Friday, January 2, 2009

chicago meets the amish

we get these huge cabinets out of chicago.... they were the butlers pantry in a big fancy place, ....the little room between the kitchen and the dining room. they are usually under 8 ft tall and about 6 ft wide..... right now we have 6 of them in different configurations....2 of this one, with a little difference in the doors... they are circa 1900..
apparantly they are pulled out of the wall when the building gets torn down and saved by someone up there in chicago..jon buys them at auction or from his chicago connection ,.when they get to us with no sides and no molding at the top.... and usually all kinds of other problems.
then jon takes them to the amish carpenters...who have no car, no lights, no inside phone .....and walla in 2 weeks we get these big cabinets back all restored and beautiful....
sometimes we have them in the rough in the rough room..
. its definitely not something we find when we antique around here in rochester indiana...to me this is trash to treasure at a wonderful level....probably most of them get bulldozed when the buildings come down...
heres our store http// http://www.greenoakantiques.com/

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi!, Ann I noticed your old photo of that fancy cabinet and it is really mine. You devil. I enjoy it very much and it sits very beautiful in my huge dining room. Have a nice day! Terry

ann at greenoak said...

we got 3 of them....come see..you could get a matched pair!!!.ann

The Muse said...

I adore it...so happy to have found you...I hope to have a shopping excursion planned...bringing my drivers... and trucks!

Carolee Crafts said...

Love the cabinet very Regal thank you for sharing

gail said...

Hi Ann,,, thanks for stopping by my blog. I love the picture of the house you drew. Its really very good :) I love this cabinet too! I wish I lived on the other side of the country, I would love to visit your store someday!
Have a great week.. hugs, gail

Anonymous said...

Hi, Ann!
Wow! How neat to have those Amish artisans!
Susan *dutchrose*

Karen said...

Wow, trash to treasure at it's best is right! I'm so glad you were able to get ahold of them and give them new life. Why do people waste so much good stuff? Karen