Karen Payne, owner of Cowgirl Attic, has been a self-described "natural, wild-eyed cowgirl" from the time she can remember. As a youngster growing up in Richmond, Ky., she was regularly barefoot, riding her pony Tex, and hanging out at the stockyards. "I loved the animals, loved watching the old men sitting on the fences, whittling their pipes and whistles. I could jump on my pony, ride down to the graveyard with my sister, stop at the store for awhile, get back on Tex and go just about anywhere in Madison County. It was a free life, nothing to be afraid of then. I loved it. It made me strong, gave me courage."
Payne is still living that free life in a way, working as her own boss, traveling when she wants to, but also exhibiting some nesting and hoarding instincts through her business that saves the best of what others may be discarding. She sells what some might call trash, but many of the things in her shop on Delaware Avenue she sees as treasures.
"It's pitiful what people will throw away," she said. "I don't understand that mentality."
In her twenties, Karen created custom-designed jewelry which she sold from her store, The Golden Tack, on Woodland Avenue. It was while she was in that business that she started noticing all the historic buildings being torn down. "I couldn't stand it," she said. "All that history and beauty being thrown away. It's such a waste. It was depressing!"
Payne said she's always collected cowgirl memorabilia, and Cowgirl Attic overflows with ranch and farm-related artifacts and salvage: life-sized metal silhouettes and poster-sized photographs of cowgirls, wooden carvings of horses, cow skulls, walls and doors from Spendthrift Farm, flooring and a mantel from Mount Brilliant, and much, much more. All of it for sale. "I get carried away," Payne confesses. "If I couldn't sell this stuff, I'd be surrounded by mounds of other people's trash. It gives me a great feeling to save this stuff," she said. "It's like recycling history." So she started buying architectural salvage from owners and demo teams and, before she knew it, she was in business. "I never dreamed I'd be doing this."
"At first, I'd be driving around, see them tearing down old churches, bungalows, banks, and I'd stop and try to negotiate to buy the brick and the doors and windows, bathroom fixtures from the '20s, stained glass, garden design items, corbels, and trim. Just about anything historic. These guys on bulldozers and lifts would laugh at me and tell me to get off the site. I know it was easier for them to tear things down than to stop what they were doing and carefully remove a window or door. Then, Woody at Norwood Construction-the nicest guy you'll ever meet-started selling me stuff." Payne said she's been known to put up scaffolding herself or rent a lift truck just to get to some of the architectural pieces, but she also hires seasonal workers. "Things start picking up in February and we're busy through the fall. We sell a lot of garden furnishings and yard art, tubs, doors, and sinks. Some of these fixtures are in perfect condition. You'd be surprised at what people are coming in looking for."
The first home of the "attic" was on Walton Avenue. She opened the store in the mid 1990s and lived upstairs, but Payne finally ran out of space after several years in that location. "I couldn't stop buying; I'm obsessed with saving the past. We don't need more piles of garbage; we need to restore, rehab and recycle things." Since moving to her current location in 2001, she has filled the 12,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor space with collectibles, antiques, and architectural salvage. And, she's still in the market for purchasing old brick, stones, and wood from old houses and barns. "You name it, we've probably got it here someplace," she said amidst the stacks of doors and piles of stones. She collects items from various periods, and many restorers and builders today call her for original hardware and other restoration items. "Lots of people are restoring the '20s bungalows in areas like Kenwick, north of Richmond Road, and over on Columbia. They're interested in original pieces."
She's on the road as much as the business allows, making frequent trips to Mexico to purchase furniture, lighting fixtures, copper sinks, and other reproductions. "I hire translators because we go pretty far out in the country, and I drive my truck and help load up everything. I love being on the road, but then, I meet some pretty interesting, crazy characters just working here in the store," she said, laughing. She also keeps busy with some investment property in the Kenwick neighborhood, and, yes, she's put in original flooring, doors, and windows fitting with the period.
Her current goal is to buy the equipment that would allow her to do demolition work herself. It's a good business decision as it puts her on the ground floor, able to identify and salvage valuable historic artifacts that she knows will sell. "I've often had to go on the site in the middle of someone else's job and do the delicate work of taking a mantel off the wall without splitting the wood, or removing tiles without cracking them. I'd like to be more in charge of what's being saved." She already owns a high torque, turbocharged, diesel skid steer for penetrating and salvaging piles of brick and debris, a dump truck, and a lift truck. "It's hard work, but I enjoy it," she said.
Karen's dream for the future? "I'd like to retire to my farm someday. I've got a five-acre farm on Paris Pike where I have miniature ponies; I grow herbs and raise chickens. I think I'd like a laid-back life, taking naps and watching things grow."