Thursday, July 2, 2009

Retail therapy.

So I was in a deep dark depression the day after the concert. OK, it wasn't deep dark but it was like a shallow grey depression. I know. I know. I've already heard enough slack from my Hubby. I know.

It's just all the build up for months, looking forward to it, had a fantastic time...then it's done. Kaput. Sayonara. Kabosh. Buh bye. So on Tuesday, I took the Bub to daycare and decided to treat myself to a few hours in one of my favorite places to search for treasures.

Midland Arts and Antiques Market in downtown Indianapolis is absolutely amazing -- a massive warehouse, two huge floors chock full of all kinds of dreamy items you can spend hours and hours drooling over. I walked away with a few goodies that I'll show you at the end of this post, but I had to share some of what I found:
Isn't that fantastic? It was labeled a wine jug. I don't care what it is, I loved it.

I've seen these spritzer bottles all over lately, and this one was just loverly:
You like a bird cage, eh? Reheeeaally like them? Check this one out:
Wow. Just wow. It's like the Taj Mahal of bird cages.
Check out the handmade island it was sitting on. Ooooo la la!!:Those corbels and molding are killing me. I could die. Just. Die. (Die! Die! Die! Name that show!)
One shop had these huge letters from an old store sign:
Be still my heart:This pitcher and bowl were only $26 for the set. It killed me to walk away from them. Just beautiful. I had to pass them up, especially not knowing exactly where I would put them.
I loved this X bookcase. Looks like it belongs in the Ballard Designs catalog:
(It had a price to match though.)
Another massive bird cage:
I lurve the iron work on the base of this table!:

And on the front of this wine cabinet:
It was one of my favorites. I'm a sucker for any scrolly and old combo.
I thought this grape cluster light fixture was absolutely adorable!:
This old dress form was so cool. And look what the generic size for women's clothes used to be:
Funny how things change.
The place was overflowing with beautiful cake plates:
These glass orbs were another one of my faves. I was thisclose to getting a few for the guest room, but I'm still not sure on the color I'm going with. I hope they will be around for another week or so just in case:
This apothecary was breathtaking. It was $8600 and I can't even imagine how old it is:And finally, the biggest bird cage I've ever seen:
I find you have to spend a good amount of time in an antique store -- you'll find a lot of (way overpriced) junk. You'll find many items you could find at Goodwill, (overpriced again.) And you'll find a few odds an ends thrown in you could get just about anywhere. There's also real antiques that are completely out of your price range, but if you take your time, you'll find some really great deals as well.

My routine is to case the whole joint, find a few items I love, then go back to find my favorites. (If they are not there anymore, I cry a little and then move on -- my mantra is if I was meant to have it, it will be there for me when I get back.)

So what did I get? Squeal!! I love them! Check out the milkman bottles and carrier I found for $26:
It even had flowers in it, but I added some wildflowers from the preserve in our neighborhood and some lillies from our yard:
GORG! I thought about spray painting it for a split second (quit yelling at me! I don't know what I was thinking!) but really love the rusty parts of it now:
It is antique, after all. I love that I'll have to be good at keeping fresh flowers in the house with this baby in the kitchen.

I had to get a big metal "S" from the old sign -- the front was missing, but I have a few ideas in mind:

I soooo wish the front looked like the back:

I love how chunky it is! And it was only $5!

And finally, you've seen them all over blogland and I couldn't resist these:

I don't even know if I like the whole fork and spoon thing coming back. I mean, I like it in all the other houses I've seen on blogs, but I don't know if they are me. Aren't they adorable though? I figured if anything, I'll sell them on Ebay. :)

Hope you enjoyed the tour! If you ever get a chance, get over to Midland. (And call me if you do!) You won't regret it!

Have a GREAT Fourth of July!! I'll be back later this weekend to either share our basement transformation or the start of the deck transformation -- we'll see what I get done first. ;)

 
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