In Their Original Boxes

This post is for the first weekend in June. We are one week behind and hope to catch up soon!

June had finally arrived and we were looking forward to the weekend. For Monica, it would be a slightly early start. Where Monica works, they give you a half day off whenever you give blood. Monica signed up, as she always does for the blood drives at work, and she would have an early start to the weekend. Rob starts work every day at 6am and, when things go smoothly, he can leave at 2:30pm without causing any ripples in the pool. Monica had looked ahead at the estate sale listings for Friday and found that there were two estate sales that were very close to our house. We knew that we should be able to make them both before they closed. It sounded like a great start to the weekend and so our weekend saling began early. 

Our first Friday stop was just ten minutes from our house. It was described as the estate of a 90+ year old woman. We were hoping that there was plenty there of interest to us. When we walked in, we found that the sale was run by someone we know. He works for another tag sale company but he was running this one. His prices are always good

The kitchen was old and the old cabinets were in great condition! 

The countertop was pink and we liked that too! 

The living room had these two great turquoise chairs that were covered in plastic. They were faded in spots which is one reason that they did not come home with us. The second reason is that we really don't have room for them right now.

There was a basement plus several rooms on the main floor to search and, while no furniture made its way home with us, several other things did. We found a vintage metal stand, some McDonald's glasses, some vintage shot glasses, some Christmas things and a few other items. It was a good first stop!

Our second Friday stop was even closer to our house and was an estate sale that listed records, Christmas and walkers amongst the items for sale. Walkers are, of course, a potential sign that the decedent was elderly. When we arrived, we found an outside garage sale with plenty of stuff but nothing for us. Oh well! Our first stop was good and we didn't invest much time on the second stop. 

By the time that Saturday morning arrived, we had a list of some sales that we were targeting; none of which seemed spectacular, but all of which had enough to make us consider them. For some reason, we rechecked the listings when we woke up and found a sale that looked like it was just listed the night before. It was just fifteen minutes from the house and there was something in the ad that caught our attention...silver tree. It was 8:15am. The sale began at 9am. There was only one question to ask of ourselves...how quickly can we shower and get dressed? The answer was...very quickly.

We arrived shortly after the opening to find this. Things were on display outside and there was a sign on the door that there was more inside. A quick check of the outside items told us that this Christmas would be inside. It was a privately run sale and the host asked us if we were looking for anything in particular. We both said that we liked Christmas things. The host said that he had some things in the attic that he did not bring down yet but could. He asked if we wanted a silver tree. Rob, trying to play it cool, said that he remembered them from when he was a kid. The rest of the conversation went like this:

Host: "Would you like it?"
Rob: "Maybe. How much would it be?"
Host: "I don't know. Make me an offer"
Rob: "I wouldn't know how much to offer"
Host: "How about $5"
Rob (though Rob's head was swimming at this moment and, to the best of his recollection, his response was short) : Okay!

It was a aluminum pom pom Christmas tree. It was in its original box and every single branch was in its original brown paper housing. It may have been used once or twice. 

That was not all that we found here. We also got a great working color wheel in amazing condition and it plays "Silent Night" as it rotates. It was also $5. We also found a great ceramic pixie planter (made in Japan), a ceramic elephant ash tray, some old Christmas ornaments in their boxes and a few other things. It was a great first sale! 

After bringing our first purchases home and stopping for breakfast, we headed, with an empty car, to our second sale which was just five minutes from our house. It was run by an estate sale company that we know and like and was advertised simply as an estate sale. There was nothing for us here but we wasted little time. It was so close to our house.

Our third sale of the day was a very quiet one but intriguing. It was described as an estate sale and walkers were listed amongst the items for sale. Again, walkers seem to point towards an older occupant and this sale was not advertised by an estate sale company. We were hoping that it was privately run and might be filled with treasures.

The house had a large basement and several rooms to search on the main level. It seemed to be privately run until we ran into a fellow saler in one of the rooms and he told us that it was his sale. We are friendly with him and we knew he would be good to us. 

