FARMHOUSE COLLECTION
Keeping the past alive In Missouri farmhouse, every antique has a story to tell Words CORBIN CRABLE • Photos PATTI KLINGE
A ntique collecting and dealing isn’t just a hobby for Brenda and Mark Kilgore – it’s their very livelihood. The proof of this is present in every room of their home. Look around their cozy farmhouse in the rural Kansas City area and you’ll see knick-knacks and bric-a-brac from decades and centuries long gone, lovingly displayed for visitors. The proof also lies in the intangible, such as the friends Brenda and Mark have made as they continue travelling America, buying and selling antiques at shows both big and small. It lies in the hours upon hours of hard work the couple put into repurposing old items and readying them for sale. It lies in the love of vintage items that they have passed on to their adult children. Brenda and Mark have both shared a love of antiques since long before they met each other. But he, a country boy who enjoyed the solitude of living in a rural area, and she, a city girl who relished the hustle and bustle of a larger burg, obviously had their differences when it came to their idea of paradise. From big city to quiet country Twenty-five years ago, living in Excelsior Springs, MO and desiring a change of scenery, Brenda and Mark took on the mammoth task of finding a new place to live just one car ride away. “It was like pulling teeth to get her out of the city to start with. I was raised in the country, and I tried living in town for a while, but I just couldn’t take it,” Mark recalls, chuckling as he sits with Brenda in the living room of their home on a sunny but chilly afternoon in early February. “I missed the quiet, the privacy. “We had a beautiful house in town, but you could look out your window and see your neighbor doing their dishes. “We were just out driving one day – we went out every weekend to drive and look around – and we found a house for sale over that hill,”
Above : Natural light from a late Sunday afternoon pours into the living room of the Kilgores’ farmhouse, where Brenda says she enjoys watching the sun rise and set every day. Surrounded by many of her favorite antique pieces gathered throughout a lifetime of collecting, Brenda Kilgore says she enjoys the peace and quiet of rural living.
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