July 23, 2017

Meet Local Maker Bianca Howell of Owl and Drum

July 23, 2017/ Ashley Daly

Meet Tulsa Maker Bianca Howell of Owl and Drum. Owl and Drum is Tulsa's "one-stop shop" for modern fabrics, quilting and sewing supplies, sewing classes and gifts. When we were on 15th Street, Owl and Drum was across the street and to the east of our shop. I remember walking across the street to say hello and meet my neighbor businesses. We didn't know then, but that was the start of great friendships and business relationships. We love working with Bianca because she has an enviable knack for color and creativity. We carry her napkins, tea towels, modern quilts, and pillows in our shop. I, Ashley Daly, make tons and tons of baby clothes from the beautiful fabrics from Owl and Drum. We also host craft nights where the ladies of O&D share skills with us and customers. I always leave feeling inspired after spending time with Bianca. Read more about this awesome Tulsa maker.

December 11, 2016

Retro Den Holiday Gift Guide

December 11, 2016/ Ashley Daly

The holidays are upon us, friends. We've put together a little gift guide to make selecting that thoughtful local gift a little easier. But wait! What about your wishes this year? Before you do anything, come in and fill out our Retro Den Wish List (or just email us your list!), then tell your friends and family to come see us because the Ashleys at Retro Den know what you really want for the holidays.

Now for that gift guide!

1. Plants!

Succulents, air-plants and containers galore! Stop by the plant bar and pot up a succulent or two right here in the shop. We can teach you how or we'd be happy to do it for you! Our ridiculously wonderful selection of planters include both vintage and hand-built. We are especially into containers by local artists like Mudhouse Studio and the Makerage!

2. Wooden Letters

These letters were handmade for use in a foundry located outside of Oklahoma City. They worked as molds to create aluminum and plastic business signs for over fifty years. Gift one for home decor (hanging on a wall or leaning on a shelf!) or make a personalized ornament using our festive baker's twine.

3. A Home Refresh!

Oh hey! Word on the street is our in-home styling sessions are a wonderful gift to both give and receive. Do you know someone who wants a home that brings them energy and joy? Well, you can give them just that for the holidays by getting two Ashleys to help them complete their space. See our home styling offerings to decide what package works best!

4. Vintage Barware

Decanters, ice buckets, pitchers, cocktail glasses! Everyone loves a good drink, especially around the holidays. Help your friend start her vintage barware collection or make a pretty contribution to your weird uncle's established one. Either way, vintage barware is sure to be a crowd pleaser.

5. Lantern slides

We have a crazy wide selection of vintage lantern slides collected from across the country. Get a handmade wooden frame to hang your slides in a window or just lean it on the sill. These slides are a great personalized gift and great fun to look through.

6. Vintage postcards

Our vintage postcard collection is top notch. Find a wide variety of genres from different time periods as far back as the 1800s. Some even have handwritten notes from decades past, which we think add to their character and value. Take a moment to flip through our postcard books to find just the right one.

7. OK Collective candles

Hand-poured soy candles by local makers OK Collective. We offer three lovely scents - Teakwood, Oakmoss & Amber, and Blood Orange. Who wouldn't love a candle?

8. Macrame plant hanger DIY kits

For that person in your life who loves a good DIY project, pick up a House Sparrow Fine Nesting macrame plant hanger kit. The kit includes step-by-step instructions and all needed materials. For those not so crafty people, pick up an already completed hanger in the store. And a plant. Did we mention we have those too?

9. Vintage Chotskies

Oh man, we are your source for vintage chotskies. From brass animals to prop cameras, our shop is packed full with interesting objects that are fun to give and receive.

10. Sticks and Rocks

No, really. You can buy sticks and rocks as gifts. Our driftwood is locally sourced from the Arkansas River and can be used as decor (try pairing with air-plants, pine cones or other greenery for a different look!) or made into other useful objects like a lamp. Also, remember the pet rock craze? Let's bring that back. Or maybe let's just agree that rocks as decor give a good natural look to your space.