Sitting in a room on the main floor was this great 1950's kid's car. It was in pretty good shape with minimal rust. Of course, we are not in the market for one of these.

The garage, though mostly empty, had this great old turquoise barbecue which we had to consider but, in the end, chose not to find out how much it would cost.

We did, however, find some really nice things here. In the basement was an old pair of blow mold Christmas lamp posts that were still in their original box! They came as a pair and still had the original assembly directions and their hardware and all of the pieces were covered in plastic. It does not look like they were ever used! We also found some Christmas salt and pepper shakers (all marked Japan), some books and a few other things. It was another great sale! 

Sale #4 was simply listed as an estate sale but there was something about it that interested us. Besides, it was fairly close to Monica's dad's house and it was now mid-afternoon and we knew that we wanted to go visit. Our other potential stops had some travel time attached to them and we now decided to cross them off our list.  

Most of the items for sale were outside but there were a few rooms to check inside too. We loved the railings in the living room.

Here is another look at them. Aren't they cool?

It was a fairly quick stop but not one that left us empty-handed. By the time we left, we had picked up some Christmas things, some vintage glasses and a few more things. 

We spent the remainder of our Saturday afternoon visiting Monica's dad and then going home to relax. On most weekends, this would have concluded our saling but we were ready to do a little more on Sunday. There was a sale about 40 minutes away that had some great pictures of things we would definitely consider if the price was right. And, since we were going to be out anyway, we added two other potential stops to our itinerary. We would be saling three days in a row.

Our first sale on Sunday was the one we were targeting and, upon arrival, we encountered the dreaded line. This came as no surprise. While many of the dealers would be tied down to their booths at the flea market, the other Sunday shoppers would be here. It appeared to be the best sale of the day. We were not expecting to do that well. First of all, some of the people that arrived before us (and were already inside) were dealers. Secondly, we knew the tag sale company that was hosting the sale and their prices are pretty high. Yes, we are voracious salers but we are also bargain hunters. We are not paying a premium for anything.

Once inside, we saw the items that drew us to this sale in the first place. Look at the amazing lamp! 

The ceramic flamingos were great as was the three-tiered table that it sat upon. 

The house had a great blue bathroom too!

We searched through the basement and the main floor at a fairly quick pace. The lamp and the flamingos and the three-tiered table that we saw in the ad were still here for us to see...and they remained there after we left. The prices were way, WAY too high. We did find some cool pamphlets at a reasonable price so we did leave with something.

Since the sale began at 10am and waited on line for a half hour and then spent another half in the house, it was late morning before we got out and we were feeling hungry. Knowing the area we were in, our choice of eating establishments was pretty easy. It was off to the Mineola Diner

The Mineola Diner has been around since 1948 and not much has changed since then. We have been here many times before and the food is always good!

We had a choice of breakfast or lunch but we chose breakfast. It was a good stop but we couldn't stick around too long. We had two more sales on our list!

Sale #2 was listed simply as an "everything must go" estate sale and we figured it was worth a visit. Most of what was for sale was outside on the lawn. It was a quick stop because there was nothing there for us.

We could have saved ourselves some time here because as we approached the house, we saw this little horse in front of the house. He tried to warn us that there would be nothing for us but we couldn't hear him. He was a little hoarse.

Our third and final stop was on the way home and only a few minutes from our house. It was an estate sale with the words "mid-century modern furniture" in the description. It was worth a look.

This bathroom was old and pink and that made us smile. We love that they still exist! 

Look at the floor. It, too, was untouched! 

There was a garage and just one floor to search and it was a quick stop but we did find one thing that made the trip worthwhile...an old starburst clock that was still in its original box. We were lucky but it was just that kind of weekend!

