Something Old Is Something New to You

Fall does something to the way I see a room. It is not an urge to start over. It never has been. It's quieter than that  more like an instinct to add something. To go looking for the one piece that feels like it has always belonged there, even though you found it yesterday. The homes I love most were never built in a single weekend, from a single catalog, in a single style. They're layered. Shaped over years by what was inherited, what was stumbled upon, and what was chosen on purpose. That layering  that's the whole story. When I design a space, I use a mix of items new and old. I blend them in a way you either see or feel.

It's also exactly why I look forward to the annual Curtain Call sale here in Richmond every single year. A twice a year upcycling decor event under one roof, and this year I'm not the only one who's noticed. Google searches for "how to find estate sales near me" are up 60%, and at some sales now, people are signing up days before the doors even open TODAY That's not a coincidence to me. That's a whole generation deciding they'd rather have a piece with a past than something new and once you understand why that's happening, the math is simple. Every piece you rescue instead of sending to a landfill is one less thing pulled from a factory, one less truck on the road, one less footprint on a planet that's already carrying a lot. It's a small act with a real ripple, and it happens to be one of the most sustainable habits in design greener than almost anything you could buy new, no matter how thoughtfully it was made. That surge in searches isn't just a shopping trend. It's people quietly voting for a slower, more considered way to fill a home. Upcycling isn't just a design choice. It's a values choice. And I think the best rooms are the ones that hold both at once. That's exactly why my design firm shows up and contributes heavily to the sale every year  not because we have to, but because we believe in it.

Upcycling Decor = Sustainable Design

This is where the real conversation starts for me. And I want to be honest about my one rule, because it's the difference between a haul and a home: don't walk in only looking for what's on your list. Leave a little room for the thing you didn't know you needed.

Because sometimes you'll walk past something, stop, back up, and think, well  apparently you're coming home with me. Every time, without fail, that's the piece people ask about later. Not the sofa. Not the rug you researched for three weeks. The one you couldn't explain if you tried.

Details That Feel Collected, Not Decorated.

I'm always chasing the same feeling in a room: like it was collected, not decorated. A gallery frame that looks custombuilt for the wall it hangs on. Bookends discovered in the back corner of an antique shop, not ordered from a vendor who knocked off the original design.

Those are the pieces that carry warmth. Character. A sense of history  whether they've been sitting in that spot for forty years or arrived last week. That's the whole point. A room doesn't need decades to feel like it has them.

Your Rooms Next Chapter

T

his is exactly the feeling I chase every fall. Not a reset. Not a refresh. The next chapter in a home that is still very much becoming itself.

Because the best rooms are never finished. They're not meant to be. They're an ever evolving backdrop to whatever story is unfolding inside them right now and that's where the fun actually starts. Mixing silhouettes that shouldn't work together but somehow do.

Layering textures.

Playing with prints.

Bringing in unique and fresh pieces that add character and do not look like they were all purchased on the same Tuesday afternoon.

The best rooms feel collected, not coordinated. Layered over time. Full of personality. Built around how you actually want to live in them  not only how they are supposed to look in a photo.

The Details

Curtain Call's Fall Sale runs September 11 through September 27 at Regency Square Mall, in the former JCPenney location, at 1420 N. Parham Road Curtain Call Richmond

Doors are open 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., closed Mondays.

Be ready to buy. There’s no taking a day to decide or sleeping on it for a night. At a sale like this you see it, you buy it, or you miss out. Just leave room in the car, and in your head, for the thing you didn’t know you were looking for. That’s usually treasure worth telling people about.