Aahh what a spectacular day we had at the Brimfield show. We started out relatively early. The weather was initially cool but warmed up throughout the day. The fields were brimming with excitement as deals were made left and right. The crowds were plentiful and if you dug deep down there were bargains to be had.

The first booth we stopped at had a European flair. so we were immediately drawn into it. While talking to the dealer in the booth I discovered that she was from Germany but resides in Pennsylvania. Doris Dixon is her name. Doris was so friendly and knowledgeable. You can check her website out at www.dorisdixonantiques.com . It was such a pleasure to meet her. Here are few pictures from her booth.

We bought a few treasures from her and then went on down the road to discover a friends booth from Concord.

If you haven’t heard of Nesting On Main then you are seriously missing out on something wonderful and magical. Their store has an eclectic mix of new and old things with a french flair. It is by far one of my favorite antique shops. The girls are always so friendly and welcoming. Melissa does the Brimfield show every year with another gal Carrie from another shop in Concord. Here I shot a few pics of their amazing space at the show.

To my amazement right next store to Nestings booth another talented lady Sue Bradford set up a lovely booth with a similar style to Nestings. I had my eye on a sweet little orange tin with a bee on it, and just had to buy it because I couldn’t get it out of my head all day. I went back at the end of the day and she still had it tucked away, so I managed to get it for a better price. It was my favorite purchase of the day. Here are some pics of her cool booth as well as some random shots throughout the day. Enjoy!!

After an eight hour day at the show we came away with some great little treasures to show for. We can’t wait for the next one !! Until then happy hunting.

As most of you probably know the Brimfield Antique show is starting on next Tuesday May 13. Brimfield is by far one of the premiere venues in the world to host an antique show. With over 4000 dealers spanning for about five miles, and lasting for one week you can find virtually anything from mid ranged antiques to very high end antiques such as a Rembrandt etching. Some refer to the show as being the mecca of antiques. I am so lucky that I live about an hour from there.

This will be my fifth time going to the show as a collector but my first time as a dealer. In the past I would say that I never found any great deals there but at the time I wasn’t reselling anything that I was buying. Now it is a whole different ball game.

The show is held three times a year. May, July, and Sept. Apparently the May show is the best one to attend. The weather is generally cool and all of the dealers are coming out of the long winter and are ready to buy for the upcoming year. The July show is way too hot for me. The Sept show can be warm too but I would rather take my chances then. This Sept I am actually thinking of selling at the show with my mom and possibly another good friend of ours from California.

This past Tuesday we spent the day with our old friend Dona shopping in Concord and showing her our space in the shop. We hadn’t seen her in about two years, so it was nice to reminice and talk about antiques. Dona has always loved antiquing. Although it is not her full time job she claims it is a sort of therapy for her after a stressful day at work. When I told her the name of my site she thought it was perfect!! Dona is in a group shop in California. Her specialty is vintage hats, silver, fur and pretty Shabby Chic things. What was interesting to me is the fact that she does well selling furs in California. Who knew!! Out east it seems difficult to sell something like that. I guess different parts of the US have different trends.

Here I have taken a shot of us after a day of shopping, as well as one of my favorite flower shops in Concord called Winston Flowers. They have the most perfect beautiful flower arrangements that you have ever seen. Enjoy!!

Stay tuned for next weeks lot of photos of the Brimfield show and wish me luck on finding many new treasures!!

Despite the weekend being rainy and cold it was jam packed with fun. I managed to find three rummage sales on Saturday in Wellesley at three local churches. Although each of them had entrance fees I still managed to find some great things. Sorry I didn’t bring the camera to take photos, but I did manage to take some great shots at the Red Sox game on Sunday.

 Generally when you think of going to a ball game you wouldn’t really expect to find great design, but as usual I seem to have this uncanny way of finding something pretty in an unconventional setting. Here are some of the shots that I took today at the game.

I really love the graphic numbers and colors that are throughout the park.

Here is me and my favorite Boo. He is one of the biggest and loyal Red Sox fans I know!!

I think sometimes objects can show their true beauty when pictured in black and white.

By the way as usual the Sox kicked some serious butt!! Go Sox!! Enjoy the shots.

Over the past few weeks I have been finding some beautiful new things for my space. In the next week or so I will be putting them in the shop.