Here are some things we brought home with us this weekend:

Some paperback books

Old road maps and guides

More old guides and a Pan Am ticket pamphlet

Cookbooks and pamphlets

Playing cards and sewing kits

A rubber Churchy LaFemme (from Pogo), a pixie planter (made in Japan), a ceramic elephant ash tray and an old Federal Glass casserole dish

Vintage glasses, McDonald's glasses and vintage shot glasses

Easter decorations

 An old Jack O'Lantern blow mold that fits over a light bulb as a replacement for a lampshade

A vintage metal stand

A starburst clock in its original box

Christmas popcorn decorations

Some more Christmas things

More Christmas things. The three sets of salt and pepper shakers in the front are all marked Japan

Blow mold Christmas lamp posts in their original box

An old color wheel. As it turns, it plays "Silent Night"

An aluminum pop pom Christmas tree. It was still in its original box! 

It was a great weekend of saling but, more importantly, it was a great weekend together. Nothing will ever be more important

Closing Out May

This post is for the last weekend in May. We are still a week behind on our blogging but...we will be caught up soon! 

Memorial Day was early this year so, even after Memorial Day was in the rear view mirror, there was still one weekend left in May. So many people refer to Memorial Day weekend as the unofficial start of summer but it just doesn't feel like summer yet. The trees were not in full bloom until a little later than normal this year because spring took its time getting here. Although temperatures were pretty normal for May in our area, there was only one day where temperatures soared into the 80+ degree range to give us that early taste of summer. It still feels like spring. 

One sign of the warm weather, however, has been the return of the garage sale. Every weekend, countless signs adorn trees, telephone poles and street corners with an invitation to come visit. It's good to see them. They are always a backup plan in case we finish our Saturday saling a little early. On this particular Saturday, we had complied a list of five potential sales, none of which looked spectacular but they were the best of the bunch. We were hopeful. We always are. We got ready and off we went!

Sale #1 was about twenty minutes away from home and neither of us were sure why we chose to go. There was something about this estate sale ad that told us that there might be something there for us. As it turns out, our intuition was off a bit. There wasn't much here for us at all except for a couple of records which we did take home.

As we drove to sale #2, we saw a front lawn garage sale that seemed to have a lot of stuff. We stopped. If you were a Jimmy Buffett fan, this was your kind of sale. There was lots of Jimmy Buffett memorabilia and Jimmy Buffet themed things for sale. Alas, we are not Jimmy Buffett fans and we found nothing to our liking.

Sale #2 was an estate sale in a 150 year old farmhouse. The words "Christmas" and "ephemera" were mentioned in the ad. That made it worth a look.

There was not only a house to search but two barns as well!

The kitchen had a some mighty cool cabinets!

The basement had a mounted pencil sharpener...always a good sign! 

This sale was run by the only of an antique store who was friends with the decedent. There were three floors to search as well as the two barns mentioned earlier. We spent a considerable amount of time here especially since the ephemera collection was considerable. Many of the items were priced as a bundle and at antique store prices but much of it wasn't and we managed to find some very old greeting cards, some books and pamphlets, a couple of records and two Christmas items for a very, very low price. It was a worthwhile trip.

Sale #3 was a garage sale advertised as having "50 years of stuff". This was the same garage sale that we attempted to visit recently but was delayed because of rain. This stop was a major bust. It did have some old stuff but everything was junk in poor condition and was run by a dealer just trying to get rid of stuff that he could not sell at a flea market. We didn't waste more than three minutes here.

This last stop was in Rob's hometown and just a block away from the pizza place that Rob used to go to for lunch while in high school. It is run by the original owners and has changed considerably in appearance but not in quality. It was Monica's first time here. She rated the pizza a "10"! 

With our stomachs now full, we made our way to sale #4 which was run by a fairly new tag sale company on the scene, We like them. They are nice and have good prices. The ad had some pictures that pointed towards an older house and we were anxious to see what was there, even though it was the second day of the sale.

The garage had this really cool pink refrigerator...

...and there was a jukebox in the backyard.

