House hunting, like vintage shopping, is oftentimes as frustratingly simple as being in the right place at the right time.

For Michelle and Karim Qazi, that meant spotting their Long Beach, California, house online in 2021 on the first day it was listed.

“My heart was beating so fast and I was like, ‘This is it.’ I knew right away,” says Michelle.

Their midcentury home was originally built in 1957 by architect William Lockett as his own personal residence: It’s a 2,110-square-foot property that’s open and light-filled, with four bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a pool out back. Karim and Michelle’s 12-year-old son, Hamilton, and 9-year-old son, Davis, also reside in the home alongside their pandemic puppy, Chewy.

“The whole indoor/outdoor living was something we knew we had to have,” says Michelle.

“I definitely love the aesthetic, the fact that it's not cookie-cutter, and that there's character,” says Karim. “And would the house look like this without Michelle? Probably not.”

Michelle has a discriminating eye for second acts: her brick-and-mortar vintage furniture store, 6th and Detroit, caters to the art of the find. She got her start perusing estate sales with her then-infant son, Hamilton, in tow in a Babybjorn. She eventually was collecting so much, “our home was becoming almost hoarder status,” she says. “I was like, ‘how about I sell some of this and share the treasures?’”

Eventually, she turned her hobby into an Etsy shop in 2015, which gained enough of an enthusiastic following that she turned it into an actual storefront—6th and Detroit—in Long Beach in 2016.

Michelle describes her aesthetic as consistently inconsistent, an “every-era-all-together” vibe.

Her finds are highlighted throughout their Long Beach house, including an oversized brown velvet sofa, a rattan palm tree light (complete with coconuts), and a 1970s graphic dresser.

“I'm drawn to the curved edges a lot because the home has so many straight lines in the structure of it,” says Michelle. “I just wanted to really just soften that up with having curves in the furniture and the decor and the finishes.”

Despite Michelle’s love of second acts, some home items aren’t quite built for upcycling: mattresses being one of them.

“Vintage doesn't work so much with a mattress,” jokes Karim.

Shop the Look

The couple decided to buy Avocado Green mattresses for their home because they’re handcrafted closeby in California with environmentally conscious and sustainable business practices.

“I love buying vintage because it's one less sofa in the landfill. It's one less chair just being tossed,” she says. “I think Avocado ties in with 6th and Detroit brand because I think we both have this mission to do better for Mother Earth and to do what we can.”

Learn more at avocadogreenmattress.com.

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