garage sales. – q is for quandie

it ain’t over yet.

Published on October 13, 2025October 11, 2025 by Quandie6 Comments

This warmer than usual autumn weather seems to mean that garage sale season isn’t quite over yet. So last Thursday my friend opK and I headed out to a few sales.

Our first stop was an estate sale where I came across this mid-century painting.

I just can’t resist these city street scenes with their thin matchstick figures. I am guessing that they were a dime a dozen back in the 60’s and 70’s, but I don’t know much about them. Do you? If so, be sure to leave a comment and tell me more. I plan to hang this on the gallery wall in my q branch.

Our next stop was a vintage/garage sale that my friend Sue told me about. It was called JunkSmith Market, and if you’re local I highly recommend their sale.

It looks like they just have one sale per year in the fall, so unfortunately you’ve missed it for this year. But maybe next year (follow them on Facebook).

I purchased quite a few fun things from them including this birdbath and large watering can.

I also purchased this old cupboard door from them …

I plan to clean it up, replace the knob with something a bit more fabulous, and add some sort of stenciled signage.

I also brought home some vintage books and an old brush …

and some adorable vintage Christmas glasses.

Our next stop was the Picket Fence Gals sale in Lindstrom. If you’re from around here, you probably know about this one. I posted about this sale last year after one of the vendors there purchased a few things at my sale, and I then saw them in her booth …

She did the same this year, but I neglected to get any photos of her booth this time around, but I did buy a couple of lanterns from some other booths.

I plan to do these up for Christmas, much like this one I did a couple of years ago.

So, there you have it. I found a few fun goodies, not bad for the middle of October.

I’m going to have to get going on some Christmas projects this week, November is usually my best month for selling Christmas merch at the shop and that’s only three weeks away! Time flies, doesn’t it?

is it just me?

Published on August 26, 2025August 25, 2025 by Quandie14 Comments

Is it just me, or do you also think garage sales gone downhill lately?

Remember the good ol’ days when I would come home with a haul like this one?

Here’s another good one that’s more recent, from 2023.

I always had some pretty good finds of the day too.

How about the time I found this awesome ‘portable’ typewriter?

Or this lovely glass tree topper to add to my non-collection?

I used to find plenty of vintage glass Christmas ornaments.

But this year I haven’t found any.

OK, to be fair, it might be slightly my fault. I’m not getting out there nearly as much as I used to, especially this year.

Mr. Q and I took our trip to the Brandywine Valley in May, which caused me to miss a few of my favorite neighborhood sales. And now I’ve gone and done it again since we have a trip to Canada coming up and I will miss two big neighborhood sales for this one. I think May and September are probably the top two months for sales in my area (Twin Cities, MN).

That being said, I have found quite a few sleds this year.

And I also have quite the stash of ice skates to work some magic on for the coming holiday season.

I’ve also definitely found plenty of toolboxes over the summer.

That brings me to my latest ‘haul’ … if you can call three items a haul.

My friend opK and I went up to Chisago (yes, that’s Chisago, not Chicago, although autocorrect begs to differ) for their city wide sales a week ago or so, and I came home with just three things.

First up, this vintage laundry basket.

It has a fantastic patina and is in great shape. My plan is to fill it with dried hydrangeas and then put it in my fall sale (tentatively scheduled for October 4, FYI).

I also nabbed a pair of vintage pillow cases.

I love the feel of vintage linens like these. It’s hard to describe if you don’t know what I’m talking about, but suffice to say they just don’t make ’em like this anymore.

I will soak these in some Oxyclean (although I haven’t found any stains on them), then wash them and hang them on the line for our own use.

The third item I brought home is another toolbox.

It will be added to the stash to be worked on at a future date.

And that’s it for my recent garage sale finds. How about you? Have you had any amazing finds lately? Leave a comment and let me know.

a makeshift cupboard.

Published on July 17, 2025July 16, 2025 by Quandie18 Comments

I purchased this vintage cupboard at a garage sale back in early May.

It was dirt cheap and I thought it would make a fun painting project.

The seller said that it was originally used for record album storage, but at some point someone added makeshift drawers to the interior which you’ll see in a minute.

After gluing down some loose veneer, I began by trying to decide whether to use Dixie Belle’s Smoky Mountains or Blue Grass.