The house was not that large and there were not that many rooms to search. Still, it was a decent stop as we managed to pick up some cool shot glasses, some books and a vintage sweater for Monica.

Our final stop was at a garage sale that was around the corner from Monica's childhood house. We were here last year, too, and found some great things. This year was no exception. This time, we brought home several vintage Halloween items, some old Easter picks and a few pamphlets.

After this stop, we visited Monica's dad (since we were just around the corner) and then went home to nap. It was a long day! The annual Greek Festival was that night and, although it is not that great, we do stop by every year for a little while. The highlight of the night was eating gyros there for dinner! 

Sunday was spent running errands and doing things around the house. We were very productive. Oh...and we did spend a little time looking over our new things again. 

Here are those new things that entered our lives this weekend:

Hawaiian records

More records

A Christmas record

A Laugh-In record

Some 7 inch records

Some books

Some pamphlets

Some vintage Valentine's Day cards

Some more vintage greeting cards

Some vintage Christmas cards. Many of the vintage cards that we found dated back to the 1920's and 1930's! 

Honeycomb birthday table settings (all marked Japan) and some old birthday invitations.

An old pair of plastic salt and pepper shakers and an old package of Easter party picks

A vintage sweater for Monica

Some hardstock coasters from 1957, some cocktail napkins from the New York World's Fair and some vintage shot glasses

An old Halloween die-cut decoration, some old Halloween party invitations and two old unopened packages of trick or treat bags

A glass Christmas ornament, a Christmas mail bag with the tag from its original package (marked Japan) and an old plastic snowman.

Despite not having a strong feeling about any of the sales at the beginning of the weekend, we found some fun stuff and we spent the day together which will always be the most important part of any day! 

In Pursuit Of The Orange Couch

This post is for Memorial Day weekend. We are just a little behind on our blogging again but we will be caught up soon! 

Monica always looks at the estate sale listings, even on days when we are unavailable. Rob does not. Monica wants to know about every sale whether we can be there or not. Rob doesn't want to think about things that we might want but have no chance to get. Monica wants to know anyway...and that's why Memorial Day Weekend saling wound up having an early start.

For weeks, there was a sale advertised on a Friday that Monica kept watching. We were not off from work and the hours of the sale were completely contained within the confines of the hours in which we would both be at work. Still, Monica kept looking at the sale. It was the furniture that intrigued her. 

Both of us grew up with orange couches in our lives. This is a picture of Monica's mom posing in front of the orange couch that was in Monica's living room when she was growing up.

This is a picture of the orange couch that belonged to Rob's grandmother until the 1980's. Rob grew up next door to his grandmother and saw this couch every day. 

We have both talked about getting an orange couch but neither of us had seen one in years; that is until Monica started looking at the details of the sale that was on a working Friday. Days before the sale, it was postponed for two weeks. Tragically, a New York City police officer was killed in the line of duty and his funeral was scheduled on the date of this sale. The funeral home was just around the corner and the organizers of the sale must have known that people would have great difficulty getting there on that day. The sale was postponed for twelve days...until the Wednesday before Memorial Day weekend. 

Monica continued to look at this sale and, now, Rob did too. It occupied our thoughts several times per day. The couch in the picture looked to be in great condition and we both thought it would look real nice in our living room. About a week before the sale date, we made the decision to take a vacation day on the dale of the sale. We both had the vacation time and what better way to spend it than in the pursuit of the orange couch?

We arrived at the sale almost an hour before its opening, not knowing who else might have interest in the couch. We were the ninth and tenth people to arrive. The tag sale company running the sale (who we know quite well and who we like a lot), had the garage open for early shopping. In there, we found a vintage barbecue tray and an old plastic Easter plate so our early arrival paid off immediately. Still, our real target was the couch. Would it be in good condition? Would we like it as much as we did in the photo? Would the asking price be reasonable? Would anyone ahead of us also have this couch as their target? There were a lot of questions running through our minds. Luckily, we did not have to think about it too long. We were soon inside.

