FrenchGardenHouse Is Fourteen
FrenchGardenHouse Is Fourteen!
It doesn’t seem that long ago that I had an idea for a business that I would love, but more importantly, a business that I thought you would love. I've always been interested in interior design, and was working with a few clients here and there while my girls were growing up. The biggest problem my clients complained about, as did the interior designers I was friends with, was that it was so difficult to find good quality antiques, and unusual smalls that would make a personal statement at home.
I started my business for many reasons, and FrenchGardenHouse has been such a blessing to me. At one time, during some of the most difficult years with one of our children who had a medical condition, it felt like it saved my sanity! My first two customers were my very best friends {bless you, Gail & Jeanne!} - I actually shipped their packages to them since I needed the practice. I was packing and shipping everything by myself from my kitchen table and working from my tiny laptop.
Fourteen years later, I could not ask for more gracious and appreciative people I could ever hope to work with and for.
Our first website was so exciting! Designed and made by my friend Catherine of AvalonRose Designs, {who since then sells gorgeous graphics only} I loved everything about it, except that my logo and business card were light blue. The design world was enthralled with the shabby chic look, and I went with light blue thinking it might appeal to my men clients and friends too. After just one month, I knew it just wasn't right for me {and you!} So I had it changed to this one
It was like this for many years, until in 2015 it was really time for a website and branding update and we changed over to the current logo etc.
{ I still miss the old website sometimes, isn't it silly? It had a front page that showed a garden, with a gate that opened and birds and butterflies flying around. It was so pretty, but really didn't tell anything at all about what FGH is really about, antiques! }
So many of you have found the perfect decorative object to make your home beautiful and personal here at FrenchGardenHouse. Many of you have fallen in love with a collection of antiques, or been able to replace antiques belonging to your family that either were "lost" somehow, or someone else inherited.
I've even had the privilege of working with a few clients who lost their complete homes with every single thing in them in wildfires over the last few years. Together we've made a huge dent in replacing their precious treasures, and although they aren't the exact pieces perhaps, they have meant the world to them in restructuring their new home with touches and memories of the "before" homes they lost.
It's been such a pleasure to have all of you as clients, from those of you who adore silver, gold, and the "fancy" pieces, to those of you who are strictly French Country fans. And the legions of you, who, like me, adore a little bit of both worlds, all mixed together to create your own personal style.
I have the honor of helping others in giving and receiving the most meaningful and beautiful gifts. Helping clients give heirlooms and create memories, and passing along objects with so much meaning is a huge blessing.
Some of my favorite sales have been sentimental ones. The grandmother who bought an antique brooch for each of her daughters, daughter-in-laws, and two tiny granddaughters as a memento of her own 65th birthday. The fiancee who bought the most exquisite antique French gilt box from us to present his engagement ring to his beloved intended. {She said yes!} The new father to be who carefully chose the perfect locket to gift to his wife as she delivered their very first baby.
Some of you discovered antique jewelry that you never knew about, and hopefully in the process of loving and wearing it, have learned a little about the history of jewelry. Or felt closer to women of the past, a connection to centuries ago.
Our antique linens and dinnerware collections remain a strong favorite. I thought that perhaps during our pandemic the antique table linens & porcelains might not sell as well, but I was wrong. And happily so. It seems that even more than before, you are all more than anxious to set a glorious table, with meaningful linens, made with such care, time and skill. You are all looking forward to gathering those you love around your table, now more than ever. Outdoors if need be, or in smaller numbers, but you are determined to make each occasion a special one! And I'm right there with you!
FrenchGardenHouse has grown over the years, the kitchen table is no longer our main shipping area, we actually have a shipping area. We've been blessed with so much national press, and are grateful for all the friends we have made over the years with magazine editors, writers, stylists and photographers. Photoshoots for national magazines were always a little bit stressful for me, but all of you made them SO FUN!
I just wanted to take this opportunity to thank you. Hooray for turning 14 this year, for keeping and cherishing the beautiful pieces of the past, and most importantly to letting all of you know how grateful I am!
This week we're launching our Autumn Gift Collection, and I'm pretty excited to welcome fall with some beautiful new gifts for you {and me} to be able to gift to the people we care about. I hope you are all well, and that our future as a nation is bright. I pray that we can re-unite as one and remember that we are all the same, even though we might have differences.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your friendship, it means the world to me.
