May Brimfield and Other Fleas.

In the days leading up to the May 2011 Brimfield Antiques Market I was super excited, but I was also a little worried. We had decided that since we didn't need anything terribly bad that we would go on Sunday, which is the last day of the event. In the past we'd had good luck that day because typically the dealers just want to clear out what is left. So, not a great selection, but great prices. Back to why I was worried. The week before then the weather forecast was showing a steady prediction of 60-70% chance of rain. Boooo rain. But we figured that it'd still be fine with umbrellas and maybe the rain would be light. By the day before the prediction was up to 100%, but scattered showers. Scattered, fine. We were committed. I love Brimfield.

The prediction came true, but scattered showers actually turned into scattered thunderstorms. In general we were not really bothered by them. When the rain got heavy we would just seek refuge under a tent. Hanging out with a young couple from Brooklyn and checking out their cool wooden folding chairs, hearing stories about quilts made in Virginia or dodging a surly grandpa and his cane.

Most of the morning went on like that. We had heard from tent to tent that there was a bigger storm coming...and it seemed to be causing a mass exit from many of the vendors. But we just kept on shopping. And then it came.

We popped under this tent when our umbrellas weren't cutting it anymore. After a while we realized how hungry we were and popped into a random pizzeria (see sign on the left) that was in a building that more resembled an insurance office. Like I said, we were hungry.

This guy was carrying it out by the armfuls.

After a sort of kind of tasty pizza lunch we wandered a little more, but in the end nothing came home with us. It was still a surprisingly good time picking through what was left while small rivers of water began to run through the tents and wandering through the rain. Maybe next time we will get lucky...cause you know I'll be going!

There are actually many many flea markets around the Boston area...another one of my favorites is Todd Farm. We've been a handful of times and scored some pretty sweet stuff (which I thought I'd blogged about before, but can't seem to find it?). Anyway, here's what we got there recently...

These super sweet educational flashcards from the '60s. They are pretty big, about 24"x12" each? And double sided! So the picture below shows all four, one side, then the other. I luff them, not sure what they were meant to teach, but they are hilarious. We just need to get some frames and we will have four pieces of interchangeable art. This find totally goes to P, I think we paid like 2 or 3 bucks for them.


These were my find of the day. I thought these old wooden hangers were so cool. I think one was stamped with a hotel name (the one you can see) and the other was stamped with some local company in Boston. I think they will be great on a hook on the wall next to the closet, kind of like a valet hook.

After Todd Farm we drove around and made our way out to Plum Island and decided to check it out. It was super cute, no pics, just drove through, but I'd love to go stay there some time. On the way there we passed by a Garage Sale and decided to stop. It was pretty lame, but for some reason I got drawn into this huge box of old old old children's books. It seriously looked like this lady had robbed a library. We picked out three random books that had cool illustrations. My favorite is the Nothing Ever Happens on My Block in the middle below. Hilarious. And yes, I do realize it's a little strange for a couple that has no children to be buying children's books...maybe if they'd add cool illustrations to grown up books I'd buy those instead. :)

New Bedding.

Way way way back earlier this year I heard from a very good source about Molly Mutt dog duvets. So I started looking at them. And looking at them. And going back and forth over the endless color possibilities for my pups new beds (as if they cared). After some crazy long deliberation over doggie beds I chose two matching simple rust colored covers. I'm boring.

Unfortunately, we did not have any old doggie beds laying around so I rummaged around on the internet some more and came up with this solution:

I bought a full or queen size (can't remember which) 2" thick memory foam mattress topper to cut up and make the inserts for the duvets.

After measuring and cutting/hacking them to the right size you end up with four pieces of foam and a small strip left over.

Then I just stacked two foam pieces on top of each other and used the handy little mesh insert to hold them together. No foam glue needed. Nope.

Then I just shimmied the cover onto the new cushion and bam! Dog bed.


They approve.
More Molly Mutt action here. These things are popular!

When life hands you lemons...

Ok, so life totally didn't hand us lemons...but sometimes our house does feel a little like a lemon. Like this car my dad once bought (hi dad!) that never really seemed to want to start. A little like that. I will elaborate more on this very whiney point later. I promise.

Back to the lemons. I've been wanting a little lemon tree for a while. I think the selling point was when I read that they bloom and produce fruit throughout the year and that they smell really nice. Can you think of anything better in the middle of a dreary Boston winter than the smell of lemons? I can't.

