Junk Bonanza Antiquing Trip Day 4

After two days of 6 am Wake up calls, we all got to sleep in until 7 am today! Yea!! First stop on our agenda was the Secret Destination that won't be much of a secret after this post.


After months of digging and lots of driving on the pre-trip, we discovered:


THE COTTAGE HOUSE, 4304 Chicago Ave, Minneapolis, MN 55407 (612) 825-4934.


They welcomed the Red Shed Girls with open arms....






The Cottage House looks like a small house with a little white picket fence out front. They hold a once a month occasional sale each with a changing theme (dear to our hearts, because it is just like the Red Shed!). They completely rework the entire building including painting the walls, and sometimes the floors. Boy is it worth a trip!


Once you get past the front arbor, the bargains start to appear.....

Owner, Ted is a talented designer and artist, and one of the nicest men you will ever meet. Here he is with one of his vendors, Linda, who I think looks like "Rainbow, My Painted Pony". She and her friend Judy have a great eye for display. Country Western music serenaded us as we shopped.

As you go into the cottage you realize that it is actually very large, with a second story, a huge covered back yard and a second building in the rear! Eye catching displays are in every room and cottage antiques overflow in every corner........

I hate to even mention the prices...Let's just say that if we had a semi-tractor trailer instead of a U-haul, it still would have been full!

You may recognize the Globe turned pumpkin below. Ted designed it and it was featured in Country Living. Of course, this pumpkin is now on it's way to live in Texas!

Thanks so much for the wonderful goodies he provided from his friends at Firefly Bistro, which is where we also had lunch.

Our next stop was Hunt and Gather. Once again we were greeted like ROCK STARS!

Hunt and Gather has such great displays and collections! The Red Shed Group just went nuts! More flash cards, lots of movie marquee letters, and so much more. My photos did not all turn out, but I will have more posted soon.

Here is one cute lampshade display....

Our last stop after lunch was Guilded Salvage. Oh my goodness, I thought the ladies would have a heart attack when they walked inside! We were again greeted by Scott......Christina and Ellie, the circus dog, who helps check out.....

There were gorgeous architecturals as far as the eye can see...

Everything is very well organized and reasonably priced. We were truly only limited by the shrinking space in our van. Scott had items marked with "Red Shed Girls" prices. It was so sweet! I'm not sure there is a corbel left in Minnesota.


Why is there no place like this in Texas? (or Colorado, Oklahoma, or North Carolina), the girls were asking.
Believe it or not, this was the last stop on our trip. We were going to go to a flea market at 6am in the morning, but by this time, only GiGI, our turbo-shopper was even remotely interested.

Here is a photo of the packing process of our van. You can understand why no one even wanted to look at a flea market!

One last farewell dinner at Bacios and it is off to the airport tomorrow morning (we get to sleep until 9! Michele and Kay are driving the U-haul back to Texas and they will be back to the Red Shed in Grapevine, Tueday Morning. Would anyone like to come help unpack? PLEASE?

Another great end to a fabulous day of antique shopping in Minnesota. I hope we have been able to educate our dear customers and readers on why this is such a great destination and trip. I will try to post again tomorrow if possible, but stay tuned for more photos and adventures from the trip, as the other participants photos are loaded. Visit Margo's Junkin Journal or The Blessed Nest blogs in a day or two for photos and trip adventures from another point of view.

• Thanks SO MUCH to all of the GREAT ladies who joined us. It was so amazing to have a dozen woman, most who have never met, get together, get along, and take care of each other for an entire long weekend of shopping, junking and antiquing. Thanks also to Ki for sponsoring the Junk Bonanza, which was a Huge success and inspired this trip. Be sure to visit her blog and her new website at http://www.junkrevolution.com/.

**Update...Last we heard our U-Haul drivers Michele and Kay had stopped at Diamond Jim's Casino in Iowa....that's the last we have heard from them!