Flea Market Find!

I like to go to flea markets and antique shops, but I have spent the last ten years getting rid of stuff that has to be dusted and my home has more of a bare bones minimalist look. I like minimalist because it sounds like I have a plan.

Which I don't.

All my important knick-knacky stuff is in an antique lawyer's bookshelf with the glass fronts so I don't have to dust any of it. OK, so anyway. Over at Flea Market Style, there is a party going on today and you get to look at all the flea market stuff that people have found - either recent things or favorite things. I enjoy looking at this stuff and feeling envious about the fact that I don't really see this style in my house the way it fits so well in others' homes.

If you would like to look at what everyone got, visit the party here.

I have had my lovely dining room table for ten years and when both the leaves are in, it is huge. It is all I have in my dining room and I do keep both leaves in it. I have, over the years, tried to find things to put in the middle of the table, but anything I have tried is dwarfed by the size of the table and the room. This isn't a big and dramatic addition, but it is big enough and I really like it.

There is a little store here in West Des Moines called The Eclectic Gourd and I LOVE this store. I went in for the first time about three weeks ago as I was walking through Valley Junction, an artsy little area of town. The store is full of things from the late sixties and the seventies, so rather than being an antique store, it is more like a vintage store. Or better yet, how about it's a Caron's childhood store. I should go back and see if he'll let me put photos up.

While I was there I saw this lazy susan and I really thought it was eye-catching, but I wondered if it was ugly. I stood and stared at it, waiting for it to tell me what to do, but it was sullen and silent. I left. I went back a week later and bought it for $22. I brought it home, cleaned it up and put it on the table and guess what? I.love.it.

I can't wait to use it. Who wants to visit first? What should go inside? Homemade soup? Spaghetti? Stew?