Good morning, and how was your weekend? Ours was good and busy. Brimfield sadly was a complete? bust. It does not even warrant its very own post 🙁 I was debating on how to prepare you for this news. But honesty is always the best policy. I am not here to bash Brimfield but for me personally, my Brimfield days are sadly over. The end of an era.
The first time we had a blast….found some wonderful treasures amongst plenty of junk, and the people watching was most entertaining! The second time, the level of junk seemed to have increased two fold as did the entertaining people watching:) I came away with less loot but we still vowed to go back. And we did. Three strikes and you are out as they say. This time it was an absolute bust. It looked like a giant massive yard sale from the worlds biggest most offensive hoarder. We walked past nearly every booth scratching our heads. That bad.
There were a handful of decent booths with some nice enough items, but of the things I saw (and prices I know well of things I collect) those items were grossly overpriced. Sterling, Herend, Imari and Limoges. In all honesty I came home loving my own selection of goodies that much more!! Something also telling is that three of the vendors that I had bought from the first go around (two art dealers and one silver dealer) all have pulled of Brimfield citing it has changed and is no longer “their market”. Interesting.
I worked hard to find some pretty highlights and here they are…….
I collect these jars and these were so lovely but normally they sell on average from $75-150 there were all around 250 and up which is on the high side
Loved these Baccarat candelabras, but he would not budge off of his price and something tells me they went home with him!
Love this window
Fell in love with this dome but not for $750
Beautiful patina…the colors caught my eye
Pretty statuary but how to lug it home!
Just in case you happen to be looking for a? new set of “wheels”…..lol
Seeing random things like this is totally “de rigueur” at Brimfield
And finally the “fine dining” scene…….(precisely why we brought our own sandwiches from our favorite local deli)
So…..my friends, that is my personal take. Granted there are legions of people who might disagree and love it. If you want to walk for dusty mile after dusty mile looking at heaps of used clothing, 5 foot voo doo dolls, scary look china faced dolls, broken relics from the past, with a few decent things sprinkled in between, then by all means venture out and go! You never know what you might find and true, we hardly covered it all. There are no doubt some pretty finds but I think you need to be? savvy consumer and know your prices before you go. Again just my personal take.
Now moving onto something that is very pretty…some of the highlights I totally forgot to share with you from the NY gift show! Below is just a sampling of what caught my eye……
These pillows caught my eye for my clients apartment in NYC…..really pretty!
So much fun to see one of my sponsors, Gloria and her uber fabulous line AFK, the maker of dream rooms for babies and kids at the show….ahhh to be a kid again!
So there is your Monday eye candy:) Lots of pretty things to see! Thank you for stopping in, wishing you a fabulous day…until tomorrow.
Your trip to Brimfield was certainly a disappointment and I can understand why! However, I liked those jars in the first photo. So much to admire at the NY Gift show especially the range of cushions (pillows) in those neutral cream and beige colours and the fabulous bedroom in the last photo. Gorgeous fashion illustrations too!
Tina too bad about Brimfield, my sister in law used to go twice a year but doesn’t anymore for the same reason, she said it became a glorified yard sale. Seems to be a common opinion. Though the few highlights were pretty (not the prices though).
Your show highlights were gorgeous! I love the blue and white, pillows, tabletop and the kids furniture. All of it so great, you have a really wonderful eye for beautiful things.
Good morning tina! I think for me, the lesson often learned is, “there’s no place like home!” This place was once a treasure, but like so many famous places, it becomes mundane and too ordinary. People end up paying for the name, the aura and idea of it rather than the treasures long ago scooped up. But fortunately, NYC is never a bust!!!!! Anita
Oh no, what a disappointment. I just knew I was going to see a treasure trove of goodies that you found on your latest venture. On a bright note, the New York gift show did look fun. Adore the pillows and we’re fans of anything gold?happy Monday, Tina!
