We recently wrote about our trip to Charlotte, North Carolina when we explained how we DIYed a few faux sheepskin throws for our home. Now we’re back with more road-trip details. We visited a number of fabric and decor stores, gathered inspiration and snapped plenty of photos—so here’s a play-by-play of what caught our eye.
First stop: Mary Jo’s Cloth Store, which is without exaggeration the largest fabric store we’ve ever seen. It’s a colossal 32,000-square-foot warehouse packed with countless bolts of fabric—truly a textile lover’s dream—located just off I‑85 at exit 21 outside Charlotte. If they don’t have it, it’s hard to imagine where else you’d find it. Prices were excellent too: designer prints marked down to $10 a yard, compared with higher prices we’ve seen elsewhere. Here’s a photo of us wandering the seemingly endless rows with our friend Kristin, who showed us around town.
Seriously—there are bolts stacked so high they nearly reached my height. I felt like Alice in Wonderland tumbling down a very fashionable rabbit hole.
While we already mentioned buying faux fur for our faux sheepskin project, we also picked up a yard and a half of fabric for the nursery. There’s about a foot of space between the crib mattress and the drawer beneath it, and we thought a removable fabric band would nicely bridge that gap and hide the drawer’s contents. We took a leftover swatch of our curtain fabric with us and held it up to many options until we settled on a delicately patterned, nubby fabric.
We wanted something that wouldn’t compete with the curtains but would complement the crib sheet, so we also sampled a solid turquoise bolt to check the pairing. The slightly deeper turquoise paired beautifully with the lighter, subtly patterned teal we chose for the crib skirt. In the end we left with a yard and a half of the nubby fabric for about $14, plus a yard of faux fur. We’ll share a crib-skirt tutorial soon.
Next we stopped at a Pottery Barn Outlet just south of the North Carolina border in Gaffney. We’d actually visited the same outlet during a previous road trip, and we always enjoy scoping out their clearance finds. On this trip we walked away with a 5 x 8 wool rug in a tan-on-cream link pattern—originally $429, marked down to $129.99—which we’ll use in an upcoming room makeover.
We also loved several lighting options there: a rough-woven textured pendant and a soft ceramic patterned pendant that were both gorgeous but didn’t fit in our current plan. Their framing options were especially inspiring—many on sale—and we bought two large woven frames with a grasscloth-like texture. A clever idea we spotted was a frame-within-a-frame arrangement: a large burlap-backed frame filled with a grid of smaller frames. It’s an easy DIY that looks layered and intentional, perfect for small photos or keepsakes.
Back in Charlotte we visited the Sleepy Poet Antique Mall, another vast warehouse—this time full of antiques and collectibles. A few things stood out: a mustard ceramic artichoke that would make a stylish bookend, a large woven basket perfect for toy or blanket storage, and a set of nesting tables priced very reasonably. One booth was particularly Domino-esque, filled with chic lamps, chairs and accessories.
One of the standout shops was Lucy & Co, a boutique focused on children’s rooms and nurseries with thoughtful, sophisticated designs. Founder Beth, who was inspired after adopting her daughter Lucy, creates brilliant, handmade touches. One window treatment we loved was a simple wooden cornice she covered by hand with rows of white pom‑pom trim using a glue gun—an easy, dramatic trick. Another favorite was a yellow mobile resembling swarms of butterflies; we plan to adapt that idea for our nursery using thin floral wire and small blooms.
We were also taken with Beth’s twiggy chandelier made from branches wired around a fixture and spray painted white, and with her bold fabric pairings and mural work. She sometimes turns an expensive fabric idea into an approachable solution, like creating a long plush pillow to mimic the look of a folded duvet—an idea that’s as practical as it is kid-friendly.
We also stopped at a few baby stores, including Nesting and Shower Me With Love, where John delightfully posed with a few quirky items—trying on a “My Brest Friend” nursing pillow and holding a whimsical ceramic cat with binoculars at HomeGoods.
On the way home we checked out the Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams factory outlet near the Hickory Furniture Mart. Although we couldn’t buy and haul away large sofas that day, it was fun to browse deep discounts on sofas, sectionals, chairs and dressers—many sofas were under $900, and several pieces were only a few hundred dollars. A cozy sectional and a solid nine-drawer wooden dresser on clearance for $325 were among our favorites—timeless, well-made pieces that felt like great finds.
That wraps up our whirlwind long weekend in Charlotte. We hope you enjoyed the virtual tour and that it gives you a few places to add to your shopping list if you’re in the area. Have you visited any of these spots? Any local recommendations for our next trip? Any fans of the cat-with-binoculars sculpture? We’d love to hear your thoughts.
Psst—looking for our closet-organizing update from this weekend’s “Let’s Tackle It Together” challenge? We’re still uploading photos and writing the post; details will be up tomorrow afternoon.