I Went Vintage Decor Shopping in a Giant Antique Mall: What I Found + Antique Decor Ideas & Inspo!
When it comes to my apartment decorating, I’ve been… in a bit of a rut. I recently described it as “decorator’s block”; like “writer’s block”, only for decorating.
You know when you have to write an email to a coworker, or a paper for school, or the next great American novel (whichever 🙃) and you find yourself staring at a blank page with nothing but a lone cursor keeping you company? And you're left wondering what happened to all your functioning braincells to cause this predicament?
That’s what it has felt like every time I try to shop for decor for myself these days, despite having access to an endless sea of decor online. It’s like feeling alone in a crowded room. I’m alone in a crowded internet of decor options.
And then it occurred to me: when in doubt, go antiquing!
So in this post, I’m taking you along with me to a massive antique mall here in Seattle, and hopefully you’ll see me break through my apartment styling ennui and finally find some pieces that actually excite me. 🤞
Will I walk away victorious? Or will my decorating rut persist?? Read on or watch and find out, and you might even get some vintage decorating ideas for your own space!
To see the full shopping experience, here’s the video! ↓
Lander Street Vintage is a massive antique mall here in Seattle. Walking through its seemingly endless aisles, it doesn’t take long before you start to feel like Alice going down the rabbit hole and landing in a warehouse wonderland of trinkets and treasures.
This place is beautiful. It’s overstimulating. It’s fun. It’s overwhelming. It’s basically a fever dream of pretty things, and it all gets curiouser and curiouser the further in you go.
Honestly, it becomes very easy to lose yourself and forget why you’re even there in the first place. What was I looking for? What does my apartment look like? Who am I? Where do I come from?
We’re all mad here. 🙃 But amidst the madness, I did manage to pull myself together and remember my mission: to hunt down decor that will help me break out of my decorator’s block.
The main thing I was looking for was wall art.
The space above my headboard, the chunk of wall by my windows in the living room, the area next to my media console, and a transitional wall between my kitchen and living room all have one thing in common: I’m not satisfied with them. And in most cases, I think new wall art is the answer.
These are the spots in my apartment I want to find new decor for.
Lander Street Vintage is filled with hundreds of pieces of art, which is daunting. But on the other hand, when it comes to art, I know what I like and what I want in my space. You can pretty much boil down my taste in wall art to two things: flowers and rock ‘n’ roll.
That’s why this framed Fleetwood Mac poster was the first piece that caught my eye!
I really was tempted to get this one. But for one thing, I already have Fleetwood Mac represented in my apartment. And for another, even though Rumours is a great album, it’s not one of my all-time favorites. If I’m going to feature an album as such a large visual statement in my space, it needs to be one of my very favorite albums, you know? I’ve always been drawn to music-oriented pieces I come across, but I’m very particular about what I actually choose to buy and display.
So, onward I went, falling further down the rabbit hole, continuing the hunt for wall art that would suit my apartment and my taste.
Along the way, I came across so many pretty little things…
Little antique teacups from France, couple of Art Nouveau hair brushes that would surely make me feel like royalty if I brushed my hair with them, candlestick holders sprouting gilded lies, little floral plates that looked like they were from the ’70s, along with plenty of other ’70s decor—pillows, blankets, cookie jars, couches. The ’70s are very much alive and well within the walls of Lander Street Vintage.
Then, another piece of wall art caught my eye: this hanging tapestry:
Remember The Last Unicorn? I watched that movie over and over again as a kid. I absolutely loved it.
I’m pretty much bound to like anything that reminds me of The Last Unicorn, but unfortunately, this tapestry just isn’t the right color for my space. It would be such a cool statement in the right room though! Really, if you have a big empty wall you’re having trouble filling, a large tapestry like this could be a great option.
Moving along, my quest for wall art in this Wonderland continued, encountering all shades of quirk and charm along the way…
Plastic hula girls that likely used to live on someone’s uncle’s dashboard, creepy dolls that probably just need a hug, a suspiciously energetic Santa, a couple of Han Solos, and a Jesus who looks completely and utterly over it…
Antique stores are hilarious.
One second you’re in an enchanted garden of pretty decor, and the next, you’re staring down Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum as you reach for a vintage sewing machine. They’re mind-bending places that can make you feel, well, like that Santa who might have had something more interesting than milk and cookies. But in the best way!
Then, I came across this piece and my jaw dropped…
This would look so pretty above my bed, and it was so my style. I’m a simple girl—just give me anything flower-related, and I will probably want it. And flowers with gold sparkly stems? Forget about it. I’m a sucker for this kind of thing.
The problem with this piece, though, was the price. It may be well worth $1,650, but I am not in the headspace—nor the reality—to be spending that on one piece of decor right now.
So, I moved forward, still with wall art as the main mission.
And I felt like you should know that there was an entire wall dedicated to crows.