The Blue Grass is one of their new chalk paint colors, while the Smoky Mountains is from their All-in-One Silk paint line. The colors are quite similar with the Blue Grass being just a little bit lighter.

Ultimately, I chose to go with the Silk paint with its built in top-coat simply so that I could save that added step. Although this cupboard is on the small side, there was a lot of painting involved since I painted the interior and each drawer fully as well.

Although the Silk paint also has a built in primer that should block stains, I opted to be absolutely sure that the original reddish colored stain on this piece wouldn’t bleed through my paint by applying a coat of Dixie Belle’s Bonding Boss first. I only did that on the outside of the cabinet because the inside wasn’t stained.

Once my paint was fully dry, I applied I.O.D.’s Joie des Roses transfer.

The transfer was actually a couple of inches taller than the cupboard, so before applying it I laid it out to make sure I wouldn’t be cutting off anything important at the top, like the top of a bird’s head or something. In the end I only cut off the tips of a couple of flower buds, which was fine.

The transfer also wrapped almost all the way around each side.

It was fairly easy to accomplish this since this transfer comes on 8 separate sheets.

I’ve seen some complaints online about the seams between each sheet and how they can be rather obvious, but I think I got most of them fairly well disguised. You can see them if you look closely …

but I think the faux crackle look of the transfer helps make them seem like part of the design too.

Although the Silk paint doesn’t require a top coat, the transfer does. So once I had it in place I added a quick coat of Dixie Belle’s clear wax over it. I did not wax the inside or top of the cupboard.

And with that it was done.

It’s definitely a unique piece, but I could see using it to store extra linens … or possible even as a lingerie cupboard. It would also work well to store your Dixie Belle paint or other craft supplies. It would fit nicely into a bathroom to hold the extra t.p. or other toiletries too.

What would you use it for? Leave a comment and let me know.

This cupboard is for sale locally, so be sure to check out my ‘available for local sale‘ page if interested in the details.

sometimes simple is the way to go.

Published on July 15, 2025July 9, 2025 by Quandie12 Comments

Today I thought I’d share just a few smaller projects that I’ve worked on recently. None of them merit their own individual post, so I’ve been saving them up for a bit of a compilation.

First up, a simple painted bucket.

While going through my pile of decor books recently, the blue bucket on the cover of Romantic Prairie Style caught my eye.

See it there, over by the window? Isn’t that a fabulous cobalt blue?

So I thought, hmmm … I have some old metal buckets, maybe I’ll paint one blue.

So I pulled out this one …

and then I pulled out the Soldier Blue milk paint from Homestead House.

I thought it would be the perfect match for the inspiration bucket.

I gave my bucket a quick wash with Dawn dish soap and hot water, and that was it for prep. I find that milk paint tends to adhere quite well to old galvanized items, the key word being ‘old’. The old ones usually have a rough surface that is fairly matte, while newer galvanized pieces have a slicker, shinier surface. Also, keep in mind that any greasy or oily residue on an old galvanized piece will also resist milk paint so be aware of that.

I gave the bucket two coats of the Soldier Blue.

As you can see, I didn’t really get any chipping at all even though I did not using any bonding agent, or any special primer.

Once the paint was dry, I sanded it lightly with some 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the surface and add a little wear to the edges. I followed that up with a coat of Dixie Belle’s Big Mama’s Butta. If you aren’t familiar with this product, I like to say that if hemp oil and wax had a baby it would be Big Mama’s Butta.

It’s super easy to apply with a brush or a rag, and it comes in some nice scents with Orange Grove being my favorite. It works beautifully over milk paint.

I popped in a couple of lavender plants that I am attempting to grow this summer.

I think my blue bucket is a pretty good match for the one in the book, what do you think?

Next up I have another old galvanized piece.

This is the $2 watering can that I picked up at the MacGrove neighborhood sales.

I originally thought it would be kind of shabbily fabulous to just add a paint inlay to the watering can without painting it. I did that recently on another bucket and it worked out great …

So after giving the can a coat of Dixie Belle’s flat clear coat, I applied the inlay face down into the wet clear coat. I was fully aware that the watering can had some horizontal grooves, so I was very careful to press the inlay down into the grooves creating good contact.

Apparently, I wasn’t careful enough …

Drat!

