Hubby and I went to the
Ottawa Antique Show Friday. I always go the first night, because it gives me some time to think a purchase over and return over the weekend. Little things (like a McCoy planter) I have bought on the spot, but the year we bought three Lotte lamps, I asked that the seller hold them overnight and I returned the next morning to buy them. I just needed to sleep on it (in hindsight,
why?). This time, we accidentally arrived
really early, about 4:30pm, and there was already a line! Ottawa is a city of treasure hunting early birds. By 5:00pm the line had snaked around and was blocking the door. You can actually see me, with Hubby lurking behind, in one of
Kim's photos (below). I don't know why I look so grumpy: I had a full tummy (Hubby
insisted we eat a ridiculously early dinner in case we were at the show until late), empty bladder and was at an antique show!
The show was great! We spotted some familiar vendors, but new booths as well. There were some
fabulous pieces for sale. I favored so many of
Kim's picks that by the end Hubby would spot a pick of hers, hide her tag, ask if I liked it, then celebrate if I didn't love it. As in, "a-
ha! It was a Kim's pick!". It was triumphant for him. Whatever keeps him entertained, I guess!
I was on a mission: silhouettes, McCoy pottery, Pyrex, Iittala . . . I'm trying to build and grow existing collections so they have a WOW factor, instead of investing in random little items here and there. Although I also seriously considered a very small pair of silhouettes, I only purchased two small items (I'll tell you what I bought in a minute).
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| I loved these little silhouettes, but they just didn't suit the rest of my collection. |
There were many beautiful items to ogle, especially for folks without such a narrow focus as mine.
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| I have wanted a Lea Stein fox pin forever, but I'm not a huge fan of red. |
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| Found out Hubby doesn't like Russel Wright dinnerware - which I had thought about starting to collect! |
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| These 1970s teak tables would provide amazing storage in a living room . . . like our living room! |
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| So tempting . . . |
Even with all this temptation I stuck to
our money-saving goal, but did come home with one sweet treat that was a total surprise: antique Fort William post cards that round out
my existing set, which
we hung in the stairwell in floating frames. The bridge on one is the same bridge Hubby and I were almost swept under last time we took out our very small sailboat, on a trip to our hometown. The Lake Superior slips were closed for renovations, so we took the boat on a river and had a terrible time that ended up with us paddling, ditching the boat, hiking back through rough brush, shimmying around a chain link fence (dangling over a cliff), emerging covered in burrs and then waiting a lifetime in the setting sun for someone to help us tow the boat back. I HAD to get that postcard!
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| This one was actually mailed! I wish the seller hadn't written the price on the postcard. I have no functioning erasers. |
Did any local readers hit the
Ottawa Antique Show this weekend? Even though my purchases were small, I'm so happy with what I found and I'll be back next time - you never know what treasures will be there, just waiting to come home to the townhouse! Kim's so lucky: she
got to snap photos before the show opened (most of mine have people's bums in them as they hunched over to investigate items, or were snapped in a hurry before someone's bum entered the shot). See her photos on
Desire to Inspire and
Closet Rivalry.
