Road Trip Finds + Anthro Home Outlet

Whew, we just got home from our big 2 week adventure driving across the US from Colorado to Washington DC.  We opted to go north and east to DC and then come home going south and back up, covering 12 states and 4800 miles.

We stopped for a state magnet in each state and are building up quite the collection on the rv fridge.  There’s just something about a road trip amiright?!  We camped our way at mostly state parks and saw some beautiful places.  Not only did we have many destinations throughout the trip to stop at but you know I had to do some thrift/antique shopping!

My goal was to stop at least once in each state we passed through, I almost made it with only 3 that I missed. (heavy drive days and bad weather dang it)

Here’s how it went and some of the places we stopped at with my experiences.

Nebraska

We hit up an antique mall right off of I80 called Platte Valley Antique Mall in Greenwood NE.  This turned out to be a gem, they had a huge variety of pieces from antiques to mid century.  Prices ranged from reasonable to high but not outrageous.  I had a lot of fun going through here and found a few fantastic pieces including this 9×12 Antique Art Deco Chinese Rug.

Actual pic of it in the antique mall, I didn’t see it fully laid out until I got home! (full pics at the end of the post)

And this fab vintage lotus lamp.  I rarely see these!

My daughter was beyond excited about this piece.

Iowa was a rough weather day although I did stop at one thrift store with no luck in Des Moines.

Illinois

My stop was the Thrift and Dollar in Aurora, IL.  This place was really interesting and surprising.  It was half thrift store (and thrift pricing) and half antique with antique (read high) pricing.

Excuse some of the fuzzy photos, I didn’t have actual pics so I had to screenshot my IG stories.  But you can see these were thrift pricing, really reasonable and inexpensive.

I walked away with these 2 beauties.  

Really pretty and I if I remember right less than $20

There was this really cool old iron birdcage.  I’m envisioning hanging on a patio with plants in the bottom and one on top draping down.

Then I found a back area that had rugs rolled up.  No joke I dug through the pile and lifted some seriously heavy rugs to get a look at this one.

There was no room to open it up, plus it was taped up, but I decided to take a chance.  He said it was 12 feet and from lifting it around 75 pounds.  I didn’t see this until I got home, I went with my gut crossed all my fingers and toes it would be good.

The more antique section with higher prices was really fun to walk through, some amazing pieces in a variety of eras.  I didn’t snag anything in that area but this is an example of what they had.

Absolutely gorgeous and there was a matching dresser.

Ohio

Next up was Ohio (missed Indiana, another long drive day so didn’t stop to save time).  We went to the football hall of fame in Canton and discovered they have a big flea market near by.   Hartville Flea Market

While I was bummed about the very small amount of things I was looking for, inside the building on the second floor was a hidden gem area.

They had all kinds of salvage and antique that was VERY reasonably priced.

I found this window set for $50.

And these super funky ceramic arm pieces.

They have mounting brackets at the end of the arms for hanging.

Pennsylvania

After that we cruised on over to Pennsylvania and stopped the Anthropologie Home Outlet in Pittsburgh. I have mixed feelings.

It was Anthropologie all right but prices were still disappointingly high.  I saw some sofas with large cuts in the fabric for $1000.   Chairs in perfectly good condition but only marked down 10-15%.  If you watch Anthro online for the 30% home sales they run every fall you will get a better deal.

I was looking for lighting and bedding and I found neither.  They had sections for those but the lighting was still very expensive and the bedding was relegated to primarily twin sizes.

They had a huge area called the “found” section.  This is where they put the all the pieces that you see in stores that are actual antiques and one of a kind items found by their source team.  I found several things I loved here and was very interested in a paper maiche dog lamp (not pictured) but it had a couple of holes that I would need to repair.  It was still $450 which I couldn’t stomach given the condition.

I loved this section but still overpriced.

I did end up leaving with a set of curtains I’ve been eyeing for a couple of years.  They had a couple of small spots at the bottom so I was able to get an additional 15% off of the outlet price.  With that they were cheaper than I could ever get them online unless they went on clearance.

So to sum up, go if you need something sooner than the wait time to ship a furniture piece.  Go expecting high prices and pay attention to damage or imperfections.  It is an outlet so I wasn’t surprised by this.  But I was surprised how high things were priced given these imperfections/damage.

Maryland

I missed Maryland (where we camped for our DC visit).  The museums and memorials took up all of our time sadly.

Virginia

I did manage to hit up West End Antique Mall in Richmond Virginia.  The place is humongous with a huge variety of items.  Really cool to walk through but very high pricing.  I did find 2 pieces that were super reasonable and I loved.

I absolutely adore this original painting.

And this vintage bamboo and rattan chair, I’ve never seen one like this.

Yes I loaded this in the RV for the entire second week of the trip.

North Carolina

From here we travelled on down into North Carolina where we spent a couple of days on Hatteras Island.  There were tons of thrift stores along the way in but we arrived after closing time and left before they opened so I wasn’t able to visit.  But I hear they have some really good thrifting!!  Stop if you are ever down in the area.

We went from Hatteras to Asheville where we visited the Biltmore and I got a full afternoon of thrifting/shopping in!  We hit up 3 thrift stores and 3 antique malls, there were so many stops to choose from I didn’t even get to visit them all.

At the Goodwill I found a vintage travertine pedestal.

I’ve been looking for stone pedestals FOREVER so I was stoked to find this beauty.

I forget the name of 2 of the antique malls, but I found this swan basket.

Super cute for hand towels, toilet paper rolls, etc in a powder bath.

