enJOY it

an archived personal and craft blog from Elise Blaha Cripe.

IMG_0186

So we have lived in downtown San Diego for about six and a half months now. And for the past six and a half months, I have been driving by this interesting shop a few times a week. Every. Single. Time. I pass by I think to myself "I should walk down here." But then I get home and life goes on and I never remember until I'm driving by again.

IMG_0187

But this past weekend, after the whole "to paint or not to paint our dresser" debacle, which ended with a frantic overstock.com search for bedside tables and the realization that I might never, ever decorate our bedroom, Paul was willing to wander around to some nearby furniture shops for ideas.

I say ideas because the pieces in these nearby shops are in the high thousands. We played "guess the price" on half the chairs just to try to make the other person faint. Basically, these stores are like Ikea but the complete opposite.

At the end of the furniture drooling adventure, we stopped inside the shop that I always drive by, Architecture Salvage. This store is very appropriately named. Plenty of pieces of old homes that you can tell came from a million different sources. This place is far from a bargain. But it was amazing to see so many different objects crammed together with their like pieces. Super overwhelming. But awesome. I took a few photos but keep in mind this is like a quarter of the shop.

IMG_0184
IMG_0185
IMG_0180
IMG_0178
IMG_0177
IMG_0176
IMG_0173
IMG_0174
IMG_0171

Pretty cool, right?

Posted in

26 responses to “a bit of an adventure.”

  1. Linda Avatar
    Linda

    This is my kind of place. I could wander around for hours. Love this.

    Like

  2. elizah09 Avatar
    elizah09

    Absolutely–looks awesome!

    Like

  3. Kim Avatar

    I am soooooooooo jealous!! but thanks for the eyecandy!! 🙂

    Like

  4. yvette Avatar

    I love this place. It has been around for so long. I love their new location… more space. Thanks for reminding me it’s here!

    Like

  5. Katie Avatar

    Dreaaammy! I love old windows and keys and lighting fixtures! I’m not sure if you have yet, but I would love if you posted about some of your favs in San Diego – I am hoping to visit soon and would love your recommendations!

    Like

  6. jodi Avatar
  7. christen Avatar
    christen

    i’m drooling looking at the photos! what were the prices like?

    Like

  8. Carrie Rosalind Avatar

    I’ve been to this store and I LOVE it! Glad that you discovered it and loved it, too! 🙂

    Like

  9. elise blaha Avatar

    I thought they were pretty high. The flat metal letters were around $6 and I think keys were in the teens. Cool though!

    Like

  10. michelle ramirez Avatar

    SO funny. I have been by bunches and said the same thing. I will steer clear hearing of the prices now. We should hit up the local Flea market soon if you want.

    Like

  11. elise blaha Avatar

    I would be down!

    Like

  12. Sara Berry Avatar

    All the time I lived in SD I drove by AS so many times and never went in. Ha, ha. Too funny.

    Like

  13. tate Avatar

    we have a place kind of like that in portland called the rebuilding center…. it is not nearly as cutely displayed, but it is also not nearly as expensive. It is meant to encourage ppl to renovate homes back to how they originally were. Pretty cool project! http://rebuildingcenter.org/

    Like

  14. Kate Avatar

    we have a salvage in Indy as well but ours is more of a big MESS which I love nothing like a room full of random doors, or floorboards. It does come in handy when trying to patch your wood floors though and for 20 feet of oak hardwood it was $3.

    Like

  15. creole wisdom Avatar

    There are quite a few shops like that in Mpls and St. Paul and I love them! The one I go to has some reasonably priced items and the owners are usually willing to bargain. It’s at one place where I found the best living room side table 🙂

    Like

  16. Nancy Avatar

    Please share the name of this place! (from a fellow Minnesotan!)

    Like

  17. creole wisdom Avatar

    Hi Nancy. The place I was specifically referring to is Archetect Antiques on University near Dinkytown and right next to Cupcake 🙂 E-mail me if you want any more places @ katieharris86@gmail.com

    Like

  18. desiree Avatar

    I love these pictures. So jelous as you got to wander around and look at all the cool things.

    Like

  19. cinback Avatar

    I’m dying to know what you went home with?

    Like

  20. elise blaha Avatar

    nothing. it was a bit to pricey. but fun to look at!

    Like

  21. Chelseabird Avatar

    Wow, that does look like quite the place! My boyfriend would go crazy over it!

    Like

  22. Kimberly L.C. Avatar

    Architectural Salvage is one of my favorite places to browse. It’s certainly not the only place like this in San Diego, but the way it is sorted makes browsing more fun.

    Like

  23. Seaweedandraine Avatar

    I’d love to see more on this shop – do you have any more pictures? (I live in Sydney – and I’ve not seen anything like that here)

    Like

  24. elise blaha Avatar

    Nope, thats all I have unfortunately. You may be able to google it for more information.

    Like

  25. John Poll Avatar

    Amazing item and nice collection of the antic item.I also love the antic item.
    Facebook Tag Pictures

    Like

Leave a reply to Seaweedandraine Cancel reply