Thanks to all of you, The Farm was voted the Best Antique Shop of the Red River Valley for the second year in a row!

As the winner of the InForum's annual Best of the Red River Valley competition, we were asked a few questions. Not all of them were printed in the publication, so we thought we would share them here.

What makes what you do special to customers? How do you define customer service?

All vendors at The FARM strive to keep a clean shop while providing the unique antique, vintage, repurposed, decorator, and collectible items our customers are looking for. Customer service is all about providing attentive personal experiences for our visitors, our Farm Friends.

What's the most memorable moment of the past year for your or your team?

Honestly, our business is built on daily memorable moments… Helping a sister find candlesticks for her sister’s wedding, watching as older men become little boys when they spot their childhood toys, helping someone replace a broken item or find the perfect gift, assisting the woman who turns a corner and cries seeing that picture just like the one grandma had, aiding in the discovery of a vintage vinyl score, sharing in the happiness that Farm Friends feel when they bring a friend into the mall for the first time… These connections are so important to us.

What's new for your business? What should people know about your business and what you do?

Daily we bring in fresh finds, reorganize, redecorate, to keep the mall an inspiring, fun place to visit. We had just started our events program when the pandemic hit, and are looking forward to returning to those connections with our customers and local non-profit organizations.

How do you plan on defending your title next year?

To remain focused on what we do best: Providing unique items and great customer experiences in a clean shop while being an active part of the Red River Valley community.

Thank you, again, for voting us number one! We hope to see you at The Farm soon!

Fargo Antiques & Repurposed Market will be holding our annual Fall flea market in the parking lot again this September. As this annual event is also a celebration of our anniversary (we officially turn 6 years old in October!), all of our vendors will be having sales inside too!

The FARM's Annual Fall Flea Market & Anniversary Sale Dates:

Saturday, September 19th, from 10 am until 6 pm
Sunday, September 20th, from noon until 6 pm

Among the treasures to discover at this big Fargo-Moorhead junking event: vintage holiday blow-mold, handmade wood signs, & other Fall & Halloween decorations; vintage vinyl records, cassette tapes, & 8-track tapes; antique books, local history books, & vintage children's books; retro swag lamps, old beer light-up signs, vintage glass hurricane lamps, & mid-century pottery lighting; antique furniture, painted furniture, & furniture pieces for you to paint & transform; vintage clothing, collectible perfume bottles, & jewelry; paintings, pictures, frames, vintage paint-by-numbers, & other wall decor; collectible die-cast toys, antique tin toys, action figures, & retro 80s toys; hardware, weathered wood, vintage doors, & old windows; old china sets, vintage flatware, & vintage linens; collectible advertising items, antique and retro magazines, antique postcards, & other collectible vintage ephemera; mid-century modern glassware, collectible vintage pottery, old crocks, & collectible figurines  - and so much more! 

We welcome you to this event & hope to see you at The FARM!

Cottage Paint is both a chalk paint and a clay paint. It is made with both clay and chalk components, providing a  flat, matte, chalky, velvety-aged, time-worn finish that so many love.

And there are practical reasons to love this furniture paint too.

• It's easy to apply & has great adhesive properties. So great, in fact, that as long as the surface you wish to paint is clean, sealed, and sound, there is no need to strip, sand, or prime. That's right, no stripping, no sanding, no priming with this paint! You can directly apply Cottage Paint directly over any varnished or lacquered surface.
• Cottage Paint is creatively flexible. It can be used with stencils, mixed for specific color combinations, applied in multiple layers of colors for unique distressed effects, used to create marble & antiqued effects - the possibilities are nearly endless!
• Quick drying. A coat of Cottage Paint dries in one hour.
• Once dry, Cottage Paint can easily be distressed with just a damp cloth. This means no need to use sandpaper! And no sandpaper means no harm to the furniture’s fine detailing and sharp edges. Plus, simply distressing with just a damp cloth means that you and your home can escape the air born dust and mess of sanding.
• This paint leaves a flat porous surface, requiring a protective top coat - and opening up a world of possibilities for decorative finishes, including waxes, varnishes, and glazes.

Simply put, Cottage Paint takes all the best qualities of milk paint, chalk paint, and clay paint - combining them into an inexpensive and easy to use, no fuss medium for renewing and restoring your furniture, cupboards, frames, and other creative DIY decor projects.

Whether your decorator look is shabby chic, country, cottage, rustic, farmhouse, bohemian - or you're simply a fan of vintage and antique looks, and you want more of that worn, weathered, homespun, casual feel of lived-in charm, Cottage Paint is the key. And an easy to use key at that!

