I was introduced to this store when I signed up for a chalk painting class. The class was excellent. Since then I've really enjoyed interactions with the instructor (Karen) and the owner (Donna). Karen was very helpful in providing hands-on training to learn about 4 different techniques for chalk painting. Since taking the class, she has been super responsive and has provided a lot of helpful and creative ideas on how to work with different combinations of colors and waxes, has sent me links to some really interesting furniture, and was kind enough to send me a paint brush I left in the store. Donna has also provided a lot of very helpful advice on painting techniques and how to take care of the brushes and paint to prolong their use. She was very thoughtful in recommending that I buy smaller quantities of some of their products which she felt would be sufficient and, in turn, save the pocketbook. read more

I planned to write a glowing review of this store filled with both new and vintage treasures, but my experience was disappointing. The male shopkeeper was initially pleasant when I asked about a pillow. My husband joined me, and we decided the pillow's colors didn't match our decor. As we browsed, the atmosphere felt unwelcoming. Upon leaving, I thanked him, but he responded with a side-eye, glare, and silence. It's clear only potential buyers are welcome. This is unfortunate, as I'm renovating my home and this store could have been ideal. I'll take my business elsewhere, as snobbery doesn't boost sales. Why would anyone want negative energy associated with their purchase? No thanks. read more

Specialty gifts for someone special or moments to make your home beautiful. This place has the most interesting items that will make you come back. Recommend! read more

When Modern Was - Amazing items. - Home Decor Near Me - San Francisco, California

Great store for unique items and beautiful reclaimed furniture that has been painted uniquely. Everyone working here is fantastic! Definitely worth checking out. read more

This boutique always has the cutest items from furniture to knick knacks & mostly San Francisco branded or locally made just like the store owner Dona, born & raised San Franciscan homegirl who loves sharing her love for the City & love of dogs giving all the pups a little treat the neighborhood dogs love coming in as much as their owners love shopping here #supportsmallbusiness #supportlocal #homegrown read more

Have been buying things here since they were back on Church Street. The shop has a lovely, idiosyncratic, beautifully curated selection of one-of-a-kind furniture and decorative objects, especially vintage glassware. All reasonably priced. Always delightful to visit and a great place for buying gifts. read more

Really cool stuff and great staff working here. Go and check it out. We always leave with something!

Really cute store with neat stuff that you don't find anywhere else. Great place to buy a gift for someone. Person at the store was very welcoming and very helpful. Would definitely return. read more

I just live this little boutique. Dona has amazing pieces from all over. She's such a great person to chat with. I'm so happy to have found this little gem ... one page leads to another on IG and now I'm a forever customer! read more

When Modern Was - Home Decor Near Me - San Francisco, California

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I'm so glad I don't live next to this store because if I did I'd buy EVERYTHING. Dona and Dona are awesome. Period. Picked up a French daybed today and I'm loving it more than I love the lack of traffic during quarantine. All you shabby-chic/antique/cottage lovers out there, this is a public service announcement: GO TO THIS STORE AND SUPPORT THIER BUSINESS NOW! read more

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Yes , this store is amazing . Really fun stuff & the dressers , tables , cabinets and the restored furnishing are in such great condition & reasonably priced . Donna , the owner , very knowledgeable and has been in business in Noe Valley , for over two decades . Also lovely glassware from NY and really nice jewelry. Stuff changes fast , worth checking out regularly. . read more

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Love this store it has a nice selection of new and vintage pieces. Local crafted jewelry, pillows, and household furniture. I bought my first chalk paint and Donna was so nice to give me tips and my daughter couldn't be happier with mom's old dresser (new to her in white) read more

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I absolutely adore this store. I visited for the first time during the holidays a year ago and have revisited a few times since. Not once have I left without a purchase. Their selection of home goods and trinkets is unique and beautifully styled. The best part of all is that just about everything is affordable! A great place for gifts or a little something special for yourself. read more

