Today we're chatting with Anastasia from Anna Lee's Attic about her vintage shop.
I’m Ana and I live on the Front Range of Northern Colorado
with my husband and our rescue dog Lulu. We’re blessed to also have our
wonderful daughter and son-in-law residing in Colorado and she helps me out
with modeling from time to time.
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| Ana, her daughter and Lulu. |
As anyone can guess, I don’t have a mysterious story behind
my shop name but what I do have is an old attic full of great vintage. I was
smitten with vintage when I attended my first auction at the age of nineteen in
a little Kansas town. My parents and grandparents passed on a few of their
unwanted treasures over the years and little by little, I found myself
surrounded with antiques and vintage. So I dabbled for a few years selling
through a brick and mortar store and through that venture, accumulated more
than I could use, give away or sell. After managing a family member’s estate
sale, I found it more of a challenge to clear a path through the attic. Then my
daughter told me about Etsy as another venue for my handmade organic products.
So after testing Etsy’s waters through the handmade shop, I quickly realized a
vintage shop was a must and a month later, Anna Lees Attic was born.
I currently work full time between the two shops. Whenever I
have the chance to take a day off, I scour the highways and byways of Colorado,
Kansas, Nebraska and Wyoming looking for treasures. I love anything Mid century
back to Edwardian with a fondness for turn of the century and Art Deco. If I’m
drawn to something from later eras, I know that odds are good someone else is
going to love it too.
I tend to collect vintage items I can put to use around the
house or garden such as antique linens and lace, enamelware, graniteware, metal
flower frogs, and china.
Here is a collection of enamelware teapots I use in my
herbal shop for display with fresh and dried flowers throughout the year. The
large kettle on the left is currently for sale in my shop.
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| Large enamelware kettle |
My metal flower frog collection is slowly growing and
includes a fantastic flower frog formerly from (whew that’s a lot of f’s) an
Eveteam member’s shop. I also use these for décor in my herb shop.
My newest favorite in antique linens was just listed in my
shop. I love the aged romantic look that ecru linen or lace can offer.
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| Antique ecru linen tablecloth |
I think the most endearing sale so far is the story behind
this 1940s Remington which I nicknamed the Grey Sage.
I was contacted by a mom last January who was considering
purchasing it for her son’s 30th birthday. This was what she wrote:
“I am interested in purchasing a vintage typewriter for my
son who will turn 30 in a couple of days. He had a dream as a teenager of
living in a 3rd floor walkup in Greenwich Village, NY and writing on a manual
typewriter. He's now a successful web designer with his own business. I thought
this would be a nice decoration for his new office, and a tie to his past. Do
you think this is the sort of typewriter that would have suited that time
period?”
I told her that while I would love to sell the typewriter to
her, it really dates truer to our past than his but since she said he liked
earth tones and it had a nice masculine quality to it, I thought he might still
like it. However, I didn’t want to push it on her so just told her to be
comfortable with her decision before buying it. She said she just had a good
feeling about it and decided to go for it. Like other first time Etsy buyers,
she wasn’t real comfortable with the payment process so I needed to reassure
her it was going to work out. Then she told me it would have to arrive in the
Northwest in 3 days to make it in time for his birthday. I had quoted Parcel
Post in the listing which wouldn’t be guaranteed for arrival but found FedEx
would cost the same and make the deadline if she paid that day and I shipped
the next. Then she asked if I could include a special sentiment written by her
if she could get it to me in time since she was at work. I dug around and found
an old 1911 birthday card with a dark green border and mother and child walking
down a country road that I thought might upcycle into an appropriate greeting
card to hold his mother’s note. After about 18 convo’s between us, everything
came together and I got the writer out the next day. This was the result of our
team efforts for her son‘s big day.
“I got a text message from a customer saying he had just opened
our present and "Thanks a lot for going and making me cry for the first time
in many years. I'd say we nailed it, GF! Thanks so much for all of your help.
The whole thing is so heartwarming for me, and you really kicked it up a
notch!”
I know I’m not alone when I say this is why I love selling
vintage on Etsy. It is not only the connection that vintage brings with our
past and our love for it, but the other wonderful people loving vintage and
building memories with loved ones through vintage.
Thanks, Ana! Visit her shop to see her beautiful vintage decor.
