Just as we did over Memorial Day, we used the long Labor Day weekend to squeeze in a few days at my parents’ beach house near Bethany Beach, Delaware. It was another trip full of family, food, and fun-slash-weird finds. And you know we love a good vacation/what-we-saw/what-we-bought post. And we actually bought two pretty big items that we’ve been trying to find for a while.
Our weekend adventure actually began in Maryland. Specifically, here:
It’s the Ole Sale Barn in Denton, MD. We’ve passed it countless times on our treks to the beach and have always been fascinated by it. The stars finally aligned on this trip (i.e. weather, holiday schedules, baby nap schedule) to allow us to make the stop… at which point we were immediately greeted by Beyoncé. If you don’t understand the reference, you must read this (warning: there’s profanity, but it might be the funniest thing on the interweb).
The oddities didn’t stop at the over-sized metal chicken (which, we should note, was no longer there on our return trip – meaning someone probably bought the thing). Clara was weirdly fascinated by all of the lawn jockeys. Maybe she was just happy to be taller than them? Find Clara. It’s like Where’s Waldo.
There were actually some cool finds amongst the smorgasbord as well. We think these were patio table tops or some sort of grate cover, but we thought they could make really cool (albeit heavy) wall art.
I was obsessed – wait, correction – OBSESSED with these white and gold sign letters. The guy was selling them for $20 each and they were even wired to light up. Had any of the letters meant anything to us I would’ve taken them home without hesitation (I later realized an upside down L could’ve looked like a 7 – which is our favorite number – major bummer). Oh, and the owner told me that they were meant for a Dollar Tree store but “never made it to their destination.” Not sure what that meant (did they “fall off a truck?”) but I figured it was best not to pry.
Inside the barn was a bit more chaotic, but there was still plenty to dig through. The only thing that really caught our eyes (besides a giant metal Shrek and a carnival water pistol game) was this trio of overlapping mirrors. It looked less odd in person (we could picture it painted charcoal or soft gray) so the photo doesn’t really do it justice. Now we’re just mesmerized by the creepy plastic mermaid bust in the reflection. Totally didn’t see that when we snapped the pic. Maybe she’s a Mer-ghost.
In the end, we left the Ole Sale Barn without anything but an X next to “stop at that fun looking barn place” on our mental travel checklist. And of course now I live with deep regret that I didn’t buy one of those big letter L’s and flip it upside down to make it a 7. Sad clown.
One place that has its fair share of Xs on that same must-stop-by checklist is Beach Plum Antiques, one of our favorite stops in Bethany. It’s overflowing with cool, beach-y finds and we’ve mentioned it here and here among other places. Don’t let the “antiques” part of the name fool you, it’s a good old fashioned thrift store and we’ve snagged lots o’ deals there.
They had some of your usual beachy-cool objects, like these nautical glass buoys…
… and some more unique discoveries, like this crazy cool ship’s throttle. If only the darned thing weren’t $395. That put a pretty quick “stop” to our daydream about where it could live in our house. After poking around a while we (kind of surprisingly) left Beach Plum Antiques without any purchases either.
Shopping wasn’t the only way we got our home-y fix over the long weekend. On Sunday we took a quick detour to visit the nearby home of some of my parents’ friends, Pam and Neil (Pam was actually one of my bosses at my high school library job). They were putting the finishing touches on an above-garage addition that not only added two bedrooms and a bath, but also a second story. See the peak on the left side of the house with the double window?That’s all new as of just a few months ago.
A new second story meant they needed a set of stairs, which Pam and Neil had custom designed for a cool open & industrial feel. Since they greet you as soon as you open the door, they wanted to make them as visually unobtrusive as possible so your eye still continues through the hallway and into the living room behind it (hence the light colors and the thin wire sides). It’s hard to tell from the photos, but the light wood was very softly gray-washed, which looked really airy yet still warm because the wood tone and grain showed through.
To make way for the stairs they also had to bump out their front door about 3 feet (so the last step wasn’t right on the door frame). The only problem was that they didn’t have enough extra floor tile sitting around to fill the new space (they only had about 12 squares). So they made lemonade and designed this mosaic inset constructed entirely of new tiles, meaning the few large leftover ones could be used around the border so the whole thing looked intentional (as opposed to screaming “we ran out of tile”). It looked so much like an intentional choice, that we complimented their “tile welcome mat” even before hearing the story about the material-shortage dilemma.
They had another smart use of tile in the new bathroom upstairs, where Pam couldn’t find any small tiles that she liked for the shower floor. Since she had already fallen in love with the larger tiles used in the rest of the bathroom, she had her builder cut the large tiles into a bunch of smaller squares for the shower floor. Certainly a bit more work, but it definitely took the guess work out of “will this tile coordinate with that tile?” and looked really great (and not too over-done with different tiling choices everywhere). It definite had that easy beach-house feeling.
But the weekend wasn’t all just inspiration. We did come home with a little somethin-somethin, thanks to this yard sale sign that Sherry spotted on our way back from the playground one morning.
We did our usual drive-by to see if it was worth stopping, and these night stand beauties immediately caught our eye. They’re the real deal (from the 50s or 60s, made of solid wood, and even have awesome dovetailed joints). And you know we’re desperately in need of some not-too-short nightstands with drawers (instead of the squat stand-in old living room side tables that we’ve used for the last nine months).
It was meant to be. Especially when the seller was willing to hand ’em over for just $11 each (he was asking $30 for both, but Sherry pulled the “all I have is $22 cash” thing, which was actually true). We worried they wouldn’t fit in our car (with a huge baby seat, pack & play, and dog crate to work around) but we somehow got one in the trunk and one in the back seat. And seriously, can you beat $11 a piece?
Had our car been bigger, we also would’ve taken this guy home. But my sister (who has a larger car and a similar design taste) took one look at our pictures and high tailed it back to the same yard sale. She came back $30 poorer with this in her trunk. We think it’s hilarious that we each own part of the same mid century bedroom set (we would have used the dresser as a cabinet/buffet in our dining room near the front door). My sister Emily’s not sure where she’s gonna put it yet, so we’re secretly hoping we’ll inherit it eventually. We’ll even pay $30 for it. Haha. Fingers crossed.
But if you think all of our antique hopping, addition touring, and yard sale scoping got in the way of a “normal” little weekend trip, have no fear. Clara’s a beach diva, so there was no denying her some sand and surf (notice the nightstand seat-belted in next to her?).
The water was a bit chilly and the beach (well, what was left of it after Irene) was on the crowded side, but Clara was none the wiser and we all had a great time.
She and her cousins partied with sand in their diapers and said a proper sayonara to summer (which some of you saw earlier this week over on Young House Life). And of course there was some sea gull watching (and the occasional “birdieeee!” scream).
Is there anything better than a sunny day with my girls on the beach? Maybe $11 night tables. Just kidding. Kind of.
What did you guys buy/do/travel to see this weekend? It certainly was nice to get out of the house (and stop staring at the half-completed desk) for a few days. I think those breaks keep us coming back for more DIY madness (that counter might have killed me pre-break, but two days on the beach + cheap nightstands = Refreshed John, who was ready to build). Do you have any other end-of-summer things on your agenda? We keep forgetting it’s not still August. So when my aunt mentioned that Christmas was around fifteen weeks away our brains almost exploded.
Psst- We announced this week’s giveaway winners. Click here to see if you’re one of them.
ashleyD says
y’all seriously need an suv!! may i suggest a hybrid toyota highlander! i LOVE my highlander!
Miss Scarlett says
Oh Beyonce! I saw the picture before I even got down to what you wrote. And when I saw that face, I whispered, “Beyonce”. Got to love The Bloggess.
Now if you can also find Copernicus, the homicidal monkey, that would be amaze-balls.
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, I think I’d run the other direction. He’s creeeeepy!
xo,
s
Jenny D. says
Clara looks JUST LIKE Sherry in the photo where she is wearing those fancy pink shades. Precious!
Casey says
Hey, not that you asked, but just in case you don’t know it, I wanted to leave a tip for getting sand off of baby’s skin. Sprinkle cornstarch into your hand (I do this so less is in the air) and apply to the sandy area. Then wipe right off, the cornstarch sucks up the moisture and the sand literally wipes right off! Glad you all had fun! Can’t wait to see pics of the side tables after you’re done re-styling the bedroom!
