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Vintage items, not cattle, fill the barn

Paton couple turns antiques into treasures

-Messenger photo by Kriss Nelson
This 1900’s-era barn has been preserved and is now surrounded by another building as its shell.

PATON — The early 1900’s-era barn is no longer used for cattle as it was first intended, but rather as a unique vintage store.

The barn which belongs to Matthew and Sarah Losee is the spot for their business, Blue Egg Vintage — a name they chose from the blue eggs their chickens lay.

“We love to collect things. We love antiques and turning old things into new things,” said Sarah Losee. “I think it’s in my blood. My parents sold antiques in their garage before they had bigger careers. I love design and I love creating.”

The Losees don’t focus on selling many wholesale items. Instead, they feature a unique mix of old and new.

“I think it all means more to me because whether you have an old farmhouse, a new, modern farmhouse or any style, I hope people can find something unique at Blue Egg Vintage,” she said. “I believe that something in every room of your home should tell a story or mean something to you. I love a mix of old and new and I want to help people’s homes feel cozy and lived in.”

-Messenger photo by Kriss Nelson
Sarah Losee owns the business Blue Egg Vintage with her husband Matthew Losee. The business is based out of their early 1900s-era barn.

The couple had dreamed of having a business like Blue Egg Vintage and at one time thought about putting up a newer building for their store. But Losee said her grandfather, Robert Burnell suggested looking into using the barn.

Robert Burnell might have been a little biased as he was the one that rescued the barn.

Losee said her grandparents, Robert and Madelyn Burnell, bought the farm in the 1990’s and went right to work at renovating the property — although they never lived on the farm.

“He likes to restore things; he wasn’t about to tear down the farmhouse. They renovated what they could with the inside,” she said. “The barn was falling down. It had to be supported and they built a new shell around it in order to keep the original part in tact.”

Losee said she is a transplant to Greene County.

“Even though I didn’t grow up in Greene County, it means a lot to be here,” she said, adding her mother Candace (Hanson) Burnell’s father, Don Hanson, owned the grocery store in Churdan. Her father, Ron Burnell, who later changed his name to Busby Burnell, grew up in the area and later owned Busby Productions in Des Moines.

Before moving to the Paton area, Losee said they lived in Colorado. But when the opportunity to come back to Iowa became available, they took it.

“We moved here in 2011 from Colorado. The second I drove back to Iowa I had the feeling — it is home,” she said. “I love the country life.”

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