Meet the Dealer: Lisa from Stars

Meet Lisa Johnson, the lovely lady behind Stars Antiques’ booth #30. Lisa has a great blog, A Thing For Roses, where you can visit to keep up with her adventures and see A LOT of fabulous vintage finds. Check out her booth for beautiful furniture, lighting, fab lampshades, dazzling jewelry, paintings, mirrors, frames, buttons and a lot more wonderful things. Lisa has been an antiques dealer for ten years now and prides herself on being able to find special things that people want to have in their home. Aside from her fantastic Stars space, you can find Lisa at antique expos, shows and she has another space at Monticello Antiques.

SHOP UPDATE: Lisa will be doing a big clean out of her booth at the end of the month and a lot of items will be marked down. An end of summer sale also means that there will be tons of new items filling the space soon!

1. What is your favorite era?
I think if I had to pick an era that is my favorite, it would be the 30’s and 40’s. I have a thing for things like fabrics, dressers, lighting from that time. Just love barkcloth fabric, cute little dressers with curvy legs and interesting cottage style lamps and chandeliers.

2. Do you collect some specific things for your own home?
I have collected so many things over the years and am currently trying to pare down my collections. Tole trays were a big collection. I think I had over 75 of them. I still love them, but I’m parting some of them. Other things I collect are vintage silver ladies’ watches, rhinestone buttons and brooches, etched mirrors, vintage wedding toppers, landscape prints, rose paintings, vintage clocks and the list goes on and on.

3. How did you get into vintage?
I started buying vintage out of necessity. I was a stay at home mom and couldn’t afford a lot of new home furnishings so I started shopping thrift stores and antique shops for furniture and home décor. I was also heavily influenced by shelter magazines like Country Home and Country Living. When my friend Donna opened her shop and offered me a job there, she said I could consign some vintage items. That’s how I started.

4. What non-vintage shops do you frequent?
As for non-vintage shops I frequent, I love Target (buy lots of household items there) and Fred Meyer is awesome. Love that I can get groceries, paint and underwear all in one place.

5. What is your favorite place to eat in Portland?
I have so many fun places to eat in Portland. I love Mother’s Bistro & Bar and Pastini is also a favorite. There is a cute French restaurant on Hawthorne Blvd. that makes the best crepes, Chez Machin.

6. What do you like to do when you aren’t working?
I feel like I am always working whenever I am out. Always looking for something good to bring to one of my booths. But when I’m not working, I love spending time with my family and I absolutely am a movie freak. Let’s just say, Netflix isn’t making any money on me.

7. How do you unwind?
To unwind I walk, go to a movie, or read a book or shelter magazine.

8. Have any fun trips planned?
Just got back from a trip to the UK. Drove around Wales, The Cotswolds, then finished in London. I could live over there—it’s so beautiful! Love all the quaint villages and houses and the open green spaces are to die for. I didn’t do a lot of shopping while over there as the dollar is so weak right now. Everything was so expensive! We did visit the Portobello Road Flea Market and visited several charity shops (thrift shops) where we found the best deals. I got a sweet little floral painting, a cool engraved pewter flask, a couple vintage books and a few rhinestone brooches while I was there. As for upcoming trips, I might try to make a trip down to Southern California in October to see family and maybe hit a flea market or two.

9. What are you inspired by right now?
I am always inspired by so many things. Right now other dealers booths are probably my number one inspiration. There are so many talented dealers in our area that have such great vision. They find the best stuff and have a knack at putting it all together in such an artful way. I am also inspired by shelter magazines such as Flea Market Style and many, many blogs I check out on a daily basis.

10. Any vintage shopping tips?
The best vintage shopping tip I could give would be to get out a lot and shop a variety of sources and let your friends know what you are looking for. On so many occasions, just after telling someone about something I’m looking for I find it. I like to think of it as “putting it out in the universe.”

Thanks, Lisa!