New this year is the addition of Curly Willow, a vintage home and garden shop operated by two of Bassetti’s friends. Judy Thomas, a concrete artist known for sculpting giant peapods, pears and leaves, has joined with Susan Lytle, a passionate retailer who managed the former Finch &Willow shop in downtown Snohomish and later had her own store called Patina Home &Garden.
Thomas has long been involved with Crooked Arbor Gardens’ sculpture shows, but she was in search of a permanent location to display her giant daffodils and whimsical concrete garden ladies. Lytle was looking for a new retail outlet to sell vintage and reproduction home and garden furnishings and accessories.
“We asked Leanette if she needed a cute little garden shop at her nursery and a week later we got together,” Lytle said of the group’s initial conversation early this year.
“Pretty soon we were pulling out 30 to 40 years of farm stuff packed to the rafters in the old milk barn,” Bassetti added.
Curly Willow, which sells “artful objects and un-necessities” for home and garden, now occupies a 385-square-foot section of the transformed milk barn. The flooring has been painted with oversized diamond shapes in a pastel palette. Everything from old wicker and antique pottery is displayed in attractive roomlike settings.
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