by Susan Custis, Vintage Fusion

‘Tis the season for decking the halls and readying for the new year.  ‘Tis the season…for spending time with family and friends…for cooking and feasting…for searching for the perfect gifts.  And that means, ‘tis the season for shopping for all things vintage!   When we shop vintage, we support our small businesses, buy things that have proven to be lasting, and find the ultimate in a unique, thoughtful gift.  All of the Vintage Finds Magazine purveyors of vintage have gone all out to offer the most unique in vintage décor to get your home ready for the holidays, as well as many other treasures, large and small, that are sure to please everyone on your holiday gift list.  So, we empty the faithful woodie, add a wreath to the front hood ornament in tribute to the season, and hit the road once again in search of the best in vintage.
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What can you expect to find when you shop ‘vintage’?  Once was if you heard folks deep in conversation about the best vintage they’d be talking about bottles of wine.  Wines that carry a vintage year were produced from grapes from a single year, hence ‘single vintage’.

Now days, folks deep in conversation about great vintage might also be talking about the increasingly popular trends in home décor where ‘vintage’ can refer to either the time in which a piece of furniture or other decorating item was manufactured or the ever popular Vintage style of decorating.   In the latter case, items thought of as vintage are recognizable and of enduring interest, attractive in design, and of good quality.  The popularity of vintage extends far beyond home décor to include jewelry, fashion, and collectibles.

When the term ‘vintage’ is used to reference a period of time, an item is generally considered vintage if it is older than 20 years, but not older than 100 years at which point it is considered an antique.  The rise in popularity of decorating with vintage pieces or in the vintage style blends a nostalgia for the past with the affordability and trends to reuse, repurpose, and recycle pre-owned furniture and household items.  There’s nothing more fun than the ‘wow’ moment of a flea market find that might set the tone or guide the design for an entire room.  

Vintage, when referred to as a style of decorating, is generally attributed to using the designs of the 1940s and 1950s, whether in reference to original pieces or to items that are newly manufactured but created to look like they hail from that period.   Certain decorating styles, such as Rustic, Farmhouse, Country, and ‘Shabby Chic’ often blur with Vintage decorating with the addition of older pieces of the same style, or newer pieces deliberately designed to look old, incorporated into room design and décor.  However, vintage home accents, jewelry, and clothing are also in high demand.  And, with Christmas as a holiday filled with memories and traditions, shopping for unique vintage holiday items can be especially exciting when you discover that unexpected, yet perfect, addition to your holiday ornament, tabletop, linens, and other Christmas themed collections.

For this edition, we visited shops in Hillsborough County.  We start in Valrico at Gather & Seek Vintique, located at 2609 SR 60 East.  Here there is over 3,500 square feet of shopping delight showcasing the wares of 11 vendors.  Many are local artists whose talents range from woodworking to sewing in a variety of styles from farmhouse to country to primitives, and more.  Part ‘vintique’ and part ‘boutique’, at Gather & Seek we also found a great selection of specially curated gift items, including new jewelry, soaps, potpourri, cards, and so much more, and they can gift wrap that special item, too.   Follow them on Facebook and Instagram to find their special classes and events, including a pop-up market held outside on the second Saturday of every month, from 9 to 4, where you’ll find still more unique offerings from local vendors.  If that’s not enough, they also paint furniture, hold fundraisers to support the local community.  They also make ‘loaded teas’ and protein drinks to go.  Although their address is on SR 60, they are just off the highway.  Look for them on the east side of Steak & Shake.  While they are a bit hard to find, it’s worth the search.  Once you find Gather & Seek, ‘come in and take a peek’.

While in Valrico, you don’t want to miss Ragamuffin Outpost, located at 1040 Bloomingdale Avenue.  This charming shop started from the owner’s love of paint and painting.  She said, at first, she’d ‘slap a little paint’ here and there on treasures in her own home, but soon found friends and others loved how her works of art turned out.  Soon they became a premier Dixie Belle retailer.  What makes them different is that they will provide one-on-one advice to guide you through your project.  You can buy paint for your DIY project, or commission them to do it for you.  They also offer small classes once or twice a month.  At Ragamuffin Outpost, they take pride in supporting local artists and family businesses, noting that every product they sell supports ‘something’, a family business, or a charity.  In addition to painting furniture, they also paint signs.  They also carry a large array of boutique, home décor, and craft items, including candles, soaps, towels, tumblers, coasters, and books to name a few things.  At Ragamuffin Outpost, they take pride in knowing their customers and creating a family environment.

On we go to the Rustic Door Décor & More, located at 788 W. Lumsden Road in Brandon (with another location at 367 Lynx Paw Trail in Valrico).  Here we found a really cute decor shop with a country and farmhouse flair. The merchandise is beautiful, and the prices are great.  They also host community events and neighborhood markets.  This shop is filled with TONS of wonderful finds!  You’ll find custom furniture that’s beautiful and exceptionally well made.  More than half of the store merchandise is handmade items of what is trending as well as vintage, unique items.  Both locations offer Wise Owl Paint and the Brandon location is an Elite Dixie Belle Retailer.  Follow them on Facebook and check out their ad in VFM. 

