Category: garage sales.

Last Friday I headed out to a neighborhood sale that was fairly new to me, with a companion who was totally new to me, Karen, the painter of the oars.  I think I’m going to call her opK, or ‘oar painting Karen’, to distinguish her from nnK (new neighbor Karen).

We headed out to the city wide sales in Fridley, MN.  I’d been to the Fridley sales before, but it was a long time ago … probably before I started blogging, so at least a decade or more.  Certainly long enough ago that I felt like it was new.  Fridley is one of the older Minneapolis burbs with many of the neighborhoods having a distinctly mid-century, or post-WWII feel.  There is also a smattering of really nice houses along the Mississippi River, which flows through Fridley, and pockets of newer homes here and there.

We did a pretty good job filling up opK’s SUV.

There are a few smaller items not in the photo above, which I’ll share in a minute.

But let’s start with those chairs.  To be honest, I’m having a bit of buyer’s remorse over those chairs.  They certainly aren’t my style at all, and I have no idea if there will be a market for selling a pair of modern looking chairs.

But they were only $2 each.  So in the end, I’ll only be out $4 total if I have to donate them to the Goodwill when they don’t sell.  Well, technically it will be $5.75 because I also purchased some new batting for 75¢ and some fabric to cover the seats with for $1.

I’ll need to do a bit of gluing on the chairs, but I’m not going to paint them, so that should be a fairly quick makeover.

And speaking of the fabric, I also purchased two other pieces of fabric for $1 each.

I’m going to try the one on the top of the pile with all of the bugs on that green wicker chair that I brought home last week.

The yardage on the bottom of the pile is pretty funky, opK and I both thought it might be fun on that pair of chairs.

But as we looked closer we realized it was sort of a Halloween fabric.

As we were studying it, the seller asked if we were fans of ‘the ghastlies’.  Um, the what now?  Apparently this is from a line of fabric by Alexander Henry called The Ghastlies.

It really is kind of fun.  I don’t know, would there be a market for a pair of chairs with this fabric on them?  Maybe in the fall?  What are your thoughts on that?

I grabbed the painting because I absolutely love the colors in it, and I liked its sort of mid-mod vibe too.  It’s a genuine oil painting, but I was totally unable to read the signature so I have no idea if it’s at all valuable.  I’m guessing not, since it is very cheaply framed.

And I really don’t love that frame.  I could paint it.  Or I could just take it off.

Hmmmm, not really sure about that either.

How about a few finds that I am sure about?

This ironstone pitcher and vintage cookbook were both a steal.

And this vintage lunchbox will be a fun makeover.

I purchased a pair of these iron crosses too.

And speaking of pairs, I purchased three pairs of vintage pillowcases.

You can always tell when these have been tucked away in someone’s linen closet for 50 years and never even used.  They are often yellowed, but not at all worn looking.  A little soaking in some OxyClean, followed by a day in the sun on the clothesline, will totally take care of that yellowing.

I tend to hang onto the all white versions because I love sleeping on these, and they work with our bedroom décor.

There is something about the quality and weight of the fabric that is so much better than modern linens.

And for that reason, I’m awarding them with ‘find of the day’ status.

Plus, believe it or not, these were only $2 per pair.  Where else can you get beautifully hand-worked pillowcases for $1 each?!

In the end, I may have a bit of buyer’s remorse over those chairs, but it is outweighed by my other fabulous finds.  But tell me, have you ever had buyers remorse over a garage sale purchase?  Leave a comment and let me know.

Remember this little cabinet that I found at the Linden Hills garage sales?

It’s just a simple, rustic sort of wooden cabinet that once had a door (you can see where the hinges were).

I thought it would be a fun little makeover.

I started by simply painting it in my usual Dixie Belle Drop Cloth.  Then I added the rooster from the I.O.D. Melange paint inlay (see this link for full instructions on applying a paint inlay).

