GO TO THE COUNTRY or You Can Afford Antiques

GO TO THE COUNTRY or You Can Afford Antiques

Shawn and I just spent an awesome (does any one still say awesome?) weekend in the country. My favorite new adage is, “If you want a social life go rural.” I am not exaggerating when I say – now that we have this weekend house our social lives have gone wild. This weekend included cocktails on the porch to christen the cutest, newly restored, early 1900’s cabin/cottage, followed by a spontaneous midnight gourmet dinner for seven prepared by a professional chef, then a day at the races as we attended Fall Gold Cup with the mayors of Orlean and Markham (this is only a slight exaggeration and meant with deep affection), then an afternoon Oktoberfest/Birthday celebration complete with hosts dressed in appropriate (if not elaborate) festive costume, (deep breath) then one of the finest dinners I have had in a long time. I don’t know how we found room for all those Red Truck Bakery treats, but somehow we managed. There’s still more…then Sunday morning we attended the Orlean Volunteer Fire Department Monthly Pancake Breakfast followed by a quick tour of the old rectory construction site. Nope, still not done. To cap off Sunday we went for an afternoon drive to one of our favorite little spots, Millwood, where they happened to be having the Annual Fall Art Show, Art at the Mill. If you missed it this year we will definitely give you advanced warning for next year. It was fantastic! We of course couldn’t visit Millwood without a stop to The Red School House. We’ve purchased a few things there for the Rectory including a fantastic green bench for the front porch, a large painted Flemish armoire for one of the guest rooms and various wing chairs (you can never have too many.) While there this weekend it was hard to pass up this

and this

and this

And then we made one last stop before heading back to the city…and I promise this is it. An American in Paris Antiques is a true gem in the landscape of rural Virginia horse country. You’ll find it nestled next to the Ashby Inn in the tiny village of Paris Virginia. Designers and Antique enthusiasts all the way from New York City count themselves lucky to know of its whereabouts. It’s like finding a secret city worthy gallery, but with treasures at half the price. You will pay a little more here than at some other local purveyors, but their eye is rather refined and well worth any accrued tax they might require (deserve) for their exceptional editing. I almost didn’t make it out the door without having to make room in the car for this

and this

and these