Today I’m so happy to take you with me on a little vacation. We are going to shop together today at ELSIE GREEN, a shop outside of San Francisco, California (On instagram @elsiegreen). Elsie Green is a French-inspired concept shop owned by Laurie and JP Furber. They noticed a need for a shop that offers beautiful vintage pieces with a European touch and launched eight years ago and have been successful every since. Their intuition was correct.

Their flagship store is 30 mins outside of San Francisco (Concord, CA) and their new Sebastopol shop is nestled into the famous California wine country in The Barlow (the shopping center where the shop is located), which is an amazing space for makers and artists to come together. 

Most of their products are vintage and come directly from France. Laurie and JP travel there 3-4 times a year to shop the flea markets and send big containers back stateside with all of the treasures that they source. Their favorite trend right now is vintage portraits, “We can barely keep them in stock once we find them!”, admits this stylist duo.

Their style is always evolving, yet the foundation is always “French Chic”. They love to combine rustic pieces with modern touches. “The French have incredible taste so each vintage piece we find feels like it lived its previous life in our chicest French friend’s apartment”, says Laurie.

Laurie and JP have a real passion for their work. These days, retail is a hard job but they both told me that they really love what they do and they created spaces where they can be creative and explore anything and everything. Do they have struggles? Of course, the best work also has hard times. They credit their team for being a huge support to them during their rough times, whom they consider as an extended family.

I asked Laurie for some tips on where to go in Sebastopol and in the Bay Area, since she has such impeccable style. Here’s her “hit list”.

Sebastopol:

sleep - Grace Ranch. Our dear friends own this amazing airbnb and it is our FAVORITE place to stay when we are in town. 

sleep - the Astro Motel in Santa Rosa (a quick 10 minute drive from the Barlow)

eat - Fern Bar at the Barlow - amazing cocktails and beautifully plated bites

eat -The Farmer’s Wife at the Barlow - TO DIE FOR GRILLED CHEESE SANDWICHES

drink - Spirit Works Distillery at the Barlow - such a fun place to pop into for a cocktail and if you’re lucky you can get a tour of the distillery and maybe meet the distillery pups! 

Bay Area: 

sleep - Cavallo Point! It is on the north side of the Golden Gate bridge and has amazing views of the city from across the Bay!

eat - Octavia - our dear friend owns this restaurant and it is life changing. A must when you visit SF.

drink - Trick Dog SF - unbelievable cocktails!

visit - make a pit stop at the SF Flower Market - it makes for a very fun afternoon walking up and down the stalls of flowers for sale!

What are some goals ahead for Elsie Green? “We would love to produce a creative retreat either stateside or in France - styling, photography, flea market hunting! Who wouldn’t love that!?!”, says Laurie. Yes, you’re right Laurie, who wouldn’t. Fortunately for Laure though, she has what it takes to pull that off and I can see anything she puts her hands on becoming a success.

Thanks you two for joining me here on decor8 today and thanks to my dear readers for joining us.

Love,

Holly

(Shop Photography with permission from Victoria Smith, Portrait with permission from Leslie Santarina)