Bethany says
As soon as I saw that giant chicken I thought it looked familiar… (yea, because that makes sense!) – I could swear I saw that exact gigantic chicken on an episode of Picker Sisters! Who knows :P
Laura says
I’m also looking for nightstands and a dresser to go with my Edland bed. I love what you and your sister found. Can’t wait to see how you finish them.
Hillarie says
Yeah to Beach Plum! I will need to add Ole Sale Barn to our next beach trip.
Stefanie says
I am currently sitting in on a conference call in my office at work and when I read “at which point we were immediately greeted by Beyoncé.”and saw the picture I laughed…hard. So hard in fact that everyone else in the room stopped and looked at me and the people on the call asked if everything was okay. I’m sure when the call is over I’m going to have to explain to them what is/was so funny…
The first time I read that blog I laughed so hard I cried. I currently have it printed out and I plan on framing it and hanging it in my guest bathroom.
Thanks for the laughs and lets hope I still have a job! <3
Kate says
I linked over to The Bloggess and laughed my butt off reading that blog entry about “Beyonce” — too funny!! I’m sure my co-workers were wondering what I was laughing about because I’ve had a pretty crappy day until now.
Thanks for providing the laugh I needed!
Yvette Kelley says
oh my god! Beyonce!! I sent you that link to the Bloggess when I first read that post awhile back…and YOU FOUND YOUR OWN Beyonce!! I’m pretty sure you hadn’t read that blog before..??? So I’m kind of excited you are mentioning her in this post!!
My husband and I found a “mini” Beyonce the other day at Ross…and we both looked at eachother and simultaneously said.. “knock, knock motherf*&%er”… HYST.ER.I.CAL!
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, oh yes. That post made me cry laugh. How could I forget Beyonce.
xo,
s
Lizbeth says
Auuuuuugh…I’m so jealous over your nightstands! I guess a lot of people are snapping up the good midcentury stuff here in Phoenix, so even Craigslist is expensive. Love them!
Also, love the Clara pic with The Alphabet Book. Our two year old walks around saying “A, American Ants” and “E, Elephant with Eggies” all day. :)
Alison says
Oh my goodness, we have a big Beyonce that sits in a farm field a few miles from our house! We pass him on the way to the library and we have always admired him er…her :) It looks much like the one in your picture, but multicolored.
Michelle says
One of these days, I hope to meet you guys in Bethany! I’m from there, now in DC. I pass by the Ole Sale Barn each time I head home (heading there this weekend, actually!). And the Beach Plum, I know the Coles well. Lovely family. Went to school with their eldest twin sons and had the biggest crush on them. Yes, both (but don’t tell my hubby!).
Claire says
Oooohhh, love the mid century modern look of the furniture! ps. I’m hoping that one day, one of your give aways will be your decorating services :) I know a couple who love your blog and they have a dog named Huckleberry that would get along swimmingly with Burger … Okay, that couple is me and my husband :)
Sayward says
it’s like $200 worth of chicken for free!
Sangeetha says
oh I wish I could scout cool places like u guys!
Don’t the letters actually spell dollar tree….at least some of them? Maybe that’s what the guy meant?
Clara is truly a beach diva!
YoungHouseLove says
Yes- they do! We just didn’t know what he meant about them not reaching their destination. Did they “fall off a truck?” – haha. Just funny that he somehow got them and was selling them.
xo,
s
Aly says
great choice on the nightstands! The pic of your daughter in her sunglasses is just adorable. My daughter (same age) would never wear hats/sunglasses, i keep trying though. :)Have you guys been to th botanical gardens here? I read something you said about liking maymont. they have a cute splash pad there, my daughter loves!
YoungHouseLove says
Yes! We love it there too! I bet we’ll bump into each other someday!
xo,
s
Karin K says
Beyonce!!!! I have been amused with Beyonce since someone linked to the story on this blog. OK, maybe a little obsessed. I am currently planning to broker a deal to get Beyonce on a beer label.
Excellent cabinet makeover, by the way! Beyonce would approve.
Kelly says
Yay! My family and I were just at Bethany Beach (before Irene.) Lovely place. The water was quite cold when we were there too. Glad you guys had a nice time and scored some cute nightstands.
