Classy Décor for Adventurous Home Designers
Photographer / Lana King
Green Oak Antiques is a fun place to shop — a girl’s-day-out kind of place. There are three buildings full of old, new and salvage items backdropped by a beautiful country setting right outside Rochester. These buildings are filled with a variety of items, perfect for collectors and home decorators alike.
Ann and Steve Furnivall started the business in 1978. At first, they exclusively sold antiques. Their children, Jon and Julie, grew up with the business and eventually joined the team. Jon’s wife, Terri, also came on board as the company’s techie.
“We just sold out of our house at first,” Furnivall says. “Now we’ve got a 10,000 square-foot store.”
Over time, the business became a destination for curio shoppers as well as antique collectors.
“People come from a hundred miles — even 200 miles, sometimes,” she says.
After 20 years of selling antiques, they decided to include other kinds of home décor items to appeal to the changes in the market, which included home decorators of all ages.
Eventually, they also expanded into other kinds of styles — like farmhouse, vintage, boho, country and fancy. In time, Green Oak also carried garden décor, such as gazebos, planters, arches, garden furniture and more. Nonetheless, they still offer a wide range of vintage and antique items.
Green Oak is particularly known for its exclusive furniture. They offer 200 different pieces, all of which were designed in-house.
“My son and I design them, then we have four groups of carpenters that make them,” Furnivall says. They also offer custom furniture, particularly for kitchens and bathrooms.
Currently, the farmhouse look is one of the most popular styles on the market, which combines the classy old-fashioned look and newer, minimalist expressions of style.
“We have new and old,” Furnivall says. “We really try to have a high-end look at reasonable prices.”
Even though they specialize in the farmhouse style, they offer a wide range of other designs as well.
“We really appeal to adventurous women,” Furnivall adds. “Our best customers are homeowners who want something neat and different. That’s what they come here for. They know they’re going to see something that they can’t find at the mall.”
The customers who come in the store represent as broad variety as the products on the shelves.
“We have some customers who have been coming for 40 years,” Furnivall says. “A lot of do-it-yourself people come. They love to explore because they don’t know what we are going to have. We have a lot of stuff that other people have, but try to have a lot of exciting things that are hard to find, too.”
Green Oak Antiques is located at 3024 S 425 E, Rochester. They are open seven days a week from 10-5. To see more of their vast inventory, visit them online at greenoakantiques.com or give them a call at (574) 223-5702 for more information.
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