It was a busy weekend with a trip to the Valley (aka Phoenix) to attend my nephew’s 9th birthday party. We live in the mountains, the place where Phoenicians flock during the summer months to get out of the sweltering 110-115 degree temperatures. So when my family has to decend into the heat (reminds me every time of Dante’s Inferno), we can get quite cranky.
Hubby, the kids and I were driving home along 7th Avenue, just north of Camelback in an area that’s quickly becoming a hot spot for funky home decor, vintage and architectural salvage. The corner of my eye caught a glimpse of a green metal trunk and I yelled to my husband, “STOP! Turn around NOW. I have to look at that trunk!” My son groaned and told his father to keep driving. My husband, of course, turned the truck around because he knows the thrill of the hunt for that perfect vintage or architectural salvage piece for our home or my studio is one of my life’s great pleasures.
I jumped out, looked at the trunk, checked out the $89 price tag and stood there a moment, lost in thought. Then I turned my head to the inside of the building and my chin, literally, fell to the floor at what my eyes saw. A visual feast every place my eyes landed. Vintage vignettes so artfully conceived and executed that I had to whip out my iPhone so the inspiration could stay with me much longer than the mere 20 minutes I had to look.
I managed to do some serious damage to my checkbook in the little time that I had to shop. I passed on the green trunk, but absolutely had to buy a rare metal French vintage seed cabinet that came from the South of France and carries the gorgeous patina of a full life lived in the land of sunflower and lavender fields.
I could not pass up a rhinestone sacred heart vintage metal ornament. It was $39, (minor ouch) but what its speaking to me to become is priceless. I also bought some red metal signs for my kitchen and some vintage grocery tags for a soon-to-be journal.
I had planned to do a whole write-up here on my blog about Sweet Salvage, but it’s just too good to keep to myself. Stay tuned for an article that will also feature my photography. I can’t say where yet, but I can promise it will be beyond fabulous.
