Antiques Mall Finds

There is a big difference between thrift shops and antique shops, but they both have their merits. Thrift shops make you work harder but you can get really good deals. Antique shops are curated for you and you pay for it. I've chronicled my thrift shop adventures here and here, but I haven't yet talked about antiquing. A week or so ago I made my way up to the Carmel Old Town Antique Mall and like most things with 'mall' in the title, it was huge! Most antique malls are set up so that different vendors can rent sections of the store. For that reason pricing varies from booth to booth. Overall I found this mall to be reasonably priced. I tried to walk out with only one thing but alas I left with two because I'm obsessed with weird things.

Can you spy what is new?

Okay, that is a little too far away to see her. Here she is up close.

Yep, that's a solid brass Nefertiti. This one booth had a solid brass seal with beach ball on his nose and I was sort of tempted by it because it was brass but the seal was very cartoonish looking. Then my friend spied this lady up on a shelf. She was $10 and I had to have her. Actually, I really debated whether or not I needed her but I'll get to that in a minute. First let's talk about how regal Bob looks here:

So serious, as though he has the weight of the world on his shoulders. Anyway, on to the kitchen where the next item I bought is.

I know what you're thinking... you didn't even bother to put away the dishes before you took pictures? Yeah, it's true I didn't but no what you're probably thinking is... didn't you just buy a different rug for under the sink? Yes, I did, good observation! So apparently I'm now obsessed with rag rugs because I've purchased two in two weeks (the first one is here). I can't help it I just really like them. The best part about them is that you can just throw them in the washing machine - amazing. So the pinky coral one that I originally purchased for here is great and I still love it but when I saw this one which is a little longer I knew it would work better under the sink. So I moved the smaller rug to the bathroom which I'll show you a picture of in a minute but first another picture of Bob who was feeling very photogenic on the day I took these pictures. 

This picture makes me really happy for three reasons:

1) Bob is standing still. That never happens, seriously never. 

2) The new rug is so pretty

3) The. Floors. Are. Beautiful.

Here is the other rug, relocated. 

iPhone picture because I was too lazy to get out my good camera

As you can see I just laid it on top of the bath mat that is already in there. Why did I do that? Because I thought it would add texture and depth to the room, uh, just kidding, I did it because I'm lazy. But I actually like it sitting on top of the other one because it makes me feel like I'm standing on a plush carpet while brushing my teeth. So luxurious. Plus I love the bright color in there. 

But back to my big decision, both the rug and the Nefertiti statue were $10 so I was trying to choose between the two but I decided I liked both of them well enough to pay $20. That is the big difference between thrifting and antiquing. Last time I went thrifting (here) I paid $16 for five things and at this antique store I paid $20 for two things. 

Do you prefer antiquing or thrifting?