P Appel says
Clara looks more and more like Sherry.
christy says
No way! We just bought those EXACT same night stands! We scored them a couple weeks ago at the local D.A.V. store for the EXACT same price! How crazy! (Okay, it’s probably time for me to cool it with the exclamation points.) We’re in the beginning phases of a master bedroom make over so we’re still tossing around a bunch of ideas, including whether or not we want to change the look of the night stands by painting, staining a different color, etc. I’m excited to see what you guys do because we also will have a white bed and we have other wood furniture in the room as well.
YoungHouseLove says
That’s too funny! The same price thing is hilarious!
xo,
s
Kath says
Fun trip – and I love the Clara photo with the sunglasses!!
Lesley says
Random: The husband/munchkin and I are headed to Rehoboth next week for vacation and plan on checking out that place with the Dollar Store letters. Happy to pick up the L/7 for you and drop it off the next time I’m visiting my mom (in Richmond, which will be in mid-October or early November). Love the blog by the way :)
YoungHouseLove says
OH MY GOSH!!! YOU WOULD DO THAT??? Ok, breathe Sherry. That would be amazing. I would so happily pay you $20 for that sucker! Heck I’ll do $25 for transport! Don’t tell John, it can be a surprise (assuming he doesn’t see this comment). Oh man, that would be awesome! Just let me know if you’re able to snag it and we’ll figure out a letter/moolah exchange here in Richmond.
xo,
s
Lesley says
Yep, no problem at all! Will message you if we have any luck. FINGERS CROSSED!
YoungHouseLove says
Holy cow. So excited. Good luck!!
xo,
s
Rachel says
Loved how John ended with “our brains almost exploded” don’t know why, but that was just darn funny.
Kim at Yellow Brick Home says
My mind is officially blown by your yard sale finds. You paid PENNIES for items that would cost well over $100 in Chicago! All these smarties in the city know better; we need to find a burby yard sale like this one.
Rebekah says
Love the nightstands you picked up. What a steal! I just got some similar ones on Craigslist. I can’t decide if I want to stain them dark or paint them white. Can’t wait to see how yours look in your bedroom!
http://suddenlyinspired.wordpress.com/2011/08/26/craigslist-treasure-hunting-mid-century-modern-night-stands/
YoungHouseLove says
Ooh those are gorgeous! I love them!
xo,
s
Sam Q says
those grates look JUST like the top of a bistro table i have!
Jenny, Bloggess says
Beyonce!
Now I’m all blushy.
YoungHouseLove says
SHUT IT DOWN. Dudes, this is The Blogess. On our little ol’ blog. I die.
Smooches to Beyonce from the whole Petersik gang.
xo,
s
Lindsay says
This is hysterical!!! I love you both!
YoungHouseLove says
Annnnnd, I had a dream about Beyonce last night. But the real one. And we bought a necklace together (it was $100 so I put in $40 and said “you’re the rich one, so do you mind doing $60?). Beyonce was cool with it. The oddest thing is the concept (how on earth were Beyonce and I going to share a necklace? Are we together so much that swapping it back and forth is easy?). So weird.
xo,
s
Blair says
The letter signs were headed to Dollar Tree because they spell out Dollar Tree. Look at the letters they had. I saw that right away in the pic, but that might be because I’m slightly obsessed with unscrambling letters. I blame Words With Friends. =)
YoungHouseLove says
Yes! That part we get. We just don’t understand how “they never made it to their destination” and now this guy is selling them. Are the hot (as in, stolen)? Haha. We’ll never know!
xo,
s
Robin @ Our Semi Organic Life says
my favorite part was the mer-ghost.
Christine says
I am so jealous of those nightstands and dresser. I have been scouring craigslist for months looking for something exactly like that. I love them – great find!
Ashley @ LML says
15 YEARS IS BIG METAL CHICKENS…. thanks for making my night by introducing me to Beyonce :) Also, had no idea that the ole sale barn existed – we’re not far from them and will definitely be making a trip before too long!
life in the married lane a little blog full of big inspiration
kathy says
We didn’t buy anything fun (other than shots at my bff’s bachelorette party) but I just had to comment about the lawn jockeys… they are seriously SO POPULAR in the town my husband and I moved to. And we only live 15 minutes north of our previous house! Seriously, at least one house on every block had a “lawn jockey” and there is a shop on the main road about 5-10 minutes north of us that sells them. It’s so crazy/kind of weird.
