Last weekend Colby and I spent a significant amount of time down along the coast of Maine, visiting with some friends and flea market-ing. More specifically, we were in the Belfast/Searsport area in Maine which is a mecca for amazing flea markets and antique stores. We ventured to about five different venues, all of which were right along Route 1, all within about a mile stretch. While I found a bunch of stuff I kind of liked at each of the locations, I really scored big time when we hit up this flea market:
This location was much more permanent than the flea market down the road and was full of great deals and really cool stuff including those wagon wheels above. I don’t know what what I would do with an old school wagon wheel but I’m definitely in love (don’t worry…I didn’t adopt them). There were all kinds of ocean-ie things at this shop that I was totally digging, including these lobster traps and buoys:
Once I hit the old, glass floats I fell in love:
and knew that a few of these bad boys had to come home with me. I had no idea what I would do with them but they had that cottage, beach house feel that I absolutely love and figured I could do something with them if we ever got around to fixing up the front porch. I picked up three of the turquoise ones, mostly because they were three for $20 but also because I like things in threes. A little background/history lesson for you all. Glass floats used to be used in the fishing industry to keep the fishermen’s nets afloat. Since they’re no longer being used, they’ve become popular collector’s items and can be found around many coastal towns throughout the world. Here’s a close up of the float children I adopted:
Also at this particular person’s shop I scored a really cool set of cast iron shelf brackets:
I had been looking for something like this for awhile to install in the office. We’re planning on putting a shelf above one of the windows to store computer paper and other such items and wanted a reclaimed wood/old bracket combo. We already have the wood but just needed the brackets and now we’ve got the dynamic duo.
After poking around many of the shops, we were just about ready to leave when I spotted some wicker over at “Wayne’s World” (so not kidding…this place really was called Wayne’s World…party time, excellent). I’m a sucker for wicker and the old chairs drew me in like a moth to the light. Oh…and I should also note that this flea market was much more permanent than your typical flea market. There were permanent structures all over the place for individual shops. It was a really cool setup. Anywho, here’s Wayne’s World:
On my way to visit the wicker chairs I got a little distracted with an old bamboo chest. It had rusty hinges, the top didn’t quite close, and it was a little off kilter. I loved it! The flaws just gave it that much more charm. As I was about to part ways with the chest, Wayne himself came out and here’s the conversation that ensued:
Wayne: “You like that?”
Me: “Oh yeah, it’s got charm.”
Wayne: “Well, it’s yours for five bucks.”
Me: “Five bucks?! Really?! Five bucks?! That’s it?!”
Wayne: “Five bucks.”
Me: “Sold….let me go get my wallet. Don’t go anywhere chest.”
So the old, completely imperfect bamboo chest came home with us that day. Again…I had no idea what I was going to do with it, where it would go, what it would store, but I loved it and, do I need to remind you, five bucks!!!!!! Here’s my score of the day:
And a close up of those rusty old hinges:
The chest is currently living on the porch which is where I’m envisioning it living permanently someday. That is if we ever get our butts in gear and finish refinishing the porch floor. We haven’t really done anything since our happy little wood flooring discovery back here. Hopefully soon we’ll start working on the porch again. It’s just been so hot out in that space these last couple of months with all the glass windows that don’t open terribly well. The window guy (aka…Colby) needs to get on that.
Pssst…anyone else find any really cool flea market finds? Or run into a guy named Wayne at Wayne’s World?
