Amana Antiquing

So while I was in Amana to spend some quality time with my girls, seeing Maria's home and the beauty of her land we did manage to fit a few antique excursions in.  It is so amazing to go shopping with Maria and her mom.  Her mom is an interior designer and Maria has her mom's eye and taste.  It is so fun.  I hope I get to go with them again soon!

Now I only managed to come home with one amazing item, there were many others I wish I would have jumped on.  Another trip must be planned.  But in the meantime check out some of the pics I snapped as I was drooling.

We visited a store called Sisters.  It was so charming and full of many different farmhouse finds - architectural salvages, old furniture, garden items, retro items and even some great local artists items and new home accessories.  The place is so packed with things I felt like I had to look through everything twice - I know I missed so much.

I loved the outhouse on the property.  The roof was covered in moss, the paint was perfectly worn and chipped and above all I loved the corbels.  I really wanted to rip them down and use them to hold some shelves up above the butcher block in the kitchen.  I am still on the hunt for now.

So here is the one purchase I made.  It was a steal though.  I bought these for $20 each to hold up (pretend to hold up) the butcher block.  It just needs something.  I think they were so cheap because they are simple and not in the best shape but totally workable.  They had a few chips but for what I am using them for I actually was already planning on trimming it up so it is perfect.  I can't wait to see them up.

So just for some perspective.  Here is the corner of the kitchen with the butcher block.  This isn't going to change much with the kitchen remodel.  We thought about getting cabinets in this corner but the window makes it difficult and we still need the space for the dogs.  So we are going to add the corbels to under the butcher block to give it some interest and then we are taking down the black shelf thing and replacing it with three sets of open shelfs with smaller corbels holding it up.   

 Back to the shopping though.

This was the entrance to one of the stores.  I want it for my house.

I regret not buying this stool.  Dreamy.

The farmland the stores sits on.  I love the fact that I am finally searching for country, farmhouse goods in the place where they really come from.  It is so authentic and raw.  So so many great finds and much more reasonably priced then the suburbs.

So I got too distracted to take any more photos.  I didn't even snap photos in the other stores we visited and they were just as amazing.