Plan B part 2 - Pallian & Company

Last winter on my way home from my family Christmas I decided to take “the scenic route”…from Portland ME Route 1 toward Boston…unthinkable in the summer months with all of the tourist (or better know as "people from away") traffic but in late December perfect opportunity for aimless meandering along the coast of Maine.

My initial plan was to head toward the infamous Maine Diner in Wells ME for breakfast and see what I trouble I could find along the way.  Given it was just after Christmas I knew it was just a matter of time until a big sale sign called my name….and it didn’t take long. 

Pallian & Company

2049 Post Road Wells ME

Pallian & Company in Wells was my first stop. Not only had I never been to this shop I had never even noticed it on this stretch of Route 1…a very non-descript building…so I really have no idea why I made the U-turn to check it out….but I am soooo glad I did.  This place is cottage chic at its greatest!

This is my favorite of all of the rooms at Pallian...beautiful
sea greens/blues are everywhere!

 

So, on my Plan B excursion a couple of weeks ago with by best girlfriend Kate from Scissors, Spatula’s & Sneakers I just knew I had to take her to Pallian & Company. Just as expected she was drooling as much (well almost) as I was over their gorgeous wares.

Love, love, love Pine Cone Hill linens!  So pretty & so
comfortable

They had these in 2 sizes...oh how I debated...I
have almost convinced myself to go back for
them...It's more than a possibility...

Does this look familiar?  It does to me....it looks an awful
lot like the blue plate I bought in Calabash NC last year...
see More Calabash Design...

Growing up on the coast of Maine sea inspired decorative items are like home to me.  I love the array of beautiful & chic beachy items in this shop. I could literally take everything home with me.

Many years ago I stumbled upon a documentary on PBS
about Cuba and all of the old American cars they have
and treasure in Cuba - owners actually park them in their
homes at night and make parts/fluids to keep them
running...Ever since I have wanted to visit Cuba.  I
imagine it to be like walking into 1954...This display of
all things Cuba stopped me in my tracks!

So chic, so simple...love it!

Provence Cottage Antiques

Last year I came upon a fabulous pillow in a magazine that was decorated with vintage baubles of all sorts.  It of course made me stop immediately so I could study it and figure out just how to replicate it.  Well, I had a several pieces of slightly flawed (missing stones, bent pins, etc) old jewelry that I had been saving for just such a project but not enough of just the right thing to fill a whole pillow. So for months I have been on the lookout for nice inexpensive pieces that I could add to my collection of “broken bling” and create my own fabulous pillow (soon to be seen in an upcoming post). 

Sneak Peak....

In my search for the perfect bling at the perfect bargain price I happened upon a lovely little shop that specializes in cottage style vintage items in…you guessed it…Wells Maine.  Provence Cottage Antiques sits behind a sweet little grey house with a white picket fence on Route 1.  

Provence Cottage Antiques
752 Post Rd (Rt 1) Wells, ME

When we visited Provence Cottage last year the porch and the front rooms of the house were open, filled with interesting pieces and what I remember most was the truly splendid vintage chandeliers hanging everywhere.  There were also 2 back buildings full of fun cottage style items, one mostly gardeny type things the other just fun decorative vintage items.

The Garden items....dislayed outside

This year Provence Cottage was another stop on our 4^th of July extravaganza…still great stuff but much smaller this year.  The front house was not open at all nor was the first building that had the gardeny things last year so it was just the far rear building…less stuff, still well worth the stop! 

Last year I found a few slightly damaged jewels priced right for my pillow but still not enough to complete the project…this year I found exactly what I needed to finish it off along with so many other things. 

No, as much as I wanted to I didn't purchase the
whole tray full....now that's restraint!

Now this is a “ladies who lunch” kind of shop but if you love vintage linens, clothing, jewelry, books, teacups, etc this is your place!  There was a vintage 1960’s dress on a dress form next to the front door…so Mad Men…if it was my size you had better believe it would have been in a bag in my car!  I’ve been contemplating having a Mad Men themed party and it would have been just the perfect thing..not meant to be this time though.

Always up for an antiquing adventure...now that we
have her husband convinced not every antique is
old & smelly.  The Mad Men dress is the aqua one
to the left behind Kate.

There were several of these chenille bedspreads that just made me think of spending summers at my great-grandmother’s cottage on Sennebec Pond.  I hated these spreads when I was a kid because it was so hard to make my bed neatly, they were constantly wrinkled, uneven or just not laying right.  Now I definitely have fond memories but then if I had known any curse words I would definitely have used them!



Do you remember these spreads?  My grand-
mother had them in an aqua color.

Provence Cottage Antiques is really one of those places where I can always find something to accessorize with…either myself or my house.

Elaine's Antiques

Last weekend as with most Fourth of July weekends in recent memory I met Kate, one of my oldest friends, and her daughter for our annual strawberry picking expedition.  It’s a clear sign summer has arrived at my house when the fresh berries are in house.  The last couple of years after our hours slaving in the fields in the hot sun with dirt under our nails we have headed to Wells to enjoy a lovely brunch and hit the shops.

This year was no different except we did try a different brunch spot and let me highly recommend it – Bintliffs in Ogunquit.  I had crème brule French toast and ohhhh myyyy gosh I’m still salivating!  Kate had a pecan waffle with caramel sauce and she was in pure dining heaven too.  Years ago, I spent a couple of summers during college in this part of Maine and there used to be an ice cream shop (does anyone remember Viking’s?) in this building that had peanut butter ice cream I still dream about – it was the straight peanut butter (like vanilla) not the peanut butter cup type with chocolate and peanut butter swirls.  Clearly this building has positive flavor karma.

