Category: garage sales.

You just never know what you might find at a garage sale.  I try to keep an open mind when I’m out hitting the sales.  If something has a vintage appeal (i.e. it looks good and old) I often buy it even if I have no idea what I’m going to do with it.  There is nothing more annoying that seeing a really cool project somewhere and then realizing I passed up the exact item needed at a garage sale two weeks ago.

Today’s project is definitely falls into the category of ‘what am I going to do with that?’, but I bought it anyway.

It’s an old newel post.

I paid $15 for it, which is a little high in garage sale money (which has way more value than typical money).  I felt a little sad when I saw it there because I knew that the sellers had callously ripped it out of their older home and probably replaced it with something new and with far less character.

I knew it deserved better.

I brought it home and put it in my carriage house where it got buried behind 50 other potential projects.  It sat and gathered dust for a couple of years.  Ha!  Maybe not really better treatment after all.

Then a few weeks ago I was surfing the blog world and I ended up on the Liz Marie Blog looking at her Cozy Farmhouse Winter Entryway (click that link to visit) and I spied a fabulous chippy black newel post.  And she just had it leaning up against the wall.  Duh!  So easy, and so fab!  And I knew just where I could find a newel post … sort of … somewhere out in the carriage house.

So I headed out there in sub-zero weather and started digging around.  I unearthed it from a pile of cast off remnants and hauled it in the house.

I started by cleaning it up, then sanding it, then cleaning it again, then adding a layer of Homestead House’s Salad Bowl Finish because I wanted some more of that perfect chipping.  This time I used a little more wax than I did on my original ‘perfect chipping experiment’ with the Buttermilk Cream mirror frame.  I wanted a really beat up chippy look similar to the inspiration photo.

Here’s how it looked after the wax.

Then I painted it with just one quick coat of Miss Mustard Seed milk paint in Typewriter.  Once dry, I sanded to distress and found that I got plenty of chipping.  I vacuumed up the dust and chips and then added a layer of Homestead House Black Wax.

And then in answer to the question ‘what am I going to do with that?’, I just leaned it in the corner of the piano room next to my Paris subway sign.

Easy peasy.

Chippy architectural salvage for $15, not bad right?

First things first, I used a random number generator to choose a winner for my blogiversary giveaway and that winner is Tamara Pompilio.  Congrats Tamara!  I also want to take another minute to thank all of you so much for the kind comments left on that post.  They served to remind me that there are plenty of you out there reading along and that really motivates me to continue trying to provide some awesome content for you!  So let’s get on with that, shall we?

Last Saturday my sister and I experienced a phenomenon rarely seen here in Minnesota.  A winter garage sale.

I feel a little like a wildlife photographer who finally got a shot of the rare and elusive snow leopard.

My friend and Carriage House Sale partner Sue gave me the heads up on this sale after seeing it posted on Craigslist (thanks Sue!).

Debbie and I had to make two trips to the car to load up all of our goodies, so that gives you an idea of how much stuff we found at the sale!  I have a plan for that pile of silver, by the way.

It helped that the person selling was a bit of a collector and was moving to a much smaller place.  She’d already had several sales where I’m guessing things were priced higher.  This was her final ‘everything must go’ sale.

And she literally meant everything.  We took things off the walls like that ‘Washroom’ sign and the enamel soap dish in my first photo.  I also purchased two rugs right off the floor (and they had the dirt to prove it).

And this birdbath came right out of the garden.

As I mentioned in my post about finding vintage ornaments at garage sales in the summer, it’s always a good idea to grab off-season items when you see them like these Halloween books.

I saved ‘find of the day’ status for this gorgeous old camera.

When I came across it in a pile of other items it looked like this …

It is in pretty rough condition on the outside.  And I’m guessing that a lot of of shoppers didn’t even realize what it was.  When Debbie and I first got it home we couldn’t get it open and I was beginning to think that was probably why it was priced at only $3, because it was permanently ruined.

But I asked Mr. Q to take a look and he used a little ingenuity and got it open for me.

One thing you probably haven’t figured out from these photos is that this camera is ginormous.  Here it is next to a similar camera that I already owned, just to give you an idea of its size.

See?  Ginormous.  OK, maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but it is almost a foot tall.

By the way, I purchased this camera without getting it open because 1) it was only $3 and 2) I had a massive pile of other things in my arms that I was trying to juggle.  Normally I would recommend making sure you can get the camera open and that the bellows are intact before you buy one.  I did end up with a camera like this once …

Those bellows were permanently stuck to the back of the camera.  They are very fragile, so trying to force them out would likely just rip them to pieces.

