Thursday, October 17, 2013

Storing Your Thrifted Finds: Who Needs Food When You Have Vintage Swag?

I've moved dozens of heavy boxes up and down stairs and in and out of buildings this year, trying to uncover the best way to store it all. It went from my packed apartment to my boyfriend's sunroom. I sold and sorted like crazy until the amount of merchandise was small enough to move back to my own apartment.

Don't worry, the food is still around in a smaller pantry. Didn't need this big one for it.

I wanted the merchandise back in my house for several reasons. (1) So I wouldn't have to make the 10-15 minute drive when I need to mail something (2) I want to re-photograph everything and photograph some things that slipped under the radar and (3) Most importantly, you learn how to brand yourself when you live with and use what you sell.


Living with what I sell helps me write the item descriptions: the best way to store it, who to gift it to, how it feels in your hands or makes you feel hanging on the wall. Storage isn't perfect yet (Poor Yuko thinks it's her feed time any time I open the pantry or cupboard now! As seen above) but I'll streamline it. And it's nice to be able to shut the cabinet doors and not get stressed by the clutter/things to sell.


The Epic book collection is my mod hutch in the living room. (Hutch also for sale! nearly everything I live with is for sale, really.)


And my newer hutch (for sale still, of course!) is the home for my lovely planter collection. Just thought it would be funny to show you how I have to "live" with my wares, can't open a pantry without seeing my work! Those pantries could use some more streamlining but it's impressive to see I went from a whole room full of stuff to a couple of hutches, cabinets, and a closet. :) Progress!

Where do you store your collections or merchandise? I think this is my final incarnation, keeping it in the pantries/hutches/closet keeps me from buying too much!
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23 comments:

  1. Oops, forgot to add the link to the old merchandise storage room: http://www.thriftcore.com/2013/08/merchandise-room-tour-take-two-taking.html

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  2. Do you ever have that heart attack where you can't find something you've sold? I have to keep everything I sell in one closet, other wise I'm running arund the apartment looking for it!

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    1. Yes indeed I have! I wish I had one closet to keep it all in but I haven't gone nuts since this new organization method, when things were at my boyfriend Matt's house they were somehow tougher to find.

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  3. I have had that happen to me too! I couldn't find an item and I knew I had up to 3 days to find it, since I have a 1-3 days to ship listed on my store. I ended up buying another storage unit from Target (which I clearly needed) and I went through my items one by one with my son. As the piles were getting smaller and smaller, I still couldn't find it...I was trying to think up some sort of lie to tell my customer so I didn't look like some disorganized loser (We had a flood and many things were damaged...We had a house fire....) Anyhow, It was the 2nd to last item I had left to put away in my new storage unit! It felt like I won the lottery (a whopping $7 item). I am still not greatly organized, but I am better than what I was!

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    1. Duude I feel you there, this has happened to us (Matt, my boyfriend had to help me find it) more than once at his sunroom. I guess without seeing it daily I couldn't remember where everything was as easily. It was always with a small $45ish item, too, my luck! Many have suggested a detailed spreadsheet that details exactly where each item is, I think I may finish that today!

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  4. I'm lucky enough to have a spare room to store my ebay inventory, but I love how you've made your inventory a part of your personal decor. It's beautiful! :)

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    1. Thanks Kim, I have a follow-up on that and arranging vintage artfully in your home. Doing this was a big help for helping me determine how to live with vintage and hence, sell it better. It's even more of a "lifestyle" for me now.

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  5. I love your hutch and credenza. I have a room for my ebay stuff but some things I have decorating my house. My stuff is in numbered totes. I then put the number in the cusom label box on ebay Easy peasy when I remember to do it

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    1. I'm going to be hanging all of the vintage art I have available/soon will have available on Etsy around the house tomorrow, shall be fun to make groups out of it! I used to have my wares stacked in silver bins in my bedroom closet but that was a nightmare, they weren't numbered or organized in any way so I have to riffle through it all to find certain things. Sounds like you're doing it right!

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  6. I've got a ton of stuff out in my kids old playhouse.My plan is to get out there and get it all listed/relisted this weekend while it's free listings and then purge all the stuff that doesn't sell this time.

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    1. It's free listing right now on eBay or Etsy? I will definitely be taking advantage of that! I like the idea of merch in a playhouse. I may secretly dream of having a tree house out back to work in... ;)

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    2. You'd love it.My dad built the outside out of lumber he milled himself and everything else is scraps and things he's saved and kept over the years.The door is my childhood bedroom door right down to the crystal doorknob.

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  7. Oooh, your hutches are to die for!!! I have a similar one to the bottom one and it holds my fancy china, but I am secretly hoping to one day use it like you - do store my fun finds :-)

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  8. I wish they would sell locally though on the hutches, gotta think of some creative ways to advertise 'em ;) In the meantime no more vintage furniture for me, it's such a hard sell! I'm excited to keep displaying my finds today, will continue to document the progress.

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  9. I love Yuko! Is that a Japanese name?

    I store my vintage stuff in my wardrobe (the good, breakable antique stock goes in there), and in the garage (the stuff that won't hurt and is in boxes - the more retro items). The wardrobe is in my artist studio, so I'm going to have to make a dedicated storage area somehow, a tough deal when you lack the space and proper storage cupboards.

    P.S. Thanks to your recommendation, I manged to see, 'Let the right one in' the other night - top film!

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    1. Glad you watched "Let the Right One In" - isn't it gorgeous!? I now consider myself lucky to not have a garage or I'd fill it up to the brim and overwhelm myself no doubt, having one apartment forces me to keep to a small scale!

      And yep, Yuko is a Japanese name. I considered "Yuki" (snow) at first but it was too common, to me she LOOKS for me a "Yuko" somehow. It also happens to be the name of a character from a favorite Japanese comic, XXXholic. :)

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  10. Thanks for sharing your storage solutions with us. I store my items on the hard-to-reach high shelves in my kitchen cabinets, in my built-in cabinetry in my living room, in my china cabinet and gorilla shelving in my dining room, on the bookshelves in my bedroom, and in plastic bins in my office and bedroom. I also have underbed storage bins, which are space savers, as the area beneath my bed was not really being used. Inventory has taken over my house!

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    1. I'm glad I've got mine down to a liveable amount, storage containers no longer needed, but yeh, i'd say inventory's got a good hold on my house/life too. ;)

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  11. Loved the cat looking longingly into the cupboard. I could see at once why she did so, lol. My cat's name is Misu, a name my daughter came up with...

    My 'stuff' is stored, loosely said, in the guest/craft room. I don't have a ton of stuff at the moment but I am using a rubbermaid container, a plastic milkcrate and a small trunk and a box...Awkward and not pretty for guests (it's also the guest room) but the closet can't be used courtesy it being my pantry. I think I want to get risers to go under my bed and then use the under bed space for storage.

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    1. Misu is cute :) Never had the drink but it sounds tasty and makes an adorable name for a cat somehow. I'd like for most of the housewares I sell to be on display, working on it! Tricky to get it right.

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  12. I have an entire room (the living room) in my home for ebay storage but I still lose things and have overflow. Over buying is the reason.

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