Category: garage sales.

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.

Remember that fabulous hanging cabinet that I picked up at the Tangletown neighborhood sale?

It’s time to share its makeover.

After giving it a good clean, and removing some nails that were sticking out of the sides (I assume they were once used to anchor it to a wall somehow), I gave it a coat of Dixie Belle’s Bonding Boss.  That finish looked like one that would possibly bleed thru my paint, so better safe than sorry with a clear blocking primer like the Bonding Boss.

Unfortunately, I neglected to get a ‘before’ photo of the inside of the cabinet, but it was painted in a butterscotch pudding sort of color.  And somehow, that color really appealed to me.  So I opted to try and replicate it using Dixie Belle’s Mojave.

The cabinet actually has a metal back, I’m not sure what that material is … maybe zinc?

If any of you are familiar with this sort of thing, leave a comment and let me know what you think.  And also, please note that I added that picture hanging wire just so that I could hang this cupboard for photos.  It would need to be mounted on the wall much more securely in its new home.

But anyway, I love the rusticity of the metal back.  It definitely shows the dents and dings from years of use.  I sort of dry brushed the Mojave over them on the inside of the cabinet, trying to leave behind some of the original character.

I love the way this color works with the stack of books I used for staging my photos.

As for the outside, of course I painted it in my favorite Dixie Belle Drop Cloth.  I didn’t even think twice about it.  After giving it a good sanding to distress the edges, I added a little section of the I.O.D. Label Ephemera transfer to it.

It fit that space perfectly!

As most of you know, that transfer has been retired and it’s getting harder to find.  There are still a few out there though, so you should snatch one up soon if you ever want to use it.

I finished up the outside with a coat of Dixie Belle’s clear wax to protect it, but the Mojave Silk paint on the inside has a built in top coat so no need for wax.

This little cupboard was probably originally mounted over a sink, or possibly even just over a washstand.  It would be perfect for a small powder room.  It would also be fun in the kitchen filled with dried herbs and spices.  Or you could hang it in the foyer so you could check your hair just as you’re heading out.  So many possibilities!

This little cabinet is for sale.  I’ve listed it on my ‘available for local sale‘ page, so check there for further details.  If it doesn’t sell sooner, of course it will go into the pile of merch for my upcoming sale.

And speaking of my upcoming sale, I managed to miss an error in my original ‘save the date’ notice.  We will be open on Thursday, Friday and Saturday (not Sunday).

Here’s the corrected version.

Thank you to Dixie Belle Paint Co for supplying their products used in the makeover of the tangletown cabinet.

A few weeks back my friend opK and I headed over to the other side of the Twin Cities for the South Lake Minnetonka community wide garage sales.

I didn’t bring home a ton of things, but I found a few fun items.

I’ve given the barnwood box a little bit of a facelift by adding a stencil.

I also added a transfer to the minnow bucket, it would be perfect filled with some annuals.  It even has built in drainage holes.

But for now I just tucked a glass vase inside to hold water and added some white lilacs and purple allium.

I’ll be giving those two finial type things a rusty makeover with Dixie Belle’s Patina Paint, after which I think they would make great garden ornaments.

The antique bird print has already found a new home in my potting shed, and the silver tabletop Christmas tree is going to look amazing filled with my vintage Christmas ornaments.

The ironstone pitcher also makes the perfect vase for some lilacs.

And that leaves us with the hardware bin.

It came filled with hardware.

Most of it was random nuts and bolts, but there were a few things I opted to hang onto like these screw in hooks and one lonely glass knob.

Everything was filthy dirty, so the first step was to give it a good cleaning.  Next I painted the shell in Dixie Belle’s Drop Cloth.

After distressing it, I added some bits from the I.O.D. Label Ephemera transfer.

That wording seemed totally appropriate for this piece.

Although you could fill it back up with various bits of hardware, I think it would also be perfect for housing crafting supplies.

Another option would be to use it as a jewelry box, especially if you happen to have a lot of jewelry!

I debated the idea of gluing these Tim Holtz metal oval numbers to the fronts of each ‘drawer’.

I definitely have enough of them.  However, they are just random numbers that wouldn’t be in order, so that might seem odd.  What do you think?

Either way, this piece will be added to the growing pile of items for my upcoming occasional sale.

Have you found anything fun at a garage sale lately?  Leave a comment and let me know.

Bryn Mawr calls their neighborhood sale the Festival of Garage Sales, and with good reason.  There is definitely a festive atmosphere.  They have food trucks and porta-potties, which both say ‘festival’ to me.  They also have LOTS of people.  Even in the rain.

Parking can be a challenge, so our strategy is to bring some foldable carts with us, find a spot for the car, and then walk the alleys.  My sister employed her step counter and we logged just under 10,000 steps.

We managed to fill up our carts more than once, and here’s most of what I brought home with me.

My ‘find of the day’ is missing from that photo, but I’ll share that in a minute.

But otherwise, as you can probably see, I ended up with some more potential art for my gallery wall.

I really love this next watercolor, but I may have to hunt down a frame for it.

I also found a set of four mid-century prints by Jan Korthals.

