Antiquing With The Queen of Flea Markets, Ki Nassauer

We’ve had Ki Nassauer on the show before—a couple of times, actually—and that’s because she loves antiquing, thrifting, repurposing, and collecting anything vintage. And if you know me and my Slow Style approach to decorating our homes, you know that I think that every house and every room really needs to have at least one thing that’s from a different era than the one we’re living in. Ki has spent her career working in media all around filling our homes with antiques and is currently the editor-in-chief of the online magazine, Lived-In Style. I highly recommend you subscribe to it, by the way. What we're talking about today is her beautiful new book, which is also called Lived-in Style." Let’s get started.

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Transcript

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Hello and welcome to the Style Matters podcast. I'm Zandra, your host and I'm also the creator of the Slow Style approach to designing your dream home. On this show, you'll hear lots of interviews with really talented people working in interiors. Most of them are designers, some are makers and artists, and many of them are authors. Sometimes I also record a solo show where it's just me and I share pieces of my Slow Style design framework that puts you at the front and center of your home, rather than products or trends and other people's idea of what beauty is supposed to look like. If that sounds good to you and you're itching to get started, you can download our free worksheet called the Dream Home Action Plan. You can find it at littleyellowcouch.com. And about halfway through today's conversation, I'm really excited about jumping in and telling you about a new online course that I've just created called Unlock Your Signature Style. This course is self-paced. You can take it at any time. It's for people new to interior design, but also for those who really want to dig into the foundation of the Slow Style philosophy. So stay tuned for that. Now, if you're ready to learn how to make your home beautiful and meaningful from the best interior designers I know, you're in the right place. I'm so glad you're here. We've had Ki Nassauer on the show before a couple of times, actually. And that's because she loves antiquing and thrifting, repurposing, collecting, anything vintage. And if you know me and my Slow Style approach to decorating our homes, you know that I think every home, every room really, needs to have at least one thing that's from a different era than the one we're living in. Ki has spent her career working in media all around filling our homes with antiques and is currently the editor-in-chief of the online magazine, Lived In Style. A magazine I highly recommend you subscribe to, by the way. But what we talk about today is her beautiful new book, which is also called Lived In Style. Let's get started. Hi, Nassauer. Welcome to the Style Matters podcast. Welcome back to the podcast. Thank you. Thank you. Excited to be here again. Well, listen, we're going to talk all about this book, Lived In Style, which is also the name of your online magazine, which I have been a subscriber to now since the very beginning, I believe. But I have to be honest with you. I thought this was like your third book. I mean, I am so used to seeing you writing and being in both print and online and producing stories that I'm like looking you up going, well, where are her other books? Because I'm sure we've talked about her other books before. I don't think so. I think this is your first book. Well, actually, I did do two books years and years ago. Okay. Okay. So they're out of print. Got it. And it was a long time ago. Okay. Okay. They don't count. Well, I'm not losing my mind either. That's what's really important. Okay. So I want to just first ask you a little bit about the behind the scenes on your career. Like I said, you were the editor and chief of Flea Market Style magazine for many years and was my absolute favorite magazine. And then, you know, a lot of the magazines folded and yours was one of them, but then you started this new, very fresh, wonderful online magazine, which I'm going to make sure we link to in the show notes pages because if you're not subscribed, you know, you need to be. It's a great resource for anyone who loves vintage and antiques and living with them. But now the book. So why the book? Why now? You know, my daughter asked me that same question. Oh, okay. I think I'm going to do a book and she says, why mom? What? I don't mean it that way. That's just like a daughter. No, but she, yeah, she was like, why mom? Why do you need to do a book? And I think it's a little bit about legacy. Okay. Yeah. Something you can hold in your hand is, you know, for years and years as publishers started changing the paper on magazines, yes, and it got thinner and the ads started creeping in and all kinds of places and all kinds of weird ads. It was, you know, it was sort of hard as a editor to look at these beautiful images on this really crummy paper. Oh, God, I can't imagine. Yes. So one of the biggest reasons I wanted to do a book was I was guaranteed beautiful, white, bright, glorious thick paper. I love it. I love it. It sounds ridiculous. It does. Not to me because I'm a, I am a kinesthetic person. I love to touch things. So to me, I love holding your book in my hands. Thank you. Thank you. You know, you can kind of smell the ink and you can touch the pages. And it was a way for me to do that and have it sit on my coffee table. That is the best reason. I think that's wonderful. And lived in style is the name of the book. The subtitle is the art of creating a feel good home. And I think that's really the goal of your online magazine as well. Tell us