Vide Grenier

I have been lucky this year in that for the second half of the summer I have had the use of a car. My trusty bike has been sidelined for a while, & I am enjoying taking adventures further afield. One such adventure has been going to "Vide Greniers". The translation in English is "empty the attic" or as we would call it in the US, a yard sale. These are large communal affairs with everyone from locals who are doing just that, emptying their attic or more likely their closets, to small dealers who specialize in collections of various items. I did not end up buying anything, but I had a lot of fun looking & taking photos. Here are some of my favorite things.




I have always loved the small French bowls, once used like cups to drink morning coffee, so I simply had to take a photo of these.


I liked this assortment of pottery & enamel, all lovely finds for someone's kitchen.


There was just something appealing about this collection of alarm clocks.....



.....more enamel ware & coffee pots.....


....& a suitcase full of dolls & related toys.


There is really a sense of history when wandering through these sales & looking at all of the old objects, like the telephone above or all the old baskets below.


Do you see the long narrow one in the center that was used for the dough of baguettes to rise before baking?


How about these old car doors? They are from an early model Renault I believe they said.


The rows of tables went on & on with all manor of pretty things to look at.


There were lovely old linens ....


..... & pretty patterned porcelain.


One of my favorites was this old painted metal bed. It was hard to get a photo that really showed its lovely shape. It seemed as if it had literally just come out of someone's barn, it still had bits of hay & debris clinging to it. But it was easy to imagine it in a young women's lovely wallpapered boudoir around the turn of the century.


Sadly I did not end up buying anything not even the sweet little bowl above. It was already gone when I went back for it. Lesson learned!