Old Towne Orange

I opened Country Roads almost 20 years ago in historic Old Towne Orange. There were many reasons why I chose Old Towne, one being that it had always been known for as an "antique destination". But the other reason was because it is an historic destination as well! Old Towne Orange was established in 1870, so there is not only character here, but a lot of history as well. My building is one of the "newer" buildings, built in 1919, compared to many of the homes and other buildings that were constructed in the late 1800's! When Elseware Vintage decided to expand to another available store three doors down they began the work of getting the new store ready to open. The last tenant was a dance studio and there was a wall of mirrors. When they began taking everything down the mirror, plaster and more and started working on the store, they found these amazing walls underneath everything! I can't even imagine how exciting that would be. I have this special love of old advertising, as I see it as art. My family room is filled with vintage advertising signs! This is a big buzz around Old Towne right now, and you can see why. It is like finding a piece of history after all of this time!! Apparently, at one point it use to be an alleyway where this building is now located. In reading through everything, this building was built in 1923 which would make me think this is when they started building more on West Chapman where my building is located. Some day, maybe when this dandy economy picks back up, I would love to get the ugly stucco off the building and expose the original brick! It would look so much better! There are several buildings in Old Towne that have the original old signs painted on them. Years ago the had a group that was raising money to restore all the old advertising signs that are still on many of hour buildings. They are works of art. Even though the businesses have changed a lot over the past few years down here, the charm and character (that could be a whole other blog post) remains the same!! I'm happy to be a part of such an awesome little place!!

White Wednesday

For this "White Wednesday" I took some pictures of something I LOVE, old advertising. The old signs, to me, is a form of folk art. They were all original and most were one of a kinds done for specific businesses. Many of my old signs have that great chippy paint on them. Here are a few of my favorite, and I apologize for the photos. I have a family room with open beam ceilings, and most of my signs are hung up high!




Stop by Stop by and visit Kathleen over on her blog! She has done a great job hosting "White Wednesday". There are also some awesome "White Wednesday" blogs for you to visit as well.

I Had To Have It!

I've always said this "business" of antiques and stuff is never about the "need" it is always about the "want"! I love old, vintage advertising. And for years I've always wanted an old vintage "sanitary napkin" machine like they use to have in public restrooms. So, you can imagine my surprise when I went to work yesterday! Apparently this desire of mine to own a vintage sanitary napkin machine wasn't known by everyone. Brande and I were walking down the aisle talking about it yesterday and she commented, while laughing at the same time, that she never knew this! I already have a vintage perfume dispenser that use to hang in a public bathroom. You put your coins in and had four fragrances to choose from, then pushed the button!As Brande and I continued our conversation about my new found treasure and she reminded me of a story I told her years ago. My grandmother never understood the "adhesive" pads, she just remembered those old "belts"! I will never forget her asking me, "doesn't it hurt when you pull the pads off"? I just laughed hysterically and explained to her that you put the adhesive side of the pad on your underwear, not your hoo-hoo!!

Also, "thank you" for all the kind words and little prayers yesterday, they mean a lot to me! As of late yesterday afternoon, they had Arianna on an IV with meds and had said she has a really bad bacterial infection of some kind, but its not life threatening. That gave us some relief, but I'm still hoping to find out more good news this morning. I'll let you know, and again, thank you!