Buyers flock to flea markets for pieces with character

• Local flea markets have grown recently with more vendors%2C bigger venues.
• Vintage credenzas%2C suitcases%2C fans and doors are big sellers at local flea markets.

Eclectic is a big trend in home decor.

People are mixing decor styles and adding one-of-a-kind vintage pieces. The result is rooms that feel more personal and curated.

"The current trend is (incorporating) unique finds, mixing and matching styles and saving a tattered piece with history from the dump," says local flea-market vendor Nanci Cowles.

Julie Shervin, a flea-market vendor from Apache Junction, says nostalgia is a big part of the trend.

People "connect with items their parents or grandparents once owned," she says. "I hope the vintage trend continues so the great things from the past will live on. They just don't make things like they used to."

Flea markets are also extremely popular. In the Valley, three big markets have been steadily gaining fans.

In Phoenix, long lines snake around Sweet Salvage in the Melrose neighborhood during the flea-market mall's monthly four-day sales.

Thieves Market, formerly in Cave Creek, recently found a new home in the parking lot of Tempe's Big Surf park. Organizers wanted the seasonal monthly flea to be more centrally located for the Valley's die-hard pickers.

And in less than three years, Junk in the Trunk Vintage Market has grown from a yard sale with 23 vendors to more than 170 vendors in Scottsdale's huge WestWorld facility.

"People are having fun decorating with unique and fun objects in different ways," says flea-market vendor Erin Vetnar of Glendale. "It almost seems like a race to see who can be the most creative."

We talked to several local pickers about what they're buying and selling and why vintage is such a draw.

Here's what they shared:

Lindsey Holt

Holt, 30, and Coley Arnold, 29, co-own Junk in the Trunk Vintage Market, a twice-a-year event.

Recent find: "An amazing rustic farmhouse dining table. It's almost 10 feet long with lots of chippy white paint on the legs and a worn butcher-block top."

Best-selling items: "People are always looking for large pieces of furniture and lots of doors and windows."

Something you won't part with: "My husband bought me the most amazing card catalog. ... It is actually an old hardware work table, and it's quite large, with more than 130 drawers. It took eight people to get it into my house, so I don't think it will be going anywhere anytime soon."

Favorite upcycled/recycled find: "My husband finished making me a coffee table a couple months ago ... using some old floorboards from a barn in Pennsylvania. He used black pipe for the legs. I love the industrial look and the love that went into making it."

Lesley Fisher and Michael Jack

Fisher, 39, and Jack, 42, of Phoenix, own Jack & Cat Curio inside Lizabel's Treasures and have a booth at Thieves Market in Tempe. They're also mixed-media artists who integrate vintage finds into their work.

Best-selling items: "Taxidermy and creepy dolls. It's really funny. These are both two things most people don't want in their own homes but they love to give to others."

Something you won't part with: "An old dressmaker's mannequin we found in Payson years ago. It travels with us to all the shows. The more damage she takes on, the better she looks. Her name is Matilda. People are fascinated with her. We use her to help display jewelry and more."

Favorite upcycled/recycled find: "Dictionary pages and letters. Love the older pages that have an aged patina. We print or stamp artwork over the words and it turns into a fantastic rustic decor piece."

Erin Vetnar

Vetnar, 50, owns Audrey's in Phoenix and is a vendor at Junk in the Trunk.

Favorite recent find: "Some old rusty sign holders that I'm going to use in my store."

Best-selling items: "I get asked for salt-and-pepper shakers daily. Preferably silver ones. Also antique beds."

Something you won't part with: "A four-paned window I brought home from a buying trip from Nebraska last year. It's from an old farmhouse."

Favorite upcycled/recycled find: "Metal bands from wine barrels in California. They are bent into heart shapes. I love them, and so do my customers."

Lori Cowherd

Cowherd, co-organizer of Thieves Market along with Mickey Meulenbeek, hosts the monthly seasonal sale. They also host a semi-annual Big Heap festival that travels around the state.

