SOURCING VINTAGE & FLEAS AROUND AMERICA

Most of what I've posted for Thrifty Thursday's has been about vintage & thrift stores local to me here in South Florida. But the blogosphere reaches beyond this location, so maybe these could be of help to you in your areas.

MISTER FREEDOM

Vintage sourcing isn't just necessarily for vintage furnishings. A good deal of designers get their inspirations for new apparel lines or color palettes by exploring vintage shops. You can too - by getting inspired by the fabric textures, layering, and color combinations as well as store layout, design and presentations. Although these posted here are more for Men's Apparel, they are still inspirational none-the-less! I found these through my husbands issues of DETAILS magazine and it's interesting to see their perspective on finding vintage in the US.

SWEET LORAIN

SWEET LORAIN
"army fatigues & Levi's street-fashion inspiration"
7105 Lorain Rd., Cleveland OH
216-281-1959  sweetlorain.com

MISTER FREEDOM
"a favorite among stylists & designers"
7161 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles CA
323-653-2014    misterfreedom.com

BOBBY FROM BOSTON

BOBBY FROM BOSTON
"warehouse shop in Boston's South End"
19 Thayer St., Boston MS
617-423-9299  about Bobby From Boston

VENUS and MARS The Showroom
"stylists treasures south of the Mason-Dixon line"
2009 Belmount Blvd., Nashville TN
615-915-4846  venusandmarsvintage.com

JAKE VINTAGE - a MAD source!

JAKE VINTAGE
"a source of MAD MEN'S costume department"
4644 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles CA
323-662-5253 jakevintage.com

 SURFING COWBOYS
"vintage furniture and beach-bum-worthy hoodies"
1624 Abbot Kinney Blvd., Venice CA
310-450-4891; surfingcowboys.com

surfing cowboys - furniture & decor

surfing cowboys - furniture & decor

surfing cowboys - furniture & decor

 
Some fleas to rummage through also are: The Rose Bowl Flea Market - Pasadena, California

and The Brooklyn Flea - Brooklyn, New York. Along with these fleas to checkout is a trend taking place called "pop up flea", where vendors come together in various locations like New York, San Fransisco, and even London. Read more at popupflea.com and at durablegoodsconcern.com.

So in your summer travels around the U.S.,

be sure to check these spots out and put them to the test!

Happy Thrifty Thursday!

CREATING MOODBOARDS ON OLIOBOARD.COM

OK - so I'm still learning my way around cyberspace. And although I've heard of and seen "moodboards" online, I had only tried one site (without much luck). Friday I came across a site which is not only user friendly - it's downright addicting - and it's free! The site is called olioboards.com.

PLAYING WITH PURPLE

•Olioboard is an interior design mood board app. It's a fresh take on the traditional mood board; ditch the scissors and glue and get interactive!



•With Olioboard you can cleverly combine items to help dream up your interior design style.


•Collect real products from Olioboard's library of over 10,000 items and over 300 brands.


•Olioboard's drag and drop interface makes creating new boards quick and easy and it's browser based editor doesn't require you to download any software. Simply create an account and you're ready to dive in.

SWEET DREAMS

 
I first started playing around with accessories on a board, and then created a second inspired and related to it. Like I said - I just started - but these are some I've come up with so far...
 

BLUE BOARD FALL

BLUE BOARD FALL II

NATURAL ELEGANCE

OPULENT ROMANCE

It's another means of a creative outlet, you can network with other people on the site, you can create sets & collections, you can upload your own items, you can share your board on Facebook & twitter - AND - since it uses popular product from sites such as West Elm and Crate & Barrel, you can use it to create presentation boards for a potential client (or your husband lol).
 

LOFT-LIKE OFFICE

 
What mood board sites do you use? Have you been to olio? (I think it's relatively new) If not - check it out and let me know what you think! If you do join - let's connect - my profile is NYCLQinteriors... Hope to see you there and have FUN!!

Thanks for stopping by!

All boards in this post

created by olioboard user NYCLQinteriors - Lynda Quintero-Davids.

(First board posted is called Winter With Amethyst)

NOTE: This blog post is from 2010 - My board style has changed since writing this post.

FOLLOW-UP ON MAD MEN: PEGGY'S NEW OFFICE

Thanks to Becky Harris of Design Public who found and posted some Season 4 Mad Men set photos - especially of the new Sterling Cooper offices. Becky also found and posted the blue wall I'm so intrigued with in Peggy's new office! I'm surprised more posts weren't made yesterday - however, check out Becky's blog to see more photos, as well as the link to a Season 4 Mad Men Gallery on AMC...

Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner on set

and read an interview with him on NPR about the new season.

Peggy's new office

Becky also wrote a wonderful recap of the first episode...

check it out at Inspiration Monday: Mad Men's New Digs

This was a mini-post as a follow-up to yesterdays post -

another post for today coming up shortly...

MAD MONDAY AFTER MAD MEN

Did ya see it??? Donald Draper, decor, design and fashion for Season 4 of MAD MEN on AMC last night!! I'd like to locate some newer pics of the new set. None posted yet, but I'm sure the blogosphere will be inundated with Mad Men Mid-Century details shortly. The new office set seemed a little lighter and brighter for this season. I'm totally in love with the steel suede blue wall that was up behind the bloody mid-century modern sofa in Donald's new office - which is a refreshing change after the dark paneling of the agency's set before.

I'm looking forward to also learning more about Amy Wells - Mad Men set decorator - and discovering a few of her fave hot-spots to shop vintage. In the meantime, check out these sites for more about the past set designs: The Mid-Century Modernist, NPR.org, and DailyIcon.net.

Hype for the premiere was not only on AMC, facebook and twitter - Banana Republic launched a Mad Men Style Casting Call earlier this past week (July 21) and will run through August 21 - which is also when the store will officially transfer into their fall set. For right now - enjoy their still light-weight but layered pallets of cool-steel blue gray and black along with refreshing pops of purple as well featured for their stylish new work looks...

Banana Republic store pics captured at

the Pembroke Pines location.

So what did you think of

the Mad Men season premiere?

Or where you off watching the

blue bomb set off at

the Trump Tower on Design Star?

Happy Monday!

STORE TOUR: WEST ELM & PALLETS WITH PURPOSE

It's Thrifty Thursday! And that's not to say that West Elm is thrifty - but they sure did come up with a thrifty means of re-purposing pallets by turning them into store fixtures and focal points! It's these inventive tricks of the trade that drive and breathe life into brick & mortar stores. Yes - the catalogs, magazines, and online photographs are styled beautifully, but there is just one other element added to your visual stimulation and creative inspiration when walking through a store: dimension - scale - clarity and impact.

I'm totally LOVING the modern-rustic look of the pallets stacked on this wall - creating a dramatically different focal point. This concept can easily be adapted in a home or loft space with the addition of a collection of black & white photos or art layered on it...

As for fixturing - I can really appreciate this take on creating store fixtures to merchandise and display product (I've seen way too many fixture pitched & purged into dumpsters over the years). This presentation not only relates the theme throughout the store, but it put to use an item that could easily have just been discarded into a landfill (I'd just have liked to have seen it stack a little bit higher so customers wouldn't have to squat or lean over to shop it). Jumbo hooks applied to the back pallet give height to the statements composition...

West Elm - turning pallets into fixtures

Designers - turning pallets into furniture

I came across another means of re-purposing pallets for the home in a special before & after issue of VOGUE Living - Autumn/Winter issue.  For their last page, they featured an innovative artist and London based designer by the name of Nina Tolstrup. Her work is featured on the website studiomama.com.

Studiomama's featured Pallet Project includes,

a pallet Hi chair, a pallet Lo chair

and even a pallet lamp.

Pallet HI Chair

 Pallet Lamp

Pallet LO Chair

"Gallery-worthy designs are moonlighting as DIY projects in backyards across the world, shifting the commodity from product to design and with encouraging involvement in this sustainable venture. The Pallet Project is an innovative meeting of excellent design, sustainability and social consciousness - both a lofty ideal and a bit of fun." -VOGUE Living - Australia

 Cornelia Parker's "Beach Chair"

'LO' Pallet Chair of Nina Tolstrup

All projects are down-loadable - and to personalize your own work - simply paint some of the planks on your creation... similar to artist Cornelia Parker's "Beach Chair" design. These sustainable chairs have even evolved to include a charity project in the slums Buenos Aries...

The Pallet Project 'pallet chair' was debuted 

at London's 2007 100% Design festival.

The pallet chair evolved into a charitable project in Buenos Aires.

So the next time you're out & about - admiring store visuals - dumpster diving or curb mining - don't overlook the incredible abilities of this thrifty find - the pallet.

West Elm - mixing modern - rustic & found objects

West Elm - Brick & Mortar

Pallets mixed in as store fixtures

give height in an open space...

And add a wonderful focal point to feature new product.

Happy Thrifty Thursday!