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! :)

Nifty Thrift Picks of the Week (7.08.08)

Sharing my weekly faves from the Nifty Thrift flickr group where people post pics of their nifty thrifty finds:

I love thrifting needlepoint and embroidery art. In fact, the image on my blog banner of the little squirrel playing the flute on that crazy tree is actually a large piece of needlepoint art that I thrifted for Clover's room (which is actually only a corner of our office, we call it "Clover's Corner"). This reminds me that I've wanted to do a post on this type of thrifted art for months but I can't seem to tear myself away from the style posts. I'll try harder...

Originally uploaded by Iwantamonkey

Originally uploaded by Iwantamonkey

Hannah Scores!
Originally uploaded by Sew Darn Jenny

Anywhoo, I'd love to come across these three lovely specimens in a thrift store! Ballerinas, birdies, and mushrooms... Oh my!

100% Thrifted Pick of the Week (7.6.08)

Gardening at the Institution, originally uploaded by sunshineupton.

Alright, granted I may be biased when it comes to this girl, as she happens to be my long lost style twin who I have thankfully been reunited with via the wonders of the internet. We've struck up a long distance friendship bridging the gap between California and Finland by gushing over each other's outfits on flickr, following each other's blogs, periodic emails, and even thrifting treasures for one another. But all that and my girl-crush aside, this pick is all about the perfect summer sundress!

I think Milla (aka sunshineupton) has nailed it here. This dress is so lovely, not to mention perfect on her! That shade of blue, the flowers, the pretty and delicate detailing with the lil' bow at the top... It's light, it's airy... perfect for a hot summer day. I love the flower child meets Grecian goddess feel of this. I'm always inspired by her skill at adding the perfect finishing touches to an outfit. Here, the brown lace-up sandals and shoelace headband adorned with a single daisy make the perfect outfit "bookends" adding charm and interest without taking the focus off of the dress. Nicely done my lil' hippie friend!

Color Inspiration

the snail and the cyclops

Marcine

trash.picker

Loving the acqua and golden mustard color combos I've been seeing on some of my favorite thrifty flickr gals lately!

Friends, Family, and Finds

Yesterday was gorgeous. Blue skies, the sun was shining... a perfect day to break out my new finds from Fun Friday. Also a perfect day for BBQ-ing with friends and family.

Every 4th of July there's a fireworks show set off at the fairgrounds near our house (this year they switched it to the 3rd). Our friends down the street have a perfect view from their front yard, so we BBQ-ed, watched fireworks, and then sat around the outdoor fireplace in the backyard, Clover asleep on my chest. Basically the perfect summer day!

I took this pic today of my lovely friend Laura Jane in her adorable vintage house dress from the flea market. She took that sweet photo of me and Clover last night right before going out to sit by the fire in her backyard.

When you make something beautiful, you are an artist.

While I'm on the subject of vintage kid's stuff, I thrifted this 1960's Golden Book Encyclopedia for a dollar awhile back and have been meaning to share it. The book is full of wonderful images and I get a kick out of reading the charmingly simplistic explanations of things:

What I reeeally love about it though, are the beautiful full-page letter illustrations at the beginning of each section. Each is depicted with things that start with that letter. They're all pretty amazing, but I'll leave you with some of my favorites:

Nifty Thrift Picks of the Week (6.30.08)

Sharing my weekly faves from the Nifty Thrift flickr group where people post pics of their nifty thrifty finds. The theme for this week's picks is lovely vintage kid's stuff:

Vintage Cradle
Originally uploaded by indelible88

Blocks
Originally uploaded by chikaustin

Raggedy Anne
Originally uploaded by chikaustin

One of the perks of having a baby girl is that I have a reason to thrift adorable vintage toys! I would be stoked on any of the above items, all great finds. The doll cradle is so charming with its bare wood and adorable sailing motifs. I love the faded colors and distressed look of the blocks. The Raggedy Anne is purely nostalgic on my part as I had one when I was a toddler. We were inseparable. I called her Gringa. Unfortunately, Gringa suffered a tragic fate. I dropped her in the toilet when I was two, poor thing.

1973: Me, Mom, and Gringa. How cute was my mom?! I want that skirt!

100% Thrifted Pick of the Week (6.29.08)

Wednesday, originally uploaded by anja louise verdugo.

