Antique Stores Archives | ConfettiStyle

Christmas At Queen Of Hearts Antiques & Interiors

November 17, 2017

Last Thursday I attended a special event at Queen of Hearts Antiques and Interiors in Alpharetta. The store invited interior designers and bloggers to an early morning shopping event before they opened their doors for their holiday open house. We had the full run of the store so I was able to browse (and shop) the wonderful selection of antiques, vintage decor and holiday items.

If you live in the Atlanta area but aren’t familiar with Queen of Hearts, let me tell you a little about the store and business. Queen of Hearts opened it first store in 1998 and today there are three stores in the Atlanta area–Alpharetta, Marietta and Buford. Each store is made up hundreds of dealer-merchants with individual booths to sell their goods. You’ll find a wide range of products ranging from furniture, housewares and decor to fashion and personal accessories.

While each location has the Queen of Hearts signature set up – wide, easy-to-navigate aisles named after streets in Charleston, S.C. – each also has its own personality. Dealers in Alpharetta feature products targeted to designers and decorators. Marietta is more of a traditional antiques store, while Buford has a lot of dealers who are creatively repurposing old items for new uses.

Queen of Hearts has been branded to be a one-stop shop for antiques and home interiors merchandise which you’ll quickly recognize the minute you enter the store.

I arrived at the store around 8:45 am and was immediately taken in by the beautiful holiday displays and merchandising vignettes. I knew I had to whip out my phone and snap a few pictures so I could share it all with you. Enjoy my tour through Queen of Hearts and take note of the creative holiday decorating ideas I’m pointing out along the way. ***Warning, this is photo heavy post, guaranteed to make you want to go shopping!

Queen Of Hearts Antiques & Interiors

If you have a love for antique and vintage china, the store is choke full of ironstone, milk glass and transferware.

Everyday Decor…

Once I stopped drooling over all the beautiful china I focused in on the everyday decor.

These marble bookends were just stunning!

I almost bought this bell for those occasion when I want to summon the butler (not)!

This bamboo bench was a beauty. I really wanted it but there’s just one problem…I don’t have a place to put it.

I loved this arrangement of frames and antique mirrors on a mantel. Talk about a super budget-friendly and dynamic mantel decorating idea.

Collectibles of all kinds filled the shelves.

These pretty decanters were also something I thought about purchasing. I loved everything about them except the price 🙁

And then there was the Christmas decor…

Hold your horses because this is going to be good.

New and vintage ornaments displayed in bowls and containers. This is one of the easiest holiday decorating ideas ever. Look around your house, I’m sure you have a spot or two that could use an ornament arrangement.

I bought a few small vintage ornaments to use in my holiday decor. There were a lot of dealers with vintage ornament collections and most ornaments were priced between $3 and $6 each.

One of the things I enjoyed seeing was all of the unique wreath decorating ideas.

This was a small wreath that had an oversized candy cane ornaments attached to it. The wreath was used as a place setting on a holiday tablescape.

For more rustic themed holiday decor, this grapevine wreath was beautifully decorated with a big linen bow, faux magnolia leaves and pinecones.

One trend I’m seeing everywhere right now are wreaths with just the upper or lower area decorated, similar to a Laurel Wreath.

Christmas Inspiration…

In addition to wreaths, there were beautiful decor pieces using greenery stems and swags.

Greenery stems nestled around holiday decor in a large metal tray.

I love the idea of placing greenery picks under a glass dome.

I’m so stealing this idea of using a ceramic swan vase to hold holiday greens.

There were lots of these wood star decor pieces. I see the stars at flea markets and antique stores all the time and love how they can be transformed using greenery, pinecones and a bow.

Or for a more traditional look, holiday ornaments.

Here’s a quick and easy DIY you can do for your own home. Tie a greenery pick and leaf stem to a vintage silver-plated tray. Then add a big bow to finish it off. An arrangement like this can be hung on a front door or any wall space in your home.

Just about every aisle in the store had Christmas decor of some kind. There were lots of pillows, tabletop items and unique gifts.

This vintage sled was not cheap but boy was it cool. It would look great hung on a wall in a kids room.

And last but not least were the pretty holiday dinner napkins that I loved.

Wasn’t that shopping tour fun?! You can only image how I felt shopping the store in person.

