Georgiana Thrasher loves anything old — especially if it has a story.
She likes being around antique and vintage items all day, and her new shop, Find and Design, allows her that privilege.
“Vintage is hot right now,” said the Decatur woman.
“You wouldn’t believe the old things people like. One person comes in and turns up her nose at something, and the next person comes in and buys it.”
Thrasher, 57, has moved on from the stages of life where she raised two sons, handled work and volunteer jobs, and cared for elderly relatives. Now it’s her time, and she decided to open a shop to sell items she gathers, along with some “upscale consignment” pieces.
She opened Find and Design just before Christmas in a former medical supply location at 830 McGlathery Lane S.E., across the parking lot from Jimmy Smith Jewelers and Food World.
“I love anything old, and as you can see, I’ve got a little of everything here,” she said.
She points out a vintage man’s Stetson hat, woman’s feather hat, lamps, Victorian sofa and 5-foot-tall white wrought-iron birdcage.
There’s a brown Samsonite hard shell suitcase “that I just know has a good story to tell,” said Thrasher.
An antique wooden crank phone and old-fashioned fan sit amid Mardi Gras décor, figurines, perfume bottles, lamps, pictures, mirrors, rugs, china, Fenton and other glassware, trays, flower arrangements and collectibles.
That’s where the store name comes in — you can find a treasure and use it to design a new area in your home.
“Decorating is my passion. I can visualize the way a room could look, and I wanted to be an interior designer,” she said.
The Tuscaloosa native took some art classes at The University of Alabama but never finished her degree.
“When you’re down and out, change your room and you’ll feel like a new person,” she advises.
Opening a shop has been “the best therapy in the world” for Thrasher, who spent the last six years as a caregiver for her husband’s aunt. That was sort of isolating, with no one to talk to and no chance to get out much, so she is enjoying the many new people she is meeting and old acquaintances she is renewing.
Her husband, Wayne, who is retired from Solutia, owned Vantage Point Gallery, a custom framing and art shop, in a Second Avenue basement from 1980 to 1998. She helped out there, but her primary job for 20 years was dental sales representative. She and her husband were Boy Scout leaders beginning in 1983 for the troops in which their Eagle Scout sons, Matt and Justin, were involved.
“I’ve done a little bit of everything, but antiques are my favorite,” said Thrasher.
She found many of these antiques, while some of the merchandise comes from about 10 people from whom she takes consignment items.
“I want only high-quality old furniture and accessories that have some history,” she said, whether it’s a bourbon bottle featuring a hunting dog, an elegant Nippon china pitcher or Satsuma porcelain vases from Japan that servicemen used to bring home.
She has already sold all her twig tables and can’t keep enough end tables, but she has some wicker pieces. They are beside the turtle shells, which she said are supposed to bring good luck.
“It’s a hodgepodge,” she admits.
“I used to go to all the antique auctions, estate sales, shows and shops in the Nashville, Decatur and even Tuscaloosa areas,” she said, and she also had booths in various antique malls.
On a back wall in her shop, the Decatur woman displays her childhood dollhouse, which is about 50 years old.
“I have it here to keep me company,” she said. “I don’t really want to sell it, but I might for the right price.”
As Thrasher walks through her shop, she stops to give details and tell the background of many other items. Some were purchased from stores that are gone now.
“This accountant’s desk came from Dinsmore Bros. Furniture, which used to be on Johnston Street. Wayne’s aunt sat at this big desk and handled the accounts, back in the time when people would come in regularly and pay a little on what they owed,” Thrasher said.
Her father-in-law, Lester E. Thrasher, was manager of City Finance for years before his death in 1990, and he knew most everyone in town and plenty of history, she said. “Now we’re the last ones in our family that can keep the history going.”
A basket that once held a spray of flowers came from the loft at Wyker’s Toys, while a framed calendar print is from Paul C. Davis Hardware, which once operated on Moulton Street.
She also showed some raw silk with jade rubbings done in Thailand that came from the president’s mansion of the university in Norman, Okla. An 8-foot-wide Asian painting came from there, too.
The tour goes on. “That chair is one of those with the Victorian tassel design carved into the wood. And that punch bowl and cups are made of brass, with a copper bottom. The 10 hand-colored satirical drawings are from England, circa 1834.
“This old hi-fi really works — we had Tennessee Ernie Ford and Boots Randolph records playing on it at Christmas, and it sounded really good.”
Peek inside an art deco armoire and you will spot a mink coat. But don’t look for other clothing, “because I’m not into clothes or Tupperware; I want higher-end stuff,” said Thrasher. She may add some vintage jewelry to her vintage interior items, however.
“Everybody likes something different,” said Thrasher, who wants to have something to suit every taste. “Most everything here is either Victorian, Danish modern, Asian, oak, or French country,” she said.
She painted the walls black to show off the gold frames and other objects.
Her own preference is toward Asian items for now, so you will see red-lacquered boxes with oriental symbols, vases, bird pictures and more.
“I love anything Asian, but I group items together and have an Asian room, jungle room, Adirondack room, and shabby chic and vintage room,” Thrasher said.
She’s thinking ahead and changing things around all the time. “I’ve got two bamboo chairs that would look good over there — I should bring them in here. And I think I’ll do a Moroccan room later.”
Thrasher has many wrought-iron pieces and, when the weather warms up, plans an outdoor garden room featuring even more. She expects that her neighboring shop, Sugar Magnolia’s, will provide the plant décor.
Find and Design hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday; the phone number is 350-2373.
“I have to have inspiration around me, and friends bring me interesting things, so here I am surrounded by things I love,” Thrasher said.
See Also:
A passion for antiques
animals & Scenery Collectables
art classes, feather hat, flower arrangements, opening a shop, thrasher
Laughing Buddha on Dragon Boat Handmade in Bali
Hot Toys “Blade: Trinity” Abigail Whistler Preview
Inspiration for French style can be found in many ways. One of the ways I draw inspiration is by having beautiful collectables from Paris, the City of Lights!
International fine art collection launched celebrating the 2010 FIFA World CupTM