Everything I Found at Brimfield: Vintage Home Edition

what was on my mood board, what I left behind, and what I'm still on the search for

Hello, I’m Hilliary, founder of Circle of Friends- conversations, connections, and events centered around circularity. You can also find me on instagram where I host The Stoop Series. I’m currently transforming my Brooklyn Townhouse in the most circular way possible, creating a space to gather and bring people together. Subscribe to learn how you too can live a more sustainable lifestyle + get invites to fun events!

My Brimfield mood board: a selection of images from Pinterest and online vintage dealers, the entryway image is inspo from our design team, and the top right image is a kitchen my friend Carly of Past Lives designed.

Last week marked my third pilgrimage to Brimfield. It’s no longer my first Rodeo but never forget what happened our first time. I've now mastered the lay of the land — I have vendors I like and even remember me, I know which field offers the best furniture and which stand has the best lemonade (Sheltons!)

This time, I partnered with my friend Ali of Gin for Lunch to create a Circle of Friends x Gin for Lunch Field Trip. We gathered girls from our creative brain trusts and rented a nearby property on a lake for our creative retreat. The night before Brimfield started, we had a dinner party and shared our mood boards—to see what my friends sourced, subscribe for part 2!

This was the first time I made a mood board going into a vintage shopping experience, but won’t be the last. The idea started as a way to share among the group so we could keep our eyes peeled for what each other was looking for. I found it personally helpful to use as my North Star and keep on track and on budget. Brimfield is massive, and you could easily go astray and fill a truck with items that you didn’t quite need.

Since we are a year into restoring and transforming our house in the most sustainable way possible to create a space for bringing people together, everything on my mood board was home and hosting-centric.

Vintage Silver

I have slowly built a vintage silver collection I use for my events and lend out for others’ events as well- if need silver to elevate your next event, reach out!

I was also helping my friend Rachel start her silver collection, we even found silver friendship trays, and thanks to

Claire Illmer

’s brilliant idea, I’m now planning a polishing party! DM for an invite.

Something unexpected in the best way possible I found was a huge silver punch bowl with matching mini mugs for $125. This was an insane deal I couldn’t pass up. My best find from Brimfield last year was the vintage silver champagne bucket that gets used so regularly that I knew a punch bowl would complete my party collection.

What I found: a large silver tray, 4 various silver serving utensils, one engraved with an S and one with a mother of pearl handle, a silver punch bowl with 52 !! matching mini mugs, and a wine coaster.

A Set of Chrome Dining chairs

We are getting ready to build a banquette in our kitchen, a dream of mine to always have a breakfast nook and a way to have indoor dining while saving space. Since the table I’m eyeing is wood, I wanted chairs that incorporated a different material into the area.

It’s a WIP! The banquette will go where the USM piece is now but my pizza girl will stay.

What I found: A Set of six 1970s chrome and leather dining chairs from Cidue Italy that are actually very comfortable. I love the chairs I found even more than the inspiration image but if you are partial to the Bauhaus Tubular ones, they can be yours.

A Garden Urn

I purchased one garden urn last Summer and when I visited the same vendor, they remembered me as Hilliary B! I’m honored! Having an urn guy wasn’t on my bingo card but I’m glad it is! I wanted two more urns to use as planters in the garden. There’s not a photo of them in use yet because they didn’t fit in our car so my friend Brit graciously brought them home to her house for the time being. Stay tuned!

What I found: A set of 30” tall antique urns. They are currently painted black but I’m going to use acetone and Mother Nature to give them the weathered cast iron look I want.

White Cotton Eyelet Tablecloth

I have one that was my grandma’s, however, it isn’t big enough to cover my whole garden dining table, it’s 120” long and I want my linens to really drape. On my wishlist was to find a similar one so I could layer them like in my inspiration image. I laid them on top of each other and can’t believe how similar they are. I'm excited to host a garden party soon and create a beautiful tablescape using both tablecloths together.

What I found: A cotton eyelet and embroidered 118” tablecloth in pristine condition. The one on the left is my grandma’s and the one on the right is the one from Brimfield.

A light pendant for our vestibule

We don't currently use our main entrance except for storage in the vestibule, but slowly yet surely that is going to change. As we contemplate tile and wallpaper selections, I'm also searching for a pendant light. I want it to be something special since it will be one of the first pieces guests see when entering our home.

The pendant on my mood board is from Studio Nordic, and while in Copenhagen, I spotted a Murano glass fixture that is still taking up space in my mind. At Brimfield, I left behind a Murano milky glass pendant that offered the perfect blend of delicacy and textural interest, but the price was more than I hoped to spend so it remains on my "to be sourced" list.

the inspiration: 1950s Swedish Modern Leaf Decorated Pendant and a Murano Glass Flower Pendant. The one I found is from Freaks in Hudson.

What I found: A Murano glass pendant but I left it behind, and the search continues!

A Display Cabinet

This was a long shot but I was still manifesting by putting it on my mood board. I am looking for a storage solution for my vintage glassware and silver collection that also puts them on-display in the kitchen dining area. Something similar to a hutch but that is more Bed-Stuy Brownstone vs. Cottage Core. I didn’t see anything that fit the bill so now perusing the auction sites.

hilliaryb

A post shared by @hilliaryb

A Fish Bottle Opener that Doubles as a Pendant

I stayed very true to my mood board, the only item I discovered that wasn’t on there was a fish pendant but it is a very kismet story. I was wearing my grandma’s abalone fish necklace and the vendor I purchased my chairs from, Jay, explained that it was actually a bottle opener which was popular in the 50s and 60s from Mexico. It felt very on-brand for my grandma to put a fish bottle opener on a chain and call it a necklace.

The next day another vendor complimented my grandma’s fish again and I passed on the story about it being a bottle opener. She then showed me another abalone fish bottle opener they had in their booth, and of course, she had to come home with me. I’ve barely taken them off since.

A similar abalone fish bottle opener here and here.

Want to go to Brimfield? I wrote a guide with everything you need to know!

Would you also be interested in a future field trip to Brimfield or beyond? Comment below or reach out!

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