Just this week I reorganized my store, so all gift items, books, toys and jewelry are downstairs with my coffee shop. Upstairs is now dedicated to vintage furniture. I’ve always had a thing about old furniture. Not fine antiques—they’re too fussy and self-important. I don’t want to worry about ring marks from a coffee cup. I like furniture that’s low maintenance—pieces that are already banged up a bit, but still have style.
I like to imagine my furniture swapping stories after we’ve left for the day: the 30-year-old toy box sharing secrets with the black painted bureau; the ‘granddad’ secretary from the 1890s calling the 1950s red kitchen table a young upstart.
I rarely meet the original owner. Most pieces have a long history by the time they arrive at NoKa. When someone does decide to buy a piece, we talk excitedly about it in the store—where they’re putting it, how they’re using it. It gives us great pleasure to send furniture to a new home. It feels a little like finding a good family for a puppy.
