GTPulse: Vintage Valentine’s Sale This Weekend in Traverse City

Midcentury modern furniture has seen a resurgence in popularity over the past 10 or so years. Jewel-toned velvet, bamboo furniture, sleek lines, and groovy patterns all characterize the popular decor of times’ past. Millennials everywhere have arranged their apartments with tufted sofas, rattan, and imitation Ames chairs all in an effort to encapsulate some of the warm, bright colors that opposed the beige and bronze’90s homes we grew up in.

While older generations have mostly left behind the midcentury decor from their youth, some have preserved their retro relics. A home full of those relics is right here in Traverse City. If you’re looking for something unique to do this Valentine’s Day weekend take a peek into the past and check out this Vintage Valentine’s Sale going on at this home through Moxie Estate Sales.

Owner, Lisa Lamont-Sluiter has seen her fair share of fabulous finds. She’s been running Moxie for six years, and worked in marketing and public relations in the automotive industry before moving up here.

“I was writing for a couple different business publications at first, but with two kids it got too difficult. So I was antsy up here. I’ve always been an active person. I loved going to estate sales downstate with my mom, and when I came up here I thought, ‘Well, there’s not too many.’”

I spent some time over the summer going to garage and estate sales, and Moxie’s have hosted some of my favorite. Their sales are distinctive by the creative ways Lisa and her team put items on display. They work to transform each room into something that feels partly like a department store, and partly like someone’s home. The woman who had lived in this particularly wonderful, retro home specialized in Ikebana, a Japanese floral arranging technique.

“She has all of this beautiful pottery, so we’re recreating the basement to look like her flower workshop.”

Lisa credits this creativity to intuition and personal interest, but also, to letting her helpers play with their own way of displaying things.

“I do remember being a teenager and taking pride in the style of my bedroom. I would arrange and rearrange stuff all the time. I have a gal that works with me, Juliet, she’s doing the whole basement. She’s younger and has a different eye, and takes a different approach where she sets everything up kind of like an Anthropologie store. I have this symmetry thing, like having a lamp on either side if there’s two vases, whereas she is really great at mixing together an antique rocking chair with a Turkish throw pillow.”

Personal favorites from this house so far include an aqua blue writing desk, a large, frayed edge blanket, and some unique, mushroom themed pieces. But in all honesty, everything could be a favorite item at this sale.

“Midcentury modern is my favorite. I like the clean lines, and there’s just something more whimsical about it to me.”

Mid-mod homes may be her favorite to work with, but she works with all kinds of homes and even helps homeowners who aren’t moving.

“People are hiring us for downsizing, so we’re seeing more of that too. My husband’s a realtor, so sometimes we work together. We can sell a house and everything in it which is nice because he understands how important everything in the home is just as much as I do. It’s someone’s lifetime collections. It’s all of their memories.”

The upcoming sale will be on the East side of TC, with the address being revealed the first day of the sale this Friday. Because of COVID restrictions, only 25 people will be able to be in the home at any given time. There will be someone at the entrance of the sale with a signup sheet at 8 a.m. that will put your name down when you get there. The sale runs this Friday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Stay updated at their page .

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