So I was very happy to find that my latest addition to my non-collection of vintage cameras was in good condition on the inside!

By the way, that snow you saw on the birdbath arrived overnight Saturday.  On Sunday I awoke to this gorgeous view from my window …

I ran outside in flip flops just to capture a couple of quick photos.

That snow practically looks fake, doesn’t it?

Luckily all of this snow arrived after the winter garage sale.

Do you find many winter garage sales in your neck of the woods?  Or are they as rare and elusive as snow leopards like they are here in the frozen Northland?

Somehow I was thinking that neighborhood garage sale season was over.  Luckily my friend Sue gave me a heads up on the St. Anthony Park sales this past Saturday, so Debbie and I headed out at the crack of dawn to see what we could find.

SAP is another gorgeous neighborhood full of older homes in St. Paul, MN.  My sister is often so busy admiring the homes that she forgets to keep an eye on the road!  For us half of the fun of these neighborhood sales is getting to prowl around residential areas admiring the houses and the gardens without anyone calling the cops.

At our very first stop of the morning I grabbed so many things from the ‘free pile’ that we had to make a trip back to the car before we even looked at the items for sale!  Then we had to make two more trips to load up the car with our purchased items including the darling table with green legs.  I’ve already started stripping the top of the table because it had been very poorly refinished, but my sister thinks I should leave the green legs.  What do you think?

After our second stop I was nearly out of money and the car was pretty much full.

By our third stop I had to carefully make room to squeeze in this fantastic oak desk chair.  I’ve painted a few of these chairs in the past and although they can be putzy to paint, they always turn out fantastic.  My sister grabbed the pair of linen throw pillows.

By our 4th stop, I had to borrow some more cash from my sister to buy this phone.

I purchased this spatula just because I like the typography on the handle, and I purchased the book just because I liked the photo on the jacket.

I thought the spatula would look good mixed in with some wooden utensils.

I’ve saved ‘find of the day’ status for this washboard.  I’ve never seen one with a galvanized top like this before.

I might keep it, or my sister might want it, or it might end up in my sale.  At this point it’s anyone’s guess.

There have been slim pickins around here for garage sales since the end of June, so I was very excited about the MacGrove neighborhood sales.  It’s certainly not the biggest, but it is one of the only ones going in late August.  I look forward to this one every year, check out my posts about 2014 and 2015.

My sister picked me up bright and early on Saturday and we headed out.  And actually, it wasn’t really all that bright.  It was overcast and cool, and every once in a while we’d get a little drizzled on, but luckily it didn’t rain heavily.

The very first sale we stopped at had the little blue suitcase, that wicker case and the darling kid sized ice cream parlor chairs.  You know I couldn’t resist those!

The second sale we stopped at had the desk, or console table … I think it could be used as either … and either way, it’s gorgeous.  I’m giving it ‘find of the day’ status.

That old ‘antiquing’ style paint job has to go.  I’m envisioning it with a chippy milk paint makeover.  I hope I can do it justice!

Things kinda went downhill from there though.  We found a smattering of stuff here and there, but nothing really amazing.

I did pick up some more wooden spoons.  I’m not an expert, but these look hand-carved to me.  Does anyone know how to tell?  The seller was an elderly woman and she told me they were antiques.

I also brought home this trio of travel books.

Unfortunately, I’m not planning a trip to Paris anytime soon.  However, I like to throw together some themed baskets of goodies for my occasional sale and I can see these books together with some other Paris themed items.

I also bought this lovely etched glass jar.  This would be perfect in the bathroom filled with cotton balls or q-tips.

I also picked up this vintage looking (is it?  isn’t it?) split wood basket.

With apple season coming up, you never know when you might need a basket like this.

We called it quits on the garage sales by about 11:30 because we were both starving.  We headed over to Grand Avenue and ended up at The Uptowner.  I thought my sister would appreciate the ambiance of this greasy spoon diner.  I think we both made a tactical error in ordering lunch items instead of breakfast though.  I don’t know what we were thinking.  In a place famous for its breakfast, why would you order lunch?

Then, since we were at the corner of Lexington Parkway and Grand, I decided to show my sister one of the back ways to return to my house.  We drove north up Lexington, which is one of my favorite roads in the city as it winds through Como Park.  We ended up stopping at the Como Streetcar Station and taking a little walk around that neighborhood.

The historic homes around Como Lake are gorgeous.

It was the perfect way to cap off our day.

 

It’s raining chairs, hallelujah, it’s raining chairs.

Just when I mentioned that I should be stocking up on more chairs to pair up with desks, sure enough I hit the mother lode of chairs.  Well, perhaps it’s not as mystical as all that.  My friend Sue happened to stop off at a garage sale that was only about 3 blocks from my house.  When she noticed that they had a bunch of very reasonably priced chairs, she gave me a call.