I will say that it was absolutely pouring rain the day I worked on this, I believe the humidity level was literally 100% for a good chunk of the day. So I did also have a problem getting the paint inlay to dry and ended up using a hair dryer to help it along. So I’m not sure if it was the grooves or the humidity, but either way this inlay didn’t quite work out.

Well, you win some, you lose some.

One major bonus of a paint inlay is that you can wash it right off if you haven’t sealed it yet. It wiped right off this watering can, and then I was back to square one.

Since the blue bucket turned out so nicely, I decided to give the watering can a simple milk paint treatment as well. In this case, I went with Sweet Pickins milk paint in In a Pickle.

Once again, very little chipping, but I think it looks somewhat authentically old after a little distressing with 220 grit sandpaper.

I did debate putting a transfer over the green paint, but in the end sometimes keeping it simple is the way to go.

But then sometimes not so simple is a better option, which brings me to project no. 3.

This is the oval bucket that I purchased at the So. St. Paul city wide garage sales.

I decided to play around with some layering on this one. So, after giving it a good cleaning, I added some of Dixie Belle’s Sea Spray texture additive to their Cottage Door paint. I then applied just one coat of that to the bucket using a chip brush.

Once dry, I sanded with 150 grit sandpaper and then wiped away any dust. I followed that up with a a coat of Rust-Oleum semi-gloss spray sealer.

I then mixed up some off-white milk paint using a combination of Fusion’s London Fog and Homestead House Sturbridge White. The London Fog is too creamy, and the Sturbridge White is too white for me, so I salvaged both colors by mixing them together.

I was hoping to get a good crackle finish, like I did on the box I painted back in June. I applied a layer of clear coat first, then brushed on the milk paint. Only this time around I put the bucket out in the hot sun to dry rather than adding heat with a blow dryer. I’ve inadvertently had milk paint crackle under the hot sun in the past, so I thought it would work here.

Ultimately I did get some crackling, but not enough to really reveal that underlayer of pink. In hindsight, I made two mistakes with this treatment. First, I shouldn’t have sanded the textured Cottage Door color as much as I did. I basically removed most of the texture. I should have waited until after adding the off white, and then sanded lightly to reveal the pink. I also should have added some beeswax here and there over the pink to create a resist before adding that off white.

Regardless, after adding some of I.O.D.’s Rose Botanicals and a little wording from that retired Label Ephemera transfer, I love how this bucket turned out anyway.

I wrapped the roses around the back.

And I finished the whole thing off with a couple of coats of Rust-Oleum’s matte spray sealer.

Although sometimes keeping it simple is the way to go, other times dressing it up is definitely the way to go.

What do you think? Leave a comment and let me know.

an industrial vibe.

Published on June 30, 2025June 28, 2025 by Quandie15 Comments

Man you guys, I am scoring toolboxes right and left these days!

Last Friday I brought 4 more home from the South St. Paul city wide garage sales.

My favorite is the black one simply because I love that shape.

I also really like the blue one because it’s so unique, it has a handmade vibe.

I purchased both the black toolbox and the blue one at an amazing garage sale.

Honestly, it was thanks to my friend Amy that opK and I even found this sale. Amy was also in the neighborhood and she sent me a text letting me know that this particular sale had a lot of toolboxes. If Amy hadn’t given us the heads up I’m not sure we would have ended up here.

I did quite like that box on the top of the pile above, but at $20 it was a bit pricey for me. I like to keep my toolboxes at $10 and under. So I passed on that one. Although I did splurge on the black toolbox at $12, and the blue one was $8.

This was one of those sales where you really had to go around multiple times to be sure that you saw everything.

I have to admit, I may have a little garage sale regret that I didn’t purchase that little fan in the middle. I like to use these as decor, rather than as actual functioning fans (they are a little unsafe with their old wiring and those sharp blades that could easily chop off a finger). I usually cut the electrical cord right off just to make them safer for display.

They had several cool vintage scales …

But my own non-collection of scales already takes up two shelves in the pantry.

Plus, I had a few at my last sale and they didn’t go. So I gave those a pass as well.

Still, this was one of those sales that just makes your heart go pitter pat. So many cool things with an industrial vibe.

They had some business cards available at their checkout, so I grabbed one on the way out. If you’re curious, you can check out their Instagram account at reimagined_industrial_design. They have a nice reel showing their sale.

