Home: Our wall of enamels

I've been collecting enamelware for awhile now. We hunt for these for our shop (you can view what's available for sale here), and we sometimes end up purchasing some for our own collection. There's just something charming about these metal plates, dented and dinged up they may be. 

We've already been displaying some of these plate in the kitchen. Some grace the top of the doorway, while, some brighten up our kitchen counter. But I still had many sitting in cold storage, so I dug them out some time ago and sorted through them. 

I particularly wanted to display my three favourite plates, which all had birds in them. Two of these were scored from the thieves market overseas (didn't come cheap though!). After trying out many combinations, we finally settled for this, and hubby helped me to stick them up (while grumbling that I was just crazy to collect these plates). Now these brighten up our entryway, and I love the colours that greet us when we enter the home!

Weekend Wanderings: Flea marketing

Flea markets sometimes are like boxes of chocolates just past their "best before" date.  They have old, some times gunky stuff.  And like how Forrest Gump's mum put it, you never know what you're going to get!  But if you spend time digging about, you might just find something you like.


We've been to quite a few flea markets in Europe so far, since I can't resist vintage stuff or the possibility of a good deal.  We missed the one at Portobello Road in London, as we took a walk there on a Monday (the flea market runs during the weekend but we were worried about dragging the kids there with all the crowds), however, we did get to visit the one at Place du Jeu de Balle in Brussels.  (This one made it to the Guardian's Top 10 list of flea markets.)  It was HUGE, but we didn't stay long as the weather was really hot and the kids got pretty restless. I did manage to get some vintage postcards (real ones complete with handwriting, stamps and postmarks) from the antiques market nearby.  Those are going to be used for scrapping or maybe book-making, and quite a few have been posted to fellow scrappers:

Can you spot the stamp for the Olympics in 1960?

Then last week, our neighbour told us that there was going to be one being held near the hubby's workplace in Munster.  So I dragged all the boys down.  The hubby was rather reluctant to go, but he changed his mind after he bought a CD.  The boys were ok, since it was more carnival than flea market and there was lots to see!  After digging about we managed to grab a couple of good deals:

  
Everyone got something.  The hubby got a CD, baby got shoes and a cloth book, Junior J had nature books and a memory game, and mama got some postcards (from a craft stall).  And most of these (save for the CD and shoes, which were brand new) cost 2 Euro each or less! 


Seems like flea markets are quite common in Munster, so we'll probably turn up the next time there's one!  What about you?  Do you like bargain hunting at flea markets?  


PS: I hope you've been enjoying the posts from our SG mothers, stay tuned for another week of motherhood stories!