July Shop Update

A little peek at some of the items listed in the vintage shop this week. Lots more to come soon! I have so many beautiful kilim rugs waiting to be photographed and listed.

Items above: industrial clamp lamp  /  kilim rug  /  periwinkle pottery vase  /  copper colander  /  wooden model trestle bridge  /  tiny Scotty dog figurine  /  West German art pottery  /  original, signed portrait paintings  /  metal card catalog drawers

Brimfield Antique Show, July 2014

Hello! Has it really been over a month since my last post? The summer is flying! I have been enjoying this summer more than any other I can remember. Having a relatively light work schedule and the freedom to spend my time exactly how and where I choose is a beautiful thing, folks. At the risk of sounding cheesy, this summer I am rediscovering/falling in love with myself again. It is so so good, this whole loving life thing.

But enough with the sap, you're here to see pictures from the flea market!

images above: pile of antique typewriters in disrepair   /   type tray with diagonal drawers   /   giant industrial hanging lights (the photos don't capture the color well, but they were actually a powder blue color)   /   model sailboats   /   industrial storage in greens and blues   /   smalls   /   orange and yellow locker   /   vintage fans   /   Light fixture made of old metal funnels

Keepers

As you all know, I buy and sell a lot of vintage goodies. 99% of the time I have no problem letting them go when the time comes, but once in a blue an item comes along that for whatever reason I just can't bring myself to sell. And so I hoard it and display it proudly in my little home. Here are a few of my favorite "keepers."

Item: Model Train Trestle Bridge
Picked: $20, Todd Farm
Story: I have a thing for miniatures and architectural models of all kinds, but trestle bridges put me over the top. I see a lot of vintage train sets, but model trestle bridges actually don't come around that often at the flea market and when they do I hoard them immediately. This chippy green metal bridge is the apple of my eye.

Item: Original Mid Century Art Print
Picked: $10, Todd Farm
Story: I dig the simplicity of this tiny little mid century art print. I have it displayed proudly over my sink.

Item: Busts and Dresser Boxes
Picked: $5 - $60, Todd Farm, Brimfield Antique Show, miscellaneous yard sales
Story: I found the largest bust of a young girl at Brimfield years ago, fell in love with her, and since then have always kept my eye out for vintage busts. I also have a thing for wood boxes with drawers. I bought the two shown here to sell, but as soon as I set them on my dresser I knew they were there to stay. They hold my jewelry and collection of small trinkets and keepsakes. The lamp and shade were free from the dump in Vermont. Score! The art pieces are for sale in my shop.

Item: Mid Century Table & Chairs
Chair Pick: $80 for the set of 4, Brimfield Antique Show
Table Pick: $85, Cambridge Antique Mall
Story: Years ago a vendor at Brimfield had tons of these Thonet chairs with orange vinyl upholstery for $20 each and I snatched up a set. I found the round table at a local antique mall after years of looking for the perfect one. This one is Eames for Herman Miller from the '90s.

 

Item: Mid Century Ceramic & Wood Lamp
Picked: $25, Ebay
Story: I'd been looking for the perfect pottery lamp for my night stand for a while. All of the lamps I liked were $100 and up, so I set up keyword alerts on Ebay for "danish modern lamp" and "pottery lamp" then waited it out. A few weeks later this lamp was listed and I snatched it up for $25.

I could keep going, but I'll leave it at this for now. What are your favorite thrifting finds?

Love Letter to Boston

A family friend commented that my Instagram feed reads like a love letter to Boston, and I thought that was fitting. Sharing some Boston love from my feed on the blog today!

My condo downtown that I love to death. Coming back was so strange at first, but now it feels like a comfortable old shoe again.	I was at a Sox game during the marathon, and the energy was nuts when the jumbotron cut to the first runner crossing the finish line. Crying, hugging, cheering.
This was the first blooming tree of the season!  After this past winter, spring felt like an absolute miracle.	The Boston Marathon is just as inspiring now as it was the first time I saw it as a student 12 years ago. Support and good energy take over the entire city.
Riley and I have been taking long walks by the Charles River, which I had missed so, so much. Riley enjoys sunning himself on the dock :)	Oh, Boston Public Library, you are a gem. One could spend an entire day exploring the halls or reading in one of the beautiful study halls.
A day at the beach in Hingham with Riley and friends. Excellent rock and shell hunting was had.	Spotted this pair in Harvard Square. The entire scene is so fitting, from the argyle vest to the wire haired dachshund.
A grocery store across the street from my condo is under construction. Folks, this is HUGE.	An old church downtown. Seems there's one more beautiful than the next on every corner.

Shop Update

This week I was able to fit in three full days of flea marketing, and the shop is now stocked with lots of new goods!  Head on over to the vintage shop to peruse the merchandise.  I will be adding even more over the next few days.

Above: leather camera bag  /  handwoven Indian rug  /  copper mug set  /  48 star American flag  /  bullet planter  /  Eskimo oscillating fan  /  handmade model train set building  /  Navajo rug  /  leather folio

Brimfield Antique Show May 2014

The weather cooperated perfectly for Brimfield today, and both vendors and shoppers seemed to be in unusually good spirits. As a general rule, vendors fret about stingy shoppers and low turnout while shoppers complain about vendors with unreasonable prices, but I heard very little of that today. In fact, a few vendors told me they'd already surpassed their selling goals for the week with Friday and the busy weekend still to go. Bravo to them! I found a bunch of great stuff for the shop (more on that later), but for now I'm sharing some iPhone shots of items and booths that caught my eye this year. Enjoy the virtual tour!

Hope you all have a great weekend! I am headed to Todd Farm Flea on Sunday to hoard more goodies for the shop. It is so so good to be back in the swing of things!

What Happened?

So what happened?

That's a question I've been asked a lot since leaving Vermont, and quite frankly I am still in the process of understanding the answer myself.

The situation is very personal, and not one I want to discuss in depth here, but for a number of reasons I just wasn't happy in Vermont. I jumped head first into the adventure, and truly loved gardening, working on the house, and running my Etsy shop full time, but there were other factors at play that weren't so great, to say the least. Ultimately, the situation was unsustainable for me, so I made my own happiness a priority and left. I beat myself up over it for a time, but I'm learning to let go and find peace around the situation.

Being back in Boston has felt like coming up for air. With each passing day my heart swells a little more with happiness and gratitude for this place. I missed it all so achingly much, especially the people. Time with friends has been a strong medicine. Heck, just being around people again is fantastic. I'm typically a shy person, but during my first weeks back I found myself joking with strangers on the street and laughing with checkout clerks at CVS. I knew I was starved for social contact in Vermont, but I didn't realize just how much until I returned to the city. Stepping into a sea of people when I walk out the door each morning feeds my soul in a way I can't explain. As they say, it's the little things...

These days I am doing part time graphic design work and getting my shop back up and running after a month of neglect. Flea market season has just started and I'm in my element thrifting my heart out. I've added a bunch of new items to the vintage shop recently and plan to build up my stock substantially in the coming months. I'm headed to Brimfield Antique Show this Thursday, which means come Wednesday night I'll be tossing and turning with excitement like a six year old on Christmas Eve. Despite everything that has happened, life goes on, and life is good! I am stronger than I ever knew.

I'm so excited to get back to blogging, although the content will be different as my life these days bears little resemblance to the one I had when this site began. I still plan to post about thrifting adventures, DIY projects, and design inspiration, but the house remodeling and gardening posts are a thing of the past for now.

Many thanks to my readers for hanging in there while I took a blog break these past few months. It was needed, but I'm so glad to be back!

Claire