Carolyn Westbrook: Last Day at Carolyn Westbrook Home

Happy Summer!
Today is the last day, for those of you, who have not made it out to the Limited Engagement: Store Event in Dallas. It has been a great time, getting to meet many of you, sign some books, and sell some beautiful things that will find good homes to enhance. Today will be the last day, and we close the doors at 5p.m. so if you are looking for wholesale priced bedding, pillows, trying to create a room or just refresh one, then we hope to see you there. The store is located at

5211 Bonita
Dallas, Texas (Right off of Henderson)

I know it has been crazy hot this summer, but we are managing to stay cool with trips through the sprinkler, and if we stay in the shade, then it is actually nice, when we catch a breeze and the trees are rustling, and the locusts humming. We were outside the other evening, after the sun had gone down, and the kids were making smores, and it was really wonderful. Nightime is so different. The toads came out and were hopping across the back porch, thankfully chasing mesquitos. Victoria had candles glowing across the table, and a few bottles of Pelligrino, with lime and crushed ice, and mint. Delicious and so refreshing. I love things like this. The lightening bugs were out and we could here those bullfrogs croaking loud from both ponds.


When we opened our grand opening at the store, we had a wonderful handcrafted bird cage, which we still have for sale (by the way), and we decided to buy these beautiful Sterling doves. They are a pair, husband and wife, now named Nick and Nora, and we hated the thought of leaving them at the store over the weekend, so they now reside at the plantation. The day after I bring them home, my mom decides to put a little nest in there. The nest was not even real, it was one of my 'for sale' nest. Anyway, the two of them got in there, and to all of our surprise, the next day there was an egg. Nora laid an egg. UNBELIEVABLE.

The day after, there were two. I could not believe it. We were all so excited about the thought of seeing baby doves, right there in our home. So, it has been a week and she pushed one of the eggs out and it cracked, and nothing formed in it, so she obviously knew that it was not fertile. Nora is still sitting on the other, and we are watching everyday to see what happens.
t Here is a photo of one of our outbuildings, the Dr.'s office, as it was originally in the 1800's. This is where my studio is housed and inside is where we shot the "Where Women Create" book. I do love the porch, which is where we do our potting and re-potting. Right outside this on the lawn is where we had our smore party the other night.
I hope you all are having a wonderful summer and making lots of memories. Here's to not even having to leave the house to have fun. Just a box of graham crackers, a Hershey's chocolate bars, and marshamallows, will do the trick.

xoxo Carolyn

Carolyn Westbrook :LIfe at the Plantation

It is blackberry time! Yea!!! Nicholas has been busy plucking blackberries from the vine. It seems that Nick and my other son, from another mother, Brian found a plethora of blackberry vines over by the big tank, loaded with juicy, sweet blackberries. We promised him that we would make blackberry preserves, if he would bring us back a bucket, and he did. He put on the rubber boots and gloves, as you always have to worry about the snakes in the blackberries, hopped on the four-wheeler and a while later came back with these. We were able to get 16 jars of preserves and some of the best that I have tasted. Nicholas and his friends gather here most mornings for sausage gravy and biscuits. That is one thing that I do love, is to have a whole house full and we are the go-to house on the block. I even taught Nick how to make gravy and biscuits, in case we are not here. Now not many 14-year-old boys could make homeade biscuits and gravy...girls I am telling you, he will make a wonderful husband someday!
This morning, I woke up to the smell of hot buttered biscuits. Seems Nicholas rose at 6am to make a pan full of biscuits, for the wonderful jam that we made. I think he loves it more, because he picked them. So, I go downstairs and Nick and his friends CHris are sitting in the kitchen having biscuits and jelly...priceless!

So, trying to live up to our pinky swear promise by enjoying summer. I have to say this...on the way home on July 4th, we stopped and met some friends over by Cedar Creek lake. We went to this little hang out by the lake, walked in and were invited to take part in the food that was all caught or grown locally at the lake. There was fried catfish, fried green tomatoes, a fabulous pasta salad, sliced tomatoes, onions, a little chow-chow and the best garden peppers that I have ever eaten. Not hot, just the right pepper taste. I made off with some of those for the seeds, so that we could plant some next year. Joe and I were talking, that there is not many places that you could go and be invited for home cooking, by people that you have never met. So, we filled our plates, got ourselves a beverage and went out into the parking lot, overlooking the water, and were able to see about 25 different firework shows going off at the same time!
How's that for a fourth to remember!

Let me know how your keep enjoy summer pledge is going! Hope that it will be one to remember! xoxo Carolyn

Carolyn Westbrook: Store Opening

So, after all of the confusion about when our whirlwind store opening would be, we had our opening party yesterday and it was a wonderful time. I appreciate all of the support from friends and clients. Now, for those of you who have not made it out...it is at 5211 Bonita Dallas, TX.
Open Tuesday-Sat 10-5

A wonderful wreath by Rebecca Dejohn from Heaven and Earth. Come see her amazing creations at Wholesale Prices.

Food, Friends, and shopping!!! Does it get any better???

More gorgeous florals!!

