Oh, my. I’m in love, too. :)

There used to be the neatest boutique in Granbury that sold similar styles, and another in Fredericksburg. Both gone now, unfortunately.

I’ll bet Lynn knows of places in NM!

Hey, let’s open a store for finds like this in D/FW. ;)

If I come across accounts online, I’ll share!

It's funny, but before I scrolled down to see the pics, I was envisioning something different than what you're calling rustic. To me, those ornately decorated pieces in 1, 2, 3 & 6 seem more like folk art type pieces, and the table and bench in #5 is what I think of as rustic - as in a bit rough and plain. They are handsome pieces.

I guess I must be out of the loop with current terminology 🙃

@Kaya I was lucky enough to be in Mesilla NM with my two cycling friends in 2010 as we rode our bicycles from

St Augustine FL to San Diego CA. We were walking through town after having set up our campsite . Mr Paul Taylor was standing in the doorway of his home. He is an amazing man and we enjoyed a couple hours with him seeing his home and listening to his incredible story telling. He is now 101!! You would love his home , he was going to give it to the Historical Society at some point. Everything in it is like your photos. He and his wife had traveled the world and collected so many beautiful things.His wife was very talented as well. Unfortunately she was deceased at the time of our visit. I returned to Mesilla in 2017 with my DH as we retraced my ride in the car. I stopped at his home next to the shop where a grandson worked and he said Mr Taylor was out. If you haven’t been it is a wonderful town. c

https://nmhistoricsites.org/taylor-mesilla

I am also in love Jen. Things used to be made so well. I love old homes with solid bones and feel the same about furniture! Those pieces have history and a patina from a long history. I think they are magical.

I knew some of you would know where I'm coming from with my love for these things. I'm not sure why it's taken me a lifetime to realize how much I'm drawn to this style, even though I'm not quite sure what to accurately call it. Carol makes a great point about these being folk art pieces. Yes, they have a hand-hewn quality and sort of an innocent character, if that makes any sense. At the same time, I think they manage to convey a sense of faded grandeur.

Jinx, I wish we still had such shops in this area. I really don't know of a single one. The antique malls - well, maybe there's some of this type stuff at Montgomery Street, but I haven't been there in so long. Maybe need to make another trip over that way.

Trail, that house is absolutely amazing! I'm sure I've been through Mesilla at some point, but never spent any time there. The site you linked makes me want to take a destination trip there. What a beautiful home with a fascinating history. And what treasures it's filled with! I've been thoroughly enjoying the narratives that tell about certain pieces in the collection. How wonderful!

Amy, yes - the patina is what makes these pieces so special. You can practically see the hands that have touched them throughout the years.

#1, 2 and 3 are much too ornate for me, they simply wouldn't fit in our home. I looooove #4. As some of you know, we lost our home to a fire in Aug of 2020 and besides losing our two cats the saddest losses were our antiques. Some of them were family pieces, others were bought and some were inherited from the friends of our parents and grandparents. The stories that those pieces could tell. I always pictured people using them and laughing and crying and just being with family and friends around them.

blfenton, I’m so sorry for your losses. 🥰

Me too, blfenton. It must have been devastating, and I know those words don't even begin to adequately convey the sadness of losing your pets and your treasures.

@blfenton thats really a terrible occurence. I am so sorry.

We were robbed when we were first married. The thieves took our stereo equipment and tv and unfortunately wrapped them in the only quilt I had from my maternal grandmother , it was made of pieces from all the dresses and nighties she had made me. I have never forgotten and there is a sadness still associated with the loss

. I hope that your hurt lessens with time. c

Oh, blfenton, I’m so sorry, too. I can’t imagine all that you’re missing these days. It makes 2020 so much worse for you, I’m sure.

Posting this separately from my prior post—that kind of loss is unimaginable.

Jen, IIRC your decor style, your love for these rustic antiques makes perfect sense. And I wanted to share a recent etsy purchase of pillow covers from vintage rugs. I’m obsessed.