a little bit about what you mean by lived in style. You know, why is it not flea market style or antique style? Well, lived in style is actually more of a lifestyle. It's not a particular type of home. It doesn't mean everything comes from the flea market. It's really about decorating your home with things you love that are comfortable and casual and, you know, represent you as a person. And it's a place where you feel good and anyone that comes into your home wants to sit and have a cup of coffee or a glass of wine, put their feet up and stay. I love it. I love that you talk about it in those terms as a lifestyle because it's also and the book shows this. There are lots of different style categories that that flow throughout your book. But no one in your book has one style category. They all combine things. And that's what makes them feel so personal and so unique, I think. Right. You know, it's I think it when I was, you know, setting out to do this book, I realized that on the market, most books were either all cottage, all farmhouse, exactly. Century, you know, all the genres. But if you if you kind of liked a little bit of everything, there wasn't a book for you. Yeah. So what I, you know, set out to do was lived in style represents all style genres. Right. But there's a common thread that runs through all of the homes, which we point out in the, you know, first part of the book. Yeah, it's that it's that comfortability. It's that feeling of relaxation and, you know, that that the shoulder strap thing, I think, right? Is that the right? Right, right. And, you know, all the homeowners love vintage and antiques. That's not to say all their houses are completely filled with vintage, but they all, you know, shop at flea markets, antique stores, at second hand shops. Yeah, really appreciate the old and the worn. And that that leads me right to my next question or thought, which is if you were talking to somebody who was brand new, you know, hasn't really dipped their toe into the whole hunt of the thing, you know, the going to a flea market and finding that diamond in the rough or whatever. And so they have nothing like that in their homes. What do you say that it does for a room? And I'm talking about one single antique or a whole house full of them, like you said, depending on the the style of the owner. You know, antiques and vintage reflect the personality of an owner. You buy it not because it's trendy, not because you saw it at a magazine, you buy it because you love it or there's something about it that, you know, feels personal to you. So when you find that piece or multiple pieces and you put it in your home, you're expressing yourself, you know, it's not about impressing anyone. It's really about expressing who you are to everyone. Yeah, yeah, I think that happens in part because let's say you're shopping at big box stores for furniture and they kind of start all looking the same. And then you're kind of like, well, this one will do. Right. It's four legs and a cushion to sit on and it's a couch, right. And I think what an antique does because it's most likely going to be one of a kind at least in your own home. All of a sudden there it's clear that there were reasons you picked it. Right, right. There was something about it that attracted you to it, whether it's a memory, whether it's, you know, the material it was made out of, whether it was, you know, something your grandmother used to do. I mean, there's reasons why you're attracted to it. And you know, function is fine. And you know, my sofa in my home is a new sofa. Yep, I mine too. And it's comfortable and, you know, my grandkids love it. But I have vintage pillows because I couldn't find, you know, those patterns and textures, you know, in new pillows. Yes. So I think it's important to really find the stuff you love. Now, if you don't like to shop a flea market, you know, oh, I'm scared. I don't want to go to a flea market or you're worried about going into the antique stores. You know, so much is available online now that you can shop vintage and antiques online as well. So there's no excuse. There's no excuse. That's right. That's right. So, so in the beginning part of the book, I don't even know if you were consciously thinking of the beginning of the book in this way. But to me, what really I was thinking, oh my gosh, these are Ki's design principles. These, the first, you know, you've got this section. Hold on. I just want to, I just want to get to the table of contents here. So I remember what I'm talking about. Common ground and an editor's eye, art and artisans, collection, self-expression. This to me, this whole section was sort of the grounding principles that you believe in. And then you show us the homes, like is the whole second section. I mean, is that, is that a fair description of how you laid out? Yes and no. I actually found the homes I love first. Oh, okay. And then looked at each home and said, what do they all have in common, even though you have different, you know, style genres. Yes. All these homeowners, what have they done in their homes and what do they have in common? Yes. All these things, whether it's not to the past and editors, I collections, they all had those particular characteristics. Yeah. And they were, oh my gosh, there are so many homes that you feature in here that I are so, they resonate so strongly with me. I absolutely love them. It's just a beautiful collection of homes. And let's go back to these sort of, I don't know if they're themes, maybe they pulled out from the homes, these common threads, as you said. Let's talk about an editor's eye. What do you mean by that? And is there a thing as such a thing as too many vintage pieces? Do we always need to edit? You know what, there's not such a thing as too