The last few months have been very busy for us at Down Home. We went on two buying trips to Texas and New England; had a space at two weekend antique shows - Three Speckled Hens and Remnants of the Past, and had our 13th Birthday Open House! Of course that means alot of preparation and planning and time! While it's fun, it can be exhausting too! When the last customer left our store the day of our 13th Birthday open house, I thought, "We did it!!!!" Our busy string of events was over and we had a few weeks to relax a bit!
Just days later we loaded up our trailer and headed to Big Sur, our annual camping trip with the kids and grandkids! Of course, as we were planning the camping trip, my mind started to wander a bit...Hmmm, Alameda Points Antique Faire is not all that far from Big Sur!!! I guess I'm not that tired!!! Our camping reservation started on Sunday, the day of Alameda, so wouldn't it make sense to drive up on Saturday, stay the night in Alameda, go to the flea market Sunday morning and then meet the family in Big Sur? Of course it would!!! So we did it.
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| Our view from our hotel in Alameda - so excited for the next morning! |
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| A bit cold and cloudy, but so excited to be shopping in Alameda! |
That was only my second time going to Alameda, so I was excited to go and see what treasures I could find. I started off my purchases with this adoreable galvanized metal pet house. It originally was probably a dog house, but I was thinking it would be a cute house for my bunny, Sunday.
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| Seriously, soooooo cute! |
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| Love It!!!!! |
As we continued our hunt, I found a beautiful harvest colored painting in a wonderful craftsman frame - I may save that for the Fall! Then a boat paddle with green paint, and a blue and white quilt from a dealer who also had some embalming equipment. I loved the standing embalming tool tray, but the thought of it made me a bit squeamish, so I utimately passed.
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| Don pulling my cart with my Fall painting! |
As we continued, I ended up with an early child's rocker with old red paint, an Eastman/Kodak photograph paper cutter, a leather courier pouch, some vintage fishing flies, and a vintage corset. Yeah, I was sort of all over the board with my purchases that morning! That's what I love about antiquing; you never know what you might find and what you'll come home with!
Our work at Alameda was done! So, off we went to Big Sur, where I found the best treasures of all!!!
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| The 4th of July in Big Sur!!! |
