As soon as Deb and I started talking about building a house, I knew I wanted a ginormous kitchen island.  And, I wanted it to be an antique store counter.  We have an antique store counter that we used in the old house and also here in the cottage, but it is 8′ long.  Our kitchen is a lot bigger than the old one so we needed a larger size.  I thought it would be impossible to find.  As always, one day I was scouring the marketplace.  And up popped a 12′ store counter that was located in Illinois.  It happened to be 6 1/2 hours away from us.  Is that shocking? 

Remember the pantry doors?  They were 6 1/2 hours away.  And we had to drive 6 1/2 hours to pick up our two antique fireplace mantels.  So, no… everything these days is 6 1/2 hours away from us.  

Deb and I were off on an adventure.

12′ Antique Store Counter 

Growing up in Indiana, I have been to Illinois many times before.  It’s always been a “drive thru” state to get some place else.  This time we were on a mission to get our antique store counter.  We obviously set the GPS to take get us there, but we went all country roads and wondered a few times where we would end up.  Traveling on a four lane highway for about 30 minutes of that drive, we were the only ones on the two lane highways most of the time.  It was an absolutely gorgeous drive.  

Once we arrived and saw the counter, we knew this was the one.  We love the three panels that it has on the front.  We got it all loaded up and the guy told us that he sells antiques for a living and asked us if we were interested in anything else.  Because he had an entire storage room full of goodies.  Of course, we are.

We went to see all of his other pieces which included several antique wardrobes, lots of card catalog type cabinets, dressers, chairs, benches, you name it.  And, we found two pieces that we had to bring home with us.  I will be sharing what else we grabbed shortly and the plans we have for one of those pieces.  

Plans for the Antique Store Counter

I knew when we left on the adventure that the store counter was pine.  I LOVE old pine pieces.  They have so much character. I was not a huge fan of the color of the finish on it because it was pretty dark.  So, I am for sure going to strip and refinish it.  We also will make the back side of the bar a little more functional for us, which will include additional shelving, etc.  That will be a project in itself.  It is where we will store all of our dishes, etc.  The inside will also get a fresh coat of white paint.

Anyway… check back to see what we do with the 12′ antique store counter.  We have another really fun thing in mind for it!