ETA below is not how I have them arranged. I just grouped them together for a single photo. I have them throughout my LR. I was a bit late to the holiday decor this year and wanted pillows that didn't limit themselves to xmas only.

Oh I love your pillows. They're different from one another and yet flow and complement.

Thanks everyone. Not to dwell on it, but antiques can really bridge generations.

Trailrunner - I understand your sadness associated with the loss of the quilt that your grandmother made. It's those sorts of things that give a family a story and a history.

My mom collected a lot of antique pieces when she and my dad were first married and a number of them might be considered rustic. 1 of my faves is a unique old desk we've always called a railroad desk. It doesn't seem to have any kind of finish on the wood, which has a weathered grey look.

So I was searching images to see if I could find something similar and came across a word I hadn't thought of: primitive.

I don't have a house for this, but if I did....

This showed up in my local FB online garage sale a few days ago. They say it is 150 year old oak, asking $1,500. Sadly they will get nothing remotely near that price around here.

Needs a bit of spiffing but has so much character for the right house.

Feathers, I adore those pillow covers! I've purchased a couple similar to those from an Etsy selller, and just love them. I could really go down a rabbit hole perusing things made from old rugs, and of course old rugs themselves!

JT, that wall piece is incredible. It would definitely be something special in the right home!

Primitive is a word I hadn't really thought of, but I think it could apply. I tend to think of Primitive as something along the lines of colonial or shaker style, but it's a term that probably extends way beyond those definitions.

I've been perusing IG accounts this evening and have found a few that intrigue me. I think it's a relaxed blending of styles too -- sort of a playfulness that maybe stops just short of outright whimsy. But it's definitely not staid or overly formal.

Here are some of the definitions from my dictionary:

rustic |ˈrəstik|

adjective

1 of or relating to the countryside; rural.

• having a simplicity and charm that is considered typical of the countryside: bare plaster walls and a terra-cotta floor give a rustic feel.

• often derogatory lacking the sophistication of the city; backward and provincial: you are a rustic halfwit.

2 constructed or made in a plain and simple fashion, in particular:

• made of untrimmed branches or rough timber: a rustic oak bench.

• Architecture with rough-hewn or roughened surface or with deeply sunk joints: a rustic bridge.

ORIGIN

late Middle English (in the sense ‘rural’): from Latin rusticus, from rus ‘the country.’

Another interesting piece on my local FB market. Asking $150. This would look so cool revamped. Unfortunately I no longer have the energy or motivation to save such coolness. This one is a little past a rustic stage. I did show my husband though and could literally hear him thinking...ahhh, another project that will take her foreverrrrrrrrr.

JT, that's very interesting! I can't decide what style you'd call it, but it's definitely unique.

Oh, this is the home of the couple who own the Santa Fe shop that I mentioned above. I'm so in love with this!

Beautiful room!

Jinx, it is Asian, which I love. Asian influences were very popular in the past here in Florida. Mostly they were mixed with contemporary in the eighties but before that they were better quality and you saw them mixed with a variety.

Jen, their home is a nice mix and very pleasing. It's hard for me to look at that much stuff on shelf's though because it makes me smell dust lol.

"smell dust"--yes, me, too!

Regarding terminology, I think these folks would be the authority on this:

https://carverjunkcompany.com/blogs/carver-junk-company/primitive-rustic-antique-vintage-whats-the-difference

Here's a similar article that's a bit easier to read simply because of its web design:

https://www.thespruce.com/difference-between-primitive-rustic-and-country-350665#:~:text=And%20lastly%2C%20a%20primitive%20item,simple%20appearance%2C%20NOT%20intentional%20design.

Jen, can you share the IG account of the Santa Fe store? My sister is based in SF, and I'd like to look them up. Thank you!

Your 4th photo reminds me of my grandma’s dining room set from early last century. The set featured a rustic diamond motif, it fit perfectly in her 1919 Spanish Revival home. Always loved the ambiance of her home, she had a lot of American Indian and Asian art As well as beautiful vintage furniture. My grandmother was a educated as a librarian, later in life she became an art dealer, she had a great eye for beautiful pieces. My brother inherited the dining room set, it works well in his 1920’s home and I get to visit it.