I have never been to Brimfield despite living in Boston for a while. I guess I can take that off my list. As for NY, I want that pagoda chair! Can you not say who makes it?
Susie
Tina thanks for the update on Brimfield, very disappointing. Love the ikat lumbar pillow, would you be able to get that pattern and pillow in your online store ?
Please let me know very interested in purchasing
Regards
Karen
Thanks for saving me the trip to Brimfield! I thought I wanted to go, now not so much, I subscribe to a annual antiques magazine that did a write up on antiques fairs across the country and Brimfield did not get very high marks in recent years so sounds like they have gone down a bit.
On the bright side, your show highlights are wonderful. I love it all….the blue and white, pillows, the florals and beautiful pewter and wood serving pieces, its all so lovely.
I am looking forward to seeing your tole go online, Tina. Hope soon?
Tina I would say the New York Gift Show is more our style. Not that I mind hunting, but really! I have heard this about Brimfield before and that the vendors act like they are retailers, so what is the point unless you truly find a treasure. Jus not for me. I know that Mona has found amazing items there, especially grand doors for her projects!
You know, I had a similar experience here in Canada. I went to a well-known flea-market and had the same feeling: overpriced items and not that many great things to see!
My tip? Go to small town flea-markets and shop on small antique stores. I especially like searching for pretty things in Maine or in the Maritimes. Older regions are the best places to find real “treasures” for a very little price!
Can’t travel? Many antique stores are on facebook or have their own site. So, keep looking. 🙂
One more thing, that bunk bed is outrageously gorgeous! I am keeping that on my list for future clients with kids!
Thank you for sharing these pictures – I loved almost everything at the gift show, and those blue and white pillows are gorgeous! Do you think you can sell those in your online store too?
Hi Tina I went to Brimfield a few years ago and was horribly disappointed. I walked away with a few old books for my husband and a small folk art oil painting for my mother in law who collects them. That was it. Once was enough for me!
Your show highlights on the other hand are beautiful. Night and day! I love it all. Any that you might be adding to your online shop? The pillows are sensational.
Hi Tina,
This is the reason I stopped going to local antique shows…….it became very depressing to look at “junk”
My collection days also started with the crystal jars/sterling tops.
The pillows from the New York Gift show are over the top..would love to see
these in your shop. Picture #3…….the large blue and white bowl on the round white table is exactly what I am looking for.
The shadow box glam picture #19 (gold high heel on the top of fashion books) would love to know the source…..
Sorry your trip was a disappointment…that stinks. Except for the silver, doesn’t look like there was much to buy and your shop blows away everything there, so thank you for saving me a trip.
My husbands father used to own a very upscale antiques business in Maine for many years and finally closed shop about 6 years ago after he said the whole industry has changed and that the internet has permanently changed peoples expectations as well as what they can buy in the stores. vs. online. Good and bad I guess.
The show pictures are so pretty. I love all those pillows. Will you start carrying those? If so I would be your first customer…they are beautiful!
I got my beautiful candle and lamp in, even prettier in person. Thank you.
Here I am , back now for the time being and what a lovely welcome it is to read your post today.. it feels like Im home :))
Im sorry your antiquing trip was not as you had hoped, but the photos of the gifts show are gorgeous, oh my goodness those neutral and monochrome pillows, divine.
I shall enjoy very much to catch up on all I missed…
but one thing I must say, is please do go to Hotel du Cap Eden Roc. I was there just recently and I was thinking of you!! You would just adore it
Brimfield is never good in September, it’s the last show of the year the good dealers have sold out! Go to the first show in May, the dealers have had all winter to collect merchandise and it is great!
Tina you had me laughing at your account of Brimfield and the description of the offerings and “find dining”. I say every year I will go but somehow never do, maybe i am not missing out. I prefer some of the smaller markets in Vermont and Mass.