many. There is such a thing as not displayed correctly. Okay. And someone said to me the other day, as we were talking about style trends, and someone said that minimalism, that California Airbnb is kind of trending down. And people are going for a more curated maximalism. And the curated part is what's important. It has to be displayed properly. All of our homeowners have a lot of stuff, but it's all so beautifully placed in their homes, either as vignettes or on gallery walls or however, it's all put in there beautifully. One of our homeowners just have boxes of collectible items in their closets, really using their collections and their things to decorate their homes with. Yeah, and you talked about vignettes, and each little space has its own story that the person has put together. And we may not even understand why they've grouped certain objects together. I think it might not be a theme that hits you over the head, but the way they've done it and they've paid attention to visual weight and scale and height and balance and all that kind of stuff, that none of it looks like clutter, I guess is what I'm trying to say. Well, and you have to remember, in all of these homes, there's breathing space between things. It's not like you walk in and there's objects, wall to wall, floor to floor, ceiling to ceiling. I mean, there is their moments in the decor. You know, they are their own star. Yeah, right, right. And breathing room for sure. Yeah. Before we continue with the conversation, I told you I was going to jump in at some point and tell you about a new project that I've been working on. So here goes. You may know about an online course I teach called Master the Mix. It's about four weeks long and it's only available two to three times a year. And a lot of people have told me that they just don't want to wait for the doors to open. I get it. When you're in the mood to get your house in order and make it look and feel good, you want to do it now. So I've just launched another online course, but this one you can start at any time. It's called Unlock Your Signature Style and it's right for you if you're new to interior design concepts, if you've just moved into a new home, or if you feel like your whole home needs an overhaul, and if you have no idea what your style is or where to start. Unlock Your Signature Style is a self-paced course that you do on your own with easy to listen to audio lessons and worksheets that go along with them. But I'm also giving it a very personalized touch. Everyone who takes the course is able to sign up for a one-on-one coaching session with me. Yep, I'm going to get on a call or zoom with you and give your home my full attention. Okay, there's plenty of other info on the website about Unlock Your Signature Style, so just go to littleyellowcouch.com and click on courses up at the top. And one more thing, and this is important. If you've signed up for the Little Yellow Couch newsletter, you're going to get a special 30% off discount code for this new course. Because it's brand new, I really want your feedback, so I'm looking to my email subscribers here to jump in and let me know what you think. And so as a thank you for subscribing, you're getting a 30% off discount. So check out all the info about the course. Make sure you're subscribed to the newsletter. You can do all of that at littleyellowcouch.com. Okay, enough of me blabbing on. Let's get back to the episode. Well, sort of along the same lines. I'd love to hear about your own personal collections. What do you collect? How do you display it? And then also maybe some of your favorites that are in the book. And this is a highly personal and subjective, I understand. But I'm just curious, give us some examples of what we would see in the book in some interesting ways people are displaying their collections. Well, first of all, my collections have gotten a lot smaller over the years. Okay, all right. Since I've moved into a smaller space. I needed that breathing room. Right. But my favorite collection is my bowling collection. Oh, okay. That is really a theme collection. I collect bowling trophies. I have a beautiful Brunswick wood bowling locker cabinet. I collect bowling balls. And it's because my mom was on a bowling team called the French Rolls back in the 60s. French Rolls, I love it. And it just reminds, it makes me happy. It reminds me of, you know, that time growing up. In the book, there's so many collections and it's really hard to pick one. Of course, the trophies collection, because I always love trophies. Right. Yeah. Our homeowners has a wonderful trophies collection that has hundreds of trophies. Yes. You know, there's one of our homeowners has shell coin purses. Oh, yeah. And the wall that are just lovely and they're in the bathroom. A lot of our homeowners collect art pieces, whether it's oil paintings. And so many of them have become specific about what they collect. So they don't obviously overflow. Yeah, yeah. We have a homeowner that collects, you know, tall ships. Yeah. Portraits of, and then people, some of our homeowners collect, or one of our homeowners collects water lilies, paintings. Oh my gosh. Very specific, like not just florals. But yeah. Yes. Yes. It's fun to see what people, how they narrow their collections down and become more specific with their art collections. And I think you have to, I mean, you and I, I mean, it's very hard to walk into a flea market or antique store, not walk out with something. So you know, it's hard, you know, and I'm sure like you said, you downsized and, and I'm sure you lovingly passed along some of your things. How hard was that? Or was it were you just ready? Um, I was ready, but now I do regret a few of those things. Oh no. Oh no. But you know, I had a game wheel collection and I