The Red Door – A Special Antique Shop

I recently visited The Red Door in Elk Grove to purchase some Annie Sloan Chalk Paint. This is the best paint for furniture and I love it. I use it for my ReFAB Clinic furniture. I had a few extra minutes before an appointment and used the time to browse this antique store. It is so lovely and the owner, David Hipskind is very helpful. I asked David a few questions.
ME: What is your favorite thing about having an antique business? 

DAVID: There are several, but the top ones are, greeting our customers, finding about their antique/vintage experiences, the hunt is a blast.  You never know what you are going to find or where you might find it.  We love the independence of owning and running our own business and seeing your dreams, efforts and hard work paying off.  Plus, unlike most antique stores, we are into how our merchandise is displayed.  We want to show our customers how they can incorporate their own treasures into the homes and everyday life.  We carefully choose our different vignettes and shop accordingly.  It’s important to not only know about antiques, but we need to SHOW our customers.

ME: What is your “all-time” best “find?”

DAVID: We have been very fortunate in that we have found many GREAT finds.  But, the all-time best has to be an early 1800’s pine corner cabinet.  We had gone to a flea market down the valley, near Stockton.  There was a dealer there that would bid and buy abandoned storage units.  He had two pine pieces. One a china hutch and this corner cabinet.  We paid $400 for both.  Once we got them home, I had an antique appraiser friend of mine take a look at them.  The pine china hutch was determined to be from the 1890’s worth about $600.  The corner cabinet was from the 1840’s.  The appraised value was over $5000.  Needless to say we were shocked and even more shocked when we put it in the store and it sold in about 2 days.  WOW!!!

ME: What is the biggest change you have seen in your store?

DAVID: I have been buying, repairing and painting furniture for over 40 years.  I have always specialized in and sold painted furniture.  However, in the past couple of years, we have gotten to the point we didn’t have the time to paint anymore.  With the stripping, sanding, priming, several coats of paint, distressing and sealing it became just too much.  We now are an exclusive Annie Sloan Chalk Paint dealer and it has totally changed how we paint.  It has brought the fun back into it.  I love talking to our customers about it and showing them all the great pieces we have painted and how they too “CAN DO IT!!!!”

Vist their website for more information, or better yet, visit The Red Door.