Your highlights from the other show were wonderful though, so much beauty under one roof. I see many things I would buy:-)
Now I don’t feel so bad that I didn’t make it to Brimfield! Great things at the NY show, though! Love the pillows and what a great idea to stick some pinecones in the cute salad bowl. Hope you have a great week, sweet Tina!
Tina, I could not agree more…honesty is the best policy, especially among bloggers who rely on each other for interesting finds, etc.
I have heard of the market for years and have often thought of going, now that you have been 3 times and find it lacking I think I will cross it off my list.
On another note, I love all of your finds from the NY market! So many great things.
Try the Round Top/Marburger Farm semi-annual folk art and antique festival in Texas. I have gone in April and October for about 15 years and it is HUGE and FABULOUS! Hotels in Austin and Houston book up early and they are each about 1 and 1/2 hour drive from the tiny town of Round Top, whose population explodes during the show. Or, you can stay in quaint and lovely bed and breakfasts in nearby Brennan, Texas (home of Blue Bell ice cream). Lots of antique stores and sales have sprung up in the nearby area too, such as in Shelby. It is a fantastic event and one of the nation’s largest. I have bought a lot of English flow blue china there, as well as furniture and fine linens. I promise you will not be disappointed. Dress cool as it can be very warm!
I always appreciate your honesty and this time more than ever! I have felt so overwhelmed lately that I cannot make every antique show that I want to go to. This just made me rest at ease?.not that I don’t want to try it sometime. I remember the first time you went and all of the glorious things you came back and wrote about! Your posts are always enlightening and inspiring. Thank you.
Love those picks from the NY gift show! I really need to go there one day! I’m looking for a shell chandelier like the one I featured in a recent post of a home in the Bahamas. Did you see any shell chandeliers? I hope so! Let me know. XOXOX
Round Top is really an excellant antique show. We go every year & are never disappointed. We always stay in a lovely house in Fayetteville, just a short drive from Round Top. There is so much to see & do there, plus the wonderful small surrounding towns with antique shops & Blue Bell Ice Cream.
Hi Tina!
I just love your posts and am sorry Brimfield was a bust.
Have you ever thought of venturing out to Bouckville in upstate NY? I had heard at one time that it was a good antique show.
You came away with lots of great pictures and manage to make every thing you touch look so fabulous!
You are an inspiration!!
Oh my goodness, it looked like a cheap flea market! I am with you on the
candellabra. Beautiful. I don’t like the way the silver was loaded either.
Love the pillows and bar cart, and of course a lot of other pretties.
Sorry you wasted your time, but at least now you know.
Teresa
xoxo
What, you don’t need a new voodoo doll!? Haha, I have friends who went last weekend and said the same. I think it ebbs and flows over the years. I’m not quite ready to give up yet….although it does look a lot like the county fair this year…
Stacy
What you said about the Brimfield Show is what I told a friend of mine about all the Antique Malls in town here in SC. Three years ago there were plenty of interesting things to be had. Now there is nothing. And the occasional item of interest is priced way too high. My fired is a “junk” dealer (milk glass and the like) and she thought that too many people had caught onto the estate sales and made it difficult for the dealers in town and had run the prices up and the supply for their booths down. Anyway, the people who run the estate sales have things priced high for all the people waiting in line when it opens up on the first day- I attended an estate sale on the 3rd day when items had been reduced by 50% and found it uninteresting. I am wondering if the answer to the high prices and lack of supply is that the women born in the 1920s who had beautiful silver and glass (they retired here) have finished dying. Now we are in for a dry spell. The women who bought their items like me born in the 1940s will release them 20 years from now. I just don’t know the true answer.
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Good morning, and how was your weekend? Ours was good and busy. Brimfield sadly was a complete? bust. It does not even warrant its very own post 🙁 I was debating on how to prepare you for this news. But honesty is always the best policy. I am not here to bash Brimfield but for me personally, my Brimfield days are sadly over. The end of an era.