I have passed by this store many times but have not yet made a visit. Today was the day that I needed to find a gift for a bridal shower since my original gift was damaged. My hope was not high and I was completely wrong! I literally walked into a antique heaven. There were so many unique pieces. I decided the ask for opinion. The lady in the store at that time took her time to share the backgrounds of some of the pieces to me. With the information that she shared , I decided on getting an antique decanter with a crystal lid from Italy. She was so kind to gift wrapped it for me. This store is absolutely a gem in Noe Valley! I would highly recommend it to anyone that is a fan of antique pieces for home decor. read more

I like this little unique shop. I like all things pretty and there they have it all. I enjoy spending time here. The owner is nice to have a conversation. Although it could take time if she is talking to someone if you just want to pay and go. But it is not always about doing everything in a hurry when you can just slow down and enjoy every moment. I find people who walk into this store interesting and at the end we made a great conversation with the owner and a lady who had a mad sense of humor. I appreciate a sense of style this place has. read more

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Absolutely adore this store's furniture - bright pink dressers, gorgeous Hollywood Regency mirrors, smatterings of Mid-Century Modern, Turquoise storage cabinets. Browsing similar items on Etsy for my current flat in DC... (And whimsically dreaming about affording the furniture here / shipping it to the East Coast... just wish their website showed more inventory!) :) read more

I was taken by all of the fabulous garage-sale-style swirly vintage finds featured in the front window, and so I dragged my partner in to see what world of fabulous finds I might discover inside... I liked so many things that I saw....until I checked the price tags!!! WOW. This place is OUTRAGEOUS!!!! Now I get it. Their buyer goes to other people's garage sales, buys their old crap, and sells it at high-end boutique prices. So, to be clear, other people's old junk for lots more money than it's worth. What a scam. I'll stick to the garage sales in the Castro. read more

This place is a joke. I will never ever come back! My boyfriend and I went in here hoping to pick up the picture frame I saw two weeks before. There was a lady standing behind the counter and one going in and out of the stockroom. I believe she was the owner. She was helping another older couple and telling them where she gets her inventory. They never once acknowledge our presence in the store. Just when we were about to walk out, we over heard the owner trying to sell a dog to the other couple. She mentioned it was made in Korea and said she was shocked because she always thought Koreans ate their dogs! WTF!? We were so turned off by her ignorance because my boyfriend is actually Korean. The couple she was helping was also in shock that she would say such a thing in front of customers. What an idiot!!! BTW-you can pick up 1/2 the stuff she sells at the Alameda flea market every first Sunday of the month for a third of the price! Screw this place. read more

Slightly off the beaten path lies a store that is two! One half being the eclectic When Modern Was. A treasure trove of trinkets and artsy merchandise. Proprietor Dona is really a doll to talk with and has lots of stories to tell. She shares this retail space with Susan, owner of Independent Nature, a garden store. What a great combination! What a very San Francisco experience. read more

Oh man.. this store is going to get into trouble! If you like rustic chic decor then this is place for you. They have BEAUTIFUL pieces from living room decor, furniture, kitchen essentials, vases, pictures, paper good, jewelry and more! Some items can be expensive but they have AWESOME sales so look out for those. They also have a store just a few doors down called When Modern was 2. Make sure to check that place out too! The people that work there are so friendly and helpful but not overly pushy. IF you are in the area, i would recoomend stopping by read more

LOVE this place! I've lived in Noe Valley for many years and used to pass this place but never went in. But after a few months of obsessively watching HGTV's Fixer Upper and falling in love with the style of those homes I decided to stop in one day. This place has an amazing variety of vintage, new, refurbished, and unique pieces from furniture and art to small decorations and household decor. It's almost impossible to not buy at least one thing when walking in here. They are also one of the only stores in the area to carry a full stock of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint. I'm new to chalk paint, but recently painted my bathroom vanity and had my kitchen cabinets painted with this paint and now it looks like I have a remodeled kitchen and bathroom. Donna (I think she might be the owner?) is such a lovely woman -- incredibly helpful, friendly, outgoing, has great suggestions, and knows so much about the pieces in the store and has great tips and advice for using chalk paint to get the best results. If you also want to outsource your chalk paint job to get a professional look, ask in the store for Jaden, she painted my kitchen cabinets and did an amazing job. If you're looking for something unique and reasonably priced to make your place more your own style, this place is definitely worth a visit! read more

When you walk in here, it's a must see. If you love mid century modern furniture, this is the place to shop. You'll find dresser drawers, jewelry, clocks, drinking glasses, soaps, mirrors, some art work, etc. The staff was extremely friendly, and Donna is so funny. read more

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Some really unique furniture pieces - worth checking out!