Jen, you’d have fun browsing in this shop! Tiny two-story store on a side street not far from Harvard. And the owner is fun to chat with, too.

http://www.ecountryantiques.com

I just happened on this forum. I'm always at The Kitchen Table. I live in an 1840 ten-room farmhouse which is filled to the brim with the 19th-century antiques I collected at auctions for over 40 years. Every piece except for upholstered and appliances date from that period. . There are only a few "fancy " pieces like the cherry armoire and cherry inlaid table from grandmother's house. Most are utilitarian farmhouse stuff. I always went for pieces in their original paint. I love to watch HGTV and I know my style would be called cluttered by today's standards. I've heard the young generation doesn't like antiques and like mid-century modern. I never collected Victorian furniture nor glasses or dishes. My favorites to collect were quilts, hooked rugs, painted furniture, tramp art, twig furniture,stoneware, redware, splint and rye baskets, and just one-of-a-kind folk art pieces. Example...I have a three-story wooden farmhouse birdhouse in my living room and a large wooden gate with a yellow tin heart on my dining room wall. Call me eccentric.

I'm pretty sure you're describing Renaissance style furniture.

Oh Lily, can you do a topic with pictures of your house? No need to clean it. :)

Gothic is kind of similar to Renaissance.

Feathers, the shop in SF is House of Ancestors. (Great name!)

Sue, what a fun shop! They have some wonderful pieces, and I particularly like their English cabinetry. It's simple but has a lot of character. I've always liked that look, as well as the style of the Welsh dresser in a kitchen.

Lily, please share some photos! Your home sounds absolutely wonderful!

Hi Lily, good to see you! I'd love to see some photos of your home.

Jen — why don’t you and I open a store in D/FW?

Wait, I know the answer to that … we wouldn’t sell anything. We’d draw straws to see who took each newly acquired item home. 😄

We'd probably even have to arm wrestle for the really good stuff! (Off to work on my upper body strength now.) 😁

😂

I'll dig around to if there are pictures. I wish all you ladies who dig these kinds of antiques could just come to my house. I want half the stuff I accumulated over 45 years gone. It would make dusting so much easier and I'd be going for that more spare look which would accentuate the antiques I have.

For instance, I have a great old trestle table in the original green paint bought from a famous dealer but no one can see the good lines and patina because on it I have a stack of pantry boxes, a wooden carrier filled with antique books, a small jug light and a Nantucket green document box on ONE table so it's too cluttered and the table doesn't stand as it should. ...I was an addict but I haven't bought an antique in 10 years, not because I was cured but because I am out of room.

I love this kind of thing and I follow a few IG accounts. I have culled them recently, but I could never stop with my favorite @janefrenchhome which is all things french country/authentic patina.

Also, @frenchcountrypassion is very good.

I also follow @southernhomemag and @theproperpeacock (she has flash sales, always intriguing though I've never purchased anything) and, here's a good one, @antiquities warehouse (which has fabulous doors for sale) , @maisonartifact .

If you really like this type of thing, and you like the super-rustic, you can get the most amazing eye candy from Kelly Harmon, who you will recognize if you're my age, as Mark Harmon's sister, and former actress. I really wish her website had even MORE, but her style might be just the type of thing you'd like to look at. I do.

Here's a link: http://www.kellyharmondesigns.com/projects You can click on each one, and swoon.

We love antiques and they are all over our home. But, I prefer something not-so-ornate. I can't do the rooms with too much stuff sitting around either. My mom sure could though!!

ETA - Mrs. S, thank you for sharing Kelly Harmon. Her work is beautiful and not too ornate or cluttered. I'm going to check out your other sites,

Mrs S, I love Southernhomemag! Excited to check out the others you listed.

I remember Kelly Harmon. The pics are great.