New Shop On Railroad Ave.
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Meagan Backes gets a breeze from a vintage electric fan while arranging merchandise at The Furnishing House. The new Railroad Avenue shop features antique and vintage furniture, artwork and other pieces with ties to Water Valley’s past.
WATER VALLEY – Meagan Backes has spent much of the summer working with family and friends to bring old furniture back to life. Now she is ready to open the doors.
The Furnishing House will begin regular hours Thursday on Railroad Avenue in the former Magnolia Furniture building, offering antique and vintage furniture, local artwork and other pieces with a connection to Water Valley.
Backes said much of the inventory has come from local families who inherited furniture or collected pieces over the years and are now ready to pass them along.
That history is part of what she wants the store to preserve. Each item is tagged with its approximate age and available information about where it came from or the family connected to it.
“I love the idea of these things not going into a landfill or just sitting in someone’s storage,” Backes said. “They get a new life and a new use.”
Backes jokingly called much of July the store’s “furniture hospital,” with pieces being glued, sanded, repaired and refinished before making their way onto the sales floor. Her uncle, Pete Vaughn, has helped with repairs and shown Backes how to tackle some of the work, while her Aunt Darnell Vaughn has spent hours sanding and refinishing furniture.
The result is a wide-ranging collection of tables, chairs, rockers, cabinets, record players, lamps and other furnishings spread throughout the large Railroad Avenue building. The assortment is intentionally broad and expected to change as items sell and others arrive. Individuals with a single quality piece can also approach the store about selling it on consignment rather than needing enough merchandise to fill an entire booth.
“I’m interested in mid-century modern items mostly,” she said, describing it as an ideal fit for what the store is looking for from potential consignors.
And there aren’t any booths.
Backes and her aunt, Sylvia Lowe, have instead arranged the merchandise in furniture vignettes, grouping pieces from different owners together to create room-like settings.
The approach gives consignors freedom from maintaining their own individual spaces while avoiding what Backes described as the “box-like compartment” appearance of a booth-style antique mall.
The result is a store that feels more like walking through a collection of furnished rooms, with an old table paired with chairs from another owner, artwork on the wall and vintage accessories completing the setting.
Mark Yacovone of Taylor brought several vintage pieces to The Furnishing House but admitted he was having second thoughts about parting with them.
“I lost sleep last night,” Yacovone admitted as he looked over the relics, some he has owned since childhood.
Other pieces connect directly to the building itself. An old RCA television found upstairs still carries a Harris Furniture and Appliances tag. Harris Furniture was one of the businesses that occupied the building before Magnolia Furniture.
The property is part of the historic Lamar Block, which has served a variety of purposes over the years. For decades, however, the building has been home to furniture stores. Backes is now working to uncover some of the earlier character as she prepares the building for its next chapter.
Dropped ceilings have been removed in portions of the first floor, exposing older ceilings, while long fluorescent fixtures have been replaced with lighting better suited to the space. The store is part of a larger redevelopment plan for the property. Backes said the long-term project calls for restoration of the facade, additional work on the first floor and eventually a hotel upstairs.
For now, The Furnishing House gives the building an active use while that work moves forward.
Works by local and regional artists are displayed throughout the building and available for purchase, including pieces by Bradley Gordon, Kate Donovan, Daniel Edwards, Mari Foster, Pati D’Amico, Bill Warren, Hannah McCormick, Hannah Parrish and Jonathan Kent Adams. Backes said the art will remain a continuing part of The Furnishing House rather than a temporary gallery display, giving visitors another way to discover local artists and their work.
Backes also plans to offer architectural salvage such as old doors, hardware and other materials that can be reused in older homes.
Backes believes The Furnishing House adds to Water Valley’s growing appeal as a destination for antique and vintage shoppers. The business is among several local stops listed on the Mississippi Antique Trail. Backes said she regularly directs visitors to other shops in town and believes having more destinations gives people another reason to make Water Valley a stop.
The Furnishing House will be open from noon until 4:30 p.m. Thursday and Friday and 10 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. Saturday.
Meagan Backes visits with Mark Yacovone of Taylor after he brought a load of vintage pieces to The Furnishing House. Yacovone admitted some of the items, including pieces he has owned since childhood, were difficult to part with.
