Friday Estate Sales and Halloween Hairbands

Yesterday morning, Duane and I headed to two estate sales that were in her neighborhood.  Linda had a doctor's appt. so she caught up with us a bit later.  The main sale we were interested in was another one of those experiences where you find yourself walking into the past.  In this case, the house hadn't changed since the '70's and these people had really taken decorating from that era to the max.  The carpet was all sculpted shag and the living room was sunken.  I remember some builders in the '70's referring to those rooms as 'conversation pits.'

As soon as we walked into the front door, we were met with a very strange floor plan.  Just ahead, and I really mean right in front of us, was a small recessed area with all of these funky light fixtures hanging from the ceiling.They were made of a lot of plastic and beads.  This wasn't just funky.  It was 'funk-ay.' The statuary pictured in the first photo was in various places throughout the house.  The second photo shows part of a wall mural in the dining room.  These people obviously liked to entertain because they had a large built-in bar with a number of sets of liquor glasses and decanters.  They also had a lot of serve ware.

The bedrooms were '60's and '70's matching bedroom sets that were more plastic than wood.  In fact, the French Provincial style in one of the bedrooms was a dead ringer for the Sears furniture that my sister Pam and I had in the room we shared together during that time.  (And thought was ever so cool.)

Once again, the master bath was the highlight of the sale.  That's actually happened several times but this time I didn't feel comfortable taking photos because the room wasn't that big and there were a lot of people in and out.  The house had one of those step-up half-round soaking tubs and, yes, the bathroom had the same sculptured shag carpet found in the rest of the house.  The carpet was cut away from the bottom of the toilet though.  The floor was simply cement around it.  Probably helpful in case of leaks or (no, please!) overflows.  The jewel of this bathroom was what I first thought was a set of glass sliding doors flush up to the tub and covering the wall on that part side of the bathroom.  It was what was behind the glass that brings back that word 'funk-ay.'  The rectangular 'room' behind the glass was decorated like a tropical jungle.  Lots of plastic flowers and greenery and even plastic animals.  Drat!  I wish I had gotten a photo.  We might not see one of those again.

Duane got lucky at this sale and found a really pretty piece of Delft porcelain.  Unusual, too, because it's not the blue and white or any of the other types she's come across before.   The third pic showing the contents of a china cabinet shows the Delft pieces on the third shelf down.  The porcelain area is a mixture of green and tan and the metal is either brass or gold plated.  Duane bought one of the smaller vases.  Very striking.  She also found a nice large divided glass serving platter.


The second and last sale we went to was at the house of an elderly lady who continuously has 'estate' sales and also has the house up for sale.  She seems to bring her prices down a little each time she has a sale.  We're not sure she actually lives in the house because you never see a car or anyone there unless she's having one of her sales.  Judging from the variety of items she has, I'm pretty sure she was a dealer -- either with her own shop or at a flea market.  Duane did find a really pretty framed fashion print this time.  Linda and I went home empty-handed but Duane had a pretty good day.

We went for coffee and treats as usual and discussed events coming up in the next few weeks that we want to check out.  Lots going on with the holidays coming up.

Duane's finds.

 

The Delft vase.

Speaking of holidays, Halloween is next Friday and I made my usual little gifts for my three nieces for the occasion.  This year I used a really soft, fine black yarn with gold thread running through it to make the girls hairbands.  I crocheted the hairbands and then found these large jack-o-lantern buttons at Jo-Ann's.  I sent them to the girls ahead of time since these are definitely seasonal.  Naturally, I included Halloween M&Ms with the little gift.  Now I have to get back to working on Christmas items...

 

Wrapped and ready to go.