Follow me on my pathtojunkentreasure as I hunt for treasures at flea markets, garage sales, rummage sales, thrift stores, estate sales and even on the side of the road. I'll share my love of ironstone, hammered aluminum, vintage Christmas, vintage jewelry, doilies and tablecloths, flower frogs, garden items and anything rusty and chippy. You can find me at Carriage House Antiques in Crystal Lake Illinois. Please join me on my pathtojunkentreasure!

Wednesday, May 31, 2017

Hello summer!

Well, my vegetable garden had its first casualty sometime within the last day.  All of the hot pepper plants and two of the kohlrabi plants have completely disappeared.  Either the deer or rabbits had a feast.  At least the tomato plants are still there.  It's disappointing not only for the time I spent planting but for the money involved.  Last year the kohlrabi were eaten but not the hot pepper plants. I will probably try again but in pots in my driveway.  The animals don't touch them then.

It was a beautiful weekend here.  Finally the temperature was warm and the sun was out.  Austin and I spent the afternoon in Lake Geneva WI.  That is one of my favorite places.  We spend a lot of time there since he plays a strategy game, HeroClix, at the local comic shop.  I then have time to spend walking around for hours, by myself, enjoying a Starbucks drink and ice cream at Kilwins.  It was perfect!


I found a few treasures this week.  This pink quilt is really pretty.  It is hand pieced and in perfect condition.


I also found some great treasures at an estate sale.  Hard to pass up a bird cage and windows.  Never pass up old windows!


We never made it to Cedarburg WI on Sunday for the flea market.  Storms hit there during the day and most of the outdoor vendors didn't set up.  It was good that we didn't drive the almost two hours it takes us to get there.

I spent a few hours yesterday purging my milk glass collection.  I filled up a bin to take to the Carriage House to sell.  When I get in the mood to clean out, I go with it.  I will probably go through it again soon to clean out some more.  I like the cleaner look to the cabinets (pictures will come when I'm all through with the purging).  My next project may be my miniature perfume bottle collection that I started 33 years ago....

Happy treasure hunting and Happy summer!



Tuesday, May 23, 2017

Rainy Day Flea Market and Gardening

What unbelievable mud at the Pecatonica Flea Market on Sunday.


Certain spots were really bad.  We were troopers and so were the wonderful dealers that were set up through all of it.  There were lots of good buys!  I found some really great metal pieces to use as planters.


We made many trips to the car, through the mud.  On our way out, we saw one car that was really stuck in the mud.  Nothing keeps a flea market junkie away from a flea market!


I only kept one purchase for myself.  (I got rid of three things in "my room" as my excuse to keep it).


This rusty green camper toy was too awesome to pass up.  My friend got a kick out of the doily under it.  Everything in my home has a doily.  I'll be changing them tomorrow to more of a blue color scheme to welcome in the summer.

After the Open House at Carriage House, I needed to restock and redesign my space.  I just wanted to show you some pictures of how cool I thought my space turned out.


And here's another one.  This is my favorite one so far.


I just started on Instagram so you can start to see my pictures there also under pathtojunkentreasure.

Today was the perfect morning to plant my vegetable garden. Ethan helped me.  We planted kohlrabi, tomatoes and hot peppers.  Simple selection but ones that we eat all the time.  This year we laid really thick landscape fabric to help keep the weeds under control.  It was so thick that we had a hard time sticking the tomato cages into the ground.


We spent around four hours on it.  I love the soreness that follows a good day of planting.  It means that I had a good time spending time with my hands in the dirt.  I hung a garden sign that has faded. I'm going to look for small metal letters that spell garden to replace the faded letters.

My iris have bloomed!


I love the contrast of the purple with the green.  They really stand out.  Most of my garden is limited to purple flowers.  I love that color combination in the garden.  I recently bought a hosta plant at a garden sale for $5.  Now is the perfect time to buy plants at garden sales or garden club sales because the prices are inexpensive.  I even bought an heirloom tomato plant at a sale last week that I planted today also.  There are lots of good plants to be found at sales.

The Cedarburg WI flea market is on Sunday.  I hope it doesn't rain!

Happy treasure hunting!



Monday, May 15, 2017

Warm Weather Wishes and Events

Happy Mother's Day!


I spent a part of Saturday at the flea market at the Shops on Pepper Road in Lake Barrington.  It is held once a year.  I bought this great lavender plant from Joy at Savvycityfarmer (http://savvycityfarmer.com/)  It looks and smells so nice in my planter that covers the septic tank.  I would rather look at the lavender any day!

Last week, the Shops in Ridgefield (https://www.facebook.com/TheAntiqueShopsOfRidgefield/) held their garden open house event.  The weather was perfect for being outside.


I managed to find a few treasures.....


Now, I'm busy getting ready for the Spring Open House at Carriage House.


I spent some time there this morning....and planted this dump truck for a unique planter.


There are a few markets coming up.  Main Street Market (https://www.facebook.com/mainstreetmarketrockford/) event in Rockford is on Saturday.   The Pecatonica flea market (https://winnebagocountyfair.com/index.php/pec-thing) is on Saturday and Sunday and the Elkhorn WI flea market (https://www.nlpromotionsllc.com/) is on Sunday.

The Cedarburg WI flea market (http://www.cedarburgfiredept.com/services/maxwell_street_days.htm) is May 28.

Happy treasure hunting!