50's, 60's, coffee, estate sale haul, estate sales, fish, haul, kitsch, lamps, Mad Men, mid century modern, Peggy, pitcher, pyrex, thrift haul, tv lamps

Mid Century Estate Sale Goodness

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          As I mentioned before I haven’t been thrifting as much in the last couple weeks in part because of a sweet mid century estate sale I saw posted on estatesales.net last week. I’m a sucker for mid century anything and once I saw the pictures online I knew I’d have to go. I was mostly interested in a pair of mid century Reglor Lamps that had the original shade. I got up early the first day of the sale to try and get the lamps but by the time I got there they were gone. Everything was reasonably priced but all of the lamps were a tad out of my price range. They had a lot of cool mid century lamps but they were all around $125-150.00, not bad really but I was only really ready to pop on them if they were under $100.00. We  were also planning to go to a big garage sale the next day and I didn’t want to spend so much money on a pair of lamps. The woman running the sale said that sale was just the tip of the iceberg that in two weeks there would be another sale of even more stuff. I guess the owner was frequent estate sale attendee and ebay-er, my kinda guy! But he has so much stuff he decided to sell some of it, awesome. So since there’s so much stuff I may end up getting some cool lamps at the next sale. We did end up with some cool stuff anyway. Most of it is actually my mom’s, she went with me to the sale and I bought her some stuff as presents for Mother’s day and her birthday which are both coming up. Anyway here’s the cool stuff we walked away with.

1. This Snowflake Pyrex casserole with lid and cradle. My Pyrex enthusiasm has waned in the past few weeks. If I find a cool pattern/color for a good price I’ll pop but I find myself passing them up more and more. This was only $5 bucks so I figured I’d get it. Plus it’s a color and pattern I don’t have and haven’t seen in a thrift store.

** Also Peggy and I have the same casserole

image via Tom and Lorenzo

2. This restaurant style coffee pot.

3. This cool Mid Century light was the item I got my mom for mothers/her birthday. It goes with our living room and she really likes it.

yup it lights up

4. Probably the coolest thing we got was this fish TV lamp. They had about 7 or so of these at the sale in various colors. We’ve seen various TV lamps before but never these funky fish, so we had to get it. It’s pretty cool right?

The fish illuminated!!!!
one of the marbles fell off

This week I’m also linking up with Her Library Adventures’ Flea Market Finds and Apron Thrift Girl’s Thrift Share Monday so you can check out what other bloggers found recently. Did you go to any sweet sales last weekend? Find any cool items?

boots, estate sales, gifted, OOTD, Pegasus necklace, skirt, stella and dot, target, thrift, tops

Western-y

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Top and Skirt: Thrifted Tights & Belt: Target  Boots: Gifted Necklace: Stella and Dot (gifted)
          As much as I love this skirt I haven’t worn it as much as I’d like.  I got it at the end of August last year and when I figured out a good outfit for it (posted here) I just repeated it until temperatures turned colder. I hadn’t bothered to really think up any new outfits for the skirt until I thrifted this shirt and was thinking of different things I could pair it with.  Anyway I really like this outfit, if you couldn’t tell. I’ve figured out that the more I like an outfit the more pictures I add to a post. Anyway this is also the first time I’ve worn my stella and dot necklace. I’m not really sure why I haven’t worn it more, but you’ll definitely be seeing it more in the future.  I was hoping to wear this outfit sans tights, but the weather here is still a bit dreary. It rained most of the past week and temps have varied from mild to downright cold. I decided I didn’t want to wait any longer and threw on the tights. 
            I wore this last Friday to go to an estate sale and attend possibly the most awkward Mary Kay Party ever. The estate sale had a lot of cool mid century chairs, but by the time I got there they were all gone. I did get the cool 50’s snack set and a small Pyrex bowl I mentioned in the previous post. The one thing that can kind of suck about Estate sales is that if you see something cool, unless you get up at the crack of dawn and get in line early, it’ll probably be gone by the time you get there. Antique dealers and people who make a living re-selling items are quick to wake up early and get some of the most desirable pieces. Since I don’t have my own place, only have limited space, have limited funds and am not a morning person I generally don’t get up and wait in line at estate sales. I have gotten up earlier for an estate sale but it was the second day (50% off day) and we had been there the day before and knew the items we wanted would still be there the next day for cheaper. I suppose if I really saw something I couldn’t live without I may get up early to go to a sale but for now I sleep in and wait and see what’s left. If what I wanted is gone it’s OK, it saves me some money. 

