Tattered Tiques: Antiques and Blogger Stores in Illinois

As I mentioned on Friday, I went to Illinois this weekend, and although we had every intention of going into the city of Chicago our finds and activities in the suburbs kept us too busy. We ended up spending the majority of our time in Barrington, Bartlett, Wayne, Geneva and St. Charles and frankly that was enough as we were going from morning to night.

Our first stop Saturday morning was Tivoli Garden Antiques and it was fabulous! The store is owned and run by Gwendolyn Whiston and she is a font of knowledge; I could have stayed there all day. The store has a very large selection of transferware including purple, back, brown and red. In addition to the transferware there is a beautiful selection of furniture, silver, hats and so many other fascinating pieces.

Next we headed over to Tattered Tiques, where Susan of the blog  Maple&Magnolia has some of her refinished furniture and other vintage finds. The store has everything from old shoe molds which I love, to a chicken coop, to enameled signs and of course Annie Sloan Chalk Paint and many pieces refinished using it. The back room is HUGE and filled to the brim with unusual vintage finds and apparently more on the way as the owners were off to Iowa on a buying trip. 

In addition to all of the great things in Tattered Tiques, the building that it is in is filled with little stores, all selling great antiques, and clothes.

Get your party dress on!

As we had been at it for a few hours we needed to stop for a little sustenance and by chance we discovered  Ambrosia Euro American Patisserie with delectable croissants, cookies, pastries and many other treats and of course coffee drinks. Everything we tried was delicious! I felt as if I was back in Paris.

Once we had a drink and a break we were back at it and headed  to the Pink Geranium, we were met at the door by Rosie the greeter dog, she is a delightful, friendly 14 year old black lab who works 31/3 days a week at the store.  I did purchase a few things from their beautiful selection of vintage, antiques and consigned items. The ladies that own the store are friendly, helpful and knowledgeable, and we enjoyed talking to them about the items in the store and the items they have found and restored.

Our last stop of the day was to SG Too owned and operated by Debra of the blog 5th and State, located in St. Charles in a little house with a charming back garden! There were so many things to see, from the garden ornaments, to the pen and ink drawings of bees, and little animals, to the fabulous ottomans made from old French baskets, to the Annie Sloan chalk painted furniture, a selection of candles and more.

Basket of stone mushrooms

We did visit several other stores and shops but these were my favorite. Unfortunately we did not make it to the store of Allison from the Polohouse, we just ran out of time. The rest of my visit consisted of drives in the country looking at beautiful houses, deer and birds, baking brownies, banana bread and sitting and talking with my sister and mother and niece. A perfect weekend with family.

Then Sunday night of course Downton Abbey! I love this show! I simply cannot get enough and I am having a tough time restraining myself from going on line to see the rest of the episodes. What did you think? Poor William? Poor Mary?

How was your weekend? Did you relax and enjoy yourself? A good book? A few house chores? I hope that whatever you did you enjoyed!

Have a great week!