Today's photo is an old one, a sentimental one. This picture is of our beautiful store in North Carolina. It's a huge space - about 6,000 square feet - and we love it. However, it's in North Carolina, and we're in Ohio, and we've finally realized it's truly time to let it go. We've been half-heartedly talking about it being for sale for most of the time we've been here in Ohio, but haven't had it actively listed. It looks like we'll be placing it with a realtor in about a month or so.
We put a lot into it, with plans to do even more. The following photo is what it looked like when we bought it. Compare that to the photo above!
We did work on the inside, too. It took the floor refinisher five weeks to do the downstairs floors alone. Our painter took the same number of weeks to repair plaster and paint through the sales area. Still, there was much more we hoped to do, including restoring the tin ceiling in places, and revealing the beadboard ceiling in others. The upstairs had originally been living quarters, but became several quaint offices over the years. We had dreams of turning that into living space again - with high ceilings and huge windows, we knew it would have the feeling of a fabulous French apartment. But...fate brought us to Ohio, and we are now certain we won't be able to return to NC, so it's time to turn the dream over to someone new.
While we were there, we decorated the interior with light and bright sunrise colors, and carried everything but white shirts! We had books and office supplies, antiques and gifts, office services, jewelry, and of course, my handmade soaps and lotions. We also had nine "booth" renters, and several consignment sellers. We had 13 different artists who displayed and sold through us, we taught computer classes, had authors in for book signings. We were busy all the time, and oh how I came to love and appreciate "my" artists and consignment friends!
This is what the interior looked like:
Finally, this is the sign we had on the front door, and I think it summed us up perfectly:
Currently we have a great renter in the downstairs portion who does just antiques and also rents booth space. When they moved in they painted everything a gray-green, so it isn't as light and happy (in my opinion) but that's just paint! I'm wondering what the next incarnation of the "oldest brick store in Warrenton" will be.
11 comments:
Oh Sue, I can see why you hated to leave your store behind. The building itself is beautiful, but the inside is just the kind of shop I always loved to go into when we first moved to Maryland and I shopped in Annapolis. So sad you must let it go now.
What a beautiful shop, Sue. Makes me sad that you had to leave that area and give up so much.
OH wow, what a gorgeous store and building!! I can see why you would have wanted to move back.
Such a beautiful post with pics, Sue. Thanks for sharing this part of your history with us. What a beautiful store you made it into and I can well understand why you were busy all the time. Obviously, your move to Ohio was for big reasons to have to leave your 'baby'. Sadly, life does move on and it is probably best to let it go. At least, you will have all those wonderful memories to carry with you.
Beautiful store Sue, somewhere I would love to browse around, sorry you had to give it up.
Wonderful shop and the building! Sorry you have to leave it...
That is exactly the kind of place I most love to shop in -- such an inviting atmosphere, and I imagine one could find all kinds of unique and interesting things there.
Sue! I loved those pictures...and I did a driveby of your shop and house just 2 weeks ago! Your pictures show some beautiful floors in the shop and the time spent on them was well worth it. You really did carry a little bit of everything~I have a beautiful red antique rope bed which I bought there from your tenant. It has a mattress made of oak splint...the only one I've ever seen.
what a fun place that would be to spend time browsing...
a shame to have to give it up...
What a lovely store. I can so understand you not wanting to let go. Where are you in Ohio?
...wow, Sue!What great memories and fragrances of
your beautiful shop these photos bring back to me!We
still miss you all here in Warrenton, NC and especially your wonderful
and unusual "wares" and your handmade soaps!And that sweet white Cosmo cat sleeping in the window when we walked by...oh, dear.Thank you for the time you DID live here,and your ongoing friendship!
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