The Owl Club: vintage loveliness

Thursday 5 April 2012

vintage loveliness

I love old stuff: things from the past, things with a past. I've noticed lately that there are some incredibly creative vintage boutiques on Etsy: it seems like selling vintage has become an art in itself. I recently won shop credit to Yessiree Petunia Vintage in a giveaway on the Nearsighted Owl blog. Look at the lovely things I received:

Such a pretty yellow canister (maybe for washi tape storage?)

The perfect tin for fairy cakes and cookies. Hopefully Fafi is not jealous of this pretty kitty!

This incredible necklace - perfect Spring colours!

And Lesley Jean included this pretty gold earrings as a special extra surprise, which is always a treat.

I'm delighted with my prizes, needless to say, however in this post I really wanted to celebrate the creativity of vintage sellers in the way they display, choose and sell old things. To take Yessiree Petunia Vintage as an example:

Apart from the fact that these dresses are fabulous, I love the way she matches colours across her shop front - it looks so delightful and tantalising! Another favourite of mine is Becaruns. I love the way the items are batched together by colour and theme, it makes them so appealing:

vintage sunshine: needlebook, buttons and notions by becaruns

I love the way she photographs things in the prettiest of still-life styles, and also the way she groups her items into categories that appeal to the joy of rummaging around in old cupboards, such as, 'the old sewing basket'. No wonder her sales figures are so high! Also well worth a visit is CrowRidgeStudios:

vintage bicycle wall clock from CrowRidgeStudios

Katherine finds such quirky and unusual things with her artist's eye, and once again there's a lovely colour theme in her shop: golds, yellows and a touch of blue. A whole different palette can be found at the lovely shop NoCarnationsHome.

vintage Readers Digest collection by NoCarnationsHome

There's a prettily sombre feel to NoCarnationsHome, emphasising weathered, simple materials such as glass, pottery and wood and offering charming instant collections, like this set of beautiful old scissors.

necklace by MySoCalledVintage

Other favourite vintage shops of mine are Family Thread, which sells gorgeous children's clothes, and BMTVintage which sells mid-century pieces and makes me crave a pale blue typewriter! I also adore the beautiful jewellery at MySoCalledVintage (Courtney also makes her own jewellery from repurposed vintage pieces.) For the prettiest vintage fabric, I love HeartHandmadeUK: amazing value and Claire is just lovely (her blog is wonderful too)! I also have a thing for the sweet floral vintage aprons at RoseVintage!