Hope to see you all there! xo Carolyn

Carolyn Westbrook: CHANGE THE DATE

Dear Friends,

Please note that we have changed the date of the store opening from Thursday to Tuesday the 6th from 4-7pm.
There was an error in the Dallas Morning News coverage that stated Tuesday instead of Thursday, so since we are not able to have a
do-over on that, we decided to change the opening. Hope this will work for everyone and cannot wait to see you all there!

xoxo Carolyn

Carolyn Westbrook: On the Road again!

One minute we are in Canton, the next Colorado. It was a beautiful background and wonderful weather as we junked our way through Colorado. The scenery was beautiful and we saw some wonderful stuff along the way.
The biggest Bass Pro shop that I have ever seen, in Denver. It was amazing with stuffed bears, waterfalls and a fish pond with glass walls.
We even ran across some bagpipers along the way!


Nick got to do some fishing and it was actually chilly in the mountains. Quite a switch from Texas! Here at the base of the mountain, we saw river rafters braving the rapids. A good time was had by all! I did love the mountains, but was happy to get back to Texas, even though it is hot, hot, Hot!
Don't forget the Summer Roundtop Show this weekend at the Big Red Barn!
Hope to see you there!
xo Carolyn

Carolyn Westbrook: Summer Junk Trip!

I had to take this shot of the heaping pitcher of iced tea, so that y'all would all know that we really are keeping our pinky promise and making delicious summer drinks with yummy fresh mint, straight from the herb garden. The girls (our happy hens) are laying everyday and this morning it was all about the omlette. WE had omlettes at the hotel when we were in Colorado, so now the kids think that this is a wonderful idea. With all of the tomatoes coming in at the same time, we are making huge bowls of fresh salsa, which Nick can eat in one sitting. I think that he could be drinking it. After all, he is 14, and between him and his friends, that seem to congregate here every day for meal time, and those guys can eat. I love having them all around.
Here are some more shots of the famous Canton Texas Flea Market. Lots of stuff and love the stacks of cowboy hats!
Below is a shot out on the grounds and you can see lots of great garden things that I love. We went home with quite a nice haul. It is hot, but if you shop early, nothing can really keep me away from this.
Also, wanted to talk to all of my friends in the NYC area or if you want to come to the NYC area for a book signing. They are wanting to do a signing at the Rizzoli store in NYC, but need to hear from my friends to see who would be able to make it out for the signing. Thinking the 14th of October. If you would be interested in joining myself and Keith Scott Morton to get an autographed copy of the new book, Carolyn Westbrook: The French Inspired Home, then please let me hear from you. If we have enough response, then we will see you there!

xo Carolyn

Carolyn Westbrook: At Home and Gone Junkin!

I hope that everyone is keeping their pinky swear promise to enjoy the long, summer days. Yeah, I know it is hot, but hey if you stay in the shade and get a nice breeze or run through the sprinkler or just get sprayed by the water hose, we remember how great those summer days can be. I for one, have been taking full advantage of the iced tea, making heaping pitchers every day, laced with fresh mint and orange slices. I have so many things that I want to tell you and so many things to blog about, that I cannot get it all into one. Yes, yes, I know that it has been a while since I blogged, but I have hit the road lately and left the plantation to go out on some summer road trips, in search of great junk, and I have seen plenty.

First, I was off to Canton Texas and found piles and miles of great stuff.
There was fields of all kinds of great stuff to buy and I could not possibly get all of the pictures on here at once, so you will have to stay posted, as I do it a day at a time. This picture was quite an eclectic mix, but the pelican would be great sitting poolside and the stagecoach would be great for our annual haunted hayride!
The flowering plants were plentiful at Canton and thought this was an incredible shot of the pallets of beautiful snapdragons, moss rose, larkspurs and more. I bought an entire truck full of knock-out roses, moss rose and zinnias for our summer gardens. By the way, give me a shout out if you loved the gardens in the movie," It's Complicated." I absolutely fell in love with the gardens in that movie with the vegetables, the cabbages, tomatoe vines and flowers, were glorious. Nancy Meyers produced that and "Somethings Gotta Give" and she is a genius. I loved the beach house too and found myself watching both of these over and over, just to look at gardens and decor. How about y'all? Speaking of gardens...how about these vintage garden tools that I saw at Canton for $4 each??? I will post more great pics of our summer fun and road trips.
This weekend we will be road tripping down to Roundtop Texas for the Big Red Barn Summer Show that starts SATURDAY the 26th and Sunday the 27th. This is a great group of dealers...the best from Warrenton, Marburger and ROundtop, so if you are in need of the good stuff, and ready to hit the road for a summer getaway, then don't miss it!
We will be set up at the show and have our usual great mix of linens, garden, French and architectural pieces.
P.S. while your there, don't forget to visit the legendary Royers cafe, that is famous for their 40+ kinds of homeade pies with real homeade crust from cherry to tollhouse, you have to try it. Also, don't miss the Sunday lunch with homeade fried chicken dinners. Truly, the best fried chicken, other than my grandmother's recipe, that I have ever eaten.
Plus you get to enjoy the Texas Hill Country and it doesn't get any better than that!
Meet me back here tomorrow, for more of our summer junkin trip!
xo Carolyn