He was an almost perfect fit for the back of the cupboard so it seemed meant to be.

Once the inlay was applied, I sprayed the interior of the cabinet with some Rust-Oleum matte clear spray to seal it.  Then I added some random French wording from the I.O.D. Label Ephemera transfer to the edges of the cabinet.

Actually, full disclosure, I first added the “FRESH FARM TO TABLE’ wording from the old Delicious Menu transfer from redesign with prima to the edges.  But I really didn’t like the way it looked.  The font was too harsh and just didn’t jibe with the rooster.  I don’t know, he really kind of has a French country vibe don’t you think?

Not to speak ill of the Delicious Menu transfer, because I have used it successfully on a number of pieces, like this stool …

and this coffee pot …

It just wasn’t working on this piece, so I sanded it off, repainted the edge with some more Drop Cloth, and then added the French wording.

Finally I sanded the edges to distress and then applied a coat of clear wax.

You’re probably thinking that once the cabinet is full you won’t be able to see the rooster, and sure, that’s true if you fill it to bursting.

But you could artfully arrange a few favorite pieces in a way that lets the rooster still shine.

I added a couple of small books, a couple of my favorite little McCoy planters …

and some old flower frogs.

You could hang this cupboard on the wall, or place it on a tabletop or shelf.  I painted the back of it, so it doesn’t have to be up against a wall.  It’s perfect for displaying a small non-collection!

I think a little paint, a paint inlay and a few scraps of transfer gave this cupboard a fabulous new French country look.

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

This little cupboard is for sale, check out my ‘available for local sale‘ page for more details.

 

My garage sale hauls started out with a bang (and ended with a bit of a bust) last weekend. On Friday I went to my friend Lisa’s occasional sale, and then stopped off at Lowe’s on the way home.

OK, to be fair, Lisa’s sale is way too nice to be called a garage sale, and Lowe’s doesn’t really count at all.  But I did come home with some fantastic things at prices halfway between ‘garage sale’ and ‘fancy boutique’ at Lisa’s, and also some fun plants from Lowe’s that I wanted to share with you guys.

First up, I purchased a couple of plastic urn planters, a concrete pillar and an oval shaped galvanized bucket at Lisa’s sale.  I’ve already used the Dixie Belle patina paint on both of the urn planters to give them a rusty look.  I’m listing one for sale here on the blog, while making space for the other in my own garden.

Lately I’ve gotten really fond of placing planters like this right in the garden bed.

They are great for adding instant height where needed.  They also can be moved around to fill in a hole where a perennial has died back, where you’re waiting for a slower growing plant to fill in, or where you want a pop of color from annuals but don’t want to plant them in the ground.  The nice thing about these plastic pots is that they are lightweight and pretty easy to move around, even when filled with soil and plants.  And in my opinion, they totally pass for the real thing with the patina paint.

I use the Iron patina paint with the green spray to get my rusty results (the full process can be found in this post).  One thing to keep in mind is that the rust takes some time to develop, it’s not instantaneous.  I just finished rustifying these pots yesterday, so keep in mind that they will continue to get rustier.  But I thought you’d still like to see my results.

Here’s the first pot, before.

I have to say, it looks like legit concrete in the photo, but it’s plastic and had a lot of flaking paint.  You’ll have to trust me on that.

And here it is after …

It’s starting to show some good rust.

Here is pot number two, ‘before’ …

And here it is with it’s new rusty finish.

If any of you locals are interested, be sure to check my ‘available for local sale‘ page for that one.

  I’m also planning a paint treatment for the galvanized bucket that came from Lisa’s sale, stay tuned for that.

As for the pillar in the back of my ‘haul’ photo, I left that ‘as is’ and put it in the garden.

You might recognize that spot right behind my Chelsea chopped sedum.

As for Lowe’s, well, although it’s obviously not a garage sale of any kind, I just had to share the gorgeous plants that I found there.  First up is an astilbe from Proven Winners called Dark Side of the Moon.

