Blog

If you’ve been in our shop before, you know we have a passion for old garden pieces. We hunt for garden antiques year-round but we are especially focused on the hunt in the winter. Antique urns are becoming increasing hard-to-find but that doesn’t stop us–we just have to hunt harder and travel farther! We are currently stocking up (hoarding) cast iron urns, cast iron gates, patio furniture, trellises, arbors, bird baths, and statues. If you have pieces that you are interested in selling, let us know. And if you’re looking for garden antiques, check back–our garden area will be set up as soon as weather permits!

There are some New Hampshire shops that are seasonal but we are definitely NOT one of them! We are on the hunt 24-7-365 (as evidenced by the inventory I squashed into my van yesterday). We are open daily year-round and we are determined to bring in new inventory every single day so that our customers can enjoy a unique shopping experience each time they come in.

Yesterday’s house call took us to the home of some folks who are downsizing in preparation for a move. Their collection includes more than 30 butter churns and 50 pieces of antique lighting. Yesterday, we bought a beautiful dry sink, a small butcher block, and an old wooden wheelbarrow (yes, spring is coming). We will be heading back in another week or so to pick up a jelly cupboard and a hatbox dresser, along with the first batch of butter churns and lighting.

So don’t let the weather fool you! For us, the hustle never stops!

If you’ve been in our shop, you’ve probably heard us ask “Are you looking for anything special?” We always ask because our third barn, not accessible to the public, is full of back up inventory. This Gone with the Wind-style settee is just one example of the furniture that is waiting for a spot in one of our main buildings. So if you are “on a mission” and you don’t see what you’re looking for, be sure you to ask!

Yes, winter is coming and much of our garden inventory will be going (into storage, that is). We generally wait for the leaves to fall before start storing & stacking so don’t procrastinate if there’s something in our outside area that you’ve been considering! We will keep some urns and planters accessible for holiday greens but we will be putting away much of our other outside farm & garden inventory. (And by the way, this is a great time to negotiate pricing on our outside inventory.)

Last week, I blogged about our visit from the set designers of the upcoming Mark Wahlberg film Wonderland. Set in the Seventies, the Wonderland decorators bought vintage beer advertising & barware, a taxidermy salmon, wooden signs, and an old porch glider (among other things).

This week, we were visited by the set designers for the upcoming Columbia Pictures film “Little Women” directed by Greta Gerwig (“Ladybird”). These ladies are staging Victorian interiors, a 19th century publishing house, an art studio, a NYC street scene, and formal garden party. They filled their car with quilts, baskets, industrial spools of yarn, ironstone, a tin paint box, old paint brushes, and wooden crates. They’re sending a truck for milk cans & furniture; the prop crew is coming back this week to look at old type, printers trays, leather books, and clothing; and we’re discussing rental of some higher end pieces for the garden scenes.

All of these folks have been great to work with–they are enthusiastic, friendly, focused, and very open to suggestions! They left us with a “want list” of things they need by the start of filming in October so we will be on the hunt to see what we can come up with in the next month or so.

And by the way, we just read that the actors who were in talks to star in the film included Meryl Streep, Emma Stone, and Saoirse Ronan, so if we do rent some of our garden pieces, our customers may be able to buy a Victorian chair that Meryl Streep sat in!  We’ll keep you posted!

 Over the years, set designers staging films in the New England area have come to us for set decor & props. The very first film to feature pieces from Butler’s was Steven Spielberg’s “Amistad.” In that film, most of the objects from our shop (barrels, crates, rope, nautical pulleys, tools)  were used in dock scenes.  The next set that will be sprinkled with our stuff is the upcoming Netflix film “Wonderland” starring Mark Wahlberg and directed by Peter Berg. “Wonderland” is based on the TV show “Spenser for Hire,” a 1980s TV crime drama about a Boston private investigator.

Designers have been in and out of the shop over the past several days picking out crusty 1970s decor including a taxidermy salmon, vintage Budweiser & Pabst signs, old liquor bottles, industrial lights, vintage table lamps, a wooden sign from the Seabrook dog track, and an old porch glider. With thanks to our iphone cameras, we were able to get everything selected, pulled, and packed for today’s pick-up. According to the crew that we met today, filming starts this fall and the correct pronunciation of the shooting location is “Dorchesta.”  There’s no release date yet but we will patiently wait to see Marky Mark, of the Funky Bunch, sitting in a bar decorated with vintage beer signs from our shop!

If you’ve been in our shop lately, you know that we buy and sell a lot of antique taxidermy. There are state and federal regulations with regard to buying, selling, and possessing taxidermy so it’s important to understand the laws in your state before buying “stuffed animals.” In the state of New Hampshire, the general rule is that taxidermy is allowed as long as the animals were not obtained illegally and are not protected. This is a current list of  New Hampshire’s Endangered Species. Creatures protect by federal laws include birds that are part of  The Migratory Bird Treaty Act. Other protected birds include birds of prey, like eagles and owls. In fact, possession of taxidermy eagles and owls is illegal in many states even if the piece was created before the laws were enacted. In the case of our owl, we contacted the New Hampshire Department of Fish & Game for permission to display her in the shop.