Recent Estate Sale And Other Thrifty Finds

Hi, Friends,

How are you? I hope you are doing well? How's the weather?

You may have already heard of this app and website but I thought I'd share it anyway. 

EstateSales.NET is my go to way to find estate sales in my area. I love puttering around town on Thursday or Friday mornings to hit the sales. I've found some wonderful things recently. 

I'll start with my prize find so that you don't have to wait. 

I've wanted an old school hymn board for as long as I can remember. The estate sale company said it was for attendance but I don't think it is. I am over the moon for this one. The letters are hand painted. They have wonderful patina and a naive quality to them. It fills a spot in my living room that has had me perplexed for years. It was better empty than with the wrong thing. It was $125.00. 

The blue floral needlepoint was a recent antique store find. I saw it and passed but then decided it was perfect. It was still there when I went back. I stitched it into a little square pillow. 

It was $12.00, I think? 

At the same sale as the hymn board, I found a darling brown transferware teapot. It was only $5.00. The brown bottle was $1.00. Browns are a staple of our fall decor so these two cuties will be perfect. 

Another pair of unclaimed ancestors reside in an Art Nouveau style frame.  It was only $3.00. 

They couple died in the 1920s. 

This was an interesting sale full of wonderful primitive antiques. The wife died. The husband remarried. He was giving the house to his daughter. The garage was full of Hallmark ornaments and figurines. 

The muted tones on the needlepoint in the above photo spoke to me It was only $7.00 however, it was very dingy. I washed it in the sink to restore some of its color even though it still has a faded quality to it. I love it. I've already showed the quilt. Blue and white quilts are rare so I was thrilled to find this one. 

I'm trying to plan my fall decor around these two pretty pillows. I doubt I'll be ready to put them away next month. 

There was a huge pitcher for only $10.00. (Sorry old lady hands.) 

The Blue Danube mug was only 50 cents. The salt box was $35.00. It was a little more than I hoped to spend but it was still a fair deal. 

Two lamps from the thrift store received a makeover. I'll show those in another post. 

I still need to locate a shade for one of them. 

Bill scoured an aqua glass syrup pitcher. I love it. 

The huge white ironstone tureen was an antique store find. I think I paid $30.00 for it. This is such a simple centerpiece but it is refreshing for this very warm summer. 

That is about it. I've had fun restyling things in order to tuck in our finds. 

That is all for now. Thanks for stopping by. 

Katie 

Recent Estate Sale And Thrifted Finds

Hi, Friends,

How are you? I hope you are doing well.

It is Friday so that means it is estate sale day! On any given week, we have a lot of estate sales in the area. 

Estate Sales. Net is a great resource for finding any sales near my house. I have had a lot of fun finds this year so I thought I'd share. I've thrown in some thrifted finds too. 

Occasionally, I'll share my love for handbags here on the blog. I found this mid 2000's Coach bag for only $10.00. It was priced as such because someone had written "Mom" on the bottom of the bag. For $10.00, I thought it would be good to know how to remove ink from leather. There was also ink on the lining inside. That came out easily with Bar Keepers Friend. The leather proved more difficult and I worked on it with just about everything under my kitchen sink to no avail. I even went up to the cobbler to see what she could do for me. Her solution didn't work either. In the end, acetone and muscle power lightened the stains. This baggette style from the Y2K era is trending again. 

It's still faintly visible but not noticeable when worn over the shoulder. 

This darling mini Dooney with an oversized logo was also only $10.00. 

My phone fits when it's standing up which is important these days. 

Since I'm on a yellow kick, this painted pail made it home with me. 

See the deck for summer in this post. 

An ornate brass frame was missing the glass. I had a piece of glass that almost fit. A few tweaks with the glass cutter and it popped inside the frame. I love it with the vintage strawberry botanical that was found online. 

The rabbit came from a moving sale. 

Here's another frame from a different sale. It came with a faux ancestor. 

Bill is saving him for the cabin in East Texas. 

I found a lidless ironstone tureen. It's been added to my ironstone collection. 

 You've already seen a darling fruit topiary. 

Here's one of my favorite finds. Years ago, I found a bird bath base on trash day.  

I rescued it and used it as a pedestal for a plant in the summer and a sundial in the winter. It is clay instead of concrete. One estate sale had a bird bath bowl propped against a tree in the backyard. It wasn't priced so I don't think they intended to sell it. I knew it would be perfect with my pedestal. They gave it to me for only $5.00. 

My base needed a quick swipe with some green chalk paint and now they are a perfect pairing. 

I don't believe that these came from the same pottery. They both have ivy and they coordinate perfectly. 

This makes me so happy. 

My hydrangeas are doing well. That makes me happy too. 

My neighbor gave me a table base. Bill made a new top for it. It's a great spot when we carry stuff in and out of the East Texas house. 

Can you spy the ledge that he made for Caroline? She loves it up there. 

At the thrift, I found a plastic bag full of old embroidery blanks which were a printed on old grain sacks. There was still a grain sack in the bag. The worked flower basket was also in the bunch. I stitched them up into pillows.  

I believe that these might be from the 30s or 40s. I love that that sack is from a mill in Fort Worth. I snugged them on the guest bed out in East Texas. The floral sham was found in the bins at Pottery Barn. 

There was also a quilt top in the bag. I layered that with batting and stitched it up too. 

   Years ago, the Methodist charity shop had two Hermes scarves. They were priced $79.00 each. A good deal but authenticating was not in my skill set at the time. If not authentic, $79.00 is not a good deal so purchasing them would have be a risk. I've kicked myself over and over again for passing on at least one of those scarves. Hermes scarves are collected as a fashion accessory, the heritage of the brand and the designs. Some collectors frame them because they are so beautiful. 

