Saturday, September 24, 2011

Idea House -- Exterior Inspirations






If and when you are ever 
lucky enough to get to Minneapolis,
(love it there),
you need to check online 
and see if you are there 
during one of the 
four seasonal openings of the 
Idea House at Bachmann's --  
  a floral, gift and garden center.





Bachmann's has several locations 
in the twin cities area,
but at the main location 
the original family farmhouse still sits
on the original farm property in Minneapolis
and it becomes the "Idea House" four times a year.


Local designers transform the home
each season and they sell tickets 
 so you can go through 
and see their clever decorating ideas.
inside and out.

What's even better, 
is that they sell nearly all of the items 
they use to decorate 
inside their huge retail store 
(which is located in the same parking lot!)
Is that convenient, or what?



Orange spreader becomes a mobile planter!

An old chicken coop cubbie decked out for fall.

Mummy taking a rest by the potting shed.

Stuff some color into your outdoor fireplace. wontcha?


It is such an inspirational place
and you may have seen other bloggers
raving about it. Lucky for me, it opens
for the fall showing on the same weekend
as the Junk Bonanza so we have been able to
visit it for the last two years. 

Here are some photos I took 
of the yard, garage and potting shed.






I am TOTALLY copying THIS idea!!!!

Backyard view.






The interior of the potting shed was set up for a ghoulish party!

A rubber glove mold gets a little tied up!




In the corners of the shed there were trees and spider webs.

The potting shelves were filled with clever witchy ingredients labeled in jars.



Inside the garage bay they set up a cowboy round-up fall party table.

The table's centerpiece was a dead tree hanging with Ball jar candleholders.

They took some "Redneck Wine Glasses" and wrapped hay around the bases.






Cowboy style drink buffet.




Will show you the interior shots 
on another post soon.


Hope you have enjoyed
 Bachmann's Idea House
Garden Tour!








BONUS!!!!!


Here are a couple 
of my FAVORITE shots of the yard
from last year's 
fall Idea House too.


Don't throw out your old sofa..... strip it down and plant it!



Garden potting shed wreaths

Fall bowling alley idea!

26 comments:

Rosemary@villabarnes said...

Lots of fun ideas. I love that deconstructed sofa planter, and the outdoor fireplace. Thanks for the inspiration.

Marianne said...

What great inspiration. I'm just loving the mummy and goolish ghosts and goblins. Thanks for sharing this great place!
Marianne :)

Robin@DecoratingTennisGirl said...

Wow, Alison, inspiration everywhere! I love the ghoulish party! I LOVE Minneapolis. Dan and I went there about 3 yrs ago and did the whole Mary Tyler Moore Show tour. I hunted up all the addresses of the outdoor shots they used for the show and some of the scenes from the opening and closing credits and we visited everyone, including the Victorian house they used for the outside shots of her apartment. I am such a big fan of the show, it was a real treat for me.
I will take some pics of the addition tomorrow and post.
xoxo,
Me

Karena said...

Alison, so many great ideas for Autumn Decor!! I loved your last images, the sofa, the fireplace! Wonderful. Excited to see the interior!

xoxo
Karena
Art by Karena

Ann Summerville said...

Lovely pictures
Ann

Yvonne @ StoneGable said...

Allison, The ideas in this post are brilliant and creative! So many fun things to copy.... er.... borrow!
Wonderful post, I love the converted chicken coop!
Yvonne

Pinky at Designs by Pinky said...

I just saw some adorable ideas! LOVE the hoses turned wreaths and the bowling alley!!!! Thanks so much for sharing this! Wish I could have gone too! XO, Pinky

Debra@CommonGround said...

This looks like so much fun!!

Sweet Cottage Dreams said...

Inspiration is right! LOVE those Redneck Wine Glasses - a shop in town has some like that, too. Great fun here, Allison! Thanks for taking us along with you!

xxoo
Becky

FABBY'S LIVING said...

What great ideas for fall following, I need some ideas and this are great sweet Alyson. I love the mummy, love the discontracted planter too. The outdoor fire place, sooo awesome! Thanks for sharing this fascinating place! Have a fun Sunday. Hugs, FABBY

The Tablescaper said...

So many truly amazing ideas. Do come and link your fabulous post to Seasonal Sundays.

- The Tablescaper

debra @ 5th and state said...

first time here and what a fun post. many ideas went into my inspiration files
thrilled to have found you!
debra

PAINTORDIG.blogspot.com said...

Thanks for the tour. Great ideas!I love all of the Halloween ideas!

Connie in Hartwood said...

Whoever thought up the idea to hang jack-o-lanterns in macrame plant hangers is a total GENIUS!!!

Lara said...

Looks like an inspiring place for fall! I never thanked you for adding my site to your IL blog people :-) so thank you! Very kind of you! Happy Sunday!!!!

Kelly said...

I just loved this post! I'm a sucker for home and garden tours. there were so many great ideas shown. I love how they used the spaghnum moss everywhere. I also loved that windowbox overflowing with fall bounty. I can't wait to see the interior now!

Richard Cottrell said...

What a fun place to celebrate fall. I would love to follow you around as you seem to find the most unusual fun things on your adventures. Richard from My Old Historic House.

Ann from On Sutton Place said...

Loved this Alison. Cracking up at the mummy. The hose wreaths are really adorable...and how easy. Also enjoy the leaf tags on the canisters...I think I might just have to copy that one!

Rebecca said...

Several "do-able" ideas! Thanks for capturing them and passing them on!

Andrea said...

Love all these ideas. The garden hose wreaths are really cool!

Sarah said...

This post is full of ideas! I think my favorites are the garden shed wreaths. Too cute! ~ Sarah

Debi said...

Thanks for all those beautiful pictures. What inspiration for the fall season. It must be just a wonderful place to visit.

Janet said...

I love those wreaths made out of hoses...how clever is that?

Alejamuel Sultz said...

We've been very interested in designing our exterior ever since we moved in, we even planned for it beforehand. We just got our exterior painted white in preparation for all the new furniture and decors we have in mind. The Halloween decors look like a great idea, especially the mummy in the potting shed. :D

Kat Wylie said...

Hey just found this post and think several things are great! our church has Harvest night coming up on Oct 31. Our Sunday School class needs a game for the kids so I thought the bowling alley would be great. I don't know what the rules would be tho. Any suggestions? Thanks, Katrina Wylie

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