Reproduction new arrivals that we’ve neglected to mention in previous updates include, the outdoor butterfly bench. First, we had them in yellow and they sold out. Then we couldn’t get them in yellow, so we got them in white, and they sold out. Now we have them in black only, a photo is below.

There is a plant stand in the photo, they showed up in black and white. We also got in a big batch of bobblehead garden gnomes, just in time for warmer weather. It’s almost like we planned it, we did!

We’ve also received a couple of shipments from our Irish Coast line. The small coffee tables, china cabinets, and servers are all back in stock.

We’ve also managed to stock up on most of the line during the lockdowns. The entire line is currently in stock in the African Dusk colour with the exception of the small console tables and the round extension dining tables. Both those pieces will be arriving in June.

Wait times to get out of stock reclaimed wood pieces can be six months or longer at the moment. Supply chain issues seem far from abating. So, if you want to guarantee you will have that dining table for a family reunion this Christmas, get it soon. We can’t guarantee availability this fall, and we are sure to run out of some items.

As always there are lots of photos on our Reproductions page.

For those of you who are regular readers of this page you may remember me mentioning a few times over the last year that we’ve been working to expand our Provence line. It takes a while to expand a line, you have to design new pieces, and develop new colours. There is a lot of trial and error, so it takes time.

We’ve learned that during a pandemic this process seems to take forever. These days, factories are busy keeping up with demand for existing products, so developing new products is not a priority. Plus, shipping times have increased on everything.

But the good news is that a long awaited and long overdue Provence order has finally arrived! This shipment has a new item exclusive to The Barn, the three-foot hall table. You can see photos below in three new colours. We are hoping to have more colours and sizes next year. Yes, that’s right, we’re already ordering for next year.

There was also night stands in four different colour combinations in this shipment. This was done so we could see what all the new colours looked like on some furniture, rather than just wood blocks. We are excited about all the new colours, they turned out better than we expected, which rarely happens. Now we have to decide which colours to carry in the future. If you see a colour, you really like, let us know? We do these sample orders from time to time to gauge reaction to new products, which is a lot harder to do during lockdown when customers aren’t allowed in the building.

Also, just for good measure, the Provence hall seats were in this shipment, a photo is below. You can see photos of the full existing Provence line on our Reproductions page.

Quarantine Series: The Cleveland Bank

If you scroll down this page and click on older entries, you will see previous posts from our Quarantine Series. We posted the first article in the series nearly a year ago on May 12th, 2020. And what a year it has been. This will be the 14th article we have posted in the series, and we’ve covered a lot of different topics, from the history of The Barn, to Film & television production, to antique pricing, and many more. We have told lots of different stories from The Barn’s past, but it occurred to us that we have told several different stories about how things have gone wrong over the years. So, I figured it was time to post an article about a big project that went right. Below is the story of perhaps the best deal in the history of The Barn.

From the early 1970’s through 1987 The Barn imported an enormous quantity of antiques from Cleveland and the surrounding area. Cleveland is a city with a long history and was an affluent city for many decades. However, during this period Cleveland had fallen on hard times. Back then it was known as a poor city and for several years had the highest crime rate of any city in America. However, because of its affluent past there was lots of great antiques in Cleveland that cloud be bought at low prices. We had a 40foot trailer that made so many trips between The Barn and Cleveland that we named it the Cleveland trailer.

The best business partners The Barn has ever had were an antique dealer couple operating in Cleveland Ohio named Jack and Seil Kilbane. They would buy antiques from the public and from other antique dealers throughout Ohio until they had accumulated enough to fill a 40foot trailer, then Frank[the owner of The Barn] would drive down, load up, and drive back.

One of the keys to this relationship was that the Kilbane’s had 30,000 square feet of storage for free. Cleveland was very rundown at this time and there was lots of abandoned buildings and empty warehouses. Companies from all over North America took to buying or renting warehouse space in Cleveland because it was a fraction of the cost of any other city. The only problem was getting robbed, which would happen frequently.

