Watchin’ you sleep 18 May 2010

One of my favorite things to do is to go antiquing.  Or thrift store-ing.  Or both at the same time, though the number of thrift stores in this area is woefully small.  That’s another thing I am looking forward to when we move to Virginia — there are thrift stores everywhere.  Salvation Army, Goodwill, Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters (CHKD, or, as we refer to it phonetically, Chick-a-duh) — there are so many to choose from.  And the prices are wonderful.  Goodwill especially has awesome prices, or it used to.  I could get paperback books for a dime or a quarter.  Once I even got a King James version study Bible for 75¢!

But here on the island, I can think of just one thrift store, and I wasn’t too fond of it.  And of course we have Savers (it’s Value Village on the West Coast), but that’s a nationwide chain of stores.  They say they support local charities, but I wonder how much of my money is staying local.  But Savers is all we have here, so I manage.  Sometimes it’s hard to get a good deal there, though.

Anyhow.  This weekend we decided to go thrift store-ing and antiquing.  Kurt got home early on Friday (yippee!), so we headed north off the island to visit one of my favorite antique stores in New Bedford, Massachusetts.  This place is huge, and not only does it feature plenty of antique furniture and kitchenalia (two of my favorite things), but it also has an entire shop devoted to vintage clothing.  I can’t fit into most of it, since women were historically much more slender than they are now, but I still love to look and dream.  One time I found the absolutely perfect dress, a pale gold frock from the 1950s that would have looked smashing on me.  Too bad it was four sizes too small.

I did manage to find a screaming deal there.  I found a Voigtländer Brillant camera, very much like this one.  Only the one I bought is in much, much better condition, complete with custom case, a long cord release, and a manual.  There was no price on it, so the cashier called the owner of the booth, who decided to give it to us for $28.  Then they found the price tag, and it was originally closer to $50.  Since it hadn’t sold in a while, the owner decided to honor the $28 price.

Screaming deal indeed.  That webpage I linked to suggests $70 to $80 for a camera in very good condition, and while it’s not mint, I’m sure it would command more than that since I have so many accessories.

Woo hoo!

Then on Saturday, we went antiquing once more — only this time we went off the island the southern way and stayed in the state of Rhode Island.  Hey, it’s harder to stay in the state than you’d think!  It’s like, whoops, we crossed the border and now we’re in Massachusetts.  During one of our travels, we crossed the state border at least five times.  That’s what you get for living in a tiny state.  Kurt mapped out the entire route, from antique store to antique store, so I was in heaven.  We started off at my favorite one on Route 1, a smallish store with lots of furniture and kitchenalia.  Right off the bat, without even going inside, I found the perfect table to replace this cheap, small table we’d gotten at the Christmas Tree Shops for $10 — and that had broken a long time ago.  The one I found at the antique store is bigger and has loads of storage underneath for magazines, and was just $18.  Except.  It’s black.  Fortunately it’s wood, and I could easily refinish it.  At least I think I can.  It’d be a learning experience.

And then it was off to another antique store!  And another and another!  I found an older copy of The Joy of Cooking for just $2, and this is a cookbook I’ve been wanting for a long, long time.  I also found an old Polaroid camera in a case, complete with flash and other accessories, for $3!

And finally, at a pretty upscale antique store that featured mostly furniture, I finally found the perfect chair for my reading nook.  It’s dusty blue, and not really my favorite color, but it’s a recliner.  It’s small, just the right size for my nook, but it’s so cozy and comfortable.  It has a lot of padding, and I can just see myself reading all winter long while Kurt’s out to sea.  And it was just $75!  We still have the pastel rainbow chair that was there before, but I don’t plan on keeping it.  It’s broken, in that it leans wayyyyyy back so it has to go against a wall to keep it upright.  And the matching hassock has an enormous rip in the upholstery.  I got tired of the huge marks it was making on my wall, so this new recliner is going to be perfect.  I’ve already sat in it to read for a little while, and it’s just perfect.  I’m so happy.

What can I say, I’m easy to please.

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