Four Roses and a Few Antiques

We stopped at 3 antique markets while in Louisville, including Joe Ley Antiques in the NuLu neighborhood.

The building alone was worth a look, but the amount of lighting fixtures was pretty impressive when we walked in the front door.

Keep your eyes open and look high and low in antique stores, you never know what you will see!

Like a propeller with a woman's face on it hanging from the ceiling...never seen one of those before.

Every turn brought new surprises, hope no one is afraid of clowns.

Architectural Salvage on Broadway was small but full of friendly cats.

I bought a small coat hook that wasn't an antique, but if my pockets were deeper I would have loved to buy one of these tiles.  I've seen them on Etsy too so if I win the lottery I've seen them in person now and know what to spend some of my winnings on!

But, as Wayne says you have to play to win so that is unlikely.  

We also made a quick stop in Frankfort for a last look at the Capitol, and a few moments in a charming bookstore before moving on to Four Roses Bourbon Distillery in Lawrenceburg.

Roses were everywhere

Four Roses has been around since 1888 and I believe they said they were the only bourbon in Kentucky still being sold during Prohibition as "for medicinal purposes".  I'll let you hear the rest of the history when you come for a tasting.

Bring your prescription!

Tastings never go well for me, unfortunately it wasn't until the end that our pourer suggested tossing in an ice cube which helped quite a bit.

We got to take home the glass, which I've used a few times already to take my pills in the morning and I love seeing the four roses in the bottom!

Art Deco Dreamin'

I had a free day last week so I had my mother meet me to visit some antique malls in Milwaukee that neither one of us had been to before.

She is always on the lookout for dishes and linens, but I am trying to solidify what direction I want our new home in Canada to take.  Our first stop was the Riverview Antique Market where I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of their offerings..but my mother was a little appalled by the pricing.

Our current home leans toward Mission style and Arts and Crafts movement, simple and nature inspired like the vases in the pictures above and below. The vase above was so tempting, especially for the price!

And of course there's nothing wrong with being eclectic, so why not throw in some Art Deco pieces?  How amazing are these glass pheasants that were on display next to a lamp?  Talk about delicious!

Upstairs there was a whole booth devoted to Art Deco, which might be the first one I've seen.

How great would this coal box be to set by one of our new fireplaces?  Love the ship design since we will be living on the ocean.

But these clocks really stole my heart, I just might be back for one of them in the spring.

Seriously, I don't even care which one!

And this Ibex was neat, but the fact that it is a planter had me a little wary.  I'd want to see it with a plant in it before I'd decide.

We also visited a great architectural salvage place called Razed and Found which boasted a ceiling from one of the exhibitor pavillions at the 1893 Worlds Fair.  Um, hello!!

While I couldn't afford to take that home with me, how cool would it be to imitate the design for a project?  I was also in love with the golden treasure in the bathtub, but Curly is the mascot is not for sale unfortunately.

A set of heat register grates caught my eye, but they are too heavy to use as decorative pieces. And a bit expensive.

A place like this is heaven to geeks like me.  Don't forget to look up!

Speaking of looking up, antique tin ceiling squares were available, and I've seen a few DIY projects where these are framed and displayed that I may attempt.  But likely I will buy new and distress them myself because you have to worry what type of paint may have been used on the old ones.

Just down the road we stopped into the Ambassador Inn to see if it would be a good spot to have lunch but the lobby had an overpowering scent that was leaking into the restaurant so I had to pass.

So just a quick last look around their lobby as I'll likely never stop by again.

We went to Public Market for lunch and made another stop that I'll share next time.