Summer Is Here and Our Dream Shop News

It is the first day of summer...you know what that means...windows open, fresh cut flowers everywhere and laundry on the clothes line. As beautiful as summer is it is also busy and hot and as a result I like our farmhouse to be clean and simple.

I didn't buy much for myself this year at the Springfield Extravaganza but what I did buy are some of my favorite finds yet. These two heavily crazed ironstone pitchers are among them.

And I have the most exciting shop news! We officially have a new location in the works! It is the old general store that I told you guys about in the last post. It took many miracles, my sisters tenacity, hours on the phone getting information and my family's steadfast belief in me but it is officially ours to make into all we ever dreamed of. To be honest I am still in shock and haven't quite accepted that this is actually our shop! I mean look at this!

The building is in Linesville, PA and was built in the early 1900's as a general store and is absolutely everything I ever dreamed of. It even sits on the most beautiful piece of rural property, something we had decided was equally important as the building itself when looking for our new shop location. We want to be able to host outdoor antique markets as well as have a place for the kids to play outside while they are with us at work. It has been many things since being a general store, one of them being an auction house, but amazingly enough other than the store shelving and counter not much of the original charm has been stripped of the building. Literally every inch is covered with either shiplap or beadboard, there is not a single piece of drywall in this building...that is heaven for me. The icing on the cake are the Amish horse and buggies that go past.

I can't even begin to describe the feeling I get when I drive up to this building...how lucky are we to be able to restore this historical building but then also eventually work in it everyday?! I always hoped I would be able to restore another property other than just our farmhouse. Unfortunately it will be a while until we can actually open. Since this building was sitting vacant and was not a retail space we have a TON of work to do to make it ADA Compliant and to UCC Code. Just some of things on the list are making a handicap accessible bathroom, putting in a parking lot, painting the whole building, and maybe having to install indoor sprinkler systems. I am currently in the process of painting the inside of the building and the front of the store seen above. Stay tuned to see which green I picked!

I just wanted to say thank you again to all of you that went out of your way to email me or come up to me at the Springfield Extravaganza to express your condolences on the loss of our other shop location. The support and encouragement I received from family and all of you really helped me through a rough time. Many people have commented on my Instagram that this new shop is way better than the other location and that things happen for a reason.  I think people should maybe rethink those phrases when talking to someone facing loss. Loss is painful regardless what follows or what caused it. This shop clearly is better (although it carries way more risk than just cheaply renting a place) and I thought it would be years before I was actually even looking for my dream shop location let alone working in it so believe me I see the silver lining. I feel so lucky and blessed and am truly thankful for this opportunity. There are definitely more devastating things in life, and I have faced many... that being said, the reason the first shop loss was so devastating for me was not because of the way it looked or its location but because I felt a pure and innocent  (and maybe naive) absolute joy over the fact that I was finally going to have a shop. I am beyond excited about this new shop but my happiness is a reserved one as I just can't get that uninhibited joy back. As I try to put that all behind me I am looking forward to this amazing journey that is beginning. I can't wait to share more of this historical building with you guys!


I promise to try to blog our progress much as possible, I can't wait to share more of this historical building with you guys and share my ideas for it with you! Oh the things we can do!

I will let you know more about opening dates soon!

Viburnum Snowballs, Springfield Recap and Shop Updates

I am so sorry it has been so long since my last post but you guys know how busy Spring is for us! Between getting ready for the Springfield Show , getting everything moved out of what was to be our shop and all of the yard work that needs to be done this time of year we haven't had a spare moment lately. I have so many things I want to share with you and just never enough time!

Our yard is alive with spring blooms and my viburnum is bigger than ever this year and covered with snowballs. I love these flowers so much that I can't help but put them literally everywhere.

I also wanted to share our new sign that I hung on our front porch. I have a running search on ebay for antique signs and when I saw this one show up in my email I knew it was just perfect for the front porch. I love the way it looks with the black writing on white and what it says makes me giggle when I see it.

Decorating the inside of the house is so easy this time of year...a giant jar or vase of flowers and you are all set.

I also wanted to share with you guys some pictures of our booth at the Springfield, Ohio Antique Extravaganza. I was so busy this time I hardly got any pictures with my camera but if you visit my Instagram Stories you can see many images of our booth.

As usual we had the most wonderful time and it was our most successful show to date! I absolutely love getting to meet all of you that come to say hi and shop and catching up with all of you that come every year! Sooo many of you went out of your way to give me your condolences about the shop and also your encouragement in finding a new one, that means more to me than you could ever know.

As far as finding a new shop location, it is not as easy as one would think. We can't find anything that fits our needs that is already deemed retail.  PA Labor and Industry laws are very strict regarding retail shops and as I mentioned in my last post we have found a building that we are trying to make work. It is an early 1900's general store and it goes without saying it is my absolute dream shop. It is only 30 minutes from our house and I never even knew it existed until we started searching for old buildings that could be commercial. Just as I expected we are being faced with one obstacle after another and I have to be realistic about the fact that it just may not end up working out. That being said I just honestly can't believe this building that is everything I ever dreamed of is sitting there empty and that it is not meant to be ours.

It is a hard thing to explain but I was always very careful of letting myself think too much on the whole shop thing until I knew it was something I actually tangibly had because I knew it would be so painful to let myself mentally plan it all and have nowhere to put those plans. Well after thinking I had one I did let myself start to imagine exactly how I wanted it all to look and now there is no going back. Raising my children has always been my number one priority and I put a lot of my dreams/goals on the back burner so that I could do it properly but lately I have been feeling it is time for me to start working towards some of my own personal career goals. Also, Millie will be starting pre-school in the fall so the timing seemed right. I had finally decided to take that leap and then it was all taken away from me so now I am left feeling sad and lost in a way I have never felt before. I am sure some people wonder why this is all such a big deal to me but it is my passion and I love bringing beauty to people with my images, ideas and hopefully some day soon housewares from my own shop. I truly feel like it is what I am meant to do.
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I bought lots of goodies at the Springfield Extravaganza and have been listing them in my etsy shop over the past week. I came home with tons of ironstone, there is always so much of it there and no ones seems to be buying it, fine by me. My friend Kristine (@farmhousegreen) and I spend every spare seconding running around looking for it! I still have a lot more to list and will hopefully get to it all next week before we leave for our annual schools out camping trip.

Thank you all so much for your continued support and for listening to me vent...hopefully greener pastures are just around the corner.