I keep passing this place as I stroll through 24th ST running errands on the weekend. I need to walk in one of these days, especially after seeing this highly desirable secretary's desk! read more

I stopped in here today to pick up some Annie Sloan chalk paint. Of course I poked around a little while there. Super cute, vintage, upcycled, eclectic things. I found the prices reasonable for the work that had gone into the pieces. I just want to address the people who say this place is overpriced because "you can get the same stuff at a flea market for way less." Well yeah, of course you can - BEFORE all the work goes into upcycling said stuff. You can find awesome vintage pieces in need of TCL for dirt cheap and rehab them yourself - that's what I do, hence being in there shopping for chalk paint. What you CAN'T reasonably do is expect to buy an already upcycled piece that's been cleaned up, repaired as necessary, and painted with chalk paint (that costs $40/QUART) for the same price as a flea market piece in rough shape. That's not only unrealistic, it's unfair. Time and money (and talent) have gone into refurbishing the pieces in that shop, and they are allowed to price accordingly. People who compare the pieces you can purchase here to raw flea market finds are comparing apples and oranges. Okay, stepping off my soap box now! :) Overall great little place. read more

Oh goodness...super cute store that had exactly what I needed for a project I was working on. It's one of those places that has so much neat stuff that you could spend an hour just browsing through it. However, the store really really needs to make sure it has thoroughly trained its associates. I've worked retail and know what a pain some sales software is and how uncomfortable it can be to check someone out, and I have a lot of empathy and try to be very patient when someone has trouble ringing me up. But when I came in on Friday morning (4/28) I was shocked that the person working the register seemed to have NO idea how to operate the square reader checkout system they use and had no supervision from someone who does know how to use it. The person was sweet and I felt bad for her that she was struggling, but I mostly feel bad that she was not adequately trained to do her job. read more

This place is okay, but I don't love it. The women who work there are sometimes nice, and sometimes sort of rude. Their stuff is not particularly original and I think it's way too overpriced. If you're looking for "vintage" looking stuff, I recommend you go to the Alemany Flea Market on Sundays for cooler, cheaper, and more unique items. This is a good place to go to get inspiration for decorating or to go in and think "I could find it cheaper and better." I also feel like a lot of their stuff is "shabby chic," which I think slang for "old and peeling." read more

Great little spot in Noe with adorable, yet affordable stuff (especially the furniture!). The ladies that work here are super nice and really helpful. I went in the other day and the woman working gave me all kinds of great tips on decorating (shes an interior designer as well). Would definitely make a visit if you're looking for some unique, shabby-chic furniture. read more

It's interesting to read the unhappy reviews because they don't match my experience at all. I'm not about to go to flea market with a truck buy a piece of furniture and bring it to my home and finish paint it so it looks modern, fresh and interesting. Instead I stopped in this store and found several amazing pieces with great prices. This was way more fun! read more

I have been looking for a store that sells chalk paint in San Francisco for a year now. Not chalk board paint - chalk paint from Annie Sloan - the kind you use to up-cycle furniture. I found When Modern Was on the Annie Sloan website. They're selling the full line and classes! I signed up for a class with the woman who is the "stockist" for the chalk paint - Karen. They have the classes in the backroom. Kind of a small space, but there were only two of us, so we fit. I learned the basics, enough to get me started. Karen is very funny and we got hands-on practice on sample boards. I wanted to work on a nightstand or something bigger, but I guess the space is too small. The class lasted about 2 hours and I felt it covered everything I needed to know, and Karen answered questions on the project I'm working on, so that was a big help. After class I bought paint, brushes and wax and I was set. The stuff is not cheap, but the can I bought did my aunt's decrepit dresser and I only used about a third of it. Better than Anthropologie. Now I'm hunting for something else to paint! The furniture they sell at When Modern Was is beautiful, and a great example of what you can achieve if you take the class - you'll find treasures all over SF once you see what you can do with them! read more

