Victorian San Francisco

A passion for everything vintage lends itself to being environmentally friendly, even if you do not generally think of it that way.  In fact, vintage is typically much more green than a lot of items that claim they are green.  With that vantage point, now you can shop guilt-free.   

I collect everything vintage, from my head down to my toes, and throughout my home.  And if I cannot use it as is, I often make something new from the re-usable portions of the item. 

I volunteer much of my time at San Francisco Architectural Heritage.  Over the years, I have helped with several fundraisers. 

This whole jewelry thing started when I decided to re-string some old beads in my mom's jewelry box and donate the "adaptive re-use" jewelry to a silent auction for Heritage.  Pretty soon it seemed that all of my friends were bringing me their mothers' jewelry boxes.  And not too much later people started bringing me parts from chandeliers, drawer knobs, and all kinds of other things I could not have imagined a use for until seeing them.  Once the components are in front of me, and I know it is either "make something new out of them" or "let them go sit in the land fill", I am motivated to find a use for just about anything anyone gives me.

I try to describe very clearly which items are vintage (original design and construction) vs. which items are adaptive re-use.  For adaptive re-use items, I try to describe the materials to the best of my ability.  My re-use items are made from vintage jewelry, old buttons, and other previously loved components, combined with new findings to update them, and often to extend their wearable life. 

When possible, I try to include a bit of history in the descriptions of the items.  The history I include is generally taken from my Victorian San Francisco research website: www.victoriansanfrancisco.com.  To learn more about all things vintage, please visit my non-commercial website.