Heart & Home Boutique

From Heart & Home Boutique Website:

October 18-November 18, 2018
Thurs. & Fri. 9-6 Sat. 9-12 Sun.12-5

In 1992 I had a vision about starting my own boutique. I quickly knew I wanted to call it Heart and Home Boutique. I had been involved in Craft Shows for 7 years by that time, and I had made a lot of artist friends who made unique hand crafted items. I have always been organized, enjoyed planning events, and knew with some help I could start my own boutique.

Heart and Home Boutique launched in 1994, and for the first 5 years I rented the American Legion auditorium. However, it then became unavailable and I had no idea where I would continue my boutique. After driving around Waconia looking for a potential location, and without any prospects, I drove home discouraged. I was driving down my driveway looking at our barn when I heard God speaking the words to me, "This is where I want you to have your boutiques."
Five years before I would open the boutique in our barn, my husband talked about tearing it down and replacing it with a shed. What is it with men and sheds? I didn't know at that time what we should do with the barn, but I knew in my heart that we weren't supposed to tear it down.
My husband and I would open the large double doors in the hay loft and my husband said" You've got to be kidding, you want it here?" The barn was built in 1930 and it hadn't been cleaned or even painted for years. There were birds flying over our heads, bales of hay in one corner, the doghouse in another corner (where our dog slept) and piles of unknown items everywhere. We had previously raised sheep in that barn, and we had horses downstairs that were moving out. We decided to go for it. We began cleaning and repairing with the help of friends and family. The structure was in very good condition. My husband used 26 pounds of nails just to repair the roof. We borrowed a friend's lift so I could reach the 25 ft. ceiling that I scrubbed every inch of with a bulk tank brush and disinfectant. When I was cleaning I had birds flying around me, bees buzzing, and a couple of bats that were not happy about giving up their homes. I won't even get into how the mice felt. We sealed off all the vents and openings so the critters could no longer get into the barn. The next day we had birds lined up across the top of the barn roof chirping very loud not ready to leave but after a couple of days they moved on.