I’m Paige Wassel. WAS the Newsletter is your weekly dose of design inspiration, where we drive to the desert to source MCM.

If you want to tag along when we take road trips—and I think you do—today’s newsletter is a sneak preview of Sunday’s video of thrifting our way Pioneertown.

The trip was actually my producer (well, and good friend) Rachel’s idea. She said, “Hey, what if you guys thrifted your way out to Palm Springs and then stayed somewhere fun?”

Then Pioneertown was all, “You should totally come,” and Turo said, “Let’s hook you up with a minivan so you can buy all the things.” And that was a huge bonus, considering how poorly our car rental went at Brimfield….we don’t like to talk about it.

Point is, you don’t have to invite us to a good time twice.

Basma joined me on this trip. Obvi, you remember her from Let Me Decorate Your Home and the tote bag photoshoot.

We listened to Basma’s playlists, bought the road trip snacks, whipped out our AAA guidebook (no, Dad, we didn’t), and we were off to the desert.

THE PLAN

We plotted out the thrift shops we’d hit between here and there. The first stop was……country. The shop was super Magnolia Home, with lots of country-charm type items and even I can’t make a decorative butter churn work with an Arco floor lamp.

Basma did find 2 rings to purchase, you’ll have to tune in on Sunday to see those puppies.

But it got better. SO much better. We knew that the closer we got to Palm Springs, the more MCM we’d find. It’s almost like we could hear Herman Miller calling to us.

Along the way, we popped into:

Back in Time

Sunny Dunes

Market Market

Modern Way

Boomerang Vintage

Ventura Vintage

Rex Vintage

Full disclosure: the prices were all over the map. We’re currently stocking up for the Office Supplies opening in June, so it’s not ideal to go to shops like ours because we can’t charge much more than what we paid. In terms of pricing, we’d be better off hitting flea markets, but we really want to build up inventory with the best stuff.

THE AFTERMATH

We packed that van with the best stuff, OMG. We found tons of cute mini lamps, ice buckets, side tables, and vases, which I’ll feature in an upcoming newsletter.

Please note we did not buy the haunted doll, but we did buy matcha.

Along the way, we stopped at the old Hollywood/Palm Springs staple Billy Reid for lunch, then we had dinner at Mr. Lyons… and then we checked into the Tommy Bahama Miramonte Resort, because how do we not stay there?

Before hitting Pioneertown the next day, we had pool time and got to see the Fleetmac Wood cover band. Yes, Fleetmac Wood. A DJ that turns Fleetwood Mac music into well… go check it out for yourself.

Overall — such a fun trip, five stars, no notes. Wait actually, my only note would be to not go to Palm Springs when its 110 degrees.

SEE YOU ALL SUNDAY!

xx,
P