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This week, the Post Home staff talks about flea markets around the Washington area. Annie Groer, a dedicated flea enthusiast, tours other colorful destinations for lovers of previously owned, creatively recycled and newly crafted goods for home and garden--including a few where you can sell your own treasures or rejects. Also, talk about how the Georgetown flea market is in danger of being kicked off the school parking lot where it has set up Sunday mornings since 1988.

Ask the Washington Post Home staff -- about these and anything and everything related to home and garden.

Home & Garden: This week on Home Front, the Home section staff takes your questions on fixing up your home and decorating. On The Garden Plot on June 7, Post Garden Editor Adrian Higgins will talk about making the most of your garden during the summer months.

The transcript follows.

Editor's Note: Washingtonpost.com moderators retain editorial control over Live Online discussions and choose the most relevant questions for guests and hosts; guests and hosts can decline to answer questions.

Washington, DC: Could you suggest an antiques store in DC or the DC area where I could find an antique iron bed? I've tried flea markets (great flea market story in today's paper, by the way!), but haven't had any luck. I don't want to give up and buy a reproduction, so any suggestions would be appreciated.

Post Home Staff: A hearty, second-hand, previously-owned hello to all you out there. As you might imagine, the flea story was loads of fun to research (yes, tough work but someone has to root through all that funky old stuff).
Now, Washington....about that antique iron bed. They are hard to find but not impossible. Patsy Rogers has seen one at Stella's Attic, an Old Towne, Alexandria consingnment shop. Call ahead to see if it's still there.
Another possibility is Antique Row in Kensington. Hit all the shops, give your card to all the dealers and have them call when beds come in. Remember, however, that most antique beds are standard doubles so what you gain in authenticity you lose in room to frolic and snooze.
Also try Ellicott City shops. Good luck

Alexandria, Virginia: Greetings all-- I wonder if everyone there would be kind enough to share the story of the greatest treasure they've ever discovered at a flea market. A first edition of a book? A rare piece of art? An antique? Is is still possible (and worth spending all the time wading through the piles of schlock) to find gems at flea markets? Thanks.

Post Home Staff: Dear Alexandria - and dear cyber-ites...We all know that everyone loves to brag about their best scores, so let's hear it (along with the name of the flea and how long ago you hit pay dirt).
Treasures are hard to measure. It may be a $2 washboard that makes you think of your beloved granny, and it could be a $500 painting. But we love discovery, so y'all come...
I think my best flea market find was a beautifully taxidermied she-turkey, her tail feathers in full fan. (My long suffering husband would beg to differ, no doubt, but at $35 it was a great bargain)
Patsy's big score came not from a flea but a Salvation Army thrift shop in Annandale - a Venini handkerchief vase (very collectible, that Italian glass) that she bought for $2 and is worth about $1,200. Go, patsy.

Silver Spring, Md.: Thanks for this especially interesting subject for a chat. I inherited the flea market gene from my mother. TIP: The seasonal flea market held Sundays in the mall parking lot in Columbia, Md., has a smattering of this and that, but relatively large amounts of old stuff and not so much crafts and new stuff. QUESTIONS: First question is what do you think of the Columbia flea market for selection and values to buyers? Second question is can you recommend other comparable markets?

Post Home Staff: Dear Silver Spring - I actually think the Columbia Flea is good, and the two recent Sundays I've been there have not been the larger SUPERs with all three levels filled with dealers. Last Sunday, for example, there was a lot of really nice furniture (three separate dealers, differing styles), a goodly amount of glassware and household thingies. The prices are pretty good. I suggest going this Sunday since it's the first of the month and htere will be lots more dealers.
Also try this Saturday at the Arlington Civitan (it's a monthly) because at least one of the Columbia furniture dealers will be there and it draws up to 200 dealers (some of them folks just clearing out the basement, so lots of potential for treasures).

Garden Decor: Hi! Wondering where else I can find garden statuary, ornaments, stakes, weather vanes, etc.

Nurseries charge a fortune for that stuff. Any suggestions? Thanks!

washingtonpost.com: Although there are some flea markets that can probably satisfy this request, you might also ask Post Garden editor Adrian Higgins on the next Garden Plot on June 7.

