Since our home projects are on hold while we gather supplies I thought I would take you on a tour of some really cool design shops we went to while we were in vacation in California! Jay and I have spent multiple conversations dreaming about living in San Diego, the outdoors, the beach, the town, love. So of course we were pretend house shopping and decorating when we visited.
Turns out downtown San Diego is a cool little home shop hot spot! We were driving out of town on our way up the coast but had noticed a few cool looking antiques shops the day before, so we grabbed a parking spot and popped into a few.
Our first stop was this great place called VI Star which had a lot of cool prints, linens, and sculptural things for your house. It also had quite a selection of books and silliness. I was in love with these drift wood sculptures hanging from the light fixtures, but shipping them home would have cost a small fortune. Le sigh. We shall have to admire them over the internet.
Our parking meter was running out so we scurried off to pay the meter and continued walking down toward Kettner Blvd. I'll include a map at the end in case you're in SD and want to check some of these places out.
By now you should realize how addicted Jay and I are to weird salvage places, so you can imagine our excitement when we found Architecture Salvage of San Diego. This gem has been around since 1996. The people who worked there were so friendly and excited to talk to us about all of our projects. They had some sheets of tin that would have been perfect for the trunk project Jay is "working" on (spoiler alert!) and one of the best selections of old doors and windows we'd ever seen.
The piece de resistance of this store was the old doors and windows, including some really cool stained glass. I so envy you Californians who can use them in projects at home! Jay and I have talked about using some cool old window frames to separate a room sort of like this. A little bit of space definition but the light shines right through.
*crickets*
No they're sweet.
*erreee erreee*
Seriously. And (spoiler alert two) we'll be using them on a kitchen cart that is deep in the bowels of the project list. You can tell from our pictures of our kitchen that the counter space is minimal so the cart will be my kitchen function salvation. Eventually.
The last stop on our tour is Mixture, who declares itself "...inspired modern living." Yeah that's a little stuffy since Architecture Salvage quotes on their website, "We are preservation-oriented, emphasizing sustainable practices through reuse. And, the store is fun," but we I was drawn in by the display of succulents. Whatever guys, I like succulents.
The mid century modern feel of the showrooms upstairs really appealed to Jay, and while I loved the colors and textures, this style of furniture never seems all that livable to me. I mean do you really feel like flopping on this couch and watching a movie? Ideal for a showroom but I'm not sold for every day.
One more sneak preview on an upcoming project, we really liked this table runner made out of these little stumps. Seems easily enough to cut up some branches and DIY this one. Hopefully we can use it to brighten up the bar in the dining room.