What happens when two sisters rent a Uhaul van and embark on a quest for amazing vintage furniture across three states? Vintage shopping magic!
Earlier in July – that is exactly what we did! Tracy and Cristina – The Picker Sisters – started in Idaho, rented a van and went out on the open road, with no plans beyond following their noses to some great finds!
Cristina lives in Boise – so we started there!
BOISE
In Boise we scoped out a local estate sale store, and found some fabulous china! We chatted with local antique collectors, who let us see their secret stashes of antiques stored in garages.
Of course, no city visit would be the same without a visit to the recycled materials center. We had a great time checking out used tiles, building materials and tons of light fixtures!
We finished off a great day of shopping with a lovely meal, and an amazing strawberry butter-cake dessert at Fork in downtown Boise. Yum!
NEXT STOP: MERIDIAN, IDAHO
The next morning we picked up our Uhaul Van. There was some drama and we almost were unable to take the 10 foot van that we had reserved. They only had 16 foot vans! The bigger van was tempting … but luckily we got the size we had reserved.
We headed out on the open road, stopping first in Meridian, an adjacent town to Boise for an estate sale. They had some great finds at the sale – we were especially taken by the nailhead details on this chair:
From Meridian, we did a quick stop in Nampa, Idaho – to check out The Chicken Koop. Have you ever seen anything with more personality? Our adventure was off to a great start – these ‘off the beaten track’ spots were exactly what we wanted to find!
Most of this store was filled with the basic things that you would expect – but in the very last stall we stumbled across the most incredible crystal collection we had ever seen! Of course we had to buy the French red crystal glasses!
NEXT STOP: FRUITLAND
Our itinerary had no set schedule and no limits, we just followed our vintage seeking intuition to wherever it lead us, which was someone’s outbuilding, near a farm in Fruitland, Idaho! This collector had some amazing pieces – she really knew her stuff and drove a hard bargain.
NEXT STOP: BAKER CITY
We crossed over from Idaho, into Oregon, stopping first in Baker City. This is a small city, but has a great tradition of Oregon Trail History. We were hopeful that we’d find some great furniture there.
Unfortunately it was a Sunday, and most places were closed! There was a big motorcycle convention in town and the entire city was full of bikers! We were very fortunate that Kathy opened up her store for us! Thank you, Kathy!
Between Kathy’s store and a flee market, we had quite a haul. It was time to reorganize the truck.
Don’t we just look like we’re having a sidewalk sale?
NEXT STOP: PENDLETON, OREGON
You might be familiar with Pendleton, as it is the home of the famous Pendleton Roundup Rodeo. We hit up two antique shops and then stopped for coffee at this fabulous cafe:
At our third stop in Pendleton we came across this unbelievable Alligator bag. Sorry – this one we’re keeping. (Can you blame us?)
Then we were back on the open road again, headed to our next destination!
STANFIELD
Stanfield was a highlight of the trip. We had so much meeting 97 year old Frieda in her antique store. Frieda had some fabulous jewelry, and told us “I’m 97 – so I’m going to wear my diamonds everyday!” Love that attitude!
She sold us her amazing orange bed set. She told us that she had a lot of fun with that bedset! Ok, does it get ANY more fabulous than this? Don’t think so!
NEXT STOP: RICHLAND
Have you ever been to Richland, Washington? It is a beautiful spot.
Richland is also full of fantastic antique and vintage store. Richland, indeed!
Have you ever seen such bounty?
We couldn’t pass up on these stunning Old English Red Willow dishes at Ragtime Antiques! What a stunning set.
Then we continued to head north to our next, and final stop before our destination of Seattle.
YAKIMA
This patriotic antique store was our final stop.
We topped off our Uhaul with a bright red bench.
With our spoils, we returned victoriously to the Emerald City, and hosted a fantastic truck unloading sale in celebration! What a great time sharing our booty with our loyal clients! We still have a few of our finds left in the store, so come in and see what we found.
The Picker Sisters may have found a new calling. This was the inaugural road trip of what is sure to become a yearly tradition! Lessons learned from the road trip? If you see it and you like it – get it! We’re still thinking about that mid century dresser that we left behind in Oregon.
Gracious 