Tips on shopping flea markets

Flea markets, garage sales and estate sales — Deborah Waltz has scoured them all. The interior designer and owner of Peinture in Costa Mesa shares her top tips for surviving a flea market:

•Go to smaller flea markets that don’t have a huge advertising campaign. Prices are generally lower and there will be fewer people to compete with.

•Bring cash. Some vendors won’t take anything else.

•Don’t expect to bargain too heavily first thing in the morning. Vendors know that more people will be stopping by. If you have to have a piece that you see first thing in the morning, you better grab it.

•Avoid stalls that look too pretty. If a stall looks like a store, its prices are likely to match those of a store. Waltz likes stalls where the operators have simply thrown down a blanket or stacked goods on the back of a truck.

•See through the ugly. The more ornate a piece is, the better it will look painted.

•Make sure furniture pieces are strong and sturdy. Don’t pass on good pieces that have slight cosmetics flaws; they are easy to fix or camouflage.

•Keep in mind that reupholstering is expensive. Fabric and labor will cost more than the piece itself.

•Think outside the box. You can use old items in ways other than what they were initially intended for. Waltz says she purposefully won’t ask what an item is so as to not box herself in creatively.