Favorite recent find: "My favorite all-time find is a very, very old Mexican frame that I can only guess came from an altar in a small church. Any gaps in the wood have been filled with red mud. It was $25."

Something you won't part with: "The altarpiece, a brass gymnast trophy topper doing a handstand, and a plastic statue of Jim Belushi as a Killer Bee."

Favorite upcycled find: "I recently bought a touch lamp that had an old gas can as the lamp shade. I had to clean it out with vinegar and baking soda and leave it outside for a month. But the gas smell is gone, and it looks really cool in my son's room."

Nanci Cowles

Cowles owns Everything Goes in north Phoenix and is a vendor at Junk in the Trunk.

Best-selling items: "Everything Goes is unique because we have unpainted, shabby, industrial and modern styles. Customers want all these styles and credenzas for their flat-screen TVs."

Favorite recent find: "A Spanish solid-wood, ornate door from a flea market, which is the showcase item in our cabin up north. It is the focal point ... and adds charm and character to our home."

Favorite upcycled piece: "I once found an antique church organ, which I pieced apart, keeping the wooden keys to make a one-of-a-kind chandelier. The chandelier is still a work in progress and a labor of love."

Something you won't part with: "An antique horse-hair, wooden paintbrush. ... I was drawn to it, and it is a treasure I display in my home."

Gary Shephard

Shephard, along with his twin brother, Larry, both 63, are retired transportation coordinators for the film industry. They own More Than Junk and display their wares at Thieves Market in Tempe.

Best-selling items: "Signs are always popular. … People buy typewriters. They like to be surrounded by things that are part of their past that are no longer relevant in today's life. You also find outsider art (or folk art) — art that is done by people with no artistic training. I really like some of that."

Something you won't part with: "An old sign out of a public city bus in Minneapolis. It's one of the signs that the old city buses used to say where the bus was going. It's 12 feet long and 4 feet wide."

Favorite upcycled piece: "An old birdcage that had been crushed. I wallpapered the inside (and turned it into an art piece). And old lamps. I like to be busy all the time. I rewired them and put them back into use."

Julie Shervin

Shervin owns Julie's Home Decor and is a vendor at Junk in the Trunk.

Favorite recent find: "An antique Victorian chest with a wishbone mirror from the late 1800s."

Best-selling items: "Suitcases, globes, and old fans and painted furniture."

Something you won't part with: "I have a collection of striped vintage suitcases that I won't part with, unless, of course, I find one I like better. They are decorative as well as functional."

Favorite upcycled piece: "I have so many favorite recycled projects, its hard to pick just one, but I recently turned a rusty toolbox into a cute planter. It's a simple project anyone can do."

Upcoming flea markets

Thieves Market. It runs the first Saturday of each month from October through April. Catch it one more time before its summer hiatus.

Details: 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday, April 5. 1500 N. McClintock Drive, Tempe. $1; parking is free. thievesmarketvintageflea.com.

Junk in the Trunk Vintage Market. Find more than 170 vendors at this market. The first 300 people through the door will receive a Junk in the Trunk Vintage Market Reusable bag. Local artists decorate the entrance using repurposed materials.

Details: 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday, May 3. 16601 N. Pima Road, Scottsdale. From 8 to 10 a.m., $10; from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., $5; free all day for kids younger than 12.

Sweet Salvage. This flea-market mall opens the third Thursday of every month for a four-day sale. Next month, because of a conflict with Easter weekend, Sweet Salvage's sale starts later in the month.

Details: Thursday-Sunday, April 24-27. 4648 N. Seventh Ave., Phoenix. 602-279-2996, sweetsalvage.net.

The Big Heap. A juried vintage and handmade festival with about 100 vendors, the Big Heap moves around the state, typically popping up in Flagstaff during the summer, Tucson in the spring, and Phoenix in the fall.

Details: 9a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, June 21-22. Coconino County fairgrounds, Flagstaff. $3; free for 12 and younger. thebigheap.com.