My name is Lisa Nance and I love old things. Old people, old animals, old furniture, old clothes, old dishes… Walking through antiques shops, flea markets, and thrift stores are my therapy. I love to pick up old, preloved items and imagine who held them before me.

After 30 years as an advertising copywriter, I was burned out and disappointed in my industry. It was time for me to step away and I was at a loss as to what to do next. I loved my job so much I never thought I would retire. So, I started collecting my social security and sat around stunned that I was out of work. I got depressed.

Living on social security is impossible and I knew I needed to get a job. But at my age, no one in advertising was going to hire me so I started looking for other jobs. After 6 months, I was completely discouraged and complaining about not having any money.

One day my husband said, “Why don’t you sell something on eBay?” This wasn’t such a surprising question as I had sold lots of things on eBay in the past. In fact, I started selling on eBay just a few years after it was created. I had a huge collection of McCoy pottery at the time and when a friend told me she had bought something on eBay, I went there to see if I could find more McCoy. Instead I discovered I could sell it on eBay. This was 1997 and eBay was strictly an auction site. It was so much fun to see people bidding on my stuff! Since then I had sold things here and there and my husband’s pawn shop started to get really into eBay selling.

That’s how Chanticleer Vintage Interiors, my eBay store, came into being. Now, I spend my time scouring yard sales, estate sales, thrift shops and flea markets for antique and vintage collectibles to resell. It’s funny how things happen; all the skills I use in my eBay store–storytelling, persuasive writing, selling, marketing, photography–are skills I acquired in my past life as a copywriter.

But, the creative writer in me is still alive and kicking. So, that is why I’m writing this blog site. Old Thing Love is my way of putting into words what I feel and what I want others to feel about our shared history through the objects we live with, we collect, we love.