Pair with a card

And last but not least, take advantage of our one-stop shop with handmade greeting cards by the talented, friendly ladies of Laurel & Marie. The perfect companion to your local gifts.

When you Shop Local

When you shop local, you are supporting the hard work of your friends and neighbors. You, the local shopper, make creative shops and businesses possible, and we really appreciate that. Thank you!

Let us whip your home into a space that brings you energy and joy.

Hire Us to Style Your Space

December 04, 2016

The Alliday Show 2016: Local Handmade Holiday Market

December 04, 2016/ Ashley Daly

It's that time of year again! The time of year when we get super pumped to completely rearrange our shop to play host to fifteen local artists and the festive antics that come with the Alliday Show! Think food truck, DJ, Ginger Santa, coffee bar, holiday portraits, community projects, swag bags, and our ridiculously happy smiling faces!

This will be the third year for Retro Den to host the Alliday Show, and we couldn't be prouder of the tradition that it's become. When the show's creator, Briana Shepard, approached us over three years ago with the idea of transforming our shop into a local holiday market for two days we were flattered and excited, but unsure of how it would exactly turn out. Well, it turned out to be awesome. And it's just gotten better each year.

Ashley Daly (Retro Den), Ashley Palmer (Retro Den), Briana Shepard (Alliday Creator) // Photo credit: Adam Forgash Photography — Ashley Daly (Retro Den), Ashley Palmer (Retro Den), Briana Shepard (Alliday Creator) // Photo credit: Adam Forgash Photography

Below are our top ten reasons why we love the Alliday Show:

1. It brings our community together. During these two days, we see so many faces, both familiar and new, from around our city. It's a wonderful place to show support for your community by shopping local for the holidays!

2. We meet local talent. We are always in awe over the talent, commitment, and passion we see in our featured artists. Sometimes we even end up carrying artist wares in our shop year round–like Mudhouse Studio's mugs and planters!

Artist Katie Hinkle of Sloan and Tommy // Photo credit: Adam Forgash Photography — Artist Katie Hinkle of Sloan and Tommy // Photo credit: Adam Forgash Photography

3. Ginger Santa. Ginger Santa will be in the den Saturday for the kids to visit! Everyone loves our nice Ginger Santa.

4. Selecting a local shop to outfit us for the Friday night holiday party. This year we are going vintage (surprise, surprise) with Vintage Vault's fine selection!

5. Contributing to the community quilt project sponsored by wonderful local modern sewing and fabric shop, Owl & Drum! It's so wonderful to see people, young and old, adding to the quilt throughout the day. Street Cats is this year's non-profit quilt recipient.

Also, can we say how much we love Owl and Drum? They are our only featured artist with a physical location in Tulsa. You should go visit them. Like today. Go! It's so lovely!

6. Mangiamo's food truck Friday night. Meatballs subs, get in our bellies. Also, the coffee. The amazing Foolish Things will be serving up local cups of joe and treats on Saturday!

7. The holiday portraits! This year we will be setting up yet another vintage living room scene as the backdrop for your (free!) holiday portraits on Friday night. Our photographer, Adam Forgash, has a knack for bringing out the holiday spirit in everyone. Trust us.

8. Dancing! This year we're changing things up with DJ Afistaface! No one loves the holidays more than Andey. No, really. We cannot wait to bust a move with her holiday dance playlist.

9. The swag. Oh, lord. This year Briana got her sew on big time and handmade 100 (yes, 100!) swag bags for you all! They will be packed with swag from our awesome artists. We will give a majority of the bags out at Friday night's holiday party with a few reserved for those early birds Saturday morning!

10. Seeing our shop host all of this greatness! Nothing brings us joy like seeing our shop filled with the people and things we love.

As you can see, we have solid reasons for loving the Alliday Show. We can't wait to see you there!

Find a list of our featured artists for this year's show here.

Let us whip your home into a space that brings you energy and joy.

