Dear Santa...

It's that time of year again!!! Ok, maybe not quite yet - but almost! And, I will now officially start talking about all our just great gifts we have for the Holiday season since Halloween is officially over. I cringe at the site of Christmas decorations up in stores prior to Halloween but now that I am officially in retail (pop-up retail, that is!) I can understand it! So, with that being said - wow! do we have some wonderful items in both locations. Anything from smaller hostess gifts to gifts to yourself (ie a new lovely piece to sit and relax on after a hards day of work - even better if it was a custom upholstered Glider by Four Seasons!). Now, me personally - I have a problem buying for others and not getting a little something for myself while at it. That whole mantra "its better to give than to receive" is just phooey to me! People just say that so someone else will feel that joy of giving - by giving them a gift! It's way better to receive...which is why we are offering Wish Lists at both locations!

Yay!!! I can hear the collective cheers and gasps right now! As well as the husbands resigned sighs. So, lets make the gift giving easy this year (and maybe it will be better to give!) and come into either the Tampa or Fredericksburg location and write up your Holiday Wish List! We'll have it all nice and organized so your loved ones will just need to come in (or call/email/text/carrier pigeon) and pay for it. And, did you know - we take credit cards now?? That is our gift to you! Its the gift that keeps giving...in the form of rewards points....

Happy Shopping!

Game Table

I had mentioned the game table in the earlier post so I thought I would photograph what it looks like when the wooden top is taken off. May need to host a poker night here soon to showcase how versatile it is! :)

Showing a little Tampa love...

I've been so focused on the pop up venture that I have shown little to zero attention to the HQ...Sorry Tampa! There are some great new arrivals that I have not highlighted at all. So, here's a photo collage of what's come in as of late as well as some other pieces we've moved around and re-grouped. Enjoy!

I'll kick off the pictures with these metal angels. This picture does not do them justice. They are AMAZING! We've waited almost a year for these gems and let me just say - they were so worth the wait! These will be gorgeous in someone's home for the Holiday season.

These nightstands are phenomenal. They are stunning and could be used as more than just a nightstand due to their size. We have two of them in the showroom.

Another great piece we got in is this console table which is from the same company as the nightstands.

The console has a glass top along with a hidden drawer.

We are so thrilled to have our Four Seasons collection complete. If you are looking for an upholstered piece of furniture let us know! We have three glider chairs (in two styles) and one of their sofas. These may be some of the most comfortable chairs and sofas you have ever sat in! They've also got so many different fabrics and colors to choose from so you can pretty much find anything you are looking for!

Love this black and silver combo of the lacquered chairs with the silver and black table.

We've got so many fabulous lamps and tables in right now!

Another new arrival. This mosaic like table is so pretty - would be an excellent addition to a beach home or beach inspired home!

Pat spent this past weekend in High Point, NC at Market getting even more goodies which I will share as they start arriving!

Welcome to my home....er - I mean, store...

Hi! Remember me? I promised I would be better about blogging - well, I am still working on that...among some other things. Have you heard?? Our pop-up is officially in business! I am so happy to say our doors are open - so, please - join me on a "tour" of our new place!

Come on in and take a look around...

We are blown away at how perfect all our items went into each room. This truly was meant to be!

Our "dining room" off the living room was a perfect place to showcase both our fabulous game table (shown with top on) and....

...gorgeous daybed. You know - just in case you get a little tired after playing a rousing game of Poker (or in my case, Hearts).

If that game is a real doozie we've got a KING sized bed to rest on. But please remove our pretty white Matelasse bedding first!

Speaking of resting...

so hard to find good help around here. Always lounging on the job...She acts like she owns the company or something....

Back to the tour...

Can you believe that this transformation took place so fast? It's truly amazing!

We even have an entire room dedicated to our smaller gift items and accessories!

These scarves have become such a hit with the weather cooling off!

Recognize the dresser? It made the trip too! Currently housing our scarf and tunic inventory not displayed.

Hope you liked the photo tour of our new pop up store! And, if you're new to the blog we hope you will "like" us on HERE too!

Another Chair Rehab

These two chairs have been a labor of love! I picked these up this summer and took my time on them wanting to make them perfect. It took a lot of sanding, priming, painting, drying and repeat a few times. We had them re-upholstered with a fabulous fabric I found that I thought would be the perfect fit. Needless to say, they came out looking EXACTLY how I had hoped they would. They are going to be a great addition to any room!

Before - blah.

Cheap trim removed and sanded all the original paint off.

Remember the "drying rack"?

All complete! (Sorry - not the best picture for the 'After' shot!) What you can't see is that the chair also has the back upholstered too - so the chair as a personality from both front and back views!

I've found a new chair that is my next daunting labor of love project that I am slowly starting. And, by slowly starting I mean pulling off the original fabric which was hideous. Which I then realized I forgot to take a 'before' picture! Agh! I kept the fabric so you can use your imagination to what it looked like. Can't promise that it will be complete any time soon due to this other "small project" we've got going at the moment! :)

Its almost time...

Sorry for the lapse in updating! Its been a busy couple weeks! So much has happened and we are so amazed to see this come together. We first found our temporary home which was love at first sight!

Welcome to Just Great Things (Fredericksburg)!

The home is adorable - its on William Street which is one of the main roads here and leads right into their historic Downtown which is just about two blocks away. We have a lease through the end of the year and are just itching to get it open to the public!

Last Friday we received one of our big shipments and covered up the windows so we could start preparing for the Big Reveal.

As of 5 am this morning our packed up U-Haul truck is on its way up here with the furniture, art work and rugs. Gerry is graciously driving it up which I am sure he is just LOVING.