Seil Kilbane’s brother bought a warehouse that had three floors each of which was approximately 30,000 square feet. He planned to just hold on to the building until things had turned around and the area was ready for redevelopment. Believe it or not the top two floors were rented out to the CNE. They used to store all their stuffed animal prises and equipment there between exhibitions. Apparently, it was cheaper to truck everything to Cleveland and back every year than it was to rent storage in Toronto back then. The third floor of the warehouse was used by the Kilbane’s free of charge. So, they had lots of room for storage, which is very important if you are going to deal in antique furniture.

The warehouse was in a particularly rough neighbourhood, and Cleveland had a lot of rough neighbourhoods back then. And back then antiques were extremely valuable. However, the warehouse was never burglarized. How is that possible? The answer is that less than half a block away was a 24-hour restaurant that was owned by a group of cops. It was where all the cops eat during their sifts. Since there was always lots of cops around no one dared to try and rob the place.

You still had to get the trailer loaded and get on the highway before dark, just in case your truck broke down. It was not a place you wanted to be after dark. I remember being at the warehouse as a kid and I was too young to help load. I found a shot gun shell on the ground. I guess I was getting in the way, so to keep me busy Jack gave me the job of going around the warehouse and picking up all the ammunition I could find. By the end of the day, I had a box full. It was a rough neighbourhood.

Somewhere around 1980, we don’t remember the exact year, the Euclid National Bank of Cleveland decided it was time for a major renovation. The bank had two floors above ground with high vaulted ceilings, and three floors below ground with an enormous collection of safety deposit boxes. Things were so bad in Cleveland in those days that no one dared to keep their valuables at home, everyone it seemed had a safety deposit box.

The bank was decorated at a time when banks were designed to look impressive to attract customers. Nothing like today’s banks. This was a large bank packed with Kittinger desks, Baker desks, cabinets, and tables, approximately 140 RomWeber oak upholstered chairs, and five complete RomWeber boardroom sets. There were also large crystal chandeliers that were very high up, and no one seemed to know how to get them down. For those who don’t recognize those names, they are some of the best furniture makers in American history.

The bank management was taking offers on buying the furniture, chandeliers, and all the bank’s fixtures. But they had some very specific requirements. They wanted one company to take everything, and you had to take everything. You were not allowed to leave anything behind. This was part of the contract, and if everything wasn’t out by a certain date there was significant financial penalties in the contract. After all they were a bank, they knew how to write financial penalties into a contract.

The Euclid National Bank of Cleveland was of course located on Euclid Avenue. Yonge street in Toronto is a good comparison for Euclid Avenue. It was a busy two-lane street and you were not allowed to park on Euclid Avenue. Nothing was allowed to go out the front door either.

Because this was such a large and difficult project none of the local antique dealers wanted to bid on the deal. There was a lot of heavy furniture to move which no one wanted to do. Also, no one knew how to get everything out, or how to get the chandeliers down. And It was the equivalent of three 40foot trailers worth of stuff fully packed, most dealers didn’t have that much space. Plus, there was the contract.

Jack brought the deal to Frank and encouraged him to buy it. Jack had connections with just about everyone in Cleveland, including a local construction company. His plan was to get a scissor crane to take the chandeliers down. Also, to park the trailer on a side street. Take out a second story window and use a construction roller ramp from the second story window to the ground. From there the furniture would have to be walked around the corner to the trailer.

Because no one was willing to bid Jack suggested that Frank make a ridiculously low offer. He said they would have to take it because they had no other options. Frank offer $9500, and he thought they would never accept, they did.

Amazingly, everything worked out exactly according to plan. The biggest difficulty was getting everything from the three basement levels up the second story. There were elevators, but it was still a lot of work.

Most items went to the warehouse first, and eventually it took three trips of the Cleveland trailer to get everything back to The Barn. By the end there was no space left in The Barn and there were still 35 large oak office desks left over. Somehow it was decided the best thing to do was to cover them with a tarp and strap them to The Barn. So that’s what they did. The 140 Rom RomWeber chairs went in the basement at The Barn. This was before we built a staircase down to the basement. In those days it was a treacherous dirt sloop down to the basement that was difficult to navigate when it rained or snowed.