Once again, our trek down the vintage road has been a huge shopping success.  We made our list, checked it twice, and found everything on it and more!   With the woodie overflowing with our ‘wow’ treasures, we head home for the holidays to get ready for the holiday merriment and cheer.  To the readers of Vintage Finds Magazine and those who follow us on the vintage road, we wish you the Merriest Christmas ever and blessings for a safe, healthy, and prosperous 2022!!!!   

Hit the Vintage Road - Thank you to our roving reporter, Susan Custis for hitting the road and sharing these fabulous shops.  Be sure to stop by Susan’s shop Vintage Fusion, located at 7720 N. Wickham Rd., #107 Suntree, Fl. Boardwalk at Suntree Plaza, between Cotton Candy Kids Hair Salon and Dynasty Nails.  Look for the purple bench!  Stay tuned for our next issue to see where THE VINTAGE ROAD leads us!

​By Meg & Rich, rufflesandoveralls.com

​WHEN IT’S TIME TO DECK THE HALLS, VINTAGE HOLIDAY DECOR IS MY GO TO.  I LOVE THE UNIQUE, COZY FEEL THAT THESE PRELOVED TREASURES ADD TO OUR HOME. 

​OUR FAMILY ROOM - Our antique piano has always served as what I like to call our “Florida fireplace mantel.”  I love decorating it for the seasons!  I decided to go for a real simple look this year.  This framed, linen winter barn scene and sign are two of my favorite pieces of Christmas decor.  They take centerstage here on the piano.  A simple bureau mirror and glass bottles filled with fresh greenery top off the piano.  Instead of the traditional piano bench, I added this rustic wooden chair for a little extra character. 
The natural wood spindle tree in the foreground was handcrafted from a well loved spindle crib I found on the curb.  I enjoy taking this unique piece out each year. I love remembering the day I found it, the time we spent repurposing it, and giving it a new life in our home each Christmas. 

OUR LIVING ROOM - These 1930’s alphabet book pages are slightly untraditional as holiday decor, but their gorgeous texture, muted colors, and subject matter just seem to fit right in.  The train engine, orange, partridge, toy, and x-mas tree illustrations are all holiday favorites. 

​by Ed Kindle

There is an interesting phenomenon out there.  It happens to many people every day, mostly men, but they really don’t understand it or are aware of it.  Some are, but with most, it happens on a near unconscious level.  It’s not malicious, it just happens.
What is this strange occurrence?  “It was only $20 bucks.”  Um, wait, what?  Let me explain. 
For the entire time I have been married to my wife, I have been buying and dragging stuff home.  She is pretty used to it by now, and she tunes most of it out.  I have been doing all the decorating in the home since we have been married, and I have gotten pretty good at hiding stuff in plain sight.  I have to be, because I collect a lot of lot of stuff you see, and sooner or later, she notices something new.  Her first comment is usually something like, “That’s cool.”  Or  “Where did you get that?”  Her next question is nearly always, “What did you pay for that?”

Now I realize I am exposing some great hidden male truth here and am likely to catch some flak for it, but I thought it would be fun to write about.  I will deal with and accept any repercussions if they happen.  I suppose the female counterpart would be something like why women go to the bathroom in pairs.  It is something that is usually not known or understood by the other sex.

​The answer that most times leaves my mouth is “Twenty bucks.”  

This happens sometimes even if the object in question was less, but it’s usually more.  Sometimes it’s much more.  Most of the time, the reply is out of my mouth before I even realize it.  Now, don’t get me wrong, my wife is an amazing partner and rarely denies me the opportunity to fulfill my object gathering.  I have no reason to not tell her the true price of anything I drag home, but even saying that, everything was “twenty bucks.”   I know she knows I am full of it and probably lying through my teeth on most occasions, but she loves me and lets it go.
Now this doesn’t always apply to things I purchase for myself.  Many times, I will buy her something she has been trying to find for years, such as a music box that plays “Abendsegen” (she had one years ago in the kids’ room when they were infants).  It took me nearly 5 years to find one, and when I did, she was so excited.  It was great to see her wind it up and listen.  Thankfully she didn’t ask how much, but the answer would have inevitably been “Twenty bucks.”

I have come to find over the years that I am not alone in this behavior.  I have a couple of clients who buy fairly regularly from the store.  When I offer them a receipt, the invariably leave it on the counter or tell me they don’t need a receipt.  They tell me if their wife comes in to ask about what they paid for something, I am to tell their wife, “It was twenty bucks.”

Having done this for years and having lately discussed this phenomenon with my guy friends, we have discovered a flaw in this logic.  That is, if something happens to us, and we shuffle off this mortal coil before our wives, they are going to sell off all our stuff for twenty bucks! 

My friend told me this morning if anything happens to him, I am supposed to find out where he lives and talk to his wife before she sells everything.  You can bet I will, I will offer to buy everything he’s got for twenty bucks!