Queen of Hearts is a treasure trove of goodies so plan on spending some time when you decide to go shopping. And for those of you that can’t make it to the store, they also showcase a lot of the items for sale on Craigslist. You can shop from the comforts of home and then contact the store to make your purchase.

Follow Queen of Hearts on Facebook for regular photo updates from all the stores. And sign up for their newsletter here to be notified of store events.

Queen of Hearts store locations:

Alpharetta–670 Main Street, Alpharetta, GA 30009

Marietta–2745 Sandy Plains Road, Marietta, GA 30066

Buford–4125 GA Hwy 20, Buford, GA 30518 (next to Hobby Lobby)

Happy shopping friends!

Shop Flea Markets Like A Pro–10 tips!

September 14, 2015

I’ve been shopping flea markets and antique stores for years now and have learned quiet a bit over that time. When I first started shopping for vintage I really didn’t know what I was doing or what to look for in items. I simply shopped and bought pieces that I was attracted to. Since then, I shop both for personal decor and also for items that I can resell in my Etsy shop and new Instagram shop, The Vintage Box.

Here are 10 tips that I’ve learned over the years that will help you go from a novice flea market shopper to a pro.

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Research flea markets and antique stores before you travel to a new city. Online reviews and Facebook photos will tell you a lot about a shop and help you pick the places with the most items and best selection. And don’t pass up those small cities you pass along the way because they often have antique stores filled with items that haven’t been picked over.

If you love it, buy it or at least put it in your bag! I’ve walked away from items before telling myself that I’ll come back to look at it when I finish walking the entire market or store. Of course when I return the item has been snagged by someone else. If you see something you like, put it in your cart or bag and consider it as you continue to shop. If you decide not to purchase it, let the vendor or the store cashier know when you’re paying and they can put the item back on the shelf.

Trust your gut. This goes along with pt. #2 above. Just like most things in life, you gut will tell you if an item is meant to be or not. If you have an immediate reaction to an item than most likely the piece is something that you’d love having in your home or would be able to sell.

Engage in a conversation with the vendor BEFORE asking for a deal. Taking the time to engage in idle conversation and show interest in the sellers booth and wares will set the tone for price negotiations. If I’m alone shopping I always make eye contact with the seller, compliment them on their items and ask a question or two to break the ice. If my husband is with me, that’s his job so I can spend time looking.

Group items from one vendor or booth together and request the seller’s best price. The more you buy the better the deal you’ll get from the seller. And when asking for prices always ask ‘Is this the best price you can offer?” instead of “what kind of discount can you give me?”. You want the vendor to feel they have control when negotiating so how you ask for a better price matters.

Don’t discount an item if some of the parts and pieces are missing. Jars without lids can be used for vases, you can mix and match linens and related items like milk glass or brass can be sold in groupings so look at the value instead of the flaw.

If you’re looking for a particular type of item, ask vendors who carry similar pieces because you never know what they may have in storage or can bring to the next market.

Check the quality of each prices before you buy it. There are usually no returns or exchanges at antique stores and flea markets so know what you’re buying before you lay down your money. Look for hair-line cracks, sturdiness of furniture and makers marks which will help you assess the quality of a piece.

Shop early for the best selection. This is especially true at flea markets which tend to attract a large number of people early in the day. If you’re looking for highly collectible pieces, you want to shop early before items are picked over and sold.

Shop late for the best prices. Shopping late in the day and on the last day of the sale will often yield you the best prices. Vendors don’t want to pack things up and take them back home so they are much more likely to offer discounted prices at the end of the day or end of a show.

You can find lots of amazing items at flea markets and antique stores so use these tips to help you snag some great bargain the next time you head out to shop.

Want to know what essentials you need to carry when thrifting? Check out my post Thrift Shopping 101.

Treasure Hunting in Mobile and What I Bought

April 8, 2015

Yesterday I shared some of the sights from our trip to Mobile, AL and some of the treasures we spotted at the Olde Mobile Antiques Gallery. Today I’ve got a few more photos to show

This scale was beyond amazing and unfortunately so was the price.

Lots of antique quilts.

Olde Mobile Antiques Gallery had some really beautiful clocks. The one with the big brass pendulum was my favorite.

There was lots of really great furniture.

If I didn’t already own two bar carts I would have bought this one. I love the shelf on the side and the brass details.

Here’s the color of the year, Marsala on a beautiful settee.