Frank remembers the first thing he sold was one of the five boardroom sets. He sold it to Kennedy Galleries for the same amount he paid the bank for everything. Even back then, that was an incredibly low price for such a set. Needless to say, the deal worked out very well.

We’ve never done a rerun on this page before, after all it’s called the What’s New page. But this week we thought we would rerun the “History of The Barn” story originally posted last summer, for anyone who is interested and might have missed it the first time. New posts will return next week.

Quarantine Series: The History Of The Barn

We get asked all the time about the history of the Barn. We usually just tell everyone that the Barn is coming up on its 100th anniversary as an antique store and offer a brief history. But since we have some time we thought we would give a more detailed history. Some dates and facts we know for certain because we have the historical and legal documents as well as old advertisements and newspaper articles to back them up. And some of the history is from stories that have been past down.

The Barn is actually two attached buildings as you can see from the photographs that are at the bottom of this article. The larger two story  building is “The Barn”. The other building was an addition we now call “the front room”. The Barn is believed to have been built in 1827. That is the date attached to the photos in the region of Peel archives. But who built it, its original location and exact age are unknown.

The building was about 90 years old when it was purchased by Sydney Preston in 1917. It was moved to Clarkson road and Lakeshore road and operated as the Clarkson Fruit Market. Fun fact: Clarkson was once known as the strawberry capital of Ontario. The Barn was moved for a second time a few years later, to its current location. About 30 years ago we bought some antiques from an elderly gentleman who told us that when he was a young man he had helped move the Barn to its current location. He said it was pulled by horses and rolled on logs. His job was to take the logs from behind the barn and run them up to the front of the barn so that it could continue to roll. He of course was a part of a team of young men who did this. I’m sure it was quite the undertaking.

Grace Fairbairn began working with Sydney Preston and started using part of the barn to sell antiques. We believe this stared in 1918 as Clarkson Market Antiques. If that date is accurate the Barn has already passed its 100 year anniversary as an antique store. There is an advertisement in the 1923 Highways and Byways of Ontario Automobile Road Guide which states: “This building is now the central clearing house for the antique treasures of rural Ontario, filled with the things that give joy to lovers of the artistic and useful. Mahogany and walnut, from the massive four-poster to the dainty tea-caddies, old china, brass, Sheffield plate; also Canadian handcrafted pottery, metal work, home hand-braided rugs, and original decorative work. Visitors welcomed.”. The amazing thing is that aside from hand-braided rugs we still carry all those items 97 years later. Although I wonder what Grace Fairbairn would think of the bobblehead garden gnomes and pink flamingos which we also sell?

What we know for certain is that the Clarkson market sold fresh fruits and vegetables as well as antiques. The business grew quickly and attracted collectors from across Canada and the United States. Hear is a link to an amazing article about the Clarkson Market and Miss Grace Fairbairn from Maclean’s in 1924.
https://archive.macleans.ca/article/1924/11/1/mixing-human-nature-and-business;-making-a-real-success-of-it

In 1931 Grace Fairbairn purchased the barn from the estate of Sydney Preston. We recently discovered from tax records that the current “front room” was built in 1932. We had long believed that it was built in the 1920’s. Grace and her sister Agnes ran The Clarkson Antique Market into the 1960’s. In their later years the sisters lived across the street and would sit on their porch. If they had a customer they would walk across the street.

Alice Millar bought the building in 1966 and ran the business as Heritage House Antiques. She was not as successful as the Fairbairn sisters. The building was divided up into individual booths and was similar to how many antique markets are laid out today. The business soon closed and had been shuttered for some time when Frank came into the picture in 1969.

