Meet Mike & Diane of Back Alley Antiques

Mike Chen grew up on a farm outside Peoria, Illinois. His grandfather had a kitchen table. hand-hewn white oak, six feet long, four inches thick. that the whole family ate off of for forty years. When Mike was twenty, his grandfather died, and the table came to him.

"He had seven kids and forty-two grandkids," Mike says. "Everyone wanted that table. But I got it because I was the only one who understood what it was."

What it was, was a piece of American history. The table was made in 1871, in central Illinois, by a Mennonite craftsman whose family had come over from Bavaria. The wood was cut from the family farm. The pegs were hand-carved. The breadboard ends were original. Mike spent the next decade learning how to identify similar tables. the joinery, the wear patterns, the patina. and how to restore them without erasing the history.

Back Alley Antiques opened in Merchant Square Chandler in 2014. Mike and his wife Diane have been at Booth A-101 ever since.

"We get collectors who want the museum piece," Diane says. "And we get young couples who want a table their kids will eat off of for the next forty years. We love both."

Their booth is built like a frontier cabin. wide-plank pine walls, a wood stove (decorative, but it works), and warm tungsten light. The tables, crocks, and primitive furniture are arranged the way they would have been in a 19th-century farmhouse.

"We don't do minimalism," Mike says. "If you come to our booth and there's no clutter, you've come to the wrong booth."

Come meet them at Booth A-101, or follow along at @backalleyantiques.