Hello, My Friends!~~
This past Friday, I attended an estate advertised only on Craigslist. The ad was written in a very high-strung manner, the author repeating several time in all caps: NO EARLY BIRDS. The cryptic directions to the sale indicated it was in the neighborhood next to mine, but the exact street address was left out apparently to discourage the dreaded EARLY BIRDS. The street was a cul-de-sac. I head over 30 minuts prior to the 10 a.m. opening time and looked closely at the houses allowing my Spidey Sense to decide which house could hold the treasures the photos on Craigslist promised. I parked in front of a likely candidate which looked more like a little old lady house than any other on the block (ie. no toys on the front lawn or satillite dishes on the roof). At 5 til 10, a woman wearing a change apron strolled out and hung a sign on a trash can by the sidewalk. BINGO!
I got out of my car with four bags on my arm and greeting the woman who told me to go on in. I went in behind an old lady who nearly killed herself to get inside ahead of me and in front of an old man who might have been her spouse. And for about 10 blissful minutes, it was just the three of us in this house packed full of treasures. There was another sale very close by starting at the same time and highly advertised by an estate sale company. My guess was that was where the majority of shoppers were hanging out. Better for me. In about 15 minutes I had filled all four bags and the lady running this family run estate sale allowed me to put my bags on the couch with sold signs she had made on notebook paper.
More people came in until the house got crowded and I had filled 2 more bags I found in the house. I ran into friends who teased that I had gotten all of the good stuff first, and perhaps I did! I filled the back of my car including the floor of the back seats all for under $80! This sale was great and most of the prices where so cheap! The woman running the sale, an ultra chatty, boisterous sort, grew up in the house. As things in the house came to her to be purchased, she would loudly comment on pretty much every item and on a few occassions she would not allow an item to be sold. This caused the line to move so slowly, but at prices as good as I got, I would have waited twice as long. Seriously!
Here is the back of my car after the sale:
That is a fabulous metal tree stand I found for $2.00! And the eary 1960's globe was $1.00--yessss!
And here is our dining room table with most everything spread out on it:
Another angle:
The sale was so good, I went back that same afternoon when I had it to myself, and got to pull through unexplored cupboards and drawers with the permission of the lady running the sale. I filled up two more bags and had a nice long chat with her about her growing up in the neighborhood. In turn she said if she found anything in the attic, which was wasn't completely cleaned out, she would set it aside for me.
I went back on Satuday morning (I mean this house is literally 2 minutes from our house and was jam-packed) and the lady had set aside this for me:
A huge early 1960's school wall map! It has metal framing on the top and bottom and light lamination. The colors are so lovely! And believe it or not, in addition to the map, I filled three more bags of goods! Many of those goods are covering the studio floor awaiting pricing as Suzy and I are preparing for a really fun show in Richmond, VA June 15-16: The Vintage Home Market! It is a juried show that combines handmade vintage style goods and vintage goods. We will have both in our booth! I will give you more details as the event draws near!
Happy estate saling out there and follow your Spidey sense!~~~XXOO, Beth
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