It also appears we may now have a Pankow road trip tradition we would like to rid ourselves of. This is the second U-Haul that was loaded up ready to take off. The first one was returned after a LEAK was discovered thanks to the torrential rainstorm that took place the day before leaving. What is it with rain and car leaks the day before take-offs for us??? Ugh.

Just Great ROAD TRIP!!!

I'M OFF....well, just not yet, but, in the morning...so, I'M almost OFF! Car is serviced, packed up, (soon to be) gassed up and ready! It is stuffed to the brim with the smaller items I can carry up with the monster truck coming up in a few weeks with the larger merchandise. I'm kicking off this great big adventure tomorrow morning at 6 am and making a little road trip out of it. First things first I have a JUST GREAT 1st BIRTHDAY party to attend in Nashville! We are celebrating sweet George's birthday this Saturday and I am overjoyed to be able to attend his party! His original party was supposed to be a few weeks ago but had to be cancelled due to a bug. His party was rescheduled for this weekend right at the same time that we came up with this idea of the pop-up. LOVE how things work out like that! So, now I get to spend time with all my little lovies (and their parents!) and I am a content girl! I'll be back on the road heading to Fredericksburg on Monday. Once I am up there and get settled in (as much as a girl can while staying with a gracious sister and brother in law who have two crazy labs and two adorable tots) I will get back to updating the blog with my progress. In the meantime, please keep me in your thoughts and prayers these next few days as I am cruising the highway. I've enjoyed hearing back that I have some faithful followers to this blog which makes my day! I look forward to getting some more as I pop-up in a new city!!

Need Art? Will Travel....

Meet my front seat passenger - my closet.

After note:

I wrote this blog before learning I had a lovely *little* (we hope) leak in my car. The 2 inches of water on my passenger side floor courtesy of the torrential rains this afternoon brought this "water feature" to my attention. As I type we have a fan blowing on my car floor drying up water. I am hoping there is no additional rain in my forecast for the next few days until I am able to get my car back into a service center. While I like to sleep with my rain setting on my sleep machine I don't think I would enjoy driving 800+ miles with an actual rain setting in my car!!

Some New Arrivals

Popping on a few shots of the merchandise that came in recently...excuse the poor quality of the pictures - they were all snapped on my iphone. All these items are available in both Tampa and Fredericksburg...oh, that is so fun to say!!! :)

The Flower Pins that are so fun pinned to shirts, pashminas, scarves...

...or even pillows!

Speaking of Pillows...Our linen and flower pillows are so adorable!! We also have some solid olive green and burnt orange ones that I could not get to photograph right.

But someone whose does photograph like a natural would be...

I am sure she is going to LOVE being featured as a model on the JGT blog...but, (cue runway model announcer) here is Pat wearing a lovely lightweight cardigan wrap in Mocha and one of our gorgeous multi - strand pearl necklaces. Delightful Pat, Absolutely Delightful!!

If only we had an actual runway.

Miss Tulip wanted to get in on the modeling by posing with the fringed scarf and cardigan wrap.

Additional colors of the fringed scarves (sorry for the plastic wrap still on them!! Just wanted to show all the colors available)

Below are the remaining colors of the fringed scarf that we have in Tampa.

The Ame & Lulu bags - perfect for weekend getaways packed up with our wraps and scarves!

And lastly, we are loving these red flower napkin rings. Would make a great table setting for both Thanksgiving and Christmas! Or buy a pack or two as gifts!!

There is really so much more but I am pretty sure I lost most of my audience when the runway announcer was cue'ed so I'll post more pictures at a later date!

just great pop-ups!

Just Great Things by Pat Pankow Interiors is on the move – literally! Inspired by the pop-up restaurants concept we’ve decided to take this show on the road. Kathryn is packing up a selection of our just great items and taking them up to Fredericksburg, Virginia where she is opening a pop-up Just Great Things showroom. She has been hard at work picking out a few of her favorite things to showcase to all her soon-to-be new JGT fans! She’ll be driving up at the end of this month with her car packed up with smaller items and the larger merchandise will arrive mid-October. Keeping with true pop-up fashion we will only keep the showroom open in Fredericksburg for a limited time period. More details will be announced as we get closer to the launch date so make sure to become a fan of Pat Pankow Interiors** on Facebook or check the Pat Pankow Interiors blog for updates!

**If we meet our goal of 300 fans by the end of October we plan to draw a fan name at random who will win a FREE 8” x 10” original oil painting of their choice**

Farmhouse Chic???

I love the look of distressed furniture. I love all styles and variations of it. So much so that I wanted to attempt it. I am pleasantly pleased with my first completed project but know that I have quite a bit of learning ahead of me. I am looking forward to learning more as I go so I can perfect my new hobby!

Before (not the best picture but it works for this purpose)

The top of the dresser had a large and deep scratch going across the top so it needed quite a bit of sanding and wood filler. After repeated sanding I was ready to prime it. I painted a few layers of primer with light sanding in between each layer. (Can you see why this lovely piece took me so long?)

Drawers out and primed

After priming I had a lovely time scratching up and denting al my hard work. I used a flat paint instead of high gloss like I have used for the other pieces I have done so far. Between each coat of paint I sanded just like with the primer although this time I used a coarse sheet of paper as opposed to the fine grit. Applied a couple coats of Poly along with a little bit of gold sheen to give it some shine and it was done!

Once the body was complete I painted the legs chocolate brown and reattached them.

Last thing to do was put the pulls back on! Its now on display in our front room of the showroom and it looks so pretty all pulled together with lamps and art!