A Fast, Fun Sale!

Because my basement (and my barn) is starting to look like an episode of 'Hoarders: Buried Alive' and because my van gets about 23 MPG, I've really tried not to go to a lot of sales.  Sometimes, though, you've just GOT to SHOP! 

There was an estate sale in our own town last Friday, so I went on my way to the mall.  I didn't get there at the beginning, because I decided to go on a whim, as I was driving past the neighborhood.  I'd been to several sales with this dealer before and they're always really friendly and nice and, though their prices aren't dirt-cheap, they're fair. 

Anyway, I came away with a few good buys.  They always have sturdy strawberry boxes to use while shopping and I loaded one up with little odds & ends.  Here's the prize of the day, though:  an old Pixiano child's grand piano, with the bench!  All of the keys but one work, though it sounds like it needs to be tuned (can that even be done?)  I spent more on it that I usually do at sales, unless it's something for me to keep, but I really think it was worth it.  Now I just have to decide if it's going into the booth or on Etsy.  If I take it to the booth, I won't have to crate & ship it, but it might get payed with and broken (you'd be amazed at what people allow their children to do to items in the mall!)   On Etsy,  it would be safe, but I"m totally clueless about shipping something this big.  Isn't it great though?  

A 1950s or 1960s Pixiano Grand Piano

 That was on the first day of the sale.  I went back on the second day to see if some of the things I thought were too high were still there.  They all were and I got them all at 50% off.  One of them was this step chair -- $2.  The seat was sticky with grime & grease and coming out at the back.  I immediately recovered it with some oilcloth I had left over from another project.  There was so little effort or creativity involved, it doesn't even count as a restoration...  It's not really old (maybe the 90s), but it's useful.  I might keep it or sell it  -- more decisions!

Before -- YUK!

After -- MUCH better!

 On my way out, I saw this metal hamper, which I KNOW wasn't there on Friday!  I got it for 1/2 price, too! 

I love this hamper -- we're using it at our house.  It has obviously been repainted, but even the repaint is so old that it's vintage!

 Pretty good buys for a quick trip through a sale...twice!

A New Blog in the Family...

If you've been reading my blog for a few weeks (months) you might remember when my niece came to visit and we (she) fit much more than you would think possible into a Civic Hybrid (that's important because the big battery takes up alot of trunk room).  If you want to see it for yourself, you can read it here.

Since I have 3 sons and no daughters, Crit (the family derivative of Christy) has always been like a daughter to me.  Add to that her love of junking, sewing and creating and it's a match made in heaven!

Crit has launched a new blog about her creations and before-and-afters.  When you get a chance, go visit 'This is From That' and show her a little love (but don't love her more than me or I might get my feelings hurt!)  I think you'll enjoy it.

Treasures from a Successful Sale

Yesterday I showed you the Harry Houdini-like job of packing a huge amount of stuff into a tiny car.  Now I'll show you some of the great stuff that I got at the sale...

A box lot of red-ware and asian cups plus some cool frosted glasses (the dealer threw in the 7 undecorated ones for just $1 more).  Of course, I had to buy the coronation plate, too!

A pyrex percolator, vintage toaster with a neat red cord, Hall Cactus ball pitcher (which I think MIGHT actually be worth something) and a lucite ice bucket.

An assortment of Christmas things -- you can't see them well, but there are a bunch of plastic snowflakes next to the ball of garland.  I think the pygmy cow that's smaller than baby Jesus is funny!

4 old photo albums (one had to instantly go onto the back porch because it was so moldy -- probably not my best buy).  I had one of the workers get the birdseed tin down from the garage ceiling -- I think it's interesting.  I also got two glass lamps with flowers etched on them.  I'm not sure they're vanity lamps -- they're so tall, they could almost go on a sideboard.

A large fruit picture in a nice frame

A picture of a girl looking at a bird.  I'd seen this in several other places, but could never afford it.  THIS is what I stood in front of and waited to grab. 

An old yellow card table and a large white picture frame

3 little bird pictures -- there were 4, but I gave one to Crit.  I also got a white framed Grandma Moses snow scene and a funny baby picture (look below)

No more kissing, 'cause you slobbers!

