INTERVIEW #126 VIRGINIA CHAMLEE

Name: Virginia Chamlee

Occupation: Writer, author of the book, Big Thrift Energy, artist and antiques dealer

Based in: Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, USA

Website: bigthriftenergy.com

Instagram: @vchamlee

Hi Virginia, welcome to A Sustainable Closet, can you please tell us more about yourself? 

I am a writer and digital journalist who has written for publications including Buzzfeed, People Magazine, Eater and more. While that's always been my primary job, I started selling antiques several years ago, as a way to make extra money. Within a few years, it really took off and has since become a huge part of my livelihood. The income I make from my vintage business allows me to take care of my mom, who is disabled, so vintage has honestly been pretty life-changing for me! A few years ago, I had the idea to write a book about shopping for vintage and Big Thrift Energy was born. Now, I get to travel the country teaching other people how to find amazing things.

What’s your relationship with interior design, when did you get interested?

I became interested in design at a very young age. My grandmother (who raised me) started a business buying and selling furniture and used that income to support her family as a single mom. She was an incredible person and taught me everything I know — about life, about design, or otherwise. She had a very keen sense of her own aesthetic and she was an artist, as well. She would buy old antique windows at auction and decoupage paper cuttings of flora and fauna all over them. She was so inspirational and so creative with how she designed our home growing up. Everything always felt like magic. As I got older I realized how important it is to make a space that is just undeniably you. How the way you design your home can alter your mood, or make you feel happy, or more calm, or whatever it is you want to achieve.

When and how did you discover antiques?

My grandmother introduced me to the world of antiques. She loved furniture and taught herself how to refinish older pieces and how to spot originals. Growing up, we were constantly in and out of antique malls, thrift stores and the likes, hunting for treasures. She started her furniture and design shop first out of our home and later, out of an antiques gallery. She rented a huge booth and would meet her clients for design appointments there. So after school, I would go to the antiques shop and walk around the aisles for hours. At the same time, I was becoming very interested in fashion so I would be reading an Instyle magazine, then go to the antique mall and see some of the same brands I had seen on those pages — Karl Lagerfeld, Chloe, Gucci. I started realizing that all of these big-name designs that seem very unattainable can actually be found at affordable prices, you just have to know where (and how) to look for them.

What do antiques stand for, and how can one know what is an antique item or not? 

An antique is an item that is 100 years or older. ("Vintage" is the word used to describe old pieces that aren't quite 100 years old!) There are dozens of tricks for spotting whether something is of considerable age, and it all depends on the item itself. It it's a piece of furniture, look at the joints (if they are dovetailed, they are likely cut by hand, and you can also take note of whether the nails are primitive — there's tons of info about all of this on the internet!). And if it's art, look at the materials. The back of a painting yields a lot of information. Older canvas gets darker with time, and the wood stretchers used to shape the painting will likely also be darker if it's a much older piece (wood is always a very good indicator of how old something is!)

You also write regularly, what are the subjects and what are your readers most interested in?

I write full time about politics, actually, which is funny because that's not at all what my side business is about. My full-time job is for People Magazine, where I get to interview really interesting people — presidential candidates, cabinet secretaries, television and film stars. But I think most people who follow me on social media are more interested in the design, the thrifting—all the fun stuff.

Where do you thrift, what are some of your favourite places to search for beautiful items?

I truly believe Florida is the best place to thrift and I've been all over. That being said, I recently spent a month in New Hampshire and found some incredible things up there. Texas is great, too! I really think there are special things all over the world you just have to search for them often.

Mention one or several thrifting experiences that were special to you!

Several years ago, my grandmother and I were stuck in traffic right next to a tiny little thrift store with a sign that read "OLD WICKER." Once inside, the shopkeeper said, "Be sure to look in the old shed out back." As soon as I walked in the shed I saw it: a four-foot-tall, logo-covered Goyard trunk, complete with drawers, jewelry compartments, ribbons that said Goyard and the best part of all — a price tag that read, "Old trunk: $90." I don't think I've ever loaded something in my car so fast. I had it authenticated weeks later and it's the real deal. 

Can you please describe your own home in a few words?

Collected, layered and whimsical. I try not to take myself too seriously. (None of us should!)

How much would you say is thrifted of everything you have at home? 

Probably 90% of what is in my home currently is thrifted, but it's all from different eras and designers so it's not obvious. And I love pairing old with new — my couch, for instance, is new, but my coffee table is old. My bed is thrifted, but the linens are new.

How can one decorate and design their homes with thrift items, what are your best recommendations?

Well, first of all, my biggest tip is to decorate your home the way you want it — not the way you saw someone else do it on Instagram. Obviously, it's fun to take inspiration but the beauty of decorating your own space is that no one else has to be happy with it. Secondly, I think if you are decorating with thrifted and vintage pieces, you can run the risk of making a home look like a movie set. If everything is mid-century, it gets a little too Mad Men, right? So it's a good idea to mix — mix eras, mix textures, mix patterns, mix old with new.