La Brocante

One of the highlights of my recent trip to Paris was stumbling into the brocante de printemps 2013 de la rue de Bretagne in the Marais. It happens the first weekend of June and last weekend of November each year and has over 500 sellers.  Brocantes are best described as movable flea markets while the real flea markets or puces have a set location.  The best things to look for are table linens, flatware, and decorative objects. I bought a lot of great items but regret passing up some others. There are a few sites that list the weekend brocante locations (here and here) but if anyone has a better one, please let me know. 

Happy hunting!

I bought one of chickens for my mom for 5 €.

I bought this book of fold out maps of Paris from 1889 for only 15 €.

My friend Carlos almost bought this set of glassware at the same table.

The Europeans know how to best clean and display linens.

This flush mount fixture had a tag for 80 €, the seller asked for 60 € and I paid 50  €. Glad I packed a Longchap bag in my suitcase to carry all my treasures home. 

The brocante in the Marais was lined with cafes of cute Parisian hipster boys. An added bonus!

All photos by moi taken with my iPhone 5.

Flea Market Finds and Fresh Flowers

There is no cheaper pick me up for a home than fresh flowers. I've been treating myself to fresh blooms all winter including flowering the Quince branches above. They last a few weeks and are a beautiful harbinger of spring which definitely feels to be sprung in New York. 

Another great inexpensive pick me up is a trip to the flea market.  I stopped by The Garage and parking lot on 25th Street the last two Sundays and found some really great items.  Yesterday was a very lucky day that resulted in the loot above.  I spent about $120 for everything and I couldn't be happier with each piece. By the way, please ignore the color of my floors. If I owned this apartment, refinishing them a darker color would be priority number one. 

The vintage wooden tennis racquet is a fun addition to my umbrella stand from Pearl River Mart and umbrellas from J.Crew and the 2009 Whitney Art Party. 

I love that this blue and white porcelain vase is painted on the bottom. The top lid comes off and has holes in it.  If anyone knows what it would have originally held, please feel free to enlighten me.

I was looking for a new lamp for my side table and this one was only $20.  It will need to be rewired and   a new shade and harp will have to be purchased but in the end, it will still cost less than any new lamp on the market.

The same vendor who sold me the lamp also sold me this covered dish for $5.  A steal!

This is the mark on the bottom.

The little silver box is wood lined and was only $25. The top doesn't close on the right side but you really can't tell. The mark on the bottom reads "WYLER, EPNS, MADE IN ENGLAND. I found the Flaubert book underneath last week and bought it just for the pretty blue cover. 

So if you're in need of a little spring cheer, I highly recommend some flowers or the flea market.  You can't really go wrong with either! 

Chic Flea Market Finds

The heat abated slightly on Sunday so I ventured to the flea market.  I was hoping others would stay away so I would have my pick of the good stuff and I did manage to find a few treasures.  My rule of thumb for the flea market is to buy what I love and always have a price in mind before I approach a dealer. 

The first thing I bought was at the parking lot flea market on 25th Street.  The powder box on the right was very dirty but I could see it's beauty underneath.  The dealer dropped it as he was trying to decide how much to charge so I got it for $1. It has hairline cracks on the top but at least you can't see them.  The box on the left caught my eye the minute I saw it because I love that robin's egg blue color. 

It's marked on the bottom T&V France.  It stands for Tressemanes & Vogt which was a porcelain factory in Limoges, France. I loved the color so much that I didn't even turn it over.  According to the mark, it was probably produced 1892-1907.

My pièce de résistance purchase is this Marie Antoinette print.  It was the robin's egg colored mat that caught my eye and I thought it was so beautiful that I had to buy it.  The dealer had a tag on it marked $58 but I talked her down to $45. 

The dealer told me that it was probably from the time of Marie Antoinette which I of course took with a grain of salt. 

A little internet research yielded that the engraver was Jean Charles Levasseur (1734-1816) and it might actually be from the 18th-century.   I found another example online here, which alerted me to the fact that there is also has a companion Louis XVI engraving. 

I think an appraisal is in order soon.  But first I have to drop it off at the framer so I can hang it on the wall.

I also love the tag on the back of the picture.  I am wondering if it was reframed at some point so I can't wait to find out.  I wasn't going to buy anything else but on my way out of the Garage flea market, I noticed the cane bench in the top photo.  I was thinking that a bench would be nice in front of my entry bookcase so I could sit my bag down when I entered.  The $25 price was right so I took it home too.  It was very dusty and when I turned it over to clean it, I noticed a tag from Heywood Bros. and Wakefield Co. San Francisco, Cal. Turns out the company is very well known which means that I probably won't paint it as was my first instinct. The bonus of buying what you love is that it might actually be worth more than you paid.  Bonne chance!

Antiquaires: Paris Flea Markets

Flea markets are a weekend ritual for many people.  One of the biggest regrets that Stefan and I have about our trip to Paris is that we did not make it to the legendary les puces.  When we do finally make the trip, we will have a wonderful guide in Antiquaires: Paris Flea Markets by Laure Verchere.  You would expect to find antiques like Louis XVI chairs but the Paris flea markets also offer mid-century pieces and modern art.  You just have to find the right antiquaire as illustrated in the beautiful photos from Laziz Hamani.  The book also highlights the famous faces who frequented the stalls for inspiration including Madeleine Castaing, Coco Chanel, and Rudolf Nureyev.  I think I'm going to have to head downtown and I can see what I can find at the garage flea market. Happy hunting to those of you doing the same!

Photos by Laziz Hamani