I’m Paige Wassel. WAS the Newsletter is your weekly dose of design inspiration, where we have big feelings about ice buckets.

So last week we dropped the video on thrifting our way to Pioneertown / Palm Springs. This week’s video is the “unboxing”, and I’m giving you a sneak preview today.

You’ll notice that everything I found is super MCM because that’s what you get when you thrift around Palm Springs. I’m not mad about it.

I LOVE LAMP

I went really lamp heavy at the vintage stores we hit, because who doesn’t want and need a small lamp? I love a little lamp moment. Put them somewhere unconventional to create ambience. Place one on the kitchen counter to brighten the whole space. You want to light a closet with a tiny lamp? DO IT. It’s like, look at these marble columns small lamps, look at this one, look at that one, can you believe it? You can stick these things everywhere. People are gonna say, “Who lives here, the Pope?” [SHOUTOUT SNL]

Actually, when I went to buy one of the lamps, the guy at the counter was like, “I think that one’s just for display?” but I gave him money and he gave me the lamp. Turns out it was vintage IKEA, so that was an extra score.

BUCKETS ARE BACK, BABY

Actually, I don’t know if ice buckets were ever gone, but we found a couple that we loved. The silver floor model even holds additional bottles at the bottom. The table top one is cool because there’s this puffy material on the sides. I feel like there’s something really elegant about having people over with a bottle of wine on ice, waiting for them. Like it’s something our parents would have done but now we are the parents and you realize your parents are actually also just children and do we ever really grow up? ya know?

GLASSWARE FAIL, VASE SUCCESS

I expected to find so much more glassware on this expedition, but all I got were these yellow and black emblem ones which I think might be US military? Glassware is harder to find now and I’m not sure why. Is everyone on to how cool they can be now?

I had a lot more success sourcing vases, and I love the way the glass kind of looks like ice. In theory, we were shopping for stuff for Office Supplies, but in reality, these may just end up living in my house. It happens.

TABLES ON THE SIDE

We had good luck on tables and we found a few interesting pieces. I am especially psyched about this Kartell guy, even if his acrylic is a li’l faded. I love Kartell because they’re known for their bold colors and their sculptural forms, so this was an amazing find.

ETC.

We found some interesting Danish S&P shakers which will look so nice on a set table, plus some silver candlesticks. But my fave find by far was what I thought might be an art piece, but it’s actually a fruit display plate. Who knew?

Did I want to leave Palm Springs with more? Yes, of course. I wanted to have to strap stuff to the roof because I bought so much.

While we found amazing pieces everywhere, sourcing at other vintage stores to stock my own vintage store isn’t the way to go. We’ll be way better off hitting flea markets, FB Marketplace, and estate sales to fill out the stock before our big opening.

And we’ll do that too, bet. Stay tuned!

xx,
P