Korthals was a Dutch artist, but these 4 prints feature London landmarks including St. Paul’s and Big Ben.

I also brought home a lovely set of poetry books.

The covers on these are just gorgeous, as are the colors.

I also nabbed a nice tacklebox.

I love the muted aqua colors on the little circular label on the front.

It’s even already a pretty blue color on the inside.

So now I’m torn.  Do I paint this one?  Or would someone buy it ‘as is’?  That is a pretty dull gray on the outside.  What do you think?

Speaking of ‘should I paint it?’, after the last sifter that I painted turned out so pretty, I decided to grab another sifter to paint.

After giving it a good cleaning, I gave it two coats of Dixie Belle’s Mint Julep, followed by a topcoat of their Big Mama’s Butta.

How perfect is it as a succulent planter now?

While I was at it, I also painted the postal scale that I picked up.  It was a very dull grey color originally, let’s call it ‘government gray’ since it’s a postal scale.  After giving it a good cleaning, I gave it two coats of the Mint Julep as well.

No more government gray!

For those of you who don’t know, I retired from my government job 2 1/2 years ago, so there’s definitely no more government gray for me.

I’ve already added some apothecary labels to the pair of amber bottles that I picked up.

I liked the simple lines of the silver pitcher that I purchased.  It will make a beautiful vase for peonies when they start blooming, but for now I filled it with some faux hydrangea that I also bought at Bryn Mawr.

I typically no longer pick up Ball jars unless they are either priced really low (I did get a pair of them with original zinc lids for 25 cents each in North St Paul), or they are unique in some way.

This one says “the Mason” on it, and it has some nice bubbles in the glass.  I’ll be adding it to my own non-collection of mason jars.

I’ve saved my ‘find of the day’ for last, and coincidentally it’s also the last thing that I purchased.  We were literally back in the car heading out of Bryn Mawr when I spotted a concrete dog garden ornament out of the corner of my eye.

Isn’t he handsome?  And he is also solid, ie. heavy, concrete.  I had to get my sister to help load him.  I was surprised that no one had snatched him up earlier in the day, and I can only conclude that he was just too heavy for anyone to tote around.

It feels great to be back out garage saling again!  I’ll be out again this Saturday at another of my favorite Minneapolis neighborhoods, Linden Hills.  So far the forecast calls for sunny skies and a high of 71°, wish me luck!

My friend opK and I held a garage sale marathon this past weekend.  We hit the sales on Thursday and Friday, and then on Saturday my sister joined us as well for the Bryn Mawr neighborhood sales.

Thursday dawned cold and rainy.  opK and I gathered up our rain gear and a list of addresses and headed to North St Paul.  I’d say out of our list of 25 or so sales, only about 10 of them had braved the weather and opened up.  We then headed to our hometown of Oakdale, and it was more of the same.  In desperation, we headed to Cottage Grove next.

All three of these towns were allegedly having their city-wide sales, but we found few sales.  Since the forecast for Friday was sunny and a high of 70, we figured most people had decided to hold off on opening up on Thursday.  I can’t say that I blame them, it was fairly miserable outside.

Here is the meagre pile of goodies that I brought home on Thursday.

That is nearly my entire haul.  I also purchased some peony cages for the garden, a set of old casters and a tall lantern that isn’t pictured, but that’s it.

The ‘find of the day’ from Thursday would have to be the little cast iron stove (it didn’t have much competition).

Isn’t that fun?  I thought it was possibly vintage until I looked it up online and discovered you can buy it at Walmart.  LOL, well, I only paid $1.50 for it, so I don’t feel too bad about it.

I woke up on Friday to glorious blue skies.  The Tangletown neighborhood in Minneapolis is one of my favorites, and that’s where we were headed.

I had to stop and get a picture of this gorgeous terraced hillside garden full of tulips that we spotted while twisting around on the Tangletown streets.  My photo doesn’t do it justice, it was gorgeous.

We also had much better luck with the finds in Tangletown.

The chair on the right was from a ‘free’ pile.  The cane seat is ruined, but that’s OK because I’m planning to turn it into a planter chair.  I’ve done a few of these in the past (check them out here).  My only regret is that I didn’t take more of the free chairs that were in that pile, there were several to choose from.  What was I thinking?  I could have made multiple planter chairs!

I also brought home a vintage Joy of Cooking, a nice globe, and an ironstone chamber pot.

Obviously no one needs a chamber pot for its original use these days, but they are lovely filled with flowers.

I also picked up this pretty amethyst colored glass bottle on Friday.

I thought the color was pretty, and I was drawn to the ‘antique’ look of it.   But don’t be fooled, much like the cast iron stove, this one isn’t authentic either.  I found info online that says it’s a 1970’s reproduction and only worth between $3 and $5.  Lucky I only paid $1.

I picked up this small enamelware tray and have already added a simple re.design with prima transfer to it.

I also found a couple of possible additions for the art wall in my q branch (a.k.a. my home office) starting with this pretty little mountain scene.

I’ve already found the perfect spot for it on my wall.

I’ve decided the 2nd oil painting I brought home is just a bit too bright for me.

