I do not do a good job of sharing my flea market antique hauls on the blog!! But, I will try to do better! Over the years my antique business has done a lot of pivoting!! One thing that is always changing is how I share my vintage and antique finds with you!! I used to share them first during my Facebook LIVE Sales, but I “retired” those. Then, I was sharing things in stories on Instagram and Facebook. Again, something I don’t do as much anymore because lately I put everything on YouTube first!!
Now most of the time the things I find are for sale! However, as my job as a dealer has changed, so has my selling habits! I have started keeping a lot more pieces for myself!! Checkout my house HERE.
On this particular weekend I took a road trip! See what flea markets I shopped in this post.
Day 1 at the Flea
Guess what my first purchase was? This paint by number of the Asian farmer. I had never seen this one before!! While I don’t have or keep paint by numbers in my own house, they are always catching my eye because my girlfriend has a HUGE collection! I did a tour of her house at Christmas if you want to watch it! It does show off her impressive collection! Watch it HERE.
I sent her a picture of this one, but while she decided to pass, I decided to get it! And the funny thing was that a gentleman stopped me later at the flea and mentioned how he was hoping I would sit it down because he wanted it! Later in the day it occurred to me that I should have offered to sell it to him, but I guess my brain wasn’t working at the time! Of course I didn’t run into him again to make the offer.
And this chippy green amazing, unique piece was my last purchase of the day! I couldn’t believe it when he offered it to me for $25!!! Turns out it is a tool chest cabinet. Notice that the top is slanted and has a hinged lid. The bottom drawer is also hinged, while the rest of the drawers are actual drawers. It is such a unique piece! Heavy, but unique! I have not completely decided if I will keep or sell this piece.
At this time I have played with it a little bit in a few spots around the house and I’m leaning towards letting it go. I think that if I cut a wooden spool down I could fix that one unique knob. What do you think? Is it a good idea? Let me know in the comments what you would do!
When I got to my hotel I ended up doing a little loot shoot on my tailgate in the parking lot. I even had some ladies inquire on the little cabinet! Not a bad haul from half a day shopping! There’s also a plastic light up Santa and his reindeers laying under the tailgate! Find the prices and some decorating ideas for everything you see in the video below!
I also took photos of some of the pieces so that I could start researching them!!
Day 1 Flea Market Antique Haul
Day 2 at the Flea
I know that social media has a lot of negative attributes. My hubby just finished reading The Anxious Generation and the impact of social media on our kids is scary. BUT, if it wasn’t for social media I probably wouldn’t be a full time antique dealer! And being on social media has allowed me to make friends and connect with both customers and other dealers!
Some of these awesome ladies I have met before and some of us got to meet in real life for the first time at this flea!! On the top left is Desiree @househaberdashery on Instagram and top right is Kristin @ _vintagegoodness on Instagram. Bottom left is Jen @bethhamptonshome on Instagram and bottom right is Desiree again, Jill @junkredefined on Instagram, me, and Robin @hollingsworthandco on Instagram.
Here I’m just being silly drinking some vintage water😂.
So what was I looking for this weekend? Unique pieces that I would want to decorate my home with. This has been my new motto when sourcing vintage and antiques! I buy for my own house and then I ended up selling half of it! I find that it really helps me have a curated style if I focus on shopping for my own house.
I can’t just say I’m shopping for myself because I LIKE everything!! I like rusty farm junk, elaborate scroll work, chippy paint, bright modern pieces, old advertising, signage, glassware and vintage textiles, etc. So instead of shopping and wanting to buy EVERYTHING, I try to pause and ask myself if the item would fit in my own home, right now.
What Is It
I also spend time at the flea photographing unique pieces for my weekly Wednesday Facebook post, What is it Wednesday? Each Wednesday I post a picture of something unique and different that I find. Sometimes I know what it is and sometimes I don’t!! If I don’t know what something is, I see what everyone says in the comments. Then I may Google the answer to see if I can confirm the guess. After a few days I share the correct answer, or what I think is the correct answer.
And yes, a lot of the items I could simply Google or do an image search, but it’s more fun to see what people guess!!
Here you see that I photographed the dealers tag that says what the item is. I do that a lot so that I can remember what it was and share it with my Facebook followers. In the right photograph was something I shared recently! Do you know what they are? Put your guess down in the comments!
Day 2 Flea Market Haul
I had to drive into the flea market at the end of the second day. The mirror was too big for my cart and too heavy for me to carry a couple miles! When I pulled up to the both with the mirror I decided to go ahead and photograph my haul! When I travel I bring plastic totes with lids to hold my vintage finds.
I try to Tetris my finds together each day. Condensing them down lets me know how much room I have left for purchases. It also allows me to get things wrapped so they don’t break or scratch each other. I also had to brainstorm how I wanted to haul this mirror. Whatever I chose to do I wanted it to be permanent because I didn’t want to have to rearrange after day 3!!
I ended up putting my full totes on the right side of my truck bed. Then I laid the mirror flat on top of those. I put some boxes and totes to the sides of the mirror so that the mirror couldn’t slide around. Typically you want to put glass and mirrors vertically, but that wasn’t an option for me. Luckily the mirror made it safely home! See where I put it in my house HERE.
I know Misty @thrifterjunkervintagehunter on YouTube. I looked up while shopping and guess who I saw…Misty!! I figured she didn’t even know who I was, but she did! And turns out I had inspired her! See her sweet caption below. It just goes to show you that you never know who you are influencing!
Day 3 at the Flea
Of course I had to take a picture with the llama again this year!! I bought a lot of goodies from the couple that owns this booth. They even let me put all of my purchases from the day at their trailer! Turns out this llama lives IN there house during the off season and they always dress her up for the seasons!!
Last Year with the Llama
Day 3 Flea Market Haul
This might look like a small load, but trust me I packed it in good! I was breathing so tired after hauling this back to the truck that THIS is all you get for a haul shot!! After this I got my items loaded in the truck and headed back home!!!
Shop My Flea Market Haul
Flea Market Shopping Tips
If you are not a regular flea market shopper then I think you would benefit from these flea market shopping tips!
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