Flea Markets: 5 Tips to Take with You on Your Next Excursion

I have a little bit of an obsession with home decor items , unique home accessories and have found more than my fair share of hidden gems at garage sales as well as flea markets. Lara Spencer is a folk hero to me for her HGTV series “Flea Market Flips”. Lara Spencer also has two books on the art of flea market shopping ”I Brake for Yard Sales” and ”Flea Market Fabulous” are both good reads for the flea market lover in some of us.

[📸 Credit: Wix Stock photos]

What I love is the hunt for a true treasure. It’s spotting that dingy piece that you instantly can see potential in along with just where you want to display it in your home. I love vintage pieces and iconic one of kind or a period piece that may take me back to a “Brady Bunch“ style kitchen that I know I can update, paint or completely rethink the way I should use it. Flea Markets are like pilfering through someone else’s garbage or junk pile they put on the side of the street with no life left in them. However, it‘s exciting when only you can see a new vision to reinvent them giving them a second chance at being an adored coffee table conversation piece or a labor of love restoring them to their old glory.

A few months back my husband and I bought a vacation home that came furnished right down to the books in the bookcase. It was like a walk back in time with some old first edition classics sitting right there on our book shelf . I sat one afternoon looking through each one finding names written in the books of the original owners and it was clear they had been purchased at a second hand shop or flea market based on the receipts hidden away in the backs of the book in between the pages near the end. The previous owner of the house obviously shared my love of books and a little flea market shopping searching for vintage finds. One of the books had a customs card stuck in it from a family that had traveled abroad in the 1950’s. It had remained in the book all these years. I couldn’t help but wonder what kind of people they were and what their lives were like.

Here are a few tips I can offer when hitting the local flea market or garage sale

1) Remember to take cash and be respectful. The seller expects to dicker on the price with you but don’t insult them by offering little or nothing

2) Come prepared for anything. Sometimes it‘s hit or miss. You may go 3 times in a row on a flea market or garage sale outing and come up empty handed but the next time you may hit the mother load uncovering a treasure trove of “another’s junk that is destined to be your treasure.”

3) Give yourself a budget and stick to it. You could get lost for days swallowed up with a lot of items with “potential” but before you purchase try to make sure you have a specific vision or placement for a piece that will add to or complement your eclectic finds you have collected over the years.

4) Go early or get there late. Mix it up. Both offer a unique opportunity to get an edge on your competition. Early birds get the pick of the litter and the last of the day may get the best bargains when sellers want to unload the last of their inventory.

5) Take a friend. Sometimes we need a voice of reason from someone that shares our passion but can reel us in when we are going off the rails with random finds we have no way to repurpose but are wooed by the clever techniques of experienced sellers. Don’t get talked in to anything you don’t have a gut feel for right away. It’s kind of like that feeling of “love at first sight”. If it doesn’t feel completely right don’t do it. Just Walk Away until next time. You will thank yourself and your friend for helping you keep those extra dollars in your pocket and leaving a little junk behind to become someone else’s treasure.

XO & #StayCurious