One of the things I love about sourcing in Europe is how everyday objects were made with a quiet kind of beauty. Not necessarily meant to be decorative… but made well enough that they become beautiful over time. A few small French pieces went live in the First Arrivals online shop today, and I thought I’d share a little about them. First are a pair of old painter’s palettes. They're amazing examples of how the process of making art can become art itself. Layered with years worth of oil paint,...
7 days ago • 1 min read
Happy Friday Reader! My England YouTube video just went live this morning 🇬🇧 To be completely honest, I wasn't sure I had filmed enough footage to even have a video to share, the trip was such a blur 🫠 So I was pleasantly surprised when I pulled my camera videos and found plenty of behind the scenes footage to make a video I'm really proud of. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. And just fyi . . . at the 13:40 mark in the video I get pretty vulnerable and share more about this whole giant...
11 days ago • 1 min read
I usually don't email on Sundays, but I was too excited to let this wait another day. The online shop took a week off to undergo a revamp, and today it's live again. Meet the new Found Collection, First Arrivals shop. Here you will find a curated selection of English, European, and American antiques sourced for the collected home. We start off with English Bread + Brass - timeless English breadboards, Victorian maple rolling pins, and collectible horse brass. Each week over the month of...
15 days ago • 1 min read
Lost & Found just turned 14. What started as a tiny booth space grew over 4 years into a multi-level painted furniture business with a six-figure online shop. Then there was another shift, as I explored two years as a brick and mortar store, which ultimately ended because of Covid challenges. Along the way, a coaching and teaching element quietly grew in the background, as I began sharing more of my life and business digitally. When I retired from selling paint online in 2023, it gave me...
18 days ago • 3 min read
Hi Reader, To be totally honest, I've never really dabbled in the collectible market. I've talked to a lot people over the years who said most of that stuff isn't really worth any money, and you can find plenty of reselling "influencers" repeating that idea online. But what if the collectible market actually isn't gone? What if there is still a way to do well reselling collectibles? That's what I'm discussing in today's new YouTube video: My recent experience selling collectibles, how it...
19 days ago • 1 min read
For fourteen years, Lost & Found has grown slowly and organically. Some of you have been here since the painted furniture days. Some of you joined for vintage finds. Some of you simply love the feeling of bringing something old back into a home. I’m deeply grateful for all of it, and have enjoyed every season along the way in this business. Behind the scenes over the last 12 months, I've been journaling, brainstorming and planning for a shift that feels like the next right step. In this most...
28 days ago • 1 min read
Hey there Reader, A few months ago I headed out to a local event called Picking Time on 59, a 26-mile yard sale event that's been the site of some big scores for me in the past. This year though, the vibe was a little different. I still found some treasures, but also ran into a sad new reality for our reselling business, one I'm calling "Online Price Creep." I'm spilling the tea over in today's new video on YouTube: what I found, what was frustrating, and how I think we can do better. Whether...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
I've been buying and selling old quilts for over a decade now. But to be honest, I didn't start really appreciating them until about 2 years ago. My grandmother had a few she handed down to me, and that inspired me to dig into their history a bit more. Now they are one of my favorite things to source and provide 😊 In case you're new to the world of American quilts, I thought I would share a brief history here today. For generations, American quilts weren’t decoration, they were more survival...
about 2 months ago • 3 min read
Hey there Reader, Is it just me, or do you feel like everything is telling you to hurry up? We live in a world that is more fast-paced than ever. And don't get me wrong . . . I love the convenience of being able to shop for groceries on my phone while watching my kid's basketball game. Multi-tasking is a key tool for mom life, right? 🤗 But just because we can do more faster doesn't mean we always should. There's a phrase going around right now called Slow Decorating. It embraces this idea of...
about 2 months ago • 2 min read