My friend, Cindy DeFatta, and I are like minded when it comes to admiring the beauty and patina of flea market treasures. As southern California residents, we are so fortunate to have a variety of flea markets to visit on a monthly basis. My personal favorite is The Rose Bowl Flea Market in Pasadena, which meets the second Sunday of each and every month. I wanted to take you on a journey of my recent visit in February 2013 with Cindy.
We tend to stay on the antiques side of the Rose Bowl Flea Market, so once you enter these gates, take a hard left and follow the signs into the antique section. There you will find many treasures awaiting your perusal. As I tell my kids, I feel like a kid in a candy shop when I walk into a flea market, so much to touch, and discover! I recommend you do go to the Rose Bowl Flea Market with the intention of finding a specific piece, or focus on a particular area of your home that you want to enhance. If not, it is very easy to be overwhelmed by the sheer volume of vendors, antiques and yes, junk!
On this visit, I set the intention of finding the following items.
1. blue glass to add to my collection
2. accessories and night stands for my redesigned master bedroom.
3. blue sea coral to replace a piece I gifted to a client
I actually wrote this down on a piece of paper, placed it in my purse, and knew this would lead me on a productive path down the many antique aisles with Cindy. Follow along as I take you on the journey of what I found, loved and brought home.
Cindy was looking for some religious paintings, maybe of Jesus? She wasn’t sure, but said she’d know it when she saw it. This had the colors she was drawn to, but the subject was off. I blogged about Cindy’s amazing flair for flea market decor in a previous post, check out her graceful style.
Uber Chic Home owners Dustin and Christian are always in the same corner spot at the Rose Bowl Flea Market, and easy to spot. Uber Chic Home sells items that are in high demand such as grain sack covers, blue antique seltzer bottles, wire baskets, galvanized steel trays – everything is imported from their personal shopping trips to Europe. They have a store in Salt Lake, Utah, and regularly sell items at other flea markets. They do a great job of staging all their merchandise in an highly visible corner of the Rose Bowl Flea Market.
A trip to the Rose Bowl Flea Market is not complete without a stop at Uber Chic Home and a friendly chat with Dustin and Christian!
At Uber Chic Home, I purchased one solution dyed grain sack ($25) which I will make into a pillow cover for one of my guest bedrooms. The price is about a fraction of what they sell them for on One Kings Lane… great deals here, I’m tellin’ ya! About a year ago I purchased antique blue seltzer bottles from Uber Chic Home. See my post about how to display these rare treasures in your home.
Moving on, Cindy and I met a lovely couple, Judi and John from Vintage ReCreation LA. Judi hand sews beautiful linen pillow shams, pillow cases and makes custom slipcover, totes and custom bedding. Her prices are so reasonable, I really wanted to take everything home! John, Cindy’s husband is a very talented furniture painter. I had my eye on this chair.
So I didn’t take the chair home, but I did pick up a pair a matching shams for my daughter’s bedroom, and one more for a future project, or possibly to re-sell to a client.
$35 on each item, so very reasonable! Right? I’ll just pick up my own pillow inserts at my wholesale dealer in Santa Clarita Valley. Judi sells the pillows forms for $5 more, however, that would be too bulky to carry around the bowl.
I haven’t forgotten my checklist. I had yet to find any night stands that would work for my needs, oh there were plenty to choose from, just not quite right for me. The lady who sells coral and sea shells said to check back next month, she had already sold her sea coral out.
I figured correctly, that my favorite glass vendor Antique Bottles, Space T-15 at the Rose Bowl Flea Market would have some great glass to choose from.
These glass buoys caught my eye, for a great bit of decor in my home. In a future post, I’ll show you how I displayed them in my hallway. So one item checked off the list, blue glass for my collection!
As I was about to pay Derek from Antique Bottles for my lovely buoys, I spotted this fabulous painting for my master bedroom re-design. I fell in love with it! $150 later it was mine! Don’t you love the frame? So I came away with two of the three items I wanted. I resisted the temptation to look at items not on my list, or worst of all, purchase items I don’t really need or want… see how important it is to set an intention for the day?
Best part of day, returning to the car with our flea market finds, and heading out for brunch with Cindy in Pasadena!
If you seek professional guidance in creating flea market chic for your home, give me a call to discuss my design services.
