Category: Shoppin’ and Junkin’

Estate Sale + Binge

I’ve been having some tech problems lately…so posting has been a bit like this….

Via Market Like a Chick

 

To quote my new best friend Lance at the Genius Bar, I need a “bigger house” since I’ve outgrown mine.  New hard drive and RAM are on the way and, fingers crossed, I should be back in bidness.

As I was feeling very frustrated, and a tiny bit sad that summer is over, I did what all normal people do.  Excercise, Mediate, Garden Fry up something that will likely kill me.  Isn’t that how everyone rolls?  No?!  Hunh.

It’s probably been 5 years since I ate one of these things, but when you get that wild haired craving, sometimes you just have to give in.

We made a freaking onion blossom….and it was delicious in all its greasy glory.

We followed this recipe pretty closely and it came out great. We opted for a chipotle sauce rather than a ranch style one.  The Things, who are normally onion averse, loved it and demanded we make it more often.  The old batter and fry trick works every time.

After recovering from greasapalooza, I hit an estate sale and found this little bit of fun….

 

I’m trying to decide what to name it…Crazy Clara (clarinet), or perhaps (H)oboe?  This abstract reed instrument seems to need a name….we must think….

 

Rainy Days and Beds

The monsoon has arrived, so we are stuck inside again on another wet and grey day.

I’ve been wanting to revisit the bedroom linens, and this is what I always thought I wanted…but alas, too $$$$….

Image via Wallter/Fold Bedding site

Plus, I can’t abide wool next to my skin..it makes me itch and tweak like a junkie.  So this is horrendously impractical for me on all fronts.  I still want it to appear in my life for $100 made of cotton or linen though. I love the simplicity and clean lines. Girl’s gotta dream….

I’m really gravitating toward the old style bedmaking where the bedspread covers up all your pillows and box springs neatly…like my bed growing up actually.

Let’s revisit some popular beds and drool together, whatcha say?  OK then…..

Image via Marie Claire Maison

and of course….

Same room, new treatment…..

Both images via erin martin design

Washed linen coverlet over the duvet?

image of Ace Hotel via Commune Design

Being one of the only people who have yet to be hip and hang at this joint….I never noticed (in the photos) the grommets on the bedspread edge.  I could just get a giant canvas dropcloth and get the same budget friendly feel…

Let’s look again….

While this looks like cotton canvas, their linens and their throw are “painters linen” with a little style sewn on…  I could buy painters linen here or here, although not as inexpensively as cotton canvas.  Ace patrons, feel free to chime in your tactile textile experience here.

That brings us to patterns.  Where are the patterns? I kinda liked the trends of the suzani coverlet, and the Morrocan wedding blanket, but I need practical applications, and most of the color I see that I like isn’t durable/washable/affordable/whateverable enough for me.

Maybe I could conjure a Pucci coverlet….something like this?  If only…

Image via Yanamish Style

What about using this Marimekko Koski fabric to make a coverlet?

Image via Finnish Gifts

And this is silk…and completely impractical.

image via interiors magazine via Coco and Kelley

I feel certain if I went that busy on my bed, I’d become a jittery crankenstein within a few weeks.  If I go with a pattern, maybe it would be best to design my own?

Besides…as fall approaches, I’ll go back to wanting furry goodness…like Rachel.

photo via Apartment Therapy/ Rachel Zoe’s house

And those Missoni sheets too…I still really love it.

More pillow/boxspring covering…..

Image via Design Crisis

 

Image via Nuevo Estilo

More tidy pillow hiding….with fur.

Last winter, I tried to find a faux furry throw matching my existing one so I could sew them together to recreate the above looks, but I never found it.

I am starting to think I should just head to Lowe’s/Home Depot and pick up a dropcloth or two and hide my pillows and box springs without breaking the bank.  I need mulch anyway.

Hmmmm….I’ll rearrange some furniture and mull this over…..

Late Follow-Up + News

Sorry for the amount of time it has taken me to follow up on the Brimfield fail.…I won’t bore you with excuses.

So my take away after 6 hours of tramping up and down the market…..two, or four things depending on how you view pairs.

The orange enamel brass and wood candle holders and the turquoise color tile beads.  They were at least good value…$15 for the enamel pieces and $10 for the 2 strands of beads.  I think I might have spent more on lemonade that day, but I’m not sure…I drank a LOT of lemonade that day.

….and NO, I’m not getting all born again on you people with the cross beads.  I just liked them, and I thought the symmetry of the shape made it OK and not  “I’M A ROSARY!”  Not that there’s anything wrong with that…..just not what I’m going for here.

