the cottage AKA an indoor garage sale for a rainy or blisteringly hot day

oh dear! i'm here! i'm here! can't really say i was on a blog hiatus or anything....just got a little blogger lazy. sorry guys!

i'm back though & in this post i'd like to share another shopping spot with you. you're REALLY going to have to trust me on this one.....it's on summer avenue....across the street from the old imperial lanes bowling alley & (now leveled) admiral benbow inn....and it called the cottage....GULP!

i took a trip there to look for some mirrors for emily's mom (workin' on her master bedroom & bathroom-pics to come). it's pretty much sensory overload from the moment you step foot inside. i have gotten some awesome things there-mainly vases, trays, old books. & the best thing is that anything i've ever purchased there has been under $20. so when you go, you're gunna get a deal. don't get your hopes up though because you're going to have to sift through some weird stuff...

a couple of ladies will greet you at the door when you walk in, but other than that you're gunna be on your own for this one. crooner music plays creepily over the static-y radio while you wander around and trust me you'll be wandering & you will get lost. or at least really turned around.

and then out of no where you're gunna stumble upon this....

it's a tea room that i'm pretty sure no one has ever sat inside. i dunno...just keep on going.

ok, so if you're patient & you can get past the really odd, out of place tea room you're going to find a few items such as these...

an iris vase, tennessee state flower of course!

chop off that pom pom trim & bask in the chintz of it all

i'm a sucker for stuff like this

...and this

yea, i don't know. just keep moving please.

for your kitchen utensils or just fill it with paintbrushes and pencils for your desk

this chair honestly was not in bad shape. i think you could keep the electric blue wool on there for a bit (with a good cleaning of course) before you got around to recovering.

my vision: paint this sturdy bamboo shelf a glossy black and fill it with books. i mean it's only $60, how could you go wrong?

a slightly victorian/slightly silence of the lambs butterfly tray

for lemonade or a liquor concoction

$30 for both. paint 'em red and you're good to go

and all the 50 cent books you could ever need to fill your shiny black bamboo shelf

SO! all in all i left empty handed. i was highly entertained for about half an hour or more though. it's worth a trip. there's plenty of cheap tables, chairs etc. that with a little loving could be really fantastic. and from experience i've learned that the ladies at the front will definitely strike a deal if you catch them at the right time. the best way to describe the cottage antique mall? a big air conditioned yard sale.

i'll be back on here later with more before & afters and a pillow that will make you happy as a lark. sorry for the week long absence!