The Thrill of the Hunt
February 7, 2012
For someone who co-owns a vintage Etsy shop, I sure haven’t been inside a thrift store or junk barn for a very long time. With Rachel’s move drawing near, there didn’t seem to be much of a point to keep collecting stock if it just meant her having to pack up half to move across the continent. And Florida will surely be a treasure trove all sorts of mid-century modern goodness! But now, with a Spring market in the works for the end of May (more details to come, hang in there!), it’s time to get our thrift on and we’re making a run for the border Friday morning for a weekend in Seattle with some girlfriends…woo too!
Mark Rochester, a vintage furniture dealer in the UK, recently contacted us and introduced us to his shop and interior design work. We’ve got a weakness for salvaged schoolhouse finds, not to mention industrial relics and lighting, so the reclaimed pieces over at Rochesters were right up our alley…
Some of our favourite vintage items to thrift for are industrial chairs, signs, stools and lighting, paint-by-numbers, maps, globes and atlases, solid wood furniture, wooden crates, ceramic knick knacks and pretty much anything else that catches our eye. We try to stick with the motto to not buy something unless we would display it in our own homes. We haven’t always shopped this way though…it’s been very easy to fall into the trap of buying things because they’re collectible or “on trend” with vintage buyers, but it’s also far too easy for storage spaces to start overflowing and the line between seller and hoarder to become very blurred. So we’ve learned to buy only what we love and our ever-changing home decor (not to mention our husbands!) thank us for it…
Photo by Hallie Burton via Desire to Inspire.
Interior Magasinet via Emmas Design Blogg. Photo by Birgitta Wolfgang Drejer.
Schoolhouse Electric via Design*Sponge
I love seeing a blend of new and vintage pieces in a space. Aged items add warmth and personality while a good balance of new pieces keep things from looking too dated or frumpy. As you can tell by most of the homes we feature here, glamorous rooms that look too shiny and “finished” don’t really speak our language. Personally, I’m drawn to homes that look lived in and have a sense of history about them…
Photo by Hallie Burton via Desire to Inspire.
While we have had some very amazing vintage goodies found for us by friends and family, it’s always more fun to dig for buried treasure ourselves. Some of our luckiest scores have been from our favourite junk barn (check out our very first blog post about it!), which we haven’t visited for several months, and our favourite junk man must be wondering if we fell of the face of the earth! Before Rachel leaves, we’ll be sure to go there (with the kids, of course!) and get our hands dirty while putting his dear mind at ease…
Vtwonen. Photo by Jeroen Van der Spek.
Do you share our love of the vintage hunt as much as we do? What sort of thrifted finds get your heart beating faster? We’d love to hear! We’ll be sure to take photos of our excursions this weekend to share with you next week. Enjoy your Tuesday!
