New antique shop in Attica offers vintage decor
ATTICA – Bob and Jackie Bary decided offerings in their vintage décor shop should include some rusted items.
The idea is to let homeowners create a unique style through a combination of clearly antique pieces that are otherwise still in good shape with more traditional furnishings in a room.
Embracing the concept, they named their new shop – itself constructed from recycled barn wood and rusty corrugated metal – Upper Rust Décor & More.
The business at 241 N. Main features both refurbished and original antique furniture – from tables and dressers to benches and baskets – as well as new and vintage decorating items.
The couple has been going to garage sales, estate auctions, and flea markets for years, with one of their retirement goals being a shop offering quality vintage at reasonable prices.
Pieces that can be decorative as well as functional are something the Barys look for, such as an old drawer that can be set upright on a table or hung from a wall. The drawer has several small areas in it where an individual can place family mementos, candles or more.
In the shop is a small wooden ironing board that can be used to iron clothes, or to serve as a serving table for a small gathering.
Dan Porter of Dan’s Rustic Edge showpieces an antler chandelier over one display area. He will be creating pieces for sale at the shop. Dan’s work is from local woods and antlers from the area as well as Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
Another corner of the shop displays cast iron toys and other cast iron equipment parts, while a distinctive vintage fireplace mantel graces another wall.
The most unusual piece the couple has found so far, however, is a vintage hot air balloon basket, stamped “Experimental,” that hangs from the high ceiling of the store.
Outside the shop is set of outdoor metal furniture that includes tables, chairs and a metal bench with a matching ashtray and end table.
Homemade items will eventually be ready for display and sale, created in a sawmill Bob has near his home. He can cut slabs for furniture from logs of walnut, cedar and other native wood species. Once cut, the slabs must dry for up to a year. He creates “live edge” slab tables by leaving bark around the table’s outside edge.
Jackie’s grandmother used to sell antiques from in her home and Jackie would help refinish the furniture to its original grain and beauty. Her daughter also picked up Jackie’s knack for decorating, operating a similar antique furnishing store in Little River called 2 – 12 Main.
The Barys, who were able to start the business with incentives from the City of Attica and matching funds from a Harper County Community Development Grant, intend to keep prices low enough to move inventory so customers will continue to shop and see new items.
Upper Rust Décor & More
241 N. Main, Attica
9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Thursday through Sunday.
