“We were doing a lot of festivals, selling the barnwood cabinets and frames,” Jerry says. “We had to have a name of a business for taxes. So we just came up with ‘Born in a Barn’ since most of our stuff at that time was made out of barn siding.” By 1985, Jerry had married the love of his life, Vicki. “One of the reasons we got married was so we would quit bidding against each other at the auctions,” Jerry jokes.
P O P U L A R K N OX S H O P SELLS ANTIQUES, FURNITURE, CO L L E C T I B L E S & M O R E
“People would call us. Maybe it was a small estate and they don’t want to have an auction or they don’t want people coming in. We still get calls,” Vicki says. From festivals and flea markets, the business expanded into different antique malls in the area until the Cooleys opened a shop in an old rental home.
Writer / Angela Cornell Photographer / Jubilee Edgell
It started with an old barn that Jerry Cooley and his brother tore down in 1976. After dividing the lumber, Jerry made his share into cabinets. It didn’t take long for him to discover that he loved building with reclaimed wood and people in the area quickly realized he was a gifted carpenter. Eventually, it became a side business.
At first, they bought antiques as accessories to accent Jerry’s cabinets, so it didn’t take long for the word to get around that the Cooleys were in the market.
“Our last downstairs renters gave us notice that they were going to move,” Jerry says. “We had always talked about having our own shop. And then we did.” After remodeling the rental home into a storefront, they officially opened their doors as Born in a Barn Antiques in October 2005.
54 / THE LAKES / OCTOBER 2020 / TheLakesMagazine.com
