Bay Head Bargains

This weekend I went on the Kitchens by the Sea house tour in the upscale seaside community of Bay Head, NJ. We got to sample the food of ten local restaurants and caterers in some of the nicest kitchens my sandy toes have ever stepped in. I wasn't really supposed to take pictures of the homes but I did so here's a little bit of an idea of how nice this town is -- this is one family's backyard:

That would be the Atlantic Ocean.

Are you as jealous as I am?

Each house had tables decorated by local designers and florists, and this one was done by my friends James and Spence:

They showed these ladies who lunch that a festive table can be had on every(wo)man's budget. A combination of yard sales, Target, Home Goods, the hardware store (for a painter's dropcloth to drape over the table, and plumbing parts used as napkin rings) and a floral arrangement supplemented with flowers picked from the home owner's backyard kept the entire tablescape at under $200.

Speaking of budget...Anyone who's familiar with the area knows that "Bay Head" and "bargains" really never appear in the same sentence together. But I stumbled onto a church bazaar while we were in the town, and the rest is thrifting history.

And guess what? Even though I was late to the party, I arrived ten minutes before the "stuff-everything-in-a-bag" for $3 started. And you know how much I love that. (Click here, and here, and here for some of my earlier stuff-it-in-a-bag conquests.)

Game on.

Unfortunately, the salt air must work wonders because the Jersey Shore elderly are limber and quickly beat me to a lot of quality crap stuff while I was deciding if I wanted to play the game.

I didn't fill my bag (!) but I did get some interesting things:

The scarf is one of two, but the other found a home immediately on my friend Karen's neck. One of the church ladies knitted them for the sale, and I'm just sad I didn't scoop them all up! (See aforementioned limber elderly.) They would have been great little holiday gifts.

The black striped fabric is three perfect yards of thick cotton, and the blue and white ticking (hard to see) is two, half-yard pieces.

This sweet little easel will be a great perch for vintage postcards, or a slate announcing the evening's meal (which may just be "Pizza from Asbury Pie" but at least it will look classy):

And this set of six silverplated footed bowls really rock my socks...

...especially since I scored a new Cuisinart Ice Cream maker for $10 at Trinity Church in Asbury Park the week prior. I think I smell an autumn ice cream social!

The large vase was grabbed as I headed for the door:

I figured Spence could help me do something fabulous with it! (No pressure, Spence...)