Antiquing

Before we had our two littlest kids, my husband and I were quite serious antique hunters. We would spend our weekends at auctions and flea markets coming home with treasures to clean up (and sometimes take apart, refinish, and reassemble) and make our own. Our house is full of these items that had a long history before they came to us.


I have really missed the hunt these last four years, but frankly, I have no regrets not trying to go antiquing with babies. But the time has come to get back on the horse. Now that my brood is old enough to mind their manners, we are back at it. This past weekend we drove down to St. Charles, IL and hit one of the biggest antique fairs in the Midwest.


Unfortunately, there are fewer vendors in November than during the warm months, but there was still plenty to see. On this visit, most of the folks who bring in large furniture were absent so I set my sights on fun, small items. (I generally try to focus on shopping for something specific so I don't get overwhelmed by all the stuff.) What really caught my eye this week was tacky statuary.

Like this:

Se weird, so wonderful.

Highbrow kitsch.

I'm a sucker for bunnies in clothes.

I actually came home with this:

Fawn bookends for Little Bear's room. All clean and shiny now.

Way less tacky once you get them in the proper environment (she tells herself).

The vintage "made in Japan" little fawns are so adorable in the woodland themed room. Love!


There were other things that caught my eye that didn't come back home with me:

I don't know what kept me from buying more. I think I'm out of practice. I'm totally excited to be back on the prowl though. So if you are out at the flea market and see a woman telling two small boys not to touch something every 2 minutes...that will be me!

–Cassandra