This one came with a story.  The woman selling it said she bought it at a charity auction when she lived in Washington D.C., and supposedly it originally belonged to one of the Kennedy’s.  I can’t quite read the signature at the bottom, so I haven’t been able to find any pertinent information about it online.  Was someone just spinning a yarn to earn more funds for the charity?  I guess we’ll never know.

There were three good candidates for ‘find of the day’ from Tangletown.  First up there was the St. Francis statue.

You gotta love a good garden statue, right?  I plan to give him the rusty treatment using Dixie Belle’s patina paint.

There was also the Japanese maple tree.

I’ve been passing these by at the nurseries for years because of their high price tag.  I rarely see one for less than $100.  And they are an iffy proposition in my formerly zone 4b, now zone 5a garden.  So I’ve never wanted to spend a lot of money on a plant that may or may not survive the winter here.  But this one was $20, so I snatched it up.

Sure, it’s small.  But I’m going to try growing it in a pot on the deck.  That way I can move it to a more protected area for the winter.  We’ll see what happens.  If it dies, I’m only out $20.

I did also pick up a few other plants in Tangletown, but I’m going to share more about that in my ‘sunday mornings in the garden’ post this week, so be sure to stay tuned for that.

In the end, I have to give ‘find of the day’ status for Tangletown to this little cupboard.

That’s a beveled mirror in the oval, FYI.  This is going to be a fun one to paint up!

As for day 3 of our garage sale marathon, we were back to cooler temps and rain as we headed out to another of my favorite Minneapolis neighborhoods, Bryn Mawr.  But I’m going to share more about that one in my next post, so be sure to stay tuned!

But first, let me know, what would you have picked as ‘find of the day’?

It’s finally here!  Garage sale season!

I’m so excited to get out there and see what I can find this year.

For those of you who may be new here, I live in a suburb of the Twin Cities (that’s Minnesota, in case you didn’t know).  Our garage sale season probably starts a bit later than most.

And definitely quite a bit later than at my mom’s house in the Vegas area.  While my sister and I were out visiting her a couple of weeks back we stopped off at a handful of garage sales.  I have to say, they were pretty bad.  For one thing, apparently people don’t bother to price stuff at garage sales out there (one of my pet peeves, I hate having to ask for a price on every item I look at).  For another, apparently they have a lot of outdated electronics and office supplies that they think people will buy at a garage sale.

I’ll admit, sometimes the garage sales around here are just as bad, but sometimes they can be pretty fab.

Here’s an example from last week …

Now, I have to admit, I didn’t actually purchase any of the items shown above because they were just a little out of my re-sale price range.  If I personally collected vintage thermoses or buffalo check items I would have been all over them.

My friend opK and I spotted those fun vintage camp items when we went to a handful of sales last week just across the border in Wisconsin.  Although I didn’t buy any of those, I did come home with a handful of goodies.

I was initially thinking I’d leave the galvanized scoops ‘as is’ …

but in the end I decided to dress them up just a little bit.

I simply added some wording from the old I.O.D. Label Ephemera transfer.

I purchased the big bouquet of faux lavender because I’m always on the hunt for good florals for staging pieces like french floral buckets, or vases.

At $5 for the whole bunch, they seemed like a pretty good deal.

opK spotted the little toolbox for me.

Its petite size made it perfect for the daisy transfer that I used on a lockbox a month or two ago.  I liked that one so much that I wanted to do something similar again.

I think it turned out rather sweet.

As for the shiny bucket, I gave it the same treatment as a bucket I painted a month or two ago.  After giving it a good washing, I stippled on a coat of Dixie Belle’s Dried Sage paint mixed with their Sea Spray texture additive.  Once dry, I sanded it back a little to take some of the peaks down then added two coats of Drop Cloth.  Once that was dry, I sanded it a bit as well to allow some of the Dried Sage layer to show.

I painted the interior of the bucket in Dixie Belle’s Deep Sea just to clean it up a bit.

Plus, the deep dark blue worked beautifully with the dark blue of the re.design with prima transfer I then applied to the front of the bucket.

I did also pick up this small wooden box while out garage saling in North Hudson.

I’ll be honest, I only grabbed it because it was only $1 and I thought I could give it a quick makeover for my sale.

I gave it two coats of Bonding Boss to block any stains from that orange-y wood, then gave it two quick coats of Dixie Belle’s Drop Cloth.  Once dry, I decorated it with some scraps from I.O.D.’s Redoute II transfer.

I followed it all up with some clear wax to finish.  It would be perfect for a small jewelry or trinket box.

This coming weekend we are spoilt for choice as the garage sale season kicks off with a bang in my area.  The cities immediately surrounding me of Oakdale, Maplewood and North St. Paul are all having their city-wide sales this weekend.  In addition, a couple of my favorite neighborhood sales are this weekend; Bryn Mawr and Tangletown.  Finally, there is also the 100-mile garage sale that runs along the Great River Road from Hastings to Winona.

So many options!  We can’t possibly get to them all, but here’s hoping I find lots of great stuff no matter where we end up.