The first time we had a blast….found some wonderful treasures amongst plenty of junk, and the people watching was most entertaining! The second time, the level of junk seemed to have increased two fold as did the entertaining people watching:) I came away with less loot but we still vowed to go back. And we did. Three strikes and you are out as they say. This time it was an absolute bust. It looked like a giant massive yard sale from the worlds biggest most offensive hoarder. We walked past nearly every booth scratching our heads. That bad.
There were a handful of decent booths with some nice enough items, but of the things I saw (and prices I know well of things I collect) those items were grossly overpriced. Sterling, Herend, Imari and Limoges. In all honesty I came home loving my own selection of goodies that much more!! Something also telling is that three of the vendors that I had bought from the first go around (two art dealers and one silver dealer) all have pulled of Brimfield citing it has changed and is no longer “their market”. Interesting.
I worked hard to find some pretty highlights and here they are…….
I collect these jars and these were so lovely but normally they sell on average from $75-150 there were all around 250 and up which is on the high side
Loved these Baccarat candelabras, but he would not budge off of his price and something tells me they went home with him!
Love this window
Fell in love with this dome but not for $750
Beautiful patina…the colors caught my eye
Pretty statuary but how to lug it home!
Just in case you happen to be looking for a? new set of “wheels”…..lol
Seeing random things like this is totally “de rigueur” at Brimfield
And finally the “fine dining” scene…….(precisely why we brought our own sandwiches from our favorite local deli)
So…..my friends, that is my personal take. Granted there are legions of people who might disagree and love it. If you want to walk for dusty mile after dusty mile looking at heaps of used clothing, 5 foot voo doo dolls, scary look china faced dolls, broken relics from the past, with a few decent things sprinkled in between, then by all means venture out and go! You never know what you might find and true, we hardly covered it all. There are no doubt some pretty finds but I think you need to be? savvy consumer and know your prices before you go. Again just my personal take.
Now moving onto something that is very pretty…some of the highlights I totally forgot to share with you from the NY gift show! Below is just a sampling of what caught my eye……
These pillows caught my eye for my clients apartment in NYC…..really pretty!
So much fun to see one of my sponsors, Gloria and her uber fabulous line AFK, the maker of dream rooms for babies and kids at the show….ahhh to be a kid again!
So there is your Monday eye candy:) Lots of pretty things to see! Thank you for stopping in, wishing you a fabulous day…until tomorrow.
Your trip to Brimfield was certainly a disappointment and I can understand why! However, I liked those jars in the first photo. So much to admire at the NY Gift show especially the range of cushions (pillows) in those neutral cream and beige colours and the fabulous bedroom in the last photo. Gorgeous fashion illustrations too!
Tina too bad about Brimfield, my sister in law used to go twice a year but doesn’t anymore for the same reason, she said it became a glorified yard sale. Seems to be a common opinion. Though the few highlights were pretty (not the prices though).
Your show highlights were gorgeous! I love the blue and white, pillows, tabletop and the kids furniture. All of it so great, you have a really wonderful eye for beautiful things.
Good morning tina! I think for me, the lesson often learned is, “there’s no place like home!” This place was once a treasure, but like so many famous places, it becomes mundane and too ordinary. People end up paying for the name, the aura and idea of it rather than the treasures long ago scooped up. But fortunately, NYC is never a bust!!!!! Anita
Oh no, what a disappointment. I just knew I was going to see a treasure trove of goodies that you found on your latest venture. On a bright note, the New York gift show did look fun. Adore the pillows and we’re fans of anything gold?happy Monday, Tina!
I have never been to Brimfield despite living in Boston for a while. I guess I can take that off my list. As for NY, I want that pagoda chair! Can you not say who makes it?
Susie
Tina thanks for the update on Brimfield, very disappointing. Love the ikat lumbar pillow, would you be able to get that pattern and pillow in your online store ?
Please let me know very interested in purchasing
Regards
Karen
Thanks for saving me the trip to Brimfield! I thought I wanted to go, now not so much, I subscribe to a annual antiques magazine that did a write up on antiques fairs across the country and Brimfield did not get very high marks in recent years so sounds like they have gone down a bit.
