Feb 13, 2012

What came home with me the other weekend {thrifty finds}



Hey, hey! Welcome to another week! Hope you all had a great weekend.

I made a little trip to the flea market the other weekend. It's like one of my favorite places. I could spend hours just walking around in there looking for those little gems -- it's like a grown-up scavenger hunt!

Last year I shared some of my tips for flea marketing (can that be a verb?? I'm making it one!), but I'll recap one here -- go with a list of things you want to keep your eye out for. Otherwise you'll be wandering around aimlessly and come home empty-handed or with something you don't really need.

I'm always looking for pretty glass bottles that aren't too expensive. They're my total weakness, and I love the way they look grouped in twos or threes. I found these two bad boys and made them mine.


The one on the left was $8 and the one on the right was $5. I was really excited about the demijohn because I already have its big brother!

Family reunion!

I love the shape and color of this one.


I was really curious to know what it was for, especially since the bottom says Sunsweet. A bottle for...raisins?


Nope, prune juice from the 1930s and 40s! I found this old ad for it from 1935. Love it! It was $3.


Now, this item wasn't really on my list, but as soon as I spotted it, I knew it would be perfect for our office.


It's an old navigational chart of the entrance of the Kennebec River here in Maine (which I was calling a "map" until the hubs, who happens to work in a nautical-related industry, politely informed me that it was in fact a chart. I didn't know there was a difference!). The vendor had a bunch of these charts, but this one was older and had all these pretty colors -- the others were just flat yellow and white.


I also picked it because it shows two of my fahh-aavorite beaches here in Maine, Reid State Park and Popham Beach. It only cost me $6! And it's from 1947.


I'm not sure yet how I'm going to frame it, since it's bigger than a poster and custom framing will cost me mucho bucks. Lucky for me, my father-in-law is a jack of all trades and has the equipment and access to materials to make me a frame and a mat for it. The glass will probably run me $50, so it won't be super cheap, but it's worth it for such a cool piece of art. I was very happy to bring home something from the flea market the hubs actually thought was cool!

This last item was more of an impulse buy -- I drove by this little flea market place (the same place I got my convex mirror), saw it outside and literally turned around to check it out. This item has always been on my list but I wasn't actively searching for one because I don't reaaaally need it, and they are usually a bigger chunk of change than I like to drop at the flea market. I like to keep my purchases under $15 because it makes me feel thrifty -- am I super cheap or what?! :) But once I saw this amazing price tag, I had. to. have. this.


An antique trunk! I just think these things are beautiful no matter how beat up and dirty and ugly they actually are. But all the ones I've seen have been upwards of $100 and I just couldn't justify it. But this one was, get this, only $10! I kind of thought it was a mistake, but apparently not. I bought it with a tinge of guilt because I knew the hubs wouldn't be thrilled with me bringing another piece of old furniture into the house waiting for a redo. But with a $10 price tag, you've just gotta go for it!


I'm no antique trunk expert, but I have figured out that this guy is probably made of pine, covered with pressed tin that could have been originally glazed or painted, and the wooden slats are probably oak.

It also has these adorable little casters on the bottom that I just love to death!


Its leather handles are deteriorating and some of the metal pieces are rusty, and it needs a very thorough cleaning.


And let's not even talk about the inside...


Yep, it needs some work, but I'm hoping it'll look pretty cool when it's all done. It could also go in the office, or maybe our bedroom.

So, that's all the old junk awesome stuff I picked up recently! Have you done any good thrifting lately? Have you ever refinished an old trunk? Got any tips? I sure could use them!

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