I did also buy a pair of old cupboard doors from them for $1 each.

I plan to paint them up and turn them into wall decor.

I purchased this oval shaped bucket from them because I just couldn’t resist it.

It was perfect for filling up with the stash of old paintbrushes that I grabbed from another sale, and I’m calling them my find of the day.

I have to give credit to opK because she spotted them in a covered plastic bin with the world’s tiniest little note on top that said something like ‘old paintbrushes’. I hadn’t even noticed them.

Old crusty paint brushes might seem like an odd score to you, but they are perfect for including in a gallery wall like the one in my q branch.

Or to just display in a glass cannister.

I’ve already taken some time to dress some of them up with transfers.

That snippet of wording is from the Dixie Belle Vintage Post transfer, and this next bit is from the I.O.D. Home Sweet Home transfer.

Is it weird that I love these old brushes so much?

The 2nd pair of toolboxes that I brought home from South St. Paul also came from the sale with the brushes. The seller told me that both the toolboxes and the brushes had belonged to her grandfather. Both of them are Craftsman toolboxes (sorry Neal), and both are pretty rusty.

And yes, once again I brought home another red one, but this particular shape is my favorite to work with even though the color isn’t.

In the end almost everything I brought home from South St. Paul had a sort of industrial vibe. It will be fun to get creative with these items and see what I can do with them.

Which find is your favorite? Or do none of these things appeal to you? Leave a comment and let me know.

an old favorite.

Published on June 25, 2025June 24, 2025 by Quandie14 Comments

Last weekend one of my favorite neighborhoods, MacGrove, was having their neighborhood garage sale. They joined forces with Summit Hill and Highland Park as well. So all in all there were over 100 homes participating with garage sales.

My friend opK and I headed out on Friday morning to see what we could find.

I’ll admit that we ended up driving around in circles half the time. Although the organizers of the event published a list of the participating sales that included info on whether the sale was in the alley or the front yard, and whether they were open on Friday & Saturday or just Saturday, they did not publish a paper map. Instead they used an online map created with Google My Maps.

So, go ahead, call me stuck in my ways. But I prefer a paper map. One where I can cross off the sales that we’ve already been to. And I’d also prefer that it be color coded with one color of dots for sales open on Friday and another for sales only open on Saturday.

We spent a fair amount of time heading towards a dot on the Google map only to discover it wasn’t open on Friday. We also spent a fair amount of time circling back to a sale we’d already been to because there was no way to mark them off.

Sometimes an old school paper map really is better.

That being said, we did find a few fun things while we were out driving in circles.

The prices were really quite good too. The most expensive thing I purchased was this old ironstone wash bowl at $15.

I have an idea for turning it into a birdbath. I’ll be using the scoop for potting soil.

The next highest priced item was another vintage sled for my stash that was $10.

I’ll dress it up for Christmas.

Everything else I purchased was $5 or less including this set of vintage books …

this cool old blue bottle …

and this set of cannisters.

I also scored a watering can for just $2.

I’m not sure if I’m going to dress that one up with paint or a transfer, or just leave it alone.

I’m giving ‘find of the day’ status to some dollhouse furniture that I purchased.

While I’m not sure I’ll even use the tall cabinet, I just love the little plant stand. I’m currently working on putting together a few things for the dollhouse porches (there is an upper porch and a lower one) and this plant stand will be added to that pile.

I don’t often find dollhouse items at garage sales, but not only did I get those pieces, but I found this one too.

I was hoping it would fit in the foyer of my dollhouse, but unfortunately it’s too wide. I’ll still paint it up at some point though. Just for fun.

I also purchased this little doll sized cupboard at that same sale.

I really just felt like it needed to be rescued from a bad paint job. It will be another fun one to make over. I may save this project for winter though, just because it would be easy to work on indoors.

So, although I didn’t find anything especially ground breaking at MacGrove this year, I did come home with a few fun projects. Is there anything in my haul that you would have picked up? Leave a comment and let me know.

the $4 desk.

Published on June 23, 2025June 22, 2025 by Quandie12 Comments

Boy oh boy, it felt good to work on an actual piece of furniture again! It has been awhile.

You may remember that I found this shabby, primitive desk at a garage sale a couple of weeks back, and I only paid a whopping $4 for it!

