Did I need these lamps?

Of course not. But when I saw them sitting in all of their vintage goodness (while I was out Christmas shopping. You know - that time of year you're supposed to be shopping for others?), I decided they had to come home with me.

I had the perfect place for them:


They need to be polished up and one of the lamps could use a bit of rejiggering (there's a loose socket that I think I may be able to fix myself) but I like the light they bring to the room, especially at night. The black shades tone down the too-blue walls (you can read more about my master bedroom paint drama here) and almost turn them the grey-blue I was hoping for.

Any impulse purchase(s) for you while you were "gift" shopping over the holidays? Go ahead, enlighten me. (Har har.)

Flea, glorious flea.

Well yesterday I hit a doozy of a flea.

My brother was staying overnight and when we rolled out of bed (dirty stay outs) we rolled over to the Atlantic Highlands Historical Society Flea Market. My expectations for the flea were low, but I love that my brother didn't even bat an eyelid when I asked if he wanted to go. In fact, we flea quite well together...I can't think of a better person to hit the asphalt with.

Things started out looking unpromising. While I was pretty happy with the antique postcards I snapped up at the first table we actually stopped at...


...I was feeling a little down when the bro walked away with 20 postcards for the same price as my five just two tables away. D'oh! At the brother's "jackpot table" I admired a dainty rocking chair, and bought an old green glass insulator (which has no use whatsoever but I've always loved these things) for $3. When I got home it joined my kitchen window vignette.

While my brother stayed at the table to patiently sift through a huge box of postcards, I meandered around. And that's when the magic happened.

It was later in the day so the Historic Society marked their table down substantially -- everything you could stuff in a bag for $1. I looked around at the table and figured that may be impossible...five hours in to the day, it was pretty picked over. But I poked around and pulled a box out from under the table. And, oh happy day, there was a box filled with vintage Christmas balls. I bought a bag and started scooping them in, only to quickly be boxed out by a nimble, well dressed woman eager to add to her busting-at-the-seams grocery bag. Had I not been hot and a little dehydrated, I might have had it in me to fight back. But truth be told I didn't need any of these ornaments so no big whoop. Here's what my bag looked like when I walked away:

Not too bad for a buck, right? Look inside...

They'll be piled up in a big glass apothecary jar that's holding seashells right now. I also stuffed these two lovely and delicate vintage floral pieces in the bag.

I mean, they were practically free (they were part of the "everything in a bag for a buck" deal). I'll likely use them as gift tags. They're a good size, so will dress up a package pretty nicely:

After my buck bag victory, I went to look for my brother and spied a covered glass cake dish. For $3! Quicker than I could say, "I'll take it!" that bad boy was bubble wrapped and tucked under my arm. I think it's a deal, and will be great for cupcakes and cookies, and maybe even mini pumpkins for a festive Halloween display:

The brother tipped me off to a vendor selling some vintage New Jersey bottles (the ones in my kitchen window are all NJ-based). I honed in on three small pharmacy bottles ($1 each) from my great state, which I'll put in the downstairs powder room. In the future, we're hoping to give the loo a "make under," so these will look great on the future vintage looking sink. Whenever it is that we get to that.


I was pretty much loaded down like a pack mule at this point, so we started to head out. I walked past that rocking chair that I had my eye on earlier (at the table I bought my insulator from), sort of strategically to see if the guy would come down on the price. It's a wee little chair, and we are not wee little people so I'm not sure I really need it (do I really need any of this stuff? Suze Orman would have my head.). But I figured I'd see what his "end of day" offer was (I'm not a haggler, so the haggle has to come to me. I know this is a little backwards but I'm just not good at asking people to knock money of their prices.). And when he said I could have it for $15 (!) that, too, got tucked under my arm. Check it out:


It is a bit small...here's a photo of it near a bed for scale...

...so it might wind up going to a friend with a little girl. But it's in fabulous shape (from the 1930s, I think -- and it has been re-caned) so I know it will find a great home, if not mine.

Final tally:

Assorted old postcards: $10 (Budget buster. Alas.)

Bag of glass ornaments and vintage floral pieces: $1

Insulator: $3

Cake dish: $3

Pharmacy bottles: $1 each ($3 total)

Rocking chair: $15

TOTAL: $35

Euphoric drive home: Priceless.

Mad props!

I am *totally* giving myself mad props for this one.

So, I was walking home from work minding my own beeswax. Out of the corner of my eye I see a "Props for Sale" sign in the window of Tinsel Trading Company. The store was closed for the day but the window was chock-a-block with vintage shelves, racks, suitcases (!), buckets, baskets and even a super old dressform – with a $10 price tag hanging from its muslin-lined armpit!

I froze in my tracks. And I really do mean that literally...not for the benefit of sucking you in to my story, dear readers! The store opened at 9:45 the next morning. I decided to go to work super early (it’s amazing the things that incent me) so I could bolt out on a recon mission.

I scooped up some good swag (at least in my eyes!). These sap buckets ($3 each) will be filled with ice to chill beverages on the front porch. Or, to hold the sunflowers that will grow from the seeds I planted last week (I’m not going to hold my breath on this one):

This little table ($4) will also be a great al fresco dining accessory. I love its flaky patina (almost as much as I love using the word patina):

The salesperson pointed out that the price was low because, “it doesn't bend or stand up so well anymore.” Honey, that's OK. Neither do I! I need to do some work on it but I’ve temporarily rigged it with the twine we use to tie up newspapers. I’ve convinced myself the "rope" makes it look nautical.

