The Eclectic Collector style may be one of the most enjoyable looks to create. It's a style that is all about collecting and displaying the things that make you happiest. Yes, the look can be a little messy but that's part of the fun! Our list of resources is as eclectic as the style, covering everything from vintage stores to a national chain.
• Rehab Vintage | Los Angeles & Online
This shop is a treasure trove of vintage home and office goods — tanker desks galore, mid-century and industrial modern accessories and new and vintage lighting.
• Housing Works | New York & Online
Like any thrift store, Housing Works can be hit or miss for a collector. But it's worth revisiting for that needle in a haystack treasure. Plus, the store benefits a healing community for people living with and affected by HIV/AIDS.
• Olde Good Things | New York, Los Angeles & Online
Olde Good Things is one of the largest architectural antique dealers in the country, with piles of old hardware, stained glass and other architectural details that'll make any eclectic collector drool.
• Anthroplogie | National & Online
It may be frowned upon as a national chain but Anthropologie's multiple locations and easy website make their housewares a great option for a budding eclectic collector.
• Red Line Vintage | Online
After toiling for a couple of years as an etsy shop, Red Line Vintage has made the move to their own web address. This easy-to-shop site breaks items down by style, era and function.
• Cavalier | San Francisco & Online
Interior designer Jay Jeffers has brought his own Eclectic Collector style to his new shop. Along with Jeffers-designed American made furniture, you'll also find new, custom and vintage pieces curated by Jeffers and the creative director, Michael Purdy.
• 1st Dibs | Online and New York Showroom
For folks who take their collecting seriously, and those who enjoy a good hunt, 1st Dibs is a dream source. Warning: it's easy to drop down rabbit holes filled with fine art, furnishings and other delectable collectibles and lose entire afternoons to browsing!
• Past Present Future | Minneapolis & Online
This store is almost as much a museum as it is a store. Past Present Future collects, restores and supplies vintage and antique furnishings from the 1800s to the 1970s.
• ShopSCAD | Savanna, Georgia & Online
Whether you're looking for art, furniture, tabletop or even fashion, this shop sells original works by Savannah College of Art and Design students, faculty, staff and alumni, giving you to chance get in on the ground floor of collecting tomorrow's top designers.
• Rare Device | San Francisco & Online
Fans of independent art and design will be most interested in Rare Device. The shop carries everything from art to housewares from independent designers. Rare Device also hosts gallery exhibitions and special events so you can mix and mingle with other eclectic collectors.
(Image: Joan's Artist Abode)
Jessica's Crafted Space
Ana Creates a Community at Home
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
Ercol Bar Stool
True Greek Recipe: Paximadi Bread Salad with Tomatoes, Feta and Capers
True Greek Recipe: Paximadi Bread Salad with Tomatoes, Feta and Capers
My favorite stores are my parents' attic and basement...that's where I find amazing objects from my grandparents and great-aunts and -uncles. I'm so glad I come from a family of sentimental packrats!
My favorite source is Etsy. If you have something specific in mind, it usually exists.
What an excellent roundup! I'm thrilled to be in such good company.
I can't look at that white picture rail without wanting to paint it the same colour as the wall.
I second @Jillian Ruth. And thrift stores. I have seen pieces on 1st Dibs very similar to ones we have been given by family - what a rip off!
ETSY!!!!!
Agreed @PEARMELON! I always see pieces at Fossil's "Finds" sections of their website that have been blending in with my family's decor for the past half-century.
There's a cool vintage clothing/furniture shop in Arcadia called Bim Bam Baby that I discovered a few weeks ago. I bought a cool old wood bench that fit perfectly in my entry way. Eclectic Collector style is definitely my style!
Arcadia, CA that is :)
Vintage sellers are hardly a rip-off. They're a legitimate small business that serves a devoted following.
Thanks for this roundup of gems?
That would be "roundup of gems!"
I quite like this style when it's done well. My own house is a mish-mash of antique and modern, but not by design - it just happened! Looking again on 1st Dibs, I can't believe how much people will pay for old French furniture.
If you are truly an eclectic collector (not capitalized), you are not striving to create a look, it is something that happens organically because you like disparate objects and you like to see them all around you. You don't need a list of sources because you are already doing it. If you call yourself an Eclectic Collector (capitalized) and are striving for a particular "look", then you are automatically creating an artificial environment that doesn't really reflect your desire to display things that make you happiest as much as a desire to collect the particular objects of the moment that are considered the indicators of a particular design style.
And I'll just say in passing that the internet, while certainly incredibly awesome in every sense of both words, has really changed the collecting paradigm. Pre-internet, I once spent years looking for a particular book. I don't think I'll ever again experience the kind of joy I felt when I finally found it in a used bookstore in upstate New York since these days you can just plug a title into Bookfinder and buy it online or set up a search on eBay and wait for the item to be listed. Collecting is as much about the pleasure of the hunt as it is about the having of the desired item and if all you're doing is going down a list of internet bookmarks (the exact same bookmarks that everyone else who wants that look is also using) credit card in hand looking for stuff that someone else has chosen (which also means everyone will end up with variations of the exact same stuff), I'm not sure I would really call that collecting and I don't think I'd really call it eclectic either.
@yrnamehere, amen!
@Yrnamehere You are so right. I've ordered a few vintage things online because they were exactly what I wanted but it felt sort of hollow. Part of the appeal of vintage things is the story - either because it came from your parents or because of the hunt you remember.
I think part of a true eclectic collection is that it takes years to assemble. It's not something you can accomplish quickly. It has to grow organically. That's why house tours on AT where people have been in their houses for a long time always seem so much more appealing to me.
I still like some of the sites above and I love Etsy!