Vintage furniture — Scandinavian modern, midcentury modern, and just plain groovy — at Furnish Me Vintage, St. Petersburg, Florida — 61 photos

What’s even more fun than seeing the Rays play the Yankees in St. Petersburg, Florida? How about first spending a couple of hours visiting the midcentury modern furniture store Furnish Me Vintage, right across the street from Tropicana Field. We were in Florida on vacation earlier this summer, and, yes, DH was just as excited to go see 7,000 s.f. of vintage furniture as he was to go watch baseball. I am lucky that way. And we had a great time at the store. Furnish Me Vintage is owned by cutie pie marrieds Jackie and Todd.

Jackie gave us a great tour, and we all jabbered away like we’d known each other forever. It’s a small world — we learned that the pair moved down to St. Petersburg just a few years ago from Albany, New York, which is just 45 minutes from where DH and I live. Both Jackie and Todd worked in local media — newspapers and TV. They love upstate New York, but they wanted to escape the winters, had relatives in Tampa St. Pete, so off they flew to see if they could turn their mid mod madness into a full time enterprise. Above: Hannah Morrison for Knoll seating set.

So, our dynamic duo moved to Florida… started collecting… grew their business and got this space — yes, 7,000 s.f…. became experts on the effective use of social media in their business… and now have clients all over the country. The day we were there, a bar was heading to New York… an interior designer for a Hollywood TV producer was contemplating a sofa… and there were Sold tickets peppering the pretties throughout. That said, Jackie and Todd were working hard for their money, it was clear! We all may dream of owning a shop, but to make it work, you are at it all hours. Above: Broyhill Brasilia serving cart with rare tile inserts. Lots and lots of Brasilia at Furnish Me Vintage. Crikey, everyone wants this stuff. Me, too!

In today’s story, 60+ photos from my visit to Furnish Me Vintage: Amazing eye candy, awesome furniture to consider buying, and some good visual tips on what to look for when you are out vintage furniture treasure hunting.

Okay, the first eye candy, and I hope you don’t mind me sayin’, Jackie, but this girl is good lookin’ — and super smart, too. I really enjoyed talking to her, and wish I lived in Florida so we could be BFFs even though I am old enough to be her mother. Okay, Todd is good lookin’, too, but Jackie and I girl-bonded, you know how that goes…

Okay, now back to all the furniture. Above: A closeup of that gorgeous Broyhill Brasilia tile. And in my Retro Renovation 2012 Color of the Year, Cobalt Blue.

Above: A set of Franklin Shockey pine dressers. Actually, it was via these two pieces that I connected with Jackie in the first place. I think she posted about them when I launched Knotty is Nice. Or something like that. I was going to feature them, saw she was in St. Pete, knew that we were heading down there soon, so made the date. Anyway: Knotty pine meets Midcentury Modern big time in these Franklin Shockey pieces. Kinda weird, in an awesome way.

Above: The 1970s green plastic doored Broyhill credenza was my favorite piece of the day. As you know from my recent office remodel, I am into the acid colors right now, lime green is my favorite (hint hint: Retro Renovation 2013 Color of the Year). I took a close up (second shot) of how the plastic decorative panel was adhered to the furniture… thinking maybe someday I would try to hack this idea.

There is lots of great wall decor. Paintings, batik, rugs, wall hangings, prints, graphic, colorful, groovy, BIG statement pieces. Funky chicken, anyone?

Can you believe it. I’m not done yet.

I saved the best (well, sort of, it’s hard to choose favorites, depends on my mood) for last:

Above: Knoll Hannah Morrison sofa and side chairs. I had never seen or heard of this furniture, until I saw it at Furnish Me Vintage. Fantastic!

Blenko glass in rich jewel tones, tall pieces, everywhere in Florida! Must have been the influence of I Dream of Jeannie over in Cocoa Beach.

Dig the graphics on the vintage board game, Twixt.

Big chunky pottery lamps and swag lights.

I like the lamp, but I love the artwork.

Lucite chairs. Yup.

Todd had the LP spinning in the background. REALLY: There is nothing like the sound of vinyl. It is SO MUCH BETTER than digital music. And I am not saying this because I am an old fart. It is just true, and that is all there is to say about it.

Of course, an 8 track player that looks like this is nice to have around, too.

Todd and Jackie have the vintage Playboy magazine on a table for ambience. NFS. While we were visiting, two late-teenaged girls came in, plopped down on the chairs, and giggled teeheehee, all over this. Jackie rolled her eyes and said the teenaged girls were the worst.

Todd runs the photo studio tucked at the back of the store. Furnish Me Vintage has beautiful photos of their products online. The website is impeccably organized. This effort is what enables them to sell all over the nation. Jackie said about 50% of their business is local/regional, the other 50% is national. She has the shipping and handling down to an art. Like I said, these two are rocking the retro furniture world. But it’s long days, 7 days a week, Jackie said.

Above: More stuff coming in the back door daily. What’s in there? What’s in there? Don’t we all want to know!

Thank you, Jackie and Todd, for being the hosts/esses with the mostestess. I love your store. Yes: It’s curated — the stuff is all good. Still, there’s a lot of it. And, I think the prices are fair — good — great, even, considering you are fronting a brick-and-mortars store, an awesome website and clearly, TLC. I wish you lots and lots of success. Considering how hard you are working, success seems a fait accompli.

Link love:

• Furnish Me Vintage, St. Petersburg, Florida — awesome web site!