About Toast's Vintage Finds.

Thank you for visiting my small business website! Toast’s Vintage Finds was founded in 2023 and named after Toast, my Dachshund. In 2024 Bagel also joined the team! You can see both dogs shine on my instagram from time to time 🙂

My name is Arjen. I’m 39 years old and live in Utrecht. I specialize in Scandinavian vintage furniture, lighting and home accessories from roughly the 1950s to the 1990s. Most pieces are sourced during my buying trips through Denmark, where I’ve built a network of trusted dealers and private collectors over the years.

The collection ranges from larger furniture such as chairs, tables and sideboards to lighting, ceramics and smaller decorative objects. Some pieces come from well-known designers and manufacturers, while others don’t carry a name at all. For me, quality, craftsmanship and character will always matter more than a label.

How it all started!

The story of Toast’s Vintage Finds began in a way I never expected.

After a long-term relationship came to an end, I found myself moving into a place of my own and furnishing an empty home from scratch. Like most people in that situation, my budget wasn’t exactly unlimited, so I started visiting thrift stores, flea markets, and second-hand shops in search of affordable furniture and home accessories.

What started as a practical solution quickly turned into something I genuinely loved.

I spent countless weekends driving all over the Netherlands, from Groningen in the north to Limburg in the south, visiting tiny village thrift stores, flea markets, hidden warehouses, and everything in between. I never really knew what I’d come home with, and that was exactly what made it so much fun. Every trip felt like a treasure hunt. I loved the drive, meeting people with interesting stories, and finding pieces that everyone else had overlooked. Best part? I did it all in a very tiny Volvo!

At first, everything I bought was simply for my own home. But friends and family kept asking where I found my furniture, and visitors often admired the pieces I had collected. One day, after replacing a wall lamp with another find, I decided to put the old one up for sale on Marktplaats.

It sold almost immediately.

That’s when the thought crossed my mind:

“What if I could turn this into a business?”

How it's going.

Three years later, that little idea has grown into Toast’s Vintage Finds.

These days, I hardly thrift anymore. I sometimes miss those spontaneous treasure hunts, but over the years my taste has become much more focused. Instead of buying a little bit of everything, I now specialise in Scandinavian design, with a particular love for Danish furniture and lighting from the mid-century period.

Every 10 to 12 weeks I travel to Denmark myself to source new pieces. I handpick every item you see in the collection, looking for furniture with beautiful craftsmanship, honest character, and plenty of life left in it. Once everything arrives back in the Netherlands, each piece passes through my workshop in Vinkeveen. Some only need a careful clean and fresh finish, while others require extensive restoration before they’re ready for their next home. Bringing those pieces back to life is still one of the parts of this business I enjoy most.

Today, Toast’s Vintage Finds has grown into a showroom in Vinkeveen where visitors can experience the collection in person. One of my favourite parts of this work is meeting customers, hearing where a piece is going, and knowing it will become part of someone else’s story. That’s what makes all the early mornings, long drives through Denmark, and hours spent restoring furniture worthwhile.

Toast’s Vintage Finds is very much a one-man business. Every piece you see has passed through my hands. I source the collection, restore the furniture, photograph every item, write the descriptions, build and maintain the website, answer emails, manage the administration, pack orders, organise transport, and help customers find the right piece for their home. It’s a lot of work, but it also means I know the story behind every item that leaves the showroom.

I have to admit, I’m not doing everything entirely on my own. ChatGPT has become a pretty reliable colleague when it comes to writing product descriptions, improving website texts, or helping me untangle the occasional coding headache. Sadly, it still refuses to join me on buying trips to Denmark or help sand a dining table.

Thank you for taking the time to read my story, and thank you for being part of this journey. Whether you’ve bought a piece, sent a message, followed along online, or simply stopped by to have a look, I genuinely appreciate your support. Toast’s Vintage Finds wouldn’t exist without it.

Warm regards,

Arjen, Toast & Bagel

Arjen van der Kevie

🇩🇰 Driving to Denmark since 2023
🛠️ Restoring furniture worth saving
🐶 Toast & Bagel keep me company
📍Showroom & workshop in Vinkeveen
🏡 Living in Utrecht
💼 Building Toast’s Vintage Finds alongside my day job in IT