As some of you already know, I had a chance to attend a blogging event a couple of weeks ago at Southern Accents Architectural Antiques sponsored by Hometalk

What a great place! There were so many things to share about my visit that I am not sure where to begin.

I guess I could start at the beginning. What is Southern Accents Architectural Antiques (aka SAAA1969 on twitter or SA1969 for website address) anyway? Well let me just tell you…

Have you seen those 75+ year homes that have so much history but look like they are falling apart? I know you think to yourself…”I bet that house was beautiful at one time”. Did you know that you can salvage pieces of those houses and re-use them?

Items such as windows,

doors,

and metal pieces (just to give you a few examples).

In 1969, Dr. Garlan Gudger started his endeavor in reclaiming salvaged pieces of those old homes before they were demolished. Restoring them and offering them to the public for display and purchase had him moving from his garage (his first location) to an eventual small shop in Cullman, Alabama. (for more history, visit SA 1969 Our Story)

While I did not have a chance to meet the infamous Garlan Sr himself, I did have a chance to tour the store, meet the staff and his son, also known as Garlan Jr.  I will highlight more for you later.

I am not one that has really had a flare for the antiques, in the past, but seeing these beautiful pieces of wood and metal gave me such an excitement and so much inspiration. And as you saw in a post earlier this week, I have started to incorporate new elements in my design style and have been eyeing some antique pieces to add to a couple of rooms. So just walking into the barn, gave me such a great appreciation for the antiques and history.

Of course, there were so many things to get the juices flowing such as:

Various types of wood that you could use for flooring,

wood pieces to build tables,

walls

and items such as antique bath fixtures, korbels, mantels, shutters and the list goes on…

Over the next couple of months I will highlight more about this fabulous store. So stay tuned. I hope that my tour of Southern Accents Architectural Antiques, for you, was as inspiring as it was for me and that I did it justice in this editorial.

You can visit … for information about the store, staff, products and history. Or…just stick around and catch more through my highlights coming soon.