Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Flea Market Finds

Our home is not new. Well, it's new to us, but it's not new construction. The wood work is old-fashioned and dark. The floors are well-loved ivory carpet. The kitchen was clearly designed by someone above the age of 50.

Knowing it would cost a (pretty large) fortune to "modernize" our home the way we modernized the condo, I am embracing the character it holds.

I am choosing not to replace that dark woodwork. I will not be painting the doors. I will keep the old-fashioned kitchen the way it is (with a few minor updates) because I've fallen in love with our home.

Several friends have mentioned how "at home" they feel when they walk into our home. Hearing that puts me straight up on cloud nine because that's what I've always wanted. I've always wanted a home where others feel welcome. I want a space that welcomes guests and visitors. I want a space that my family loves to be in and loves to share with others.

Because I follow a "slow design" mentality, I love just letting accessories speak to me. Whatever is meant to be in our home will find me. I don't need to look for things on one big shopping trip. I chose not to paint a single wall in our home until we'd spent enough time to let the walls do the talking – even now, our eighth month in our home, we've only painted two rooms.

I planned on finding lots of goodies for our home at HomeGoods or PierOne, but I've actually had all the luck finding accent pieces at estate sales, garage sales and flea markets. Our home isn't new. Why would I design the spaces with exclusively new things? I love the juxtaposition of new with old. I find a few things at Crate & Barrel, a few things at the market. It's all about the balance.

Over the weekend I got the urge to go antiquing, so a friend joined me and we braved the cold at the Kane County Flea Market. I had no plan, I just felt like going. As we wandered, the antique woods and metals inspired me and I realized there were a few things I could use to accent our home.

I needed a drink tray to put on our new coffee table and a basket to hold my potatoes, onions and garlic in the kitchen. (I also fell in love with several antique barn wood tables, and begged Hubs if we could someday have one for a dining room table – that's a big "Someday".)

I am in love with what we found!!! I scored a vintage Pepsi crate for $10 and an antique wire basket for another $10. The trunk we are now using as a coffee table was an estate sale find from this fall – $50! I totally love it.