A schoolteacher by day and a hobbyist vintage picker at weekends, Aoife Byrne reveals her favourite places to shop.
Buying vintage has never been easier. You can browse furniture, bric-a-brac and antiques from the four corners of the world from the comfort of your own home.
Vinterior, for example, has made the hunt effortless, but for some, the thrill of the chase is what it’s about. That involves touching and inspecting the pieces before you part with your money.
Aoife Byrne is one such hunter-gatherer. Her Instagram handle, Potter and Byrne Home, has almost 32,500 followers with whom she shares her finds and her favourite places to go.
In a world where we all spend too much time on screens searching for vintage and antique finds, in real life remains a compelling way to spend your spare time.
“These are pieces that have already had a life. It’s a thousand people’s life-long collections,” explains schoolteacher Byrne.
Based in Bunclody, Co Wexford, when she is not in class, she can be found trawling some of her favourite vintage spots, swotting up on the back stories of the stoneware, furniture and pub paraphernalia and bringing a select few back to the home she shares with her fiancée Niall Potter and their golden labrador Max.
“As a hobby, it is about showcasing and supporting small businesses,” she explains.
Her own home is about 20 years old. “It’s not a new build, but adding vintage gives it character and feeling, she explains.
"It is our first house", she says.
“We came with the bags on our backs. We had been renting. I had a lot of chairs and decorative pieces. It features a lot of pieces I’ve restored."
One of her favourite places to go is Treasure Trove in Castlebridge.
“It is three stories of magic. You’ll need a whole day to spend in there.”
Old School House, Living in Ballingarry, Co.Tipperary, is another place she can lose hours in.
"It is so beautifully curated. It includes home economics rooms, workshops and yoga and sewing retreats. They have brought the building back to life and sell new as well as vintage pieces.”
The Rustic House in Rathdrum, Co. Wicklow, is another of her regular haunts.
It’s an antiques shop where you can find farmhouse tables and card tables, rush lights and butler’s bells, haberdashery drawers and spongeware mugs from the 19th century.
In Sallins, Co. Kildare, L.F. Donohoe Antiques is an appointment-only premises that started as a pastime for Louise Donohoe.
"It is small but mighty," Byrne says.
“She sells from a store at the back of her house and also restores antiques on site in the women’s shed that she also runs.” Expect to pick up blanket boxes, plant stands, miniatures, and brass lamps.
She recently visited Belfast and spent a day at On The Square Emporium.
One of the largest places she has visited, "it is where different eras of time collide, from props for film and TV work to rustic pub memorabilia" – something she loves, as her family ran a pub when she was growing up.
In Dublin, she likes Pete’s Antiques on Convent Avenue in Dublin 3.
Pete himself is so knowledgeable, she says, and the other three vintage emporia that have stalls within his warehouse are equally enthusiastic sellers.
A four-minute walk down the road takes you to Wilde Vintage, which covers the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s.
"It brought me back to my childhood. It was so nostalgic."
The owners want to help you, and if they don’t have what you’re looking for, they know someone who will, she explains.
They have friends and colleagues in every part of the country, and one of them might have.
They will even call them to ask.
Kilkenny Architectural Salvage has a huge area with wrought iron fences and gates, old bricks, bentwood chairs, reclaimed doors and hardware pieces.
A café-style chair she found now stands in the hall.
Beside it, atop a bank of books is a vase with a bouquet of hydrangea from the garden that she dried to create a little vignette that cost less than €100.
“The pieces don’t have to be expensive. Buying vintage can be cheaper than buying from Ikea, or you can blend the two. It’s OK to mix centuries and old and new.”
She admits to some shopping online and even at some auctions. She likes Antiques Ireland RJ Keighley in Wexford, but insists on viewing all the pieces before bidding.
“The rummage isn’t nearly as much fun,” she says.
Follow @potterandbyrnehome
