Down in Avondale.

It's been AGES since I've blogged. We had to kind of quickly uproot from the house downtown (my landlords sold their house quicker than expected, so they needed a place to live!). The past month has been filled with house-hunting, packing, and moving. Luckily, we found an amazing house, just over the bridge in a charming West Ashley neighborhood called Avondale (for those of you not from Charleston). We're walking distance from Indian restaurants, a wine and cheese shop, great Italian food, salons, fun bars, and tons more (including a thrift store, of course). The house is still a work in progress, but I think we've made a good start in the week we've been here:

Skirting the Issue.

After a brief delay, I'm back to adding items to seek vintage! Some new skirts have been added online, and more items (dresses, blazers, beaded bling, and such) will be added throughout the coming days.

Bagatelle black leather mini pencil skirt

black-and-white-striped A-line skirt

Studio C mustard yellow midi/maxi skirt SOLD

Marks & Spencer navy-and-white dotted midi skirt

Click here to view seek vintage's entire skirt collection.

On the up-top.

Just added some new blousy things to seek vintage!

Christian Dior bright yellow back-button blouse. SOLD

Liz Baker windowpane-print red blouse 

Land's End striped silk blouse SOLD

Christie & Jill olive green silk safari blouse SOLD

Martinique off-white roll-up blouse SOLD

Westbound navy and white striped blouse

Under there.

I've been so drawn to vintage lingerie lately, with its lace edging and peekaboo sheer panels and silky, flowy material.

Click descriptions for more images and information and to buy.

 

1970s Rosa Puleo-Szüle for Lily of France drop-waist babydoll  SOLD

1960s pale yellow lace-edged slip

1970s pink floor-length Diane von Furstenberg nightgown

1970s Bob Mackie for Glydons raspberry floor-length nightgown

Because of my growing collection, seek vintage now has a lingerie section that will be regularly updated with feminine, lacy bits. Also, all other sections of the shop will be updated with new items this week, as well!

Gone Junkin'

While we were in Waynesville, we stumbled upon a junk shop that was closing down because the owner was relocating to Hawaii. Here's what I bought:

The colors on this mid-century coffee pot make me so happy. I can't wait to have friends over to breakfast and serve coffee in this.

This glass martini shaker is going to serve as a container to hold things and odds and ends and whatnot.

I've wanted a Lucite lamp as long as I can remember. It's heavy and classy. I don't even have a place to put it yet, but gosh darn if I don't find one.

In case you're curious, my total for these finds was $6.38. I'm not sure how much things were priced individually, but it was all cheap to begin with, and then he had some "everything must go--extra 70% off sale." No complaints here. My only regret is that I didn't buy more things I was eying. The whole store was packed with goodies.

Ex libris.

 While we were in the mountains, Steven and I did some serious thrifting. We found the most amazing book collection that looked like it had been pulled from some old library (notice the handwritten numbered labels on the spines). We were immediately drawn to the titles and the fonts and the colors.

 Each book has its own unique details. I am more than a little bit obsessed.

It turns out that we stumbled upon the old library of the Hotel Wyoming in Orlando, Florida. Because I am a tremendous nerd, I did some online research (i.e., "Googling").

Hotel Wyoming started as the private home of some dude (j/k, his name was Nathaniel Poyntz) in 1870. It was turned into a 15-room hotel in 1900. The hotel was expanded five total times, going from 15 rooms to over 100. The height of its popularity as a leading tourist hotel was in the 1920s, until it was torn down in 1959. (Image from Wikipedia.)

 This it it, post-expansions, in 1948, 11 years before it was torn down. (Image from vintagepostcards.org.)

All that really remains of this hotel are old postcards and apparently a collection of books from its library that sit in a Habitat ReStore in the mountains of North Carolina.

These books transport me. People read these books on vacation in Florida, before the tourist traps, and Disney World, and Universal Studios, and strip malls. I imagine some rebellious teenaged girl reading the copy of Grey Wethers, written Vita Sackville-West (Virginia Woolfe's lover, gasp!), tucked in the library away from her family.

I wish we'd bought the entire collection. For a dollar each, we've brought home all sorts of things for me to daydream about for ages.

A Mountain House Fourth of July

Fourth of July weekend:

• my family's new puppy, Nala
• mountain hikes
• small-town thrifting adventures
• cook-outs
• river swimming
• relaxing on the porch
• 1930s homestead ruins
• boyfriend + family

Not bad. Not bad at all.

"I could do this all the time..."

Yesterday was rainy and dreary, and I kind of had a rough day at work. When I got home, I saw this on my desk:

Yeah, he's a keeper. 

Summer 2011 Lowcountry Artist Market

We're in the home stretch! Only four days until this season's Lowcountry Artist Market! I'm so excited about my finds for the seek vintage table:

* an "Original Milly of New York" pink camisole
* a pink 1970s Diane von Furstenburg nightgown with a slightly risque lace cutout
* a bright yellow 1980s Christian Dior blouse with buttons all the way down the back
* airy silk blouses galore (it's HOT out there!)
* all sorts of skirts in bright candy shades
* vintage Coach and Dooney & Bourke leather goods
* sequins and beading and neon, oh my

There are lots of other new additions, but I'm not including photos because, well, you'll have to come and see for yourself!

Print it out.

Stripes and plaid and dots and such. seek vintage's booth at Lowcountry Artist Market will be popping with prints!