Ty Tips:Luxury living for less

The last time I was in San Francisco I visited the Kenneth Wingard store on Market Street. I highly recommend it for the retro/comtempo/mid-century inspired designs. They are very much along the lines of what you’d find at Jonathan Adler or other shops carrying the same “retro-inspired” designs.

Being somewhat of a “purist” and an “adventurer”, I find it much more fun to hunt for the real thing (vintage 40’s to 60’s) home furnishings and accessories in flea markets and thrift stores.

Granted, mid-century is still au courant so it’s slim pickings out but, the heart wants what it wants and mine beats for mid-century (for the past three of four years anyway) so imagine my surprise when on an outing to one of my favorite ghetto fabulous thrift stores I happen upon a very cool clock.

It was marked at $9.99 so the first thing I thought was that it was broken-but after popping in a new AA battery (that I happen to carry in my car) it kept good time. Truth be told the second hand was broken off (as you can see in the picture) but that problem was solved with a trip to the local arts and crafts store where I bought a new one (I’m just too lazy to switch out the broken one).

The same clock online and in the store retails for $120.00-not a bad savings considering the harsh economic “time” we live in;)

TyTIP: Always carry a few AA batteries, tape measure and gloves in your car. They will come in handy so that you can verify if something works, note the size to see if it fits your needs (or in your car) and gloves because most of the stuff you’ll buy won’t be cleaned until you get it home and do it yourself.

TyTIP: Don’t just shop the thrift and second hand shops in upscale neighborhoods, check out the ones on “the other side of the tracks” (i.e. the ghetto). Being adventurous can sometimes net you a wonderful surprise. Just because the store is situated in a less than desirous area to live doesn’t mean the store doesn’t occasionally get great items-think of it like “looking for gold during the old days of the gold rush” sometimes you have to “pan for it”.

TyTIP: Although it’s easy to get influenced by what you see in the home magazines and decorating the homes on HGTV try to collect off-beat items, Art deco or Nouveau for example, which have yet to make a strong comeback on the decorating scene and are priced to sell instead od selling for a high price.