Retro CoMO

I visited Funtiques, a new antiques store in Springfield, Missouri, in October.  It was a Friday and we were headed to Branson, Missouri, for a family reunion weekend.  I loved the store so much that I requested we make another stop there when we made our return trip home on Sunday.

If you are into retro furniture and you live anywhere near Springfield, you need to make a trip to this store!  I don’t go to Springfield very often, but I will make more of an effort now that I know that this store is there.

Funtiques is focused on furniture and accessories from the 1940s through the 1970s.  From the moment you walk in the door, it is evident that you’re in the hands of someone who loves retro style.

This chair & lamp combination greeted us when we came in, along with all those great textiles.

And then you see this:

Holy crap, is that awesome or what?  Look at that gorgeous lemon-yellow bar and matching vinyl stools.  This belongs in a someone’s sunroom, right off the pool, and someone with frosted lipstick should be mixing the drinks.  I love this thing.  I love it!

The whole store has a great feel!  Though it is split into booths, only some of the booths are rented out.  The rest of the store is designed like a series of rooms, filled with furniture and accessories that match.

A little white Hollywood regency here:

Pink dinette there:

And some solid gold sounds of the 70s…

I was pretty impressed with some of the owner’s finds.

I love the chair and the lamp (I’m always a sucker for vintage lampshades), but look at that wonderful room divider behind the chair!  Isn’t that great?

Giant peacock wall hanging!

And this, probably my favorite thing in the whole store (other than the lemon yellow bar and stools):

I love that crazy mirrored shelf thing.  I have seen a few of these from this era, and I even own one myself that I love, but I’ve never seen one like this.  It’s hard to tell from the picture (you should see it in person!), but besides the crazy geometric shapes with the giant points and all the gold and the mirrors, it has many sections with pressed floral and botanical designs.  And it is huge- at least four feet long.  Unbelievable.

A couple of great pictures.  These were also very big- the top one is about 3′ long, and the bottom one is probably 16″x24″,

Lucite table and black vinyl chairs… and don’t forget the great chrome lamp on the table.  I didn’t get a good shot of the room divider that is right behind this table, but you can see some of its geometric wrought iron style here.

The furniture was in beautiful condition, like this Danish modern hutch.  A lot of the furniture was in sets, which I love!  Don’t break up the furniture sets!  And check out these dishes:

I liked this plastic lunch table set.  All the chairs are connected and on wheels, right out of a cafeteria!  It would need a big kitchen for practical use, but it would be a lot of fun.

Lots of wonderful accessories and finds.

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I would say the prices were fair.  There were a few deals to be had, and certainly you would find the prices insanely cheap if you live in California or another place where mid-century modern goodness goes for high dollar prices.  For Missouri, the prices are reasonable.

I’m a little confused that I can’t find a listing for Funtiques on Google, but there is a listing for Decade Designs (which is also on their sign).  Funtiques doesn’t have a website, but they do have an Etsy shop (with poodle plates!  and anondized glasses!).

Funtiques is located at 1135 E. Commercial Street in Springfield, Missouri.  I’m not very familiar with Springfield, but Funtiques is right next door to the Majestic Flea Market on the north side of town, just a mile or so off I-44.  There is plenty of parking available.

And you should definitely stop by.  (Did you not see the picture of the lemon yellow bar?  That was so cool!)

Retro CoMO is a week old today (which is like a first anniversary in Internet years), so it’s fitting that today seems to be a little slow for Craigslist postings (and Craigslist itself seems to be having some connection problems).

Since things are slow, here’s a shout-out to one of my favorite design & thrifting websites, BackGarage.

BackGarage is a site run by Katherine Raz, and it’s based out of Chicago.  It was totally one of my inspirations when I started this site, and I even emailed Katherine with a couple of questions when I was getting serious about starting this one.  (She emailed me back!  She was so sweet!)

In the site’s own words, BackGarage is “about the aesthetics of everyday living on a thrift store budget”.  On the blog, Raz reviews thrift stores and flea markets, talks about garage sales, and shows lots of pictures of her own and other people’s beautifully designed homes.  She regularly does exhaustive round-ups of Craigslist items in Chicago and random other cities.  In addition, Raz sells vintage items in her Etsy store and posts pictures to her Flickr photostream.  Clearly, it’s a great resource, and not just if you live in Chicago.

I’m not trying to be BackGarage for the Columbia, Missouri, area.  That’s far too much work and I’m far too lazy.  Not to mention that Katherine is already doing a bang-up job with her site, and she doesn’t need poor imitations.

Instead, I want to show that great deals can be found in lots of out-of-the-way areas.  Columbia, Missouri, doesn’t seem like it would be home to much in the way of vintage modern, but there’s more than meets the eye.  I want to show what is available!  And if it’s for sale, I want to find it a good home.