The Best Thing I Ever Thrifted With Lily Sullivan
The writer behind a wildly cool 'zine shares her tubular chrome light
I first became acquainted with
when I read the gorgeous story she penned for Vogue in June 2024, What My Mother’s Wardrobe Taught Me About Style and Grief After She Died.In it, she writes about how — at just 23 years old — she sat in her grandmother’s basement, “opening bags, boxes, and drawers, trying to find meaning in things whose owner was gone.”
“It really hadn’t been my intention to practically double my own closet by adding in my mother’s, but every bag or box unlocked new threads of memory that took me back to her,” she writes.
When you lose a parent, you join a club — one comprised of those who know grief and loss and view the world a little bit differently than everyone else. Jaded? Not entirely. But different.
But Lily and I share more than the loss of a parent. We have a love for the old, the worn, the handed-down…a love that it seems was genetic, for both of us.
For Lily, it certainly runs in the family: her cousins, twins Anne and Maggie, own Forsyth Art, which you may remember from an earlier Best Thing I Ever Thrifted.
Lily also has a very cool zine, which I cannot recommend highly enough. I keep mine on my coffee table. And she authors a Substack because, well, the coolest girls do…. ;)
Now, let’s hear about her best vintage find ever.
“When I look around my apartment, there are VERY few things that are not thrifted, antique, hand-me-down, or curbed. In fact, I can count the new things on one hand. It definitely isn’t easy to pick a favorite, as I take such pride in the objects I surround myself with. However, the light that hangs above my dining table is certainly at the top of the list.
It’s a sleek chrome tube shape, originally made to hang over a work bench. It’s so simple yet it tied my whole dining room table together.
I was perusing Facebook Marketplace as I was putting final touches on my home before a big shoot. I feel like maybe this light found me — it was such an immediate “yes,” as are most of my home purchases. I may toil over the style I want, but I know a good deal when I see it. I bought this immediately.
It's funny because I wasn’t the only person I know who saw this — a friend’s friend saw my AD house tour with this light and told me that he had tried to buy it but I got to it first!
I actually was in Vermont when I saw it and had all the communication over Facebook Messenger. I didn’t see it IRL until I was picking it up from my building mail room where the person I bought it from dropped it off. I bought it sight unseen, which is bold (even for me). It was $500!
It originally was designed by Columbia Lighting to hang over a work bench, which explains the big chains. I host a lot of dinners, and wanted something to really mark the dining room space. I love it because it feels sleek and expensive but also is so utilitarian. I also love how it looks with my table (I got the table secondhand from Lichen and the mix of chairs come via my mother and Renew Finds).
As for the secondhand finds on Lily’s bucket list? “I’m dying for a Tuareg rug—it's a Moroccan mat made from reeds and camel leather. The first time I saw them they were lining the floors at Casa Perfect in Los Angeles. I was hooked. They are so simple and beautiful but really impactful in a home space. Feels like an elevated Jute rug.”
Thank you, Lily, for sharing this fabulous find. You have such a great eye!
shell pendant with tassels // vintage shell handbag // vintage shell lamp on resin base ($75) // scallop shell necklace ($64) // American folk art handmade shell-encrusted table
It was more than a year ago when I wrote about why I was thrifting shell stuff and I am feeling more validated than ever. The shell trend has since gone gangbusters, infiltrating our closets (shell jewelry is huge right now) as well as our homes. Above are some of my favorite finds available now.
Odds & Ends
How I Fake a Tan: My new summer skincare routine is focused almost entirely on keeping my skin exfoliated, moisturized and looking tanned — but in a healthy way. Here are my steps: Post-cleanse, I put a dollop of moisturizer in my palm (I use this one but you can use whatever) and I add two drops of these bronzing face drops to it. Then I apply it all over my face, just as I normally would, and let it sit for like an hour before applying my makeup. I find that doing this just twice per week makes my skin look far more bronzed (I can even forgo foundation). For body, I use this.
My Spring Beverage: I love everything Ghia makes, but the sumac and lime le spritz (in the cutest can!) is my new go-to. I serve mine over ice with a squeeze of fresh lime.
Get paid to go thrifting: A reminder about my ongoing collaboration with Visa’s Future debit card, which rewards you with cash back when you go thrifting. If you apply for the card using my link, you’ll get double cash back when you shop on my favorite secondhand sites, like Chairish, 1stDibs, Poshmark, and even ShopGoodwill.
It’s giving Rimowa: Quince has an aluminum suitcase for $275 that appears to be very well-made! Do with that information as you wish :)
PS. Will you all be watching the all-female space trip starring Katy Perry and Lauren Sanchez tomorrow?! I feel like we all need to get together and do a group watch.
What a lovely space Lily has. I love that most of it is thrifted.💕Nearly everything in my house is secondhand, and I see no point in buying new unless it’s something like an appliance.
Loved chatting with ya :))