Meet Antiques Dealer Lidy from French Garden House

After having antique spaces in several shops, I really wanted a shop of my own but couldn’t really be tied down to a retail space. My daughter’s health was improved, but I still needed to be home for her. After branching out and selling antiques on an online auction site, I took the plunge and started my own website. I remember sharing my “big news” around the dining table and both my children laughed, saying, “Mom, you barely know how to use the TV remote, how on earth will you manage a website?” Luckily, I proved them wrong! I hired a wonderful website builder and spent literally hours and hours (at times in tears) behind the computer learning how to edit photos, write descriptions, and do all the behind the scenes things that go into having an online business.

In 2007 I opened French Garden House (named after the small garden house my husband built for me in our back garden as my birthday gift one year), and I am honored to provide antiques and luxury decorative finds as well as thoughtful gifts for customers all over the world. I really encourage all my customers to allow their homes to tell a story—their story. I care deeply about helping people create a home that expresses their own personal style. I select antiques that I would love to have in my own home, and everything I sell has been personally selected by me with great love and care. My hope is that customers will be able to find everyday heirlooms at French Garden House that will add beauty to their life now and that they will be able to pass it on to the next generation.

French Garden House is my passion. I can’t wait to get up each morning to go to work! I know I am truly blessed. It is the fulfillment of my dream. I sell all the things I love, from over-the-top French gilt-covered objects to French Country pieces, I am an equal opportunity lover of all things beautiful. Not just French but also English and American objects catch my eye and my heart. Right now I am so enamored with delicately embroidered Victorian needlework pieces, linens, and laces so beautiful they sometimes bring tears to my eyes. There really is no one left who can create such stunning pieces of art with a needle anymore, so buying and selling them is a great pleasure.