The first item that I wanted to share with you is an old Made in Italy garden fountain. In it I have diplayed an old map from Paris and some vintage Bingo cards. I think it would be great in a bathroom, or possibly in a garden filled with flowers. The possibilities are endless!!

Here is a pretty Majolica plate to add to anyone’s collection.

Another vignette in the shop with some old cheese boxes, an old galvanized scoop with vintage keys, marble eggs in a pressed glass pedestal dish, a cool celluloid bell with a bee on it, and a small green planter to brighten up anyone’s table.

Don’t you just love this old galvanized apple and fruit carrier. I have added some faux flowers to add some color to it. It would be great on a bench or hanging on a wall as a catch all.

How about this old child’s school bench. So cool!!

This painting would brighten up anyone’s home. It just screams spring!!

Here I found three sets of old french impressionist artist books from the 1940’s. They all include some awesome book plate prints of the artists work. As you can see they are Degas, Gauguin, and Toulouse-Lautrec. They are all so fabulous!! Here is a sampling of a few of the prints from each of the books.

I found this great Audubon styled painting on wood last week. I just love the earthy colors.

I love these Alabaster birds made in Italy. There is something romantic and cottagy about alabaster don’t you think?

This old green chippy medicine cabinet came from the barn that I previously posted about. It had been hanging on the barn wall for many years.

I have saved the best for last. These amazing wall paper panels came out of the barn as well. They are from the late 1800’s and are all hand painted on linen canvas. The first green border panel I was told was French Nouveaux. The second blue border is French as well. The last border is probably dutch. I am actually going to Skinners to get a full appraisal done because of the fact that they are so rare. I can imagine whoever buys them would frame and hang them up and display them as fine works of art. They are by far one of the coolest things that I have found in all of my hunting journeys. Again I would love to keep all of these things for my home, but then I would have nothing to sell in the shop!!

Well that concludes my new but antique items for the shop. If anyone would like to buy any of the items please contact me and we can discuss pricing. I hope that you have enjoyed my latest finds. As the summer goes on I will continue to add new pictures of new items. As always happy hunting!!

What did you all do this fine Patriots Day?  Did you go watch the Boston Marathon?  Maybe catch a Red Sox game.  Or did you go to Concord and watch the Patriots Day parade? 

Although Massachusetts celebrates Patriots Day on the Monday. The official day that the Americans and British fought was actually on April 19.  As I previously mentioned my family and I have always taken part in the Patriots Day festivities.  We belong to the Sudbury militia and fife and drum group. Sudbury has always tried to reenact the day as it happened. We do this in remembrance of those who fought for our countries independence . This means getting up at 4:00 am and marching the 10 miles to Concord. I have only done the march about nine times, only because for many years they didn’t allow women to march.  This was because there weren’t any women who actually marched that day. So for me it is a privilege. Here are some pictures of the days events.

Through the  years  of participating in the march I have made many  good friends. Two of whom have been dear friends of the family for years. I have included them in a few pictures with me and with my father.

This is Dan and Betty.  They are by far two of the greatest people you will ever meet.  Dan is a man of many talents. I think he has played every instrument in the group including the fife, snare drum, and base drum. He has been a member of the fife and drum group for many years. Not only is he talented but has always been filled with a special kind of enthusiasm for history that we have all grown to know and love.  As for Betty she is Dan’s lovely wife. Married for many years the two share their love of history. Betty told me that she has also done the march for about nine years. I don’t know what I would do without her marching by my side.  She is in better shape than I am that’s for sure!!

Here are a few more pics of me, my father, my brother and me marching over the North Bridge. All  in all it was a fabulous day. We had many spectators awaiting our arrival to Concord. For me it was very exiting to see all of these people waiting for us at the bridge. I guess we were famous for the day!!

Remember the barn that I recently got to tour? Well now you can too!! They are having a Barn sale in Worcester Mass on April 19 at 108 Apricot St. 8-12.

There will be a ton of items up for sale. The sale is more of an estate sale, but will still have some great bargains for everyone!! Some of the items included are antiques, a three year old John Deer riding mower, and many other new and old housewares, paint and crafting supplies. If you have any questions about the sale please contact me at design@antiquetherapy.com. So come on by, grab your coffee and feast your eyes on some great deals. See you on Saturday rain or shine!!!

The votes are in!!

Drum roll please…………….. # 7  is the winner!!!

