Just to warn you, this post is FULL of photos. I suppose that’s to be expected though when two best girls head down to North Carolina to visit their OTHER best girl. My iPhone got its workout this particular lady’s weekend since I didn’t want to miss a single thing. Upon arrival, we enjoyed the requisite high octave catch up session, but also great food, great mediocre wine (out of a cat shaped bottle, of course) and SHOPPING. Sarah (the NC transplant), Alyssa (my travel buddy) and I did ourselves proud with our shopping this particular trip. But we’ll get to that in a moment – First, a little documentation of the trip…

That one above is of Alyssa and Sarah in front of IKEA, the spoils of which I will be posting about soon. It was their first time to the store (ever!) and let me just say that they were troopers. If you’ve been, you know that it can be a little overwhelming. Sarah was more than a little blown away by the fact that “they sell FOOD here?!?!!?” and the two of them were uncharacteristically quiet as we snaked our way through the massive showroom. I did my best to motor through so that they didn’t burn out and somehow managed to get in and out in about an hour. That’s a record people! And all three of us walked away with an arm full of personal treasures.

And down below, I threw together a mini montage of food, drink, and thrifted finds that rounded out our blissful little weekend.

Since so many of you guys responded to that bottom left Instagram of the Pyrex, I knew I needed to expand and give you more (MUCH more) eye candy. That particular little cluster of vintage finds hails from none other than the mecca of all antiques: Sleepy Poet Antique Mall. If you live ANYWHERE near Charlotte, NC, you need to go to this place. Aisles and aisles of side-by-side booths piled high with the most amazing collection of treasures – Did I mention that the space is 55,000 square feet? Taking the description straight from the website, it features “250+ booths selling everything from Antique Furniture and Vintage Clothing, to Mid-Century Modern and Classic Home Decor.” It literally put my beloved Estate Specialist to shame, and I never imagined that that was possible.

But let’s jump right in, shall we? First, that now mildly famous photo of kitchen wares, tins, carafes, trays, glasses, tea pots and Pyrex. The restraint I exhibited was almost award-winning. The second photo shows even more 1950’s kitchen perfection, with a fun to-go coffee container, graphic tea tin, pitchers galore and pretty pink linens.

This pair of brass kitties almost came home with me, as did the wall of old telephones. If there had been a mint rotary phone, it WOULD have been part of my take away.

Speaking of mint, one thing I was absolutely dying to buy was this mint cake/pastry stand. Alas, the $125 price tag forced me to walk away. The two tiered server pictured below it for only $38 was a great substitute, though I ended up passing on him too…

Oh man, the glasses…So. Many. Glasses. I’m not much of a glass collector myself (at least after buying this beautiful set of wine and champagne glasses from Estate), but a true collector would have been bouncing off the walls. We’re talking purple glass, amber glass, glass with etching, glass with gold and teal details – There was one particular decanter below, with a price tag of only $4, that caught my eye but my bar cart is already overflowing with pitchers so I had to walk away. 

Alyssa was in particular need of a lamp that day, so we stopped and stared at all the lit beauties offered at the antique mall. The first one photographed below was a quirky piece, made from an old rotary phone (catching our eye more for the conversation factor than the style), and the one after it is this gorgeous industrial floor lamp that I would have loved to take home.

There were so many dressers…If Alyssa had decided to take us to North Carolina in a truck, this could have been dangerous. Her sedan helped to keep us in line though, and we simply looked wistfully as we walked by.

Isn’t that cracked mirrored piece above kind of cool? Not sure that I would have done that for MY home, but I think it’s definitely interesting (enough to share it with you fine people!). That big beautiful Danish cabinet several photos up takes the prize for Most-Coveted-Wish-I-Had-$800-To-Spend ::le sigh::

So. What did I actually end up getting? For starters, Sarah, being the ever gracious host that she is, bought Alyssa and I each a little animal to take home – I got this lovely palm sized owl, and Alyssa found a funny little glass skunk.

I also grabbed up this set of vintage mint salt and pepper shakers. At only $8 each, there was no way I was leaving the store without them. That particular booth actually had a BUNCH on display – Alyssa bought a pair as well! It was just too good to be true…

And here’s that fabled antler that I spoke about and contemplated in this post. I’m still a little torn on the finish. Should I paint it (like this), or leave it natural? I’m feeling like “natural antler” is a little too rustic for our tastes, and think that a bold dipped color on the end could modernize it just enough. We shall see. Oh, and it was a teenie splurge at $20.

This $8 vinyl/plastic sign letter “C” was too good to pass up. I love the graphic, three-dimensional shape, and of course the fact that it’s my initial. I couldn’t wait more than a day to get this guy up on the wall – I’ll share where later this week!

So there you have it (well at least part of it). Believe it or not, I have much more Charlotte shopping spoils to share, but that will have to wait since this post is 34 photos long. Until then, happy thrifting!