estate sales, haul, pyrex, thrift, thrift haul

Pyradical

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       Since venturing in to the wide world of Pyrex and other retro cookware (but mostly Pyrex) I’ve been amazed at the wealth of knowledge available through blogs on the subject. For example I know of five blogs devoted solely to Pyrex. It’s nice for research purposes, most of the work is done for you, but still a bit odd. Every time I visit one such site I imagine a person out in the world with and encyclopedic knowledge of all things Pyrex. Said person is like half human half Pyrex fact spewing robot, they can spot Pyrex from a mile away and bark out it’s model number in a nano second. Kind of like that 80’s show Small wonder, except the person only knows about retro cookery.
        Anyway I went to the second day on an estate sale last Sunday that had pictures of two pieces of Pyrex online. One was a small pink one that I was more interested in but was gone by the time we go there, the other was the piece above. I actually kind of like the piece it looks oddly good in our living room and it strays a bit from the traditional Pyrex designs. I got it for 3 bucks and that included it’s shmancy warmer, score. After that we tried to find a thrift store we had passed earlier to no avail and then went to a thrift store we knew how to get to. I got a few tops there and vintage jacket/sweater. A pretty good thrift day. I’m definitely going to go back to visit the two thrift store we saw near the estate sale. Thrift stores in the suburbs/ outer metro can be gold mines.

costumes, estate sales, Halloween, minnie mouse, OOTD, spirit, target, thrift, walmart

Minnie Mouse NOT Mickey!

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Dress: Thrifted  Ears & Gloves: Spirit  Tights & Belt: Target  Socks: Walmart  Shoes: Mom’s from estate sale  Bow: old shirt 
           I’ve always loved Halloween, it’s my mom’s favorite holiday so it was always a big deal around my house as a kid. I always had a costume and some of my past favorites include: the yellow power ranger, princess Jazmin, a hippie, a witch, a genie and Velma from Scooby Doo. This year I was thinking of being a 70’s disco diva but since I didn’t want to rack up debt for a costume I decided to go with a costume I could build a little more economically. I got this dress at the thrift sore earlier this year and really like it. It’s handmade and I feel a little Minnie mouse every time I wear it, so I decided to go one step further and actually be Minnie mouse. I only had to buy ears, gloves and socks. Ironically I went to work Saturday and the “real” Minnie mouse was there posing with kids, it was fate. I had to work so I didn’t meet Minnie but it was funny to see her. I’m not much into the “sexy” Halloween costumes I can see it if you’re costume is Bettie Boop or a prostitute but sexy nemo, really? I just want to know who said “jee i’d really like to be sexy nemo but there’s no costume!” I don’t have anything against people that are into the sexy thing It’s just not me. Anyway, I didn’t really do anything for Halloween I handed out candy and watched Paranormal Activity (the first one). I didn’t find Paranormal Activity very scary and thought the ending was totally just, I got distracted from the bumps in the night by the boyfriends doucheyness.
           Anyway I did end up getting a job, it’s a seasonal job at the mall, but it could turn into a longer term job and I’m just happy to be making some money even though I may be re-unemployed in mid January. Anyway I have been wearing some cute things but haven’t gotten around to posting them. I’ll also make a post about some new things I’ll be buying now that I’m making some money. Anyway hope you had a fabulous Halloween! And, if you celebrate, have a great Día de los Muertos/ All Saints day!

