Wilmington Thrifting/Antiquing Trip

We just got back this week from vacation in Wilmington,NC, visiting with my BFF, her sister and their little girls! It was a blast!

I'm soooooo blessed to have a hubby who puts up with my love for shopping! But perhaps its because instead of visiting all the expensive botiques, I'd rather go to the little antique shops (and mostly just browse!) and hit up all the thrift stores!!

We made out pretty well!! The hubby even picked out some stuff!!

We hit up several adorable antique stores, BUT we went to the thrift stores first!! That made the prices of some of the adorable antique stores seem outrageous!

Here's some of my cute antiquing finds, that I loved but didn't purchase!
(click on the names of the stores for more info on them!)

Shop of Seagate

This was my favorite store. On the small side, but gorgeous stuff, some expensive, some super affordable! I wanted to buy almost EVERYTHING there!!

Adore everything in this window display!

Gorgeous, chunky, shabby blue frame! (Hubby thought it was a mirror at first glance!) I could totally see this surrounding some starfish, sand dollars, or something else beachy/nautical! I might even have to make something like this for myself! And there's a peek at a cute bench to the right of it!

They also have a separate room of just furniture that was fantastic! I loved this cute little writing desk!

Thrill of the Hunt

Wish I'd snapped more pics, but I was sooo busy looking! They had amazing displays plus areas you really had to dig through to see all the great stuff! They had tons of brightly colored furniture with starfish on the knobs! So much gorgeous and funky stuff!!

The Ivy Cottage

This place has THREE buildings plus a warehouse, jam packed with gorgeous vintage and antique stuff!! Sorta pricey but some stuff was definitely affordable! There's soooo much to look at! Lots of china, glass, furniture. Beautiful stuff!!

I adored the chippiness of this multi-colored cabinet, and saw several pieces like it!

And here's what I did purchase!

Shop of Segate

I loooooved this little bouy bird house!! The hubby was actually the one who pointed it out! It was way up high on a shelf! The shopkeeper actually said she had just noticed it and marveled herself at the $9 price tag! It's worn, chipping, rusty, and just wonderful!! That cute rusty plaque on the back says "BARNSTORM."

Goodwill and Salvation Army finds

I noticed Goodwill prices in Wilmington to be SOOOOOO much cheaper! While they seemed to have less homegoods stuff to go through, and it wasn't that organized- it was MUCH better selection that my stores at home- or else no one in Wilmington has my taste like it seems people in Nashville do!

Here's the breakdown:

Salvation Army

• $3 -Elephant picture frame (great chunky frame that I'll prob whitewash)
• $1.99- Teapot (can anyone tell me what this is? my mom has bowls like this which is why I loved it but I don't know what it is!)
• $.49 ea Milk glass vases (eeewww dirty, but cleaned up perfectly! I saw the same ones at my Good will for $1 more!)
• $.29 Widemouth Ball jar (hello cheapo!)

Goodwill

• $1.99- Cream and sugar pots- that perfectly match the teapot! What luck!
• $1.59- Wine bucket
• $.59- Halloween candy bucket- perfect for Baby Girl this fall!
• $.69- Snowman bucket
• Lighthouse welcome sign (a little rusty painted part but cleaned up great!)- $2

Vintage Values Finds

This store was GREAT!! It's Goodwill-ish looking and prices on vintage stuff!! Some stuff is a little more expensive because they KNOW it's vintage, but it was still a much better deal than true vintage/antique shops! These stores in Wilmington benefit domestic violence shelters, so that makes it even better!

While I liked all of the stuff from Goodwill and Salvation Army that we bought, I LOVED all of these things!

I'm not sure what the cute little boats are made of, aluminum? They are really cute though! They say Nina and Pinta, but there was no Santa Maria or I would've bought it too!! I just saw bigger boats like it at my Goodwill for quadruple the price! The books are old and amazing- good tiltes even! The little coke canister is from 1992- so practically vintage and it was a steal! The hubby picked out the beer stein- much better than the $40-$65 ones we saw at antique stores! And I think I will shabby up the wooden shell candle holder!

Price breakdown:

• $2 each- Vintage books from 1945-1952 (there will be no tearing up of these! They are still readable classics!)
• $1.99 each- Nina and Pinta boats
• $4.99- Beer stein (steal!!)
• $1.99- almost vintage Coca-cola tin
• $1.99- wooden shell candle stick

I'm sooooo happy with all of our purchases! I really feel like I got more bang for my buck too with finding things in thrift stores vs buying from antique stores! (They just may have had to wipe up more of my drool over all the antique stuff!!)

Most of these things were unusual purchase for me, but they were all things that I loved! I picked up so many more things that I liked, but if I didn't know what I would do with it or if it didn't go with stuff I already had, I put it back! I think I made out pretty well, what do you think?!

I'll soon show how I'm using some of these things!

Linking up!!