Ahhh my announcement is here!!!! You guys I am the worst at keeping things a secret! For real, I just get so excited and impulsively want to blurt the news out…but I did really good for me this time. I’ve been lip sealed for months and months now…not to mention all the other secrets I was keeping that I blurted out in Monday’s blog posts, you can read about that HERE! So, after you catch up on that post you will certainly understand the journey of what we are launching this June called Vintage Keepers!

why???

Let’s back track to my story a bit shall we? After months of working towards trying to create a local “marketplace” here in our town of Farmingdale…and then one of the other endeavors, I did not share, was opening a vintage shop in the next town over…none of those ideas came to be. It was always just something…one road block after the next. I felt like I was onto something though… I knew my time as a full time blogger had to come to a pivot and that the creative business needed to take a new path. Though It will always be my backdrop, I needed to put time into something that felt like it would fill me and fill us financially too. Let’s be honest not every blogger makes a ton of money and you would be surprised at how many hours it takes to run a blog, social, etc. Its a lot…and I couldn’t do this solely, for much longer! I guess part of me felt like I just wasn’t ever going to be that MEGA blogger but I built a platform and relationships along the way, so there had to be something we could do with this.

I shared in the post the other day that truly designing has never really been my “it” thing either, but there was something about branding and products that really puts the sparkle in my eye!

So, though I thought I had it all figured out and a TV show on the horizon….I DIDN’T!!!

Then it took one day at the sink washing dishes for that nudge from the Lord that brought all the ideas from the market, candles, vintage shop owner, and the more recent bagel/coffee shop called “Shopkeepers” that all kind of collided into Vintage Keepers! And when I tell you the name hit me too, I am not joking I have never just accepted an idea from the start and let it evolve as I have with this one. I am always reimagining it or tweaking it, but this one just grew and I trusted the process…not to mention it was like the Lord was bringing all the right people into my circle when I started mapping it out. I believe He will continue to do so too!

What is Vintage Keepers?

An online destination for vintage finds! A place for vintage vendors to list their products and shop for an ultimate online vintage shopping experience for the homeowner. I realized that there was a gap in the market! So many of my followers would write me over the years about vintage finds and I would hear constantly how their marketplace wouldn’t have what mine offered or that they didn’t know how to search online. Not to mention vintage booths or shops were not always so easy for what I am calling “first generation” vintage lovers. Where do you begin with it all? I have been sourcing a ton of vintage finds from Etsy over the last few months to share on my 5 Friday Finds, but the honest truth…searching through Etsy is like looking for a needle in a haystack. Only products would show up based on the Algorithm and though I know what my eye finds pleasing when I am looking for vintage, someone who doesn’t wouldn’t know where to begin. It’s truly a market for creative businesses and though vintage shop owners found their place there…they are not exactly the first place most people would source vintage items. I felt these vendors needed their own place and customers needed a space to just source vintage décor.

Well, maybe you do shop vintage items online and you’re starting to think of all the other websites out there that do offer vintage decor. Chairish, 1st Dibs, eBay but again I felt there was a problem in their market. They were either again a needle in a haystack searching eBay (also, who are you really buying from?) and the other websites were very designer focused, even I would get overwhelmed searching there…and lets not even get me started on those price tags! I knew there were a ton of Vintage Vendors around the globe selling at modest and fair price points that loved sourcing vintage either for a full time career or as a side hustle…so why not take this platform I have and give them a place to sell on?

So, Vintage Keepers came to be!

What’s next???