Frank is the current owner of The Barn. He goes just by Frank because no one ever pronounced his last name correctly so he just gave up and went with Frank. In 1963, Frank was 20 years old and trying to make money to put himself through university. Having the entrepreneurial spirit he rented out a farm and decided to turn the farmhouse into a rooming house. He figured if he rented rooms by the week he could make more money than if he rented by the month. Two or three extra days every month would make a big difference to the bottom line.

Frank needed cheap furniture to furnish his rooming house and came across a junk store at the corner of George Street and Randal street in Oakville. For reasons that have never been clear the owner of the store asked Frank if he wanted to buy the store. Frank has always liked buying more than selling and he agreed to buy the store. In 1963 “The Nook” of Oakville began. Frank quickly realized that antique dealers, store owners, and auctioneers would buy more product than retail customers. So the business became predominantly wholesale, and Frank quickly developed a large clientele among antique dealers and auctioneers. Frank preferred selling on low margins with high volume, that is still how we do things today. Frank couldn’t find enough antiques locally to keep up with demand, so he began to travel in search of product.

By 1969 Frank had outgrown “The Nook” and it was closed. Because his business was predominantly wholesale he didn’t need a retail location that was open most days. What he needed was a warehouse, and in 1969 Frank began renting the Barn as a warehouse. He travelled as far west as California, as far east as Newfoundland, and he spent about half of 1969 in Texas. If you get him on a good day he will tell stories about cowboy boots and snakes from his Texas days. When he had acquired enough inventory he would call his wholesale clientele and they would come to the Barn to buy.

By some point in 1970 Frank had developed a schedule and a network of suppliers in the United States and began opening up The Barn three days a week, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. The business was called A & A Antiques Fine Furniture and Antiques, to be first in the phone book. That was very important at the time. But everyone just called the place The Barn, for obvious reasons.

Frank’s schedule was brutal. He would hit the road Sunday night around midnight, drive to New York, or Philadelphia, or Cleveland most weeks. He would drive a 40 foot semi truck, and buy enough to fill the trailer. He would pack the trailer himself, he got so much practise over the years that he became the world’s greatest packer. He would drive back, and unload Thursday night. On Friday morning he would meet all the antique dealers and auctioneers for breakfast at a dinner that used to be across the street from The Barn. He would sell as much as possible on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Than hit the road again Sunday at midnight. He did this nearly every week for 19 years. He developed such a good network of buyers in Cleveland that some weeks he would go there twice. The most trips he ever did in a year was 66. This schedule took a tool and after 19 years Frank decided to get off the road. He had had enough of hotel rooms. And to this day he still hates to travel. But it paid off, after many years of renting Frank managed to buy The Barn.

During this time the business did have retail customers and film and television production customers, but the focus was wholesale and volume. The business just wasn’t geared to retail. For one thing there was no price tags on anything, there wasn’t time. The turnover was too quick. Frank would just do the math in his head when someone wanted a price. There was often four to six trucks outside each one belonging to a customer who was buying dozens or hundreds of pieces, so there just wasn’t time to spend on retail customers who only wanted to buy one or a few pieces. The Barn was extremely busy in those days, it was controlled chaos. And like during Grace Fairbairn’s time customers started coming from all over Canada and the United States and even further. We have had customers come from as far as Tokyo Japan and Aqaba Jordan.

It wasn’t just antiques, Frank always sold new items or reproductions as well. I will talk more about reproductions in future posts. After Frank got off the road we started carrying more reproductions. Buying more direct from the public locally. We bought an endless number of estates. Frank always did like buying in quantity. And we started importing containers. Over the years we’ve imported containers of new and antique product from England, Scotland, Romania, Hungary, Vietnam, and China. There may have been more, those are just the one’s we can remember. Over the years we’ve also made deals with lots of different business partners to acquire products and containers from dozens of countries.

Let’s update new arrivals from the last few weeks.

The large totem poles are back, in two different styles. We also got in the multi legged stools in two sizes-a photo is below. There is also a photo of some fun hand carved wooden owls that showed up.

