The first brocante this year

The brocante in Arlon, Belgium, starts the

 first Sunday in March, but in July was the

 first one we actually could go to (or it rained). 

We found some little treasures.

The buckets will be used as planters.

I have 100 great ideas on how to use this wooden box 
(but a cat bed was not one of them)

And two French enamel signs. 

Brocantes are the best!

At the brocante

When I gave away three of my special

 jelly jars for Christmas, I was hoping to find

 a replacement at my favorite shop at 

the brocante in Arlon in spring.

 Today was the first time we visited after the winter 

break and I was lucky to find three more.

And I want to use this finial for hanging my necklaces.

I should have bought another one or two...

At the brocante in Arlon

We almost left the brocante without buying anything

today, when we found this beautiful wash pitcher

at one of the last booths.

Yarn Along

Linking up with Yarn Along!

Like I told you last week, I started crocheting 

a second throw (for my son's bed). 

I have +/- 30 squares done.

Five different colors. Six rounds, every first and
 last round in gray, the other colors randomly picked.
I am enjoying the process (and the progress!)

Last weekend we went to the Netherlands 

and I always take the opportunity to

 stock up on Dutch magazines.

 I read about this new "brocante" magazine

 and I ordered the first four issues and had

 them sent to my sister. 

I am totally excited, they are amazing! 

So full of beautiful pictures and home tours.
Love, love them.
So that's what I have been reading this week.

At the brocante

Yesterday we found this beautiful old lidded

 pot at the brocante in Belgium.

And do you remember the cook pot we found last month?

I saw it in a Dutch online shop for 129€

 The exact same pot. 

We paid 20€!

The first brocante of the year

Yeah!!! And we found a couple of really nice things.

First of all this beautiful old cook pot.  

I love this brown/yellowish color so much. 

And then four really cute jam jars. 

They are very small (only 6 and 8 cm).

 I have never found them before in this size.

And last but not least, this wash pitcher for

my collection. It's completely undamaged. 

Such good finds. I love the brocante!

Antique school hooks

I bought ten of these old school hooks.

They were all a bit rusty and faded, 

especially the five numbers below

were in a bad shape.

This is how they look after my husband

freshened them up a little bit.

Good job!

Hanging on the wall

Over the Christmas break my husband finished some

 of the French hooks we have been collecting. 

I love these antique "patères" 

(and I like hooks in general because I prefer 

"hanging on the wall" to "lying on the floor"). 

They were cleaned and attached to a small wooden plate and we even found some cute enamel numbers.

The most beautiful hook is reserved for my 

grandfather's violin, of course. 

Seeing that violin every day is such a joy!

The brocante

Two beautiful old wooden towel rings from

 the brocante in Arlon.

He loves the brocante ;).

The brocante in Arlon

It rained on the 1st Sunday in April and it rained 

even harder on the 1st Sunday in May,

 but yesterday the weather was perfect for

the brocante in Arlon.

We found a couple of really nice things.

A glass sugar caster for my 
"glass sugar casters collection", 

three old jam glasses for my 
"old jam glasses collection",

 a transparent seltzer bottle for my 
"seltzer bottles collection" and...
 

...a large dough bowl 
(does four count as a collection?).
;)

Going to the brocante is the best way

to spend a sunny afternoon.

Two old chairs - before and after

On the other side of the street we found

two really old and dirty chairs.

The house is being renovated and the

front garden is full of old and broken stuff.

 They looked terrible, but we saw the potential.

After a good clean, they looked like this.

And can you believe that under all the

paint and dirt, we found this:

I thought about painting them, but that would

 cover the lovely chair seat, so I'm leaving them like this.

I love furniture with a good story!

The first "brocante" of the year

I was hoping for a dry day because I had been looking

forward to this first brocante in Belgium after

the winter season for days. 

The weather was perfect,

it was cold but the sun was shining.

We found eight old, probably French, jam glasses. 

Some of them are very special.

I felt like dancing when my husband found them!

They will look so nice on my table!

And after the brocante, the kids played 

outside and I took a little nap.

That is my kind of Sunday.

At the brocante

 Well, yes, we had to bribe the kids to come along .....

 ..... with real Belgian "gaufres" .....

 

 ..... à  la chantilly .....

 

 ..... et aux fraises!

 

 What we bought:

  

two old jam jars, .....

..... this stoneware beauty (love this color so much), .....

..... and these two hooks with porcelain knobs.  

My favorite way to spend a warm, sunny Sunday!

Rodemack brocante

The weather forecast was excellent for today, so my husband and I headed over to France to the beautiful medieval village of Rodemack. We visited the village before, but today was the first time we went there for the brocante.







The medieval walls are almost perfectly preserved.



I bought this old printer's tray for "dix euros". I was still looking for one to hang on the wall in my studio.



And this Victorian pitcher/decanter with silver plated top was only "huit euros". It was just the one that was missing in my small collection. Sometimes a girl just gets lucky!





What I loved but didn't buy was this French porcelain. The color was so beautifully faded.

I really love the fact that we can leave the kids at home now with their brothers for a couple of hours (because none of them appreciates the brocante and they are hungry, thirsty, hot, bored or have to go to the toilet all the time).

Brocante in Arlon

It has been several months since we last went to the "brocante" in Arlon, but yesterday we left the kids with the boys at home and headed for Belgium, just the two of us.

^ This was a really lovely dress form in a good condition, but I already have three...



^ Do you know what this is? We didn't and we had to ask. It is for keeping your medals dust free.

^ We have no clue what this is and we forgot to ask. One of my sons thought it could be a massage roller, but it is so big (for an elephant maybe :-))

^ This pitcher came home with us to add to my small collection.

^ On our way back we saw this beautiful flower bed. Oh my, I wish my garden looked like that!