Hello and happy SUNDAY, vintage lovers!!!
Woah! One more summer weekend almost over. I can’t believe that September 1st is soon upon us — and the changes this new season will bring, both in work, school, play and of course FASHION.
As if I weren’t surrounded by vintage fashion enough already, I’ve LITERALLY been surrounded by it since beginning to work at vintage boutique A Little Wicked. I spent Friday-Sunday in the most gorgeous space containing the most gorgeous vintage pieces that I can steam, style and SELL to gorgeous NYC vintage lovers!
Which leads me to my next thought: Since I’m now working weekends for A Little Wicked and weekdays for Sammy Davis Vintage, when it came to putting those final FINAL touches on my friend Sabrina’s new Brooklyn apartment, we had to meet last Wednesday evening at 6PM instead of the weekend.
What were we after? Secondhand chairs that were both stylish and sassy to replace the boring, blase ones of her kitchen table. I’m usually not harsh, vintage lovers, because I believe that positive energy pushes us in the direction of our dreams. But I will be honest [hopefully not harsh] when I say that her old kitchen table chairs WERE quite boring.
So I was more than happy to run on down to Chelsea, New York City to see what the local Housing Works Thrift Store had on the floor. If you’re a New Yorker and haven’t been to a Housing Works before, I implore you to GO! The chain is not only great for thrift finds that are one-of-a-kind to NYC, it supports a local NYC cause of helping the city’s population who have been diagnosed with AIDS.
We all know that buying our clothing and furniture secondhand isn’t only stylish, but smart. But it’s also socially responsible, because so many of the stores we shop at support causes which help to spread that positive energy and move everyone lives forward in pursuit of their universe-given dreams.
Keep reading after the jump to see what great chairs we found to jazz up Sabrina’s kitchen table, and to learn more about shopping New York City’s Housing Works stores!
And if you’re just catching up with my blog now, make sure you rewind back in time to read part I and part II of how I decorated Sabrina’s Brooklyn apartment on thrifted finds.
Before I share the latest in my thrifting adventures, I want to give a shout out to two special people whom I’ve met in the digital sphere with the coolest knack for repurposing secondhand steals and re-imagining a piece so that it’s rebirthed into something even more fabulous than before.
First, shout out to my friend Tyler of Katalyst Designs, who recently tweeted me photos of furniture shot mid-paint that he scored at the estate auction of a former Congressman!
And then there’s my fellow vintage lover and seller of Blythe Hopes Vintage, who took this plain ‘ole bookshelf and made it sing [both figuratively AND literally!] by gluing sheets of music all over it as such.
Somedays I wish I could drop all things Sammy Davis Vintage, head into the middle-of-nowhere [AKA some place without technology] and teach myself all of these great DIY tricks and creative touches that you all continually share and inspire me with.
While the desire to “know it all now” will always be there, I try to remind myself that learning, inspiration and the act of sharing our skills is not something to be achieved in a day, a week or even a year — but rather, to be enjoyed for a lifetime.
Thank you all for your sharing your inspiration with me … and spreading that LOVE!
xx,SD
HOUSING WORKS!
1 / Housing Works Thrift Stores are located all over New York City … from the Upper East Side down to the Flat Iron District and cross town the Chelsea and downtown to the West Village.
2 / The first Housing Works we visited was on East 23rd Street, and while it had a great selection of furniture, there were no kitchen chairs to be found, so …
3 / … we walked a few avenues west and a few streets south to hit the Chelsea location, where the motherload of kitchen chairs awaited us!
A LITTLE TOO WILD …
1 -2 / I LOVED the leopard … but a safari kitchen was quite what Sabrina was looking for …
A LITTLE TOO WHITE …
1 / While a great shape and with high potential for painting success, these white chairs just weren’t fitting our criteria, either. And then we found …
… JUST RIGHT!
1 / THE PERFECT SET OF KITCHEN CHAIRS! I can hear the thrift angels singing now …
2 – 4/ And now for some sexy detail shots of these superb chairs! Take a look at the light design of the black cushion, which offers a great contrast next to this oak wood and wicker seating. The chairs have zero scuffs and scratches.
The only potential problem? Housing Works only had three of them, and not the typical dining set of 4. Not a problem for us, though: Because Sabrina pushed her kitchen table against a wall, she only had 3 sides available for chairs. So 3 is all we needed!
THE PRICE
1 / Can you believe it … each chair was ON SALE for $20 each? 3 chairs x $20 = $60 for the set!
WRAPPING UP THE PURCHASE
1 / The fine writing behind buying secondhand furniture: All sales final. Could be an issue for some, but since thrift lovers are such creative, imaginative people … we know the moment we see something that it’s worth the deal, whatever the return policy may be.
2 – 3 / Sabrina anxiously awaiting her purchase. We were one of the last customers to the leave the store, which closed at 7PM. Like I said earlier: This was a “quick” thrift visit and we were women on a mission!
4 / **HORNS BLOWING!** The purchase has been made, hurrah!
HOW WE GOT IT TO BROOKLYN
1 / Here’s another fine writing point to be made about buying secondhand furniture: Most stores won’t deliver for you.
Now, the Salvation Army in Hell’s Kitchen delivered Sabrina’s bureau to Brooklyn for an additional fee, but this specific Housing Works had a “do-your-own-delivery” stipulation. So what did we “do” to “deliver” these secondhand goods? TAXI, PLEASE!
2 – 3 – 4 / We managed to flag a taxi jeep [for those of you not familiar, there are taxi “cabs,” taxi “jeeps” and taxi “vans”] that had a large enough back and trunk to stow away our chairs. Thankfully, the driver didn’t charge extra.
BACK IN BROOKLYN
1 / BEFORE: Sabrina’s standard kitchen table chairs
2 / AFTER: The secondhand gems stealing the spotlight!
We even debated whether it’d be worth it to paint the chairs white, so the entire kitchen table set had a very B&W mod look with a touch of Victorian lace. What do you thrifty DIY lovers think?
Housing Works is my faaaaaave! I try to check out one each time I visit NY.