The first purchase I made for my shop was a pair of vintage orange velvet chairs. They were the catalyst of the pursuit to opening my store and really believing I could do it.
I found them online attached to a phone number and instantly was grilling the poor man on the other end of the telephone about these chairs. When I was convinced they needed to belong to me, I had to convince someone else....John.
I was in the Bahamas at the time and if I wanted them he would have to pick them up. I asked if they could be put on hold but the owner refused unless I gave him a credit card, and you know that wasn't going to happen. Can you imagine, one day later and I'd have a ferrari and a pair of anaconda leather shoes charged to my card. Well maybe the toy version, as that is just about all my mastercard can handle right now.
I had to take my chances that they would be there on the following Monday. So I did, and forwarded the link to John. Thinking that I would have to remind him and send exact directions of where to go in order to even get him off the couch, to my complete disbelief Monday rolled around and I received a phone call from John. He had not only taken it upon himself to call the man and gotten directions himself, but already gone and picked them up! I was over the moon!
They were so beautiful, so boho chic, so PERFECT!
Like I said, they were the catalyst to my new idea and venture.
They had minor bumps and bruises, but that was exactly what made me love Vintage so much more. I was consumed by trying to dream up reasons of how they got those pretty little scars.
Maybe their previous home was a cigar parlor and they got caught in the middle of a gentleman's brawl, or maybe they fell off the back of a truck and some lucky lady was walking home from the grocerie store and high tailed them up to her apartment (I would!), OR maybe they were shipped from some crazy far away exotic place!
Most likely none of those scenarios, but we can dream.
The only thing I cared about was that I got to sit in them and love them for an entire month. Oh yeah, that's right, they made a front row debut in my living room. Of course I have to test out what I'm trying to tell other people they should have and own, it would be wrong not to do so.
They are still there, in my living room in Florida. Waiting for me to return and give them a little TLC, only to be shipped off to their new owner STEPHANIE..Haha what a genius she is, not only does she have good taste but her Mother had great taste in names too...Coincidence, yes.
Anyways so back to the story.
I had never met the owner or been to where John had picked up the chairs from. I was really interested in going for my self and seeing what other goodies they had for me to scoop up.
Boy was I in for a shock..
As we pulled up to the building and parking lot I figured "ahh, it's alright, I don't see anything scary about it."
If you know anything about thrift stores, you know they can be very scary at times depending on what neighborhood you're in. As I hopped out of the car I was suddenly alarmed by the man that was only a few feet away, drinking a beer at mid day none the less and sitting on a large sofa directly next to the door that I had to enter. In other words, I was going to have to either talk to this man to get in that door or brush by him due to his incredibly close proximity to the door handle. Which just so happened to be right about the same height as my left cheek, catch my drift? John and I approached and he very gleefully grinned, revealing his last two teeth hanging on for dear life.
"Well Hello there! How's ah' you two fine people's doing ta-day?" He said in his very refined english.
"Super!" I said while I grinned and glared at John at the same time.
"What can we do for yall's ta-day?"
"Ohhhh, just looking thanks!"
"Well alrightie, lil lady if you's ah have any questions, you's ah come right back ear's to me okays?"
"Oooookayyy!" With a massive smile/frown combination on my face.
I was frightened, and couldn't believe that I had mistaken the store owner for a bum catching a mid day cold one and a snooze on the outside couch. Could this really have been the same person I had spoken to on the phone weeks earlier? I was in stitches.
We didn't find anything that day, but I've been back several times since and let's just say I'm getting acquainted with their fine and dandy customer services yall's!
I love places like that, maybe not at first, but that's the adventure. Breaking boundaries and comfort levels you might not be accustomed to. What I did learn is that even though he might only have two teeth and was drinking a PBR for lunch, he's really nice and just as human as I am. Now every time I go in to that charming store, I am greeted with a big fat smile and don't have to lift anything that looks like it weighs more then a kitten.
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