Friday, July 15, 2011

Provence Cottage Antiques

Last year I came upon a fabulous pillow in a magazine that was decorated with vintage baubles of all sorts.  It of course made me stop immediately so I could study it and figure out just how to replicate it.  Well, I had a several pieces of slightly flawed (missing stones, bent pins, etc) old jewelry that I had been saving for just such a project but not enough of just the right thing to fill a whole pillow. So for months I have been on the lookout for nice inexpensive pieces that I could add to my collection of “broken bling” and create my own fabulous pillow (soon to be seen in an upcoming post). 
Sneak Peak....
In my search for the perfect bling at the perfect bargain price I happened upon a lovely little shop that specializes in cottage style vintage items in…you guessed it…Wells Maine.  Provence Cottage Antiques sits behind a sweet little grey house with a white picket fence on Route 1.  
Provence Cottage Antiques
752 Post Rd (Rt 1) Wells, ME
When we visited Provence Cottage last year the porch and the front rooms of the house were open, filled with interesting pieces and what I remember most was the truly splendid vintage chandeliers hanging everywhere.  There were also 2 back buildings full of fun cottage style items, one mostly gardeny type things the other just fun decorative vintage items.
The Garden items....dislayed outside
This year Provence Cottage was another stop on our 4th of July extravaganza…still great stuff but much smaller this year.  The front house was not open at all nor was the first building that had the gardeny things last year so it was just the far rear building…less stuff, still well worth the stop! 
Last year I found a few slightly damaged jewels priced right for my pillow but still not enough to complete the project…this year I found exactly what I needed to finish it off along with so many other things. 
No, as much as I wanted to I didn't purchase the
whole tray full....now that's restraint!
Now this is a “ladies who lunch” kind of shop but if you love vintage linens, clothing, jewelry, books, teacups, etc this is your place!  There was a vintage 1960’s dress on a dress form next to the front door…so Mad Men…if it was my size you had better believe it would have been in a bag in my car!  I’ve been contemplating having a Mad Men themed party and it would have been just the perfect thing..not meant to be this time though.
Always up for an antiquing adventure...now that we
have her husband convinced not every antique is
old & smelly.  The Mad Men dress is the aqua one
to the left behind Kate.
There were several of these chenille bedspreads that just made me think of spending summers at my great-grandmother’s cottage on Sennebec Pond.  I hated these spreads when I was a kid because it was so hard to make my bed neatly, they were constantly wrinkled, uneven or just not laying right.  Now I definitely have fond memories but then if I had known any curse words I would definitely have used them!


Do you remember these spreads?  My grand-
mother had them in an aqua color.
Provence Cottage Antiques is really one of those places where I can always find something to accessorize with…either myself or my house.

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