Sebastopol Antique Mall

On Sunday my new accomplice Laura Jane and I drove out to Sebastopol to check out the weekly flea market. I hadn't been to this particular flea market in quite a few years because the last time I did go... well...it sucked, to put it bluntly. I was hoping it had improved since my last visit. Unfortunately, I think it somehow managed to actually get worse... total bust!

So instead, we drove a little further down the road to the Antique Mall for some browsing. I LOVE this place and Laura Jane, being new to the area, had never been. It's in a giant old warehouse which is separated into two halves, each of them huge and compartmentalized into smaller areas where the different dealers display their wares. The place is filled with so much beauty that I went a little crazy with my camera, enjoy!

I'm so in love with this Alice and Wonderland album cover! Though I'm sure Lucas would feel differently on the subject, I think it would be amazing on our wall.

Probably not the most practical of organization methods, but nevertheless, I'm a big fan of the way books look grouped by color on shelves, like the ones in this cozy corner.

Ahh yes, the vintage clothing dealer. As you might imagine, we got hung up back in this corner of the building for quite awhile. I'm seriously considering going back for a pair of these glasses to have my prescription put in. The ones in the back were my favorites because they have really cool flower detailing along the upper corners of the frames and I think they were only $28.

I stole this lovely mannequin's head piece to wear as a crown of flowers for a quick self portrait.

Meanwhile, Laura Jane played dress-up in this gorgeous sky blue frock strewn with little cloud-like ruffles. I swear, this girl was born to wear vintage dresses. I have yet to see her try one on that she doesn't look amazing in!

In fact, she had a wedding to go to last weekend and needed a dress. When she mentioned it to me, I immediately remembered a fabulous green floral vintage dress with a bubble skirt that I had seen hanging in the window of my favorite consignment shop just days before. I took her to check it out and lo and behold, it fit her like it was made custom.

All the ladies in the consignment shop were oohing and ahhing over her in that dress, especially when we found her a perfect little floral cardigan to go with it. Seriously, some genius floral pattern mixing was happening between the dress and the cardi. Unfortunately, it ended up being too hot to wear the cardigan at the wedding and she didn't get any pics of them together, so you'll just have to take my word for it.

There was just no arguing with these two...
(Interesting Missa fact: James Dean and I share a birthday:)

For me, going to the antique mall is not really about shopping or buying anything. I love to just wander through and look at all the lovely vignettes scattered throughout the building. It's something akin to visiting a museum or a gallery in that the experience is about admiring the wonderful items that have been preserved through time and finding inspiration in them and the lovely ways in which they're displayed. That said, there are good deals to be found and I don't always leave empty handed ;)

All this and can you believe we only made it through half the building before I got the call that Clover was awake from her nap and had to head home? Well, I guess that means stay tuned for Part Two! :)