In this week's 100% Thrifted flickr pool, I'm inspired by the way Anja, queen of the Goodwill bins, pairs a fun casual tee with a basic little skirt and a fabulous pair of strappy heels to create the most wonderful outfits (see another awesome example here). I absolutely adore this look! Love the quirky elements, the horsie tee with her beautiful self-made thrifted floral fabric bag. It’s casual enough that you could wear it without feeling overdressed, yet the shoes add a certain level of chic at the same time. There is such a fine balance of opposing elements going on casual/chic, quirky/classic, basic/ornate… in outfit terms, it’s like the perfect storm!

Fun Friday

It appears my shoe curse has officially been broken, woo hoo! I feel like I have been searching for them for ages, but on Fun Friday (aka half-off day) at the Salvation Army, my search came to an end when I found these lovely brown woven leather oxfords which came home with me for a well-spent three dollars, yay! I couldn't believe my luck when I then came across this matching woven leather bag, also three dollars, double yay! I love that the strap is woven too and long enough to wear across my chest which is how I tend to like to wear my bags.

The whole reason I was there in the first place was to shop for a birthday gift for my friend Lucie who you may remember from the flea market post. And yes, I totally buy people birthday presents at thrift stores. I was stoked to find these cool vintage mission cocktail glasses I knew she'd love. But the real treat was the hankie. Now, in all my days of thrifting and collecting vintage hankies, I have never come across a Happy Birthday hankie that I can recall, so I'm pretty sure this one I found in a very random location among some shoes and purses was meant to be. I also threw in this vintage white eyelet detailed dress for good measure.

As if that wasn't enough, I also found this sweet little knit tank (which ended up being free since the lady forgot to charge me for it and I "forgot" to bring this oversight to her attention) AND another perfect little white dress to add to my growing collection! Fun Friday indeed!

<3<3<3

The Clover Dress

Here it is. The free clover leaf dress from the flea market. It has some sun bleaching on one side (hence the freeness) but I really like the way the skirt is pleated with tons of tiny pleats at the top and of course the pattern!

I didn’t even realize there were any four-leaf clovers on the dress until I looked at the random detail shot that I took. After searching the whole dress, I found only two, so I’ve decided that the fact that I randomly photographed one of them is good luck :)

I played around with trying to cover up the sun damage. Both a strategically placed scarf and my trusty vest seemed to do the trick.

But in the end I decided whatever it’s not that bad, I’m not going to worry about it. Besides, it was free!

Nifty Thrift Picks of the Week (6.24.08)

Sharing my weekly faves from the Nifty Thrift flickr group where people post pics of their nifty thrifty finds:

Free Vintage Trash Can
Originally uploaded by Vintage at Heart Designs

If you thought I was strange a few weeks ago for coveting a stapler, well I have news for you. I have moved on to coveting bigger and stranger things. Yup, I never thought I would be saying this but I'm coveting this trash can with all my heart! It's vintage flower power perfection! I love the colors. The look of the flowers reminds me of illustrations from sixties children's books and that cute little white picket fence is super sweet. This wonderful waste receptacle could brighten up any kitchen and like that lovely stapler it too was a yard sale freebie!

a puppy in tow.
Originally uploaded by hola-lola

When I first saw this basket I was immediately taken with the sweet little scene on the lid. In the photo description hola-lola mentions that it is reminiscent of the basket she had on her childhood Holly Hobby bike *swoon* and how she is thinking of replacing the wire basket on her beach bike with this one. I am so in love with the idea of this basket being on the front of a cruiser, how freakin' adorable would that be?! I only wish it were my own!

Originally uploaded by trash.picker

I love these flea market finds posted by trash.picker. The blouse, coat rack, and suitcase are all great finds on their own but I especially like how pretty they look grouped together like this. The cute little blouse is so summery and reminds me of the lovely aesthetic I was inspired by in this post. And Oh, that vintage suitcase, loving the stripes! So beautiful and classic.

100% Thrifted Pick of the Week (6.22.08)

This week in the 100% Thrifted flickr pool, the lovely Marcine stole my heart with her belted knee-length dresses. With her infectious smile and whimsical props, she's ten kinds of adorable and seems to have the ability to thrift endless numbers of the sweetest of vintage dresses! As evidenced by her photostream, these three posted over the past week are only the tip of the ice berg. I love the patterns on her dresses and that a leather belt and a darling pair of t-straps or ballet flats is all it takes to complete her wonderful look. Indeed, she makes looking cute as a button look as easy as one two three!

I adore the vintage feel of her photographs and the way she evokes a sense of childlike innocence. Not to mention she always looks like she's having fun and that hose she stands in front of always has me imagining that she has just taken a break from skipping rope to show us her wonderful outfits. Also, check out her new Etsy shop for adorable pieces all sweetly named and ready for good homes!