kept one game wheel. Okay. But I do miss the other ones. Right. I didn't have room for it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I love the fact that a lot of our homeowners in the book collect everyday objects. Okay. So I think that's a great thing. I mean, I think that our homeowners has a wall filled with rug beaters. Yes. Yes. Yes. There's a graphic on the wall and beautiful. Just beautiful. But you know, not an expensive thing to collect at all. You know, you can get nothing flea markets for, you know, a few dollars. So. Yeah. Um, yeah. I want to talk a little bit about. Kias. I know you're familiar with the box office and the ethics of. Kias stores where you've, where we've. Had this kind of conversation. But. Again. Just. Your kia's best tips for navigating, especially a large show. Like it's either, you know, like a round top antiques fair or, or just one of these huge flea markets that's maybe open every Sundays. I mean, how help us out here. wear the right clothes, bring the sunscreen, have your list and your measurements of items. Bring your phone because you're going to take pictures. And then maybe go with nothing in mind. Just browse, just walk through. Usually at a larger flea market, the outer fields are typically less expensive. So farther out, you know, you might have better deals. In some of the buildings, things tend to be a little more expensive, but they're displayed beautifully. So you'll get a lot of, gather a lot of inspiration from that. So you want to see it all. I, when I shop, I always look at the big stuff first because usually that's the stuff, I mean, it's one of a kinds. So that's the stuff to immediately go. And then I go back and relook at the small stuff. So if it's not too big of a market, you can do that. And it's, I take pictures to get ideas. Sometimes you're checking your phone for pricing because you want to be sure you're getting a good deal. So it's easy to go online and see, you know, what things are selling for. But you know what, if you love it, it's always a good deal. Yeah. I agree. I agree. Oh, my gosh. And it could be, I was thinking about this question about how do you shop at flea markets or antique shop, antique fairs, because we were just talking about collections. And I think sometimes that's a really fun way to go through one of these places is that you've got a couple of collections and you're just in the eagle eye and like, you know, find, it's like, it's just so thrilling to find that piece that's, oh my gosh, it's another McCoy piece of McCoy pottery or whatever. Exactly. It's, it's really, you know, it's sometimes it's like finding a needle and a haystack. But like, I have this weird collection of plum bombs. Okay. I think we, I think I do that. Yeah. Yeah, which is a great thing if particularly if I've, you know, gone to a flea market and I had to fly to get there. Oh, right. Sometimes to get big pieces home. So it's always fun to see if I can find a new plum bob that'll, you know, work into my collection, you know, shape that I haven't had before, patina that, you know, it's not there. Right. So it is, it does make flea markets and vintage and antiques are so much more fun. Absolutely. Yes. We already sort of touched on this idea of, of antiques and vintage. They really are a form of self expression because they, they so much highlight the fact that the piece was chosen for very particular reasons, as opposed to going to a big box store where it's something that's, it's just not one of a kind, you know, so it could be the curve of an arm or it could be the nail head trim or, or something like that. And, and I'm not trying to suggest that every single item in your home needs to be an antique. And like you said, you and I both have a contemporary couch in our homes and then there's the antiques that sort of go around it. But, but this idea of self expression, I guess I want to just keep talking about for a moment. Can you think of a couple of examples from the book where you walk in and it's just, oh my gosh, where did you find that? What, what a delightful piece, something that you just hadn't seen before. I mean, even those little shell purses that are on chains hanging, that's a good example, but do you have any others? You know, I think the reasons that people fall in love with their, their purchases or their objects that they put in their home is really interesting to whoever visits. There's a home in our book that's just outside of Chicago called the Polo House. And it's an old farm that, you know, was a Polo Barn and the home is actually in the Polo Barn. So she's used that idea to find objects for her home. So they maybe didn't necessarily mean anything to her, you know, before they bought the home. But once they bought the home, yeah, a whole lot of meaning there. So she has everything from little horse, little horse bones, if there is such a thing, you know, you know, all kinds of riding equipment and tack and horse paintings. And so it becomes meaningful now that she lives in that home. Yeah, one of her homeowners, his mother is from Norway, and she's chosen to, you know, purchase furniture that, you know, is by Norwegian artists. And so there's just a lot of decorating that goes on that is just super meaningful. Right. And it's finding that. Right, absolutely. And then I think it becomes unexpected, which I think is what we love about these homes is there are little things about them that are so unexpected. Because they're not, a lot of times people aren't even using the way they were originally intended to be. They've turned something into a lamp or they've turned something into a side table. And it's what just gives these homes so much personality. Right, there's a home in the book that the homeowner found a shirt, a men's shirt display