I ran over there with my sister and niece last Friday evening while the Chinese takeout they brought over was getting cold.  Then I had to call Mr. Q and have him come meet us with the truck.  Then, I went back again the next morning and bought some more stuff.  And here is only some of what I came home with.

The drawers and the cane back chair came home with me on the 2nd trip.  The rest is from the first trip.

There are also two more chairs that I already stashed upstairs in the barn for next spring.  They are chairs that once had cane seats, but now just have a hole where the cane was.  They make perfect ‘planter’ chairs, so I’ll hang on to those until spring.

And then, just in case I hadn’t brought home enough chairs, my sister-in-law popped by shortly after the Chinese take out was consumed and she brought me this chair.

This chair is already paired up with a desk I plan to paint in the coming weeks.

I also grabbed a pile of old windows at the garage sale.  I have a co-worker who makes really darling custom window signs for people, so one of these is for her (she only needs windows without muntins so only one will work for her).

The rest are for me, just in case I find the perfect spot for an old window.

I grabbed a few smalls at the sale too, including this fantastic cocktail shaker.

This cane back chair is one of the items I went back for on Saturday morning.

It had some lovely details.  I’ve already got Ken working on a solution for the seat.  Dare I even tell you how much this chair cost?  I can’t resist, it was only $3!

This pair of yellow chairs has already been re-styled …

now they are white …

My favorite of the chairs though is the crusty blue and white farmhouse chair.

Just check out that original chippy paint!

This guy is going to hang out with me for a while.  You’ll likely see him in a few furniture photo shoots.

And in case you are wondering about the drawers, yes I bought 3 drawers with no dresser.

People occasionally buy dressers that are missing drawers, but somehow these drawers were missing their dresser.  They were also only $3 each though, and they were worth that for the hardware alone.  I plan to use a couple of those key hole escutcheons on another dresser.  I have some fun ‘pinterest’ ideas in mind for the drawers once they have been robbed of their escutcheons, so stay tuned!

Originally I planned on posting part 3 of my Stone Hill Farm tour today, but then last night I went and took photos of their Barn Chic Vintage Sale set up and Kim asked me if I would switch things around.  It totally made sense to post the photos of sale items today, so that any of my local readers can see them before the sale starts.  Tomorrow I’ll share the final leg of the tour of Stone Hill Farm.

If you locals see anything you just have to have, you should get to the sale promptly at 9 tomorrow morning to nab it.  I know there are a few things that I have my eye on, but maybe you can beat me to it since I have to wait until my lunch hour to head over there.  For all of you non-locals, I’m so sorry to tease you with all of this eye candy knowing that you can’t be here for the sale.  You might want to just quit reading now and come back tomorrow.

I have to tell you guys, since the first time I went to this sale I have been envious of Kim’s amazing set up.  The inside of the barn is sectioned off into little ‘rooms’ using gorgeous architectural salvage like those big square pillars and that gorgeous arch.

They have lots of great space to work with and it’s all filled to the brim with amazing vintage pieces.

I’m going to just kick back and let the photos speak for themselves.

Oh boy, I’m kinda wishing I could buy this blue stool.  I wonder if it will still be there by my lunch hour!

I tell you, I was like a kid let loose in a candy store taking these photos!  I wanted to devour everything in sight.

There was so much more that I didn’t get photos of.  They really have pulled together an amazing amount of fantastic items.

And guess what?  There’s more stuff outside too!

Most of that was not yet set up when I was there, but I’m sure that come Thursday the yard will be chock full of goodies as well.

 Remember, the sale starts tomorrow, July 21, at 9 a.m. at 2946 Oakgreen Avenue N in Stillwater (cash and checks only, fyi).  The sale runs from Thursday to Saturday 9 – 5 each day, rain or shine (or ridiculous heat and humidity).  Be sure to check mapquest or use your GPS.  Although Kim has a Stillwater address, she is about halfway between highway 36 and I94, and about halfway between Manning Avenue and highway 95, just east of Lake Elmo Park Reserve (just to give you a general idea of her location).  Also, as I keep finding out the hard way, 10th Street is closed between Manning and Neal, but there is an easy to follow detour.

Hey, by the way, if you’re in town anyway this weekend be sure to check out the St. Croix Valley Vintage Crawl.

Reclaiming Beautiful is featuring special prices, a lollipop pull with every purchase for a chance to win a free candle, a gift basket drawing and they will be serving refreshments.

