On shopping for your house, when you don’t have a house.

Amber Edit before this post even happens: I was tasked with adding the pictures and fixing errors in this post. Little did I know I was going to read the most ridiculous account of antiquing events ever in the history of antiquing. All I can say is the items and prices are pretty much all that you can believe.

“Going out and buying home things, when you are homeless, is straight up gangsta genius.”
– Ben Franklin, 1493 (probably).

I mean, who wants to argue with ole’ Honest Ben.

A couple of weeks ago, Amber and I ventured out to one of our favorite destinations for vintage finds First Mondays in Weatherford. While not as great as the monster First Mondays out in Canton, the size of it is a little less overwhelming and the proximity is much better.

via
(This is actually the picture you get when you google image “Trade Days Weatherford TX”)

Lately we’ve been looking everywhere for a vintage bed for Ramona’s new room (which does not exist yet), and Amber’s mom had spotted one there last month. Unfortunately, the conversation went something like this:

Mom: They have this bed here [attaches pic]
Amber: looks good. how much?
Mom: $160
Amber: Ask for his best price
Mom: $135
Amber: Ok, get it.
Mom: I don’t have any cash.
(Amber Edit: This really happened. Shocking I know. It happens a lot actually.)

She really didn’t and in turn we didn’t get it. This month however we came prepped with cash (because that’s what you use at a flea market) and hoped it was still available.

After we parked we started from the southmost point of the lot and started working our way North. (PRO TIP: if all the street parking is filled up, don’t park in the First Mondays lot. Drive down south on Santa Fe and park at the strip center on the right. Way easier to get in and out of. It is, as Ben F might also say, straight up gangsta-genius).

Walking up to the first set of tables, Amber and I were pretty much immediately transfixed on the same thing. The lights dimmed and Dreamweaver started to play in the background. A vintage swiss army blanket was sitting there being used as a table cloth under some knives, antlers and other assorted iron pieces from yesteryear. I tried to be cool as I said “Ah, nifty blanket, how much you want for it?” Amber blurted out almost immediately “I’ve been researching these this week!” Obviously, unable to keep her poker face. (Amber Edit: I said that after we already agreed upon a price. Also I was the one who asked because Nick thought the guy would pity the pregnant lady walking around first Monday.)

As he eyed us down, I noticed that he also had nice looking vintage backpack. It was swiss army issue as well. It had been repaired by a local leatherworker, and I was interested in it for the right price.

“I’m gonna need some money for the blanket,” he said causing Amber and I to look disappointingly at each other. “How about $20 for the blanket, $30 for the backpack, or $42 for both.”

“SOLD!” Amber screamed.

She was in full on freak out mode by then. Punching the seller in the jaw, she then grabbed both goods and ran away at full sprint, leaving me to both complete the transaction and attempt to explain her eccentricities.

“She’s on meth,” I offered and the man nodded as if this was a common issue with Weatherford First Monday patrons.

The blanket has a metal stamp with some numbers and the red issue number, so we are pretty sure it’s an authentic vintage swiss blanket. However, we have been known to be wrong before.

That behind us, we were back looking for the bed. Walking through most of the booths offered some highlights, but only one purchase. A folding ruler for $3.50. No immediate need or projects in mind, but we like to stockpile random vintage goods like that. This is hoarding Wills Casa style.

After hitting most of the booths, we could no longer hold Ramona over from bounce house hysteria and began to walk that direction (there’s always a bounce house at these things, it’s one of the few things you can be sure of. Death. Taxes. Bounce houses). As we walked, we saw it – the same bed from the text conversation with Amber’s mom last month (and the bounce house).

The bed was listed at $160, but Amber asked if he’d take $130. Sold. (It’s just like this PB Teen bed, so we saved about $430.) Don’t worry, we let Ramona play in the bounce house while most of that was happening. In short, everyone won that day. (Odd side note: the dealer was really interested in the margaritaville blender we had in the trunk at the time. It was weird.)

Drunk off our success (and in Amber’s case high on Meth), we decided to call it a day.

We’re not 100% sure what we’re going to do with the bed yet, other than we know it’s going to be Ramona’s. We might leave it as is or have it powder coated, depending on the color scheme we end up going with in her room. The size is a bit odd (41 1/4″ x 68 3/4″ where a normal twin is 39″ x 75″), so we’re researching how to get a mattress for it. Seriously leave a comment if you’ve got any suggestions. Overall though, you gotta consider this day a complete win.

One last thing, all pictures taken in Amber’s sister’s yard because…. you know…. we’re homeless.