Attached to last week’s update there is a photo of cups and saucers. We got in a couple of batches, about 30 total. Surprisingly, there was seven Paragon which are the most popular these days. There rest were a variety including: Aynsley, Royal Albert, Royal Crown Derby, Royal Winton, Windsor, Rosina, Adderley, Queen Anne, Crafton, Salisbury, Gladstone, Crown Trent Staffordshire, Mentone, and Royal Stafford.

There was also a nice collection of Belleek that arrived. A photo of that collection is part of last week’s update as well.

New antique furniture arrivals include: small 1940’s Art Deco bookcase, set of 4 kitchen chairs painted green, pair of Duncan Phyfe walnut lamp tables, pair of maple night stands, Nectel Duncan Phyfe dining room table, pair of colonial chairs also painted green, a pair of whitewashed open corner cabinets, small thatched wicker table, red velvet living room chair, Bavarian three drawer inlaid dresser, Queen Anne style games table, small plant table, rare nest of five inlaid tables, Queen Anne mahogany night stand, country French carved desk chair, and assorted odd chairs.

Even more new antique arrivals include: a variety of crystal, pair of ginger jars with stands, 2 vintage wall clocks, nice wicker sewing basket, 3 Victorian vases, 34piece set of Diamond china, 2 canes[one with a sterling band], oil lamps, 4foot wooden step ladder, rare harvest stoneware crock with 2 spouts, and assorted china including: lots of plates, Wedgwood, Royal Worcester, Chokin collection-24k gold, Paragon, and Royal Albert.

And a baker’s rack, not antique, showed up.

I feel as though I’ve written this update before, but here we go again. For those who are unaware, all nonessential businesses in Ontario are closed for instore shopping, and yes that includes The Barn. We are still open for curbside pickup and delivery.

There are lots of photos on our Reproductions page, if you want to shop from home. Plus, we have full walkthrough tour videos of The Barn on YouTube. There are links to the videos on our Antiques page.

If you would like more information about one or several of the items, you see in the videos just send us an email. Please describe the piece and state the time of the video. Or just send us a screenshot. Since posting the videos we have received several emails with vague descriptions of items, it can be difficult to figure out which piece is of interest, so please be specific.

If there is something you would like to purchase, please email us your phone number and we will give you a call to arrange payment and delivery or a curbside pickup time. When we are closed to instore shopping, we can only take payment by Visa or Mastercard over the phone.

We will continue to post weekly updates on this page every Monday. During the first two stay at home orders several customers reached out to let us know that they enjoyed the stories from The Barn that we posted. Your feedback was much apricated. So, we will bring back the quarantine series with more stories from The Barn. We aren’t out of stories yet.

The photos we post on this page will continue to be of new arrivals. As usual there is lots of items already en route that will arrive during lockdown. Plus, we will bring in new antique pieces from storage as we have space.

During lockdown we do not keep regular store hours, so if you would like to get in touch, email is best.

I know I said this last time like a lot of people, but hopefully this will be the last lockdown and we will be able to get back to something approaching normal soon. Stay safe everyone.

This past week we received a shipment of large stained glass Tiffany style lamps. The fun smaller butterfly lamps also showed up. As did a fresh batch of large Art Glass vases and bowls. There are a couple of photos below.

More new outdoor arrivals included: cast iron benches, cast iron 3piece bistro sets, plant stands, and garden gnomes.

New antique furniture arrivals included: unusual carved teak coffee table-a photo is below, 3piece iron patio set[table & 2 chairs], outdoor plant table, inlaid jewelry table, early pine tool chest, child’s rocker, iron & wicker circular planter, oval bevelled mahogany mirror, walnut double bed, vintage walnut dresser, oak swivel bar stool, mahogany wine table, pair of Georgian dining room chairs, child’s chair, iron magazine stand, small yellow bookcase, a nice set of Empire chairs-a photo is below, and more.