So, after reading this post on Little Green Notebook today, I thought to myself..."hmmmm, self, I think I'm going to order one of those little trees". So I did!

So cute right? I ordered a Dwarf Meyer Lemon Tree. It promises to be small, produce fruit that is sweeter than normal lemons and be hardy and adaptable...which I chose to take as "not as easy to kill". So keep your fingers crossed on that one. Purchased from here. Can't wait!


Image found here.

Mirror, mirror on the wall: aka Half-bath Mirror.

I really hope the fact that I'm just getting around to hanging this mirror isn't any indication for neglect of what might be found at Brimfield 2011.1.
That sucker is pretty old and heavy, and I didn't trust those old wood pieces holding the mirror into it's frame. So I bought some of these metal thingys that you push into the wood to hold the mirror in. They have a real name and are not called thingys, but I don't remember it right now. I found them at the HD along with the picture hanging kit I installed on the back of the frame.

After cleaning off the back and making all my little hardware modifications I flipped it over and polished the crap out of the frame with Howard Feed-N-Wax, which is awesome.

Then we hung it. Ta-da! Ok, you can't really tell. But it's clean, and shiny, and I think it's kind of the perfect size for the mini bathroom. Oh, and we hung up a towel hook. So now we are civilized. No more paper towel roll and Ikea mirror propped up on top of the sink.

Like that lopsided pic? P's got mad picture taking skillz.

Now we just need to find a tp holder that we both like that doesn't cost $300 or $30 for shipping from Europe.

I like to kill trees.

Almost one year ago I ripped up the nasty gross linoleum downstairs. Luckily, only the area next to the front door was left with yucky paper underlayment (well, and the addition, but that's another story). Embarrassingly, I only recently dealt with getting rid of that underlayment. Is underlayment a word? Cause it's showing up as misspelled. Whatever.
Anyway, so this is what it looked like. Yuck.

Well, as part of "operation floor" (more on that later), I took care of it. After some googling I determined that the way to rid our floor of this paper was simply to make it wet. Like super wet. Like soak it in water. I decided the easiest way to do this would be to use my best friend paper towels. Cause I like to kill trees. Kidding.
And it worked! (ps. Is googling also not a word? It should be.)

After soaking an area with a wet paper towel for a couple of hours the paper came up like butta'. Yep, I just said that. Then a quick wipe down with goof off and a soapy water rinse and like magic you can see the wood again.

Yay! Now I just have to do the addition. Booooo.

Stay tuned for a hopeful update on patching in those holes in the floor so it can be refinished!

Speaking of Buying Things...

Will someone buy me this very cute house?

Hello. It has a barn too. With a living quarters above.

It just so happens that it is located down the road from my most favorite three times a year flea market. I could promise you free lodging for the event. And a swim with Porkchop in the pond across the street? No? Please?

Probably should start buying lotto tickets.

Progress in Retail Form?

Hm. Well. I was going to try and post some actual house photos...but my computer has decided that it doesn't recognize my camera as a legitimate device...so plan B.

Some things we've bought recently.

This ceiling fan...



I'm hoping that the combination of this fan and opening the windows will keep us cool all the way through the summer. This model was not my first choice, but because of it's ceiling hugging dimension it made it to the top of the list.

This storage shelf...

We ordered one of these storage shelves from CB2 to see if a couple of them might be right for bathroom storage. It should arrive just as we finish up the bathroom tile (still not finished with the tile, i know, know. don't even ask how long it's been since we moved in).

This floor paint...



Floor paint? What? Yes. We've decided that instead of ripping up the wood flooring in the addition that is in not so good condition, that we will just paint it. A couple of months ago our neighborhood hardware store was offering a deal on Groupon. So I bought five Groupons in hopes that they would come in use during this renovation. Since the hardware store carries Benjamin Moore paint, and the Groupons expire soon, we've decided to put them towards paint purchases. What does that mean? Paint colors! Yay. I'm actually really scared to make color decisions, which is why we've only gotten the floor paint...it's white. Like here and here.
Side note: did you know that Ben Moore Natura paint is 50 bucks a gallon? damn.

Anyway, there's a lot more going on. My sore back can vouch. It's all moving very slow, but it's happening. I'll share more when I rescue the pics from my camera.

Ohhhhhh. And guess what this week is?!? Brimfield Antiques Market 2011 (number 1 of 3)!!!!!!! So. Freaking. Excited. We are going to head out on Sunday to try and pick up some of those "we don't want to load it back on the truck" deals. Keep your fingers crossed for us!!!