Our Day At The Flea Market

My husband and I spent Saturday morning and early afternoon visiting garage sales and a local flea market in search of a dining table and chairs for our formal dining room. I am hoping to find something vintage and sturdy made from solid wood... something that we can DIY rehab that will last for many years. The first few garage sales we hit were a total bust... and then I found a "garage sale" sign with an arrow that I followed for a couple of miles only to discover there were not any more signs posted. It is so so frustrating when people leave up old signs and after much looking there is not a garage sale anywhere in site. People... please, when the garage sale is over, please remove the signs!

Next we proceeded to our local flea market/swap meet. The outdoor market is a mixture of vendors with new items and used items. On Saturday there are probably 50 or so spots rented out to people with vintage items and garage sale type items. We saw everything from toys, to kitchen appliances, old rotary telephones, miscellaneous  tools, glassware, furniture and lots of junk that I don't know why anyone would buy... But I guess one mans junk is another mans treasure.

Unfortunately, when it came to dining furniture we saw a few items that we wouldn't have taken even if they were given to us for free!  I did find nine vintage items worth purchasing while we were there, so it wasn't a total loss. The days adventure plus the nine items only cost me $27 which is amazing considering what all I got. I found three old copper tea kettles that are all different styles ($5 for all three), which I will put in my kitchen on top of my cabinets where I have a display of vintage and antique kitchen items. I got an old wire basket that I just had to have for only $5. My husband has no clue what I see in the wire basket, but I absolutely love and I have plans for it (picture to come in the future).  I found an old oval mirror with an ornate frame, which I will paint, it was $7. I found a crystal compote/bowl that is elevated on a pedestal with a bobeche that has crystal prisms dangling from it (only $5, great deal).  A couple of the prisms were missing and the bottom screw is loose so it sits crooked, but we can easily fix it. I figure it will look amazing once it is cleaned up and I replace the few missing prisms. I plan to display it for Christmas with some glass ball ornaments inside the bowl, probably on my dining room table (once I actually find the table and my hubby refinishes it... hehe). The last three items were $5 total. They are old glass covers that were somehow used in electricity many years ago... I don't know exactly what they are called but they were cool and interesting and I wanted them. I like glass and shiny items as they reflect light and look pretty when displayed.  They will probably end up displayed on my bookshelves.

All and all, we had a very nice day and I scored a few more decor items for our house... After a little elbow grease they will each be beautiful! Our search for a formal dining table and chairs still continues.