It was definitely in rough shape. And it got even rougher after I dropped the drawer on the pavement while loading it up in the car. It broke into more pieces than I would have thought possible.

The desk itself was super wonky too, it definitely had some loose joints.

So the drawer went to Ken’s workshop to be repaired, and in the meantime I glued up all of the joints and now the desk feels quite sturdy.

I had initially thought I would try to salvage the original chippy paint finish by just cleaning it really well, but after spending about 15 minutes cleaning just one 3″ x 3″ section I decided that was going to require way too much effort for minimal results. It would be so much easier to just paint it, and then distress it back again.

I really liked the original color, which was sort of a pale blue-green, so I decided to stick with a similar palette. After going through all of my paint looking for a suitable candidate, I pulled out one of Dixie Belle’s new colors called Olive Wood.

It definitely doesn’t have as much blue in it as the original color, it’s more of a pale grey green rather than a blue green. It has that perfect primitive vibe though, and I thought it would work beautifully on this desk.

I prepped the piece for paint by giving it a scuff sanding with 220 grit sandpaper, followed by a good cleaning with TSP substitute.

I followed that up with two coats of Olive Wood. Once dry, I sanded with 220 grit paper again to distress the edges and smooth out the finish.

You’ll notice that I didn’t paint the top. In fact, I didn’t do anything to the top except give it a good cleaning.

I think that the scratches and ink stains speak to a life well-lived for this desk.

Plus, if I haven’t already mentioned it, I plan to hang onto this desk to use as a display piece for the Carriage House Sale. So the only person who has to like the end result is me.

Once the drawer came back from Ken’s workshop, I removed the old knobs (one was broken in half) and found a different pair of wood knobs to paint up and add.

As a final touch, I added one of the paint inlays from I.O.D.’s Floriography collection to the front of the drawer.

After a quick spray with Rust-Oleum matte spray sealer over the inlay, I gave the entire desk a final topcoat of Dixie Belle’s clear wax.

I love how it turned out, a sweet, rustic, slightly primitive writing desk.

It will be perfect for displaying other items for sale at our next Carriage House Sale, although I’ll probably pop a price tag on it just in case someone is in the market for a simple desk.

Thank you to Dixie Belle Paint Co for providing their products used on this desk.

a garage sale triathlon.

Published on June 10, 2025June 9, 2025 by Quandie5 Comments

Can I call it a garage sale triathlon if I went to three different neighborhood sales in one weekend? I’m going to say yes.

My friend opK and I started out this past Thursday at the Spring Lake Park citywide sales. They provided a fantastic map that made it easy to find all of the sales. I believe there were about 30, and we found all of them!

It was definitely a good day for toolboxes and ‘statues’.

I had chosen the first sale of the day from their list of sales because the description included ‘statues’. Well … that cherubic guy on the far right is from that sale. Not sure I would call that a statue. Here’s the official Oxford definition of statue, “a carved or cast figure of a person or animal, especially one that is life-size or larger.”

These definitely aren’t life-size, and they are also pretty dated looking, right? But I plan to use Dixie Belle’s Patina Paint to give them the rusty look which I’m betting will really improve them. You’ll want to stay tuned to see whether or not I’m right about that.

The toolboxes were fairly plentiful in Spring Lake Park too.

I came home with three of them for less than $10 total. I recently ordered some of the newest I.O.D. transfers, plus another of their Rose Botanical transfers. I’m looking forward to using them on these toolboxes.

I’m also going to use them on this box once I get it painted.

I also picked up a couple of vintage tablecloths.

And an old shop stool.

I plan to paint that up just like the small stool I painted last fall.

Stay tuned for that project as well.

On Friday opK and I headed to the Bayport citywide sales.

We found the most stuff at the very first sale we stopped at. They had a lot of antiques at very reasonable prices. Granted, many of the items were not in great shape. For example, I purchased this desk for a mere $4.

Now, I should point out that the drawer was in working order when I bought it. But then it fell out while we were trying to load the desk into the car and broke into a bunch of pieces. Ooops. I’ve already sent it over to Ken’s workshop, he’s good at putting Humpty Dumpty back together again.

I’m going to give this desk a mini-makeover, and then I intend to use it to create displays for my occasional sale.

