“If you watch HGTV or read design magazines, the experts will say having a piece or two of vintage in a home makes it look real,” says Rita Larson, a Starbuck vintage collector. “Add some history, create some warmth, and prevent your home from looking staged.” Rita spent the later part of her career as an interior designer, bringing her perceptive eye and understanding of warmth, color, collections, and comfort to her clients’ homes.

Rita’s own bent is for "primitive" pieces: furnishings and ornaments made from pine. "Pine was the poor man’s furniture when the frontier was settled. A softer wood was what they could afford, not the hard woods that were deemed more desirable." Early craftsmen would disguise the simplicity of a pine frame, for example, with flour-based clay formed into decorative flowers or designs, then stained along with the pine to more closely resemble mahogany or oak. Primitive pieces were “not considered the quality pieces in their day, but they’re the beautiful pieces we are discovering now," Larson says, "with the benefit of perspective and history."

Rita is curating a collection for her booth at the Starbuck Vintage & Artisan Market. There’s a beautiful children’s desk, with folk art carvings and wisps of paint slightly chipped with age and use. She’ll have a few chairs and side tables, ready for potted plants, vintage vases, lamps, or your own personal collection. “There is nothing like the quality of an antique piece, and nothing as homey looking as a bit of use and dinging.” Browse the Larson collection at the upcoming market and take home an item that might show the marks of age: clay on pine and a piece of history.