Brimfield Antique Show

About a month ago, D and I attended the Brimfield Antique Show for the first time. The Brimfield Antique Show is the largest antiques show in this country, and conveniently enough, it happens to be in Massachusetts. It happens three times a year (May, July, and September), and goes on for about a week at a time. This is about all we knew when D decided to book a nice weekend trip to the show, complete with a stay at a bed and breakfast. This trip was his birthday present to me, and I was very excited to go, given my recently developed interest in antiques and flea markets (and long-time love of bargain hunting).

The B&B that we stayed in was charming, exactly how I would picture one of these cozy places should be. We stayed in Tolland Inn in CT, which was the closest B&B to the show we could find that was still vacant by the time we started looking. The owner, Steve, was super nice and helpful, and he made the most kick-ass breakfasts. One morning, we had a fruit bowl, followed by a quiche, and finished off with an apple cake pie (yes it was a cake pie, and I cannot explain it other than it was delicious). A three-course breakfast! I highly recommend this place, and I would go there again. As for our room, I couldn't ask for more. Let's just say, our bathroom had a clawfoot soaking bathtub. Yup.

Nothing that we read could have prepared us for the enormity and insanity of the antique show. We went on Friday and on Sunday, and we definitely did not cover more than half of it, at the most. I'm not sure that is even possible, unless you go every day of the week. Anyway, we saw some interesting items, as well as some really off-the-wall pieces.

For example, we saw this bench, which I thought looked interesting, but I had no idea where one would use it. Maybe a backyard, if we had one? But then it's upholstered, and we don't have a backyard, so... we moved on.

We also saw this intriguing identity kit, which I think was used in the past to identify people by witness descriptions, before computers or sketch artists.

I liked this luggage rack, which could have been repurposed as a side table if I put a tray on top of it, but the seller was not willing to bargain (even though it was the last hours of the show), and so it did not come home with us.

During the show, I looked for chemistry lab glassware because I love chemistry and because I was getting some ideas about using the glassware as part of the decor in our wedding. I only found one seller that had the chem glassware (remember, we only covered a small part of the show, so there might have been others), but the price was too high. Still, I was excited about finding it at all, and so I took a picture.

Some items did come home with us at the end of the show. Our biggest purchase (literally) was a coat rack, which we are already using in our entry way.

We also bought a child-size chair, even though we don't have any children.

But I had other ideas for it anyway. Like this one, for example.

D bought an old book with instructions on how to use hand tools. It's pretty hilarious.

I also bought a print of red currants, which are so rare in this country, but were quite abundant back in the motherland. I am planning to frame the print and hang it in my office at work.

On Saturday, we took a day off from the antiques and went hiking in the Bigelow Hollow State Park in CT. It had recently rained, and so the forest was full of funky looking mushrooms, like these:

And the hike was beautiful. We took a break here:

Overall, it was a great weekend trip, and we are definitely planning to go the the Brimfield Antique Show again next year. Next time, we will be better prepared!