We Opened Our Home for an Antique Sale. What We Found Was Community.
Welcome to NorthCapitolHill.com.
After months of building this website, I kept asking myself what the very first story should be.
Should it be about real estate?
About architecture?
About one of my favorite local businesses?
I kept coming back to one weekend at the end of May.
Because that weekend is really about why I love North Capitol Hill in the first place.
When I dreamed up NorthCapitolHill.com, I wanted it to be more than a website. I wanted it to be a place where we celebrate the homes, the history, the businesses, the people, and the little moments that make this neighborhood feel like home.
So it feels only fitting that the first story isn't about buying or selling a house.
It's about opening ours.
A Little Piece of Paris
Every year, Kaleb and I take our annual trip to Paris. We tell ourselves one day at the flea markets will be enough, and every year we laugh because it never is.
Hours disappear as we wander through endless stalls, discovering forgotten treasures with stories still waiting to be told.
Then reality sets in.
Every trip ends the same way: standing at the Delta check-in counter with overweight suitcases, unpacking lamps, mirrors, and artwork while trying to negotiate away a few extra pounds because we couldn't bear to leave that one last find behind.
It's become part of the tradition.
Every year we promise ourselves we'll pack lighter.
Every year we don't.
After a few trips, we started asking ourselves a different question.
What if we could bring a little bit of that feeling back to Seattle?
Living on North Capitol Hill, we're surrounded by history every day. The century-old homes, tree-lined streets, and quiet corners all have stories to tell. It's a neighborhood that appreciates craftsmanship, character, and objects that have already lived a life before arriving here.
We always felt like this community would appreciate the same treasures we fell in love with while traveling.
Turning an Idea Into Reality
Kaleb is a destination event designer by trade and has spent years creating beautiful experiences for people all over the world. More recently, he's poured that same creativity into a staging company, transforming homes with an incredible eye for design.
I'm usually the one who comes up with the crazy ideas.
He's the one who figures out how to make them happen.
After enough convincing from me, he started sourcing antiques months before the event. Estate sales. Antique malls. Online auctions. Flea markets. Every weekend became another treasure hunt.
Our biggest challenge wasn't finding beautiful things.
It was figuring out how many beautiful things to buy.
Would no one show up?
Would our house become a permanent antique warehouse?
Or would we somehow sell everything in the first few hours of what was supposed to be a two-day market?
As it turns out, we worried about both scenarios for nothing.
Why We Opened Our Home
Originally, we searched for an event space.
Then I threw out another one of my ideas.
"What if we just hosted it at our house?"
The more we talked about it, the more it made sense.
Our home sits across from Volunteer Park in one of the most walkable parts of North Capitol Hill. We wanted people to experience these antiques in a real home, not under fluorescent lights in an event hall. We wanted the space to feel collected, warm, and inspiring.
So, on May 29, we opened our front door for our very first antique market.
It was supposed to be a two-day event on May 29 and 30.
By the end of the weekend, we'd restocked the house and added a third day on May 31.
I don't think either of us saw that coming.
One of my favorite memories from the weekend was watching people's expressions as they walked inside.
More than once someone stopped, looked around, and asked,
"Wait... is this a store?"
I smiled every time because, in a way, it felt like we'd brought a tiny corner of the Paris flea markets home to North Capitol Hill.
Kaleb is what we affectionately call a maximalist.
Every corner held another collection. Every shelf had another story. There was always one more thing waiting to be discovered.
The Line Outside the Door
Friday morning arrived.
Then something happened neither of us expected.
There was a line outside.
Within the first hour people were collecting mirrors, lighting, candles, artwork, and small treasures, asking us to hold their finds behind the register while they continued shopping.
Apparently everyone else had been waiting for this idea too.
The Conversations I'll Remember
But what stays with me isn't what sold.
It's the conversations.
Friends stopped by after a birthday brunch, champagne in hand, turning shopping into part of their celebration.
Neighbors we'd never met, even after living just blocks apart, wandered in curious about the crowd gathering outside.
One neighbor smiled and said, "Don't your shoulders just drop when you enter the neighborhood?"
I laughed because I knew exactly what she meant.
Yes.
They absolutely do.
Throughout the weekend we heard the same thing over and over.
"Thank you for bringing the neighborhood together."
That sentence caught me off guard.
Then something else started happening that I wasn't expecting.
Several couples came back the next day because they couldn't stop thinking about a piece they'd seen. They'd gone home, found the perfect place for it, and realized they couldn't stop thinking about it. They came back hoping it was still there.
I loved that.
To me, that's what antiques are all about.
They're not impulse purchases.
They're pieces that become part of your home's story.
Somewhere between the Parisian jazz playing throughout the house, the scent of our handmade candles, the laughter filling every room, and strangers introducing themselves to one another, the antiques quietly became secondary.
People lingered.
They talked.
They laughed.
They met neighbors they'd somehow never crossed paths with before.
The antiques brought people through the front door.
The conversations kept them there.
What Community Really Looks Like
When we moved to North Capitol Hill, we weren't just looking for a beautiful neighborhood.
We were looking for a community.
That weekend reminded me that community doesn't just happen.
Sometimes someone simply has to open the front door.
Join Us for the Next Market
So we're doing it again.
On Friday, August 28, we'll be hosting our next North Capitol Hill Night Market at our home across from Volunteer Park from 3:00 to 7:30 PM. Afterwards, we'll head across the street for a community screening of The Parent Trap on the Volunteer Park Amphitheater Lawn from 7:30 to 10:00 PM.
Whether you come for the market, the movie, or both, I'd love to meet you.
Thank you to every neighbor, friend, and first-time visitor who walked through our front door, shared a story, raised a glass of champagne, or simply spent part of your weekend with us.
You made our first market unforgettable.
And if you've made it to the end of this very first post, thank you.
I have a feeling this is just the beginning.
About Kale Corey
Kale Corey is a Seattle Real Estate Agent who calls North Capitol Hill home and specializes in the neighborhood's historic and architecturally significant homes. He serves on the boards of the Volunteer Park Trust and the 15th Avenue Business Improvement Area and is a member of the Capitol Hill Historical Society.
Want to talk about North Capitol Hill? Whether you're considering buying, selling, or simply have questions about the neighborhood, I'd love to connect. Schedule a consultation or give me a call at 425.358.0623.