It’s all about the thrill fo the hunt. While traveling through a quaint town, an antique shop appears on the horizon. Bells jingle against the wooden door as you step across the ancient threshold into a foregone era. Rooms are filled from the floor to ceiling with vintage fabrics, repurposed furniture, and priceless handcrafted pieces. You hold your breath and slowly scan the room again, sure you must have missed something. Your eyes fixate on a single object. There is an almost audible tug at your heart strings– take me please, please take me home with you! And you’re hooked. According to House Beautiful, this year will be defined by a cohesive mix of elements from the past and future. Research shows there is a “feel good” factor associated with the emotional attachment of nostalgia.The trend of collecting vintage items is not showing any signs of slowing down. In 2010, Pinterest became an online catalyst for treasure hunters to digitally discover and collect images of their dreams and pin them onto boards, all without ever leaving home. The website had 10,000 users just nine months after it launched. Fast forwards seven years, and over 40 million hobbyists and do it yourself have made it clear that shabby chic and fixer upper farms tyle are here to stay and more popular than ever. Local artisan, Pam Mills, had a vision that wouldn’t quite fit on a virtual board, so she brought Pinterest to life at Pintage Antique Market in downtown Calhoun.

             It wasn’t as easy as pinning an image to a board. It was a labor of love to reuse, repurpose, and rescue. Pam’s dad, the late Harry R. Whitefield, always enjoyed making things with his hands. He was a self-employed carpenter and a lifetime resident of Gordon County. His workshop was full of tools and gadgets where he created one-of-a-kind pieces of furniture. In October 2015, Pam’s dad and stepmom were in an automobile accident. It claimed the life of her stepmom, and a week later her dad succumbed to his injuries and passed away too. In an effort to keep her dad’s memory alive, and to help work through her grief, Pam put his workshop and tools to good use. She completely remodeled everything inside her dad’s home. “I loved doing it, and it was good therapy.” Pam says. Many times when she was there alone, she cried while she painted. “It really was good therapy for me,” she says. “And that’s why I think I poured myself into completely redoing the house.” There were pieces of furniture in her dad;s home that she wanted to keep, so she repurposed – stressed and glazed – them to give that shabby chic look. “I’ve always been creative, but I’ve never applied it to furniture.” Pam says, In the midst of remodeling, several people asked Pam if she had ever thought about doing it for other people. She hadn’t, but a seed was planted. Pam soon began hosting sales she called “Dad’s painted post.” The events were like an estate sales, except she wasn’t selling anything of her dad’s. It was all items she had purchased and redone.

            The number of people that showed up astonished Pam. “I would open the sale about once every six weeks, because it would take me that long to get stuff together. The sales were only Saturdays and Sundays.” Pam says. “I realized, working on full-time job as office manager for a dental office, I could not turn stuff around that quick. I had to fill a living room, kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom, but that was too much to do. My Mom helped. People started calling the week and said, “Can I meet you over there tonight?” Pam soon found she had two full-time jobs. “I was at the dentists office everyday.” She says. “In the evenings, I was painting and getting ready for the next sale.but I didn’t want to stop.” “We traveled in the spring last year to watch my daughter play in a softball tournament. Pam remembers. “We went to indoor markets and antique malls. At first I thought, maybe I should get a booth. If I had a booth, then I wouldn’t have to fill four rooms, I can just concentrate on one booth.” They went in a few more stores and Pam had her light-bulb moment. “This is it. This is what I need to be doing.” She checked around, and realized everybody ha a long waiting list. She realized there was a great demand for vendors to display their talents and passions in a creative unique way. She proposed a unique opportunity to her family. “What do you think about doing something like this in Calhoun?” It became a shared vision, and they started looking for a building. “My mother is a big part of helping me fulfill this dream.” Pam says. “She works at BJ’s, and one day she drove though town and asked if we had seen this building. A couple weeks later there was a sign outside the building. ” Thye looked at the space and Pam said, “This is plenty of space for the vendors.” They put a deposit on it before they left that day. That was in May. The building was remodeled and ready by the second week of August. Terry Mills built all the booths in the evenings and on the weekends. Pam continued to work her full time day job. The ribbon cutting was the first week of September.

                 From bedrooms to kitchens, there are treasures for every nook and cranny of the home – lighting fixtures, clothing, pillows, and gifts for every occasion. ” We are never the same store twice.” Pam says. “Our vendors are continuously restocking their booths with unique and original pieces.” Debbie Hancock and her husband, David, had been searching for a booth in an upscale vintage market for a couple of years. “We’ve wanted something local.” Says Debbie. “When we walked in and saw the prayer board and the Bible, we knew we were in the right place.” The Hancock booth has been offering their reclaimed home decor and boutique-type creations at Pintage since the doors opened on Friday, September 2, 2016. Pintage has also hosted painting events for the community like “Ladies Night Out Sign Party” and “Basic Painting Class- Bring Your Own Furniture.” The store carries Dixie Belle paint, which is a line of paints made specifically for distressing. The paint can be used on almost any surface without any sanding, priming or prep work. Pam Smith, and her husband, Bob, are creative minds behind the Endearingly Southern booth. “Pintage Antique Market is a place that has afforded local artisans like me to showcase their craft.” says Patti. “It is amazing to have so many true artisans like me under one roof. I get inspiration from the other vendors, but Pintage has been more than just a way to earn extra income. It has been cathartic for me. The last couple of years, I experienced the passing of my dad and all three kids left to attend college in Tennessee. When you are used to having a house full of teenagers, the empty nest is quite an adjustment. Concentrating on my booth has helped me to navigate into the next stage of my life. It’s been great to have a new focus, and Bob and I enjoy doing the projects together.” Pam took a big leap and left her day job last December. People have asked her if she was scared at any point of the process. She says, “I wasn’t. I guess it’s from going to other places like mine and seeing how successful they were. I felt like God was guiding my steps, so I kept moving forward. That first month, I was overwhelmed by the temedous support of the local community.” She gets tears in here eyes when she talks about it. “Ironically, there’s a lot of traffic from people who do things like we did when we traveled to the ball tournament last spring. They take the back roads hoping to rescue a repurposed treasure in a store just like this.” If they are looking for a labor of love, Pintage is the best hunting ground around these parts.