Once in a while, Ash and I like to take random drives around the back roads of the Richmond area. Virginia is filled with so many interesting historical landmarks, battlefields, museums, and parks that you’re bound to find something that piques your interest no matter what direction you end up heading. Even though Ashley and I have lived in this neck of the woods for most of our lives (well, all of hers; most of mine), we still haven’t seen all of the attractions our area has to offer. So, it’s a lot of fun to take a drive every now and then just to see what we come up with.

Recently, while on one of our drives, we stumbled upon McLawhorn’s Red Barn Antiques. It’s right in the middle of a fork in the road, and looks like it’s been there forever. As it turns out, it was once a very popular general store, Borkey’s Store, back in the early 1900′s. The history alone makes this an interesting stop.

The items sitting outside gave us a preview of what we would find in the store. Everything out here was from an era where furniture was made from solid wood. I don’t think you could find a single scrap of particle board anywhere near this place.

Oh–Did I mention the reason all the furniture is sitting outside is because the inside is so packed with awesome stuff from bygone eras that we wouldn’t have had a place to walk otherwise? Yeah. This place is going to take several trips to even scratch the surface.

There are three huge aisles, lined with tons of great items – so packed you could barely walk through them. The left side of the store is stocked with tons of kitchen-oriented antiques and records.

While this part of the shop also has some kitchen items, it’s home to my favorite section: books. You can see a few of them peeking out of the bottom-right corner here.

I’m a big fan of solid wood, dark-stained desks. The detail work is simple and clean, but it adds that extra touch that makes this desk look special.

You’d think this was just a cool conversation piece in the middle of the store. Nope. It’s a real, honest-to-goodness, working(!) drink fridge from which the antique shop staff hands out free Cokes to its customers.

Ash and I have a fascination with antique trunks, so these certainly caught our eyes. They were a little out of our price range for the day (coming in around $250 a piece), but I hope someone gives these a good home. They’re truly amazing in person.

We found this small chest of drawers sitting outside and Ashley immediately fell in love. She said it would be perfect for the foyer.

It was very solid and had a little wear and tear but that could be fixed. Coming in at $75, it was worth a try. So we packed it up in Ashley’s parent’s SUV and took it home.

I have to admit, I was a tad skeptical whether or not it would be a good fit for the foyer. I trust Ashley’s “style judgment” most of the time, but for some reason, I just couldn’t see it. I guess it’s a “guy thing”. When we got it in the house, I had a change of heart. We couldn’t have picked a more perfect piece for the foyer. Like how I say “we” now that it looks good? haha…

For now, we’re going to hold off on painting it. Even though the worn paint looks pretty cool, we’re not sure this shade of green is quite right for our house. In some lighting, it looks a little dull and heavy so it could use a little brightening up. I don’t know about Ash, but if we do decide to paint it down the road, I’d love to find a way to emulate the “worn” look.

As for what’s going to go on, in, and above… Ash said she envisions a large mirror (like this one she found on Pinterest) and maybe a lamp to bounce some light around. We plan on sprucing up the inside of the drawers as well with some graphic wallpaper turned drawer liner. Once that’s done, we’ll probably use it to store miscellaneous items like extra candles and maybe a drawer for Bentley’s leash and his sweater collection… he’ll think he’s spoiled – even more than he already is!

So that’s the rundown on our latest find for the house! Have you had any cool finds lately? Share them with us by leaving a comment…

We’re back, as promised, to give you the low down on our Irene experience. The storm started to pick up early Saturday morning. According to The Weather Channel, the storm wasn’t even near us yet, but it already looked like this outside:

Yeah, not a good sign.

As the day went on, the wind got more and more violent. Pretty early in the day, the power went out, so the menu of the evening consisted of cold Spaghetti O’s. I’m not complaining about the cuisine, though. It made me feel like I was 6 again (in a fun way).

When it came time to trying to go to sleep, we didn’t want to sleep in our bedroom because there are three huge trees right outside our window. After hearing all the reports of fallen trees, sleeping in our bedroom was not an option. Pretty much every room in the house was in the “tree falling zone”, but we finally decided to set up camp in the kitchen. There used to be a wall dividing the kitchen and the family room. Since it was a load-bearing wall, when the previous owners took it down, they replaced the wall with steel beam. We figured putting that between us and the trees was a good move, so we moved the couch and loveseat in there to act as our “beds”. Here was the ultra-messy scene the next morning:

The next morning, we woke up the sound of chainsaws outside and immediately joined the rest of the neighborhood assessing the damage. The front and back yard had a good amount of debris lying around, including some huge limbs, but thankfully the house was unscathed.

We only had one tree go down on our property. One of our neighbor’s trees broke through his fence and landed in our driveway:

The pictures don’t really capture how big the tree was. It was pretty hefty:

Here’s a photo of our house my Aunt Dee Dee took with her cell phone during the storm, from my parent’s house across the street:

This damage paled in comparison to what some other families in the neighborhood experienced:

We decided to hop in the car and take a drive around town to check out our stomping grounds. Here are a few photos my aunt snapped with her cell phone:

While we were driving around, we saw a team of Dominion Power workers removing tress from the power lines. The thought of having our power back on made me extremely happy. So happy I wanted to yell “I LOVE YOU!!!” out the car window.

