Thursday, February 25, 2010

A Successful Day


I haven't posted a lot about estate sale finds in a long time. This is mostly due to the fact that there haven't been a lot of eye catching sales as of late. For the past few months, it seems that there have only been about one great sale a month -- kinda rare for Michigan. Since discovering estates sales two plus years ago, there has always been at least one good sale each weekend. I guess we are experiencing a dry spell.....which has been nice on my wallet and has allowed me to acclimate less stuff and clutter. I have also been fine tuning my tastes and destashing my stash. When I was starting out, I think I would buy things more because they were inexpensive and less because I loved them. Now when I go to sales I have a set goal in mind, mostly because I have been getting better at keeping a mental list of items to keep an eye out for, which coincides with pin pointing my tastes. I think it also helps to know what different kinds of items are available and most frequently appear at your local thrift stores. I know for me, vintage glassware pops up at lot at thrift stores and for much less than at estate sales, so I tend to bypass that stuff at the sales.

Today was a good estate sale day. The house of the sale I attended was literately filled to the brim with vintage dishes, linens, and weird/creepy old dolls -- few of which were actually vintage. I didn't expect the linens to be priced so high, considering they had so many to move out; I am guessing there were at least 1,000 pieces, no joke. There were at least 2,000 different dishes and glassware objects to take your pick from. Those were priced fair. I couldn't come home without at least one new linen for my collection, considering how many there were to choose from. The tablecloth pictured above caught my eye. There was also a lot of great vintage fabric, but at ten bucks per piece, I had to leave the pieces there. The guy gave me a price for all my items, since the only thing marked was the tablecloth ($8). However, I worked it out and on average, my items cost just a little less than $3 each, so I was thoroughly satisfied.

I loved the chalkware piece the moment I saw it. I have two smaller pieces that are in a similar design and color scheme. I am thinking the three will look nice together in a kitchen someday. I am a sucker for anything that is peach glazed, swanky swigs, and for metal recipe boxes. I might even do a whole post on my vintage metal recipe boxes, which is one collection I actually have a back-story as to why/how I collect them.

How are the sales in your neighborhood?

Emily

4 comments:

happileah said...

I've been trying to keep a mental list as well and as soon as I walk in, I ask the workers to point me in the direction of what I'm looking for so I don't get hypnotized by the other amazing things.

Sales in my hood are blah...Seems like my best deals are scored when I accidentally happen upon an estate sale, rather than plan on going to one.

★Carol★ said...

That chalkware piece is wonderful, one of those card list boxes is on my must-have list, and I have that same glass! It's my favorite!

GARAGE SALE GAL said...

Hi Em!!
I had a rose dish like yours!! The estate sales are slow around here also!I LOVE vintage glasses. I could buy them when I see them...however I haven't as hubby says..."don't we have enough glasses"! LOL "NO !!" That's okay as I have plently!!!
Have a great weekend!
Warmly,
Deb :)

Amy said...

Love all the stuff :)

Mumsy