Lastly, I picked up these gigantic vintage blooms for $2 each:

I’ll probably use to dress up a gift, or maybe to accessorize something like this recent Etsy purchase:

I hemmed and hawed over the vintage suitcases that were marked $10, and when I came back later in the day, they and the dressform were gone – along with most of the other stuff in the prop sale. I can’t say I was totally disappointed – the thought of dragging those bigger items home on the train wasn't rocking my socks.

If you’re in midtown you should stop by – Tinsel Trading Company is moving to 37th Street from its home of the past 45 years on 38th Street, and almost everything’s now on sale. It’s a great store run by Marcia Ceppos and founded by her grandpa 75 years ago. I love that “mom and pop” shops still exist – in Manhattan! I don’t know how they’re able to do it in “this day and age” (I’m sounding more and more like a little old lady lately, I swear), but they do, and they do it well. It’s like stepping into a shop in a quaint seaside town, right in hustle and bustle of midtown Manhattan. A personable and helpful staff guide you through the beautiful floor-to-ceiling shelves and vintage store fixtures (that I hope are going with them in the move!) that are bursting with beauty, from antique appliqués to fancy fringes and everything in between.

It’s great place to pop in if you just need a yard or two of a very fancy trim to complement the nailhead edge on your vintage boudoir chair, or for a D.I.Y. gift like these fabulous slippers in their book, Beautiful Bedrooms with Ribbons and Trims.

(photo from Beautiful Bedrooms with Ribbons and Trims)

They also have beautiful gifts and greeting cards so it’s a great place for me to pop in to between office and train to pick up a quick "happy birthday," or, "thanks for walking my crazy dog while we were out of town" present.

Plus, Martha Stewart shops there. I should have just started with that. Way more interesting.

Come home to momma...

So here's how the conversation went (roughly):

L: I saw a dresser with a mirror that's on the small side but I think it could work in our bedroom.

M: Will it fit at least some stuff, or is it those tiny "olden days" drawers?

L: No, manly-clothing-size drawers but only two of them, with two small drawers up top. Here's the picture.

M: Does that price tag say $125?

L: Yup.

M: And it has a mirror? That's, like, not broken?

L: Yup.

M: And you left it there? (Note: There was a slight tinge of disbelief in his voice at this point...I really don't leave anything behind that even resembles a good deal. And this more than resembles. It is a good deal. I was just trying to keep him involved in the process.)

I left a message at Country-by-the-Sea Tea Room in Avon-by-the-Sea (another quaint New Jersey beach town. Doesn't Avon-by-the-Sea just sound lovely?) and they called back to say the dresser will be sitting by the front door waiting for me Friday. I wish they had a web site. It's a little antique store/gift shop/tea room Co-Op that's run by all the women who sell their wares there. The fabulous little tea room is a totally fun ladies-who-lunch spot, with all sorts of yummy treats (and if you like the chair you're sitting in, you can probably buy it out from under you). I'll take pictures on Friday (better than the blurry one above. Yikes!)...It's post worthy.

"Fleaing"...from the rain!

Mom and I managed our ways through the mighty Ocean Grove flea market before the skies opened up midday. And yowsers, did they open up! (Of course, the sun is now shining at 6:30 p.m. That figures.) I didn't find any super bargains at the market or the yard sales around town (Has inflation taken its toll on "fleaing"? Or are people delusional over what their stuff is worth? Yup; I think that's it.) but I managed to make a couple of happy purchases.

I'll post my finds later, but I wanted to share some of our day (unfortunately, the gloomy weather made for not-so-bright-and-cheery photos).

I see this vendor around a lot, and her piles of old kitchen stuff always crack me up. If you placed every item splayed across her tables tip to tip, I think the product line would stretch for 10 miles.

Loved these colorful lobster floats, and two for $25 didn't seem terrible (I've seen them around here for a lot more).


"Super primitive" is how I'd describe this piece! But the children's Hoosier-like cupboard was awfully sweet.


Happy painted signs -- all on pieces of random salvaged material.


Such a great little vignette of stuff, and if you look in the upper right corner of the photo...

...WOW. I'm not sure what you'd do with this, but as my mom pointed out it would make for one heck of a ring holder.

I love old suitcases, and these dandies were super cute. Not sure if you've seen the end tables Anthropologie made from vintage cases (I couldn't find a picture online), but with some inexpensive hardware (think wood spindles or salvaged table legs simply screwed in to 2 x 4 mounts underneath the case) you could save yourself, like, $300!

Lastly, this charming vendor has a store called Candy's Cottage in nearby Asbury Park. And...is that the wire display I coveted when I saw it on Please Sir's blog? Pretty much! Unbelievable...I'm suddenly finding all kinds of postcard displays.

Fabulous Find

This past week we visited a table at Pottery Barn that’s a contender to “replace” the one that never arrived (the saga I ran through in a recent post). The “Harvest Table” they had on the floor also served as their clearance table, so M. and I had to clear it off to check out the surface more closely.

As we were clearing the merch, we found this…

…which now at home with my vintage Ocean Grove postcards! I was just looking at a peach of display over on Please Sir’s blog, and Diana was kind enough to point me to an earlier post with some other options. I’m not even sure where it will ultimately wind up in my home, but it’s kind of cute. And, with apologies to Minnie Pearl, I’ve left the price tag hanging.

(And, yes; I plan to remove the price tag.)