Post Home Staff: Dear GD - You are right that nurseries can be pricey, but if you see a garden ornament that you love, love love, you may want to splurge (or see if they have 20 percent off coupons to mailing list customers) because they don't really wear out or die.
The other good source for weather vanes and that sort of thing are furniture consignment shops and estate sales. Try Upscale Resale in Merrifield Va and Mikel's Garden in Old Town.
And Philippe Starck has a designed a resin gardne gnome if you are feeling Full Monty-ish.

Shady Grove, Md.: I'm trying to grow tomatoes in a less than sunny yard. I only get about 3 hours (afternoon) of full sun in my sunniest area. Not surprisingly my tomatoes are lanky and produce few fruits. What can I do to improve the yield and quality besides cutting down trees? Is there such a thing as a low sun variety? Would a shorter growing season variety like Early Girl be a better pick than say, Better Boy?

Thanks!

Post Home Staff: Dear Shady Grove - Maybe that's why they named your community thusly. (Sorry for the bad joke, I couldn't resist). Alas, big juicy tomatoes require lots of sun. Early Girl is okay. A better bet might be cherry tomatoes, which can get by with less light.

Alexandria, Va.: How often does relatively contemporary stuff show up at flea markets and consignment shops? My budget won't allow the hottest thing from Milan but surely someone somewhere is dumping their 90's modern for French country or whatever.

Post Home Staff: Dear Alexandria - The frequency of replenished stock at flea markets depends on how often the dealer gets out to buy. Unfortunately, the source for a lot of contempo furniture are older people who are downsizing or moving, and they are now hip to the fact that mid-century, clian-lined stuff is hot and valuable.
I have always preferred estate sales to fleas for furniture, but unfortunately, the folks who run these sales also usually know what they have and price it accordingly.

Consignment shops, of course, depend on patrons bringing in stuff to sell and some shops don't recognize that new can be cool. They tend to look for older pieces because there space is limited.
You might try moving sales, particularly at this time of year because families that are relocating wait until June till the kids are out of school, college students graduate and leave their temporary digs for permanent jobs, etc.
Lots of classified ads mention Ikea furniture, though that might not be what you have in mind. People who buy really neat looking 90s furniture are often not ready to dump it after only five or six years.
My adivice is to go to fleas, shops etc, and tell all the delaers what you want and have them call you.
There is also a place outside Baltimore in Timonium (home of the Md. State fair) called Great Finds and Design. Give them a try, too.

Clifton, Va.: In the process of finishing the remodel of my kitchen. Stainless steel appliances,sink and faucet, absolute black granite countertops
and golden oak cabinets. Need help with tile backsplash. Any suggestions for tile colors?
I was thinking about either white subway tiles with glass tiles for color accents(reds and blues) or glass mosaic tile in a ocean blue. Walls are off white. Any in good tile stores in NOVA? Tia

Post Home Staff: Dear Clifton - Sounds good so far, but keep it simple. You don't want the fab granite and stainless and oak overpowered by too many colors.
Lots of designers like the look of a backsplash that goes all the way up to the base of the cabinets. We think big black granite tiles would be a knockout and give it a seamless, designed look.

Westminster, Md.: I recently moved into the area and need to get a chair reupholstered. Can someone recommend a good place to find fabric and a good upholsterer in the Baltimore area?

Thanks for the good tips!

Post Home Staff: Dear Westminster - That's a tad far afield for us, geographically speaking. But we'd love to hear from all of you about great sources. Speak up, don't be shy.

Petworth: I love flea markets -- and have exhausted all the ones you wrote about! So, I'm looking for a good, regularly updated, source of information on flea markets in the general D.C. area. (OK, a source for locations of junk/junque shops would be nice too!)

Is there such a thing? How can I find out when and where the good places/markets are? (FYI -- I tend to look for places that have: furniture, glass, books.)

