Lauren Masters
The Antique Garden store borders on organized chaos. Movers rearrange
furniture, packing every available nook and cranny with antiques.
Every inch of the store, including the ceiling, is considered display
space. And in the middle of it all sits Sally Ball, sorting through
hundreds of vintage buttons.
A few minutes later, Ball's mother, Doris Vick, shows up at the
door, maneuvers around the movers and begins to vouch for Ball's
passion for art and, well, redecorating.
"When she was young, I would tell her to clean the house and when
we got home, the entire room would be changed," Vick said.
"They would always come home at night and trip over whatever I had
done," Ball says. "I changed my bedroom every day. Remember that time
I put the bed in the closet?"
Antique Garden bustles with activity, a fitting atmosphere for a
shop that sells everything antique and vintage and will reupholster
furniture within a week after it's dropped off.
"We know what we are doing," Ball said. "Why wait for over a month
for your couch to be upholstered?"
Ball said she is unflappable when it comes to the promises she
makes and the knowledge she brings to her clientele. She has to be,
especially when production studio set designers come to Ball asking
for set and wardrobe pieces that will fit a particular movie's era
and genre.
"Set designers who are paid to know about different time periods
usually end up learning from Sally," Rice said. "I ask her, 'How do
you do it?' And she says, 'I just study a lot.' "
A clock in the store, at 727 S. Victory Blvd., appeared in
"Message in a Bottle." Wardrobe assistants working on "Down With
Love" went through Ball's extensive vintage clothing and settled on
three pieces, including the pink dress Renee Zellweger wore in the
movie's promotional campaign. Ball supplied many of the antiques in
"The Haunted Mansion" and more will appear in the upcoming "Lemony
Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events."
But antiques are only a hobby for Ball, who found a niche in
textile design after her brother pushed her into following her
talent. She designs fabric for clothing lines and does interior
design as well.
"I've done it for everyone -- Ralph Lauren, Mossimo, Billabong,"
Ball said. "I have an entire Hawaiian-shirt collection."
Her interior-design skills include both inside redesigns and
upholstery. Those jobs get done in a week at least, too.
"Sally is very visual, and her style is very recognizable," Rice
said. "She has this ability to take textures, colors and fabrics and
make it work."
Ball loves change, and customers soon find out she keeps
everything in the store moving around. She doesn't have a favorite
antique. She just loves learning about the past.
"We had a kid come in the other day and look at this big desk, and
he kept asking his dad, 'What's this? What's this?' Can you guess
what it was? He had never seen a typewriter!" Ball said. "There is so
much change from the past to the present. I think it's really great.
It's our past, and we learn about our history through it."
