Switching Teams

So, I've made the switch.  No, not that switch.  The switch from garage sales to estate sales.  I know, I never thought I'd switch teams either.  But lately I've been getting that feeling.  You know the one.  The feeling that you've seen it all, perhaps even bought it all.  The sad, anxious feeling that there isn't any junk left to unearth.  That feeling.

For the last few weeks I've said goodbye to neighborhood sales and hello to Estate sales.  They are very different types of places, let me tell you.  A neighborhood garage sale is a place where, the people have chosen things to get rid of.  They are alive, they need more of their junk still.  

An estate sale usually comes on the coat tails of a death or sometimes of someone moving to a nursing facility.  They won't need any of their things anymore and their families can't even deal with the piles of stuff.  So, they hire a company to put on a sale.  You just walk right in to the house, right into the last remnants of someone's life.  They put a price on the memories someone has collected through a lifetime and you pay the fee.  Happily I might add.  Because, these houses probably haven't ever had a garage sale.  They are FULL of stuff.  Junk and bits and nice antiques, too!

Yes, it is a bit sad, picking at the wreckage of someone's carefully assembled life like vultures.  But, I do feel as though I'm honoring their life a bit by rescuing a piece of it and loving it like it was my own.

I even have a sweet secret stalker site.  Estatesales.net  You put in your zip code and search the sales near you.  They almost always have pictures which is so helpful, you can't even imagine!  You don't have to waste your time with sales that don't have things you are interested in!

The first weekend that I really committed to the new team we hit up two sales.  The first one was a regular run of the mill estate sale.  Smelled like old people, tons of craft supplies, lots of old men's clothing.

I got a vintage felt santa ornament and a lovely velveteen strawberry pin cushion.  I think I paid a dollar total.  Look at the design of that santa.  Delicious!

The second sale we went to was in a very pricy part of town.  The Park Ave. area.  It was a huuuge old house that was cut up in very odd and small ways inside.  I can't imagine having a huge old house cut up into such small rooms. It sort of defeats the point.  But this place was filled with treasures.  There were so many nice antiques that anything else was priced to move fast.  So much craftsman era pottery, tons of frog items and way too many parrot things.  These people were dedicated collectors who knew how to commit to a theme.

I got two pieces of pottery.  A large white pot with a little crack and some crazing for $5 and a little frog on a lily pad hugging a flower for the same.

Alicia was with me at the sales and she really scored big.  At the first sale she got a great mirror for under $10 and a bunch of other things totaling just over $30.

Alicia and I both have a love for Florida/tropical inspired items.  Look at all this great stuff!  The vintage flamingo and ...other bird statues were $5 each and the tin was as well.  I already had the tin, or I would have knocked her down and bought it up before she could.  All is fair in love and estate sales.  But seriously folks, look at that color scheme.  It's so good it hurts. #ouch

Here is a close up of her brass shell wall-mounted dish and a ridiculous squirrel guy.  Because sometimes you have to.

So, in summary:

Go (new) Team!