After we finished our shopping at Olde Mobile Antiques we checked out a few other antique stores in Mobile including Antiques At The Loop. This store is huge and was filled with just about every kind of antique and vintage piece you could imagine.

They had a great collection of vintage dough bowls which were priced about the same as what I see here in Atlanta, at Scott’s.

There was lots of chippy furniture and these vintage pizza boards were awesome. I think they’d look great hung on a wall in a kitchen.

Large demi-johns jars are really popular now and they had a nice selection of clear and colored glass.

Their grain sacks were a nice quality and were priced well.

Just one of many Ironstone serveware groupings.

And check out this gorgeous bamboo magazine rack (which I bought).

And these vintage apothecary jars which also came home with me.

So let’s take a look at a few of the things I purchased from the Mobile Antiques Gallery warehouse sale. I did buy a couple of things for myself but most of what I purchased was for my Etsy shop.

I found several of these glove forms for under $15 so I purchased a few.

I wrote about my love for brass trays last week and found this one for $5.00

There was lots of ironstone dishware and all of the small pieces were less than $4.00.

One of my favorite purchases was this vintage brass tape dispenser with double cutting blades.

I bought several sets of these acrylic steak knives and will be keeping some for myself.

This brass perpetual calendar was just $1.00!

Another great find was this really old ceramic bento box. What made it really stand out was the brass lock and handle.

And you know I can’t pass up a chic ice bucket. This octagon shape burl wood bucket was less than $10.

We had a great trip and can now check another new adventure off the list!

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If you want to take a road trip to do some antique shopping in and near Mobile, here are a few shops to check out:

Olde Mobile Antiques Gallery, 1616 West I-65 Service Road South, Mobile

Cotton City Antique Mall, 309 Williams St., Mobile

Antiques At The Loop, 2103 Airport Blvd, Mobile

Daphne Antique Galleria ,1699 US Highway 28, Daphne, AL (15 mins from Mobile)

Weekend Recap

July 21, 2014

So, how was your weekend? Did you do anything fun?

The hubby and I headed to Alabama last week and spent a few days visiting family. In addition to eating lots of barbecue and playing with the horses and rabbits, I spent a lot of time 4-wheeling. My brother-in-law lives in the country and I love visiting and riding the 4-wheeler all along the country roads.

I also did a little woodworking for a DIY clock project that I’m working on and hope to show you later this week. My brother-in-law has every power tool known to man so the hubs and I were able to do lots of cutting, sanding and building.

I also managed to squeeze in visits to 4 flea market/antique stores near by. Here’s a look at a few great things I spotted…

If you’re in the Montgomery, Alabama area here is a list of the flea markets I visited and what I thought of each:

Eastbrook Flea Market–425 Coliseum Blvd., Montgomery, Al–This is a really large store with a wonderful selection of vintage and antique furniture, glassware and decorative objects. The prices were pretty good too. I really loved this side table and almost pulled the trigger but decided to pass on it at the last minute.

Memories Flea Antique Market, 1724 E. Main St., Prattville, Al (about 13 mins. outside Montgomery)–This was not my favorite store mostly because of the pricing. I felt that most items were very overpriced and I didn’t like the fact that there were several booths of new and cheap import items in the store. I did spot these picnic baskets but after doing a little research on Etsy and Ebay the price wasn’t good enough for me buy and try to resell in my Etsy shop.

J & G Antique Market, 742 E. Main St., Prattville, AL–This is another fairly large store with a pretty good selection of items but again I thought the prices were a bit high. If you love vintage glass, this is the place to check out but again be warned that the prices were high. Most of the milk glass pieces below were anywhere from $5.00 to $25.00 more than what I pay at Scott Antique Market or some of my local thrifting spots.

Prattville Pickers, 616 County Road, Prattville, AL–This was probably my favorite shop and the one with the most unique mix of goods. The shop itself is massive at over 10,000 square feet and has vintage, antique and mid-century modern pieces. The prices were more reasonable and in-line with shops here in Atlanta. There were lots of people in the store so it was obvious that it is a popular spot.

One of the things I liked most about this shop was there selection of original oil paintings. This piece below was $35.

They also had lots of really nice accent chairs.

In between all the shopping, eating and riding, I also took a spin on the golf cart, sat outside and watched the lighting bugs at night and stopped by the local Walmart (people watching at its best)—all things you do when you vacation in the country!