Interior Design Lessons for the Flea Market Junkie
Once of the first things to do with almost any of your flea market finds or collections to get them off the floor, out of the shelves, and off the coffee table. To create more space, highlight your collections, and truly appreciate what you have found you need to put them on the walls. Almost anything can be hung on the wall. I once found a beautiful rosewood piano sheet music holder. I loved the beautiful dark wood and the scrolling pattern. It sat in a box for three months before one day I just picked it up and said I will find a place for you! It is now hanging about three pictures leaning on my fireplace mantel. It adds height to a small ordinary fireplace. Every time someone comes in the first thing they do is ask what is that! They love it. At Christmas I lean old vintage Christmas cards where the sheet music used to lean. The piece is beautiful and makes me truly happy every time I look at it.
Interior design should reflect our loves and interests. Flea market finds incorporate well into this philosophy. Try using larger flea market finds to display other smaller collections. For example, every flea market has a plethora of old Coca Cola crates. Try hanging them on the wall to create fabulous colorful shadow boxes. Vintage jars are displayed beautifully in them. Openings can range from small bottle sized squares to larger rectangles that were originally meant to hold six packs of bottle. These are especially useful above a desk area. You can put tiny jars of paper clips, staples, and almost any office supply in them. Smaller vintage jars with metal lids can be hung from them on the wall. Take the lid off of of your jar and drill a hole through it. Attach it to the Coke crate with a screw. Fill the jar with office supplies and screw back on. This is also a vintge throw back to all of the Grandpas out there with hundreds of jars of screws and nails attached to their basement ceiling.
Always look beyond the original purpose of the flea market or vintage find. I have a set of my grandmother’s old white table clothes from the 1950’s. No one needs ten white tablecloths, some with holes from age. I took the ones in good condition and made some truly vintage inspired white curtains out of them. In my case it was important not to cut them, so I use those readily available curtain clips to hang them heavy black curtain rods. It has turned my home into a cottage retreat. The fabric is soft and beautiful and it looks like I have had custom curtains made for all the odd windows in my old house. Best of al I think of my Grandmother every time I look at them.
Vintage flea market furniture can also look great on the wall. A collection of small vintage stools can be attached to any wall using an L bracket. If you do not want to put a hole in your flea market find try displaying them on free floating shelves on you wall. Placing something at eye level that is normally on the floor gives it a sense of importance.
The final bit of advice that I can give all the flea market junkies out there is to group all their similar finds together. A grouping will always give more importance to objects. Grouping similar objects can also cut down on clutter. Try placing a large vintage frame around your grouping on the wall. These can ad cohesion and unity to a selection of different items.
