Adventures in Antiquing

The thrill of the hunt, seeking hidden treasures, discovering new and thrilling items makes this business more of an adventure than a job.  We do work and work hard, but the rewards are great.  The hard work comes sometimes after the find.  We haul, move large pieces of furniture, we scrub, we dust, we polish, and then because we have a regular shop we have to try to arrange things to look nice.  We have been in transition for the last two years.  We have grown by leaps and bounds recently and our shop has looked like it is in transit.  Lewis is always on the road in search of, or retrieving  his fabulous finds. We have found it necessary to weed out the old and make room for the new.  Being on 1stdibs has helped us refine our thinking.  We are in a rural part of Virginia, in between the Chesapeake Bay and the Rappahanock River, a little bit of God's Country. Our shop is situated on the Main Street of the small Town of Kilmarnock.  Originally we needed to have pickup items for the walk in customers.  Not everyone understood our transition from a more tranditional antique shop to vintage and famous designer furniture and decorative arts of the early and mid twentieth century.  Some people got down right mad indignate that we no longer carried old brown furniture and china knick knacks, not that we ever were average.

The shop recently has taken shape.  Our local customers have realized that they now have something special.  We draw from the entire state,  North Carolina, Northern Virginia and D.C., plus many visitors from across the States.  Now customers come in and bring their friends to see our collection.  We are lucky that we have Comer & Co as a neighbor both in town and on 1st Dibs.  Comer & Co compliments our shop their antiques are more traditional than ours.  The two nice shops are a draw.

We have had to make room for the larger pieces that we have been acquiring.  We have a red tag sale on going and we actually sent a lot of old inventory to an auction!  The auction took place last Saturday during shop hours.  It was on line as well as live.  We watched our old stuff sell and of course we saw items we just had to have. We waited on customers and watched the auction!  We counted the auction sales ( we sent a lot of things) and bid on a few as we made sales in the shop!  A way fun day!!!  One of the pieces that we won was a painting by an old friend and my painting instructor at Old Dominion University, Charles Sibley.  Charles used to show in my Dad's Gallery, Auslew Gallery in Norfolk Virginia.  I was thrilled to be able to obtain a large painting by him.  We bought one or two other items, a pair of green Murano Lamps, two Wilmotte end tables, and another nice painting (buying art is in the blood).

Monetary rewards take time, we believe in reinvesting as much as possible.  The real rewards happen when you look around and see all the improvements and the great items you have acquired in the shop.  Nice compliments from your customers and just people who happen into the shop.  It's the feeling of doing something well.  I look around now and see our ideas taking form.  It struck me this morning as I came in the shop that a change had actually come about.

Side Walk Sale Saturday!!!!!

Lewis went on another buying trip! We need space soooo, we've decide to have a sidewalk sale. Saturday July 31, right here on Main Street in Kilmarnock starting at 9 am. Comer and co. are going to join us and Epping Forest is having an Estate sale at the old travel agency building right here in town. Come join us for some great buys.

What's new in the Neighborhood

Kilmarnock Artist have been busy. Painting and decorating cement dogs to benefit the Animal Welfare League, an organization formed to aid and rescue lost and abused animals. This is close to my heart for we have rescued three dogs and a cat since we moved to the area. I don't think you'll ever find a more loving and appreciative animal than one who has been rescued. Three of the local antique shops have either made or hosted a dog for auction. The dog that we decorated is called Flash he is covered in mosaic tiles and tiny mirror tiles as well as shells, red coral, and reclaimed pieces of broken pottery. He was a joint effort by Lewis and myself with help from Saragrace Hendren and lots of in put from my Mom, Beverly Lewis. People are encouraged to place bids on their favorites and all profits go to the Animal Welfare.


This lovely white dog Biffwas designed by Bradley Stephens (my blog on Bad Brad). This is the proverbial Dog About Town. He sits among tiny houses and trees, and like everything Brad does this dog is done right. He currently resides at Comer And Co. on Main Street.


Chris Trimble, my oldest son, and owner of Trimble Tavern Antiques in White Stone designed a pirate dog using Fred Comer's Mollie as his model. (Mollie the Warfaring Pirate) Some how he did away with the basket and acquired a bone, a patch and a peg leg. Mollie sits next to the fire hydrant outside Noblett's. I could not resist showing you a close up of her head. As you can see a lot of people have gone all out for the dogs. Ink sits in front of Lipscombe's Store. This handsome pup was designed by my friend and artist Nana Gail Lauer.




Ace sits outside of Carried Away Cuisine, This ace of cakes was designed by our local Cake ace, Jackie Brown. What's not to love a great dog and cakes and cookies too, inside the shop.


Spot, designed by Sarah Soderlund, does not have the average spots, he some how caught the cat pocks. We are hoping that this pock will not spread like bird flu. Either that or this is the dog that ate the cat that ate the canary. He sits outside Nobletts.



Suzanne Mattingly's dog, Flora, is outside the Animal Welfare shop on Main Street. This is truly an elegant Pooch. She might just paint the town red.


Laverne, designed by Maribeth Memmo, is at Moxie's in town She's in her swim wear and sun glasses ready to take on the town.

There are more Dogs about town. I 'll zip around and take more pictures to up load keep checking out the Blog.

Bad Brad Stephens All Folked Up

I have been blogging about the shops in Kilmarnock, VA. One very prominent persona in town is the fabulous Brad Stephens. Brad is a man of many talents. He is a published playwright. He is a talented artist and folk art collector. He can take all sorts of odd and unusual items and put them together to make something out of this world.
So it is of no surprise to us that when we brought in a doctor's examination table from the thirties that Brad went absolutely crazy over it. You will have to visit his Blog http://bradstephensfoundobjects.blogspot.com/. Brad works for Comer and Co. if you'd like to meet him in person.

Congratulations Comer & Co.

We want to congratulate Fred and Mark at Comer & Co. on becoming one of the 1stdibs family. We are very proud to have such a nice neighbors both in town and on 1stdibs. In fact outside of D.C. and Northern Va. we have more shops on 1stdibs than any other town or for that matter city in Va.. Can you imagine that little old Kilmarnock on the Northern Neck of Va. has two shops on 1stdibs.

Visiting Comer & Co. is a real treat both to the eye and the senses. He has french bees wax candles, and soaps by Seda France as well as a wonderful selection of Antiques.

Fred is an excellent buyer in fact Mark says sometimes he's too good a buyer. As you can see they have managed to fill their shop with some of the most wonderful pieces.

We feel as though we complement each other. In fact we both welcome any other wonderful antique shops that would like to join our company.
They also carry the ever stunning Christopher Spitzmiller lamps, and delightful Charlotte Moss candles and accessories. I hope you enjoy looking at these pictures of their shop and will come visit us both in person.