Meadowview Farm: Barn Sale

Meadowview Farm Barn Sale

Antiques & Vintage Finds

Just in case you are checking in on the where-abouts of our annual Barn Sale...it has been on hiatus for a few years.

Click here to read why there have not been any

We have opened our hay loft -- filled to the brim with antiques and vintage finds.

We are located in Augusta Wisconsin -- near Eau Claire.

Barn Sale Journal:

July 9, 2010: Charlie, our carpenter, arrives to build the exterior stairs to the hay loft. We arrive home that Friday to what looks to be a bean seed planted next to the barn - with stairs sprouting from it.
July 12, 2010: Charlie completes the barn stairs and new door. He installs salvaged 8 pane windows inside the barn. I go up for the first time - takes my breath away to walk inside. Set up a small table & vintage items to surprise Dave when he gets home from work. Dave arrives home, up the stairs & into this fabulous barn. Turns to look out over the fields and is truly stunned that this is ours. Lucky is the word.
July 12, 2010: We purchase a new hauling vehicle & have a hitch immediately installed. (Our other hauler has had issues.) We have a trailer to begin to load from several "secret" antiquing sites to bring home to the farm.
July 19, 2010: Electricians arrived today -- lights & outlets installed. Began to take estimates on painting the barn....I know, I know -- why mess with the beauty of 100 year old painted barn board? Answer - so it will last another 100 years! We will leave the interior unpainted and beautifully primitive!
July 24, 2010: Sweeping begins this weekend -- have my mouth mask, heavy duty broom...this is the part I wasn't looking forward to!
August, 2010: Cleaning, cleaning, cleaning, cleaning. Twelve large bags of dust have come out -- but it is remarkably clean for a barn of this age. I vacuumed the ceiling I could reach -- and was amazed at the lack of cobwebs. Kitties have also found their way up the long stairs and look dwarfed in the large barn as they explore.
Began to load the barn the last weekend of August -- YEA -- now the fun begins!!!
September, 2010: The barn begins to look full -- the fun has come...adding, tweaking, standing back to look, adding, tweaking, standing back to look. It is better than I imagined.
October, 2010: Count down. Lists of readiness get long, then get crossed off, then a new list appears. Pricing, gathering, detailing....checking the weather outlook, tweaking some more. Anxious & Excited!
October 9 & 10, 2010: First Sale -- fabulous weather, surpassed all expectations! Yea!!
October 31, 2010: Working on the "Does on the Go" Sale. Last weekend, redid the whole hayloft - adding trees and greens & holiday items. The loft is really such a beautiful setting for Christmas. Kittens help, then sleep on the feather bed while I work. Brought up all my holiday c.d.s -- Harry Connick, Jr. has been singing away up there!
November 17, 2010: Count down to Saturday's sale. Final gathering on Tuesday -- will do some detailing yet this week -- then open for one day on Saturday, November 20th. After that, will put the barn "to bed" until spring.
November 20, 2010: Cold, cold, cold....yet fabulous sale. Exceeded all goals. Time now to button up the barn for winter and dream about the spring sale -- hmmm, pansies, sweet vases, wheelbarrows, lots of containers to plant in.....
January, 2011: I start to write up my notes, my thoughts for the May sale. Plotting where I will have the "garden room/potting shed", the "floral bedroom", the "Americana tablescape".....thinking I will create a series of "rooms" in the hayloft -- with even an "attic", "laundry room" and a "mud room". For now, everything is boxed, tarped, tucked away. Only the kittens visit and play...and the birds sing for spring.
March 30, 2011: Dale, our electrician, adds more lighting & outlets to the hayloft and two outside lights. Dave will again tackle the birds on Friday -- little guys keep getting in. I have been gathering - and will do some final buying with haste in April for the May sale. If all goes well, I will begin to unpack the barn this Sunday. Count down to the spring sale begins!
May 14 & 15, 2011: Fabulous Spring Barn Sale. Lots of people. Lots of laughter. Lots of vintage finds. Thanks, thanks, thanks!
May 29, 2011: Begin to reboot the barn for fall...seeing what needs to be gathered yet this summer. Decide too much sold in May to set up for a summer sale -- so will not open again until October. This is the first year with two sales -- so learning how this goes. Create a dreamy white room accented with "mason jar blue" in one area of the hayloft-- may just find me hanging out in there this summer. The hayloft is such a sanctuary for me -- a place I have grown to really cherish. Will also cherish the fine art of gathering for October. October 8 & 9 it is!
July 1, 2011: Glad we did not open for a summer sale -- can be too hot in the hayloft. Look forward to working some more on the autumn Barn Sale while on vacation this week -- gather, dis-play (that's my play)...tweak, tweak, tweak. See it coming all together. Ordered my postcards for the October Sale -- posters soon.
August 1, 2011: Have been adding to the sale inventory all summer. Spent this past Saturday at auction -- car full headed straight to the barn!
October, 2011: Fabulous 2nd Annual Autumn Barn Sale -- we surpassed all expectations - including weather! Put the barn to bed on Sunday night with a "thank you".
January, 2012: Beginning to gather and plan for the Spring Barn Sale...hint, Sipping Tea is the theme.
February, 2012: We hear that our Barn Sale is in the pages of a national magazine - Flea Market Style. Even a small note in such a grand magazine makes us ever so proud.
April, 2012: The Hayloft begins to look like spring! Everything is starting to come together...my excitement builds -- can't wait to open the doors wide!
April 15, 2012: Working hard up in the hayloft...gather, gather, gather...display, display, display....tidy, tidy, tidy,....smile, smile, smile!
May 16, 2012: Oh my goodness --- what a fabulous Spring Sale. Just may decide to always do two!!
June 17, 2012: Hayloft is definitely empty....beginning again the "great refill"!
July 10, 2012: Have made decision to offer just one sale in 2013 -- October only. Feeling sad about this, but need to be more thoughtful with my time----takes a lot to get ready for each sale -- will put all my effort into one BIG sale in 2013 (October 12 & 13, 2013).
October, 2012: Fabulous Autumn Sale....clip clop, clip clop...Amish neighbors sent over their hay wagon full of produce...kind folks came out in the rain. Thankful heart I have indeed!
March, 2013: With all the snow this year - glad we decided to only offer one sale in 2013 - on October 12 & 13. Cannot even get into the hay loft yet! Come on Spring!!
September, 2013: Feeling just about ready! Excited to see folks that are new and the folks that return -- feels like a bit of a party to me! Will ponder if there will be any future sales or if this will indeed be my last...feeling O.K. with it all.
October, 2013: Good Golly Miss Molly.....fabulous, fabulous sale! Lovely weather, great folks -----lovely, lovely, lovely. My heart is just so full! My thanks to everyone that attended. Our new problem, how to have enough space for all of you the first morning and how to add another check out line!! Such problems to have (smile).
January, 2014: Made the decision to not host a Barn Sale in 2014. Next tentative sale is October 10 & 11, 2015.
December, 2014: We are glad to have made the decision to not hold a Barn Sale this past year. Between getting healthy AND beginning a new job, would have been too much. Still not sure about 2015.
March, 2015: Feeling with some certainty that there will NOT be an annual Barn Sale this year. We are thinking that we may offer a pop-up sale or two. We will post any sale on this blog and our Meadowview Farm FaceBook page.