On the bright side, your show highlights are wonderful. I love it all….the blue and white, pillows, the florals and beautiful pewter and wood serving pieces, its all so lovely.
I am looking forward to seeing your tole go online, Tina. Hope soon?
Tina I would say the New York Gift Show is more our style. Not that I mind hunting, but really! I have heard this about Brimfield before and that the vendors act like they are retailers, so what is the point unless you truly find a treasure. Jus not for me. I know that Mona has found amazing items there, especially grand doors for her projects!
xoxo
Karena
The Arts by Karena
Hello, my beautiful Tina! 🙂
So nice to be here today!!!
You know, I had a similar experience here in Canada. I went to a well-known flea-market and had the same feeling: overpriced items and not that many great things to see!
My tip? Go to small town flea-markets and shop on small antique stores. I especially like searching for pretty things in Maine or in the Maritimes. Older regions are the best places to find real “treasures” for a very little price!
Can’t travel? Many antique stores are on facebook or have their own site. So, keep looking. 🙂
One more thing, that bunk bed is outrageously gorgeous! I am keeping that on my list for future clients with kids!
Have a Blessed week, Tina.
xo
Luciane from HomeBunch.com
Hi Tina,
Thank you for sharing these pictures – I loved almost everything at the gift show, and those blue and white pillows are gorgeous! Do you think you can sell those in your online store too?
Felicia
Hi Tina I went to Brimfield a few years ago and was horribly disappointed. I walked away with a few old books for my husband and a small folk art oil painting for my mother in law who collects them. That was it. Once was enough for me!
Your show highlights on the other hand are beautiful. Night and day! I love it all. Any that you might be adding to your online shop? The pillows are sensational.
Hi Tina,
This is the reason I stopped going to local antique shows…….it became very depressing to look at “junk”
My collection days also started with the crystal jars/sterling tops.
The pillows from the New York Gift show are over the top..would love to see
these in your shop. Picture #3…….the large blue and white bowl on the round white table is exactly what I am looking for.
The shadow box glam picture #19 (gold high heel on the top of fashion books) would love to know the source…..
Beautiful!!!! Everything!!!
Sorry your trip was a disappointment…that stinks. Except for the silver, doesn’t look like there was much to buy and your shop blows away everything there, so thank you for saving me a trip.
My husbands father used to own a very upscale antiques business in Maine for many years and finally closed shop about 6 years ago after he said the whole industry has changed and that the internet has permanently changed peoples expectations as well as what they can buy in the stores. vs. online. Good and bad I guess.
The show pictures are so pretty. I love all those pillows. Will you start carrying those? If so I would be your first customer…they are beautiful!
I got my beautiful candle and lamp in, even prettier in person. Thank you.
Hello Tina my dear,
Here I am , back now for the time being and what a lovely welcome it is to read your post today.. it feels like Im home :))
Im sorry your antiquing trip was not as you had hoped, but the photos of the gifts show are gorgeous, oh my goodness those neutral and monochrome pillows, divine.
I shall enjoy very much to catch up on all I missed…
but one thing I must say, is please do go to Hotel du Cap Eden Roc. I was there just recently and I was thinking of you!! You would just adore it
my love to you
Sally
Sorry to hear about Brimfield. I’ve never been, so I appreciate the update. And thanks for the highlight from the gift show. Gorgeous pillows!! Cheers
Brimfield is never good in September, it’s the last show of the year the good dealers have sold out! Go to the first show in May, the dealers have had all winter to collect merchandise and it is great!
The NYC gift show seems to have more than made up for the Brimfield disappointment! Thank you for sharing all the prettiest things with us.
Tina you had me laughing at your account of Brimfield and the description of the offerings and “find dining”. I say every year I will go but somehow never do, maybe i am not missing out. I prefer some of the smaller markets in Vermont and Mass.
