All-star Prop Houses To Visit For All Of Your Prop Sourcing Needs
Banner Photo of Prop Up Shop by Justin Tsucalas
The Prop Up Shop team and I share our favorite prop houses in the US plus a few we’re eyeing to visit, along with pro tips for making the most of your sourcing experience. Read all the way to the bottom for a free gift from us to the world!
Running from store to store, scouring the interwebs for online goodies, pouring over thrift shop shelves – the life of a freelance prop stylist can be a sourcing nightmare. BUT, a visit to a well-stocked prop house is like a dream come true.
Having a one-stop-shop of a thoughtfully curated collection of rentable props – sometimes even organized by color, size and type of object – can make sourcing items for photo shoots so much easier, more streamlined, and save hours upon hours of time. Having this option is particularly great when you’re traveling for a shoot in an unfamiliar city with little time to spend running around sourcing. Before I started Prop Up Shop I spent most of my time driving around last minute to shopping malls, big box stores and praying that my etsy order arrived before shoot day. A few years ago on a scouting trip to NYC I visited several Prop Houses and was floored!. From the East coast to the West coast, New York to LA, we’re sharing our favorites.
Prop Haus
(New York, NY)
It wasn’t until I made a trip to visit to Prop Haus in 2019 that I fully understood how such a place could not only save valuable pre- production time, but also provide endless prop options and, in turn, styling possibilities that ultimately elevated my work. They not only have a great selection of table and flatware perfect for food styling but also carry dozens of modern and retro seating options that would be great for an interior stylist. Prop Haus also books an attached photoshoot studio space that I had the pleasure of working in twice with photographer Shirley Yu! An absolute must-visit for photo shoot stylists of all kinds in the NYC area.
Lost & Found Props
(New York, NY)
One of the largest prop rental houses in New York City, Lost and Found has expanded from their first location in Manhattan and has opened a second prop rental space in Brooklyn! Their combined collections span more that 18,000 square feet while ranging from tabletop props, furniture, linens, art, surface rentals, and more for photo & film productions. The surface collection particularly stands out with the way they allow you to filter by color on their site. Fun fact: Lost and Found was found(ed) over two decades ago by Robyn Glaser Warren, a prop stylist and set designer extraordinaire. Her personal style and the collection have a mid-century modern focus, which we love!
Prop + Surface + Studio Workshop
(New York, NY)
This workshop trifecta is another incredible resource for prop stylists, food stylists, and really any commercial photo and film industry professionals in the five NYC boroughs. Prop Workshop alone covers 7,000 square feet and includes prop categories as niche as bird cages and trophies! The adjacent 2,000 square foot Studio Workshop is a dream photo studio space with a full set kitchen perfect for food and beverage clientes: #goals! And the icing on their cake is that their Surface Workshop a few floors below houses more than 1,000 unique handmade surfaces for rent. This might just be the prop stylist Mecca.
The Proppe Shop
(Austin, TX)
Stephanie Bohn, a prop stylist based in Austin, Texas, runs The Proppe Shoppe, as well as her own creative practice. She connected with me on instagram during the pandemic and we realized that we had similar stories in how we both started collecting and building an inventory because there weren’t other prop rental resources available in our areas. Her prop collection and hand made surfaces cater to food and beverage photoshoots. If you’re in Austin for a shoot, you know where to find props + surfaces.
PRETTY PROP RENTAL
(Portland, OR)
Friend and fellow prop/interior stylist Kira Corbin runs The Pretty Prop + Surface Rental out of the back of her boutique home goods shop in Portland, Oregon. Her for-sale collection Pillar Home Goods features handmade ceramics and linens that she has curated from her favorite artisans in the US and abroad.
5 Prop Houses On Our Must-Visit List
(London, England)
Supplying props and backgrounds for food, interior, lifestyle and product shoots.
(Melbourne, Australia)
A curated collection of contemporary, modern, designer & vintage props.
(Chicago, IL)
The Midwest's largest prop house, renting unique props for film, television, stage productions, commercials, photography, events, and more
(Detroit, MI)
A small, but growing prop + surface library filled with everything from eclectic to classic; from contemporary to vintage.
(Los Angeles, CA)
Tabletop prop house with attached daylight photo studio and prep kitchen, specializing in unique and handmade tableware, still life and surfaces.
5 Pro Tips to make the most of your prop house experience
Contact the Prop House before showing up. Just like at Prop Up Shop, most prop rental houses have their own unique hours and accept guests by appointment only. Be sure to double check if this is the case before arriving!
Have an idea of what kinds of items you need before you start sourcing. Bring a sourcing list, art direction package, or mood board along with you to make the most of your pre-production time.
Bring a small tape measure to know how big your props and surfaces are. Not everything will be labeled, it's on you to know what will fit in and out of your vehicle safely and what will work with the size/scope of your production.
Organize your prop pull on a table or in front of the surfaces or backgrounds you're thinking of using and snap a photo for reference. For this little vignette, it's not necessary to style your shot, but having a photo that captures all of the props you plan to use in your shoot in advance of the actual shoot day(s) will help both you and your client know whether the color palette and pieces fit the art direction that’s been decided for the production. There’s nothing worse than showing up to a shoot with props that don’t fit the vibe.
Read the rental agreements carefully for instructions on how long you can have the item(s) and what fees may apply for late returns as well as lost or damaged items.
Have you ever searched for a definitive list or index of prop houses?
Welp, look no further! We’ve decided since we couldn’t find one we would make one. And guess what?! It’s absolutely free to download from our shop. This is a living breathing document that we will add to when we find new prop houses. If you own a prop house or know of one that is not part of our list please kindly leave us a comment with the name, website, location and what you like most about the particular prop house. Happy Sourcing to you all!