The non-furniture antique new arrivals included: 6foot cedar plank, a collection of pine boards, assorted planters & urns, large carboy, Labatt’s mirror sign, assorted odd table leaves, collection of china creamers, copper & delf coal bucket and stick stand, 2 miter boxes, 3 antique water pumps, metal garden rooster, goose neck adjustable brass floor lamp, rare cast iron 1930 tire bead for model A’s by Snap on Tools, Honda generator, pair of Asian lamps, collection of printer’s blocks, large selection of silver plate holloware including 3 tea sets, Argentinian canteen, 2 ceiling light fixtures, large cast iron farm bell on 6foot stand, 54inch high cast iron candle stand, rare grape picking metal basket, 9 candle copper candelabra, assorted crystal pieces-a photo is below, large crockery planter, 2 part blue flower holder, 2 flower carriers, and more.

We also got in a bunch of sets of dishes this week. Most of them are still boxed, but the three that we’ve got out are: 54pieces green white and gold Paragon set, 44pieces Royal Albert petit point set, and 19piece Royal Crown Derby Mikado set. The Paragon set will probably be sold before this even gets posted, it seems everyone wants Paragon these days.

The much talked about, custom ordered, large replica metal signs have all finally arrived! I didn’t include any photos because there is a ”Large Replica Metal Signs” section on our Reproductions page with lots of photos. Plus, they just arrived, we haven’t finished unpacking them yet. All the signs in the “Large Replica Metal Signs” section are now in stock. There are even more large sign options available instore. We are pretty excited about these, I first mentioned designing some larger signs two years ago to one of our suppliers. After a lot of design and manufacturing details were worked out, and several rounds of samples, and of course covid related shipping delays, they are finally here!

It seems like every spring we amass enough outdoor metal birds to build an aviary, and this spring is no exception. More birds showed up this past week including: peacocks, blue jays that hang from the ceiling, two types of egrets, yellow goldfinches, and roosters that hang on the wall.

A few more new outdoor items included; Ferris wheel planters and bicycle planters.

A bunch of fun new home décor items showed up, including: moose & deer head resin sculptures, replica vintage wall fire extinguishers, wall décor, accent tables, wooden crates, vintage replica model tractors, motorcycles, and Volkswagens.

New antique furniture arrivals included: red leather wing chair, two door maple bookcase, Art Deco chest of drawers, plant stands, 54” round mahogany table with 4 leaves, set of 5 mahogany dining chairs, set of 4 colonial chairs painted yellow, pair of press back chairs-also painted yellow, Louis XV style night stand, birch bookcase, large Victorian mantle mirror, oval Victorian parlour table, oval marble top carved lamp table, and more.

Non furniture antique arrivals from this past week included: small early mantle clock, Lladro figurine, 2 wooden ladders, 2 signed and numbered decoys, assorted china platters, miscellaneous figurines & Limoges pieces, wicker baskets & trays, pair of unusual wicker candle holders, 3 different 2feet high Asian influenced vases, and more. 

This past week we received an enormous and long overdue shipment of reclaimed wood furniture. Lots of items we normally stock, plus lots of special factory ordered pieces. First the special orders, the large and small Cintra sideboards are back in the Rustic Acorn finish. In the Settler line we now have the complete bedroom collection in the African Dusk colour: queen beds, chests of drawers, dressers, night stands, and blanket boxes. We also got in the Irish Coast sofa tables in African Dusk. A few photos are below. Please note that these were all special orders and when we run out, we may not be able to restock them again. PGT reclaimed furniture is getting progressively harder to get due to the tremendous demand and long wait times.

As for the regular stocking items, the lifestyle three drawer file cabinets have been restocked. From our Irish Coast African dusk line, we’ve restocked: ladder back chairs, small coffee tables, three drawer night stands, writing tables, and large benches.

We also got in two new styles of firepits this past week, just in time for outdoor season! One looks like a beehive and the other is a bird in a tree. And the metal scarecrows are back!

And because we seem to get in replica vintage signs every week now, the large “Farm Fresh Eggs” signs arrived. The eggs signs originally arrived in February, but they sold out in less than a month. I guess folks really like eggs.

