Vintage

It’s finally springtime, and if you’re an antiques lover like me, that means it’s antique market season. What a glorious feeling to be weeding your way through Brimfield Market or Les Puces de Saint-Ouen and coming across an alluring oil painting of someone 300 years older than you, or pair of Marcel Breuer Wassily Chairs that are just worn-in enough? It’s love at first sight and you have already begun mentally refinancing your mortgage to bring those babies home.

If you’re not a seasoned thrifter, Goodwill can be a little intimidating. Filled with buzzing fluorescent lights, broken panini presses, laminated filing cabinets, and bouquets of plastic flowers that seem straight off of the Golden Girls set, it can be a little hard to see the potential wedged in between all the garage-sale junk. But it’s there! You just need to squint and know what you’re looking for.

No matter how many decades pass, there are certain appliances that stick around. Washing machines were a godsend that released us from hours of hand-washing, fridges changed the game for cooking (and preserving), dishwashers saved households from being torn apart over fights about dirty dishes, and radios brought music into the kitchen. But along the way, those appliances have changed and updated — and sometimes those upgrades yielded some hilarious and fascinating results.

Wall-to-wall carpeting or sponge painted walls, anyone?

We picked the brains of five purveyors of vintage goods to see what people can't stop buying.

Most decades have a signature style (both in fashion and interior design), but that doesn’t always mean a room follows that aesthetic to a T. At times, it can be tricky to date a space just by looking at a photo, though there are usually telltale signs here and there. What’s that you say? You could spot a 1960s living room with one eye closed? We encourage you to put those eagle eyes to the test. All the spaces here are either from the 1950s, ’60s or ’70s.

If you suffer from decision fatigue, these time-tested tips could serve as a jumping-off point for designing your home with confidence.

Most people have a tale of “the one that got away.” For some, it might be a previous relationship that ended abruptly, or maybe a solemn story of unrequited love. But for me, it was a set of vintage chairs; Marcel Breuer Cesca caned dining chairs to be exact. Reliving the memory of the fateful day where I idiotically let these slip through my grip is painful, but it’s a saga worth telling, if only to help those that come after me never make a similar mistake.

Vintage art always feels unique, personal and it carries a lot of history and whimsy — which is what makes it so fun to hunt down. One of our go-to sources? Etsy, though it takes a lot of sifting. To get you started on where to look, we gathered some great sellers of vintage art; they carry everything from maps and oils to old-school movie posters.

The web is brimming with user-friendly vintage decor sellers that make scoring a one-of-a-kind piece easier than ever. However, with all those online options, knowing what to look for, and more importantly, how to separate the good stuff from the bad, isn’t always easy.

Looking through Etsy can be a dizzying whirlwind, because it offers a mix of garage sale quality bric-a-brac and diamond-in-the-rough vintage gold…you just need the patience to sniff out the latter. To help you pick through the terrain just a little faster to get to the good stuff, we dug through to unearth 10 awesome Etsy storefronts specializing in vintage furniture. They might just inspire you to update a room or two!

I’m a big fan of vintage furniture: well-made and well-loved, the right piece can add a focal point to any space. But keeping in mind the old adage of having nothing in your home that isn’t beautiful or useful, you want to be sure that you aren’t just adding vintage pieces for the sake of them being, well, old. Check out the following for examples of vintage being brilliantly repurposed, reused, or just given the right surroundings.

There is a lot of great antiquing around the country, though few flea markets can compare to the Brimfield Antique Show. The massive market occurs three times each year—in May, July and September in the small town of Brimfield, Massachusetts, and while each month has its merits, I have been told that the best markets are in May and September (both of which I’ve been to and have not been disappointed with).

Vintage dressers are a bathroom renovator’s best friend, as they can lend a healthy dose of character to the old W.C. for a fraction of the price of most (boring) made-to-order vanities. What’s more is, if you know how to drill a hole into wood, you’re half way to repurposing your own vintage dresser into a vanity/ sink console.

When one thinks of IKEA, the questions of “collectible” and “resale value” aren’t generally ones that come to mind. More like, “Will this last?” But IKEA pieces dating back to catalogs as early as 1944 (yes, our stylist friends were just as shocked as you are RN) all of a sudden are generating major buzz on the auction and estate sale market.

Project by: Ella Swenson Location: Chicago, Illinois A combination of salvaged wood, unexpected family heirlooms and cozy textiles make Ella’s home feel like a warm and welcoming curio shop. Personal and interesting, this is a space that invites you in for a cup of tea and some charming stories. From Ella: I’m a creative director/producer in Chicago with a desperate love for vintage, salvaged wood and projects.