Thankfully, our power came back on Sunday night – which made us two happy campers! With all of the down lines we saw around the area, we were shocked (and incredibly excited) that it came back on so fast. Some of our friends’ power came back on for a few hours, but it ended up going out again and they’ve been without power ever since. As for here, so far, so good.

One thing our house is seriously lacking at the moment (besides color) is accessories. Coming from a small, two-bedroom apartment (check out our first place here), we didn’t really need a lot. Now that we’ve got 2,000+ square feet of living space, the accessories we do have are thinned out throughout the house causing things to look a little sparse. For example, the dresser in our master bedroom:

Even though I’m anxious to accessorize, I don’t want to just go out and buy a bunch of “stuff” for the sake of having “stuff”. I’d much rather keep my eye our for things that are really us and collect pieces little by little. Slow and steady wins the race, right?

As far as decorative accessories go, Greg and I both like seeing a modern designed room accessorized with quirky vintage pieces . Like a random typewriter, camera, or old milk crate. While we aren’t gung-ho antique enthusiasts, we both have an appreciation for history and the idea of marrying the old and new in our house.

In an effort to fill our empty spaces, I’ve been getting into the habit of spontaneously hopping in the car and driving to antique malls and flea markets. Even though I’ve been using a lot of gas driving all over town, I’ve found quite a few new favorite places to hunt down potential vintage accessories. One of those places is the Cold Harbor Antique Mall. Yesterday, I felt like I needed a break from looking at my office. So I decided to go back to see if anything new came in since I was last there about a week ago. When I was walking through the parking lot, I realized I should probably take some photos to share on the blog. Good thing I had my iPhone with me!

Don’t let the outside fool you. Once you step inside, every corner you turn, it keeps going and going and going.

This place is filled with tons and tons of stuff. The store is divided up into sections, each section being a different vendor. Because of that, there are all kinds of things scattered throughout the store, so you have to spend a lot of time and really look. There are a variety of ages throughout the store including late 1800′s all the way to the 1970′s. And, like any thrift store or antique mall, you’re going to find some rather odd things, but you’re going to find some real gems, as well. Here are a few things that caught my eye…

I sorta kinda fell in love with this brass rabbit. Our backyard seems to be the local hangout for the neighborhood rabbits, so it would make a perfect subtle conversation piece. Sadly, I didn’t take him (or her) home with me… kinda wish I had, now that I think about it. I also liked the Kodak camera, but we have more than enough vintage cameras around here at the moment.

I’ve been looking for a crate similar to this for weeks to use it as Bentley’s “toy box”. They’re practically a dime a dozen at places like this, but I’ve been keeping my eye out for one with a cool company on it. I loved this one, but it was too big. We could have fit five Bentleys in there! (The dog, not the car, of course!) It would have been perfect too because sometimes we call Bentley “Biscuit”. Major sad face.

I’m totally not exaggerating when I say that every single nook and cranny of this building is absolutely packed. It’s kind of like going on a hunting expedition. I feel like I’m one step closer to becoming a Picker Sister!

I loved this chest of drawers! I could totally see it spruced up and put in a bedroom or a nook in a hallway. If we had a place for it, it’d be in the back of our SUV.

Like the brass bunny, I fell in love with this vintage typewriter. It was only $45 and 30% off of that. I stood there for a while wondering where I’d put it and if it was the kind of thing I was looking for. (When it comes to our house, sometimes I’m indecisive like that.) The “T” key isn’t sitting straight but from what I could tell, it could be easily fixed – cosmetically speaking, anyway. I finally decided to leave it, but now I’m thinking about going back to get it. Though one thing I can tell you for sure, that thing is majorly heeeeeavy.

Just when I thought I was coming to the end of the store, I found a hallway leading to even MORE!

And more…

Another “If-I-had-room-it-would-be-coming-home-with-me” piece of furniture was this mid-century dresser. It was marked at $145 and 20% off that and in really good condition.

Add a hook to the back, and this barrel top (Maybe? I’m not completely sure what it is.) from Mollenhauer Sugar Refining Company would make really interesting wall art in a kitchen. I was curious and did a little Googling to find that Mollenhauer Sugar Refining Company was established around 1869 in Brooklyn, NY. I think it’s fun knowing the history on pieces like this!

That about wraps up yesterday’s visit to the Cold Harbor Antique Mall. I ended up coming home empty handed but planning on going back soon for the “wish I should haves”. Are any of you antique mall regulars? Come across any good finds lately?

Btw, I’m not digging the iPhone photo quality, are you? I’ll be sure to bring one of my other cameras the next time I bring you along for my accessory hunting.

AND, today is the last day to enter the HomeTalk $100 Pottery Barn Gift Card Giveaway. Everyone has three chances to win. Entries will be accepted until midnight EST tonight. So get clicking!