Never judge a flea market by the fleas…

So I had a free day last week, which rarely happens, and I decided to use it to explore the antique mall scene near The House of Goodwill.

The nearest city is Jackson, which looks like it has a few great places to check out.

But it was a beautiful day, so instead I thought I’d take a back road to a place that looked promising online.

The drive was beautiful.  I had a little trouble finding my destination, and as I got closer I started feeling a bit skeptical.  It was definitely the Tennessee country, and the area was very interesting.  I will leave it at that.

When I pulled into the parking lot, I almost felt afraid to get out of my car, the location (and everywhere around it) seemed so run down.

The view from the parking lot was not particularly promising.  I thought maybe I’d wasted the 30 minute drive there.  To be honest, it didn’t look great.

But if I have learned anything from thrift store stalking, it is this: sometimes places look like real dumps and then you go inside, and your suspicions are confirmed.  On the other hand, sometimes you discover a place that looks questionable, and then you go in, and, as in this case, it’s amazing!

(And of course there are also the places that look amazing from the outside, but everything inside costs a fortune, or just isn’t that good.  And then there are the sketchy-looking places that look that way outside, and inside, but as you sift through the contents of the interior you find fantastic stuff – like the scary looking estate sale I went to earlier this summer.  You just never know.)

As soon as I stepped inside and saw the old guy seated by the door, I knew this place was a winner.  What you can’t hear by looking at this pic is the awesome decades-old country music that was playing on a speaker – the perfectly suited soundtrack.

Surprisingly, there were some really, really beautiful, high end antique furniture pieces – the kinds of things I love but are way out of my price range.

Then there was all the usual stuff – the antiques mixed with estate sale leftovers and random vintage items.

Between that flea market and another, and a Goodwill stop, I picked up a few more things for the house.  Besides my excellent duck planters, here a couple things I found:

This beautiful flowered lamp was just $5!

With a new shade it will look amazing.

I love this vintage duck coaster!  There was only one; I wish I had a set.

These great plates of Tennessee and the Smoky Mountains were $7 together.

One came from the flea market, the other was at Goodwill.

Last week is the longest I've gone without posting.  My computer crashed and my tech support (ie. the husband) was out of town and unavailable.  He got home and was able to get my computer functioning again in about 10 minutes - hopefully I won't miss that many days of posting again!