Pickin' In Salt Lake City!

I recently enjoyed a lovely couple of days with my fabulous husband in Salt Lake City, Utah! Since our week long vacation to WA and OR was cancelled due to my cold, he booked one night in a FANTASTIC bed and breakfast in SLC while we had our car in for a recall!  The B&B was called The Armstrong Mansion and it was a spectacular 1893 Queen Anne Victorian with 12 rooms.  My favorite type of architecture!!  While there, I took plenty of photos and got ideas for OUR dining and living room ceilings.

For our first pickin' adventure we went to Capitol City Antique Mall and the MINUTE we walked in I saw the very chandelier that I have a reproduction of in my bathroom.  I had also bought another one at Home Depot before this trip just in case I couldn't find something for the kitchen.  Well this antique was WAY out of our price range and Wayne said if I could get it down to $400 I could get it...uh huh.  After we made the rounds through the store, which is very nice by the way, I asked the owner if he could move the items around the chandelier so I could have a closer look.  SCORE...at the back of the chandelier was a SALE tag...WAY below $400:)  YAY!!!  So now I have an authentic antique chandelier in the ONLY style I have had any interest in for over a year!  Can't wait to see it hanging in our kitchen.

The next pickin' sight was called Euro Treasures and it was an antique store the size of ShopKo that had mostly European Antiques, which means...OLD!  There was an upper level of thousands of dining chairs and about 200 dining tables. It was UNREAL!  The lower level had aisle after aisle after aisle of shelves packed with mirrors, small furniture, pieces of furniture, stained glass windows, doors and various other furniture items. Then in the walkways of the aisles there was even more...so much that you couldn't even walk down several rows.  One huge area had aisles of buffets, wardrobes, dressers etc. It was an amazing place, but unfortunately I didn't find anything to purchase.

After a nice meal at the Olive Garden, we were able to walk together in the rain around the State Capitol building among the blossoming  trees.  The dark cloudy skies made a beautiful backdrop for some stunning photos.  A nice break from reality that we both really needed.

The next day we had a wonderful breakfast at the mansion before we headed out for the day.  It was a little chilly and windy but we went to Temple Square and walked around.  We got a wonderful tour of the Joseph Smith building.  It was originally Hotel Utah and our cute little tour guide, a 75 year old man, pointed out some very interesting facts amidst the architecture.  Again a wonderful opportunity for photos!  We spent an hour watching the film in the Legacy Theater and then had lunch in the Garden Restaurant at the top of the building.  By afternoon it had warmed up and they opened the roof to let in a little breeze. It was very relaxing and the Raspberry salad was great!

 

                                                                            

After lunch we headed to our last stop...George's Salvage.  This place is where you want to go if you need an old sink, toilet, or other architectural salvage items.  It is a tiny space cram packed but I always seem to find something fun!  This trip was no different.  I found some unique doorknob back plates, wooden doorstops, plinth blocks and a row of bread tins all linked together...my mind sees the bread tins on the wall as a storage piece. Be sure to watch for that in upcoming posts!

Keep Pickin'
Kelly