Antique furniture new arrivals included: a terrific late Victorian walnut double bed-a photo is below, pair of wing chairs, square oak parlour table, fold out sewing cabinet, coin cabinet[specially designed for displaying coins], a nice mahogany server, Windsor rocking chair, primitive bentwood rocker, mahogany leather top lamp table, rectangular pine mirror, refinished maple school desk, primitive pine bench, Victorian side chair, Sheraton wash basin stand circa 1790, and more.

We also got in a six-piece parlour set, a photo is below. We will break up the set, it is very difficult to find someone who wants to buy full parlour sets these days. But when we break them up, the pieces sell quickly. We’ve only brought in a pair of chairs for now, but if you want the full set before we start selling off the pieces, just ask.

More antique new arrivals included: large silver plate ice bucket, miscellaneous small china pieces, 20” figurine by Santini, stop and no parking signs, exceptional oak spinning wheel[a photo is below], desk globe, collection of marked crocks[Halifax, Eagon & sons, McConnell Toronto, etc.], castle jewelry box, large decorative milk can, copper boiler, copper ash can, assorted crystal bowls, 2 Royal Doulton figurines, four canes, and more.

Well, that was different, after 15 weeks closed to instore shopping, we had customers in the store this past week. After so long in lockdown we got used to being closed. It occurred to me that this was the longest period of time The Barn has been closed since 1969. Things are still far from back to normal, as we are operating with a maximum capacity of 10 customers at a time. But, it’s a step in the right direction.

We’ve had a lot of frustrated customers over the last few months, who were not pleased with not being allowed in the store to shop. We are located in Peel, but are close to Halton so many customers told us that we should be open during lockdown. Stores just a few blocks away in Halton were allowed to open. Unfortunately, close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades, and we were not permitted to open, but we are now.

We are booking appointments for Mondays and Tuesdays, closed on Wednesdays, and open 10am to 5pm, Thursday through Sunday. Amazingly, we received our first request for an appointment ten minutes after premier Ford announced a date for Peel’s return to the grey zone. We would like to thank our many customers who have waited patiently for the stay at home order to be lifted.

We would also like to return to normal weekly updates on new arrivals on this page. So, to get started in that direction, here is an update on some recent arrivals.

Antique new arrivals included: lots of lamps in various styles, 2 cast iron lanterns, wooden ladder, 2 oak whisky barrels[3’high, 22”round top], hall tree, nice vintage wooden floor lamp, dough box on stand[would make a great outdoor planter], box of 50 LP’s, iron base marble top hall table, pair of oak folding bookcases, bicycle planter, mid-century metal chair, iron & wicker plantstand, 6 cups & saucers, 10piece Limoges tea set, pine suitcase, 2 box planters, vintage walnut lamp table, marron leather swivel desk chair, period rectangular marble top coffee table, 2 tier leather top lamp table, half-moon wicker hall table, 3 foot round kitchen table with cast iron base, and more.

And of course, yet another batch of replica tin signs arrived.

We will post a full update on new arrivals next week!

The Blue Jays are playing spring training games and the snow is melting, so we’ve decided it’s time for spring! Around this time of year is normally when we start receiving new outdoor items. But given the commonality of shipping delays during the pandemic we planned ahead, and lots of new outdoor items have already arrived. Plus, there are still lots more fun new and returning outdoor items due to arrive throughout the spring. 

Below there is three photos of new items from a recent shipment. If you would like to see them in person, we put samples in the windows at The Barn, if you happen to be out for a walk in the neighbourhood. The popular large crane is the only returning item from last year, from this shipment that is, the rest are all brand new items. My favorite is the 52 inch tall rooster. Yes, you read that right, 52 inch tall rooster. Because who doesn’t need a giant rooster in their backyard?

There are fun bees and butterflies that hang on the wall or fence, stoplight bird feeders, feathered blue jays & cardinals, praying mantis, woodpeckers, lots of penguins, and of course pink flamingos. We now have four different sizes of pink flamingos in stock.

