I am completely obsessed with preserving our time spent here in Europe and it's manifested in my collecting stuff from all over the world. We have trinkets filling up our curio cabinet, sidewalk art from Rome, England, etc...that I've had custom framed covering our walls, and a really impressive collection of alcohol from every country we've ever been to.
So now my house is starting to turn into a museum and it's not the look I'm going for. We have too much stuff. Way too much stuff. But I have visions of an eclectic, cozy, & ultra comfortable house when we move back to the States, and I just can't help myself. Every little thing we collect is a memory that I don't want to let go of, and is absolutely essential for my vision!
Lately I have been on the look-out for an old antique ladder that I could use to display some blankets that I have, especially the one my in-laws got me from Iceland for my birthday. I figured the best place to look for one would be at a flea market, so I woke my husband early this morning to go to a giant flohmarkt (flea market) about a 1/2 hour from where we live!
I had to have this!
Having never been to Homburg's flohmarkt before, Eric and I really had no idea where to go and were so surprised at how BIG it was! So we just wandered! Other than a ladder (that I found less than 2 minutes after arriving...**squeal!!**) we didn't really know what we were looking for. Actually, we really weren't looking for anything in particular so it was a bit overwhelming at first, but then Eric saw all sorts of ceramic mugs and he really started to get into the whole hunt of it all. He passed up just about everything military related, which surprised me, but he really loved the bar stuff and old milk canisters, and we decided that just the hunting for goodies part was a blast!
It was like the most fun window shopping we've ever done!
We spotted a small wine rack that upon inspection was pretty flimsy for the €20 the man was asking for it, but it was kinda sorta what we were looking for so we decided to keep wandering and that's when I spotted a metal one that was so much more our style for only €10, and Eric was all like, "Good eye, Hun!" And I was all like, "I know!" And then we high-fived and I might have done a little dance in the middle of the Homburg flohmarkt while Eric slowly scooted away from the embarrassing dancing American. Maybe.
We spent our morning wandering and oohing and aahing and managed to score an 8ft ladder, two ceramic mugs & two pewter wine goblets (Eric's picks), a metal 16-bottle wine rack & a french wooden crate that we have every intention of filling to capacity with European wines, and a gorgeous antique German milk canister that I will most likely use to cry into after we leave Germany and my heart aches to go back. All for less than €60!
Which made a happy girl even happier!
Just look at that ladder!
My house is starting to turn into a museum and it's not the look I'm going for. I blame my black leather furniture- it was perfect for our basement when we bought it 8 years and 4 houses ago, but now it's falling apart and will not survive another move, so we're planning to just give it away when we leave here in a few months. Plus, it doesn't match our style anymore.
I have visions of an eclectic, cozy, & ultra comfortable house, with over sized furniture and all of our goodies scattered just perfectly so that we will always be surrounded by memories of our travels. I am very sure that my beloved Grandma Sue would have totally appreciated and understood my style and known exactly the most perfect places for my trinkets... she was my style icon.
But I have to wait until we move back to the States before I can transform my house, and since my Grandma Sue is no longer in this physical world I am on my own trying to figure out how to make my mix of modern & antique become the vision that I swear is absolutely stunning in my brain....so I'll just keep looking for, and collecting, these little treasures....aaaand giving my black leather furniture the side-eye until we are rid of it.
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