Fall in Love with Vintage

279 Rte. 13, Cortland

With the last breaths of summer in the air, we are gearing up for our busiest quarter of the year—the holiday shopping season. However, if you are like me, you try to hold onto summer for just a few more minutes while welcoming the cooler, crisp morning air, bold colors and cozy sweaters that fall brings.  Fall is my favorite time of year, but I dread how quickly it seems to pass. As a retail shop owner, fall symbolizes the onset of retail madness and my life flies into a fury of planning, ordering, display building, advertising and still making time to chat with customers. 

Just as the summer temps begin to drop, even before the leaves begin to turn, our vendors and I unveil fall décor—with warm colors, cozy décor, fragrant candles, colorful leaves, apples and pumpkins. However, fall decorating doesn’t always have to mean bright orange pumpkins and plaid! As August gives way to September, we see a natural transition from brighter color palettes to muted color palettes—rusty reds, spicey mustard, shades of brown, warm oranges and amber. These muted colors can be found in so many vintage pieces which is good news because, this year, we are seeing pieces with a little history take center stage!

Instead of buying typical décor being sold as “fall” décor at the big box stores, try using the bold, muted and earthy colors found in vintage pieces and natural materials like woods and brass to create rather than decorate for fall. Don’t overlook the brass! Anyone who has been following the vintage thrifting trend already knows that decorating with brass is nothing new. Brass has been hot this year. The warm, aged quality of brass pieces (candlesticks, bookends, small figurines) make it easy to use in creating a fall aesthetic. An old book with a worn green or brown cover looks amazing next to a brass candlestick and an amberina hen on a nest and can be a visually appealing fall display. A huge advantage to vintage pieces is that they don’t have to be packed away at the end of the season; the muted colors found in vintage and antique pieces don’t disappear; they transition well between seasons.

Whatever your preference is for fall decorating, the vendors at The Second Knob (TSK) Warehouse will have what you need! We are open Tuesday and Wednesday from 10am-5pm, Thursday, Friday and Saturday 9am-6pm and Sunday 10-4. Stop in and see what’s new—or old!