A wooden inlaid card table.  I've restored 1/2 of it so you could see the before and after

   This brings me to something I wanted to share about restoring old wood furniture.  I've worked on the right side of the table and left the other side alone so you could see the difference.  All I did was use a wood finish restoring product that we sell at the antique mall, but which you can get at most hardware stores.  It's called Restore-a-Finish and it's some of the best stuff around!  You choose a shade similar to what you have -- I've bought Dark Walnut (for really dark finishes) and Walnut (which I used on the table above).

You can see how it covered the scratches and dried out areas on the  right, as opposed to the left.  After it had soaked in for a while, I wiped off the excess and let it dry.  Then I used Howard's 'Feed and Wax' on it to add a final finish.  This is great stuff (I think they should put me on their payroll)!

This is all that I got from 3 sales that I went to Friday morning -- real frogs!  The butterfly apron was a sympathy-buy.  I was just looking at it and saw how stained it was and that it couldn't be laundered because of the flocking and glitter AND I saw that the ties were almost completely gone, when a little old lady (who looked like she was 90+) said, "Oh!  You found my apron!  Good for you!  I wore that for so many years!"  I had to buy it after that -- I couldn't tell her it wasn't good enough for me!

The flocked & glittered butterflies...

 Zootsuitmama asked yesterday about oilcloth and where I get it.  I buy mine at an fabric store in Royal Oak, Michigan.  It's good to find a local outlet for it so that you can really see what you're buying.   You can buy it online, too, at oilclothbytheyard.com.  They're one of my favorite online sources for it, since they have a really good selection and their prices per yard are the same as any fabric store.  You have to realize, though, that oilcloth is pretty wide (so you don't need as much if you aren't doing a tablecloth) and fairly heavy -- keep that in mind if you're having it shipped.  

 Thanks for looking at my junk treasures!  I'm going to share one of them tomorrow linking to 'Would You Buy it Wednesday' at Junkernewbie's blog.  The one I'll blog about is the one that caused the most discussion at my house when I brought it all home.  Do you think you can you guess which piece it is (Crit, you're not allowed to answer!)?

A Beat-up Turquoise Challenge

Well, it's 'Would You Buy It Wednesday...oops -- make that Thursday'! Here's a little treasure I not only picked up at a sale, but actually paid them $1 for! It's a wind-up clock that doesn't work, with a music box that's missing its on-off knob, in a case that cracked and filthy. My dad used to always say "A fool and his money are soon parted" and I suppose that's true, but...
The sad little clock has SO MUCH going for it!
It's turquoise (which I can never resist)
It's broken (I love to take things apart and try to fix them)
It's cute and little -- only 6" long -- and will look great in my craft room

Would you have bought it? Probably not! Even if I get it fixed, it will still be missing the door over the clock and the case will still be cracked.

I'll let you know when I get it to run!

I'm linking to Junker Newbie's 'Would You Buy It Wednesday' -- go on over and see what other 'treasures' people have found. While you're there, add your own link.

Remember the old hoosier cabinet?

Do you remember the old hoosier cabinet that I picked up at a sale back in May? This is what it looked like then:The body was original (but had been repainted), the doors and drawers had been replaced with homemade ones by someone years before and then the whole thing had been partially stripped by the people I bought it from. I hate to change original paint -- any chips or stains are part of the character of the piece -- but with the doors partially stripped, I had to repaint the whole thing.

I had to restore one of the glass doors and one of the drawers, which were falling apart, but it didn't need any other repair than that. I also added some legs because the old-man-made doors on the bottom were dragging on the ground. I painted it all a creamy vintage white, though I left the inside untouched -- I think it's still the original paint (though maybe not, as someone had painted over the manufacturer's plate).It came with cream colored plastic knobs and handles. I was going to get glass knobs for the drawers, but couldn't find anything that I liked for the door pulls to go with them. So in the end, I spray painted the handles and knobs cherry red (after double- and triple-checking that they weren't bakelite!).

Here's how it looks now! It feels so good to have another project completed! One down, about 10 more to go...