Business profile: Area 58

A couple of weeks ago, I interviewed interior stylist Sandra Lambdin, who encourages her clients to decorate their homes with personal items that are meaningful to them. I’ve been in Lambdin’s home before and can tell you the woman walks her talk. Somehow she manages to make an eclectic mix of vintage finds—including a collection of cupie dolls and a television set Lambdin converted into a fish tank—work.

The most oddball item in my house is a framed rubberband that hangs in my entryway. A friend gave the rubberband to me about 10 years ago. It has the word “luminous” stamped on it, and I wore it as a bracelet for a long time. Now, when I see it on the wall, it reminds me to be luminous when I’d rather be grumpy.

You might already adorn your home with a cookie jar collection or some other sentimental set. If not, it can be fun to scour secondhand and antique stores for quirky finds that speak to you.

Maybe you and your spouse’s first date was dinner at the Davenport Hotel. You could probably find an old menu from the Palm Court worth framing and displaying.

Maybe your craft room’s walls are bare. Hang antique quilt tops. One that covers a wall in my house cost only $17 at a vintage sale last summer.

Spokane has no shortage of treasure-filled antique and thrift stores. I plan to highlight many of them over time on this blog, starting now with a shop called Area 58 at 3036 N. Monroe St .

I popped in at Area 58 last weekend and photographed some of the goods that caught my eye. I’m having trouble uploading my slideshow of photos on this page, so enjoy the shot above of a 19th century fainting couch and then click here to see the rest .

Co-owners Dennis Held and Connie Grove, who are husband and wife, opened Area 58 a little more than two years ago.

“I’ve always been into nicer, older things,” says Held, who bought his first set of Depression-era glassware at a garage sale when he was 12 years old.

Held is what they call a “picker” in the antiques world, meaning he has a knack for finding the good goods at garage and estate sales.

Area 58 stands out from most antique stores because it isn’t jam-packed with products.

“We didn’t want to be over crowded. We didn’t want it to be dark and dirty,” says Held, who is also a published poet. “We wanted to give everything its own sculptural identity.”

Despite the economic downturn, Held says business has been steady at Area 58. He thinks it has to do with the growing interest in simplicity and frugality, two traits he learned early as the fourth of eight children in a working-class family.

Area 58 is open Tuesday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Anyone have a favorite antique or secondhand shop they’d like me to visit next? Leave your suggestions in the comments section.