It was an old house but it was much smaller inside than we expected. One of the first things we saw were these great starburst door knobs which we would have loved to have but, as we found out a little later, they were not for sale. We couldn't be too disappointed. The success of our trip here would be solely based on the couch. 

And here it was...the couch. This is the picture from the ad. It looked great but we had a slight concern about the top of the left section which, in this picture, seemed to be either dusty or faded. We hoped for the former. Good news...it was dust. A close inspection of the furniture told us that it was in better condition than we ever could have hoped and we loved it...and we seemed to be the only ones that showed any interest in it. Very quickly, three questions that we had were answered and with the answers we wanted.  The last question was the price and, upon casually asking, the price was very reasonable but we still managed to negotiate the price down to get a 33% reduction from their original price...

...and we got the matching chair as well! Four trips and three hours later (the sale was just twenty minutes from our house), the orange couch that obsessed us was in our home. It is sitting downstairs right now and will be permanently set up in our living room in another week or two. 

 Saturday, our normal saling day, found us with just three potential stops. It was Memorial Day weekend and we expected that there wouldn't be much out there. That was okay with us. First of all, we had our couch. Secondly, we had a barbecue scheduled for later in the day and our time would be limited. None of the three sales were too far away and none of them looked especially good. We knew that we would have plenty of time to stop at all three.

Sale #1 was located just ten minutes from home and was run by a tag sale company. We didn't see much in the pictures from their ad but there were one or two Christmas items which may or may not have been vintage. We took the ride to see. When we got there, we saw a line twenty five people deep and this was thirty minutes after the beginning of the sale. We did not even get out of the car, What we saw in the ad did not justify the wait. Off to sale #2.

Our next target was listed as an estate sale but described as "30 years" of accumulation. Normally, this would have scared us away but there was something about the description that intrigued Monica. Her intuition paid off. There were lots of items on the lawn and one room inside to search. When we finished up here, we did not leave alone. A set of barkcloth curtains, a ceramic deer, a Hamburglar glass, one ashtray and a couple of other things came home with us.

Our final stop was an outdoor sale which was the contents of a storage bin from an estate. This was actually a surprise to us as all we knew about this sale was that it was run by an estate sale company that we know. There were lots and lots of boxes to comb through and we spent almost an hour here. In the end, we came home with several cookbooks, a couple of Christmas items and a few other things.

We made it home in plenty of time to take a quick nap and then go to Monica's sister's house for the barbecue. Monica's oldest sister, our niece and our great nephew were visiting from Florida for a few days and this would be our third and final time to see them on this trip.

Monica's dad with all of his grandchildren...and one great grandson!

Monica's dad with all of his children

Monica's dad, Rob, Michelle (our niece), Monica and Lenny (our brother-in-law)

It was a lot of fun seeing them and we'll miss them. They returned to Florida that Sunday but they are hoping to visit again in October! 

Oh...we almost forgot to show you what we brought home this week. Aside from our new couch and matching chair, we also added these things to our home:

One record

Cookbooks

Cookbooks...and a cut-out doll book

A pair of barkcloth curtains (folded for the picture)

A vintage metal barbecue tray

A honeycomb turkey (marked Japan)

A Lufthansa ash tray, an old plastic Easter dish, a ceramic deer (marked Japan), a McDonald's Hamburglar glass (1977) and an old wind-up hula girl with a metal base.

A creepy Santa, a snow globe and a plastic Santa night light. Both Santas are marked Japan

We barbecued at our house on Sunday for the first time this year (and the last time with this barbecue. The grill stand rusted after many years and broke after the barbecue) and took our first walk around town this year on Memorial Day evening. Much of the rest of the weekend was spent catching up on a million things we wanted to do around the house (like planting vegetables in our garden) but, although the weekend went way too fast, we still found some time just to relax together and that, alone, always makes it a pretty special weekend.