Antique Therapy- An inspiring cure for the common design, will be my new tag-line. I will put it up soon on the sites header. I am still debating if it will fit on the business card or not.

After some technical difficulties I have decided to change the design layout. I felt the pharmacy tag was a little to busy to be a business card. But I have found another way to incorporate it into my brand. I really liked it as a header on my new guestbook. I was lucky enough to find a black paged book and add in some chalkboard like features. I really like the way it came out.

My business card is almost complete. I still need to edit it a bit, but here is a sample of the first draft. The design is an old french label that I found in a book. I just love the colors and soft look. The card background is actually brown although it looks pink here. Please let me know what you all think.

The last picture is my new label for pricing my antiques. I again found an old french label and just inserted my business name. I then added some twine to tie them on.

I wanted to thank all of you for your votes as well as the continuing support and kind comments that I have received throughout the last couple of weeks. It really means alot to me that you are all enjoying the site. If there is anything that you would like to see on here please feel free to leave me a comment or send an e-mail to me. Until then enjoy the rest of the weekend!!

This weekend was packed full of fun. We started out early Saturday on our hunting journey. The first stop was a rummage sale in Wayland. This sale has been going on for at least twenty years. Every year we seem to see the same faces. Each one of them eagerly awaiting to see what treasures they will find. This was the fourth time I have been to this sale. In years past I have found many great things including furniture for my home. This sale is by far one of the bigger rummage sales in the area. The ironic thing is that every time I have been it is usually raining and cold. The turn out was actually a small one. Needless to say we always seem to find something cool. Here are a few pictures…………..

About a week ago my mother called me up and told me that a friend of hers had called her and asked her if she would be willing to come over and see her sisters house and barn. She had some items that she was unsure about the age. Of course we jumped at the chance to go see it. Anyone who likes antiques knows that when someone mentions the word barn you immediately get exited. When we entered the barn I was like a kid in a candy shop looking at all of the old beautiful things. The architecture was amazing too. Some of the things had been their since the early 1900’s. I took a few shots of the barn for you to see. Enjoy!!

I hope that you enjoyed the tour of the barn. I know that I did!!. I also thank my moms friend for letting us take a look back in history. We truly were like two kids in a candy shop!!

Now that my space is up and running in Concord I need to acquire some business cards.

The last couple of days I have been brainstorming about what type of design that I want to put on my cards. I also need to come up with a tag-line that essentially explains what Antique Therapy is. Today while I was in one of my favorite stores it hit me. While thumbing through a french inspired book I stumbled upon pages of vintage french pharmacy labels. It then occurred to me that it might be cool to actually us an old label like this and turn it into a business card. The fact that the labels were old french pharmacy tags seemed to fit right in with the Antique Therapy theme. I think I liked the idea because as I previously stated, antique hunting is very therapeutic for me. So I guess maybe it is my goal to write out a universal prescription to everyone to make you all feel great and feel the same high that I feel when I am out looking for antiques. The response that I have already gotten from different people that I talk to is very positive. Generally everyone has agreed with me that antique hunting is truly a sort of escape for them.

So now that I have some sort of idea about the design of the card I need some help with a tag-line. This is where you all fit in. I have started to devise a few ideas of my own, but I would love any other ideas that you may have to offer me. Let me start out by listing my own ideas.

1.) Antique Therapy- The perfect prescription for elegance.

2.) Your prescription to elegant style.

3.) Your perfect prescription to an elegant lifestyle.

4.) Your prescription to finding unique artifacts

5.) Your prescription to finding elegant artifacts.

6.) Let us fill your prescription to finding inspiring artifacts.

7.) An inspiring cure for the common design.

8.) Inspiring, Inviting, Unique

These are just few of my ideas. So now it’s your turn. Please let me know what you think of the ones that I have come up with. I would also love to hear your ideas. So bring them on!!

Seeing that spring is officially here I thought that I would brighten up your day with a little Cherry Blossom beauty and design. The Cherry Blossom is so magical and romantic to look at. It is by far one of my favorite flowers next to the Peony and Hydrangea. Although it is really a tree, you can purchase the branches at your local florist, and then display them in a tall vase. Being the national flower of Japan they are thought to exemplify the transient nature of life. With that said I have found some pictures of them in their purest form, and have even found some other ways to use them in design. Enjoy!!