And this vintage Italian Tole lamp.

So unique and the color pops are just heavenly.

One place you MUST stop in Asheville is the Tobacco Barn.  Oh ma gawd, this might be my absolute favorite stop of the trip.  Sadly my phone died so I couldn’t get pics to share but holy mama jamma it was heaven.

Salvage, reclaimed, art, furniture, decorative pieces, glassware.  They had everything and pricing was varied but I felt mostly fair.

I left with a vintage 8 ft tall fiberglass palm tree from a Miami hotel, an original abstract art piece and a 3 ft wooden frog statue.  My kids were thrilled with how we managed to fit it in our rental car.

I’m an old pro at packing a vehicle haha.  My 4th kid, you can see the top of his head peeking up behind my oldest son’s head just barely.

They were grumbling but it was hysterical and they will always remember it.

Tennessee

Next up was Tennessee.  There was a whole strip of antique malls just outside of Knoxville.  We stopped at one but had to move on to Nashville.  Not much for me there, pricing was a bit high.

Gas Lamp Too was our stop in Nashville and it was another really cool store.

Huge with a great variety of items.  Expensive so be aware of that when you go.

But they had incredible lighting, museum quality antiques and crazy good mid century.

This booth had the most gorgeous lighting

These incredible chairs were calling my name but priced more in relation to Chairish.  Plus there is the issue of limited space in the rv.

Super cool style and fabric

Kentucky

Next up was Kentucky and I found this quirky spot outside of Paducah ,KY called the Anything Goes Trading Company. It was surprisingly big inside and seemed to continue on forever.

Crammed full this is where I know there is major potential.

Pricing was good to mid-high.  I did find a couple of things including a pair of vintage ceramic drip lamps for $40 each.

I’m so obsessed with these!  They also have an iridescent sheen which adds to the cool factor.

And then these 2 raw silk pleated pillows.  I’ve bought pillows in a similar style new and they always wear out or the button falls off in a very short amount of time.  These are really well made and in pristine condition, plus for $10 they were a great price.

Fab style that will work just about anywhere in my house.

Missouri

Cruising on down the road we stopped at Merchant Square in Kansas City.  A huge warehouse style shop right next to a Target.

Another one with great variety but pricing was a bit higher for me.  Although I enjoyed the visit and did leave with a couple of kilim pillows.

Warrensburg, MO  had a little antique shop off the side of the road called Highway 13 Antiques.  This was such a cute stop.  There was the main building with a bunch of things outside and 2 furniture barns.

I found a few things here!  A pair of vintage dining chairs that just need a little love for $5.

I think they are silver coated brass based on the wear on the back and weight.  Regardless the curve of the center detail snagged my attention.  I’ll be reupholstering the seats to jazz them up.

There’s also a vintage green globe pendant light fixture and large wooden storage trunk with floral interior.  VERY good prices here!  Also an added bonus, the gentleman sells frozen homemade pies.  I asked him about it and he said his grandmother makes them from scratch, and they sold 5500 last summer.  We bought 2 and can attest, the rhubarb and pecan were delicious!

Kansas

We stopped at a little antique mall (not worth the stop and I can’t remember the name anyway haha) and a neighboring thrift store.  (Treasure something I can’t remember the name but right off the interstate) I found some vintage jackets including woolsworth, 70’s leather and a 70’s mens zip up plus some lamps and glass.

This vintage beauty came home with me.

As did this really unique green table lamp.

And this gorgeous vintage blue bowl.

That milky glass rim, le sigh.

Colorado

Coming back home to Colorado we passed by the Brass Armadillo in Westminster.  I didn’t buy much, it’s always an adventure stopping in here because the place is huge.  Pricing is all over from good finds to very very high.

I did nab this really interesting lamp, I’ve never seen anything like this before either.

And this little bitty ceramic floral centerpiece. I picked this up for nightstand decor since I can’t keep fresh flowers constantly.

15 days from when we left we arrived home with an rv full.  I’ve had a lot of questions as to how it all fit, so here’s a couple of photos to show how it was all wedged in.

The back bedroom area had the 2 dining chairs and the big birdcage in the bathroom. On the bed were the bamboo chair, 2 art pieces and 2 lamps.  In the mirrored closet were the crystal lamps, ceramic arm pieces and color glass window set.

Peep the fiberglass tree underneath the bed.

On one side of the dinette I put the trunk which fit perfectly on the bench seat.  Inside that were pillows another lamp and some small glass pieces.  Underneath the rv in the storage compartments were the rugs and frog, whew we were pretty full haha.

Here is everything all together!  Most pieces I’m keeping, a few things are going into my booth and we’ll see what happens with the rugs.

Speaking of rugs…..who’s curious to see what they actually look like?!  Remember I never saw either one opened up fully so I was nervous.

Well I’m happy to say I was pleasantly relieved.

Turns out the blue one from Thrift and Dollar was an in perfect condition, a 9×12 Asian Style Aubusson Rug.  Crazy thick pile of hand knotted wool.

Incredible quality and the colors are magnificent.

The Art Deco rug from my very first stop?

She looks a little something like this.  Wool and silk circa roughly 1930’s chinese rug in incredible condition.  The floral pattern throughout the center was so much better than I expected.

I’m absolutely thrilled I went for it.

Road trips, excellent opportunities for adventures and all kinds of crazy good finds.  Even having stopped at all the places above I missed so many others.

I would love to hear of good thrift stores or antique malls in your area, we have more roadtrips planned coming up and it would be so much fun to visit!  Hit me up in the comments with your recommendations.

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