The other week I drove through the rotating piedmont trifecta (green field, farm stand, winery - green field, farm stand, winery), with Paul Simon blasting and the windows down. But instead of a beautiful woman sitting in the passenger seat, staring adoringly in my direction, noting my careful driving and preemptive braking, instead there were two massive Adirondack chairs tetris-ed into the backseat, wedged so tightly that the roof may at any moment pop off like a champagne cork.

I was on my way back from Lucketts Store. The always aesthetic, ever uncomfortable chairs were for my wife (G, the beautiful woman not currently present) because her birthday was coming up. But we were also getting the chairs because we had just moved from a tiny bungalow in DC into a bigger place here in Charlottesville, and after a few weeks using u-hual boxes as coffee tables, we decided we probably needed to buy more furniture to fill the space. And if you’ve ever subtly turned over a Crate & Barrel price tag, you know that deal gets more expensive than bread at a farmers market.

So for financial reasons, antiquing for furniture (and birthday gifts) was immensely appealing. Driving all the way to Lucketts was a less logical reason.  

If you’ve never been, Lucketts is a 4-hour round-trip drive away — half of that with Adirondack co-pilots who do not like to play 20 Questions to pass the time. 

But Lucketts is the Lebron James, the Beatles, the A1 sauce of the antiquing world. Even if you’re the type of person who thinks you have enough throw pillows and ceramic lamps on small tables, once you go to Lucketts, you’ll be reborn. 

Imagine a cross between Pottery Barn and a literal barn, one that Tom Sawyer whitewashed and the Queen used for storing her riding crops. People drive from DC on the daily to pick up rustic farm tables, heck people drive across the eastern seaboard to pick up vintage bedside reading tables with brass knobs. Don’t believe me? Lucketts has a great Instagram. 

What’s so appealing about antiquing for G and me is that it’s cute and sustainable. Vintage, antique, pre-loved, reused — all these fall under the “sustainable furniture” umbrella, as does new furniture that’s made from recyclable or durable materials like actual wood instead of particleboard (it’s a huge market that’s expected to double by 2030).

While antiquing isn’t a novel option, the “sustainability” framing is a relatively new angle. I think a lot of the newfound millennial and gen z zeal for eco-friendly antiquing is as a direct counter to fast furniture that prioritizes cheap, trendy items at the expense of toxic fumes “off gassing” in your home and a lot of other big bad environmental impacts. Ultimately, what I’ve found is so great about sustainable furniture options like antiquing is that it’s 💸 cheaper, ⛰ better for the environment, and 💪 longer lasting. 

The pair of chairs from Lucketts, for example, were classic, real wood pieces that cost a quarter of what they’d go for at West Elm. The only downside is that Lucketts is (say it with me now) 4.hours.to.and.from.Charlottesville. So I was literally stuck in a box with my own sustainability proselytizing from 8am until 2pm (I’m including shopping time in that calc). Turns out, when you save big on price it may because your whole day has become the shipping costs.

Still, don’t these chairs look fantastic in our backyard?

1️⃣ If you like listening to podcasts and peeing at gas stations, I recommend a trip to Lucketts for your next credenza purchase. There's also a massive seasonal fair twice a year — including one this weekend — that brings in over 200 vendors from all over the east coast. G went last year and we have a whitewashed stepstool and five thousand pillows to prove it.

2️⃣ If you like the idea of antiquing to help the environment (and your wallet), but want to stay closer to Route 250, I recommend checking out:

3️⃣ And if you like the idea of sustainable furniture but don’t want to slow walk through antique shops with your one precious life, I recommend checking out these brands that lean into sustainable practices and deliver to your doorstep: