Saturday, November 15, 2014

Saturday Spotlight: Ginene at Fox and Finch Antiques

Hi, everyone!   Kris from Junk Chic Cottage and I wanted to do a regular feature on our blogs, something unique that hasn't been done before.   So we came up with an idea to 'spotlight the real life behind the blogger' in a more personal way.
There is so much talent and inspiration in blogland, and we thought it would be fun to bring you a closer look at the person behind the blog.

Every week on Saturday we will spotlight a blogger and have them tell us a little bit about themselves and their blogs.  You will be able to see and read about each of the bloggers on both Kris's and my blog. 

      

Please help me welcome today's guest, the sweet blogger Ginene from Fox and Finch Antiques.  Ginene has an eye for finding and repurposing good junk, and she is living my dream!  
Please sit back and enjoy getting to know her better!



I am a Midwesterner. I like black dirt, big oak trees, and I like to see clear to the horizon. We called our father Pa, and he called his father Pa. They were Prussian Germans and came to Illinois when the Indian trails were still being used by Indians. Their first homes were small log cabins, built so fast that the bark was left on the logs. They weren’t poor, but came with other people from their town because they wanted land that wasn’t heavily taxed. In one letter home, the writer exclaimed righteously that one could even own a dog here without it being taxed. My mother is French-Canadian. Her family came to Canada in 1660. My grandmother and her sister, Hortense, came to the United States to work and I think my grandfather followed her here. That was too bad as my French-Canadian grandfather and most of his brothers, who showed up, too, often succumbed to dipsomania and made life a living misery for the women they married.





Both of my grandmothers deeply influenced who I eventually became, along with eight nuns at the Catholic school I attended. I graduated with a strong foundation in reading, writing, spelling and the Ten Commandments. I also learned that anything that is funny is ten times funnier during Mass when there is a row of straight-backed nuns kneeling in the pew behind yours. We had a lot of fun and I loved those nuns.





I think my family had what I would call traditional American middle-class values. There were two things expected of a person to be in good standing: money in the bank (or in cigar boxes in the pantry) and a clean house. The Depression of 1929 had long-lasting effects on both sides of my family. To owe anyone money, including a bank, was bad. They didn’t care about expensive cars or clothes or furniture. But, whatever they had, there was no excuse for it not being clean. Aunt Hortense used to wash every can and jar before she put in the garbage can. She said that the men who picked up the garbage shouldn’t have to deal with dirty garbage. She was very thoughtful. My family loves to work. When we get together, our idea of a good time usually includes the question, “What do you want to work on?”




One day in June of 2002, I was walking down the street in Richmond, Illinois, when I saw an elegant, but small, old building for sale. It had been a bank and was built in 1929. I looked at it once, put an offer in, and then put a down-payment on it. I moved into the top floor of the old building. I was working a 9:00-5:00 job as a dean’s administrative assistant at a local college during the day. One weekends, I ran an antique shop on the ground level of the building. I worked seven days a week for five years and then, suddenly, in 2008, the college restructured the department where I worked and I was manipulated out of my job. I guess I should have seen it coming but I’m not good at intrigue. It was a great job with endless benefits and paid the highest salary I had ever made.




As so often happens, a thing that I thought was just awful at the time, turned out to be one of the best things that could have ever happened. I had the shop and so I opened it full-time. This has been the best time of my life. I like everything about the business…the auctions, the customers, the research, the selling, the countryside, the town and the rhythm of the seasons. I have a 17 stair commute to work. Some years, I worry about how I’m going to pay the real estate taxes and some years I don’t have to worry about that. Every day, when I get up, I’m happy to start working. I love what I sell, which is, to me, the history of the American home. Helping people create and re-create their version of home with the quality of vintage American furniture and furnishings is rewarding. I think all the really important things that happen in our lives happen at home and decorating is like staging the set of life. I write a blog: FoxandFinchAntiques.wordpress.com where I talk about whatever I am working on, things I have found, and about living above the shop. There is barely a moment to spare! Thank you, Susan, for inviting me to visit your home and the homes of your readers today!

Ginene, thank you so much for sharing with us!  I think that it's SO cool that you live above your shop in an old historic building...Keith and I always dreamed of doing that!
Please visit Ginene at Fox and Finch Antiques, then head to Kris's blog to read about Kristy from Starfish Cottage.

