"Long Island Vintage" | Newsday Lifestyle Article

Newsday Article by Lara Ewen says “Interior design trends from the past come back again and again. Even as styles change, certain looks, such as midcentury modern, or 1920s Art Deco, continue to hold sway in our collective consciousness. However, for a few devoted design aficionados, the past is boldly present in their everyday lives.

Sueey Gutierrez’s Massapequa Bohemian

Gutierrez sits on her bright blue couch while other vintage furniture and accessories surround her.

(Credit: Veronique Louis)

Artist Sueey Gutierrez, 30, has been living in her 300-square-foot, one-bedroom, one-bath home in Massapequa for just under a year, but it’s filled with a collection that’s been years in the making. A sunburst mirror from Home Goods hangs over a desk used as a televesion stand that she rescued from the trash. “It belonged to a neighbor who was a veteran of World War II,” she says. “There’s a dresser that matched the desk, which I’m currently restoring, and I even kept some of the items in the desk, like his fountain pens, ink - which is still fresh - and slides from his travels.”

Below is a blue vintage couch, decorated with two colorful flower pillows, and one pillow of a Frida Kahlo piece. On the wall above the couch are artworks with gold vintage frames.

(Credit: Veronique Louis)

 

Along one wall, is a blue velvet couch from the 1800s is brightened with colorful pillows. Over the couch is a wall of frames painstakingly found, one by one, at thrift stores, through friends, garage sales, and flea markets.

A red couch with a lamp up against a matching red curtain. On the left of the couch is Sueey's name going down the curtain in bright light cutouts.

(Credit: Veronique Louis)

 

Along the opposite wall, a 1970s wicker peacock chair sits next to an Italian red glass lamp from the 1930s.

Much of her furniture is antique, from the 1800s or early 20th century, but she also brings in textiles and fabrics from El Salvador, which is where her family is from. Most of her bedroom furniture is from the 1920s, although there is a circa-1975 mirror.

 
A glass vial with a blue spherical shape on top has an attached black pump to use for application. The atomizer sits on top of a brown wooden table.

(Credit: Veronique Louis)

 

She collects vintage beauty supplies. “I have atomizers, some of which are Italian, from the 1930s,” she says. “There’s also a brush set from the late ‘50s or early ‘60s.”

In a gold frame lies Sueey's jewelry featuring hands, lips, and snakes earrings, along with other gold and brightly color earrings on display.

(Credit: Veronique Louis)

 

She collects retro jewelry, too.

The brightly lit room has vintage set of chairs with polka dot fabric, a blue couch, a woven chair with a blanket on top, and console with a TV on top, a gold mirror above the tv, with gold frames of artwork on the side. On the far left is a cabinet.

(Credit: Veronique Louis)

Gutierrez says “old Hollywood glamour and pinups have been two of her biggest influences. “It’s not a retro inspired home,” she says. “It’s a retro styled life.””

Sueey Gutierrez