TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. — When it comes to antique lodge furniture, clients are easier to find than good inventory, said Robert Markey, owner of Christiby’s, based in Traverse City.

Christiby’s travels to shows all over the country selling exclusively antique lodge and cabin furnishings. 

The antique lodge look includes Old Hickory and Black Forest décor. The style is also called camp, cabin, ranch or Adirondack, depending on the part of the country you are in, Markey said.

“If you’re in west Texas, it’s the ‘ranch look.’ In the Great Lakes, it’s the ‘camp look.’ In New England, it’s named for the Adirondack Mountains,” Markey said.

The style often features bark, antlers or other natural elements of the region. It’s become popular enough that reproductions are fairly easy to find. However, to find the original merchandise, Markey said he has to do “detective work.”

He goes to auctions to find a singular piece to add to his collection. He makes contacts at shows, emails decorators, and generally “walks through hoops,” he said. Only a “handful” of dealers in the country specialize in this market, Markey said.

The Ralph Lauren company has become a regular customer, choosing fishing creels, bamboo rod and reels, woven backpacks, canoe paddles and vintage hunting and fishing clothing to decorate their stores all over Europe, Markey said.

Istanbul, Tel Aviv, Milano, Dubai and other sites are sporting the American cottage look from Christiby’s carefully selected mercantile, Markey said. “There’s a lot of service involved in handling this client and a need for a large inventory available for immediate shipping. But there is some credibility in dealing with (Ralph Lauren). After all, they popularized the rustic style,” Markey said.

Markey and his wife, Sharon, are practitioners who “live the life,” he said, in a log home built on Lake Michigan and decorated with the style they love.

But the furniture, art, lamps, and decorations are not just for log cabins, ranches or Adirondack houses, he said. Boys’ rooms, game rooms, basements and country homes can incorporate the lodge style. “It’s a point of pride for me that we’ve gotten a lot of people into this look. Someone will walk by and say, ‘You make this stuff?’ An hour later he’s leaving with chairs and a Navajo Indian blanket. The chances are good he will be one of our customers next year,” Markey said.

“We have a lot of repeat clientele,” said Sharon Markey, who specializes in packing the trailer for shows and bookkeeping. “They have become friends that we anticipate seeing at shows. It’s a friendly group.”

Sharon said their merchandise is not “shabby chic.”

“It’s higher end. It’s serviceable and good quality,” she said.

The Markeys operated an advertising business for years while dabbling in antique shows, Robert said.

From there, they have built a full-time business selling antique cabin furnishings, which has supported them for 15 years, he said.

“We’ve met a lot of wonderful people,” Sharon said. “We’ve experienced the adventure of traveling, seeing the country, doing what we love best, which is antiquing. It’s a two-some affair.”

The two shop in tandem, sometimes bantering over items, but usually settling on the same piece separately, she said. The biggest issue is deciding whether they keep or sell some items, she said.

Working together has been an adventure, but Sharon said it has its moments. “I put (a piece) into place in the booth, and he follows me and moves it one inch. ‘Now it’s perfect,’ he says,” she said laughing.

The Markeys will be one of the dealers participating in the AntiqueWeek Antique Show on Jan. 20-22, opening weekend of the Indianapolis Home Show on the Indiana State Fairgrounds. 

For more information on Christiby’s, call 231-947-5906. For details on the show call 800-876-5133, or visit www.antiqueweek.com/antiqueshow