Monday, April 21, 2014

A Change in Seasons

Hi everyone!  I hope your Easter was as wonderful as ours..such a perfect day in the Chicagoland area!

Today, I want to share a magical place with you!  It is a store called A Change In Seasons, owned by my friend, Lori.

My photos do not do it justice...such a fascinating place! I could live there! I will run out of superlatives before I am done describing her shop!


Lori is making some changes of her own and is now offering a 50% discount on her already low prices.  I know I sound like a commercial but I am in love with her store!

She has such exquisite taste and her vignettes are swoon-worthy!

Truly an enchanted environment!  I am immediately transported back to the wide-eyed innocence of childhood when I wander the gardens and the shop...stopping every ten seconds to exclaim, "Oh my gosh!  Oh my GOSH!  Did you see that?  Can you SEE that?"
LOL!

You get the message.
Her shop is cool.  Really cool.
Very cool indeed.

Let's take a walk through her store in lovely Crete, IL...shall we?

First, let's stop by my home to see the two iron bunnies and the fruit topiary I found at Lori's gorgeous store!

...and the bunny tureen...
Gracie and Handsome Husband colored the eggs...aren't they sheer perfection?!

Now, on to the shop!

If the taller finial looks familiar it is because I have a pair flanking my sunroom doors!

Beautiful!

This urn and plinth would be perfect for any garden...formal or informal.

Lori told me that similar faux bois benches can be found in cemeteries!

I think this is a bird bath but it could be used as an urn. Or perhaps it is an urn that could be used as a bird bath? 
 Look at the iron arbor!


This isn't the best photo but the bowl sits atop a trio of neoclassical dolphins.  It is huge!

I would use this in the sunroom as a table with a thick piece of plexiglass on top.  How would you use it?


She has two of these 18" square lions!

I have decided to collect fruit topiary urns.  This one is huge!
Wouldn't it be lovely in a Dining Room?

There is a virtual sea of French wire planters!
I have seen them used in all areas of the home, not just outdoors.  Can you see them filled with towels in the bath?

Another stunning urn on plinth...

A better photo of the dolphin pedestal urn...I LOVE this!

This scrolly Victorian urn sits atop an ancient limestone capital.  
Note all the treasures behind it?  This place is a wonderland of interesting finds!
I would love this on my kitchen island, filled with apples!


Lori loves the way nature creates patina on these pieces so she keeps them outdoors...

I wish I had room for that cherub statue in the background!

The twin to the lion mentioned above.  I love the ivy growing over it!
It could easily be made into a fountain spitter!


This zinc table would be perfect indoors or out!

Wouldn't it be lovely to open this gate to your garden on a sunny June morning?

This urn with lid would be stunning indoors or out as well!

You are too late for this almost 5 ft tall limestone finial!  It is coming home with me to be the garden focal point outside my Dining Room window!


She is also selling her stunning display pieces. I need to go back and take more photos!  You would not BELIEVE the treasures she has amassed!


This case sits atop the marble on her antique Victorian store counter...also for sale! Lori is a trained artist...and it is evident in everything she does!

I believe this desk is Florentine?  The front folds back to reveal a writing surface and storage.  So beautiful!

This is not a reproduction.  It is an actual oil painting on an antique tin panel.  Soooooo pretty.

This might come home with me.  I have a thing for wreaths!  LOL!  Look at that angel!  

One of many cloche vignettes...filled with velvet gourds...

Again, I love how her outdoor pieces are accentuated by nature. That's Lori's shoe...to give you an idea of the size... I am always so inspired when I visit Lori's store!

Tons of shutters with original paint!

One of a pair of scrolly iron brackets of oak leaves and acorns...

This bronze cornice is very long...six feet at least!  Did you notice how she embellished the silver platter with the looking glass?  There are many more similar to this!  The pine cabinet to the right is also for sale!


This is my all time favorite!  It is a corrugated zinc panel mounted on a frame for support.  It is six feet long and two feet high.
Wouldn't it be perfect on a kitchen island?  

This is a mere sample of what A Change In Seasons has to offer.  I am not exaggerating when I say I have never seen so many beautiful things in one place!

If you are interested in any of the pieces please call Lori on her cell phone...

1(708)601-4456

Her store address is:

533 W Exchange St
Crete, Illinois 60417

But call before coming!
If you do go, stop by the coffeehouse down the street!  They have the BEST drinks!

This is not a paid advertisement!  LOL!  I just wanted to introduce you guys to one of my favorite places, owned by a lovely person whom I admire!

I will be hosting a GIVEAWAY from Lori's stunning shop in the next few days!  Stay tuned!

xo

Andie


22 comments:

  1. Andie,
    You are right, gorgeous pieces. I love the 18 inch square Lions.
    Vera

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  2. You are a tease! This Texas girl would love to be shopping at Lori's. Does she have more of those adorable iron bunnies? Would love some of her garden pieces. What a treasure trove!

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  3. Oh Andie, I can't stand it. First of all I have to see your secretary that is my dream one (please let me know if you ever get tired of it) and second, does Lori do Roundtop, TX show? That show is akin to Brimfield and Paris. If she does, do you think she'd deliver in OK on her way there? I see so many things I love!!!!!!!!!

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  4. well crete is not too far, hmmmm.
    you oh so scored with the 5' tall finial, wow!! i have that same bench in my garden, just love it.
    tell lori she is very very good
    debra

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  5. Boy do I wish I lived closer, I loved the garden arbor and gate. You lucky lady, you come home with some of the best finds I swear!

