Ohio Flea Market Trip

My mom and I rarely get away from the store so we were excited to plan a weekend trip to Ohio for a flea market recently.  Hoping to get a lot of goodies, we rented a 15ft truck from Enterprise.  My mom has never driven a big truck before and she was a little nervous.  Here's a picture of me on the back of it before we left.  Notice my tall boots.  I was ready for anything including mud and rain!

We each took a picture of each other in the truck.  It was so big that it was hard to climb into. 

The drive was about 6 hours...Well, it was supposed to be 6 hours.  A few hours in, there was a light on the dashboard that turned red.  It said DEF level low.  We looked at each other and both said, "What the heck is DEF??"  My mom called Enterprise and asked what to do and we were told that we needed to find some DEF at a truck stop.  Um....ok.  I drove to the nearest gas station and asked the clerk if they had it.  Never heard of it.  Yikes.  Luckily, at the next gas station we tried, there was a truck driver filling the gas tanks underground.  We asked if he could help us and he was so incredibly nice that he actually put it into the tank for us.  He said that DEF(Diesel Exhaust Fluid) is actually cow urine.  I just looked it up and it does say that it's made of urea but I'm not sure they actually get cow urine to make it! 

Tank full of DEF, we made our way through nearly flooded roads to Ohio and checked into the hotel.  As you can see in the picture, the water was on both sides of the roads, threatening to block the way.

We went to bed really early because my mom always says about flea markets, "The early bird gets the vanity!"  Got up at 5 the next morning and checked my phone.  Temperature: 29.  As in, below freezing.  Ugh.  We bundled up as much as we could and headed out. 

It was a little disappointing to see as we pulled up that there weren't many vendors there.  Apparently, not many people are as crazy as us!  They were still sleeping!

 

There were a few cute things but the prices were kind of high.  I found a nice desk and a pretty French chair.  My mom got a potting table, a bench and some small vintage items.

We got the bench below that's made out of an old Eastlake style bed. 

Here's the french chair.  I didn't even care that it was stained.  Stains add character right?

We also got a chippy turquoise table and this chair.  What a fantastic color! 

 

After a VERY cold day of shopping, we headed back to good old St. Louis.  We found a random flea market on the way home where we discovered a lot of guns, livestock, socks, old electronics, and used clothing.  Not exactly what we were looking for.

  Since we hadn't gotten much, we went to see a few of our pickers and filled up the truck. Here's my mom looking proud of herself for filling it. 

 

Even though we ran out of urea for our truck, froze our butts off, and didn't find much, the trip was still a lot of fun!  My mom is hilarious and we somehow never run out of things to talk about.  What should be our next trip to find cool stuff?  If you have any ideas, let us know!

Out Junking All Weekend

My mom and I agree that the best thing about summer is the never ending amount of garage sales, estate sales, and flea markets. This weekend was no exception. Along with the warm weather came lots of opportunities for finding goodies. We really get a thrill out of hunting for anything chippy and worn. We can spot a dresser with a bad finish and good "bones" from a mile away and we seem to have a radar that detects old, ornate frames that can be painted. I have actually seen my mom run past people toward something she's spotted ahead. Here are a few of the fun finds her and I wrestled out of other shoppers' hands this weekend.

We aren't 100% sure what this cool machine is, but I overheard a lady saying she thought it was used for calculating payroll. When you press any of the buttons, the total at the bottom changes. I tend to be more fascinated by this type of item than my mom. I like old buttons and labels and I'm really attracted to black and white vintage things. I would put this in my house as a piece of art, just because it's neat.

This is an old garden statue of a girl holding her skirt. It has the original paint and she is perfectly weathered and worn. I thought she was the sweetest thing when I picked her up and I knew we had to have her for the store. I'm pretty sure she's concrete because she's pretty heavy. I put her in the baby section and she's holding one of our little barrette sets.

I think my favorite find of the weekend is a collection of over 200 old photos.  I'm so intrigued by the clothes, the furniture, and the look of the people in the past.

Are you seeing what I'm seeing???  I couldn't believe it when I pulled this out of the pile.  He has to be like 10 or 12 years old.  It's so weird!

These two are just cute.

A fun old rocker with white paint and a little green showing through on the edges.  It would be to-die-for on an old wrap around porch!

This little old table has a towel bar that slides out of the side.  It has the original paint so it's perfectly shabby.

This headboard is going to be awesome once we paint it.  Knowing us, it will probably be white.

Some fun vintage purses and a hand mirror.  The blue bag says, "Made in Italy" inside.

A pink wire dress form.  So cute!

This table had ugly 60's knobs and I replaced them with glass and gave it a whole new look.

This half table was already pink when we found it.  Woo hoo!

Can't decide whether to do this one white or black.  Hmmm....

This old box with drawers could be used in so many ways.  I think I'll have to paint it because the yucky stuff on the front isn't coming off.  We use Windex to clean everything and it almost always works.  (A little tip though, don't use the Powerized Windex because it has bleach in it and it will leave spots.  Learned that one the hard way!)

Super cute baby booties, a lampshade with pink ribbon around it, and a baby image.  Another lady had the round baby picture in her hand and I kept thinking, "put it down, put it down, put it down," and she did!  I snatched it up right away for our baby section.

And last but not least:

I'm already collecting the charming retro Christmas goodies for a display I'm envisioning for Christmas.  Yes, that's right, us retailers have to think about the holidays when everyone else is thinking about relaxing in the sun.  It's really fun though because I think our customers are going to love it!

Well, those were just a few of our finds this weekend.  There are more pieces of furniture that need to be painted like a coffee table on wheels, a gorgeous sofa table, and lots of mirrors and frames.  Next weekend, we're setting up a booth at Gypsy Caravan, a huge flea market at The University of Missouri St. Louis.  Maybe you can stop by and have your own junking weekend!  See you there and pictures of the event will be posted soon after.  Can't wait!         -Lindsay