A Garden of Antiques and Wonder

A Garden of Antiques and Wonder

Shane Brown’s Lifelong Passion for Beauty and Antiques
Comes Alive in a Carpinteria Space That’s
Part Greenhouse, Part Wonderland

By Tiana Molony | Photos by Ingrid Bostrom
April 8, 2026

Read more from Home & Garden 2026 here.

There’s a place I frequently visit in my sleep. It’s somewhere in the English countryside, in the garden of a home like that of Mr. Darcy’s. Birds chirp. Bees buzz. The sun shines. It is all so perfect. Then I wake up and am snapped back into reality.

Sometimes, though, if I’m lucky, I come across places like this in real life — ones that feel almost too good to be true. The Well Gardens is such a place.

On a gloomy afternoon in Carpinteria, owner Shane Brown gave me a tour of his new retail space, which will have its soft opening on April 18.

The property is massive, spanning nearly 10 acres. Walking in, you’re immediately greeted by the outdoor garden space. Scattered throughout are Brown’s hallmark fountains and stone pots. It’s hard to miss the 12 goliath greenhouses, which cover a total of 89,000 square feet.

“I hate being confined,” he admits as we walk around the space.

It’s a short drive from his Summerland storefront, The Well, which he opened in 2020 and which now has a sister location in Montecito’s Upper Village. This new venture, he says, brings together The Well and his first store, Big Daddy Antiques, which opened in 1994 in Los Angeles.

At The Well Gardens, you’ll find a mix of garden, design, and antique pieces — art, fountains, rugs, chairs, stone pots, olive trees, and other plant and garden elements — all curated so you “never know what you’re going to find,” says Brown. And even if you don’t find anything, you’ll likely walk away with a sudden compulsion to rearrange your entire living space. 

One of the items that caught my eye was a large stone foot that looked as if it had been plucked from the Met’s Greek and Roman art galleries. Brown tells me it came from the home of the late American interior designer John Saladino. Its price tag reads $48,000.

That kind of provenance helps explain what comes next. This piece may be an outlier, but even so, Brown knows his prices aren’t exactly low. He says he’s already “pretty much at the top” and can’t push them much further, but justifies the price point by citing the caliber of his inventory: high-tier, carefully sourced, curated finds that range from rare antiques to one-of-a-kind statement pieces.

“People have to understand that there are different levels of stuff,” he says. 

That doesn’t mean he’s not up for a spirited negotiation. The secret to getting a good price from him, he says — speaking about himself in the third person — “is to be nice, admire his work, and appreciate his work.”

Credit: Ingrid Bostrom

He’s just returned from Round Top, a 58-year-old biannual antique show in Texas, where he’s been sourcing treasures for more than three decades. “What I enjoy is the hunt,” he says, smirking.

He moves fast, almost like a hummingbird, shifting from one thing to the next. Jotting down notes, I’ll look up, and he’s already somewhere else, adjusting a chair or brushing dust from a couch. “These pillows are really bad,” he notes, gesturing to a brown mohair couch. “We need different pillows.”

I ask if he drinks coffee. I wonder where he gets all his energy, and ask if I can borrow some.

“No, I wouldn’t drink coffee,” he says. “I don’t like the taste; I love the smell.” Fair. 

He does, however, go for a heaping cup of black tea in the mornings. For him, it’s a kind of ritual. “Time for me to talk to my wife — just hang out with my wife.”

On the topic of coffee, I ask about a possible coffee spot at The Well Gardens. He says it’s in the works. He also mentions the possibility of an ice cream stand — maybe gelato — though he’s not entirely sure. Wedding receptions and other events are definitely a go. There’s talk of a vineyard and a possible restaurant. There’s also mention of an equestrian center. 

The space unfurls before me as we walk into the back rooms, where he stores inventory available by appointment only to trade and designers. Each room seems to have a theme: the chair room, the couch room, the lamp room, and the rug room, which reminds Brown of a story from when he and his wife first started dating. “I can’t guarantee anything,” he told her. “It’s gonna be a magic carpet ride.”

Brown and his wife and co-owner, Kristine, live in Montecito. “I love traveling,” he says, “but this will always be my home base.” He loves the community and feels a sense of obligation to it. “The biggest thing that you could do for your community is create beauty … that will feed your soul.”

After the tour, we take a seat on a white couch in the corner. Brown hands me a pillow to prop behind me, dusts off a few leaves, and turns to face me, resting his left elbow on the cushion.

So, I say, take me back to the beginning. 

“The seed was planted when I was 10 years old,” he says, as if reading from a script. I imagine he’s told this story many times before. Here’s the short version:

His grandmother took him to Hearst Castle, where he was left awed by the beauty and grandeur. He tucked away the memory for later use, until his late twenties, looking for extra income, he began dabbling in antiques, renting space in an antique mall in Hermosa Beach.

From there, he started selling at the Rose Bowl and the Santa Monica Flea market for about 25 years, quickly building a following among set decorators, the film world, and major fashion brands such as Ralph Lauren — supplying vintage trunks, leather goods, and accessories — as well as Nordstrom, Tommy Hilfiger, Rag & Bone, and designers in Japan.

As demand grew and customers kept asking where they could find him during the week, he eventually opened a store while continuing to do markets — often making more in a single day than in a month of retail. He expanded into sourcing trips across the United States and Europe, shipping containers from abroad, and developing custom pieces when he couldn’t find enough unique items. Together, it evolved into the Big Daddy Antiques business he’s known for today.

By this point, the sun has begun to emerge, casting shadows from the glass ceiling onto the floor before us. Scanning the massive space, I couldn’t help but think that Brown has created something closer to an empire than a furniture store.

It seems as if he’s read my mind.

“It’s just gonna keep evolving,” he says. “That’s the beauty.”

The Well Gardens, 3376 Foothill Rd., Carpinteria, thewellbybdantiques.com

Credit: Ingrid Bostrom