Post Home Staff: Dear Petworth - We, too, love fleas/junque shops, etc (I'm sure you already know about Amvets, the thrift shop on Ga. Ave. NW north of Military Rd.
There are a couple of books that list lots of regional fleas (and are perfect to take on vacation). Try amazon.com or your local bookstore for:
The Original Clark's Flea Market USA is a national directory of fleas and swap meets (850-623-0794 to order.) These folks also do quarterly lists. They're based in Fla.
The official Directory to US Flea Markets edited by Kitty Werner is published by House of Collectibles, Ballantine Division of Random House, NY)
US Flea Market Directory: Guide to the Best Flea Markets in All 50 States, by Albert LaFarge (Griffin Trade, St. Martin's Press. NY) My only question about this title is what happened to D.C. What are we, chopped liver?

Gaithersburg, Md.: Hi Annie. The $95,000 Seward Johnson statue aside, what other artists is Party Guy, Victor Kamer offering at his weekend sale?

Post Home Staff: Dear G'burg _ He's got a bunch of Warhol-wannabe celebrity silkscreen by Steven Kaufman, and some lovely pieces by local artists whose name escape me right now. They range in price from $200 and up, way, way up.

San Francisco, Calif.: Where in California is the Todo es slipcover place?

Post Home Staff: Dear SF, Todo es is located in Mission Viejo, near Pasadena but you don't have to go there. Just look up the website, www.todoes.com and they will tell you how to measure your furniture for slipcovers and will take it from there.
Happy sofa facelift.

Nashua, N.H.: I liked the piece on slipcovers today. What can you tell me about the place in Franklin, N.H. that you mentioned, Seams To Be?

Post Home Staff: Dear Nashua - It has been in business for 20 years. They carry all sorts of fabrics, including by such designers as Kravet. In addition to slipcovers with designer detailing, they make window treatments. Check the website, which shows pictures of some of their work. www.seamstobe.com

Centreville, Va.: I have the world's ugliest bathroom. It's simply the most offensively inoffensive room I've seen. The problems are:

1. Pale yellow bathtub with surrounding pale yellow tile
2. Hideous light fixture, sort of a cross of Baroque light fixtures with brass gilted roccoco medicine cabinet.
3. Plywood that has a fake wallpaper design on it -- this one has tiny blue flowers in a vase/basket (I try not to look at it closely). We don't know what's behind it but we suspect it is at the least, bad plaster. It's very hollow sounding.
4. The flooring is going; I suspect we need at least a new subfloor.
5. Bad paint -- the ceiling is all chipping and going.

We have replaced the sink and toilet (formerly yellow) with white. There's what I'm thinking and I hope it's not too expensive.

--Take white beadwork panelling to replace current paneling. Question - will it need to be waterproofed? It is a small small bathroom -- very 50's.
--Redo the floor and put a lineoleum type flooring. I'm thinking of a bright blue or bright colors with a predominence of some yellows to go with the tub, tile.
--If I can find the lineoleum (I'm thinking Medit. colors of cobalt blue and yellow for example), perhaps would be over the top to paint the ceiling over the tub a cobalt blue to go with the flooring?
--Paint the oak vanity white -- perhaps pickle it white?
--Simple lights and simple white medicine cabinet?

Would this be too off the wall? Also, do you think it would be horribly expensive? It would be removing panelling, replacing electrical work for the lights, and painting and the subflooring/new flooring.

Lori
The bathroom dimensions are about maybe 6x8. Right now we have a beadwork cabinet in there (supposed to fit over toilet but doesn't). Overkill?

Post Home Staff: Dear Lori - Whew!!! Let's take it a step at a time. Experts will tell you not to put wooden beadboard in the bathroom because of the humidity but lots of people do (including deocrators and some national catalogues, so go figure). We think the floor should be white tile, so you can use any color towel and not be bound by yellow or blue (which somehow makes us think of rubber duckies).
But you are totally right on target about the medicine chest and vanity. White is fine (and if you want to pickle, you can.) We've seen some medicine cabinets whose doors actually look like framed (simple) mirrors. In fact, if you hit enough flea markets (we can't reisist) you might find either the perfect frame or a mirror that's been installed in a distressed old window.
Good luck. And you might consider going to decorating school at night. You've got some good ideas.

Alexandria, Va.: I've found antique stores in Old Town Alexandria to be horribly overpriced. How far out to I have to go to find reasonable prices?

