As you know, I am a busy home stager in the Maryland side of the Washington DC Metro area. I recently reviewed a small home to stage later this week and was thinking about which furniture pieces that I had that would work in the space. The home has an eat-in kitchen with green painted walls, and white cabinets.  As I was reviewing my inventory in my head, I thought about my white shabby-chic table, but then realized I am low on chairs. I have lots of pairs but no foursome. So I thought a white bench would be a nice addition, would work with one of the pairs that I already own. I knew I didn’t want to pay retail for this bench, so started reviewing Craigs list.

After 3 different searches with little to no return, I stumbled on a link to vintage furniture for sale in Frederick, MD. This local retailer sells vintage items in their barn and just my luck – they were in the middle of their Holiday Tag Sale. I have always been curious about the buying in the barns – are there really good deals? is it good stuff?  There pictures posted on line helped answer some of those questions but I had to go and check it out for myself! To the hills…

First barn...hmm...

After a solid hour through the scenic route – Route 28 Darnestown Road, we made just a few turns to land at Chartreuse and Co, in Buckeystown, MD. It was relatively easy to find, and the drive was easy, although hard not to speed on those country roads!

After we parked, we walked ‘down the lane’ and walked upon this scene as pictured here. Hmm..(I said to myself)…on the one hand, this IS what you traveled to see -  a barn full of furniture, and then on the other hand – what in the world? Looks like someone just put all their stuff out in the yard!

Then I spotted by bench and all was right with the world. $50 a steal!  Which totally encouraged me to keep on looking! Wondering what else will I find?

Inside the furniture barn, things look a little better. Some cool pieces if you like

plenty of good solid furniture!

country or shabby chic look – lots to work with here!

Next up…I find my way to the front of the main barn…and quickly learned that this wasn’t one vendor, it was a series of vendors/shops inside the barn. GREAT stuff, lots of different items to be found. If you like country, vintage and/or shabby chic, this is your spot. Great prices and unique items too. I forgot to take pictures inside, I was too busy shopping, taking it all in. I had a budget and was able to stick to it and found a few interesting pieces for my staging job.

Come on in!

The barn has two floors full of wonderful items. Art, letters, vases, soap, rugs, stemware, dishes, and on and on and on.  Seriously. If you find yourself drooling over the Pottery Barn or Restoration Hardware catalogs, drop those catalogs, turn off your computer and get yourself on Interstate 270/Route 28!  You have found your spot!

There are some great items on their webpage here (caution music will play) and although lots of stuff was sold by the time I arrived, there was plenty of items available. And plenty of people too! Folks will travel for a deal!

So I guess now you are wondering what I left with! As I said my main goal was a white bench – which i found along with a few unique items.  All were purchased for staging purposes and I plan to use them in the project

Bounty from barn shopping

later this week.  There were other items that I thought about but at the end, this was my takeaway. I had to stay within my budget of $100, which I believe I did!  What a great way to support local businesses and find unique items to use in home staging projects. Perfect for my bungalows and cape code vacant homes in Takoma Park and Silver Spring. Can’t wait to post how I used all of these items too!

Tags: arts and crafts, barn shopping, dc home stager, decor ideas, room decor, shabby chic maryland, vintage furniture maryland, white furniture

This entry was posted on November 9, 2011 at 11:09 pm. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

Posted in decor accents, decorating, furniture, Shopping, travel by rrashfor | 2 Comments