Posted by:Aleksandra Oleksak

I had a busy weekend spent on home renovation errands and a trip to the Aberfoyle antique market. With my home renovation wrapping up, there were a few specific things I was looking for, here was my list:

•  light fixture
• old letters of the alphabet
• old map of Toronto, preferably my neighbourhood, the Junction Triangle
• piece of furniture to transform into a wet bar for my basement
• ironing board
• suitcases and school chairs for a friend

Unfortunately, I didn’t find everything on my list, but I was really happy with what I ended up taking home. Plus it was a great day to spend outdoors doing something I love, with my boyfriend and puppy, Roxie!

This is what came home with me…..

Total fluke that everything matched so well, found my light fixture, ironing board and suitcases

Didn’t find an old map of my current neighbourhood, but found one of the neighbourhood where I bought my first and second house, dating back from 1910, how cool? I’ll be getting this one framed.

Got a bit side tracked and bought this Coca Cola wood tray which I thought would be perfect for the backyard with some glasses and a pitcher of ice cold lemonade, spiked with a little something and this cream coloured light fixture for my boyfriend who will be starting his home renovation in June.

How awesome is this light fixture?

Candy machine, once again for the boyfriend and not me. We were told by the lady who sold us this, that this machine is a replica, but she said it was a good one because it’s made out of cast iron, like the old ones.

Then I discovered these……..

Yummy cupcakes from Robin’s Cupcakery. This was the first time I’ve ever seen cupcakes at the Aberfoyle antique market and I was excited, how cute are these? They tasted even better…..flavours from left to right, banana nut, red velvet, cinnamon bun, raspberry lemonade and cotton candy. The best part? They are located in the GTA, dangerous!

The missing cupcake…..S’more

This is what didn’t come home with me….

Always wanted and still want one of these, but with a hefty price tag of $350, it didn’t make it home with me

Totally fell in love with this old door turned corner bookshelf, I was prepared to take it home, only to find out it had been sold It further broke my heart when they told me they sold it for $110 and they were originally asking $160, sigh!

So those were my adventures and finds of the weekend, what do you think? Did you attend any antique markets this weekend?

One last piece of good news for today, my steel stair stringers finally arrived today. I can’t believe the pain and agony these stairs have put me through. I started off my home renovation by deciding I was going to rip out the old staircase and do a new modern/industrial floating staircase. A fellow renovator recommended a company in Saskatchewan, Artistic Ironworks, which he had used for his stairs with success and a great rate. Needless to say I placed the order and 3 weeks later they arrived at my doorstep. My contractors went to install them and it turned out they made them in the wrong size! I called them up and they sent out a replacement pair, free of cost right away. The ones arrived 2 weeks later and once again they were wrong! I called them once again and spoke to the owner of the company. After realizing their mistake for the second time, he informed me that the stairs I’m looking for is a custom job and the price increased by double of the original amount I already paid. I guess you’re wondering where the good news is, I promise it’s coming. I told him that was unacceptable and that at this point I would source a local company in Toronto to make them as my timeline was now getting tight and I couldn’t afford any more mistakes. I gladly agreed to ship back their stairs at my cost for a full money refund. At that point the owner lost on me, yelled and swore  and things got nasty. Lesson learned, don’t ever order from these people again or recommend them. So after finding Ignac Blacksmith and not having stairs in my home since the beginning of March, these puppies arrived today…..

They don’t look like much now, but once they get installed tomorrow and the wood steps get mounted on, they will complete the look on my main floor. So for any of your artistic metal needs either inside our outside your home, make sure to contact Ignac Blacksmith.

The completed stairs will look something like this, just to give you a hint

***Image via Beaucher***