I'm a Snooty Fox Lover

Have you ever gone into a store and the atmosphere felt like Christmas?  You know the feeling I'm talking about.  It's warm and toasty, it smells like cinnamon and you just feel so good that you never want to leave? 

This was my experience this weekend when Jason and I discovered our latest favorite place.  You all are going to think I am making a bucket of money from these blog posts about stores, but I swear to you that I'm not making a dime!  At least not yet :-)

Anyway, every so often for my job I have to drive down a major road out in the country that has a big antique sign for a shop called "Snooty Fox Antiques" in Newfield, NY.  The sign states that the store is only open on Saturdays.

This is a big pet peeve of mine.  I hate that stores aren't open on Sunday! I know, I know, Sunday is a day of rest.  But antiquing is like resting for me!  Searching for old treasures to decorate my house brings me peace.  Searching for treasures with my husband and my daughter brings me double-peace.  Sundays would be the ideal day for this, but I'm finding so many antique stores are only open on Saturday. 

Anyway, as soon as Jason and I walked onto the property of Snooty Fox, we knew we loved it.  Dick and Jane, the owners, (I love that their names are Dick and Jane . . . just like my first grade primers)  have built the shop in the garage of their home, which Dick built many years ago on their 30 acre property.

The woodstove was piping hot and a kettle full of cloves and cinnamon sat on top, so I immediately smelled Christmas.  When we entered the shop, there was such an art to the way Dick and Jane displayed their primitive antiques that I got so many decorating ideas.  Everything looked like it belonged in a catalogue. 

I wanted to touch everything and feel the worn edges; I wanted to hear the history behind all of the pieces.

In searching through the shop, Jason actually stumbled upon the home where Dick and Jane live (the door was open and appeared to be part of the shop).  They were kind enough to give us a little tour.  The home was absolutely gorgeous -- with an enormous stone fireplace, cathedral ceilings, and a wall of windows overlooking the 30 acre property and an enormous pond.  Dick had built the home many years ago and it's where they raised their five children.    It was tastefully decorated with beautiful primitive antiques, much like their shop.

I was so mad I didn't bring my camera.  I don't know if I would have had the courage to ask Jane if I could photograph her house.  A home is such a personal space and not everyone is cool with allowing a stranger to take pictures and post them on the worldwide web for everyone across the globe to see.

Jason and I spent so much time in the shop and we saw so many items we wanted to buy.  Jane was kind enough to educate us on many of the items in her shop.  We ended up leaving with several great pieces.

My favorite piece is this Paul Revere lantern, which now hangs in our sitting room.

I love the intricate pattern it projects on the walls.  We want to get a few for our deck, since it is really difficult for the wind to extinguish the candle through the hundreds of tiny slots in the tin. 

I also found some grain sacks, which were only $5 each.  I am always so inspired by all of the grain sack projects I see here in blog land, and I don't have the patience to try to re-create grain sacks with printing on cloth, so I bought these.  I have no idea what I am going to do with them yet, but I'm eager for suggestions!

Jason was really drawn toward this washboard.  I kept trying to convince him that we should wait until we have a new home that actually has a laundry room instead of a damp unfinished basement, but he really, really wanted it. .  I was relieved it wasn't another coffee can, so I agreed.  I actually really like it and we're thinking about hanging it in our downstairs bathroom.

We also got some of these kitchen utensils.  To be fair, we had also gone to Hub's Place this weekend and we snagged a few there too.  The problem is, we have no idea how we will display them in our somewhat modern kitchen.  We've thought about just putting them in a wooden bowl, or hanging them on a piece of wood.  We've also considered building some sort of shelving. 

I was thinking it might be cool to move the coffee cans from the living room into the kitchen and displaying them all together.  Any suggestions?  Don't be shy . . . . comments are pushed to my phone and they make me smile when I am working!

  

And can you believe I actually found more rag balls?  Jane tells me they are actually kind of hard to find.  Here, they are displayed in an old chamber pot, which I also bought at Snooty Fox Antiques.  I had no idea what it was when I brought it up to pay for it!  After she told me, I giggled but didn't put it back.  I have plans to use this beauty as a planter . . . just like Jane did in her shop.  She had gorgeous lillys growing out of it.

When we realized Dick and Jane didn't accept credit cards, we were devastated.   But they just told us to take all of it and send them a check in the mail?!  I loved these people.

We couldn't do it.  It just didn't feel right, and besides, I knew if we went to an ATM, it would give me an excuse to go back into their shop within a few minutes, which is exactly what I did.

I didn't want to leave.  I told Jane I would be back and that I would be a regular.   She sent me off with a big, warm, motherly hug and the feeling of Christmas in April.

Linking to: 2nd Time Around Tuesday