, but we will all eagerly be waiting the reveals.
Thank you, Roxanne! I think it will be a fun year with lots going on.
Wow Rhoda…Homestead Manor (my favorite place to eat & great Farmer’s Mkt w/chandeliers) is just about a mile from our “Carbine Built” home in Thompsons Station! We love it here. Thanks for reminding me to shop Franklin more. It’s strange that when we live somewhere we always think we have to travel a long way to find great shopping. Thanks for the tour!
You mentioned above that you weren’t sure what CR-71 meant; here in Texas, it means County Road 71. Maybe that’s it? Love these types of “malls”; always so many great ideas for both decorating AND clothing!
Carol, that might be right, good point!
C stands for Chris and R stands for Rick – they are the co-owners of the store. I don’t know about the 71, but it might be the year they were born?
Thanks, That’s interesting to know!
I suddenly need a day of browsing antique shops! Thanks for sharing.
Great tour! I do think you could have found space for a little moss bunny. That was really cute!:) The adorable runner gave me a great idea. I liked how it went from Autumn to Spring. Maybe next time!
Looks like an awesome town – doesn’t country singer, Tim McGraw live in Franklin?
Oh man, I could tell you other places to go for decor and antiques. Also there is a well-priced cute clothing and asseccory store downtown called Finnleys. I got the cutest fringed sweater there. The gals who work there are the sweetest. Up in Cool Springs (north Franklin and south Brentwood) is another reasonable clothing store, Lizard Thicket. Out at Arrington and now in Columbia, is the Faded Farmhouse (home decor, antiques, and some clothing and jewelry). They are on Instagram. There are a few great places in Spring Hill too. (South of Franklin). Vintage 615, another antique store in that area which I forgot the name of, a sweet consignment shop with the sweetest ladies working there, and further south is and old gymnasium (huge) FULL of cool antiques. And have you been to Leipers Fork? Oh. My. Word. So beautiful out there. Love my town and area! Rolling hills, horses, cows, sheep, buffalo. Beautiful sun rises and sunsets. I could go on and on.
Oh, and you’ve got to try a 5 daughters donut! Strawberry is my fav.
Also near Scarlet Scales is The Barn Door Co. It is just over the railroad tracks and unfortunately easy to miss. You have to check out PD’s too. Unfortunately it has no sigh and is fairly nondescript. Pinkerton Park is fun for a picnic.
Hey, Kristi, I did go to PD’s a couple years ago when I was there. Lots of great places, had limited time to see more!