Have a great day!

24 comments:

  1. I'm so excited to meet Ginene! She does indeed have a dream job! I love to see people doing what they love! Heading over to her blog to follow along. Thank you for introducing her today Susan!

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    1. Hi Sherry, Forget Pinterest...I think I can get my complete product fix from your blog. Lots of inexpensive, but absolutely first class ideas for decorating the shop there. Love the way you line things up, like the birdhouses and snowmen, to make a much bolder statement than one item alone. I need you!

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  2. Susan, I already like Ginene. She has great work ethics. Nothing wrong with hard work. I am happy she loves her home and business. Wishing her much success. Blessings, xoxo,Susie

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  3. Hi Susan,

    Ginene is the sweetest, most thoughtful lady, who has created a lovely blog, and a rewarding business with her many talents. I so enjoy visiting her, and appreciate it when she stops by Poppy View, as her comments are always so delightful. Thank you for featuring her in the spotlight today!

    Happy weekend!

    Poppy

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  4. I had to smile at Ginene's Catholic school memories. I also went to Catholic school for 8 years and she is right, everything seems 10x funnier when you are sitting in church and are supposed to be quiet. : ) I love how she found her current home. Such a unique place to call home and how great that she has her home and her business in the same building.

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    1. Kathy,
      Now that I can look back at that time, I am amazed that the sisters were so good at controlling us. There were at least 450 kids in each mass. Amazing. I usually fainted in the summer.
      -Ginene

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  5. Nice to meet you Ginene. You live so close to me and we have never meet. I live in Lake Zurich and live close to the shops in Richmond. How sweet to find this out about you. I will have to come into your shop and introduce myself. Love your story and getting to know you better.
    Kris

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    1. Hi Kris,
      I have always wanted to meet other northern Illinois bloggers and I've finally found one! I look forward to meeting you, too! I'm going over to visit your blog right now. Thank you for writing.
      Ginene

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  6. How nice to read and learn more of your history. And what a beautiful place to live! Very nice feature! I'll pop over to see you too! Hugs, Diane

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    1. Thank you, Tina...I see you are a talented photographer and artist. Every image you use in your designs is just exactly what I like, too. But there isn't anything out there like what you doing with embroidered graphics. When I want a squirrel, I want a realistic one...you are on to something.
      -Ginene

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  8. What a wonderful story of your life! I'm a firm believer that out of something bad comes something good and you are a perfect example of that. Your business sounds lovely and not a bad commute either! Thanks so much for sharing your postive, lovely self with us!
    Kathleen

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    1. Hi Kathleen,
      I used to drive 45 minutes to work and I remember thinking at the time that I was driving to work so that I could pay for the vehicle to drive me to work. Crazy.

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  9. How I love your story!!! You are living my dream, to live above your own shop!! Love your work ethic, and will now visit your site and become a follower........wonderful story, wishing you the very best!!!! cleo......xoxo

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  10. What a delightful person you are Ginene, and such personality comes through in your writing. Your comment about mass and the nuns rang loud and clear (and true, from my personal experience as well) with me. I visited your blog and found it very captivating. Susan, thank you once again for introducing yet another blogger!

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  11. Ginene, I love hearing about you and your life experiences! There's a small town in this area that has a lovely old time square with all sorts of shops, etc. One of the shop owners lives above her place too and it is just beautiful! Friends and I felt so honored to be invited to visit.

    Susan, thank you for another wonderful feature!
    xo
    Pat

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  12. What a sweet person another great blogger to follow

    Janice

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  13. This is the stuff that dreams are made of! Thanks Susan and Ginene!

    Jane xxx

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  14. How lovely to read about her history.
    Kisses
    Alessandra

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  15. Nice to meet you Ginene...loved reading about your childhood and your family...love that Aunt Hortense...she sounds like my mom...Glad that you turned lemons into lemonade and are doing what you love...and it is not bad when you only have 17 stairs to work!....Thanks Susan for another great feature!!!

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    1. Thank you, Shirley, the short commute makes all the difference in the world. It is very easy to go back to work after dinner.
      Thanks for stopping by.
      -Ginene

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  16. Lately you and Kris are introducing me to new people and I love it.

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  17. love the story how she got to where she wants to be:) great feature, susan!

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I love hearing from you!