The Handmade Home Archives

In late January, the team behind One Kings Lane launched a new venture, Hunters Alley. Hunter’s Alley is an online resale marketplace that features one of a kind antique and vintage, handmade and crafted, and contemporary pre-owned items.

Individuals and professional vendors sell finds and designs which are lightly vetted. A specific seller and his or her finds are highlighted daily up front, and users can follow sellers they like best. One can also “love” an item, causing the gray outline of a heart to fill in red, which is very satisfying. “Top 10 Most-Loved” items are featured on the home page, pulled from the pieces with the highest number of “loves.”

Hunter’s Alley curators also pull together themed sales. Recent collections have included: “Space-Changing Art,” “Romantic Safari,” and “Handmade for Entertaining.” Prices start at $25, and new items are added every day at 10am ET. Each seller has a profile, with a bit about themselves, and the aggregate of their offerings.

The design is crisp and clean, much like OKL. The products are mostly silhouetted on a white background (though not all of them), and some tend to get a bit blurry when enlarged on the product page, but still, the good news is that it displays large enough to get a good sense of the item. There’s not a ton of items on there yet, but it’s still new, and there’s enough to make it worth a browse (and if you get lucky, a buy).

Hunter’s Alley has more personality than Dering Hall (though I love that site too), which skews somewhat closer to 1st Dibs (big fan, been browsing since its inception, though high prices means I’ve never bought). Given Hunter’s Alley more accessible price points and products, fun tone, and of course, the success of parent company One King’s Lane, it’s a definite hit.

Here are my current top picks on Hunter’s Alley:

S H O P P I N G

1. Vintage Moroccan Rug/Wall Hanging, $850

2. Møller Danish Teak Side Chair Model 78, $499

3. Danish Modern Side Chair, $199

4. French Green Sunburst Double Espresso Cup, $36

5. Handmade Stoneware Salt Spoons, $20

6. Bliss Framed Art Print by Kristi Kohut, $64

7. Handpainted Antler, $98

8. Modernist Tripod Candlesticks, $45

9. Kaj Franck White Mushroom Bowl, $89

10. Mid-Century Blue Liquor Decanter, $85

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Shop Burke Decor for classic modern furniture & accessories >

Teepees, wigwams, play tents (whatever you want to call them) have been trending for a rather long time. However last week, the Wall Street Journal proclaimed them a trend: Teepees: The New Urban Hideaway. I’m not sure why a newspaper would be so slow to catch onto this (it’s not like there’s a three-month lead time). No matter, they’re still going strong. We had a refrigerator box playhouse for a while; admittedly not nearly as chic. But that was a dozen years ago.

The teepee is great because it looks good not only in a kids room, but in adult spaces too. As you can see from these 30 rooms with teepees, they work well in white Scandinavian interiors, minimalist black and white living rooms, nurseries with traditional childrens bedroom furniture, and of course colorful playrooms. You can even erect one outdoors.

I was obsessed with building forts as a kid, always enclosing my bunk beds with blankets, and wishing I had a way to hang a sheet from the ceiling. My kids, too, used to love taking all the blankets they could gather and draping them over chairs and ottomans to create fun enclosures. There’s definitely something satisfying, and practical too, about a kid constructing a hideaway on his own. That said, it’s also nice to have a ready-made private quiet space. Wonder if my boys are too big for one now?