Vintage Inspiration: HD Buttercup

HD Buttercup is a really lovely furniture store located in SOMA in San Francisco. Aside from being huge and full of the kind of furniture that is pretty enough to make you feel okay about dedicating your next several paychecks to it, they have worked in a lot of really great vintage decorating ideas that could be some DIY inspiration for around the home.

A wall of vintage plates:

Bowler hats turned light covers:

Old shoe stands painted for display:

And lots of vintage pieces around every corner, like this trophy collection:

Vintage Destination - The Longest Yard Sale

One of my favorite annual traditions is the Longest Yard Sale in the World. Someone in Tennessee devised this genius idea to encourage more tourism to the area, and got everyone along little Route 127 to hold garage sales and antique fairs on the first weekend in August. Now the route stretches from Alabama to Michigan, and is full of everything from novice sellers just cleaning out their attics to big barn sales to fields full of antique dealers.

For four days straight, I rummaged and haggled and poured over old treasures, and came back with several suitcases full and even more photos:

One of my favorite old finds of the trip was a viewmaster projector. Mine came pristine and perfect in its box, with a handwritten note by the previous owner:

I'm feeling the same way about many of the treasures I brought home. I'll probably be writing the same thing on many of them.

Vintage Destination: Pretty Parlor

We recently stumbled on the prettiest, pinkyest, jewel box of a vintage shop in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle.  When you walk in to Pretty Parlor you're greeted by an overload of awesome girly vintage: colorful crinolines hanging from the ceiling, your favorite '80s children toys, and carefully assorted and color-coordinated vintage beauties.  $25-$85 will score you a pristine vintage dress, and make sure to check out the cat collection (live and figurines).

The people at Pretty Parlor are so nice and helpful, and all about helping the vintage scene in the neighborhood. We love the vintage shopping map they put together (and then scanned on the spot so we could post about it).  Definitely a must-see in the Seattle vintage scene.

Pretty Parlor:  119 Summit Ave E, Seattle, WA 98102

Vintage Destination: Seattle's Georgetown Trailer Park Flea Market

There are a ton of great vintage spots in Seattle, but this spot in the Georgetown neighborhood may be the quirkiest.  It's a trailer park AND a flea market.  There's only a few shops, but the prices are good and there are treasures to be found.  I picked up hobnail salt and pepper shakers for $5.  Definitely worth the trek, and hey, if you're lucky you'll get invited to the kid's birthday bbq that seem to be a regular occurrence.

Georgetown Trailer Park Flea Market
Saturdays, 11-6
map

Vintage Destination: Alameda Flea Market

If you ever find yourself in the Bay Area during the first Sunday of the month, you should check out the massive Alameda Flea Market.









It isn't all inexpensive - but there are some bargains to be found. And, when the weather is good, with San Francisco picturesque in the background, you can wander the isles eating a breakfast burrito or something else from one of the food trucks, and it won't even matter if all you actually walk away with is a doodad or two.

Alameda Point Antiques Faire
2900 Navy Way, Alameda, CA 94501

6:00 AM to 7:30 am $15.00
7:30 am to 9:00 am $10.00
9:00 am to 2:00 pm $ 5.00
2:00 pm to 3:00 pm Free!

Vintage Destination: Vancouver, Canada (Gastown)

I figured Gastown in Vancouver deserved its own mention, and we didn't have nearly as much time as we would have liked to eat at all the tasty restaurants there and poke our heads into all the cute shops.

I am a big fan of the Community Thrift and Vintage Frock Shoppe in Gastown. This shop was just for the ladies (and full of cute stuff!) and there's another Community Thrift around the corner for the men folk.

Community Thrift and Vintage: The Frock Shoppe
331 Carrall Street
Vancouver, BC V6B






My favorite non-vintage store was Old Faithful, with its high ceilings and brick walls and clean simple shelves full of well made, rustic beautiful products.

Old Faithful
320 West Cordova Street
Vancouver, BC V6B 1E8



I'm actually still kicking myself for not picking up that twine/scissor combo pictured above.


If you're heading north and want to know where else might be worth checking out, make sure to check out ourVintage and Thrift map of Vancouver and let us know what might need updating/adding.

Vintage Destination: Vancouver, Canada (Main Street/Riley Park)

We traveled to Vancouver, Canada over the long weekend, and I wanted to share a few of my favorite neighborhoods/vintage shops that we discovered while there!

We had some fun wandering Main Street a little. The clothing was not the cheapest, but I really liked the quality/selection at the tiny little shop Woo Vintage.

Woo Vintage
4366 Main Street
Vancouver, BC V5V 3P9




One of the real gems of Main Street, though is the charming Regional Assembly of Text. From the display of pale green vintage typewriters in the window to the impressive wall of file cabinets at the register, everything about this store was kind of magical. We spent forever peeking inside the art drawers, loitering in the tiny reading room, drooling over the vintage displays, and making lists of people to write real paper love letters to.

Regional Assembly of Text
3934 Main St
Vancouver, BC V5V 3P2








I've made a Vintage and Thrift map of Vancouver and other places that seem like they might be of interest if you ever make it out that way. If you have suggestions/favorites, let me know and we'll update the map!