My friend opK and I headed out to the Inver Grove city-wide garage sales last Friday and I found a nice little pile of goodies.

I will say that we stopped off at quite a few of what I like to call ‘you should have gotten a dumpster’ sales.  It always boggles the mind what some people will take the time to set out for a garage sale.  Things like previously worn bras, or stained Tupperware.  I also saw lots of the things that I sent to Goodwill as part of my Swedish Death Cleaning, like cut glass serving bowls and such.

But luckily there were 66 sales to choose from in a semi-concentrated area, so we were able to quickly move on from the stained Tupperware sales (as opK likes to call them) and continue looking for gems amid the rubble.

Let’s take a look at what I brought home.

First up, I found a small black vintage suitcase.

I plan to add a stencil to it for Christmas.  Is that weird?  I’ve done a handful Christmas suitcases in the past, and they can be hit or miss as far as selling them goes.

But I rather love them, so I think I’ll give it a shot.

Next up, this fabulous toolbox.

This one has already been painted and I think the patina on that existing paint job is pretty sweet.  However, it has some stains that I don’t love, so I may just add a quick coat of Dixie Belle’s Drop Cloth to clean it up.  I’m planning to paint the interior as well, and will probably add some transfers to the exterior.

I snatched up this crystal doorknob at one sale.

I’m not sure yet whether I’m going to actually put it on one of my doors, or take it apart and add bottle brush Christmas trees like this …

Over the years I have replaced the majority of our door knobs with either black or white enamel knobs, but I still have a couple of plain brass knobs on some closet doors in the bedrooms, maybe I’ll switch one of those out for crystal.

I couldn’t resist this minnow bucket

It looks great for fall with the addition of a simple potted mum.

The price was right on this watering can … or is it technically an oil can?  I’m not sure.

Either way, I plan to dress this one up and will likely hang onto it for the next Carriage House sale.  FYI, I’m leaning towards having my sale in mid to late May next year and giving it a garden theme.

I was amazed to spot this next item in someone’s ‘free’ pile.

Won’t that be a fun makeover?  Stay tuned for that!

I also nabbed this kid sized chair, mainly because I love the color.

I’m not at all sure what I’m going to do with it though.

I found some fantastic vintage ornaments at one of the last sales we visited.

The seller told me that they’d belonged to his mother’s grandmother or some such thing (sorry, it was a bit of a convoluted tale) and he estimated they were 100 years old.  One of the boxes has a small label that says “Poland A 346 S 1 doz” on it, so I’m sure these are at least pre-WWII.

There were three broken ones out of 2 dozen, so that wasn’t too bad.  I have replaced the broken ones with others from my stash, cleaned up the boxes and then nestled the ornaments in some Tim Holtz tissue paper.  I plan to sell these at the shop this holiday season (unless someone wants to snatch them up sooner).

It took the last of my cash to buy them, but I think they were worth it.

Find of the day status goes to this next item from that same sale.

It wasn’t a bargain at $15, but I still snatched it up.  I very rarely find these toppers anymore, even at antique stores.  Although this isn’t the prettiest one I’ve ever seen, it will be a great addition to my non-collection that I display in a painted toolbox for Christmas.

All in all, I’d say we had a pretty successful day at the Inver Grove sales.

Which find would have been your favorite?  Leave a comment and let me know.