The FARM is proud to be one of the very few places in the region to carry a complete range of Cottage Paints - from furniture paints and supporting decorative finishes, to other DIY furniture paint essentials. And we now carry Cottage Paints in our online shop - you can purchase online & pick it up in the store or make curb-side arrangements!

Posted below is our complete Cottage Paint color chart - if we do not have a color in stock, contact us to order it!

As you may have heard on our Facebook Page, Fargo Antiques & Repurposed Market will be reopening on May 1st!

Our current hours will be: Monday thru Saturday, 10 am til 6 pm and Sunday, from noon til 6 pm.

The past few weeks we have all been busy at The FARM, cleaning, revamping, restocking - but we certainly have missed you! Feel free to come in and see all the changes - and meet the newest vendors too! 

As we've noted before, we've always had an automatic Purell dispenser at the entry and hand washing availability - since day one. In our large shop, there's plenty of room to move around and still practice social distancing. (However, we will still reserve the right to limit the number of folks in the shop at one time, in order to keep the shop safest for everyone.) And we continue to clean and disinfect common areas for everyone's safety. 

We hope to see you soon at The FARM!

If you feel unable to come into the shop, we understand - and are presently adding items to our online store for in-store & curb-side pickup!

Recently at the Fargo Antiques & Repurposed Market Blog, we discussed the antiques part of the shop's name. Today, we're going to explore the second part, the repurposed part!

Repurposed items are those which are now used in a manner unintended by the original maker. It could be as simple as where you position an item. For example, place an antique iron at the door and now the iron serves as a doorstop. It could be as easy as a new way to use the item. An example of this sort of repurposing would be placing a vintage wooden ironing board behind the sofa and, voila! you now have a "new" console table. 

Repurposing can also involve altering the item somehow. It could be as fun as painting and stenciling that old wooden ironing board to create a rustic sign for the family's laundry room. Or, a bit more complicated, turning that boring old cocktail table into clever, eye-catching seating.

​When things are creatively repurposed or reused, the process is often called "upcycling." Upcycling is a bit like recycling -- only instead of melting down things like glass and plastic to reproduce more of the same (more or less), upcycling transforms undesired objects into desired ones. 

It could be as traditional as dying and embellishing clothing and textiles to hide spots. It could be as practical as repainting and reupholstering to freshen up the furniture. It could be as simple as using mismatched china cups, glassware, and ceramic bowls as planters.

​It could be as crafty as converting balls of thread and old glass cigar holders into little vases, turning an old sewing drawer into a decorative wall-mounted version, or stitching those fabric scraps into whimsical decor items.

​Repurposing and upcycling can also be a bit more challenging...

Rescued, reclaimed, and found pieces can be combined to make new creations. Glass and crystal pieces are refashioned into solar lights. Cast iron sewing machine legs proudly carry new shimmering tabletops. Those unplayable vintage vinyl records play a new tune when turned into clocks & coasters.

​And then there are times when repurposing is taken to new levels. 

Such as when old film cameras become lamps -- complete with lampshades made with vintage film slides. When this is done, the items are often considered to be altered artworks. Like folk art, altered art pieces are works which have value far beyond their components. 

Whether you call it repurposed, upcycled, or altered art, the reuse of "junk" is not only better for our environment in terms of lessening the loads taken to landfills, but also reduces the consumption of fresh raw materials and therefore means reductions in energy usage and pollution. Just as it is with buying vintage, buying repurposed items made from the normally discarded bits and bobs of this world is good for the planet.

If you're the crafty sort who is inspired by the ideas you see at Fargo Antiques & Repurposed Market, in home decor magazines, on Pinterest, etc., F.A.R.M. has all sorts of supplies for you!

DIY fans will enjoy picking through salvaged architectural pieces, looking for just the right old door to turn into a headboard, the picture perfect window to frame family portraits, and the properly weathered boards and patina colored metal sheets to complete that project. 

There are smaller finds too...

​Vintage aprons and hankies just waiting to be sewn into sunny kitchen curtains. Vintage chenille bedspreads to turn into adorable stuffies and comfortable pillows. Vintage drawers and enamelware pieces for centerpieces and small garden planters. Old glass bottles ready to be vases... So many pieces to play with!

And, of course, F.A.R.M. carries Cottage Paint so you can refresh and rescue and refreshen your existing furniture, cabinets, frames, signs, and more! 

Come on in F.A.R.M. -- find unique decor for you home and be inspired!