Back on the Flea Market Road Again!

One of our favorite areas to visit and shop for vintage treasures! Divine mountain scenery, cool evenings, wonderful locally owned restaurants and hiking to waterfalls. And of course miles of walking in warehouses packed with vintage goodies.

Every trip to Asheville includes a trip to The Tobacco Barn. We made quite a few purchases

and of course Jeri was busy taking photos. I thought this was the ugliest lamp ever, but Laura who loves everything mid-century thought it was fab.

From ladders to letters, kitch to oddities this warehouse is stuffed with an incredible number

of items to browse through.

This juke box record player is on my wish list!

Another not-to-be-missed place for vintage is ScreenDoor in Asheville. We wandered for

hours and saw the only other Blue Horse coupons we have ever seen. (We recently bought a large jar of them!)

We always stay in Flat Rock, NC at Highland Lake Cottages. Imagine how tickled we were to find a white peacock on our back porch. Must have been a good picking omen.

Jeri loves goats - baby goats, old grandfather goats and even metal goats. Flat Rock abounds!

Just for grins I texted home this picture from our trip. I didn't mention that it was a stuffed display at the Ranger's station...

NEVER enough photos of cool signs.

Lots of large outdoor markets are filled with more new stuff than old, produce and tools, but we

did find a few vintage items.

These cucumbers were huge!

We saw a large structure at Smiley's covered with a tarp and couldn't resist sneaking underneath. It was an amazing merry-go-round! 

What Do You Do With All That Stuff? Part 2

     Fair is fair, so here are photos of my home so you can see where more of our vintage pickings live after they are discovered on our picking adventures. None of them

 were expensive, but in addition to being reused instead of discarded they are

 unique and happy reminders of our travels.

Ignore my mess. This is my computer desk with an enamel metal top that used to
be found in lots of kitchens!

This painted rack for 45 RPM records holds my postcard collection.

I have vintage shelves everywhere. The Milkbone  jar was found
on our first highway sale for $1.00.

This screen separates my office from the bedroom. The size was perfect!

I love horses and paint by number paintings so these two are perfect. 

The biggest one was only $1.00!

A lovely shade of aqua on this shelf drew me to it. The bird painting was $.50.

My collection of sea-colored Christmas ornaments.

Small chairs make  great holders for my always expanding book collection.

I have three fixer-upper pets. They are all rescues and make grand companions.

This is Sallie, part Lab, part Rottweiler and 100% sweet.

This is Tiger in his Spanish mood. 

This is Jellie and she has a really  super sense of humor.

Back on the Highway!

     It's such a great feeling to be back on the road. Spring is here with warm weather and the highway sales are starting to pop up again. The picking sister and I headed just a wee bit south or west or whatever yesterday for the Georgia Peaches to Beaches sale along Highway 341. We gladly stretched our picking muscles a bit with the first highway sale of the year. No one who knows me will be surprised that the compass I bought for the car doesn't know north from south. Maybe I should shop in a real store?

     It may be a new year, but some traditions remain; up at an unholy hour in the dark, we don the lucky hats, grab a bag of Mc-something breakfast and drive like the wind for what be miles and miles of hideously expensive gasoline to find a treasure that most people would toss out in the first place (which is why it only costs $.25 for my used mini-Ball jar). We cruise until we see something promising like a church parking lot full of tables or a sign. Very few signs are printed - most are a variety of hand lettered versions. Like the one that offered a "Chester Drawers for Sale". What the heck; we knew what they meant.


My favorite of the day? A large papier mache horse that will someday be painted and hang on a wall in my house. It's priceless to me, but Laura got it for $3.00.

Jeri's Lucky Hat

Laura's Lucky Hat

Of course locally made food is always a draw. What's better than a funnel cake?

 A jumbo funnel cake.

We scored some old (no charge for the mold) board games.

A divine Kool-aid Pitcher with cups at Honest Al's (he really was).

 and some lovely FireKing dishes at a shop called the Front Porch.

What else did we find at The Front Porch? Laura found her knight - she's into heavy metal (sorry).

     Today was about doing the bookkeeping, cleaning our treasures, photographing everything and starting to add more items onto our etsy site. With any luck my energy will hold out at least until the Kool-aid set is on our etsy shop. Every weekend from now to May looks good for an auction, highway sale, parking lot sale or neighborhood sale. Stay tuned for more picking and more treasures!