Nostalgic Attachment with Gina Reese of Frost Road House

A Seller's Eye

Julian Wright

Frost Road House gets its name from a very special place in the heart of its founder, Gina Reese. “Frost Road House was named after the house I grew up in,” she said. It was built by her dad in perfect “glam seventies” style while her mother decorated it. Growing up going to estate sales, Gina honed a “collector mentality” with help from her mother’s eclectic taste.

“I think so many people that we talk to have a similar experience where it's something from their childhood that really draws them to have this kind of nostalgic attachment to these objects,” said Gina.

After 15 years in the fashion industry and the impact of the pandemic, Gina shifted her focus toward a new project. “I had over-collected personally. And it started by selling off some of my own personal items. And they went really fast. Then I was out and like, oh I love this, but I don't have room for it. Maybe I'll buy it and sell it.

Multiple trips all over the world, seeing trends and curating collections, gave Gina a keen eye for what people might want to buy. “I've kind of been focused on surrounding myself with things that are really special that I love. So I love a good statement piece.”

She is mindful of the spaces people are likely to occupy. Most of her customers live in apartments and Gina says smaller spaces are perfect for a statement piece. Her other trick is a variety of textures. “I try to find items that create textual interest as well as color. I think texture is a very important visual aspect that is easy to translate into a space.”

Since June, Frost Road House’s Instagram has grown to over 4,000 followers as a “lovingly curated collection of found and unique pieces.” Through Instagram, Gina has been able to share more of her personality through the platform and connect with her customers one a more intimate level. In fact, Gina calls her customers clients, highlighting the highly personalized nature of the service she provides.

This intimate connection is embedded into vintage business. As Gina said, “I would say the vintage community, it's like very inclusive, very supportive. You know, everybody spreads the word about everybody, which is really great. And everyone kind of embraced the shop and embraced me in a way that was unexpected. So I've really enjoyed that journey.”

Julian is an independent contributor at Dendwell.

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Dendwell was a rigorously curated marketplace and magazine for vintage decor. From 2020 - 2022, we dug into the trends, tastemakers, and how-to's of vintage object collection. This is our archive site, and is no longer being updated.