Shop FrenchGardenHouse
Fourteen years later, I could not ask for more gracious and appreciative people I could ever hope to work with and for.
Our first website was so exciting! Designed and made by my friend Catherine of AvalonRose Designs, {who since then sells gorgeous graphics only} I loved everything about it, except that my logo and business card were light blue. The design world was enthralled with the shabby chic look, and I went with light blue thinking it might appeal to my men clients and friends too. After just one month, I knew it just wasn't right for me {and you!} So I had it changed to this one
It was like this for many years, until in 2015 it was really time for a website and branding update and we changed over to the current logo etc.
{ I still miss the old website sometimes, isn't it silly? It had a front page that showed a garden, with a gate that opened and birds and butterflies flying around. It was so pretty, but really didn't tell anything at all about what FGH is really about, antiques! }
So many of you have found the perfect decorative object to make your home beautiful and personal here at FrenchGardenHouse. Many of you have fallen in love with a collection of antiques, or been able to replace antiques belonging to your family that either were "lost" somehow, or someone else inherited.
I've even had the privilege of working with a few clients who lost their complete homes with every single thing in them in wildfires over the last few years. Together we've made a huge dent in replacing their precious treasures, and although they aren't the exact pieces perhaps, they have meant the world to them in restructuring their new home with touches and memories of the "before" homes they lost.
It's been such a pleasure to have all of you as clients, from those of you who adore silver, gold, and the "fancy" pieces, to those of you who are strictly French Country fans. And the legions of you, who, like me, adore a little bit of both worlds, all mixed together to create your own personal style.
I have the honor of helping others in giving and receiving the most meaningful and beautiful gifts. Helping clients give heirlooms and create memories, and passing along objects with so much meaning is a huge blessing.
Some of my favorite sales have been sentimental ones. The grandmother who bought an antique brooch for each of her daughters, daughter-in-laws, and two tiny granddaughters as a memento of her own 65th birthday. The fiancee who bought the most exquisite antique French gilt box from us to present his engagement ring to his beloved intended. {She said yes!} The new father to be who carefully chose the perfect locket to gift to his wife as she delivered their very first baby.
Some of you discovered antique jewelry that you never knew about, and hopefully in the process of loving and wearing it, have learned a little about the history of jewelry. Or felt closer to women of the past, a connection to centuries ago.
Our antique linens and dinnerware collections remain a strong favorite. I thought that perhaps during our pandemic the antique table linens & porcelains might not sell as well, but I was wrong. And happily so. It seems that even more than before, you are all more than anxious to set a glorious table, with meaningful linens, made with such care, time and skill. You are all looking forward to gathering those you love around your table, now more than ever. Outdoors if need be, or in smaller numbers, but you are determined to make each occasion a special one! And I'm right there with you!
FrenchGardenHouse has grown over the years, the kitchen table is no longer our main shipping area, we actually have a shipping area. We've been blessed with so much national press, and are grateful for all the friends we have made over the years with magazine editors, writers, stylists and photographers. Photoshoots for national magazines were always a little bit stressful for me, but all of you made them SO FUN!
photo:SundayHendrickson
But mostly, we are grateful for YOU. Nothing would have been accomplished without each one of you, clients, friends, and readers of my blog. YOU are what makes this beautiful {but I'll be honest, often more difficult than you'd think} business a passion, a joy. THANK YOU.
I just wanted to take this opportunity to thank you. Hooray for turning 14 this year, for keeping and cherishing the beautiful pieces of the past, and most importantly to letting all of you know how grateful I am!
This week we're launching our Autumn Gift Collection, and I'm pretty excited to welcome fall with some beautiful new gifts for you {and me} to be able to gift to the people we care about. I hope you are all well, and that our future as a nation is bright. I pray that we can re-unite as one and remember that we are all the same, even though we might have differences.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your friendship, it means the world to me.
Shop FrenchGardenHouse
A BIENTOT
Shop for the best in French Antiques, furniture with the patina of age, vintage accessories to delight you and your family & friends, and French Country utilitarian pieces. Treasures that make your home fresh, beautiful, inspirational and above all uniquely yours. Visit our shop FrenchGardenHouse.com
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Lidy
September 02, 2021
Thank you so much Bridget! xo