If I walked into someone’s home for the first time and they had a crow-exclusive gallery wall, I would immediately know we should be friends. But as endearing as this collection of crows was, none of these avian beauties were a match for my apartment.
Speaking of birds, I very much considered buying these two throw pillows.
I mean, how pretty are these? I do want to switch up my bedding. As much as I love my green velvet bedspread, I’ve been using it for years, and I’m ready for a change. And I’d want to switch up the pillow arrangement as well.
Would these two pillows set me in the right direction and help me kick off the bedroom makeover I’ve been craving? They certainly were my style—remember, flower designs are pretty much guaranteed to make me happy.
But… I wasn’t ready to commit to something like this yet. As pretty as these pillows were, the simple fact that the magenta-pinkish color was so prominent on them meant that they probably would not be the right fit for me. I don’t know which direction I’m going to end up taking for the color palette for my bedroom, but knowing me, it’s probably not going to involve pink or anything pink-adjacent.
So, unfortunately, I tore myself away from these pretty pillows and refocused my attention back to my wall art quest.
My little musical theater girl heart, of course, took notice of this giant framed Cabaret poster.
I love the idea of having a giant piece of art just kind of leaning against the wall, and I’ve actually been considering getting something like that for next to my media console just to fill up that gaping space.
But as cool and eye-catching as this poster is, Cabaret isn’t one of my musicals, you know? No disrespect, but I happen to have a very particular taste when it comes to musicals. Give me a giant Les Mis or Hair poster, then we’d be in business, you know?
I’m always going on about finding ways to stylishly incorporate your interests and passions into your space, and a giant statement-making poster of something you love would be such a cool, audacious way to do it. It’s just that Cabaret is not that for me.
So, with a fond farewell to Liza, I forged ahead.
At this point, my search for wall art was starting to feel slightly dire. I was looking for love, and all I was finding was "like." I like Liza. I like Fleetwood Mac. I like things that remind me of The Last Unicorn. I like crows. But I hadn’t fallen in love with a piece of art.
Then, love found me in an unexpected way: in a side table…
Oh man, this was love at first sight. But I wasn’t looking for a side table! I don’t need a side table! This love wasn’t meant to be! It wasn’t the right timing…
But oh God, the floral design, the dark, moody vibe, the fact that the trays were removable and could be placed anywhere in my apartment… No! I wasn’t supposed to fall in love with a beautiful, multifunctional side table today. This was a forbidden love.
I tore myself away and resigned myself to the fact that I didn’t need him. He’d be the one that got away.
I left him behind, recalibrated my lonely heart back to wall art, and abandoned this side table side quest.
But here was the problem: despite being surrounded by what felt like an ocean of artwork spanning decades of history, I was alone on an artless island. I spent the majority of my three hours here not finding anything for my particular walls.
I started to feel a bit deflated, you know?
But then my eye was caught by something sparkly, as it’s prone to do. It wasn’t a piece of wall art or even a piece of decor. No, it was a piece of clothing.
Lander Street Vintage not only has tons of decor but also has tons of vintage clothes that I was willfully ignoring so as not to get sidetracked from my decor mission. But what’s a girl to do when the siren song of a sequin top calls to her? She must obey.
It didn’t take long before I not only decided I would be purchasing this wearable disco ball, but I also found another piece of vintage clothing that was my style to a T.
I know you guys usually only see me from the chest up in my YouTube videos, but if you saw me in the world, you’d know that my personal style tends to alternate between hippie-boho, vaguely goth, and a touch of dark academia. So, this checks the hippie-boho box quite nicely.
Now, even though my spirits were lifted by these clothing finds, I was still feeling frustrated. I didn’t come here for clothes! I came here for my apartment.
Would I really never break through my decorator’s block? Would I really have to leave only with decor for my body and not for my space? Would I just head back through the looking glass to the real world without the inspiration and clarity I was searching for?
But then, as I was on my way out, there it was…
Nestled unceremoniously with a pile of chairs underneath a naked bust was a piece of art that looked as though you took the DNA from my wallpaper, mixed it with the gold color of my sofa, then added some molecules of mood and darkness, and produced a pretty flower painting just for my apartment.
This was it. I found her. She was here all along!
I rescued her from the sad pile of chairs, took her to the register, and then, while I was at it, went back and grabbed that side table because—what the hell—we’re going to be visually feasting on yellow florals tonight, my friends!
It actually turned out to be a vintage victory: two tops, a painting, and a side table. The hours spent in this weird and whimsical wonderland paid off, and it was time to return to reality.
Stay tuned to my YouTube channel to see where I end up putting these new finds!
If you want some inspiration on a couple of different interior styles that work really well with antiques, I recommend you watch this video next! It’s all about combining Dark Academia with French interior design, so if you want some inspiration and decor ideas for those, give this one a watch next!