Isn’t that dark foliage fantastic?  I have to admit, I don’t even know what the flowers on this one are supposed to look like.  I’m planting it just for the foliage color.  I’m hoping to have more success with this plant than I did with the heuchera that I planted for its foliage.  Fingers crossed.

I also picked up three of the Proven Winners Heart to Heart caladium in Tickle me Pink.

You know I just can’t seem to resist caladium, even though we really don’t have the best climate for it.  They perform best if the nighttime temps don’t fall below 60°.  A week or so ago we were still having temps in the 50’s at night, and even got down to the 40’s a couple of times.  It’s great for sleeping with the windows open, but not so great for caladium.

Also, caladium are rather pricey annuals.  I purchased a couple of them earlier in the year for just under $20 each, but these from Lowe’s were only $10.98.  A bargain for a caladium!  I made an unsuccessful attempt to overwinter caladium bulbs last year, so I was happy to find some selling at a reasonable price.  I have to say that I was really impressed with both the quality and the price of the perennials at the Stillwater Lowe’s.

And here are those caladium in my new rusty urn, plus another shorter one that I rusty-ed up last year.

On Saturday, my sister, niece and I headed out to check out a neighborhood sale that was new to me, the NEighbors Sale Days in Northeast Minneapolis.  There were several neighborhoods participating, so it looked like it could be promising.

I have to admit, that part of Minneapolis can be a bit of a mixed bag.  There are areas that are filled with fabulous mid-century modern homes with lovely gardens, and areas that are a bit sketchy to be honest.  It also includes the Arts District, which is filled with artist studios and lots of trendy eateries.

The garage sales were really hit or miss … but mostly a miss.  My sister purchased some plants, and my sole purchase was this …

Yep, just one simple wooden recipe box.  It will go in the stash and be good for a winter project.

We called it quits early after not finding much and decided to drown our sorrows in a pitcher of mimosa’s.

We did a bit of googling and ended up finding a place called Half Fancy that was only a few blocks away from where we were.

Somehow, Half Fancy seemed like the perfect way to describe the neighborhood … and maybe us.  Although to be honest, we might be more like only 1/4 fancy.

I ordered the purple hash which was made from red potatoes, braised red cabbage, onions and carrots and I added a scrambled egg on top.

Delicious!

As we were finishing up with our brunch I got a text from my friend Sue who suggested we head to some sales in White Bear Lake.  So on the way home we stopped there and I picked up another piece of furniture.

Seriously, I need to get going on some of this furniture I’m bringing home.  The summer is getting away from me!

Last, but not least, I also brought home this child sized vintage wicker chair.

You know I can’t resist smaller than normal sized anything.  It seemed like the best option for find of the day, but really, that status should probably go to the mimosas!  Or maybe those rusty pots!  Or even the plants.  I don’t know, what do you think?

Remember the vintage doll crib that I found a few weeks back?

When I saw that pile of pieces, I immediately thought that the two end pieces would make fun ‘remnants’ to hang on the wall.

So I dug through all of my possible embellishments; stencils, transfers, and paint inlays, and came up with a couple of good options.

The next step was to paint each end piece.  I painted the first in Dixie Belle’s Sawmill Gravy, and the 2nd in their Midnight Sky.

For the Sawmill Gravy piece, I applied one of the paint inlays from the I.O.D. Melange set (see full instructions for applying a paint inlay here).

It fit on that center section almost perfectly, like it was meant to be.

I also decided to add a couple of wooden knobs under the inlay section and I painted those with the Sawmill Gravy as well.

After sealing the inlay with some spray clear matte sealer, I sanded everything to distress it and then finished it off with some clear wax.

You could hang anything from those knobs, but I chose to hang some small ironstone pitchers filled with herbs from them for my photos.

The original wooden casters were so charming that I opted to leave them in place.

The 2nd piece was painted in the Midnight Sky, and I decided to add the Farm Fresh Honey Bee stencil from Wallcutz.

