Across the street from the Richland post office, tucked beside a 122-year-old home presumed to be the oldest in the city stands a detached garage with a weathered gray sign hanging from its portico that reads, “Antiques.”

Treasures from yesteryear and yester-century are arranged adjacent to the door, beckoning passing collectors. When the shopkeeper is in, a breadboard sign by the power pole across the street welcomes curious customers.

Charlene Swain is the owner of Klais Antiques and Creative Framing, which has been in business at 1007 Gillespie St. since 2011.

The business brings under one roof two of Swain’s favorite hobbies: antiquing and high-quality custom framing services.

“Customers bring in something they want framed and it’s a blank slate. Then, we make it into what they want it to be and that’s very satisfying for me,” she said.

Swain previously owned Create-A-Frame at 705 The Parkway in Richland, where she got her start in professional framing in 1993.

Her affinity for antiques can be traced back further.

“I’ve always loved them,” she said.

“When I was about 14 years old, my stepfather was a cabinetmaker and a good friend of his gave me an old oak wingback rocker that was totally a mess. My stepdad and I redid it, and I still have it. It taught me the love of wood,” Swain said.

When she grew up and started a life of her own, she brought that love of wood grain with her as she hunted for antique pieces to decorate her home.

Seven years ago, she and her husband, John Swain, bought a cabin in Twin Lakes, Idaho. During their visits, the pair enjoy going to estate and antique sales in the area.

“We go out into the backcountry a lot where people hang onto their things and live on their properties for a long time,” she said.

Some of those picks find a new home in the couple’s turn-of-the-century Richland home, others are displayed for sale in the roughly 700-square-foot shop.

Swain said she tries to source more uncommon or different items than what one usually finds in antique shops.

The “Klais” in the shop’s name is a nod to her mother’s father who owned a store in Blackhawk, Colorado. A photo of him in front of his early 1900s shop hangs by the door and is featured on Swain’s business cards.

He was also “a sheriff, printer, photographer, volunteer fireman and raised my mom because her mother died in the flu epidemic of 1919. My mom just adored him … she was just 4 years old when her mother passed away,” Swain said.

Since Swain is semi-retired, hours at the shop vary, especially in spring and summer when she and her husband spend more time at their Idaho cabin. Customers can call or text ahead at 509-943-0002 for hours and availability.

Retail shop to cottage industry

Though antiques were her first love, framing was her first business.

Thirty-three years ago, she walked into Create-A-Frame. “I had an old frame and an old thread ad I wanted a mat for and I ended up getting a job,” Swain said.

Four years later, owners Wilbur and Mary Ann Kimball retired and asked Swain if she wanted to buy the building and business. She did.

Fellow employee Cindy Irvine stayed on, and the two developed a sister-like relationship.

Swain changed the name of the shop to Klais Antiques and Framing after purchase.

“When I bought the shop … they had a pretty good place for display, so I bought a few antiques and put them in there, and it kind of blossomed,” Swain said.

A beloved dog also was a store attraction. 

Irvine had a shop dog named Bodie who also was a therapy dog who made regular rounds at Kadlec Regional Medical Center. Bodie would walk around the neighborhood, often wandering into the nearby bookstore. People would come into Klais just to visit with him.

“There’s a bronze sculpture of a dog in The Parkway near 705 and that’s Bodie,” Swain said.

In 2006, Swain decided to sell the building. Irvine went back to school, later relocated to Seaside, Oregon, and now works for Klatsop County.

Porter’s Real Barbecue bought the space from Swain. Today it’s home to Soi 705, a full bar and restaurant serving craft Asian street food.

In 2011, Swain revived the framing business on a smaller scale in the newly built garage and workshop her husband constructed for her at the historic home they’d bought a few years prior.

Now in her 70s, Swain said completing framing jobs and selling antiques out of her home feels more like a hobby, free from the overhead of running a separate retail shop.

“One thing I do differently than a lot of people is that I hand cut my own mats and glass and chop my own frames and put them together,” Swain said.

A needle pointer herself, she said she specializes in framing embroidery pieces as well as shadow boxes. All of her materials are archival quality.

“I do everything myself; nothing is sent out. I stretch all my stitchery. I have customers that move to other parts of the country, and they send things to me to be framed,” she said.

“The other thing is I always have a lot of antique frames on hand,” she said, noting many of her customers have antique items who want an appropriate frame to match.

A home with history

In addition to collecting antiques for her shop and home, Swain also happens to live in what is presumed to be Richland’s oldest still-standing home, according to East Benton County Historical Society records.

“I grew up in Richland, and I always liked this house. Cindy and I were walking to a friend’s house after work one day when I saw the house was for sale. I called a Realtor I know and told them, ‘I have to have that house,’” Swain recalled.

The 2,139-square-foot home was built in 1904 by Charles F. Breithaupt, brother-in-law of Howard Amon, one of Richland’s cofounders. 

The house is among a dozen or so original homes left standing after the U.S. government razed many existing homes during the Manhattan Project era when workers descended on the area to build the first atomic bomb. Many of the remaining homes belonged to those who took jobs with the federal government. The home at 1007 Gillespie once was home to the city’s postmaster.

After more than half a century had passed and through subsequent owners, the home’s original details remained largely intact, Swain said.

“I’ve had numerous people stop by and tell me stories of friends or relatives that have lived in the house … So many say they’re so thankful that John and I take care of this house,” Swain said.

Passersby have recalled how the woman who used to live there maintained a beautiful rose garden and how the house was known to be haunted by a little girl.

“I’ve never seen her. When I looked at this house to buy it, I felt at home. I’ve always felt at home here,” she said. “I feel lucky that John and I are the caretakers of this house for a while.”

She said she has been happy to observe a renaissance in appreciation for antiques in recent years. Unexpectedly, it’s been “a lot more younger people in their 20s and 30s coming in looking for things. Not furniture, but really different things.”

Old books have been a big seller.

Whether it be the people she meets on her sourcing trips to Idaho or the customers in her store, Swain said “meeting the people is the best part of it.”

Klais Antiques and Creative Framing: 1007 Gillespie St., Richland, 509-943-0002. Call ahead for hours and availability.