What’s Your Favorite Flea Market Find?
Flea market style has been popular for many years now and it’s easy to see why. First off, you’re likely to pay less for home decor when you shop the flea market. Secondly, items are a little worn yet well-loved, which means they have character. Most definitely, your favorite flea market find has a story. It may have traveled across the country. It may have belonged to someone semi-famous. Whatever its story, flea market finds possess an intrigue all their own. If you’re looking to add character to your home, here’s a sampling of flea market finds you might want to consider.
Photo by Alison Kandler Interior Design
Vintage signs like the Pepsi bottle cap painting are hugely popular with the flea market crowd. They instantly add color and character to a room. Signs are statement pieces and you can often find good bargains.
Photo by Alison Kandler Interior Design
Chippy furniture is abundant at the flea market and you’ll find pieces in a variety of colors and style. Pieces wearing original paint are especially coveted by furniture collectors.
Photo by Alison Kandler Interior Design
Our local flea market has a quilt vendor who you’ll always find in the same booth. His prices are decent and his stall is always packed. A mix of colorful textiles create great flea market style in any bedroom.
Photo by Alison Kandler Interior Design
Wrought iron furniture is a classic flea market find and works well with so many decorating styles.
A fun flea market find that can be a challenge to locate, is a vintage dinette set from the forties or fifties.
You’ll find plenty of flea market finds in this eclectic living room. Chippy furniture, architectural pieces, vintage oil paintings, an old wicker chair, colorful pottery, and a beautiful graphic rug all add character and color.
There’s no shortage of vintage ladders when searching for a flea market find. This one’s painted white and serves as a shelving unit.
Photo by Annie McElwain Photography
Vintage crates from the flea market can be used to house an endless list of supplies, but why not turn them on their side and create a gallery wall? These are filled with additional treasures like vintage bottles and vases, and even an old-time camera.
Once in a great while, you come across a truly great flea market find like this beautiful set of wicker chairs … or the wooden trunk in the corner, or even the beautiful bowl sitting on top.
Feel free to mix flea market finds in a single room. Here, a unique coffee table, flea market chairs, an elegant chandelier, and hand mannequins come together to create an eclectic vibe against the backdrop of an amazing Victorian-style mantel.
One of my all-time favorite flea market finds is vintage mirrors. Quite honestly, I have too many of them.
Stoneware crocks are another great find. The number you see on these vessels is a reference to the number of gallons they hold. I found the 3-gallon crock on the left at our local flea market a couple summers ago. The vendor sold it to me for a mere $5 because it has barbed wire around the rim, which I thought made it more endearing. It’s one of my favorites.
I also enjoy finding little vintage bottles. This coming weekend is our August flea market and I hope to find some lavender bottles that are becoming more popular. I’ll let you know if I’m successful.
Just a reminder – there’s still time to enter to win a copy of the new book, Home Decor Cheat Sheets. I’m announcing the winner this Friday.
My favorite finds were both free! The first was at Freecycle event were someone dropped off an entire set of ironstone dishes. We are talking dishes, bowls, teacups with their saucers, and even a couple of serving bowls. It blew my mind! The second was on craigslist where a woman was downsizing and let go of her antique cupboard/china cabinet that looks like it came directly from some old farmhouse kitchen. The craftsmanship that went into is so incredible that it still shocks me that she let it go for free!
When you said you had too many vintage mirrors, I replied in my head, “But they are so charming. ” I’m slightly jealous of the smaller ones. Something I’m like better than a good flea market, is a garage sale. I have been spoiled by them. A ttruly great one is hard to come by lately, but i have come across some spectacular deals. My husband bought a huge crock many years ago that now is an end table. I think he paid 5 dollars for it!
You have officially made me want to run out and go shopping.
These pictures are BEAUTIFUL!
Thanks for the inspiration today!
karianne
I have vintage mismatched china on my kitchen soffit and walls and also over the dining room window. It is so pretty and most plates have been between $1 and $7 with a few fancier plates and larger platers for between $10 and $20. I love the roses and soft colors. I also have a few really pretty Christy Repasy canvas rose prints. Her work is not “vintage” in that she is a present day artist, but some of her work has a vintage look. Sometimes I buy direct from her site, but I have also bought some from eBay and vintage stores.
I have two favorite finds and both were free thanks to a Freecycle event and craigslist! The first is a full set of ironstone dishes found at a freecycle event. A woman walked up and just plunked them down in front of me and said “I just can’t stand these.” (?!) We are talking the dishes, bowls, cups, saucers, and even a couple of serving bowls! I use them everyday. The second came from craiglist from a woman who was downsizing. An antique cupboard/china cabinet that appears to have come from an old farmhouse kitchen. It needed a little love when I got it (two legs were slightly broken), but once that was resolved it found a home in my dining room. I get so many compliments on it!
Flea market style is actually my FAVORITE style of all!
Brenda
Thank you for this great post! I am a regular reader but this is my first time commenting.
This validates my décor, which is often misunderstood by friends and neighbors. I find this eclectic style so much more interesting than buying a complete set of anything. It doesn’t matter whether it is from Rooms-to-Go or Ethan Allan,” matchy matchy” is boring and humdrum. Very often, treasures can be found at Flea Markets…. and I have found many!
Great post.
I love the individuality of flea market finds. I much prefer that to buying most decoating items at big box stores.
Thank you for such wonderfully inspiring examples of one of my all-time favorite styles! Like you, Jennifer, I have a real fondness — weakness is more like it — for vintage mirrors. I find so many uses for them in every room of the house and often use them as pretty trays in addition to layering & leaning against walls, and of course mounting them to walls. What I’d love to add to is my small collection of vintage shaving mirrors. I’ve seen some amazing tri-fold shaving mirror examples, but sadly they’ve been out of my price range. For now, I’ll continue to be on the lookout for chippy, painted mirrors that work well with a variety of decorating styles (and are in my price range) and just admire the sparkling reflections they throw around a room!
Mary
My favorite flea market find was an antique rocking chair in perfect condition for $11.00.