rack from a department store that makes the most magnificent foyer piece. It's just fantastic. And you look at it and think, where did that come from? Yes, exactly. Right, right. Yeah, I mean, they're just, there's just some great pieces here. And I think the beauty of it to me, I think one of your, one of your homeowners said something about beauty doesn't, beauty is not expensive, it just takes time. That's right. That's right. That's a great sentiment. Most of, well, all of the homes have spent time. It's intentional. The way they've decorated their home is very intentional. They have gathered pieces over time. And that's what makes it an expression of themselves. Yes. And then how they put them together, something new they've acquired with something old, then, you know, new to them anyway, you know. Yeah, it's, well, these, like I said, these homes are my favorite kinds of homes that are in this book. And often, I find, I find guests, I want to interview from your online magazine, Lived in Style, which is the same name as your book. So I want to just make sure we touch on that, go circle back to the magazine for just a second and tell us a little bit about your goals for that, who is it for, what, you know, what can we expect to see? The online magazine is really for anyone that is tired of ads online. Yeah, yeah. Go to someone's blog and a million ads pop up and there are zero ads. We have 300 plus stories. We continue to add stories. And you, you know, it's a monthly six dollars a month. And you can read all the stories you want, you can cancel anytime. It's super easy. It's really just a wonderful way to get your, you know, get your fix for vintage. And we have different categories, we have, you know, entertaining categories, obviously home tours, we have stories about people, we have makers, yep, shopping stories. So we have a lot of different types of features. DIYs. Yeah, I mean, there's, it's like a magazine. It's like all of the sections without any of the ads. And I'd like that you reminded me that as far as I know, I mean, you just keep adding new stories with gorgeous photos. So it's like having the back catalog of your favorite magazine right at your fingertips. Yeah, basically. Yeah, right. I mean, it's not like the stories go away. They're there. You're right. They're always, always there as long as you're a member, you have access to them, you can go back and reread them and enjoy them over and over again. Yeah, yeah, great. Okay, I just want, I had to plug it because I love it so much. It's such a wonderful resource for me. Yeah. Thank you. So, so Ki, I'm going to ask you why does style matter? And I'm wondering if, I'd really like your perspective on that question. Someone who's been doing this for a long time, you've been in the business and the leader in the vintage space. Why does style matter? Why does all of this matter sort of from a big, no, not to you personally, but just a big picture kind of you, culturally? That's a really loaded question. I'm not the one that's like putting you on the spot. Yeah. You know, I think style matters because it is an expression of oneself. So if we're all to go out and buy the same thing and display it the same way and live in the same homes, you know, it'd be pretty darn boring. So style matters because we're able to express ourselves through our, whether it's our clothing, our homes, our words. I mean, it really does make a difference and it makes this world diverse and so much more exciting to live in. Yeah, totally. Do you think social media has created a problem in that now everybody is kind of following trends or do you think it's been great because it's, we now have access at least through photos and videos of so many more homes? I think both. You know, I'm sometimes saddened when I see everyone going for the exact same look. Yeah. That's disappointing to me that people, you know, don't have a clue of who they are and what they like. So they just choose, you know, something because they were told to choose it or someone else has chosen it. The one thing in the book that I made a point of is that I'm not there to preach design and my style. I'm just there to let homeowners explain how they went about it and how they, you know, were inspired. And I think if we spent more time listening to all different kinds of people that have different views on decorating, it would be way more interesting. Yeah. What I've always liked about what you've done is you sometimes the homes are done by a, the homes of a professional designer, but other times they're not. And I love that you just talk to homeowners just about their stories. I think that's so refreshing. Well, it doesn't cost money and it doesn't, you know, to decorate your home, you know, you can, there is a value in all kinds of homes and decorating styles. So, you know, embracing that is super important and we all don't want to live in the same neutral colored minimalist home that were shown over and over and over again on social media. So, let's embrace diversity. Love it. Well, thank you, Ki. Always a pleasure talking with you. I'm so happy you came out with this book for the reason that you said the very beginning, which is something I can hold in my hand. I really, really appreciate that. Thank you so much. Thanks so much for spending time with me today. If you've gotten something out of this episode, please be so kind as to leave a review on Apple podcasts or wherever you're listening from. It really does help this show stay on the air. And also don't forget to grab our free guide, the dream home action plan at littleyellowcouch.com. And also that's where you can find the show notes pages for all of these episodes with photos and links to things that we've been talking about. Have a great week. Bye for now.