Once again, an almost perfect fit.

I lost a little bit around the edges, but I still think it works.

I decided to forgo the wooden knobs on this version, but I may change my mind about that and go back and add them later.

For now I’ve decided that this piece looks really fab layered over the old chippy window that hangs on the wall in our dining room (but the Sawmill Gravy version is for sale).

What do you think?  Would you have put the doll crib back together again, or would you have repurposed those ends like I did?  Leave a comment and let me know.

 

Turns out, this past weekend was a really good one for garage saling.  There were multiple city-wide and neighborhood sales to choose from, including one of my favorites, MacGrove.

But first, my friend Sue gave me a heads up text about a sale that was just a few blocks from her house.  I popped over there quick on Friday morning and found some great furniture!

I purchased it all in the morning, but had to make two trips back later with Mr. Q and the van to pick it all up.

I was lucky to have his help because they were all fairly heavy pieces.  Even that cane back chair is surprisingly heavy!

The hutch was not only heavy, it was also cumbersome because of its size.

That’s going to be a fun one to paint up though.

Believe it or not, the dresser was the lightest of the three pieces.

Possibly because it doesn’t have a top.

Apparently it originally had a marble top, but it broke at some point and was discarded.  I’m not exactly sure what I’m going to do for a replacement top, but I think I can come up with something.

But seriously, that wood is gorgeous.  I am definitely not planning to paint this piece, although it’s possible it will end up with a painted top of some kind.  We’ll see.

I did purchase just a couple of smaller items at this sale as well.

Those will both become painting projects at some point down the road.

On Saturday my sister and I went to the MacGrove neighborhood sale in St. Paul.  I did not have high hopes for this one because it had started on Friday.  Oftentimes all of the good stuff goes on day one.  But I did come home with a few goodies.

There was definitely a garden theme to this haul, but several of the items fit into the ‘heavy stuff’ theme I already had going from the previous day as well, starting with those chairs.

They are made out of wrought iron and are much heavier than they look.

And these garden edgers are also heavy wrought iron.

The plant behind them is a Japanese iris.  I’ve gotten quite a few of the plants in my garden from garage sales.  You always know that when a gardener has excess plants to get rid of, that means they must do well in our particular zone.

In keeping with my garage sale weight lifting plan, one of the last sales we went to had a fantastic pricing strategy.  Anything that you could pick up with just one hand was $2.

As it happened, they had quite a few things that I could pick up with just one hand, like this watering can.

And this copper boiler.

It conveniently already has holes drilled into the bottom so it can easily be turned into a planter.  The one I have on the side of the carriage house is starting to rust out quite a bit …

so I think I’ll just keep this one waiting in the wings as a replacement.

I also grabbed a bunch of old oars that were pretty easy to pick up with one hand.

Last up from the MacGrove sales is the garden obelisk.

I have a few of these in my garden, all of which have come from garage sales.  This one felt ‘expensive’ by garage sale standards at $20, but I know they are quite a bit more new.  It’s a nice, quality iron and not a cheap knockoff version.

All in all, I definitely think I got my workout in lifting all of these heavy (and some not so heavy) items.  Also, I’m just realizing now that nothing really stands out for me as the ‘find of the day’, so maybe I’ll let you guys pick.  Which of these items would you call ‘find of the day’?  Leave a comment and let me know.

I finally got out to do some serious garage saling this past weekend.  I started out on Thursday by myself.  It’s a new thing I’m trying, going by myself.  I just wanted to spend a couple of hours, and then move on to do other things with my day.  The jury is still out on whether or not going out alone is going to become a thing, we’ll see.

I went to the city wide sales in Roseville, MN.  I probably made it to about 20 sales, and I came home with just one thing for myself.

Yep, that’s it.  A vintage doll crib.  I have a fun plan for it though, and you’ll see that here soon.  But um, yeah, Roseville was pretty much a bust.