I also found a sled at this sale, I’m always on the lookout for reasonably priced sleds. I often see them priced at $50 and up, and I pass those by. But this one was only $12. It will get a makeover for the Christmas season. opK found a sled for me a couple of weeks ago too. So now I have two waiting in the wings.

I also purchased a really pretty vintage gold framed mirror in Bayport, and another mirror with a lovely old black painted frame at a sale we passed on the way home.

Finally, on Saturday my sister and I headed to the Nokomis neighborhood sales in Minneapolis. We always try to get to this one because it’s the neighborhood where our parents grew up.

But honestly, much like a lot of the Minneapolis sales, this one has gotten a bit too popular. The sales that do have vintage items tend to have really high prices on them. I saw quite a few lovely things, but they were all priced too high for me.

In the end I only made two purchases. I bought some white and purple bearded iris from one seller, and I bought a pair of faux pumpkins from another.

I plan to give these a rusty makeover too, like the ones I did last year.

In the end, I’d call Nokomis pretty much a bust except that I did get to see my grandmother’s peonies (and if you didn’t read about that on Sunday, you can find it here).

Oh wait, I almost forget. I also picked up a small bucket from someone’s ‘free’ pile at Nokomis. I’ve already given it a makeover with the newest I.O.D. paint inlay called Floriography.

This was a bit of an experiment for me. I didn’t want to paint the bucket because I liked its worn patina. So I simply used a coat of Dixie Belle’s flat clear coat in place of paint when applying the inlay (you can find full paint inlay instructions here). Otherwise I followed the usual procedure. As you can see, it turned out great! I plan to do more of this in the future for sure.

Speaking of buckets, I also added one of the new I.O.D. Home Sweet Home transfers to another bucket that I found a while back at a garage sale.

Both buckets are perfect for big bouquets of peonies fresh from the garden!

So I’ve made a start on some of my upcoming projects, but I have lots left to work on. I’d better get out to the workshop and get going on some of them!

the flower market tote.

Published on May 23, 2025May 21, 2025 by Quandie9 Comments

Remember the wood tote that I picked up while garage saling a couple of weeks ago?

Well, I’ve given it a quick makeover.

I started by cleaning it well. While doing that I noticed that there was some sort of oily looking stain on the inside bottom of the tote. So I gave just that bottom two coats of Dixie Belle’s Bonding Boss, just in case that stain wanted to bleed through my paint.

After letting that dry for 24 hours, I painted the inside of the tote in Dixie Belle’s Kudzu.

And so far, so good. No oily bleed thru.

Next I painted the outside in their Drop Cloth. Once that dried, I taped off some grain sack style stripes and painted those in the Kudzu.

I followed that up with adding just a portion of Dixie Belle’s Flower Market stencil.

Here’s the full stencil …

I taped off everything except the “Flower Market” wording for my tote.

I then gave the entire tote a vigorous sanding to age it up a bit. I finished it all off with a coat of Dixie Belle’s Big Mama’s Butta in the Fresh & Clean scent. If you haven’t tried this product, I describe it as halfway between hemp oil and wax. It comes in 5 different scents, plus an unscented version. I think I like the Orange Grove the most. The Fresh & Clean is a little bit more subtle, and … well … fresh and clean smelling.

Next up I filled the tote with a load of lilacs.

I came home from the Brandywine Valley to find my lilacs in full bloom, and since then we’ve been having very cool weather (as low as 38° one night this week) so the blooms are sticking around a bit longer than usual which is nice.

Those purple lilacs are the Albert F. Holden variety, FYI.

But you wouldn’t have to fill the tote with flowers. You could display lots of things inside, like pretty china and a lovely vintage floral tablecloth.

or maybe some books.

Speaking of books, I am planning to include ‘a year at Brandywine Cottage’ in an upcoming giveaway.

I just need to get that pulled together. Some of you may know that I used to always bring something home from my travels to give away here on the blog. But I looked back and I haven’t done that since my Amsterdam trip back in 2023.

I’m really slipping, and time is flying by so fast!

But, stay tuned. At the conclusion of my posts about our trip to the Brandywine Valley I will have a giveaway that includes that book.

As far as the tote is concerned, I’ve put it in the pile of merch that I’m gathering for my upcoming occasional sale. And that’s coming up awfully quickly as well!

If you’re local, be sure to save the date!

garage sale season is here.

