Community Highlights: Meet Chelsea Gilliland of Two of Cups Vintage

Today we’d like to introduce you to Chelsea Gilliland.

Hi Chelsea, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
My boyfriend, Dawson, and I have bonded over vintage furniture and clothing ever since we first began dating. We are complete shopaholics and spend almost every weekend at different vintage pop-ups and stores. My favorite clothing pop-up is @funkyahboutique_ on Instagram. She has the coolest clothes I’ve ever seen! My favorite clothing store and place, in general, is @mirrormirrornetwork on Instagram. The vibes are immaculate. We also spend a lot of time at vintage furniture stores like Dashwood.

The only problem for us is how expensive all of the vintage furniture is. Because I am in a band, I have a tour van! One day while on the Facebook marketplace, I saw the coolest vintage couch set that I had ever seen. Unfortunately, it was located in St. Louis, MO. Then, it hit me! I have a van, I love road trips, I love vintage furniture, and I love spending time with Dawson – why not combine all of it? And that’s how Dawson and I decided to start our vintage furniture store, “Two of Cups.” We spent 19 hours driving all over the country on our first day of starting the business. I rented a storage unit where we currently keep all of our furniture.

But we hope to someday be able to sell it in a storefront! Our goal is really to bring vintage furniture to life. We want to use our social media not only to sell the furniture but to tell the stories of each piece and its previous owners. That way, our customers know where their furniture is coming from. It brings humanity back to the furniture!

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Our 19-hour travel day was tough! We left at 7 am and got home at 2 am. I remember when there was just an hour left of our drive I turned to Dawson and said, “Should we maybe pull over and sleep.” And he was like, “yea, it’s not safe for me to be driving.”

Right as we were pulling over I was hit with a burst of energy and somehow was able to push through the last hour of the drive. Also, one of the back doors on my van broke and just will not open, so that has made it difficult to load furniture in and out.

Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Two of Cups Vintage?
Our vintage furniture store is different than any other store in Nashville because we take the time to learn where our furniture is coming from. We learn about the previous owner and share their story on our social media. That way, our customers know where their furniture is coming from.

I think the scariest part of buying vintage furniture is the unknown. I am very into energy, chakras, crystals, yoga, etc., and can strongly pick up on other people’s energy. We don’t ever want to sell furniture with negative energy attached to it. That is why we take the time to learn about the previous owner. This way, our customers will only have a positive energetic experience.

We also bring the furniture to the customer! Our social media includes photos and dimensions of each piece, so our customers can measure their space and make sure it will fit. For a small delivery fee, we will drive the furniture to the customer, or they can pick it up if they prefer.

We’d love to hear about how you think about risk-taking.
Starting the company in general felt like a big risk. We invested a good amount of money and time into purchasing the pieces and driving all over the country. I wouldn’t call myself a “risk taker” but I guess I could be seen as one. I’ve spent my whole life working in the music industry and that in itself is kind of a “risk.”

Simply because there’s not a whole lot of money to be made in music anymore since music consumers technically “rent” songs now instead of buying them. With the rise of streaming services and all. But building an artist brand feels a lot like starting a business.

I used my music industry knowledge and applied it to starting our vintage store. Building my artist brand taught me a lot about marketing and social media and that knowledge has been very useful for our store.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.twoofcupsvintage.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/twoofcupsvintage/
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@twoofcupsvintage

Image Credits
Kenzie Maroney