Your highlights from the other show were wonderful though, so much beauty under one roof. I see many things I would buy:-)
Now I don’t feel so bad that I didn’t make it to Brimfield! Great things at the NY show, though! Love the pillows and what a great idea to stick some pinecones in the cute salad bowl. Hope you have a great week, sweet Tina!
Tina, I could not agree more…honesty is the best policy, especially among bloggers who rely on each other for interesting finds, etc.
I have heard of the market for years and have often thought of going, now that you have been 3 times and find it lacking I think I will cross it off my list.
On another note, I love all of your finds from the NY market! So many great things.
Have a great week Tina!
Try the Round Top/Marburger Farm semi-annual folk art and antique festival in Texas. I have gone in April and October for about 15 years and it is HUGE and FABULOUS! Hotels in Austin and Houston book up early and they are each about 1 and 1/2 hour drive from the tiny town of Round Top, whose population explodes during the show. Or, you can stay in quaint and lovely bed and breakfasts in nearby Brennan, Texas (home of Blue Bell ice cream). Lots of antique stores and sales have sprung up in the nearby area too, such as in Shelby. It is a fantastic event and one of the nation’s largest. I have bought a lot of English flow blue china there, as well as furniture and fine linens. I promise you will not be disappointed. Dress cool as it can be very warm!
I always appreciate your honesty and this time more than ever! I have felt so overwhelmed lately that I cannot make every antique show that I want to go to. This just made me rest at ease?.not that I don’t want to try it sometime. I remember the first time you went and all of the glorious things you came back and wrote about! Your posts are always enlightening and inspiring. Thank you.
Love those picks from the NY gift show! I really need to go there one day! I’m looking for a shell chandelier like the one I featured in a recent post of a home in the Bahamas. Did you see any shell chandeliers? I hope so! Let me know. XOXOX
Round Top is really an excellant antique show. We go every year & are never disappointed. We always stay in a lovely house in Fayetteville, just a short drive from Round Top. There is so much to see & do there, plus the wonderful small surrounding towns with antique shops & Blue Bell Ice Cream.
Hi Tina!
I just love your posts and am sorry Brimfield was a bust.
Have you ever thought of venturing out to Bouckville in upstate NY? I had heard at one time that it was a good antique show.
You came away with lots of great pictures and manage to make every thing you touch look so fabulous!
You are an inspiration!!
Awww…another one “bites the dust!” I did like that columned “folly”…franki
I’ve always wanted to go to Brimfield and the N.Y. gift show…its supposed to be the best. I love, love those pillows!
Oh my goodness, it looked like a cheap flea market! I am with you on the
candellabra. Beautiful. I don’t like the way the silver was loaded either.
Love the pillows and bar cart, and of course a lot of other pretties.
Sorry you wasted your time, but at least now you know.
Teresa
xoxo
What, you don’t need a new voodoo doll!? Haha, I have friends who went last weekend and said the same. I think it ebbs and flows over the years. I’m not quite ready to give up yet….although it does look a lot like the county fair this year…
Stacy
What you said about the Brimfield Show is what I told a friend of mine about all the Antique Malls in town here in SC. Three years ago there were plenty of interesting things to be had. Now there is nothing. And the occasional item of interest is priced way too high. My fired is a “junk” dealer (milk glass and the like) and she thought that too many people had caught onto the estate sales and made it difficult for the dealers in town and had run the prices up and the supply for their booths down. Anyway, the people who run the estate sales have things priced high for all the people waiting in line when it opens up on the first day- I attended an estate sale on the 3rd day when items had been reduced by 50% and found it uninteresting. I am wondering if the answer to the high prices and lack of supply is that the women born in the 1920s who had beautiful silver and glass (they retired here) have finished dying. Now we are in for a dry spell. The women who bought their items like me born in the 1940s will release them 20 years from now. I just don’t know the true answer.