News?  I’ll be moving out of the Downtown Antique Mall at the end of August.  What will I do with my stuff?  Wellllll…there might be a little collaboration in the works for a Pop-Up/Mini Flea this fall, but details are not finalized.  Stay tuned…it will be fun and I think our local readers might be pleased with the plans….

Great Expectations

That’s what I had for the Brimfield Antique Show and it didn’t deliver for me, or my companions.  All 3 of us had waited our whole junkin’ and thriftin’ lives to attend this antique mecca, this patchwork of purveyors, the holy grail of thrifting…..only to hold back tears of disappointment.  Actually, it was sweat pouring down our faces from the 94° heat, but this is a tale of woe, so work with me here.

Luck is where preparation meets opportunity, right?  We were vacationing a 2 hour drive away from the market when we realized the summer show was going to be on during our stay.  We were prepared to do anything necessary within our means to have the opportunity to hit this market, even if only for one day.  After a little begging, pleading, and bribing of the appropriate males to entertain the Things and the other youngsters for the day, we were off.

I saw some wonderful things….

Can I tell you how much I wanted these?  Sonneman maybe?  Doesn’t matter.  At 11:45 am I am told the seller is done for the day and he’s just minding her stuff.  Nothing is marked of course, but I can bet it was out of my league.  I thought about them ALL DAY.  I even went back an hour later just to see if maybe she was there so I could talk to her about them…and she was gone daddy gone.  Just a patch of grass left.

 

By the end of the day, I felt like this guy….

 

I hear you…what’s the problem?   Looks like some pretty cool stuff, right?

Shall we discuss the pricing involved at this market?  It was RETAIL.  This is no longer a market for dealers, unless you’re a 1st Dibs dealer.  It became obvious early on I needn’t have spent so much time scouting out the UPS booth.  New England pricing did not fit into my frugal Nashville budget.

To quote my companion…”Do you hear that sound?  That’s the sound of my heart breaking.”

We adopted that as our mantra of the whole experience.  So we left, with a couple of tiny things, but nothing compared to our great expectations.

We were grateful to return to the cool breeze off the water at the end of such a long, hot, sad day.

Thrifting FAIL.

 

Estate Sale FAIL

I was super excited to bring home this little microscope for the Things.  It looked to be in decent condition and was in its original box.

It even came with a starter set of specimens to ogle, plus a box of blank slides to make your own.

Turns out, I got a lemonscope.  When we tried to adjust the focus, it wouldn’t budge.  The CC took it apart and declared it unfit.  The threads were stripped once he got them un-rusted and crusted.  I hate getting their hopes up about something only to have it fall through, but I guess that’s life.

I was really looking forward to seeing what slides they would make themselves.  I may have to check around and see what these things cost in real life….Maybe there’s a mad scientist with a nice working one he wants to unload on Craigs?  Things to ponder.

Friday Flea

It felt so good to get out to the flea today…I’ve missed a few and there has been a gaping hole in my heart longing for an outdoor dig of dusty, musty treasures.

 

 

Kenny Loggins was the first thing my eyes landed on when I walked in.  I took this as a good sign that this might be a good day of junkin’.  He, who popularized the parachute prison jumpsuit as high fashion, stood as a beacon to all who entered.

 

This was only $2, and I should have dragged it home, but it was super rusty and I had visions of it sitting in my garage for 3 years waiting for the CC to pour a concrete top for it, like this….

Oh well, someone will do something fun with those legs I hope.

These stools looked new, but someone could tweak them a bit to give them that little sumtin’ sumtin’.

 

 

Some say Vintage Vultures, some say Lucky Buzzards.  THIS guy is exactly why I adore the flea.

 

The pair of Nelson headboards wasn’t going to last long, but I just don’t have room in the booth and I don’t need them…but aren’t they lovely?  This lighted bedside table is a piece I had never seen before.  If it hadn’t been packaged with the headboards I’d have snatched it up.

 

I grabbed my camera as I was rushing out the door and I had the zoom lens on…this proved very difficult in tight spaces, like here, where I couldn’t get far enough back to get a full shot.  I hate it when I do dumbass things like that.

So what did I get?

A bench,

 

…and a super groovy vintage lamp for the booth…the pale part of the base has a bulb in it so it glows when lit.

 

I also got these….

 

…two desk lamps and this nightstand.  I’m beside myself excited about this nightstand….check it…

 

American of Martinsville solid wood goodness needs some cleaning and refinishing, but she will GLEAM when she’s done…GLEAM I tell you.

A successful couple of days after the junkin’ drought of late.  Now to attend some social gatherings involving the required grills and beer to kick off a nice long weekend.  Have a great holiday everyone!