About Us
Chelsey Brown is the founder of City Chic Decor, a guide to stylish rental and budget-friendly decor, and is globally recognized for her work in genealogy returning lost heirlooms back to family members and descendants.
Chelsey recognized the significant lack of content around rental decor and created her blog to reduce the stigma around rental decorating. City Chic Decor has grown exponentially since its launch in 2017, inspiring Chelsey's debut book, Rental Style, published by Skyhorse Publishing in May 2020. This success was followed by her second book, Shut the Front Door, published by Gibbs Smith in 2023. Chelsey's third book, Make Yourself at Home, is set to be published by Gibbs Smith in Summer 2025.
While thrifting for her blog and books, Chelsey discovered lost heirlooms and has now returned hundreds of heirlooms to families worldwide without compensation or reimbursement. Chelsey has seamlessly blended her passions for family history and interior design, creating a unique approach to storytelling through spaces and objects. This vision led to the creation of Curio Blvd, where she designs unique, meaningful products unlike anything seen before.
Introducing
the "heirloom hunter"
You might think decorating and genealogy don't go together, but for me, they're a perfect match. Whenever I'd stroll through flea markets and spot boxes full of old photos, letters, and stuff like that, it would tug at my heart. I just knew these things belonged with the families they came from. So, in 2021, I decided to start giving them back. I also had a knack for making videos, so I began sharing these heartwarming reunions on TikTok.
A few months down the road, I somehow became known worldwide as the "heirloom hunter."
It turns out I'm the only one doing this on such a huge scale.
Oh, and by the way, I never ask families to pay for shipping or anything like that. I do it all for free.
Now, you might be wondering about the Time Capsule Journal. Well, here's the deal: every family I've returned heirlooms to had one thing in common. They all had someone they loved pass away, and they regretted not asking more questions about their family history. I wanted to show the younger generation just how important it is to ask those questions before it’s too late. Family heirlooms are irreplaceable—even in a world that’s gone completely digital.
