FINDING THE BEST VINTAGE GOODS
Lawrenceville is the place for antique, unique finds
It’s easy to give your home that limited-edition look by just sprinkling some vintage finds around the rooms. Some people’s homes resemble an IKEA showroom or Pottery Barn catalog. There’s nothing wrong with trendy furnishings, but to make a space your own you need to raid your past or someone else’s.
Any room can benefit from a touch of history. A simple way to achieve that collated ambiance is to pick up a piece of original art or old photograph. McDonough’s Antiques at 3617 Butler St., Lawrenceville, has both.
“I’m into buying old photographs right now, “said owner Bob McDonough, whose father started in the business in 1952. Mr. McDonough joined him in 1972.
He has a long framed vertical photo that features a Sunday school class from Homestead Park in 1917. He bought it from a man who said his aunt was in the front row, but he did not know which one she was.
“I have people over the years who have bought instant relatives
with a portrait or photos they picked up,” he said, laughing.
McDonough’s Antiques also has a 150-year-old English ink bottle for $20 that would look great on a shelf.
Think of your rooms as a canvas that expresses your personality through things. They can be as small as an old boot spur kicked up on a trip to Texas or as easy as inheriting your parent’s dining room furniture.
At the Pittsburgh Furniture Co. and Who New? Retro Mod Decor, there are vintage globes that can give any room an old world look.
Pittsburgh Furniture Co., 4212 Butler St., also has a mid-century modern Paul McCobb Planner Group table and two chairs retailing for $850. “The same group on 1st Dibs goes for between $1,200 and $1,300,” said store manager Danni Lee.
Real retro furnishings can add lots of color. Ms. Lee says Pottery Barn is often much more homogenized.
“Pottery Barn is all the same color palette, generally,” she said. “There is nothing that really grabs your eye. If you look at retro and vintage furniture in original catalogs, you see a lot of color and lines and mixing. People are afraid to mix tones of wood now.”
Pittsburgh Furniture Co. also upcycles old pieces. “We have turned old cedar chests into shelving units,” said Ms. Lee.
They have a very sleek coffee table made from a cedar plank.
At McDonough’s Antiques, an old ladder selling for $25 has been hung from the ceiling and repurposed as a rack, which is a clever idea for a small space. “It also makes a great rack in a kitchen to hang pots and pans,” Mr. McDonough said.
One way to dial up the past is with an old rotary phone from Who New? at 5156 Butler St. It’s a conversation starter, especially when it works.
“I do love the sound of an old phone ringing, but I must say the only calls are political robo calls or solicitors,” said owner Roger Levine.
“When I go to IKEA, I see designs from the ′ 50s and ′ 60s that have been incorporated into ‘new’ designs. But the original furniture you find in shops or at auctions was not meant to be disposable and has been around 50 or 60 years or more,” he said.
“So you might get great design, but you are not going to have that piece of furniture in five or 10 years,” Mr. Levine added.
Mr. McDonough agreed. “A lot of things in my store are over 100 years old, and nobody took care of them, but they are still here. That is how well made they are.”
“So much of this [mid-century] design came from the Pittsburgh area,” Mr. Levine said. “For example, Kensington Aluminum was part of Alcoa. Temporama china was done by a Canonsburg company, while the blanks were produced by Homer Laughlin in West Virginia.”
The ones he has in the store “were give-aways at grocery stores,” he said.
Mr. Levine likes the fusion of different eras in the same space. “It doesn’t all have to be Ethan Allen Colonial or mid-century modern.”
Mr. McDonough sees value in old step stools. “I personally like little step stools because they can create different heights and interest or you can stack them.
“I tell my customers: ‘Don’t let anybody talk you into buying something, and don’t let anybody talk you out of buying something,’” he added.
“Buy what you like and don’t worry about anything else. If you like it, you will be happy.”