“Start where there’s sort of a lot.”

Find your local flea market, Andrea encourages. (If you live in the Northeast, Brimfield is [a massive one] and Roundtop is another; if you live in a less trafficked part of the country, you can rejoice in the fact that your local fair is going to be much, much less picked-over.)

Being able to browse a larger selection of vendors will allow you to “start doing comparisons,” as Andrea calls them. See one stash of mid-century ceramics? Note the prices, the look of them, and then when you see another pile at another stall run the numbers against each other. These trips are as much about educating yourself as they are for shopping: “Once you build a knowledge base,” Andrea says, “that’s when it becomes fun.”

[Photo via @ebth]

2 of 10