I spoke to Dona on the phone regarding an item I intended to purchase. She texted a photo of the the item to me and told me she had an additional item I may like and promised to send it later (she did not send). On Friday I told her I'd be in on the weekend to make the purchase. On Saturday, 24 hours after speaking and texting with her, I arrived at the store. She greeted me by saying "I never said I would hold the item for you. I just sold it.". Not sure if I was more shocked that she sold the item we spoke about OR that she wasn't wearing a mask inside a retail store. True, she never agreed to hold the item for me (we never even talked about that - how many people are in the market for a paper mâché rabbit head?!) but she did have my number and could have easily called before selling it to someone else. I love shopping locally, but will buy something similar on Etsy and not return to this store. read more

The gals who own/run this darling vintage shop have a tude and vibe which is more Union Street than Church Street, I don't like it, but they do have great taste. I bought something there recently which I will love forever. I'll be back for sure, with hopes that they soften up their approach and pour on the charm. read more

Lots of vintage furniture somewhat French country. Really great art some of which is local. My husband likes the framed vintage comic book posters of Noe Valley and surrounding areas, funny and unique. My friend found a turquoise (blue) antiqued parsons table for about $300. Yes, pricey but the pieces are great. Nice staff. read more

I love what the store has to offer. It has unusual, creative and unique items for Home Accessories, Furniture Art and Jewelry. They represent local artists both in furniture and wall art. In a world where nothing is unique anymore here is a store tastefully filled with the unusual. I thoroughly enjoyed staying longer than I intended perusing all there was to see. read more

Interesting store, but I purchased a necklace for $175 (less 10%) that I found today in another local boutique for $115. I am a retailer and believe in a healthy mark up, but this is hugely overpriced and I will definitely not return. read more

Was there and loved the adorable Baby themed window.. the new Chalkboard furniture pces are very hip according to some design mags. Especially like the fact pces are for different rooms eg bed,dining/kithen/office. What great imagination! I always enjoy the touch the owners use in mixing era and finishes in such a stylish way. Ain't your Grandma's ordinary consign gallery, for sure! Hope they stay true to their roots with so many tasteful finds! read more

Now that this charming gem of a store has only one terrific owner, it is truly a pleasure and a treat to shop here. Dona Taylor is extremely friendly and personable. She lets you enjoy perusing the wonderful hand chosen items and goes out of her way to assist you. AND soon When Modern Was will share the space with another business that will sell plants, honey and various garden supplies. I can't wait. read more

OK, this is my dream store. Walking in here is like being in Candy-Land! The vintage jewelry is hand-picked by someone who clearly knows beauty and style. Its all gorgeous, high-quality, and in fantastic colors. I wore a piece to a wedding recently and no one could take their eyes off of it. They have gloves, scarves, bags, and earrings, all either vintage or handmade by independent designers. The furniture, pillows, wall hangings and accessories are all one-of-a-kind. You will not find this merchandise on 24th street! Its a small space but filled with so many beautiful and unusual things that you can spend an hour and still discover something new. read more

An excellent choice for fun shopping, even if you didn't know you needed something! Lovely art, reasonably priced prints with San Francisco overtones, tasteful mirrors and the best lamps at great prices. Good decor touches for all sorts of tastes. And bonus points: they support animal protection, SPCA fundraisers, rocket dog rescue. Their heart is in the right place, and I buy something nice at least once a month. read more

I really enjoyed my experience in this shop. The women working the counter was nice, helpful and very patient. I thought the prices were very reasonable and not overpriced. Great variety and mostly one-of-a-kind items. I'm headed back for sure. read more