When I could not find jewelry I wanted to wear, I started a company called Naughty Secretary Club and made my own. When the art I envisioned hanging on my walls was not available to purchase anywhere, I picked up a paint brush and got busy creating. I may not be crafty enough to build furniture or sew a pillow, but I know just where to go home decor hunting: I have to get dirt under my nails at a flea market, spend time sifting through the thrift store bins and cruise Craigslist religiously.

First off, let me preface this post by saying I think mid-century modern is a classic and versatile style that will be relevant in home design for many decades to come. Unfortunately for me, when a style becomes increasingly popular, I immediately start panicking about how soon it will lose its luster.

Popular design trends are hard to pinpoint when you’re in the midst of them, but painfully easy to spot once you’re a decade or two removed (the groovy pad of Megan Draper on AMC’s Mad Men screams of the swinging ’70s). Post WWII, decor trends seem to have had about a 10-year lifespan, and we’ve chronicled the nostalgic bullet points for each period.

Interior design trends often get started in the trenches of flea markets by tastemakers and sometimes take months or even years to catch on and go viral. Justina Blakeney was into plants and scooping up macrame at flea markets long before her brand name, Jungalow, became a household word and everyone was using the #ihavethisthingwithtextiles hashtag. The world is just now starting to embrace this bohemian look, when many of us have already been there, done that and let our ferns die.

There’s been a lot of press about antiques lately, but not the stories we’re so used to reading. It’s not been news about record-setting prices or celebrity auctions; it’s been articles about millennials’ lack of interest in collecting.

For those collecting maximalists among us—who can’t have just one globe, camera, or milk glass goblet, but seem to amass them by the dozen—here are some creative ways to organize and live with the things you love. All of these ideas keep your most cherished items in sight, incorporating them seamlessly into your decor. This is probably going to become your new favorite spot in your home.

Gisbert Pöppler via Dustjacket Attic Kitchen cabinets: they’re necessary, but let’s face it—they aren’t always the most interesting pieces of furniture. But that doesn’t necessarily have to be the case! Here are imaginative kitchens that make use of large, antique pieces of furniture in addition to regular kitchen cabinets. They’re drama-filled, glamorous, and practical. Read on to find out why you may want to give this trend a try.

Dawn’s Fabulous 50s Suburban Home Most people interested in decor know the power of vintage items. They’ve studied the classics, or they’ve got a couple of storied items in their own homes. But there are some homes that don’t just dabble in vintage or mix it in: they embrace it in its entirety, throwing themselves full-on into previous eras. I already had this post planned before the recent hubbub surrounding this Vox article, in which Sarah A.

One of our favorite warm-weather activities is browsing for second-hand treasures. We’ve made some mistakes to be sure, but we’ve never regretted taking home these eight items and neither will you. 1. Cast iron — The beauty of cast iron is that it only gets better with age. The vintage version is not only super collectable, but also more valuable come cooking time thanks to its hard-earned patina.

Flea markets are filled with curiosities, and I’m not just talking about the stuff for sale. Over the years I’ve witnessed a lot of strange behaviors as people navigate booths looking for bargains. There’s something about flea market culture (cash-based transactions? secondhand goods? informal setting?

Have you ever come across a cool thrift store furniture find — perhaps a filing cabinet, desk or credenza — that had your style, but also had a lock with keys long since gone? Or have you lost your keys to a piece of furniture in your home? It’s not impossible to restore locking function to vintage and antique furniture finds; here are a few tips on where to start from a locksmith.

Like many of you, I often struggle with finding artwork I like versus artwork I can afford. For example, I love vintage posters. But good, interesting (not to mention affordable,) prints can be hard to find. Until now, that is… Now, you can download hi-resolution vintage posters for free at Free Vintage Posters and put your printer (or a commercial printing service) to work (just remember to change your printer settings to their highest resolution color mode and use good quality paper).

Name: Jennifer LaskeyLocation: Windsor Square / Hancock Park, Los Angeles, CASize: 1,000 square feetYears Lived In: 11 months Bette Davis, Marion Davies, Mae West, Ava Gardner, Douglas Fairbanks, Clara Bow, William Randolph Hearst…a who’s who of Hollywood royalty that once called the historic Los Altos apartments “home”. Now the tony address is home to events planner and vintage design specialist, Jennifer Laskey and her feline sidekick, Capone.

I’d been scheming to create a reclaimed planked wall for several years, and finally got my chance when the talented couple behind Ashley & Robert’s Streamlined Bohemian asked me to help them design their new Georgetown chocolate shop.The goal for their shop, Fleurir Hand Grown Chocolates, was to create a vibe that was both clean and rustic.

Name: KirstynLocation: Pacific Heights — San Francisco, CaliforniaSize: 700 square feetYears lived in: 2 — rented Kirstyn’s apartment is the quintessential San Francisco home, chock full of the impeccable architectural details we go crazy for. Each element, from the built-ins, to the molding, to the hardware, has been restored and finished with care.