For most of us, this year has felt like some crazy science fiction movie; quite frankly, we DO NOT like the part where the movie is actually real life. But we had big plans for 2020 and we were not about to walk away from them, even in the wake of some really unprecedented stuff. We have really missed the day to day of life at the Mill. Chatting with customers about their projects, sourcing fun decor for our friends at restaurants and bars (and then going to visit those restaurants and bars…), and the collaborative spirit of our staff working together and making fun of each other. Oh yeah, and those of us with kids really REALLY miss sending them off to school where…
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Summer Means Demolition Season
Summers at Aurora Mills are filled with excited customers, extensive building projects, and, of course, barn demolitions! While the weather here in Oregon cooperates, the Aurora Mills team is busy pulling down old barns to recycle the wood for use in new building projects. The Mill is dedicated to sustainable construction and do our part by providing customers, from contractors to interior designers to artists, with locally sourced reclaimed lumber. This summer, the Mill has been working closely with the Port of Portland to tear down a trio of barns in Gresham. Built in the 1920s, these barns were originally used for seed and hay storage as well as workspaces and storage for local nursery horticulturalists. BEFORE: When selecting barns for possible demo, we carefully…
Container Time!
Its June and that means so many things to us here at the Mill. Flowers are bursting out all over the place. This makes us feel like happy shiny people because the sun has returned to Oregon and we can all go outside again, with our sunscreen liberally applied of course. June also means container time round these parts, which equals a whole mess of brand new old stuff for us to get excited about! That doesn’t mean that its all fun and games. Sorting out all this awesome stuff can be confusing. But with a few helping hands, we usually get things squared away, onto the floor, and ready to grace the cool spaces our customers come to decorate. So what is…
Aurora Mills Update July 2011
July 2011 It has been a little while since our last update because we’ve been so busy with lots of new projects. At the beginning of June we returned from one of our buying trips and have added thousands of new items in the store. We picked up a number of old shoe stitching racks, which were used in shoe making factories. The recently delivered 53 foot shipping container was the most tightly packed one we’ve ever had. Sixteen foot long cast iron bridge signs, furniture, letters from Wrigley Field, beautiful doors, and silverware molds from the Lunt silversmith company are now part of our collection. We also purchased some amazing amusement park flowers that can be seen in our newly redesigned “What’s for Sale”…
Aurora Mills Update June 2010
June 2010 Things get a little crazy here in May. Half the staff goes on a buying trip to bring back new and exciting items for the store. Then the last week of May the container (a 53 foot long) comes home and we unpack and clean and sort and take photos and price and then display. Many of the items from that journey are now being placed on our showroom floor. We have A LOT of industrial pieces and table bases. We also brought back a medical cabinet, a dental cabinet and a circa 1910 traveling dental chair. Mike found four large carousal panels on canvas depicting different nursery rhyme stories (Hanzel and Gretel, Rumpelstiltskin, Sleeping Beauty and Rapunzel). These carousal panels are beautifully…
Aurora Mills Update December 2009
December 2009 Though the second week of December was cold for us West Coasters it was nothing compared to the -10 degree weather some of us experienced going to the Midwest this week. Even so, we managed to acquire a large container of great items that will be on the showroom floor after the New Year. A couple of the unique items that are coming back are four large, spun aluminum light fixtures. These 1949 light fixtures originally hung from the ceilings of the Ford factory. Even more incredible is we also acquired two Ford factory spun aluminum wall sconces that match these fixtures. We are also bringing back antique cast iron garden gates and fence posts, mantles and some amazing cast iron fireplace summer…
New Inventory October 2009
October 2009 Our inventory just keeps expanding. This month we spent a couple of weeks on the East Coast and filled a 50 foot truck full of new inventory. Stop by and check out our new mantles, lighting, Arts and Crafts desks, industrial foundry molds, claw foot tubs, fancy ornate front doors, and 3000 linear feet of unpainted Victorian door and window casing.
Aurora Mills Update July 2009
July 2009 This month we spent much of our time saving many of the original Hillsboro High School built in 1929. This was such a wonderful building that we really hated to see go. Fortunately, we were able to save many wonderful items from the landfill; such as the wire gym locker units, beautiful deep porcelain sinks, Art Deco drinking fountains, Douglas fir bookshelves, classroom doors, the wood theatre seats from the school auditorium and the amazing steel light fixtures that were in there too. We also have pull-down school maps and these cast concrete flowers from the exterior of the building.
Aurora Mills Update March 2009
March 2009 We just finished picking up original elements from an historic home in Corvallis, Ore. The house was the former residence for one of the deans of Oregon State University. We were able to save a stunning Arts and Crafts built in cabinet, as well as doors, windows, trim, and hardware.
Aurora Mills Projects May 2008
May 2008 We have just added hundreds of items to our inventory from our most recent buying trip. Come check out our new stained glass, doors, mantles, hardware, signs, and many other unique items.