A cozy nook in Hannah’s home showcases her favorite Saladino chair and some of her most-loved pieces—green foo dogs, Delft candlesticks and her husband’s beloved fish plate.
Hannah Deely has spent her whole career on a treasure hunt, sharing fashion finds with the readers of titles like Us Weekly, Cosmopolitan, Good Housekeeping, Seventeen and right here in our style pages. Now Hannah has turned her latest obsession—scouting out truly unique vintage decor for her home—into a business.
Her online store, Plover House, proclaims, “Clutter is Classy,” and Hannah’s form of “clutter” truly is. There are cast-iron bulldog bookends from the 1920s ($297), a hand-painted ceramic swan planter made in Portugal in the 1970s ($89), an enchanting wooden horse on wheels from Great Gramma’s toy chest ($167), gilt and painted Florentine wood trays ($49–$63), brass lion candlesticks for your favorite Leo ($149), plus many more candlesticks, glasses and knickknacks of the most tasteful variety.
Hannah with her trusty sidekick, George
To add to the shopping fun, Hannah has noted when each treasure was “born” and has conjured up a “House Fable” for each, because vintage pieces beg to have their stories told. For the swan: “She lived on a sunburnt kitchen table, holding carnations for a lady who smoked Virginia Slims and believed dinner was optional. The swan saw everything and judged nothing—except plastic flowers.” Hannah’s favorite is the tale of a lone brass crane bookend: “They were married for 20 years. In the divorce, they split everything evenly—especially the bookends.”
The site is divided by “houses.” The Yore House showcases vintage items in four categories: Glass, Ceramic, Wood and Metal. The Guest House has new items, like Mole Hollow candles and artsy One & Only Paper matchbooks. Our House offers Plover House products like “Clutter is Classy” tote bags.
ROYAL DELFT
Blue Bird of Paradise Plate Charger, $269
WESTMORELAND
Blue & White Glass Argonaut Candy Dish, $225
ANDERSEN DESIGN STUDIO
Pair of Ceramic Seagulls, $155
VINTAGE
Small Ceramic Foo Dogs, $135
PALLADIO
Italian Wood Carved Wall Sconce, $149
World War I
Trench Artillery Brass Shell Casings, $590
ANTIQUE
Wood-and-Brass Claw Foot Cribbage Board, $239
MOLE HOLLOW
Sand Trio 10” Dripless Candles, $17
PEREIRAS
Ceramic Swan Planter, $89
Vignette
featuring a vintage wooden sea captain, hand-carved wooden box and a ceramic swan
ONE & ONLY PAPER
Tropical Sunset Birds Printed Matchbook, $5
YSTAD METALL
Lily Brass Candlesticks,$269
PLOVER HOUSE
Signature Motto Totes, $42
During her childhood in New Hampshire, Hannah tagged along with her dad to flea markets and yard sales. “My grandmother was that way, he’s that way, and I think it was just passed down,” says Hannah, who spent 18 months building the site, taking all the photos and crafting the stories that breathe life into each of her finds. She launched the site in February. Three years before that, she never could have imagined this fanciful venture unfolding.
At that time, Hearst had a massive layoff, and the job Hannah loved was eliminated.
“I felt lost and just really sad,” she says. “My whole life was finding things, and I love the thrill of finding an item for people and sharing it in the [magazine] pages. I still had that instinct, that need to discover the cool, the unexpected, the special, so I started going to auctions and flea markets, hunting for vintage and antique home décor for myself. People kept asking, ‘Where do you find all of this?’”
With Plover House, everyone now has access to Hannah’s style sense and knack for discovering conversation pieces—and at palatable prices, too.
Items on the site range from $5 (the matchbooks) to $689 (a Danish Aluminia candlestick vase). This reflects a trend: Minimalism is out. “More is more. Everyone is layering. There are so many talented designers, so much color and mixing and matching everything,” she says, and that goes for cost, too. “You can find something for a dollar and mix it with something for a thousand dollars.”
Her favorite items? The Regency-style ginger jar ($297) and the dolphin koi dish ($179).
The Plover House “Bakery” offers Hannah’s brown-butter chocolate chip cookies. She happens to be a licensed cottage baker. “I believe I’ve mastered the chocolate chip cookie,” she says. What a perfectly sweet—and fleeting—end to any shopping spree. ploverhouse.com; @ploverhouseshop