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  6. Looks like an amazing place!!!
    I have not been to Crete since the 90's I'm afraid but obviously need to get there soon.
    Thanks for sharing this super find!
    Drooling over your five ft urn---- would have grabbed that too!
    :)
    A

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  7. OMG!!! So many pretty things...I would love to hang that wrought iron garden gate in our master bath!!

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  8. Olá,
    amei a loja, uma pena que seja tão longe daqui do Brasil. Tem muitas coisas bonitas, não sei o que escolher.
    Sua casa está linda e sua decoração cada dia ganha mais coisas lindas. Amei o coelho e a terrina.
    Bjos tenha uma ótima semana.

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  9. Andie, Lori's yard full of time-worn urns and statuary reminds me of the peace and serenity I have found when wandering by myself in many a tree-shaded roadside cemetery. I never think of graveyards as sad places. They are, instead, made for prayer, meditation, contemplation and inspiration. The following excerpt from a large, very famous poem written in the eighteenth-century is possibly the best example of what I mean

    Can storied urn or animated bust
    Back to its mansion call the fleeting breath?
    Can Honour's voice provoke the silent dust,
    Or Flattery soothe the dull cold ear of Death?

    Perhaps in this neglected spot is laid
    Some heart once pregnant with celestial fire;
    Hands that the rod of empire might have swayed,
    Or waked to ecstasy the living lyre.


    Excerpted from “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard”
    by Thomas Gray (1716-1771)

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  10. Emily Dickinson too wrote compellingly of death. Here is her best-known piece inspired by a churchyard.

    Safe in their alabaster chambers --
    Untouched by morning and untouched by noon --
    Lie the meek members of the Resurrection --
    Rafter of satin and roof of stone.

    Light laughs the Breeze in her Castle of Sunshine --
    Babbles the Bee in a stolid Ear --
    Pipe the sweet Birds in ignorant Cadence --
    Ah! what Sagacity perished here!

    Grand go the years in the crescent above them --
    Worlds scoop their Arcs and Firmaments row --
    Diadems drop and Doges surrender --
    Soundless as dots on a disc of snow.


    ~ Emily Dickinson (130-1886)

    All the stone and iron artifacts peacefully moldering away in Lori's side yard next to that old brick, nineteenth-centrury dwelling brought all this to mind. The power of remembered associations coupled with imagination can be very powerful.

    Ruins from the ancient world inspire similar musings. Those who find fascination with and reverence for the past morbid have no real understanding of the meaning of Life.

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  11. Love those lions heads and your new urn/finial for the DR is great!

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  12. Now this is the kind of place I like to wonder by myself for hours with a cup of coffee in hand... I love all the architecture pieces but that gate is love at first sight.

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  13. Oh I would like to shop the outdoors of all her goodies, I also like the lions and the arch thingie which I need in my yard . It was all beautiful and interesting

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  14. Andie, thank you dearly for taking the time to visit my place, I sweetly smile when I see you have come.
    As for your dinning area you know how much I love and adore your grand style. You have taken us on a wonderful field trip through the outdoors gardens of wonderment with Lori's shop!
    How could you do this to us? With every photo I wanted the next to hurry and excite me!
    How you you visit this shop and not take a truck load home with you, I know I sure would want to.
    I was right with you with every choice you made as to a liking or buying I wanted one too.

    I love her wire pieces, you know that about me with what I create with wire often, I love the urns, and finials especially the 5"ft one you are taking home I so saw this as a pillar of beauty in your garden, and would love to have one in the planter up by my front door as a center focal piece.
    Her cage taking on the outdoor patina is just what I would do as well, making it that much more lovable.

    I can't wait to join in on her GiveAway sponsored by you.
    Now I am going to go take a closer look, let all inspire.

    Xoxo
    Dore

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  15. OMG! I was trying to find something, ANYTHING from Lori's shop I wouldn't want! No luck! I want it all!!!

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  16. I'm so jealous, I love the lions in the leafs...I miss you beautiful sister ❤

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  17. Your taste is impeccable as always! I hope to see you soon 💗💗💗

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  18. Andie, Lori really has an eye for the unique and wonderful just as you do! LOve everything she has to offer. My kind of shop definitely!

    xoxo
    Karena
    The Arts by Karena

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  19. Andie,
    I came back to peek at the lovely lions. I have many scattered throughout our house and I adore having them to add not only architectural interest but they become my watch cats!
    I didn't mention on my last visit how gracefully stunning your secretary over time has evolved to be. Oh and the cast iron standing bunny ... I have the same one. I use it as a door weight in the back room to keep Max and Simon from trapping themselves into the back room. There is a full length mirror on the back of the door and they often times get trapped admiring themselves. lol
    XO,
    Vera

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  20. Andie, I can't stop thinking about that iron gate. I have this...."whimsy" idea for the girls' room and I have been looking for gates like these to use as their head boards. They are impossible to find around here.

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  21. Most of my antique cement "yard ornaments" have broken up and hauled away. These pieces had been in the family for over 150 years.

    I used to have a cement swan and two intricate oblong planter boxes. Now all that remains of the collection is the cement pedestal planter. It leaks a bit, but is still usable. You can see a bit of that planter here. It sits by our side steps. That planter takes two strong men just to budge it even a little bit!

    I despise those plastic imitations that we see so often today in the yards and on the porches of some of the finest homes.

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  22. Hi Andie,
    I just found your blog... and oh, this is so amazing. A long drive for me. But SUCH INSPIRATION! Lucky you to live nearby & visit her shop often. The garden ornamentals are gorgeous!
    ~ Lin

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