Karin K says
Everytime I read one of your travel posts, I mean to tell you guys about a place near me that I think you would love to poke around in. It is literally a quick detour the next time you head to the Outer Banks: Home Emporium. The website is: http://www.southeasternsalvage.com/. Click on the Chesapeake location for directions. They always have new and different things and I always have fun checking it out. Last time I saw that they had some granite cut to size for customers. Like Forest Gump says, “You never know what you’re gonna get.”
YoungHouseLove says
Ooh thanks! We’ll have to check that out the next time we’re there!
xo,
s
Carissa says
So awesome! I’ve got a dresser almost like that serving as our entertainment center. The color didn’t really blend well with anything else in the room, so we painted the outside white.
Here’s a picture: http://ourchanginghome.blogspot.com/2011/06/simple-diy.html
YoungHouseLove says
Ooh, I love it!
xo,
s
Caitlin says
I’ll read the rest of this post later… I laughed so hard at that chicken story that i cry-laughed for 10 minutes and THAT is how I am going to end my (very stressful) day. THANK YOU! <3
Erica says
I couldn’t be more jealous of the nightstand and dresser finds. I’m looking for some pieces exactly like those.
Sheila Zeller says
SCORE! And I secretly hope you can ‘inherit’ or buy the ‘sister’ piece too :-) Great MCM find!
Natalie says
I was crying laughing at the Beyoncé story! “15 years is big metal chickens” hahaha! I’ll have to remember that!
Dee says
I love the nightstands…soooooo jealous! Oh, and I am also the giddy owner of the same dresser your sister purchased. I found mine at our local Goodwill for $20. Normally, I am extremely indecisive, but the day I laid eyes on its beautiful golden wood tones and delicate legs I knew it had to be mine. The three kids and I waited patiently at Goodwill while my husband loaded the beauty into our car and drove a couple miles away to our friend’s house where she said we could store it in the garage until he could pick it up w/out us. Can you tell I love my dresser?!! Oh, and I was going to comment the other day that I am another crazy lady who talks to planks of freshly stained wood that is drying in the garage. I have a weird thing for grain. :)
Sylvia says
BEYONCE!!! I need a desk Beyonce. :)
Shannon says
I love the Ole Sale Barn, and most of the antique shops all around the Eastern Shore. My husband grew up there and we have friends that live in Denton. I love when our trips leave time to stop and take a peek! Glad you were able to eventually find something to bring home!
Rad Designing says
Oh my goodness! Ok, first off… that was the BEST post about the chickens… i laughed out loud multiple times. Second, how the heck do you happen to find the most amazing pieces of furniture for so cheap?! oh my goodness! Seriously not fair.
sew says
Just noticing how much I love the huge photos you guys include in your posts. There are many other blogs that have tiny things which you have to squint at to see the detail. I appreciate the larger images here, thank you.
Margaret says
Love, love, love and miss the Beach Plum Antique store.
Best junk store ever!!!
Now that my husband and I have moved to TN, we don’t get to my mom’s place in Ocean View anymore.
I picked up a $40 danish/modern round rosewood table with two leaves there–it extends to fit about 10 people(luckily it fit in my car with the legs off).
Jocelyn Wittig says
So pretty. And thanks for the link to the towel/chicken story. I love it when you guys link funny stuff like that. I had no idea my husband and I wrote a blog.
Amanda says
No way. I have been looking for bedside tables just like. Sugar. Happy for you guys though.
Nora says
Oh I am ugly with jealousy! We are scouring local yard sales for new nightstands to replace our old unmatched ones. Our local yard sales are currently specializing in $50 80s horse prints (and not the good kind, either!) and stuffed animals. I really want to find used ones so I can avoid getting the Ikea ones ($200 for the set to match our bed frame). I’ll have to keep looking outside of town!
Lindsay says
OMG the chicken thing made me DIE of laughter! I’m still laughing. Holy moly, soooo funny!
Kim Frey says
Hello! My oldest daughter in California told me about your blog as we were gathering ideas for our youngest daughter’s wedding… and today I was coming over to see how you strung the lights together! How exciting it was to see you had been in our area! Next time you’re in Bethany, head a couple of miles in on Rt 26 and visit Hudson’s General Store if you get a chance!
Kim (Hudson) Frey :-)
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks so much for the tip! Can’t wait to check it out.
xo,
s