bigger plans & fresh baked bread.
At least once a week someone new walks in 1871 and looks around at this beautiful old house, filled with things from furniture to glassware, and asks if the house came with everything in it. It’s a moment that always makes us smile because that couldn’t be further from how it happened.
Sometimes, perfect matches just find each other.
When Mr. Amazing and I walked into this old house a few years ago, it was empty. Of furnishings anyway. The old walls, creaky floors, and 153-year-old hand-hewn ceiling beams were all it took to make us fall in love. That, and an overwhelming feeling of rich history. Not a stitch of furniture or even a trinket was here. But as fate would have it, our silly old souls had spent years collecting and safekeeping furniture, accessories, and dishes from generations past. An odd fact, given the “dream” house my dear husband had just finished remodeling (mere moments before finding 1871) was strikingly modern. It’s almost as if, unbeknownst to us, there was a plan all along.
By the time the moving trucks arrived, we had said goodbye to all of our contemporary pieces and began unloading the things that are now all around us. From the dining room furniture we ate every holiday meal on in my great grandmother’s house, to my grandmother’s china and crystal, to one of the old clocks my parents saved for years to collect, and the ornate urns my mother always displayed out of love (but never really liked). Even the baby grand piano that forever settled the first-year-of-marriage argument between my great grandparents. And the new-to-us treasures I’ve spent years hunting with the love of my life, as he shared the memories of growing up in his grandmother’s antique store. Every old piece in 1871 is a little bit of us, our family, and our story. Each collected and treasured, in a twist of fate that landed exactly where they (and we) are supposed to be.
Mr. Amazing and I never planned to turn our lives upside down and buy an old, historic house built in 1871. We also never planned to open a bakery. But, just a few days in, as we stood in this old, empty house and imagined our things and life in it, we knew life was bigger than the plans we’d made. So, we filled these walls with generations of love and opened the doors to share our passions and lives with you. Inviting so many of you in to be a little part of this house’s history. And, everyday, we thank you for being part of our story, our baking, our days, and a new chapter in the life of this beautiful old house. One loaf and pastry at a time.
