A William Morris Inspired Quest for Vintage.

While reading the latest issue of Old House Journal a few weeks ago, I ran across a quote by a pillar of the Arts and Crafts movement Mr. William Morris, he says, "Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful".  Thank you WM for the great advice! 
I love this quote because I firmly believe every word of it.  Nothing against "box store" decorating...sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do, right?:) But it's such a better feeling to be surrounded by decor you love and cherish, and it's been somewhere and has a life of it's own...(sigh) like anything vintage.   I had a yearning for a great vintage find so I decided to re-visit some of my fav stores in the lovely city of Des Moines, Iowa last weekend.
First stop...West End Salvage.  Great place in an old warehouse downtown with a coffee shop inside.  Tons of cool stuff.  Nothing I wanted to afford that day, but if you need something specific, he's probably got it.  http://www.westendsalvage.com/

Straight from an Arts and Crafts bungalow, the traditional bookcases with pillars.

Second stop...Atomic Gargage in the Valley Junction area of Des Moines.  Love their vintage clothes!
http://www.valleyjunction.com/

What about this sweet Mommy and baby matching ensemble???  My friend Michelle spotted these relics right away.  I wonder if Evan would wear this with me...

Atomic Garage (above) is all clothes (my other passion), but they have a sister store across the street http://aokayantiques.com/index.htm  that has incredible antiques, vintage decor, and the upstairs hosts an inspiring collection of some of the best retro era pieces of furniture. 

Yes, I do believe it's the Eames 670 chair with ottoman...bow your heads...

So great!  I didn't buy anything but clothes.  I know, right!?  I'm frugal, what can I say... 
I bought a fun green printy shirt for spring, a sweet petal pink chiffon nightgown, and I regretfully did not buy this, but a sexy 70's black one piece pantsuit that I'm still kind of kicking myself over...I may end up calling for that later.   Here's the shirt.  My friend and I decided it'd be cute with some white linen pants for summer maybe.

Here's the nighty..at least that's what I will be wearing it for.

Here's also a leopard vintage 1950's handbag I scored from a previous trip several years ago, but I still love it so much that I have to show you all.  What a find!

So there it is!  My vintage search in a nutshell.  I'm just finding little bits at a time, whether it's clothes or decor, and that's ok because I don't really have space just to get "stuff".  I just buy what I love or find useful like ol' William Morris suggested.  A special thanks to my friend and best shopping buddy Michelle for chauffering me all over town too.  Love ya!