Post Home Staff: Dear Alexandria - It's such a diceroll. Obviously, shops in Old Town and Georgetown that pay high rents will be pricier than fleas, thrift shops and even antique malls way out in the country. So we suggest that you take a day trip into the Va, Md or even Pa. countryside.
If you are looking for a large piece, make sure you have a way of getting it home.

Bowie, Md.: Hi all--great piece on the fleas!

I want to replace yucky wall-to-wall carpet (and peel-'n-stick tile) in my living, dining, powder and front hall. I'm looking at laminates, and it's getting really confusing.

Anybody have any experience with "Award" brand flooring? How does it wear? Anybody install your own click-together laminate flooring? Is it reallly as easy as they want you to believe?

Thanks!

Post Home Staff: Dear Bowie - None of us has direct experience with the laminates. How about any of you?????
We're all for replacing everything yucky

Post Home Staff: Dear All - I just got a phone call from a reader who spotted a piece of chipped chintz china, a cup in a rare pattern, plus a perfect matching saucer. He wants to whether he should buy it anyway. It's $125, which is about $75 cheaper than if it were perfect.

There are two schools of thought: If you need that one piece to complete a set and will hardly ever use it (and when you do, only at your own place setting at the table) and if the chip is small, or if you need it to fill out a dispay and have $125 lying around, the answer is probably yes.

But the rule of thumb is try to buy the very best you can afford in the very best condition. We told him to check out everything he can on Google or Ask Jeeves and make his own decision.

From the Midwest:: One truly great flea market my husband and I frequent is about 30 minutes west of St. Joseph, Missouri. It's in White Cloud and Sparks, Kansas, and it's held the first weekend in May, again in July and then over Labor Day. If anyone out there is reading this and wants to go, it's totally worth it. I've bought furniture and smalls there; mostly antiques, but very reasonable.
The best one in Va. is in Hillsville, Va., over Labor Day. My husband and I attended regularly when we lived in N.C. It's fantastic, and totally worth it. You can't even walk it in a day, and usually there are some bargains.

Post Home Staff: Dear Midwest - Thanks for the great tip. I always think a flea is a perfect addition to any vacation. If your kids are old enough, it's a wonderful education for them to look at such yesteryear items as manual eggbeaters, washboards, vintage radios and televisions, etc.
FYI all you who want to hit Hillsville. It's in far SW Virginia just northeast of Galax (so you can fiddle and flea in the same day)

Annapolis Md.: Hi There!
Thanks for the great slipcover and flea market info. One place - which isn't really a flea market, but a great place for crazy and unique, and sometimes amazing finds, is the Junque Boutique in Crownsville MD (right near where the Md Renaissance Festival is each fall)
And now a question - where can I find a place that sells or makes cushions or covers for my circa-'80's This End Up wood couches? I love the couches and don't really have the money for new ones, but would like to update the look from faded, dog hair covered floral!
Thanks for any thoughts you can give me!

Post Home Staff: Dear Annapolis, I don't know of a good upholsterer in your neck of the woods but someone out there probably does, yes??? Arlington Foam in Arlington, Va. will cut cushions to order and also sells fabric. We've never used them personally but a colleague says there are quite good.
And thanks for the Crownsville tip.

Washington, D.C.: My parents put a white-washed wood laminate in their kitchen - it was installed by the contractor, but it seemed to go in easily enough. Upkeep is great, as are the looks - the only problem they have is that the dog can't get any traction and tends to fishtail across the floor.

Post Home Staff: Dear DC, Thanks for the tip. Maybe you want booties for Fido. Did I really say that?

Annapolis, Md.: Speaking of mirrors in old frames, if one has an old frame that they would like to put a mirror in, what is the best way to go about that? Does Home Depot sell custom cut mirrors? Do you all have any suggestions as to the best way to install the mirror?
Thanks!

Post Home Staff: Dear Annapolis, You might call Home Depot before you head out there. I did this at Miles Glass in Silver Spring, Md. on University Boulevard. Look up mirrors or glass in the phone book. Miles also did a pair of tabletops for 50s limed oak end tables that are fab.

Post Home Staff: Dear All, Thanks again for all the great questions. We'll yak again in two weeks.

washingtonpost.com:

That was our last question today. Thanks to everyone who joined the discussion.

Timothy McVeigh Case at 3 p.m. EDT

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