My second stop in a recent trip to Michigan was to Traverse
City (if we were conversing in person, I would be showing you where this city
is located on my hand). Known for its scenery and its cherries, Traverse City is a
very popular destination for Michiganders seeking to spend time “Up North.” I think
it’s funny that seemingly every state has a designation for weekend and/or
second home destinations. In Oregon, you head to “The Coast”; in New Jersey it
is “The Shore”; and Massachusetts has “The Cape.” But I digress…
While in Traverse City, I was able to convince my mother to
hit up some antique stores with me. We went to the
Wilson Antiques store in
downtown Traverse City where I made a couple of big scores. The first was a
midcentury modern starburst wall clock. These are becoming increasingly hard to
find and more expensive as people continue to renovate and restore midcentury
homes. I will be putting this clock in my Etsy store, although it is still
sitting in Michigan at the moment since it’s kind of hard to pack a big spiky
thing like this in your luggage.
I’ve also recently become interested in Chinoiserie décor. A main staple to good Chinoiserie vignette is a fretwork piece of
furniture. I found a beautiful writing desk hutch that appears to be redwood,
hand engraved, and has intricate fretwork detail. I’m not sure this piece is
going to make it to the store anytime soon as I may end up keeping it for
myself; which is a big occupational hazard of owning an Etsy store.
In addition to antique stores, there are also a lot of cool
places where you can find non-preowned items in Traverse City.
One of my favorites was a spice store,
Spice Merchants on Front Street which was a smorgasbord of bulk spices and teas. I am
particularly excited to try a Korean BBQ spice that I bought there. I will let
you know how it turns out…
