Shop The Garage Collective & Vertigo Home In Laguna Beach

LAGUNA BEACH, CA—Two eye-catching boutiques on the inland side of Coast Highway between Bluebird Canyon and Calliope Street are not to be missed when visiting Laguna Beach. The differing aesthetics make for a complimentary, not competitive, browsing experience. The overall feeling after visiting the Garage Collective is sensual, textural. Vertigo Home leaves you enlivened by shape, color and function.

The Garage Collective is housed in a vintage cottage, though the enterprise started as a pop-up in founder Kristin Miracle-Lewis's actual garage. The collective specializes in local, handmade goods and vintage rugs sourced internationally.

Vertigo Home occupies two spaces in the Granada Building, right across the street from the Surf & Sand Resort. Founders Chris Oswalt and Martin Ulrich combine their tastes so that perusing the shop feels a bit like exploring an eccentric yet delightful museum.

Their mutual love of travel, art and design influences everything they select. "Art transforms, delights and inspires our everyday lives," they tell us.

In the larger shop, there's a bar for selecting luxurious wallpapers and upholstery fabric. Nooks and crannies display colorful objects that serve vital functions. With gifts, decorative items, and candles scented like skunk weed, Vertigo has a playful sense of humor—especially in the sassy greeting cards. Barware, books, furniture, lighting, tech, eyewear and more, all reflect the owners' savvy curatorial eye.

Vertigo's second, smaller storefront offers outdoor furniture so enticing it would look great inside, too. The long patio out front is strewn with seating, where the little shop dog is likely to bound over to check you out.

Vertigo opened in 2009, and its website went live the following year. Updated weekly, it's a fun place to do some virtual window shopping.

The Garage Collective came to be in 2015. That's when Miracle-Lewis read "Big Magic" by Elizabeth Gilbert. The Laguna resident had always loved fashion and design, especially interiors, and dreamed about doing ... something. The book compelled her to take action, without hesitation.

"I reached out to a couple extremely talented friends to see if they would be interested in doing pop-ups out of our garages, and the Garage Collective was born."

The little house on Coast Highway became available during the 2016 holiday season, a busy time when caring for two little children. But, still inspired by Gilbert's book, she jumped at the chance. "If I waited for the perfect opportunity at the perfect time, I would be waiting forever," Miracle-Lewis says. "Thank you, Elizabeth Gilbert!"

A collective of artists and makers share the space, inspiring and collaborating on growing their businesses. There's a distinct California vibe. Casual, sensual items for the home and body made by hand. Vintage and global goods add contrast, with thrift-store paintings selling out quickly.

Speaking of holidays, it may be a little early to start thinking about seasonal shopping, but it's the only way to avoid procrastinating.

Don't wait for the perfect moment to explore the uncommon goods in these two uncommon enterprises.