It has been a weird summer, right?  No pool days at my bff’s (she lives in an apartment complex that didn’t allow residents to invite guests to the pool this summer due to COVID).  No concerts in the bandshell at my local park.  No trips to the zoo.  No state fair. But I think the biggest change for me this summer was no neighborhood garage sales.

Usually my calendar is filled with neighborhood sales from early May through the end of June, and then again for most of August and September.

But COVID put an end to large gatherings this summer, and that meant most neighborhoods didn’t have their organized sales.

Sure, I found a few random sales, like the back to back barn sales we stumbled across back at the end of May.

But I’ve really missed my neighborhood sales, especially those in Minneapolis.  My sister and I just love going to those neighborhoods and having an excuse to wander around and admire the houses.

So when my picker first mentioned to me that the East Isles & Lowry Hill sales were taking place this past Saturday I was super excited.  But then the temperature took a nose dive and rain was in the forecast for Saturday morning.  I have to admit, I was ready to just skip it.  But my sister was more than willing to give it a go and her enthusiasm was contagious.  So she picked me up at 8:30 and we headed out.

As we were driving in to the city, there were low hanging clouds obscuring the tops of the high rise buildings, but it wasn’t raining so that was a plus.  As we headed towards the Hennepin Ave exit, my sister and I both remarked on how much we’ve missed going in to the city this year.  Between COVID and social unrest, this has been a rough summer for Minneapolis and we have pretty much avoided going there.

But it felt so good to be back, even if the sky was a bit cloudy.

There were plenty of people out and about enjoying the sales, the only obvious difference this time was that almost all of them were wearing masks.

Once again my sister and I had fun picking out our favorite houses, you know, the ones we would buy if we won the lottery.

I love the cottage appeal of this one.

My sister would love to have the amazing lake views from this one.

But, the reality is that neither of us is likely to ever win the lottery (especially me since I don’t even buy lottery tickets), so we just have to admire these gorgeous houses from the sidewalk and then buy their cast off items at their garage sales.

I came home from the sales with a few goodies.

There seems to be a seating theme.

All four of the wooden options (firehouse captains chair, bench, piano stool and small oak chair) are going to be transformed with paint.  I’ve already cleaned up the kid-size white metal chair and added a little something to the back …

How cute is that?  And it would work inside the house, or outside in the garden.

I’ll be taking this in to Reclaiming Beautiful, unless one of you locals want to snatch it up first ($28).

I’m starting to think ahead to Christmas (I know, it’s too early, but I have to plan ahead if I’m going to have things ready).  The smaller wooden chair is probably going to get a Christmas look similar to the chairs I did last year …

I also purchased this brass horn …

with the intention of adding it to the pile of similar pieces I purchased last year and used to decorate my Christmas tree.

And isn’t this tiny wooden sock stretcher totally adorable?

I’m trying to decide whether or not to paint and stencil it like the larger ones I did last year …

Coincidentally I just ordered some mini-stencils that would be perfect for the job.

Buying the footed ironstone bowl was a no brainer.

It’s the perfect size to use for fruit on my kitchen counter.

I also snagged a few old buckets, two enameled and one galvanized.

I’m not sure if these will be saved for next spring to be marketed as planters, or if I’ll come up with something for the holiday season.  They would be great for containing small evergreen trees like this example from pinterest, wouldn’t they?

So maybe they’ll make their way into the shop before the holidays.

I’ve saved find of the day status for a pair of light fixtures (just one of them is pictured below, but there is another).

The funny thing is that I almost didn’t even buy them.  Reclaiming Beautiful recently decided to no longer carry vintage electrical fixtures, so even though I thought these fixtures were too good to pass up at $5 each, I knew I wouldn’t really have a way to sell them on.  I was literally getting back in the car when I decided I just couldn’t leave them behind.  So I went back and purchased them.

I think I’ll keep them for my three season porch.  We need some reading lights out there and these will be perfect.  I’m also contemplating making over my home office (a.k.a. the Q Branch) this winter, and these lights might be perfect for the look I’m envisioning for that space.

Unfortunately, I think this might be my one and only neighborhood garage sale post for 2020.  Next weekend I’m heading up to my bff’s family cabin, and then the next thing you know, it will be the end of September already.  Let’s hope that the 2021 garage sale season is back to normal … or at least the ‘new normal’ that everyone keeps talking about!