Secondhand Love
I finished writing my first book a few weeks before the corona virus hit the headlines, and in the last few weeks with all the craziness, trying to keep my business afloat and moving house, I’d sort of forgotten about it. At the moment it’s called ‘Secondhand Love’ and this is my cover mock up.
Then one of my customers asked me last Saturday, before I shut my shop doors for what may be the last time, how my book was going, and said she’d love to read it. I don’t know if it will get published now, so I thought I’d start sharing it in pieces here. Please read, comment, edit and criticise if you can so I can make the final book, if there is one, better.
On rereading and editing my book, and moving house and creating a new living space for my family, I think it actually is relevant still. Most of us will be spending a lot of time in our homes, and hopefully I can give you some tips to make that time more enjoyable, and perhaps productive!
Here’s the start of the book as I wrote it all those weeks ago –
Introduction
Our home is our refuge. Our retreat and place of comfort after a long day. Where we sleep and eat, pursue hobbies and have celebrations. In our hearts we want to come home to a real home, one that nurtures and comforts us, makes us feel safe and secure, and gives us a sense of relief and relaxation.
Your home should be a Reflection of your life and your style – somewhere that not only looks good, but also says a bit about who you are. Your home should suit you and your family and your lifestyle and it should make you feel good.
A home filled with secondhand treasures bought over a period of time when the right thing comes along, rather than in one extreme decorating shopping spree, can become your oasis. You can shop, decorate, reinvent and put yourself into creating your perfect living. space. And just like you are always learning, growing and changing, so should your home.
With vintage and secondhand you don’t need to feel guilty about changing your mind. Found a coffee table or painting you like better than one you have? Buy it! And sell your current one if you need the space. Or perhaps grab a can of chalk paint and change the color, or make your own art. With vintage, second hand and upcycled you don’t have to feel guilty about contributing to the worlds problems like underpaid labour, deforestation, chemical overload and land (over) fill.
So, What do you do when you want to create your unique ideal home, you’re on a tight budget, don’t think you. have any decorating skill and want to help save the planet?
You learn to love secondhand, unlock your imagination and come on a journey with me….
About me
I’ve been buying secondhand for over 40 years, first with my father, who loved to restore old. things, and then as a poor interior design student. My friends and I would scour the second hand shops in Melbourne’s Fitzroy and Brunswick streets, looking for things we could use in displays and furnish our own rented flats with. When I met my boyfriend (now husband) he let me redecorate his bedroom, with a budget of $100. He loved it, and has let me have free reign over furnishing and decorating our homes ever since, except for an antique writing table he instead we needed!
Our first home was at age 18 in Melbourne’s inner suburbs, back in the late 80s. We’d saved so hard for the rent and bond that we had little left over for furniture. Grandparents to the rescue! They gave us a brand new mattress as an engagement present, and a couple of old 60s TV chairs for the lounge. We built a bed out of old fence posts, recovered the chairs, and made a TV unit bookshelf out of old bricks and pine boards (painted in pink and blue to look like a sunset). A calendar of French impression prints were framed and hung above the shelf and that was about it. Until we found THE table.
It was at a secondhand furniture shop in New Market, marked ‘antique’ , but was out of our budget at the time. It was however a third of the price of another new table we liked. I visited the shop each week when I got off the train, and suddenly one day the price had dropped, to nearly half. I put a deposit on straight away, then tried to work out how to get it home in our VW beetle….
A friend with a roof rack helped out, and that table squeezed into our tiny flat. We saw lots of card games and rounds of trivial pursuit at that table. Fifteen years later we cut the legs down to make craft table for our growing tribe of children, and it’s probably still being used as a coffee table somewhere in north east Victoria where we gave it to our then neighbours.
The major things I’ve bought new have been electrical appliances (although never full price and I have bought vintage and secondhand fridges and washers too) and a cheap bonded leather sofa that disintegrated in 18 months and cured me of buying new.
As a mother of five, and an interior decorator for over twenty years who has moved multiple times, including interstate, I’ve decorated a lot of homes. I’ve learnt that by buying vintage or pre-loved, I am able to buy a better quality product than I would be able to afford otherwise. Like the green leather chesterfield in the photo below I bought secondhand a few months ago for less than $400.
This photo below is of my current home, that we are still in the process of renovating and moving into. The fridge coming this afternoon, I hope, and the oven is hopefully getting installed on the weekend. I have mid century TV chairs again, and a mid century dining suite. The rug I pinched from my shop. The coffee table I actually bought new ten years ago, and the art on the wall is new too, and by a local artist.
In 2005 I discovered EBay and Etsy, and soon began selling online while having a break from my decorating business after having my twins. Ten years later I had so much inventory I needed a shed to house it, especially when I got back into upcycling furniture (my husband was understanding up to a point). I found a cheap space near home and decided to open it as a shop instead of just a storage space, and so Kitten Vintage Mackay was born. Three years later the shop has expanded to over three times the size, complete with tearoom (and amazing repeat customers). The shop is still growing and changes daily, and I learn something new everyday. (Edit – sadly my shop is now closed for the foreseeable future).
As well as being easier on the budget, and eco friendly, both in materials and transport, buying and using secondhand, preloved, up-cycled or vintage furniture and accessories has other benefits. It’s often made better and so will last longer. It can help preserve history and give us a sense of family connection, and it’s different and often unique. And, if you buy locally from friends, family, upcycled or even small antique or vintage stores, you are keeping the money in the local community, rather than sending it offshore to a big conglomerate.
If you don’t want to spend a fortune furnishing and decorating your home, second hand and vintage furniture is perfect. Most pieces are still structurally sound and still look great; they’re just not wanted any more by their previous owners, perhaps because of a change in circumstances. Most people who come to me to sell are downsizing, or they have a loved one who has passed away. They love the idea thang their furniture or bric a brac will get another chance at life.
The book
Vintage is the new green is divided into two sections – Loving and living.
In Loving I look at the benefits of secondhand and vintage, such as uniqueness, quality, a sense of history and family connection, cost and Environmental and community benefits. I also give an overview of why cheap modern ‘fast furniture’ is bad for the planet and a leading cause of habitat loss and deforestation.
I’ll also go through what to look for, different styles and eras, materials to buy and those to avoid, what check for and how much to pay.
I hope to make more people take a second look at secondhand and vintage Furniture, so I want the LIVING section to help people live with vintage – help with basic decorating, including how to mix old and new, and repairing and upcycling the furniture they have or might buy secondhand.
As an Interior decorator I love helping people transform their homes into unique spaces that tell who they are, and I believe that with the right tools and advice most people can do this themselves. This section will include photos of homes that use mainly vintage and secondhand furniture and accessories for further inspiration, and I’ll also look at collecting, using and caring for old silverware, crystal, China and linen.
In a nutshell
Vintage is the New Green aims to help you decorate your home, Infusing style, charm and warmth into your living space in an environmentally friendly and frugal way with vintage furniture and accessories. I’ve done it dozens of times for myself and others and I think I can help you.
Thanks for reading. I will publish a excerpt from the book each Wednesday. All photos are mine by the way, except the one with the quote, it’s from Unsplash. You can follow me on instagram at kitten_vintage _mackay and for my home and renovations at thegreenhouseqld
Stay safe.
Deb xx