There are three additional photos below of outdoor items that came in earlier during the lockdown. You may have noticed some of those items if you watched one of The Barn tour videos. 

I definitely buried the lead on this one, but after 15 weeks in lockdown we are opening up for instore shopping again, with a low-capacity limit. We have decided to allow a maximum of 10 customers in the store at a time. This is well below the government mandated capacity limit. We will be taking reopening slowly. When the covid numbers improve we will increase our capacity limit.

We will be open on Monday and Tuesday by appointment or chance, closed on Wednesdays, and open 10am to 5pm, Thursday through Sunday, on a first come first serve basis. No appointments will be taken for Thursday through Sunday. These are the same hours we have had since early on in the pandemic. When we weren’t closed for instore shopping of course. These hours allow us to book appointments two days a week for customers who would rather shop by appointment. They also allow us greater flexibility with our schedule, which we’ve needed to deal with covid related challenges. Just about everything we do related to our business takes longer these days because of covid safety precautions we have to take. 

We have had some confusion in the past about our hours and procedures, so I would like to explain further. Thursday through Sunday we will let a maximum of 10 customers in the store. After that the door will be locked. As customers leave, we will allow new customers in the building to a total of 10. If the door is locked that means we are at capacity. We will also place a sign outside the door explaining the situation. You can book an appointment for Mondays and Tuesdays, so you know you will be allowed in, or you can just chance it. Appointments are especially useful for customers who would like certainty that they will be able to get into the store. “By chance” simply means if we are available and have capacity, we will let you in to shop. Please understand that just because we are in the building, we are not always available to receive customers. We need time to get sold pieces out, bring new items in, and for cleaning and sanitizing. We will do our best to accommodate customers when we can. Hopefully this explanation will clear up any confusion around our hours and procedures.

We are asking that everyone come alone or with one other person. Groups larger than two will not be allowed in The Barn. Masks must be worn at all times. Please keep a minimum of two meters from anyone you didn’t come with. If you are experiencing flu like symptoms, do not enter the building. Hand sanitizer is available inside the front door and on the counter at The Barn.

Hopefully there will not be a third lockdown and we can gradually return to more normal operations. But for now, we will be open on this limited scale for everyone’s safety. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.

This week let’s update new arrivals! We received even more replica tin signs, if you can believe it. A photo of some of the new ones is below. 

A shipment from our Nature Form line arrived. It included two large totem poles, lots of animal head canes, blown glass stump vases, decorative barrel table, wooden figures[turtles, hippos, motorcycles, etc.], bran new and surprisingly complicated elephant puzzle boxes and lots of the very popular superhero and villain puppets. Why not put on a puppet show for your dog or cat? It’s not the strangest way to pass time during lockdown that I’ve heard of.

We acquired a garage full of wicker back in the fall. Most of it never found its way into The Barn. We figured spring is coming, so recently we brought it all in a bit at a time, sorted and priced everything. I grabbed a photo of some of what we had in one of our aisles while we were sorting it, the photo is below. New items are coming in faster during lockdown then they are leaving, so we left some wicker in, filled up a huge armoire with some smaller pieces, and put the rest into storage. Once we reopen the rest should come in over the first few weeks as we have space. There was some wicker furniture but it was mostly smaller items: window planters, baskets, stools, serving trays, large & small planters, etc.. 

We’ve been asked a bunch of times during lockdown for old windows, mostly by film production buyers. We’ve had to tell everyone that we didn’t have any. Now that nobody is asking for them, we just got in a big batch in all kinds of different sizes. We left less than a dozen in The Barn, so if you need a pile, just ask.

A few more antique and vintage new arrivals included: 2 chainsaws, cast iron plant stand, gut seat bar stool, 2 pairs of snow shoes, vintage sleigh, extra thick orchard ladder[We attached a photo because we have never seen one that thick.], 2 large gold framed prints, drop front maple desk with chest on the bottom, pair of cast iron outdoor chairs, whale oil burner, and a wicker bistro table.