I'd been out estate sale-ing. I was tired and headed home but my route took me by my favorite thrift store. 

This shop benefits crisis pregnancies and was started by the Bible church. 

Most of our donations go to this store. I've featured many of my fun finds on the blog over the years. 

Since I was driving by, I popped in. On the hunt for summer dresses, the aisle took me by two big cases full of scarves. This was unusual. They always have scarves but never this many. 

They were all jumbled together but they seemed to be typical 80's and 90's era scarves. 

There was a distinctive Chanel-esk feel about the jumble. 

Most of the tangle seemed older. Many of the scarves were from all over the world and they were silk with hand rolled edges. They were three dollars each. 

I dug through the classic patterns hoping to unearth a treasure. 

Bingo! 

A quick eBay search showed scarves in this pattern in various colorways. 

I brought it and several other home and did some more research. 

I read about the Grande Tenue design. The details on my scarf match what I've found online for authentic scarves. I believe it to be authentic although I'd love to have it professionally authenticated. 

I make up that the jumble of scarves all came from one collector. She traveled the world and picked up scarves as souvenirs. What a great idea because they easily fit into a suitcase. 

I image a very fancy lady shopping at Hermes in Paris. A place that I've seen but was too intimidated to enter. 

That is about all for now. My sale excursions have also yielded a sewing machine for our daughter and a router table for Bill. I just love estate sale day! 

I hope you enjoy these thrifted treasures. Let me know if you'd like a post on what I look for when I'm out thrifting. 

Have a great day. 

Katie 

Thrifty Finds For A Friday

Hello, Darlings! 

It's garage sale season here in Texas! 

I've been out and about doing some garage and estate sale-ing and thrifting.
 Oh, and I've been eBaying too. 

I've had some winners but also some fails. I like to be honest about those because life isn't always full of home runs. 

As an observation, I keep seeing identical gifts to the ones that Bill and I received 35 years ago at these estate sales.
It's a little disconcerting. I tend to be in denial about our age.

The neighbors down the street were selling some of grandma's stuff.
The best deal of that day was an ironstone platter for $1.00.
I'm using it in the center of our kitchen table.

I found the chunky beads at Hobby Lobby. They were in the fall section for $4.80.
Big beads have been trending for a couple of years.
 I was never willing to shell out big bucks for a trend piece. $4.80 I will do, however.

Here is the rest of what I got at that sale. 

I think I spent $11.00 total. 

Bill and I stopped at an estate sale where I picked up an Edwardian bracelet for $7.50.

It's not solid gold but the cameo is real.  

I've been on the hunt for blue and white china but also white china. 

I've been checking two of my favorite thrift store fairly often. 

The Methodists had two cute gravy boats 

The g boats were $3.00 and $6.00 and the box was $2.00. 

Feel free to call your gravy boats, g boats this Thanksgiving. 

You're welcome. 

I got a gorgeous soup tureen off of eBay for $19.99. I think the shipping was $14.00. 

It's not in perfect shape but it's old and lovely. 

I also ordered two blue and white grain sacks. 

I got some grain sacks a few years ago but never in blue and white. 

I think I got taken to the cleaners on the shipping for these. I'd asked the seller to combine shipping but he never responded to my request. He shipped them quickly and charged me to ship each one separately but he put them in one box. I never would have asked to combine but he talked about one shipping box on his eBay site. Again the shipping was more than half the cost of the sacks. 

The grain sacks were $41.00 for two. Shipping was $27.00. 

They are beautiful grain sacks though. They are very soft with a patch or two so I'm happy with them. 

They are really gorgeous. 

I plan on having these out through the holidays. 

My favorite thrift store had some great finds this week. 

A great ironstone dish was 75 cents. 

$3.00 each for the butter pats, puzzle and wooden house set. 

 I have plans for the wooden houses.

A nutmeg jar was $7.50. 

An oatmeal canister was $13.50.

There was a little plaid plate and two Christmas ornaments that I also picked up for $1.00. 

There were three estate sales today. 

There were never used salt and pepper shakers. 

I failed to check the price until I was checking out so I think I paid too much. 

They were $16.00 for all five pieces.
 They were too much but less than they would have been in the store.
We really did need these though. Our s and p shaker situation was dire. How after 35 years?

A darling old necklace was $2.00.

The box below was 50 cents. Initially, it looked to be a handbag box but it's not the same construction as a vintage Chanel box.  I searched that estate sale for a Chanel handbag or other luxury item.
 The ladies working the sale had not seen a purse in that house.
The box must have come with a perfume or cosmetic gift set. It just isn't comparable to the handbag boxes I've seen online. You only get white boxes at 31 Rue Cambon in Paris.
All other Chanel stores wrap bags in a black box with white lettering.
It is fine because it's a great box for one of my vintage bags.
I sure would have loved to find a handbag, though.

 The perfume bottle was $3.00. It was marked made in France and there was Lalique on a foil sticker. I couldn't see a mark, however, on the bottle itself.  I found a magnifying glass at the estate sale and tried to see markings on the bottle. The lighting wasn't good so I took a risk hoping it was a good Lalique bottle.

It's not a Lalique bottle but a Lalique perfume. 

 It isn't worth anything and I'll probably donate it to my thrift store rather than add this bottle to my collection. 

What I'd hoped was that I paid too much for the salt and pepper shakers because I got a great deal on a Lalique bottle and a Chanel handbag box. That's not what happened but not every find turns out to be a treasure but the hunt is fun! 

It will continue.  

Katie