60's, cups, estate sales, hat, haul, lamps, thrift haul

A sale-ing we shall go

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          So a couple weeks ago after a disappointing trip to Austin, MN my mom and I drove to Mound, MN to check out an estate sale that we hoped would be more promising. I was swayed by two things: an awesome 60’s floor lamp and these really cool cups in their own caddy. We went to the sale towards the end of the first day and surprisingly the lamp and cups were still there! The only downside to estate sales is that antique dealers often come out early on the first day and scoop up all the really cool items, fortunately that didn’t happen at this sale. After a little back and forth we decided we’d go back the second (and final) day, when everything is 50% off, and try to get the stuff on sale. So we woke up relatively early Sunday morning, we rarely wake up early to go to sales, and went back. Everything was still there so we got the cups, a winter hat and the very cool 60’s lamp as well as 4 or so bowls and a green bracelet. Everything totaled out to a whopping $40.00, a very successful estate sale day if I do say so myself. Anyway here’s some pics of our recent finds:

My estate sale booty ( minus the lamp)  with a scarf I got at the Austin sale.
Awesome 60’s cups are awesome

Seriously I love these cups
My hat it’s very Mary Tyler Moore and I kind of love that about it.
Finally the 60’s lamp that goes really well with the Green/gold motif in our living room.

Last weekend I went to the Junk Bonanza with my mom and will post about some stuff we got there soon as well.

chairs, estate sale haul, estate sales, furniture, garage sales, haul, jewelry, Thrift Finds, thrift haul

A sale-ing we shall go

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I don’t know about you but  in my neck of the woods summer means a lot of things but mostly it’s prime sale season, garage and estate sales that is. While technically estate sales go on all year their prime time, at least in northern states, is definitely during the summer. My mom has always been a sale junkie but this addiction has reached new heights since she found estatesales.net, a website that e-mails you all the estate sales listed within 100 miles of your zip code. It’s a great tool that not only lets you know where the closest estate sales are but also provides pictures and descriptions of everything for sale. I find the pictures the most helpful as you can automatically eliminate sales. This allows you to save time and gas money only visiting the sales with stuff you actually like.

Estate and garage sales are a great way of finding lots of cheap goods, but when it comes to clothes they can be a crap shoot. Sales are a fairly easy goldmine for housewares with tons of dishes, kinck-knacks, furniture, bedding etc. But when it comes to clothes things are a bit more tricky. Since your generally looking through the stuff of one family, couple, or one person sizes and styles can be fairly limited. I look through the clothes anyway since, generally, there aren’t many for sale and you can sometimes find great vintage clothes at prices lower than vintage and even thrift stores.  Jewelry and other accessories, though, are plentiful.

If you’re searching for deals garage sales are probably your best bet. Estate sales are great but a lot of them are put on by companies that research and know the worth of the items, unlike Joe blow who just wants to get rid of some stuff. This isn’t to say you can’t get a good deal at an estate sale, just that you may be able to get better deals at garage sales.

Since I don’t have my own place, at sales I usually focus on clothing and accessories first then browse the housewares for good finds. This year I haven’t found  a ton of stuff, partly because of low funds and partly because I’m not really in the market for lots of housewares. Anyway I did find some cool stuff so I figured I’d share my sale booty thus far. First up is this vintage 60’s (I think) chair. We got this chair at a garage sale we stumbled upon while driving back from a rather disappointing estate sale. It was only 5 bucks and it’s in pretty good condition. I haven’t decided  what I want to do with the chair. I could clean it up and keep it as is or paint it, I’m still undecided. For now it’s become colonized by the kitties who have taken it up as one of their favorite new napping spots and coated the seat with a good spread of cat hair. Eventually it will go in my room but I just can’t bare to move this new cat obsession quite yet, so it stays rather randomly placed in our living room.

Second up is a random haul of cheap 80’s/90’s earrings. Recently I’ve been kind of into slightly over sized gold-ish studs that I think are sort of 80’s/90′. So imagine my luck when upon walking into an estate sale the organizers announce that in order to get rid of as much stuff as possible they’d take 5 dollars for everything you can fit into a paper grocery bag. After grabbing a paper bag I headed immediately to the bedroom and straight to the jewelry where I threw any earrings I found remotely interesting in the bag. The result was a rather impressive haul of cheap earrings that, along with the other stuff my mom later added to the bag, cost me less than 5 bucks.

All the jewelry I got at the sale

My favorites

Since sale-ing is sport I often participate in I figured this segment will morph into a regular feature on the blog showcasing  my good sale loot. Also, though I named estatesales.net this is not a sponsored post, that just happens to be the website I use. I’m sure there are other great sites out there so if you use a different one let me know!