Published on May 6, 2025May 3, 2025 by Quandie10 Comments

Yay! Garage sale season has finally arrived!

Here Minnesota we tend to have about six months between garage sale seasons. We can sometimes find one or two sales in October, and last year we even got lucky and found a sale in early November. But that was a fluke. We then don’t see any more garage sales until the season kicks off the last weekend in April.

In other words, we have a long, dry season with little to no garage sales.

But when it finally rains, it pours.

There were no fewer than 37 neighborhood/city-side sales to choose from this past weekend including the 100 Mile Garage Sale that runs along The Great River Road.

So my friend opK and I stocked up on small bills (no one wants to make change for a $20 when you’re only spending $3), and planned a garage sale marathon.

We started off on Thursday when our city plus the two adjacent cities were all having city-wide sales sponsored by the Lions Club. There were 3 or 4 garage sale signs on every street corner.

This area can be hit or miss. Last year we didn’t find much at all. But this year I came home with a decent haul.

I couldn’t pass up the vintage camp stools. They’d be perfect for a cabin.

As would the minnow buckets.

They would make cute vintage planters for out on the dock.

The title of this book alone made it worth the 25 cents I paid for it …

and I’m looking forward to giving the wood tote a makeover.

The guy I purchased the vintage lumber yard apron from said that this particular shop was under the Earl Street Bridge in St. Paul and that it was torn down some time ago.

I also found a sled that was within my price range, so that will go in the pile for a Christmas makeover.

I picked up this rather cool looking birdbath. I don’t think my photo does it justice.

I’m planning to have a garden theme for my upcoming occasional sale at the end of May, so once I clean this up a bit it will be added to my inventory for the sale.

Those of you who are local should pencil it in if you haven’t already.

Day 2 of our garage sale marathon was a bit of a bust. I’m blaming it on the weather. It was only in the 40’s and a bit overcast, drizzly and breezy. Not a good combination.

We started out in what is typically one of my favorite neighborhoods, Tangletown.

I must give them a lot of credit for putting together a fantastic map of their sale locations. Their map clearly showed the name of each street, each sale location and whether or not it was open on Friday (some were only open on Saturday).

It was super easy to make our way around to each sale location. Unfortunately, a few of the sales that were supposed to be open weren’t actually open. I’m sure the proprietors took one look at the weather and thought ‘nope, I’m not going to sit out there all morning in that!’ and I can’t blame them.

Here is the rather sad look at what I found in Tangletown.

We’d made it to all of the available sales by 10 a.m. so we moved on to another city-wide sale north of Minneapolis. Sadly, it wasn’t much better.

We ended up at one sale that promised ‘vintage’ items. And she did have vintage items.

Quite a lot of them as a matter of fact.

But she definitely didn’t have garage sale prices.

This cookbook may be listed somewhere on eBay for $80, but it’s also listed at AbeBooks.com for $13.60 and on Etsy for $15. I’d be willing to bet that no one was willing to pay $50 for it at a garage sale.

We also stopped at an ‘estate sale’ that pretty clearly wasn’t an estate sale, but just a regular ol’ garage sale. I did find something to buy there though, this figurine.

She’s a bit stark in her coat of bright white (does anyone else immediately think of My Big Fat Greek Wedding here?) but I plan to give her a rusty patina using Dixie Belle’s Iron Patina Paint (you can see how I did that once before here).

Day 3 of our garage sale extravaganza dawned beautifully sunny. At 8:30 a.m. it was already warmer than it had been all day the previous day. We had two classic Minneapolis neighborhood sales to choose from, Linden Hills and Bryn Mawr.

We ended up in Linden Hills simply because they had more sales listed than Bryn Mawr.

I wouldn’t say it was the best garage sale haul ever, but I found a few fun things.

I picked up several pairs of vintage ice skates that I’ll put away to work on for next Christmas.

I’d noticed a significant shortage of furniture on the first two days, so it was fun to actually find a piece of furniture that I wanted to work on.

That pretty curved door on the front will be the perfect canvas for a transfer of some kind. I’m looking forward to giving this a new look.

I scored some lovely vintage linens on day three too.

And lastly, I picked up this metal banker’s box.

I’m calling it the find of the day simply because I love these metal boxes. I aspire to one day have a row of them in stacks like this example in Kabinett & Kammer by Sean Scherer.