Today, my hubby and I spent a glorious morning and afternoon at the monthly Pasadena Flea Market, one of my FAVORITE places to go (his, too…and if you don’t believe me, just ask him)!
Normally, when I go swap meet shopping, it is with my dearest friend (and daughter’s godmother), Dr. Sally, who left today for Virginia to change the world. 🙁 However, Virginia has AWESOME antique shopping and I’m completely jealous that she will be living with minutes of the nations largest garage sale…some hundreds of miles up the east coast once a year (I’ve only heard about that but never actually been).
Anyway, I considered this to be a R&D trip. Browsing for inspiration, hot finds, pricing ideas and more specifically burlap, grain sacks, glass door knobs, rotary dial telephones, antique clocks, type writers, globes, linens, hardware…and anything else with a good price! At one of the booths, these hands caught my eye.
I’m not sure why, I just thought they were interesting. Sadly, when I asked the man if his hand was for sale, he said “no.” 
One of my favorite booths had some great furniture, but I LOVED how everything was set up. I’m pretty sure I will be stealing this display idea. The table runner is burlap with lacey fringe (hence the burlap…though I hadn’t thought to use it as a table linen), and I just the love the simplicity of the silver bowl with balls of twine. Topped off with some bird prints on top of an awesome two-toned coffee table that had heavy distressing. 
Another two-tone dresser. Evidently, variations of aquas and greens are the new shabby chic and I LOOOOVE it! I was all over those vintage clocks but didn’t buy any today. Way toooo expensive.
So, the chandeliers are OK but I’m all over that lattice (not for sale). You’ll definitely be seeing that in the store. I have a great idea to incorporate the distressed lattice! 😉
This was cool too…rusted wrought iron fencing with no apparant function. $75….WHAT!!!? Who would pay that much. I gotta get me some of this, though…for like, $5.
My favorite find of the day! This awesome dining room table made out of a door. For a mere $750, it could be yours. Nothing more than an old door (refurbished), wrought iron base and (what I am guessing is custom) glass top. I’m pretty sure I could replicate this idea and sell it for half that! I loved the re-purposing on this piece. 
So, what did I end up with today? An old metal clarinet, some lacey linens, rotary dial telephone, and three burlap sacks…oh, and a $40 lunch in the new and improved (i.e. highly over-priced) food court. Next time we pack a lunch! 
This weekend, I came home with a ton of new furniture and finished a bunch of projects so I’m shooting to do another before and after blog post of one featured items for the store. Here is a little peek…
Until then, I keep you guessing as to how I used fake flowers and left over swarovski crystal jewels to transform an old piece of furniture! “It’s fun to be fancy!”