Evening all!
I said I would post about my car boot sale adventures so here I am doing exactly that!
I am a regular at Battersea Car Boot and will be sure to give you my full opinion of that after next weekend as I might well have my own stall there next Sunday!
This weekend, however we were at our flat in north London and had no roast lunch in Battersea to draw us near (as my parents are away and we’ve got their dogs!) so we thought we’d give our local car boot sale a go so off we trundled to Holloway…
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| IT’S FREE- Bonus! |
First we went on Saturday morning and were really dissapointed with it apart from this stall:
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| We weren’t allowed to get too close but Stephen did ask! |
Which had very cheap vintage-style pretty things- like patterned cupcake cases, shabby chic kitchen accessories and coat hangers with birds on them- it was very me and I wanted to buy most things there, especially this cutlery cabinet:
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| This will go nicely in my dream kitchen! |
and I fell in love with a picnic hamper… but no money, no space… blah blah blah!
It was at the stall that the friendly man running it informed us this wasn’t a car boot sale but a market!! AH! Sunday was Car Boot day… so that was a relief!
Of course we were back in the same spot the very next day…
Stephen and I had a few things on the agenda for what to look out for, all for the flat – DIY materials, frames, clocks (to do our new project – a clock wall!!) and mirrors. I was also searching for gems, treasure and brilliant bargains- but then again- I am always am!
The car boot was full of the usual junk, useless tat and bargey people but that doesn’t bother me anymore, I am a very focused buyer and keep my eyes on the stalls, not their owners or the people around me- unless they are trying to swipe my chosen object of affection then it’s WAR!! No not at all- I just walk away with my tail between my legs and dream of what might have been!
Anyway- I definitely think it could have done with less stalls and more space- especially as it was burning hot today (I’m not complaining- just saying!) The whole place was heaving and no one was particularly friendly apart from the ‘plant seller’ who gave me very useful advice, the Irish guy who was charming and a great bargainer with the lovely ‘picture seller’. The others were moody, stubborn and disinterested – which makes them much less likely to buy from (in my opinion) and is not needed! I intend to be a very friendly seller when I do my Car Boot- whatever the weather!
But what about the loot? It was 80% a load of rubbish – lots of bad clothes, cheap rip off of cosmetics and blatantly some ‘fell off the back of the truck’ stuff BUT the other 20% was good quality ‘junk’- lots of pictures today, LOTS of alternative (ie- not awful one hit wonders) cds, dvds and videos (I wish I kept my VHS player!) I was really happy to see a good selection of plants especially as they were hosted by the most approachable sellers there and antiques that weren’t overpriced at all. I couldn’t help but laugh at one stall selling used DVDs for £8-10 … ummm Amazon is cheaper and NEW! Wow!
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| I didn’t notice the trees there- I had my head down, looking for a bargain! |
So, go on then what did you buy? I thought you’d never ask!
The first stall I saw was covered in piles of lace so I dived in and got a HUGE very good quality piece for £2.
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| Lovely floral white lace! |
Then we found 2 clocks for £4:
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| She wanted £5… |
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| And we all thought they weren’t going to work! AHA! |
This picture was such a bargain – £1.50 and we both LOVE it…
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| Stephen pretended he wasn’t that into this to bargain down! |
Notice how they are all already on our wall!
All these knitting needles and case for A QUID!
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| I can’t wait to use the HUGE ones- any suggestions what to do with them?! |
This lantern for £1
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| Hanging on the parasol already… |
All in all- not a bad hours bargain hunting!
After all that though we took some stuff to the tip/ re-use center/ my mecca and picked up all this…
FOR FREE!
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| New project – making these into shelves… |
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| Kids bench soon to be kitsch garden furniture! |
Good day and all for very little money.
I’ll tell you more of what we got up to on one this lovely weekend in Dog Blog III tomorrow!
Love and bargains!
Xox Gab-boot
Great finds. That doggy bench is just too cute.
My big tip for the big knitting needles is shirt yarn. Make your own chunky yarn from strips of old tshirts that are too worndown to wear. With fabric dye you can give it all the same shade. I found a tutorial here : http://babongohandmade.blogspot.com/2010/10/t-shirt-yarn.html
Or buy the chunky yarn ready made if you have no old tees : Zpagetti yarn (http://www.hoooked.nl/?___store=en_en) You can make a bag, rug, basket or pillow cover in a few hours.