Next stop was Elaine’s Antiques on Route 1 in Wells.  Elaine’s sits back a bit from the road so it’s easy to drive right past it (as a matter of fact we had, literally hundreds of times over the years).  It has been in business for 30+ years as Elaine informed us and she has probably the most organized, focused collection of goodies I have ever seen! 



Elaine's Antiques
1318 Post Road (Rt 1), Wells Maine

Elaine herself was quite a character and shared some really funny stories with us.  Apparently she used to have a sleigh and wooden horses on her front lawn to attract traffic for her shop.  It sounded very eye catching and she clearly loved it.  The problem came with the summer folks that frequent this beach town.  “Kids” (young adults) would frequently get a little lit and try to ride the horses and hang out in the carriage whooping it up leaving all kinds of empty beer cans/bottles behind for her to clean up the following day.  The revelry would wake Elaine and her family up and she would routinely have to yell out the window at them to quiet down and move along.  While she appreciated the fact that the vacationers were enjoying themselves she had to get up in the morning to open her shop and needed her sleep.  So after conceding she was not going to win this battle with the tourists she removed the horse and carriage and now just has a lovely green front lawn like the rest of her neighbors.

As I mentioned earlier I have never quite seen a shop set up is such an organized fashion as Elaine’s – the shop is in a barn that is attached to her house with the framing of the walls exposed and extra 2 x 4’s added to create shelving.  This gives a shadow box illusion that displays her pieces really uniquely.  Her wares are really focused on American stoneware/pottery although she does have some lovely Fenton glass and other glassware - very little furniture here.



Front Room

The first room has the most variety with every kind of pottery vase you can imagine along with lots of depression and other colored glass as well as a fair amount of Roseville pottery.

Imagine the baking necessary to fill all of these...

As I entered the back room the first thing I noticed was the back wall – it was floor to ceiling shelves filled with every sort of cookie jar imaginable.  This was clearly a woman that loves collecting and uses her shop to share her collections (and even perhaps make a few dollars). There was another whole section filled with Mar-crest ovenware – more pieces than I even knew existed.

Just a sampling of the Mar-Crest

The side annex room was simply a home for several sleighs she has for sale.  I have to say I wouldn’t even know where to go about buying 1 sleigh let alone the probably 10 she had for sale.  Very interesting.

A sleigh for every season

A definite fun stop and I highly recommend engaging Elaine in conversation – she is a delight.

Collectique

It is all too common these days on a holiday weekend I am heading home from a few days in Maine that traffic on 95 South is at a standstill at the York toll.  Whatever happened to the good old days when Maine was still a somewhat undiscovered summer paradise?  My daily Boston commuter traffic is nothing compared to the 4 lanes of traffic not moving that is commonplace on a late Sunday afternoon in Southern Maine (mostly Massachusetts tags I must admit..)

One of my ways of combating the frustration that comes with sitting in this kind of traffic is finding alternate routes that may move slowly but at least they move.  Plus as a bonus along these alternate routes I discover the coolest places. One of these finds is Collectique at 1616 Post Road (Route 1) in Wells.  There are a ton of antique/vintage shops on Route 1 in Wells and this is just one of them.

Collectique
1616 Post Road
Wells, Maine

Collectiques is an old Victorian home that has been “converted” into a shop – I use the word converted VERY loosely.  All of its rooms are basically intact as if the house is just waiting for this phase of its existence to be over so a new family can move in, renovate and love it.  Currently, the front lawn and porch are loaded with bargains and it just continues from there through room after room of this very large house.  In one word I would describe Collectiques as rambling (in the best possible way). 



Bargains on the lawn & porch



It is owned by Alex who is a professional picker by trade and uses this shop to sell his “over stock”.  Alex is very low tech and even doesn’t own a computer or TV so, no website for Collectiques.  Alex is a wealth of knowledge so I highly recommend asking him about any of the items in his shop…I guarantee you will learn more than you ever thought possible.

As for the merchandise, if you are looking for Mad Men-esque products this is your place – lots of mid-century modern and lots of opportunities for repurposing projects - i.e. paint & new hardware to bring that piece of furniture with great bones back to life.



Where else are you going to find a 18" tall
Johnny Walker Red Lamp???

Upstairs in one of the former bedrooms is a whole room of “church lady” hats, gloves & handbags….so cool! 

Awesome selection of vintage hats & accessories

 Collectiques also has a fair collection of vintage hardware.  I have been looking for glass knobs for my built-in china cabinet and he had several options for me (one step closer to my second finished room…).

Notice the glass handles...this was taken prior to me determining
they were the missing piece I needed for my china cabinet

He also has a fair amount of hotel silver – for those who don’t know hotel silver is silver plated flatware, pitchers, bowls, plates, etc. that are often marked with the names of the hotels the pieces came from.  For more info on hotel silver Paris Hotel Boutique has some wonderful info.  To me the interesting thing about hotel silver is that you can almost feel the history in the pieces when you pick one up.  You can just imagine ladies lunching at the Algonquin or the Roosevelt hotels in NYC pouring tea and eating treats with these wares.  For some reason I find this visual much more present in my mind than when I’m just eyeing some pretty dish with no traceable history.  As a bonus hotel silver is just pretty!

Collectiques really is an interesting collection of goods – you may not find anything that makes you take it home but you will have a good time looking!