Be sure to pick up a map from any one of the participating shops including My Sister’s Cottage, Mama’s Happy, Reclaiming Beautiful, UnHinged, Dwell. Furniture & Home Décor, The Foundry on St. Croix and Eye Candy REfind, and then make sure to stop by all 7 shops to get your ‘passport stamped’ and be entered to win a $25 gift card from every shop!  Hmmmm, that sounds like a pretty awesome prize, and they are giving away three of them!

I hope some of my local readers can make it out to the Barn Chic sale!  If so, let me know what you get!

My sister and I had the best time last Saturday at the Nokomis neighborhood sales in Minneapolis.  We came home with some awesome finds.  Let’s begin with the craziest thing I purchased.

Yep, an old dollhouse.  I need this like I need a hole in my head.  But I just couldn’t walk away from it.  There’s something about a vintage dollhouse that really speaks to me.  I’m going to hope that it speaks to someone else too, because I can’t keep it.  It will most likely end up at my Carriage House sale, unless someone out there wants to purchase it before then (hint, hint).

I’m going to clean it up a bit first.  Freshen up the paint, re-attach the doors and re-glue some of the wallpaper.  Isn’t it great that there is different wallpaper in every room?

The details on this are just so charming!

The gal who was selling it said it had been in the family for over 40 years, and it had even been used as a prop in a stage play at one time.  And it even came with just a few pieces of furniture.

I’m planning to have some fun painting those!

I have to say that many of the things I found on Saturday were just slightly unusual.  In addition to the dollhouse, I also bought an old doll bed.  It has the most fantastic original paint job.

And those little wooden wheels are just so sweet.

I plan to add a shelf across the bottom, clean it up a little and possibly seal that chippy paint.  Then it could be used for a row of potted plants or it could be filled with books.  I might try it as a centerpiece on my dining room table filled with ironstone.  So many possibilities!

Another fun find was a big ol’ stack of vintage blue books.

I also came home with this old toy sailboat.

You might see it again in a photo shoot or two coming up!

But ‘find of the day’ status at Nokomis definitely goes to my sister who spotted this vintage croquet set ahead of me.

It is fully intact with a complete set of balls and everything!

 Did any of you get out to some sales last weekend?  What was your ‘find of the day’?

I’d love to know!

My obsession with vintage cameras continues.

On Saturday my sister and I went to the ECCO (that’s East Calhoun Community Organization) neighborhood sales.  It’s one of the smaller neighborhood sales that I go to.  This year they had 44 sales.  You’d be surprised how quickly you can hit 44 sales in a concentrated area.

This was their 44th annual neighborhood sale (44 sales on their 44th anniversary?  I wonder if they noticed that).  Holy mackerel right?  That’s a long history of sales.  Sometimes one of the problems with well established neighborhood sales like these is that you have a lot of ‘regulars’; people who hold a sale every year.  So either they have one little table with a handful of stuff, or they are selling antiques priced at antique shop prices.  One garage was full of silver.  It was gorgeous.  The husband had polished all of it and it just gleamed.  There were gorgeous serving pieces of every kind.  But sadly, not very many people are buying are buying silver serving pieces to use these days.  This stuff was probably bargain priced for silver, but priced too high for garage sale shoppers.

In the end, Debbie and I did not come home with much.  However, I did come home with five more vintage cameras to add to my non-collection!

I picked out these two because they had the flash apparatuses attached.

And I chose this one because I’d never seen one like this.

I also picked up this one.

I thought perhaps some of you may not know the little secret about this style.  If you saw this sitting on a table at a garage sale, would you pick it up?

Here’s what’s inside.

Still not impressed?

Here’s what you see when you ‘open’ it up.

Do you know what happens next?  Yep, it telescopes out like this …

Now sadly, this one is not in good shape.  The bellows is completely stuck inside the case.  It should look like this …

I’m debating scavenging parts from the damaged camera to make a necklace.  Check out {this necklace} by A Mark In Time to see my inspiration for that plan.

But in the meantime, I have loaded my new cameras into the cabinet on my front porch.

And it’s getting pretty full, which means it’s time to refine my collection (check out {this post} to see how the cabinet looked just a little over a year ago).  Some of the extras will make their way into my fall Carriage House sale, but I thought it would be fun to also share the wealth with you guys!

I happen to have two of these Kodak Duaflex cameras.

So I am going to give one away.  All you have to do to be eligible to win is leave a comment on this blog post (Facebook comments do not count) by Friday, June 10 at the stroke of midnight.  I will draw a name from the list of people who commented and the lucky winner will receive the camera.  Thus I will be able to transfer my obsession with vintage cameras on to someone new!

Best of luck!