How others see us: a virtual visit to Timeless Treasures

San Francisco photographer Michelle Gutierrez of cultural photographia stopped by Timeless Treasures a couple of weeks ago and spent time snapping photos of things that caught her eye. 

When she dropped off a CD of her favorites and agreed that we could post them, we couldn't resist sharing all of them with you. We also thought it would be a great opportunity to experiment with a slide show feature we have seen on other sites.  See something that you've just gotta have?  Give us a call and we can arrange to ship it to you.

one good thing may lead to another

Within just minutes of a recent blog post by Southern California photographer Tara Whitney about a photo session in which she included giant letters that spelled CHICAGO, we received several inquiries about our old sign letters.
It turns out that Tara mentioned Timeless Treasures as the source of the word, which has led to a continuing stream of requests for words and phrases from people who read her blog. (BTW, if you have trouble finding the photo with CHICAGO, be sure and scroll to the very end of her post for May 13th.)
Among our favorites was one from Alison Conklin, a wedding photographer in Allentown, PA, who wrote and asked about buying the word TRUE. We offered her four options, and she chose the one shown here. We are eager to see how she includes TRUE in photos celebrating the day-of-all-days to be true.

San Francisco Kitchens and Timeless Treasures, Japanese Style

A new Japanese design book featuring intimate views of the kitchens of 21 San Francisco artists and designers includes a handy Shop Guide of sources for similarly inspired decor.

Timeless Treasures, as shown here, is among the Bay Area shops highlighted by project editor Miki Usui.

Written in Japanese and published by edition Paumes, a small, family-run Japanese publisher, San Francisco Kitchens is the latest in a series of books that have become a sort of creative "bible" for people seeking inspiration.

Raquel Cucurella, whose home in Noe Valley is profiled in the book, acquired vintage sign letters at Timeless Treasures to spell out AMORE, a word with special meaning for her and Zack, the man she came to San Francisco with from her native Barcelona.

The couple discovered Timeless Treasures while searching among what she calls "decoration stores" for things for their flat. Since she and Zack have different preferences, each decorating decision requires conversation and discussion, Raquel says. One area where they find common agreement is in mixing vintage and new designs.

"When we first came into the store, we both immediately loved the vintage letters," Raquel remembers. They decided on the word AMORE "that same day, that same moment, because it is the word that expresses what made us come together to the city," and it describes their "nest", or flat.

She wanted the word spelled in Spanish, but they ultimately went with AMORE in Italian "because Zack had lived in Italy for three years and he fell in love with the small E" that now completes the word on their kitchen wall, as you can see in a photo from the book.

Raquel sounds positively lyrical as she describes their choice of a word for their kitchen. "Amore is the word that entitles our kitchen, where we love to spend so many evening hours preparing dinner, which is our ritual," she says. "It's also where we dance while waiting for the cooking. We practice all the steps we know we are forgetting so easily!"

a warm WELCOME in British Columbia

Tracy Kyle, who has a great eye for choosing vintage decor details for her family home in British Columbia, sent along this photo of her latest design project. Using old sign letters from Timeless Treasures, Tracy spelled out WELCOME on a wall adjacent to a collection of old stained glass windows. Notice how her choice of a fresh, lively robin's egg blue paint for the wall complements the neutral tones of the old letters.
This was the second time we collaborated with Tracy. Last fall she contacted us for vintage letters to spell out HOME SWEET HOME. The neutral wall and the brick fireplace, barely visible in the corner of this shot, allowed Tracy to choose bright, fun colors to make the phrase the center of attention in that room.

If you're looking for a way to add a very personal statement to your home, come and see us when you're in San Francisco, or email us your idea and we will see what we can create together.

EAT and DRINK

If you've been to Timeless Treasures on Sutter Street in San Francisco, you know that we are huge fans of vintage sign letters. And when it comes to assembling a word or phrase from these architectural gems, we usually opt for a "mix 'n match" approach. That's why most of the words on the walls of the store are made up of a hodgepodge of old letters in different sizes, materials and fonts.
Occasionally, though, we acquire vintage letters that seem destined to remain together. So these words are for sale "as found". We want to sell them as a group and preserve their togetherness.
Right now we have the two words shown here that would look fantastic on the wall of a kitchen, a dining room, a bar or a restaurant. EAT comes from Michigan, where it was part of the signage for an old lakeside hot dog stand. Its letters are painted a deep green and have a raised and rounded surface.
We've embellished the look with a couple of old hand-painted signs for new corn and green beans from a farm stand.
The letters in DRINKS, including an "S" that didn't fit our wall space, came from San Francisco. (After we hung the word, we were reminded of the Yankee saying, "Measure twice. Cut once," which, in this case, could be interpreted as "Measure twice, HANG once.") These cocoa brown wood letters with lots of character would add personality to any otherwise sleek, modern design. If you love to cook and entertain, we can't think of a more personal expression of art for your home. The letters in EAT measure 23 inches tall, and DRINKS is 22 inches.

Who rocks your world?

We are all smiling about the latest phrase chosen by Peter, our "go-to guy" for carpentry and general repairs, and hung high on a wall at Timeless Treasures in San Francisco.
YOU ROCK. . . What kid or, for that matter, what adult about to graduate from high school or college wouldn't love these letters to mark a singular achievement?
Is there a phrase or a word that "says it all" about someone you're proud of? Our vintage sign letters, including the white fancy ones in YOU and the variety of red ones in ROCK, are available in sizes from 1 inch to more than 30 inches tall. We can help you assemble a one-of-a-kind art piece that's funny or fanciful.

Juxtaposing old and new: Photo stylist Nan Whitney

In Pottery Barn's April catalogue, you can see how a few well-chosen vintage accessories bring a sense of individual style and personal taste to an otherwise neutral home setting.

NY photo stylist Nan Whitney (whose other design work you can see here) stopped by Timeless Treasures while on a search for props to complement Pottery Barn's latest home furnishings in their catalogue and on their website.

Starting with a PB sign that replicates the style of those found at old rowing clubs, Nan added vintage items and photos to carry out a theme of a love for the sea and seaside experiences.

Notice the old sign letters that spell SEA (in the large shadowbox frame), the number 4 (in the smaller frame on the wall), the large vintage jar (on the floor to the right) and the huge letter Y (barely visible on the far left), all from Timeless Treasures.

"I like to juxtapose vintage things with what's new to create 'layers' of time, emotion and experience," Nan says. Pottery Barn's sleek, contemporary collector's shadowbox, for instance, becomes multi-dimensional when it contains a collection of personal mementoes, such as old brass letters displayed with postcards and fish net. The jar filled with seashells adds more texture and reinforces the by-the-sea theme.