Then on Saturday my sister and I went to the Nokomis neighborhood in Minneapolis.  We always try to make it to that one because our parents both grew up in the Nokomis neighborhood, so it’s fun to take a trip down memory lane and drive past the grandparent’s old houses.

I have to admit, I didn’t have high hopes for Nokomis.  Last year it was a total waste of time.  But lo and behold, this year we filled up our vehicle.

I found some really fun things, but I also made one sad, rookie mistake which I’ll share in a minute.

But first, the good stuff.  I found a pair of kid sized wooden chairs.

I’m always on the lookout for these.  I’ll put them away until Christmas, and then paint them up for the holidays like these …

I’ll also hang onto the sled until the holiday season, when it will receive some sort of paint/stencil treatment.

And of course I will remove that bright yellow polyester rope and either replace it with something more appropriate, or just leave it off altogether.

I even came home from this sale with a piece of furniture to paint.

You can sometimes get the best deals on furniture at garage sales.

This next item was one that I just couldn’t pass up.

There’s just something about vintage dollhouses that speaks to me.  I only have a few memories of my aforementioned grandparents, but one of them is of my grandpa storing my mom’s old dollhouse in the rafters in his garage and bringing it out for us to play with when we visited.  It seemed quite magical at the time.  Plus, this one was priced at a mere $5.  How do you walk away from that?  I think it will be perfectly charming with a good cleaning, a couple of repairs and a fresh coat of paint.

I purchased the next item, a slightly cracked stoneware bowl, for one specific reason …

to house those blue and white bocce balls.

I’d had them for quite some time and had never found just the right ‘container’ to put them in.  I thought the stoneware bowl would be the perfect size, and so it is.

I added a small segment from one of the I.O.D. Traditional Pots blue transfers to the rim.

And it all goes perfectly with the grain sack fabric that I also purchased at the Nokomis sales.

Next up is this pretty trio of watercolor prints.

It’s really hard to read the titles and signature in the bottom right corner …

I had to take a photo and enlarge it on the computer to read it.  But eventually I could see that one says ‘Højbro Plads’ and another is ‘Nikolaj Plads’.  I couldn’t read the third one at all though.  I thought that perhaps the signature was something like ‘Mads Stage’, but I didn’t think that could be a real name.  So I googled it figuring I’d find something close, but in the end it actually is Mads Stage, who apparently was a Danish artist from Copenhagen.

I’m not sure what I will do with them, I may re-paint the frames, or I may just leave them ‘as is’ and sell them on.

Tucked in behind the prints is a pair of large gold frames.

I plan to just try selling those as is, with nothing in them.  One could hang them on the wall, and then hang a smaller item inside the opening like in this example I found on pinterest.

I also grabbed these three urns at the sale that had the gold frames.

They are a bit on the small side, but still pretty fab.  I am planning to give them the rusty look.

That sale also yielded this little pile of goodies.

You gotta love a good tray, and a good crown.

I’m not sure what I will do with the three crowns, although you never know when you may need to crown a gargoyle.

I think my love of zinc crowns can be traced back to Jeanne d’Arc Living magazine.  Are any of you fans of that one?  If so, you probably know exactly what I mean.

In fact, I’m going to call the crowns my find of the day because I simply love them.

Unfortunately, this sale is also where I made that rookie mistake that I mentioned earlier.

I purchased this sweet little angel perched on a sphere.

I thought he would be totally amazing with a rusty patina.

It wasn’t until I got him home that I realized he was missing a wing.

Dang!  How did I miss that?  I really should know better!  I’m so disappointed that he isn’t whole.  I may still rusty him up and put him in my own garden, but I won’t be able to sell him on with only one wing.

Hey, maybe if I add a crown no one will notice that he’s a one-winged cherub.

What do you think?

So, tell me, which of my finds would you have picked as the ‘find of the day’?  Leave a comment and let me know!