Well, our plan is to soft launch June 6th and officially launch September 6th! I can’t tell you how fast the months have gone since planning all this and its getting very exciting and scary as we countdown to both launches. We have a ton of work to still do and as you can imagine my time here on Seeking Lavender Lane might be a bit limited especially while running fleur & flame too (I can’t sit still). Don’t forget the Sayre home we have also been working on the side as our charitable project to give back. Fortunately, I’ve had some great help! Again, the Lord has continued to bring the right people to this page. My amazing web design team Siteculture.com has been the absolute best…I can’t even explain how that all just happened and I couldn’t imagine building this website with anyone else. My amazing assistant Kelly who really runs so much for me from marketing here and fleur & flame to sourcing vendors for us for VK. Just when I thought I would be overwhelmed by this launch my neighbor Angelina who has been an absolute gem came home from college to help pour and pack candles again! We even had a hiccups with a lawyer and then the perfect lawyer stepped in our path at the perfect timing and took on our quick turn around project. I spoke with quite a bit of vendors on the phone to see what they needed and each one truly gave me something to make this website a success…and it was all just this smooth process of being amazed at each conversation and person I ran into for this project.

Our plans

• Accessible Home Décor Vintage items
• A log in quiz to help you decide what your vintage style is
• Global vendors bringing unique vintage items from all over the world
• Live Auction App (September 2022)
• Blog posts with contributors and myself highlight Vintage Keeper products, roundups, vintage knowledge, and so much more!
• Maybe a podcast??? Would you like that?
• A live market and maybe just maybe a brick and mortar Vintage Keepers (trying not to get ahead of myself)
• VK Merch!
• Social media posts, join our community!
• Deb’s own vintage booth

This also has me realizing the stories behind each of these vendors! After all I have this big soft spot for the small shop owner and I felt in my heart this website was going to be so much more than just some products. Its going to be about these shops, their stories, and teaching people to love “old things”.

Now, I don’t expect it all to be sunshine and roses, there will certainly be quite a bit that will get rocky and crazy and lets not even talk about money…but I’m walking in this full of faith!

I can’t even imagine where this blog post will take me? Maybe my next employee is reading this right now and will be an asset to this team, because Lord knows we will need the help as we grow! And I am sure there are tons of vintage vendor friends you all have or know of that you can send our way to join our vendor list!

We are eager and excited to get this website up and launched for all of you to shop vintage items for your homes in the most accessible way. We want it to be a true experience like heading to a French Brocante, or hanging with your girlfriends on a Saturday morning flea. Maybe its an item you need to source for a friend…or you can’t live without…we hope VK becomes that place for you!

Before we wrap this post up, I need your help! We need to grow Vintage Keepers and that means our social is the first place to start. You can check out our Instagram page @vintage_keepers_shop (don’t be alarmed that its small, this is the first I’m speaking of this secret platform) and head over to our Pinterest page that we are building out to inspire you all with vintage home, photos, and styles: https://www.pinterest.com/vintage_keepers_shop/ . Our Facebook page: Vintage Keepers Facebook, and then tell me what you are most excited about with Vintage Keepers and what vintage items you would love to see sold there!

Interested in being a vendor? You can fill out our vendor application here: Vendor Application we can’t wait to meet you and hear your story!

Again, I would love for you to pin, share with a friend, be on the edge of your seat for our launch day to support our vendors, and send us advice, pros, cons all of that! You can reach out to me and my team for Vintage Keepers specifically at our email: support@vintagekeepers.com

Also, we want to take VK to in person events and so much more so if you have a barn or land and you think we can host future events there or maybe you’re an event planner! Again we have a ton of work ahead of us to get to this level but if we are thinking next summer or fall, we are not too far off for starting to schedule these things!

We are looking for wholesale print makers for merch (so tell us how you want to sport your VK merch), VA help, possible investors, and most importantly fans and shoppers!

Thank you all for your kindest messages over the last couple days. Truly this community makes sharing these experiences so much more amazing. I’ve kept things a secret for a while because of being scared of rejection and judgment but I truly believe the timing is right and this community that is here will make it an amazing place for me to take that next step in my creative career. Help me in supporting these small business dreams on Vintage Keepers.

Check out our website here: www.vintage-keepers.com it’s still a coming soon page, but at least you’ll know where to find us in a few short weeks!