Hire Us to Style Your Space

November 27, 2016

Meet Local Maker Briana Hefley Shepard of Bifftastica

November 27, 2016/ Ashley Daly

We first met Briana Shepard several years ago when she approached us to setup a vintage living room scene at her handmade holiday market, the Alliday Show. We agreed. The next year, she approached us about hosting the Alliday Show in our shop. We agreed. As you can see, Briana is very persuasive and has big ideas. A dreamer after our own hearts.

Over the years we've known Briana we've learned a few things about her–she's ridiculously organized, driven, and business savvy, she is crazy talented and can sew anything you ask her to (pillows, quilts, backpacks, clothes!), and she truly has the biggest, most wonderful heart. Needless to say, we love and admire this woman and are so excited to learn and share more about her. Please enjoy our Q&A session with Briana below:

Where are you from? I am a proud lifelong Tulsan!

How long have you been working with fabrics? What is your history with them? I have been actively sewing for the past five years. I grew up watching my mom and Mimi sew their hearts out while I dabbled a bit and admired their works. During my teens and twenties, I obsessively made jewelry from broken pieces of jewelry. My creative fixation shifted when I was pregnant and started sewing odds and ends for our future child. Once our daughter entered our world, I was officially hooked on sewing. Nowadays, I would say I'm completely obsessed with sewing! I would sew every minute, if I had the chance.

I was also raised in the antiquing world and was taught to seek out various valuables in interesting antique shops. This very important part of my history is evident in my everyday approach to gathering materials for my projects. I rarely go out to purposely buy fabrics, instead I let the fabrics find me while I do my junking. I will hold onto a particular piece of fabric for years until I come across its perfect mate.

Why is this your medium? I'm an incredibly visual person. The imagery that vintage textiles provide are works of art themselves, in my opinion. I LOVE that anything can be made with fabric! Sewing is an art form in which I believe I'll always be learning. That's so exciting!

What inspires you? Being different has always inspired and motivated me. I love putting together fabrics and colors that some wouldn't particularly think of putting together and then using that to make something functional is incredibly satisfying to me!

What do you enjoy about collaborating with our shop? Oh, I'm a huge fan of collaborating with you all, as you know! Your value of handmade goods is shown through your desire to showcase them in your shop and at Alliday, another collaboration of ours! :) The fact that you inquire about our thoughts as makers shows that you value the importance of the handmade movement.

Why is art important in a home? A home should be somewhere that you want to be and I want to be surrounded with vibrant, meaningful goodness! I am a HUGE proponent of making your home a place that is functional for YOU, is beautiful to YOU, and is cherished by YOU. However you need to make that happen, do it!

Why do you love Tulsa right now? As a lifelong Tulsan, I feel like we're finally reaching a point as a city that we've been working for decades to reach. We're embracing our small businesses, we're revitalizing areas that have needed TLC, and we're showing the rest of the country the goodness that we've got to offer. We've still got work to do, but we've made big strides since I've been around!

What is your favorite Retro Den piece in your home currently? I have so many different things from Retro Den! Furniture, plants, lamps (lots of lamps!), and housewares have all left your shop to live within our home. Retro Den is so wonderfully curated that I know I'll find something new every time I visit the store–and I visit it often!

Thanks, Briana! Briana's pillows made out of beautiful vintage fabric can be found in our shop. Also check out Bifftastica, Briana's online handmade shop and learn more about the Alliday Show, Briana's handmade holiday market that takes place in our shop in just a couple weeks!

Let us whip your home into a space that brings you energy and joy.

Hire us to style your space

September 11, 2016

Friendly Ladies of Laurel and Marie: Stationery & Calligraphy Studio

September 11, 2016/ Ashley Daly

Let me tell ya, we love the ladies of Laurel and Marie. Not only because they are our friends, but because they produce amazing work. This Tulsa-based stationery and calligraphy studio consists of two best friends, Ruby Murry and Whitney Wade. With Ruby's graphic design expertise and Whitney's calligraphy and illustrating skills, they create beautiful, custom stationery and design. We are proud to offer their simple, friendly greeting cards for customers to pair with gifts from our shop. Enjoy this question and answer session with them below.