Road trip!!!!  Today my bestie Joan and I made a trip to Mount Hope, Ohio to pick up my master bathroom vanity and what an AWESOME day it was.  Great conversation, beautiful weather (going, rained coming home, but nothing severe), we had so much fun as we always do on our road trips.  This makes the 3rd time we’ve hit the road together, but first day trip.  We did long weekends to Memphis/Nashville where we ate and museumed our way through Tennessee in route to a wedding she was invited to and San Diego to celebrate my 45th birthday where we were the only two people to fall off our Segways at the San Diego Zoo/Safari.   This was after we both talked smack about who we thought in the group would fall based on our tutorial before entering the park.

Our route took us through Newark, OH where from the highway I saw the giant basket that was once the headquarter for Longenberger basket, which sadly closed it’s doors just this past May.  I had seen pictures of this headquarter, but never in person, so we jumped off the highway to get a picture.  You know I’m having a good time when I pop a selfie.

My vanity was made by Homestead Furniture, an Amish owned store referred to me by Diane Sphar, owner of Ohio Travel Treasures, who host many great tours of Ohio’s Amish country.  We arrived around noon and before loading the vanity was given a tour of the plant by Ben Hershberger.  First stop was what I told Joan was the secret room.  It’s not a secret, but an awesome way for Homestead to dispel people’s image of Amish furniture.  The hall leading to the rooms is lined in hand applied gold leaf (they can do silver too).  Once inside there are 4-6 rooms of some of the most stunning and beautifully crafted pieces you can imagine.  Ben said if you can think of it, they can build it.  They create cutsom wood and metal pieces.

From there Ben walked us across the street to tour their actual factory.  In route you walk past a beautifully landscaped property and small lake.  I got great ideas for my future landscaping.

In the full loop of the factory, which included a cat walk where we can overlook men at work we got to see many pieces in all phases of production.  I was able to ask questions and got some great tips I will use when I create my dining room table, office desk, and master bed headboard (I have lofty goals).

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The tour ended at my vanity and it was just as I had sketched out.  I wanted a floating vanity 55″ long.  It seemed stores stocked 48 or 60, but not 55.  I decided to use the same shade of blue that will be on my kitchen cabinets.  Ben took us in the color matching room where he said they have over 2,000 colors.  They can match anything and all I provided to him was the Naval paint chip card from Sherwin Williams, which is what Shiloh Cabinetry, manufacturer of my cabinets, uses.

After two of their staff loaded the vanity in my rental van, we went for lunch (no roadtrip is complete for us without food) to Mrs. Yoder’s Kitchen.  No pics, but we had the buffet and the best darn fried chicken, meat loaf, bread, and home-grown vegetables you can imagine.

The trip did not end there.  We left Mt. Hope and headed east to I’m not even sure where to look at mini bulldog puppies.  Joan and her husband Rick lost their beloved bulldog Chloe this year.  Joan found the breeder and we went to take a look.  Who could walk away from this face, so Poppy (current name, but not final – I’m pulling for Millicent, Millie for short) made the road trip home.

Apparently she’s already feeling right at home as Joan shared this quick video of her getting aclaimated to her new toy.

Now I’m super anxious to get the paint finished in the master bathroom.  It’s going to look marvelous!!!!