At the beginning of 2020, Fresh Nostalgia was already planning a new and exciting chapter in our story. Little did we know, this new chapter would prove to be even more of a challenge than we had anticipated but that's what makes us even stronger. So we've been rolling with punches and we finally made it - our brand new shop location at 143 6th Street is finally ready and we love it! It has come together to be everything we imagined and more. Our goal for this new space was to provide not just a place to shop, but also a haven, a gathering space, a place where everyone feels the energy to "be themselves on purpose". A place that, quite frankly, feels like home. It feels like you belong when you walk in the door. Here are some of my favorite parts of our new & improved shop.
Tiger Wall
At the very beginning of the design process for the new space, the first thing I wanted to pick out was the wallpaper. I knew that I wanted several different wallcoverings and decided to use the wallpaper as the foundation for the rest of the design. Now, if you've shopped for wallpaper recently you may know that there are TONS of choices to select from out there online. While it's nice to have a variety of choices, this made this part of the process a bit overwhelming, to say the least! My friend Jeannine (Nean for short) and I decided the best way to layout our favorites was to create wallpaper selection mood boards in an app called Canva so that we could easily see how they complemented one another. Many mood boards later we came up with this as a final:
A couple of final notes on our tiger wallpaper selection: We loved many prints that included damask but this one really stood out as unique and exuded that eclectic FN vibe. This choice was made in early March, BEFORE the release of Tiger King so no, we do not have a fondness for tiger sanctuaries! Also, a funny side note: "Bean's Interior Design" refers to a combo of "Beth" & "Nean", the two creative minds behind choosing these prints to rep FN!
Wall of Mirrors
One thing I've always loved is cool, vintage-inspired mirrors. Even at our last tiny shop, we had two floor-length mirrors, one in the dressing room but also one when you walked in the door. When we spotted a wall of mirrors inspiration pic, we knew we had to set aside a wall for just that! We had some smaller mirrors of various sizes in our collection, some that were even purchased to be used in the truck. We decided that it would be perfect to have the mirrors all in gold, giving them a glam look. So, cue the gold spray paint and some old mirrors mixed with some new and there we had it! A couple of the mirrors even came out of old apartments from the Roosevelt Building. They were actually old medicine cabinet mirrors that had a beautiful floral detail to them. After scrubbing off the dirt, removing the medicine cabinet portion, and giving them a coat of metallic gold, they look great in the mix! Two of the larger mirrors came from Salvaged Pgh, one of our favorite go-to spots to score salvaged architectural pieces for decor.
Check Out Counter - A Work of Art
Once we decided where the natural flow for the cash wrap was going to be, the next question was how we were going to make it be as special as possible. Well, I am going to tell you that the end result ended up greatly exceeding my expectations! As mentioned earlier, we love to check out Salvaged Pgh for inspiration pieces. After seeing a FB post of theirs about reclaimed wood from an old barn, we headed there immediately for our private shopping appointment. Before even making it to the reclaimed wood, the first piece we laid eyes on screamed: "take me home to FN!" It was honestly like it was sitting there waiting for us. It was a rectangular wooden piece, painted and lacquered in the perfect FN teal color. A strip down the middle contained graphics from what I instantly recognized as skateboard brands since my three teen sons are passionate about skateboarding. This piece was made by a talented artist by the name of Rich Moorehead, who is a Pittsburgh native. Check out Rich's Instagram page here. I knew we had to have it. After purchasing some pieces of reclaimed wood and the skills of a very talented handyman, we had the perfect centerpiece for our customer's to complete their purchases. But we still needed the perfect sign for behind the cash wrap. This area already had so much local artistry behind it, we decided to seek out the help of another local artist by the name of Erin Brammer. Erin has a long career in art and graphic design, including illustrating children's books. I gave Erin a digital copy of the FN logo along with some wallpaper samples and boy did she knock it out of the park. Her framed canvas painting hangs behind the counter and couldn't be a more beautiful representation of the FN brand. Erin's website is emdesignstudio.net.
What Do You Think of Our New Home?
The shop has officially been open for a few weeks and it's been so wonderful to see our FN-atics in person and watch their reactions upon entering the new shop! It makes all the frustrations of opening a new location during an unprecedented global pandemic well more than worth it! With so much new space in this shop to explore, we'd love to know what your favorite parts of the new shop location are! Leave us a comment below and if you haven't seen our new shop yet, we hope you can plan a visit soon!*
*Reminder that Fresh Nostalgia complies with all regulations regarding public health and safety. Masks are required in our shop as a measure of safety. Thank you for understanding!